The Hedge Wizard

Hump’s hand went to the Book of Infinite Pages on his belt, checking that it was still there. He felt a surge of relief at its presence.

A hint of amusement filled Karlac’s eyes at Hump’s reaction, before he turned to Bud as the knight released the people imprisoned in the demonic marketplace. It almost appeared to be pity in Karlac’s eyes as he watched the scene unfold. Almost…

There was a hollowness to them that gave away his lack of humanity and reminded Hump of the living wall—an indifference. The demon might speak and even look similar to a person, but it would think nothing of killing every one of them if given the chance. It was a monster—a beast of hell—which raised the question, why hadn’t it simply struck Hump down and taken what it was there for when it had the chance?

It seemed such thoughts were Hump’s alone, however, as Celaine did not hesitate to strike. She spun, Bloodshadow already in her hand, the dagger trailing a wisp of shadow as she sliced at Karlac’s windpipe with incredible speed.

The demon leaned back nimbly, dodging just enough out of range for the dagger to pass by harmlessly. Hump’s hesitation disappeared in that moment. Whatever the devil’s reason for wasting its opportunity, Hump wouldn’t give it another. He levelled his staff at Karlac’s chest, fire blazing in his focus.

“Fire Blast,” Hump barked.

A raging inferno erupted through the air. At the same time, Nisha roared, unleashing her own torrent of fire. The two flames engulfed Karlac. Searing heat blasted in the air, stinging against Hump’s face and sweeping back his hair and cloak. Behind him, the alarmed cries of the imprisoned filled the demon market.

Bud’s commands sounded behind Hump, ordering the Blackthorne Company to guard the rescued slaves. At the same time, the others gathered at Hump’s side, drawing their weapons and preparing for battle. Along with Hump’s own party, Marcela had been in the dungeon node when Karlac had first made his appearance. She knew the strength of the creature that they now faced.

As Hump maintained his spell, he soon felt foreign intent pushing back against his own. No, not just pushing, this will was crushing. Hump gritted his teeth, throwing more essence and will into his magic, urging it to burn hotter, but in moments his flame was quashed—crushed in Karlac’s will. The fire condensed as if sucked into a single spot. The heat left the air. As the blaze cleared, the demon stood there having not moved from his spot. His arm was stretched in Hump’s direction, hand closing into a clenched, gauntleted fist as the last of their fires was crushed within.

Karlac unfurled his two vast wings, their shadow darkening the world around him. The demon stood up straighter, until he towered over Hump, eclipsing the sky behind him in a wreath of gloom. The weight of his intent fell upon Hump like a vice, threatening to hold him in place and freeze him in fear, but Hump resisted. He met the creatures smouldering eyes—orange heat flickering within black, soulless pits.

It was now that Hump took in the terror of him entirely. His armour was dark grey, almost black, as if forged from the very depths of a volcanic abyss. It was a strange piece, with sharp, angular lines that hugged his muscular form. Elegant, flame-like motifs adorned the metal, each one curling and twisting. Intricate patterns of glowing runes etched across the surface, flickering with fiery crimson and molten gold light. There was a long, wide blade sheathed in dark leather at his hip.

“Your fire cannot burn me, Wizard,” Karlac snarled furiously. “Your magic cannot harm me. Your blades cannot touch me. I appear before you now as a sign of goodwill, and you greet me with such vulgarity.”

“Did you expect a smile?” Hump asked. He glanced nervously at the market behind the demon, searching for more but as far as he could tell, Karlac was alone. To the side, Celaine stepped back behind the line of Chosen, sheathing her dagger and taking out a bow and arrow. Hump readied his own essence, bronze light dancing in his focus—if fire did not work, he would try something else.

“Don’t let it speak,” Bud said, sword in hand as he stepped out in front of Hump and Nisha. Frostfire blazed along his blade, and the air took on a cold blue shimmer as his blessings were brought to bear.

“The child of Kelisia,” Karlac said, bemused. “I should think long and hard about what you are willing to sacrifice.” The demon extended a finger, tendrils of flames spouting in thin strands from the tip and spreading out overhead.

“Shield,” Hump barked. Nearby, Len’s own barrier was added to the mix, but the tendrils did not descend.

“Steady!” Marcela said. “We do not let it pass us.” Her hand was on the hilt of her sheathed blade. Marcela stood on Hump’s left, Dylan beside her, while Emilia and Henrietta were on his right. The others formed up beside them, shields and weapons ready.

“That is the devil we saw from the dungeon node,” Marcela whispered.

“What does it want?” Len asked, standing just behind them.

“It’s after me,” Hump whispered back. “Or my spellbook, more specifically.”

“Gods, Wizard, what is in that book?” Len hissed. Hump felt Len’s eyes go to it, but his blessings did not falter, the barrier still maintained overhead.

Bud glanced at the tendrils of flame, face furrowing with anger. “You speak of vulgarity yet threaten innocents.”

Karlac sighed and turned away from the knight. A shiver ran through Hump as the demon’s eyes settled once more on him. “Come with me willingly, Disciple of the Wanderer, and I shall raise no finger against these people. You know what I promised you. I told you I would come here with an offer you cannot refuse. Now is your opportunity. Knowledge, power, influence—you shall have it all… so long as you hand me that book. Or decline my offer, and all of you shall die today.”

Nisha snarled with such viciousness Hump feared she might pounce at the demon. Hump urged the little dragon to stay put. Under no circumstance could she do that. This was not a fight she could win.

“You will not have him, demon,” Bud spat before Hump even had a chance to consider his options. “Chosen! Blessings!”

“Blessings!” Marcela shouted, reinforcing the order. “Protect the White Flame!”

The line of Chosen on either side of Hump pressed in tighter, their blessings mingling in the air, filling Hump with strength.

“Over our dead bodies,” another Chosen shouted—a man Hump didn’t know the name of from the Sheercliff Company. The Chosen at his side cheered their agreement. Knights with shields stepped in front of Hump, forming a line of five with Bud at the centre. There was no hesitation in any of them. Warmth flooded Hump, touched by their loyalty.

“Is this your answer?” Karlac asked in a low voice.

Hump took a breath, the weight of responsibility weighing on his shoulders. It crossed his mind that many of these people might die for him now—die for his spellbook. Yet the Book of Infinite Pages could not fall into the hands of such a powerful and evil being. “The answer is no.”

Karlac’s face fell, becoming downcast. He appeared genuinely sad. “A pity.”

Shadow rose from his wings, laced with flickering embers. The darkness around him grew deeper and the smell of sulphur filled the marketplace like rotten eggs. Karlac’s intent became even more powerful, taking control of the essence in the air and warping it to his will. A cold wind screamed like a howling banshee. The ground groaned, shifting beneath Karlac’s pressure as if straining against an unbearable weight. The world behind him disappeared to reveal a grand courtyard surrounded by stone walls. There stood the demon’s army.

There were hundreds of them packed into the courtyard. The front ranks were filled with skinny, sand-skinned creatures with hollow eyes and pits for mouths. When they cheered and roared, a fire was revealed in their throats. They carried spears entirely made of dark grey metal and were armoured in stony growths that hardened over their skin. They were the most numerous of the enemy.

Amongst them were larger, fiercer looking creatures—twice as tall and thrice as wide, they were hulking beasts of charred black fur and ashen flesh. Ram horns curled around either side of their heads like shells, and while they wore little armour, their arms and chest were plated in a copper-coloured metal. They wielded hammers that rivalled Owen’s for size, their heads formed from the same copper-like metal, or bows as large as siege weapons.

The ram horns were a giveaway. They were arithars. The demons were famed for their physical strength and endurance, and Hump had even read a tale of a dungeon core guarded by one. They were powerful creatures in their own right.

“Witness my domain.” Karlac’s voice was deep and resonant with power. He had changed now—the elegant, human-like façade was gone, and in its place stood a figure shrouded in shadow and fire. His dark armour gleamed with it, rivers of molten red running through its many runes and motifs, until its fiery curls appeared ablaze.

Those words made Hump realise what he was witnessing. This was a domain, but not like those of a seventh circle Chosen. This was the domain of a magic user. This power was what it took to breakthrough the barrier of the seventh rank—to impart one’s will upon the world and twist reality to one’s whims. The barrier between the realm of the Infernal Halls and another had been breached, and Hump now stared at the beasts that lurked in the darkest corners of the realms.

The demons surged out of the courtyard and into the Infernal Halls, shouting and snarling as their feet beat the stone floor.

“Bring the demon down,” Marcela commanded, her voice cutting through the chaos. “Ranged fighters, concentrate your attacks on him. Everyone else, do not break formation.”

Marcela drew her blade with a hiss, a blade of water surging forth. The air echoed with the rush of a stream, and a gurgling sounded in Hump’s ears as if he were underwater. More blessings joined the mix, and Hump gripped his staff tightly, focusing on the spell he’d been meticulously building.

He took out his spellbook—there was no use concealing it now. A torrent of power rushed between his staff and book, the focus shining with deep bronze light, its radiance growing brighter as it condensed into an orb. Tendrils of energy crackled outward, lashing the ground. At the heart of the light, a dark shape began to form, spinning as it gathered mass.

“Titan’s Wrath.”

The shard launched forward with a deafening crack, joining the barrage of projectiles that soared through the air toward the towering demon. Karlac’s dark wings curled around him like a fortress of shadow. The onslaught of magic and arrows collided with his shielded form, but the wings held, absorbing the brunt of the attack unharmed.

Suddenly, a brilliant flash of silver light came from behind, cutting through the blessings and magic in the air. Laced with the killing intent of Celaine, Hump recognised it instantly. Her Eclipse Arrow was a bolt of pure lethal precision, enhanced with her many blessings. From the shadows, the huntress emerged, her form almost indistinguishable from the darkness that clung to her like a second skin. She released her arrow, and it streaked through the air. At this range, she could not miss.

For a moment, everything was consumed by an explosion of blinding light. The force of it sent a shockwave rippling through the marketplace, and Hump shielded his eyes against the brilliance. When the light faded, he squinted through the haze, expecting to see Karlac still somehow standing.

But the demon was gone.

In his place stood one of the arithar, its face twisted in agony with Celaine’s arrow embedded in its chest. The creature let out a guttural snarl as it collapsed.

Hump barely had time to process the sight when something cold and sinister curled around his ankle. He looked down, his heart skipping a beat as he saw a shadowy hand emerging from the ground beneath him, its fingers coiling around his leg with an iron grip.

Nisha was on it before he could blink, tearing at the hand and snarling ferociously, yet the grip did not loosen.

Panic surged through Hump, and he opened his mouth to shout a warning. “Bel—”

Before he could finish, the hand yanked hard, dragging him downward with a force that stole his breath. Hump’s stomach lurched as he was pulled into the darkness, solid earth replaced by an endless abyss of shadow. He sensed Nishari nearby and reached for her, pulling her close. Her own panic joined his, echoing in their bond.

She flapped her wings, trying to slow their descent but it made no difference. Above, the marketplace grew more distant. He viewed it as if from below, the floor having become incorporeal. Then it appeared as if the world was falling too, only, the positions of buildings and people seemed fixed. It was more like the world was folding in around him, everything upside down and on its side, as if viewed through a strange contraption of mirrors.

And then solid ground appeared beneath them. Hump screamed as it rushed up to meet them, only for their speed to suddenly slow. He landed softly on his feet, and the darkness was gone. He stood now in a lavish hall, decadently decorated in fine red carpets and gold ornaments.

“Now that’s much better,” came Karlac’s voice. Hump turned to see the demon seated upon a throne at the head of the room. He was no longer in his demonic form, appearing every bit a human now, but for his black, burning eyes.