NOVEL NEXT Chapter Nineteen: Ambush
Joe let out a sigh as he parked Betty next to the dragon’s carcass. It didn’t look like anything but nature had reached it. Flies buzzed about its corpse in droves, a horrid sight to behold. He shuddered as he imagined the multitudes of maggots that no doubt had made a home in its flesh… flesh he’d have to peel away to reach the bones. He shook his head, no way was he going to do that, there was another solution here.
“Joseph, why do you look pale?” Sera asked him, putting a hand to his brow, “Are you feeling sick?”
“I don’t like flies, and if there’s a lot of them here then there’s definitely gotta be maggots. I hate those even worse.”
“You look like you’re going to vomit…” Sera said, “Maybe we should wait for nature to take its course on the body?”
Joe shook his head, gently pushing her hand away, “Naw, I’m just gonna torch it all. Got a flamethrower in the workshop. I tuned it up a while ago but haven’t tested it in a bit. Gonna just go flame it up and I’ll get the bone after then-”
“You told me about that thing,” Sera said, cutting him off, “If you use that, you’ll set the grasslands on fire-”
“Ah ah ah!” Joe interrupted, “You can summon water! Just do that if the fire gets out of control-”
“Ah ah ah!” Sera mocked, “I can only do that so many times in a day, how long do you intend on frying the body?”
“It should just take a few seconds really, just to get the flies and maggots all cooked away. Really, if anything you should only have to do the water thing once.” He said, standing from his chair, “Yer limited with that magic stuff?”
Sera nodded, “All mages are, it depends on the spell and the natural potency of the caster.”
“I’m guessin’ yer pretty potent then right?” Joe asked.
Sera nodded, “That’s right, but I can only create water so many times before I have to rest.”
“Like spell slots!” Joe exclaimed excitedly.
Sera frowned, “Huh?”
It was official, this was some dnd crap he’d landed in right? Spell slots n’ everything… man o man, he was gonna have to watch it around treasure chests, he didn’t wanna get eaten. Ooh, and maybe there’d be Beholders and… ugh, a Tarrasque. He didn’t think Betty would be able to deal with something like that-
“What is a spell slot?” Sera asked, “Hello?”
“Say, you got Tarrasque’s here?” He asked.
Sera’s frown deepened, “A what?”
“Beholders?” He asked again after an awkward moment of silence.
“Have you gone mad? What do you mean by Beholder?”
“Nevermind. Look, you can only cast so many times a day, right? How many times can you summon water?”
She stared at him for a long while before finally she said, “It depends on how much water I make. If I create a giant sheet of water, say, the width of our front room now, only three times.” She explained, “The thickness of the water layer also determines this of course. Now, say I just wanted to create a single drop of water, then I could basically make as many as I wanted, since a drop is easier to create than a sheet.”
She then poked him in the forehead with a grin, and he felt something cold trailing down his face. He shrugged away from her with a scowl, wiping the water free from his brow.
“That was rude.” He told her.
“You’re rude too!” She shot back, “But you do understand what I’m telling you here, yes?”
He nodded. The rules here were somewhat like spell slots but they were dependent on intensity.
“What happens if you go overboard, cast more than you’re supposed to?”
“What would happen if you sprinted for fifty miles without stopping once?” She asked.
He’d collapse, “I gotcha.”
“Alright well, that dragon isn’t going to fry itself, let's get out there, yes?” Sera said, opening the door to the cockpit.
“One sec, gonna double check the cameras… make sure there ain’t no one snooping around here.”
“Okie dokie!” She said happily, “I’ll wait for you in the workshop, don’t keep me waiting.”
He gave her a half hearted wave as he checked each of his screens. Besides the buzzing flies and wind rustling the leaves, nothing seemed to be amiss… and yet, something was off. His gut screamed that there was danger here, that he shouldn’t go outside and it had never been wrong before in his life. He checked each camera again, trying to see what it was that unsettled him, but again, he could spot nothing.
Perhaps there really was a sign out there that something was wrong, but the pixelation of his camera could be hiding it. He had just intended to wear his standard gear but until he knew the problem, he’d have to wear the power armor. With that, he left the cockpit and reached the workshop, Sera stretching before the door that led outside.
“You aren’t going outside wearing those ridiculous pajamas, are you?” She asked, looking him up and down.
“Real men wear polka-dot.” He grumbled, stepping toward the T-12.
“Is something wrong out there?” She asked as he stepped into the armor, “You don’t usually wear that unless there’s a good reason.”
“I got a bad feeling I just can’t shake. I’m goin’ out there by myself first, gonna scout around and see what I can find.” Joe told her, stepping toward the doorway after grabbing his rifle.
“Okay then, make sure that you’re careful.”
“Of course.” He replied, thumbing the door opener.
Once Betty’s ramp was lowered, he stepped outside, slowly, surveying his surroundings. It was late Autumn now, and winter would soon begin. The skies were beginning to grow grayer and grayer, the air beginning to chill. Unfortunately it still wasn’t cold enough for the flies to all die and go to hell, but that time was getting closer. Like what he saw on the cameras, nothing seemed out of the ordinary at a glance…
He departed from the ramp slowly, closing it once he reached the ground. The flies buzzing was thankfully muffled by the helmet, but it still sickened him all the same. Trying to ignore the feeling, he scanned the immediate vicinity of the dragon’s long corpse. He circled it slowly, keeping his eyes on the trees. Again, something was wrong with this environment, he knew there was.
It was all about identifying that wrongness, what was not natural about this scene? He looked at the grass, then the flies… then it clicked. The flies seemed to be forming voids around pockets of parted grass, not able to completely pass through those points… but why were they avoiding them? He observed one such parting of grass closely, the one that was nearest to himself.
Then he saw why his gut had been warning him. The flies weren’t choosing to not pass through these pockets in the grass… they were landing on it, as if they were solid. The wings that landed on the closest void didn’t move, they simply crawled, as if on air. Joe’s eyes narrowed, and he approached this pocket in the grass, making sure not to look at it directly.
It wasn’t exactly the same as how it worked back home… but if Joe was right…
Once he got within striking distance, he lashed out at the void with a fist. He felt bone crunching beneath metal, and something screamed in agony, flying off and parting even more grass in a continuous line. He knew it, this was a trap! He quickly opened fire on the cloaked ambushers, aiming squarely for the parted grass. Blood seemed to appear from nowhere as he fired, trails of crimson leaking down from nothing before the individual pockets of grass widened, the invisible men’s bodies hitting the dirt.
“I knew it!” He mouthed as he continued to fire, sending more cloaked figures falling.
Cloaking, he should have figured that Faenor would have an equivalent… actually, this was much more than an equivalent, it was superior to cloaking. A Cloaker could make one appear almost invisible, but you’d always be able to tell, the light would seem warped around someone using it, this was true invisibility.
Nets appeared from thin air, wrapping around him in multitudes. It was easy to rip them apart with the T-12’s power, but every second he spent removing the nets was another second he wasn’t firing his rifle. These guys surely had more up their sleeves than just nets. Since they were trying this, they wanted to catch him alive… meaning that they likely knew what he was. He flailed violently, shrugging off many of the nets and continuing to fire his gun.
He didn’t spend too much time aiming, it was hard to get an idea of their numbers.Judging by how many people here were invisible, it was almost impossible that this was due to a magic item. They would each need to have one right? And there was no way the dwarves traded imbued items with all these guys. That meant that there had to be a mage somewhere among them, casting a spell that could make them all invisible.
If there was a mage at play here, things were a lot more dangerous than he realized. It was a good thing he came out here with the T-12, these nets were little more than a nuisance with it on. Men screamed and died, Joe firing at the spots where he saw grass moving. How long had these people been waiting here for him, days, weeks?
It wasn’t long before his rifle clicked empty, and he quickly ejected the magazine, reaching for an extra one at the attached compartment on the armor’s thigh. He quickly loaded his gun and shrugged off the last of the nets, scanning his surroundings for any more signs of shifting grass. The only portions that moved were the ones where men lay dying, blood seeming to ooze from nothing.
He’d interrogate the survivors and figure out who had sent them, it shouldn’t take long for-
“Sleep.” A voice said from above him.
Joseph raised his rifle to the sky, but didn’t pull the trigger… for darkness had claimed him.
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Sera gasped as she saw Joseph become completely still, gun aimed toward the sky. What was he doing? Something was wrong, he had gone stiff as a board. She knew that he’d been beset upon by invisible bandits, but it had seemed that he’d kill them all… so why was he doing this? Was there something above Betty that she couldn’t see from here?
Her eyes widened as she saw a man appear, floating down from above Joseph. He wore long flowing silk robes, wearing a wide-brimmed pointy hat. No way, a mage from Relias!? She couldn’t see the dragon shaped pin due to the camera’s quality, but she was certain that it was there. This was dangerous, far more dangerous than Joseph could deal with, he needed her help-
Another man appeared from behind the trees then, approaching the two of them with clapping hands. She had no idea who he was, but even from the cockpit she could tell that he was the epitome of grease. She would need to do something about this… She took a deep breath to steady her nerves, and looked to the various buttons and miniature levers on Betty’s massive dashboard.
Damn… which one was the button that activated the laser’s? If she could turn that on, she’d be able to simply blast these men away. Yet she could not identify which one it could be… it wasn’t that they weren’t labeled, but the symbols were either too alien to understand or were too worn to read.
She perked up as she had an idea, one that Joseph would likely approve of.
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Jareed laughed with joy as he saw that the Outworlder had been incapacitated. Weeks of planning and days of waiting had finally paid off! He was so happy there had been a massive smashed trail leading straight to the corpse of this dragon, he knew that eventually this ‘Joseph’ would return! What was even better was that none here save for Jareed knew that this was an Outworlder! The mage, Heiner, breathed heavily, shoulders shaking as he stared at the armored figure.
“I had not wanted to use that spell.” Heiner said, “It is draining, you said that the nets would have worked. Now look, your men lay dead, my casting invisibility had been pointless.”
Jareed shrugged, “Well, not all plans work as intended, that was why I hired you.”
“I expect payment soon.” Heiner told him with a glare, “It is demeaning that I even accepted this job from you-”
“Must I inform Madame that you demand your reward this instant?” Jareed asked, “I’m not sure that would be such a good idea, remember, this was to break even with her Heiner. Now, there may be a reward for you within that wagon. Defeat the elf mage within and you can take whatever you want… except the girl herself. Leave her to me.”
Heiner glared, “You told me that this would end my debt, and see me rewarded. You’re offering loot as a reward when we agreed on gold when you proposed this offer.”
Jareed combed a hand through his greasy hair, “I will pay you with the gold that I would have given these fools, then you will get the rest later.”
“If you lie to me Jareed I will have your head.” Heiner threatened.
“I am Madame’s messenger!” He lied, “You know not what you threaten! Do you truly-”
Whatever he was about to say was interrupted by the sound of the ramp lowering. The wagon’s other occupant must be readying herself to come out… Jareed quickly ran back to the trees.
“Take care of her! Try and make sure she lives, then put the cuffs on her!” He shouted before disappearing behind a tree, peeking out from behind it to see what would unfold.
Heiner should be able to defeat the elf, he knew a total of ten different spells, all very potent. Unfortunately, he was tired from casting the invisibility spell so many times, along with the sleep spell. He had no doubt reached his limit with the invisibility magic, but his other spells should do well enough for her. It would be dangerous still, but Heiner was a genius, Jareed was certain that everything would work out fine. Once the ramp lowered fully, the door to the wagon opened… but no one stood in the doorway.
Jareed blinked in confusion. Where was she? Had the door simply opened on its own? Heiner remained standing below the ramp for a long while before he hesitantly moved up the ramp, raising his hands palm outward. Heiner then stood outside the doorway for a long while, clearly hesitant to enter. Jareed himself would be cautious in Heiner’s shoes, she could have any kind of spell at her disposal after all.
It was clear that this was a trap, but how would Heiner counter it? After a few more moments, the mage raised his hands, a gray glow emanating from them. He then slapped his chest, and just like that, Heiner seemed to become made of stone. His flesh, even his robes had taken on a rocky quality. Genius, that stoneskin should protect from whatever initial attack she may have planned.
Jareed’s breathing quickened as Heiner stepped into the wagon…
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Sera steadied her breath as the Relias mage entered Betty. She was hidden just beneath Joe’s workbench, a pistol in hand. He had shown her how to hold the thing, but she still had never fired one. He had been concerned with conserving his ammunition, at least until he’d received the gunpowder from the dwarves. Joe was going to give her proper lessons in firing these weapons at some point after that, if only those lessons had come before now. She’d wait for an opportunity, paralyze him, then shoot him, and if that failed she would kill him another way. He shouldn’t have any way to escape the paralysis once it takes hold.
“I am Heiner of Relias, come out and face me now!” The mage declared, “Or are the tomes you consumed so pathetic?”
She cursed as she saw his robed legs, stony gray and cracked. He’d managed to find a stoneskin tome… would this gun be able to hurt Heiner with that active? She did still have her trump card, but using it would essentially disable her, and she couldn’t know how many foes remained outside. Still, if she used it, it may restore Joseph to consciousness. She’d need to see what happened. Sera held her breath as Heiner turned away from her position, moving to inspect the opposite side of the workshop.
She quietly crawled out from beneath the table, and raised the gun, putting her finger on the trigger and aiming it squarely at the center mass of her opponent. ‘Never put yer finger on the trigger if ya ain’t pointing it at something ya don’t wanna kill.’ She remembered Joe saying. Well, she wasn’t intending on sparing Heiner. She paralyzed him in place now that his back was to her, and then she pulled the trigger… but nothing happened.
She bit back a curse as she saw that the little safety lever hadn’t been flipped. She quickly did so, but Heiner seemed to blink out of existence before her eyes.
“Paralysis.” She heard him say from behind her, she whirled to face him. He stared at her, apparently amused. “I would have likely lost, had I not been able to teleport, what will you do now?” Sera aimed the gun at him, “What foolish contraption is that? Just surrender. If you think that will penetrate my stoneskin, then you-”
Sera fired, the shot impacting Heiner's gut and sending him sputtering backward. Sera fired again, and again, her ears ringing with each shot. Thankfully she’d grown somewhat used to the noise, in fact, the noise from this gun was nothing compared to the shotgun. Most of her shots frustratingly missed her target unfortunately, impacting with the lockers that Heiner had backed into.
Only one other bullet managed to land, hitting him squarely in the shoulder and taking out a solid chunk of rock. The gun clicked, completely empty. Heiner screamed and raised a hand, a steel spike appearing in thin air before it. Sera only barely managed to roll out of the way before the spike shot forward, punching straight through Joseph’s toolbox. Another two spikes shot forward from Heiner’s outstretched hand, one impaling the ground at her feet while the other one barely just missed her left arm, cutting a large gash through it before it impacted with the wall.
Sera raised her own hand, creating water in Heiner’s nostrils and mouth. He sputtered and coughed, his aim being thrown off even more as he shot out more spikes, though they were all way off their mark. The toolbox and lockers were becoming perforated with these spikes, and for an instant… Sera thought of how angry Joseph would be to see it. She would need to pull out a few more of her own spells to stand a chance, reloading the gun might take too long, her hands weren’t as practiced as Joe’s.
“Take this!” Heiner shouted, raising both hands.
Her eyes widened as a dozen head-sized balls of fire appeared before him, launching them at her with terrifying speed. Instinct took over, and she raised both her own hands, conjuring forth a thick wall of water, letting it hover in the space between her and Heiner. The fireballs impacted, the wall of water becoming occluded as it boiled. She rushed forward in that instant, preparing her next spell as the roiling water concealed her.
Yet, when the wall of water fell… She saw that Heiner was no longer there.
She felt something touch her back then, and she heard, “Rupture.”
The flesh of her back seemed to split apart, and warmth cascaded down her back, sending her falling to the ground with a scream. It felt as if she had been flogged with a razor tipped whip, the pain was nearly mind-numbing. Heiner huffed and puffed above her, clearly exhausted from the spells he had cast. The stoneskin was gone, his hands shaking as it clutched his now bleeding shoulder. His other hand grabbed at his stomach, but she saw that the wound had not taken out a big enough chunk to make it life threatening. Damned stoneskin…
“You should be proud…” Heiner huffed, pulling out a pair of cuffs from his belt, “I haven’t had that much fun in ages… To think I’d need to use teleportation on you… it is a shame you never joined my order, you may have risen high.”
Those were- by the Overseer, those were suppressor cuffs! Casting would be all but impossible if she were bound by them. A head poked through the doorway, the greasy man from earlier. He grinned happily at the sight of them, clapping his hands to come stand over her.
“Good work Heiner!” The man shouted, “Now cuff her and pull that man out of his armor.”
“...Very well.” He grumbled, kneeling over Sera. “But after this Jareed, my debt to Madame is paid.”
The pain in her back was excruciating, but she would not allow herself to be captured like this. It seemed that there was no choice. As soon as Heiner’s hand touched her arm… she cast it.
“Evacuation.” She muttered.
Heiner then became deathly pale, a green ethereal glow exiting through his back. He fell over onto his side, his body still alive, but empty. The ethereal wispy figure that had left Heiner seemed to shoot around in a panic before it tried to re-enter the body it had been forced out of. Her secret spell, the trigger being the word ‘Evacuation.’ Touch was not necessary, but it made the spell far more effective. With Heiner’s prowess, the contact had been necessary.
Jareed screeched like a child, jumping back at the sight, “Heiner!”
Sera breathed heavily, her body becoming numb, “I won…”
He then cursed, grabbing up the fallen cuffs and flipping her around, holding her wrists together before clasping them on. She couldn’t have cast Evacuation again, doing so may have killed her. She felt a separation then, between herself and the powers she wielded… it made her feel all the weaker. Jareed then flipped her around to face him, a glare on his face.
“How do I reverse this you witch!?” Jareed screamed at her, “Put him back!”
Sera gave a weak laugh, “I can’t… he has to figure that out himself.”
Her cheek stung as he slapped her, snarling, “Fine, if he can’t get back in, I at least don’t have to reward him! Now you and that fool outside are mine!”
His angered glare turned into a sickening leer as he looked her over, “Today has been quite frustrating, how about I take that out on you?”
He knelt down, and then ripped her shirt away, but Sera didn’t react. It was already over, there was nothing that he could do to her now. His head turned back toward the ramp sharply as he no doubt heard the same heavy footsteps she did. She grinned as Joseph appeared in the doorway, looking down at Jareed like he were a bug. The man stammered in an attempt to speak, but Joe overrode him.
“Why’s my friend naked?” Joe asked, voice level, “Why is that?”
Strange, she thought he’d have more heat in his voice… he sounded like cold steel.
Jareed held up shaking hands, “You misunderstand! I just h-happened to be passing by, I was trying to free her-”
“I’ve seen you before.” Joe continued, “I thought that fat guy had killed ya. Looks like I’ll need to finish the job.”
“I’m innocent!” Jareed screamed, “Please don’t kill me, this is all a misunderstanding!”
“You still got bits of her shirt in your hand.” Joe said, laying his rifle on the table and approaching him, “It's over now.” Jareed scrambled through the doorway and into the living room of Betty, “I’ll be back.” Joe told her, his tone maintaining that icy edge.
She was too exhausted to care that her shirt had been ruined. Her back still bled profusely and everything was beginning to grow dark… just before she fell unconscious though… she heard a blood curdling scream.