The Power of Ten, Book Five: Versatile Wizardry

Six surviving soldiers; four men, two women. The scouting team had ten, so this was actually pretty damn good.

“Coming in on you,” I said, as the stone morphed into an easy passage for me, and I glided along above the stone out of it into their Light.

Three of the soldiers actually still had barbed bristles sticking out of them, snapped off an inch above their skin. Getting down here must have been incredibly painful, done in desperation and panic. I could see the dread on their faces as they listened to the insects scuttling quietly through the stone all around.

“Introductions later. I’m a Void Mage, I’ve got a Pocket big enough to hold you all.” Their eyes all lit up in anxious hope. “I’m going to put you inside, Blink back outside, and bring you back out. Just close your eyes, don’t resist, and hold your breath for thirty seconds.”

They all nodded quick understanding, desperate to get out of the tightly enclosed space. I counted down, they inhaled, and pop-pop, I brought them into the Pocket, one after another, taking care to keep them away from the other stuff in there.

My Blink back up top delivered me right into the middle of the KIA’s formation, and I brought the six survivors back out instantly.

They cried out despite themselves when they saw the sun above them and friendly Hunters standing guard around them. I flicked up some Disks to lay them down on, while Mick just pointed, the stone Walls about us crumbled, and Driver Sam’s Earth Wave started rolling us out of there.

I had plenty of Healing Magic, as well as the Healing Reserve. I reached in with TK, expanding the space around the bristles inside their flesh to free the barbs, and slowly drew the impaling spider-hairs out one by one, tossing the spikes to the side as black-touched crimson welled out behind them. A little anti-venom got rid of the bleeding reaction, while Healing Reserve closed the holes left behind and put their flesh back into shape. They only had to chug a Blood Healing Potion or two to get their blood loss fixed as I worked my way slowly through them, ignoring their thanks and telling them to be quiet and not move as I worked.

“Thank you for coming, Captain,” the lieutenant breathed, not bothering to get back up after the Mick pushed him right back down. He settled for an armclasp. “We thought we were going to die down there.”

“A pleasure to bring you home, Lieutenant,” the Mick said with a pat on the dark-skinned man’s bare shoulder. “Congratulations, you’re all going to get medals out of this!”

Lieutenant Jefferson shook his head slightly. “They’re probably going to be blaming the whole thing on our team,” he said sourly. “Which I can totally believe, but we didn’t start the Swarm. We got there just as someone else did!”

We all looked at one another as the whole group of survivors nodded agreement.

“We saw the fight in the distance, maybe two miles to the west of here. Someone or something was making a big ruckus there, driving the Spiders crazy as they did. By the time we pulled back, it was too late, the Swarm had already started, and it overran us in minutes. Georges there managed to find the Ant tunnels and we pulled back inside them, but it was pretty obvious that we weren’t going to be getting back out that way.”

“Was it someone, or something that started this?” I asked neutrally, still working.

“A Human, definitely of the Archmage level. I could see it when they punched through the Webs the Tarantulas raised to trap them. They were throwing down some nasty impressive Fire and Chaos Magic, which they used to escape them. Magic Wings, too.”

“But they didn’t take on the local Ruler, because they weren’t stupid, but it’s only how far away now?” I had to ask.

“The Sapphire Horned Tarantula King is believed to lair about twenty miles that way,” Red said from the side, pointing. “Easily close enough to rile it.”

The Mick put a hand on the lieutenant’s shoulder. “You’re not reporting in at Fort Montgomery, Lieutenant. We’re taking the lot of you to Fort Hood’s people.”

The soldier blinked, as did the other survivors. “Sir?” he asked uncertainly.

“How’s your relationship with Colonel Harrison? Be blunt,” the Mick said grimly.

“The man’s an ass,” was the instant reply, backed by grunts from the other survivors. “He can’t command his way out of a pothole, doesn’t do his paperwork, can barely handle basic deployment orders, and all he does is crow about how powerful his damn Seed is,” the lieutenant spat. “I can see why he was assigned to Fort Montgomery. It gets him somewhere he won’t irritate the brass.”

“And the Colonel is aware of your opinion of him?”

“It’s widely shared among everyone posted there,” the lieutenant sniffed.

“Well, he’s a goddamn hero now for stopping a Spider Swarm with absolutely minimal losses. Yet you say someone else started the whole thing... someone who started the whole process right there when a scouting mission was conveniently sent out to ascertain the Spiders’ numbers and get a read on when they’d be coming.”

The expressions on the six survivors chilled. “That’s pretty dangerous talk,” the lieutenant rasped, but he didn’t refute it.

“The poisoned cattle,” I said quietly, as I was administering to the third of them, the quick-thinking short Georges fellow. “That was a brutally effective tactic from... Mr. Venkman, I believe it was? If you consider it, that kind of tactic is not something you can just set up and perform in an hour or two, and really, who plans to poison their whole herd on a whim? In a normal situation, the Swarm would be spotted far ahead of time, and reinforcements from Fort Hood would be there in plenty of time to confront it.

“I don’t have the history, but I’m betting in the past that the Swarm never made it to his ranch.”

“No,” Red agreed from the side, scanning the flanks as he listened. “The combat history is that they are normally turned away within five miles of the Ward’s edge. But there was no time for the reinforcements to come this time.”

“Until the Mick spoiled everything by sending off an early alarm,” I pointed out. Which had been me, but nobody said that. “Which at least got the Fort ready to slow things down. Only a tithe of the Swarm actually made it all the way to the poisoned cattle. They were still all killed, but their effect on the Swarm was much less than it could have been.”

“And almost no toll on his neighbors at all,” Burt pointed out coolly. “Venkman owns the outermost ring of ranches, I heard.”

“So... did he poison the cattle for areas which actually weren’t threatened by the Spider Swarm?” I wondered aloud. “Given it lost most of its numbers before it got to him, he was probably expecting them to attack across a MUCH larger area.

“More to the point, did he warn his neighbors and offer to use the same tactic for them?”

Everyone looked pretty thoughtful. Doing so would have let them share in his glory, while not doing so meant they would suffer catastrophic losses with no recourse.

“Venkman has a nasty reputation if he’s crossed, so doing something like that to his cattle wouldn’t surprise anyone,” Lieutenant Jefferson admitted. “He and Harrison get along pretty well. He coordinates some patrols with the Fort, so they talk fairly often...”

“Shouldn’t the Army have sent out its own Search and Recovery teams with the Fort Hood reinforcements here to cover for them?” I asked archly, waving a hand around as I finished up with the spike-stuck men and started on the others. The most common type of secondary wounds seemed to be nasty gashes from Ant mandibles.

“There’s currently an interdiction on travel to the north of Fort Montgomery,” Glenn reported immediately. “They’re ‘afraid the Ruler is active and they don’t want to disturb it further’.” He cynically made the air quotes to go with it.

“We kinda bypassed that getting here,” the Mick said thoughtfully, glancing at me. “Sam, pull over.”

Our Driver smoothly moved us into the lee of a rock formation, everyone looking at the sky warily.

“Y’know, there was a Vulture up in the sky not long ago, and just after it left, two Commanders went at it nice and loud. Good reasons not to get too close if you’re a scouting team,” Red mused aloud. “If someone were sent out to see if there were any survivors, they’d probably follow protocol and wait until all that was done, and a bit more, after investigating another point of interest nearby.”

“How far are we from our ride?” the Mick asked fatalistically.

--------

“That’s not a Search and Recovery team,” rasped the lieutenant from beside us. A couple Blood Healing Potions had replaced most of his lost fluids, so he was able to get around, although he didn’t have much magic left in him. “Most of those teams are well-known and popular, it’s an elite posting. I’ve never seen any of those people.”

“That’s because they are Hunters in borrowed uniforms,” the Mick said grimly. “They don’t even have the right patches to be S&R.” He glanced at me. “That Mask give you close-ups?”

My black and white Mask of Clarity lit up and fell down over my eyes, zooming in with the Eagle Eyes magnification. Behind me and out of sight, I popped up Holos of the men whose faces I could see.

Glenn and Burt snapped pictures of them all, while Big John exclaimed enthusiastically, “That’s the Hands of Havoc! I recognize Olaf the Havocmaster there!” He pointed at an older guy of Slavic background. “He’s got the Fire and Chaos Elements, he’s famous for covering huge areas of a battlefield in fire, and he’s an Archmage...”

“Can you take down an Archmage, Lady Fae?” the Mick asked carefully. The Hunters below were gathering up and preparing to move out from where they’d been taking a rest around the upside-down and chopped-up remnants of an armored van. Judging by its construction, it was more of a mobile battle-point out here, traveling by Earth Wave instead of on its tires.

“From surprise? Sure. If not, and he’s not overly cocky, well, he can just cook everyone around me, and I’ll have to run away.” I pointed at his Holo. “He should have Wings. Do you remember the type and color, Big John?”

“I’d look them up, but nobody’s going to use their phones out here, Lady Fae,” the stocky Adept shrugged.

My question was promptly answered as a stiff pair of glasslike Wings formed on the Archmage’s back, glowing pale blue as he rose into the air. Everyone looked at the lieutenant, who nodded grimly.

I waved my hand, and a sheathe of illusionary camouflage covered everyone as we hunkered down, concealing us from overhead observation, everyone sort of gawking at the semi-transparent illusion woven into existence so casually. The Archmage didn’t go up too high, only a couple hundred yards, and was restraining his Aura carefully, while the force on the ground got aboard an Earth Wave and Wind Trail combination, flowing on down the trail and out of line of sight at speed.

They also felt his Awareness pass right on over us and continue on without pausing.

“Alright, everyone stay under cover of the illusion. Who’s the supply person here?” Driver Sam promptly raised his hand at my question. Dur, right. “We’re going down there invisibly, you’re going to point out what I should take, then we’re coming back up here and getting out of here.” I paused. “So, let me very carefully ask... why you aren’t going to use your phones out here?” I inquired.

They all sort of blinked at me. “Lady Fae,” Red replied equally carefully, “the tech inside the phones basically broadcasts our locations to any Beasts in the area, and riles them up to attack us.”

I blinked slowly. “You... don’t have models that sidestep that?” I asked, startling all of them.

“They exist?” blurted out the Mick, who grit his teeth promptly. “Where can we get some?!” he followed up immediately.

I rubbed my fingers together meaningfully, and everyone just sighed. “So... who is okay with giving up their phone to really see that these guys get what is coming to them?” I added, equally meaningfully.

They all looked at one another, and then every member of the scouting team dug for their phones and held them out for me, faces grim with expectant delight.