A Long Time from Home Ch. 34

"< Yes... Before I say more, if you have an item that allows you to communicate with the people helping you, please take it off. What I'm about to tell you, could not only save your life, but also get them to kill you... oh... and remember, that it is almost impossible to lie while using mental communication >"

She had been speaking quickly to the others, while she listened to me and I could see soldiers starting to leave the Stone Structure.

However, when I had finished speaking, she removed a neckless and handed it to Mags. "< Okay Doc, what's so important you want to risk your life here? >"

"< You are aware of, what you're guarding, right? >"

"< Yes. One of the Dimensional Anchors, that have been used to keep Baylon from disappearing >"

"< Well, if you want Baylon to disappear, why haven't you guys destroyed it like the two other anchors? >"

"< Well, because as long as at least one anchor is active, you guys can't make four new ones and keep Baylon here where it doesn't belong >"

For a moment, I was silent as I thought it over. Angus Nigrus Cor had obviously been smart enough to use the truth to give a false impression. While it was technically correct that new anchors couldn't be made as long as one of the old ones were still working, it was also beside the point: As long as the planets didn't align right, the magic wouldn't work anyway.

"< Anyway, Doc >" continued Chuzara, "< You didn't answer the question. What are you doing here? >"

"< Trying to save both our asses >" I replied and explained the situation to her, how the world would be destroyed and how Angus Nigrus Cor had told the truth, but not all of it. "< So, unless that anchor is wrecked, both this world and Baylon will be destroyed >"

Now it was her turn to be silent. Mentally at least, because I could see her talking with the other three. Then I saw something I had feared from the start. Despite my warning, the big guy named Piler, reached up and touched his neckless as he closed his eyes.

"< No! Don't contact the mage! >" I sent to Chuzara, but it was too late. There were three small explosions as the magical necklaces blew up, decapitating Kruse and Piler in the process.

Chuzara was stunned for a moment but recovered when the soldiers drew their weapons and advanced on her. Stumbling from the shock, she turned around and ran. She didn't make it far before a previously invisible mage suddenly appeared near one of the stones as he cast a bolt of Ice at her. It hit her in the back, and I was sure she would fall, but she doubled her speed and ran away in a zig-zag pattern until she disappeared into the trees in the grove we had scouted earlier.

"Varro, you're up!"

He cast a spell that made the hairs on my neck prickle and stand up. I didn't recognize it, but from the feel of it, it was a powerful elemental spell. I felt a gust of wind and a heartbeat later, clouds came rolling in with impossible speed, covering the whole area in semi darkness. Then lightning lit it up again, striking down from the sky accompanied by terrifying booms of thunder.

The chant changed and the wind began moving in a circle around the stone structure, preventing the defenders from getting out, while hail and lightning hammered down on the people inside it. Most of soldiers were covering their heads with their shields as they ran into cover under the horizontal stones. Some didn't make it as they were hit by lightning before they could even move.

Another change in the chant and the hail grew bigger, pelting the defenders with egg size hails, killing some and wounding many more.

Balls of magical fire left the stone structure, hitting random patches of plant growth that could hide a mage and one landed a few cubits left of Varro, missing him narrowly.

The chant grew harsher and all of the sudden, the hail turned into flame, raining down on the stone structure, setting fire to whatever it landed on, while lightning continued to strike down from the sky.

I swallowed something. It was spells like that that had allowed the insane victims of the Disease to lay waste to many cities on Baylon. Especially considered that Varro was still young and weak in power compared to the full elemental Dominus and Dominus Grande out there.

"Goddess!" Breathed Verina at the sight. "Glad I'm not in there."

I didn't answer, as I heard somebody walking through the bushes to my right.

Drawing Shadow Fang, I took a few steps in that direction, just as a group of red armored soldiers came charging out of the bushes, followed by a mage, who were already casting a spell.

He went down a moment later with two knives in him as both Verina and I hit him.

Activating Pugnando Mico Gradus (Baylon: "Combat Flash Step") Vis Power, that allowed me to move incredible fast for a short distance, while still being able to react to my surroundings, I dashed between the soldiers, hitting each as I passed them, slashing through armor, flesh and bone with each hit, wounding or killing them.

Verina followed up, killing two of the wounded soldiers, and a moment later we were alone again.

"Goddess!" breathed Tia as she looked at the dead soldiers with wide eyes and I suddenly realized that the mage had no idea about our combat capabilities. "That was insanely fast!"

"Don't look at me." Said Verina and blew me a kiss. "Ivah is way faster and stronger than I am. That's why he's a captain and I'm not."

I ignored it as I looked over at Varro, that was casting another spell. This one was shorter and a moment later, a small ball of fire left his hand, streaked in between the stones, and exploded in a gigantic ball of fire, large enough to encompass the whole structure.

That was followed by one more a few heartbeats later and even from this distance, I could hear the scream of those hit. Unfortunately, the plate armor would protect the defenders from serious damage even from such massive spells. Yes, some would die, but there was a lot of them.

Four more elemental balls left Varro's hands in rapid succession, but this time they were Balls of Ice, each one engulfing the whole structure in a powerful blast of freezing cold when they exploded.

Then he relaxed his shoulders and walked over to us. "I'm almost out of power. The storm will continue for a little while, but then it will disappear."

"Thank you and good work." I looked at Tia. "Are the Nequams ready?"

She looked pale, but determined, as she nodded. "Yes, I just need to conjure some darkness, so they can move in without being ripped apart from a distance."

With the speed Nequams moved in, I highly doubted that would happen, but it was a good idea, so I just nodded and turned to look at the swirling storm surrounding the stone structure. There was no going inside now, so I hoped that the Return didn't speed up even more.

"By the way, Varro." Said Verina behind me. "How did Junia get hold of you so fast?"

"What do you mean?" He asked, looking puzzled. "Who's Junia?"

"It's the cover name for the young noble woman who asked you to come." I explained, as I looked at him. "She never told me her real name."

Varro looked at be in disbelief for a few heartbeats. Then he burst out laughing, almost doubling over with amusement.

Verina and I exchanged glances, with Verina shrugging her shoulders lightly, signalling that she didn't get the joke either.

We waited a few moments, until Varro got himself under control. Then he dried the tears off his eyes. "You seriously don't know who she is?"

I shook my head. "No."

"My friend, that young lady is Loreia Malla Rex, eldest daughter of the High King and more commonly known as Princess Loreia of Baylon." Varro informed us with a huge grin on his face.

"You're kidding me." I said flatly.

Varro shook his head, but the grin was still on his face. "No. Princess Loreia was the one that contacted me and demanded that I gated to the Palace Garden as soon as possible. She even greeted me there and directed me to the gate." He tilted his head a bit. "I know her because I'm noble and attend Royal Balls, but you don't... so the question is, where do you know her from?"

I glanced over at Verina who was laughing so hard that she had tears in her eyes, and then looked back at Varro again. "Trust me, you don't want to know."

His eyes grew wide. "Oh no, you didn't!"

For some reasons, that made Verina laugh even harder, while Tia just chuckled, looking a lot less pale than she had done a moment ago.

I was at loss for words, but fortunately the magical storm Varro had created, stopped as suddenly as it had started.

Without hesitation Tia said something in a language I didn't understand and pointed at the structure. Darkness arose from the ground, obscuring vision, and cloaking the whole structure.

More strange words and the Nequams ran towards the structure and disappeared into the darkness. A moment later the sound of combat reached my ears.

"I can't see anything!" Complained Varro.

"No worries." Said Tia without taking her eyes off the structure. "I'll know if anything happens to them."

"Thank you."

Instead of answering, Tia grimaced. "First Nequam down."

I raised my eyebrows. "That was fast."

She shrugged her shoulder. "Lucky hit, I guess."

"I guess so. Let's move to another place." I suggested. "I doubt that we have gotten all of the scouts."

We changed position and had just arrived in another patch of bushes when Tia said. "Second Nequam down."

"They're good." Mumbled Varro, making Verina nod. "Very good. Not many people, be it Baylon or human can manage to take down a Nequam."

"It's the shields." Explained Tia. "Like most things that fight with tooth and claws, Nequam have a hard time breaking through shield formations."

I nodded. Shield formations with interlocking shields would be the best way to protect against a whirlwind of claw attacks. Especially if the defenders had spears.

"Another one." Sighed Tia.

We stood in silence, looking at the darkness engulfing the structure, listening to the sound of combat, and trying to guess what was going on inside, while the Nequams fell one by one.

Reaching out with my mind, I tried to detect mind-patterns to get a sense of how many that was left. Somewhat to my surprise, there was only about thirty remaining and none of them were exactly shining brightly.

Suddenly, I could feel the humming of Baylon magic in the air.

"Flaming shit!" Varro cursed. "I feel a Gate."

"Yes, but where?" Verina asked.

More and more human mind-patterns appeared inside the structure. "They're inside. I guess whomever Piler tried to call, have decided to send in some reinforcements. Either that, or this have been the plan all along."

"Baylon or humans?" Asked Verina.

"Humans."

"That's a comfort."

I nodded as I considered our options again. Unfortunately, there weren't many, as the anti-device needed time to work and we needed to protect it, while it worked. Otherwise, one of the soldiers could simply pick it up and throw it out of range of the anchor.

Calculating the odds, I sighed. Going up against overwhelming forces wasn't exactly a recipe for long life and I needed to live long enough for the anti-magic device to do its job. On the bright side, the soldiers didn't have any ranged weapons, limiting their range to how far they could throw their knives and axes, but on the other hand, we didn't have time to use that advantage to use the bow to kill some of the soldiers from a safe distance. At least not as the only option.

Verina heard the sigh. "Yeah, we're out of options. Time to dance with the Goddess of Death again."

"Yeah, just don't let her lead." I replied and looked at Varro. "Are you still good with a bow?"

He nodded. "Yes."

"Good, we're going to need it." I said and handed him my bow and quiver. "Here you go."

He shook his head and a glowing bow of Vis energy materialized in his hand. "No thanks, this is my size, and I haven't used any Vis today."

"Smart ass." I said with a chuckle and gave Verina the quiver instead. "Change of plans. There're not that many remaining, so when the last Nequam falls, I'll go inside and place the device. You two stay on the outside and kill those who comes out."

"Deal. I'll take the north side, then Varro can take this side along with Tia." Verina said as she took the quiver and walked away from me. "Do your Captain magic, while we get ready."

"Two Nequams left." Announced Tia.

The Nequams might be destroyed, but they took a lot of soldiers with them and by the time Tia said, "One left.", there was 'only' about forty soldiers remaining.

Using Ars Mentalis, I affected the air around the structure, causing a thick fog to form, blocking the vision of those inside, but not for me, as the Battle Armor was enchanted with both fog- and dark- vision spells. Then I used the Ars Mentalis trick that made me stronger, before I drew my sword and finished off with a trick called Alis nigro ignem (Baylon: Wings of Black Fire).

Flames of reddish blackness appeared around me, clinging to the blade of my sword, and slowly solidifying on my back, where they wouldn't be in the way of any weapons. A few heartbeats later, it looked like wings of black fire had appeared on my back, giving the trick its name. Around me, the bushes started wilting and burst into flames, as the heat from the black wings hit them. More mental power ran through me, this time making me faster.

I infused mental energy into the sword, feeling it getting sharper, as I activated the power that enabled me to parry or dodge attacks I couldn't even see coming,

"That was the last." Said Tia in a shaking voice.

With all the deaths in the area, there was no way I could use Vis to get in there as it would be blocked by all the Negative Vis. Instead, I used an Ars Mentalis trick to teleport myself to where the Anchor was, appearing in a fog-filled half-circle of stones. Several soldiers started to scream, as the Wings of Black Fire set them ablaze.

There were soldiers everywhere and most of them had drawn weapons, while protecting themselves from the heat of the wings with their shields.

A wave of mental energy stunned the soldiers around me just long enough for me to activate the anti-magic device and drop it between a stone pillar and a dead soldier, where it wouldn't accidently get hit or kicked away. A scream from behind told me, that at least one soldier had fled the wings, just to be hit by an arrow the moment he left the fog and the cover of the stone structure.

I took a quick step to the side, narrowly avoiding being hit by two thrown axes, and activated Mutatur Tempus Mente. Time slowed to a crawl, as the soldiers attacked.

I don't remember much after that. The world was a blur of black flames and flashing adamant, of Ars Mentalis and Vis Vitae, of screams and blood, as I moved within the slow, secure world of Mutatur Tempus Mente, using the pillars to avoid getting surrounded, while dealing death to everyone that came near the anti-magic device and avoiding entering the anti-magical field myself.

Lines of power started to radiate from the centre of the node, causing the remaining soldiers to rush towards it. I was there in a heartbeat, swords and black flames cutting down anybody coming close to the anti-magic device as the lines of power grew.

The last soldier turned, ran outside, and died a moment later, as Verina and Varro took him out.

That brought me back to reality with shocking speed.

Without a portal maker Verina couldn't get away before the Dimensional Anchor released its energy.

"< Varro, take Tia and get out NOW! >" I sent to all of them. "< Verina, I'll come to you >"

"< Got it >" Replied Varro and Verina in unison.

Cancelling the Alis nigro ignem, I ran to the north side, moving so fast the pillars around me became a blur, while plucking one of the Portal Makers I had taken at Arcem Discendi from my belt and activating it. Like all portal makers, the magical device would make a magical portal to Baylon and it was the fastest and most secure way home.

Verina sent me a smile as she saw me and held out her arms, so I could get a good hold of her, which I did as the portal started to form a few paces away from us.

"We did it!" She said excited and kissed me.

Then everything went white, as the magic that created the dimensional anchor was dispelled, releasing the energy it had held for millennia.

A wave of power washed over us, so intense that it caused the magical armors to disintegrate and blow away as dust in the wind, leaving us dressed in black dragon leather, while we desperately held on to each other against the wave. I even saw Verina's sword being ripped from her belt as the scabbard turned to dust. The weapon spun away from us, carried by the wave of power, until it embedded itself blade first in a rock.

By the grace of the Goddess of Luck, the portal device survived despite having blown further away from us, and when the wave was past us, I could see the courtyard at the hospital on the other side, proving that it worked.

We ran towards it just as a glow appeared in the horizon, moving towards us at extreme speed. That could only mean, that the energy from the disintegrated anchor had travelled up the lines until it reached Baylon, where the protection magic would cause the lines to snap before they could damage the shield. That left the energy with only one way to travel and that was right back to the power node here.

However, since it was a node with several lines connected to it, that glow would only be the first of the numerous lines of magical power that had connected Baylon to the dimensional anchor, and we were in its path as they whipped back to the power node.

Even worse was that the lines of magical power would reach us before we reached the portal and being hit with that much power would plain out disintegrate us both.

Reacting on instinct, I used a telekinetic push to throw Verina through the portal, while dodging to the side, narrowly escaping being hit as the line of power flew past me, burning grass and setting bushes ablaze as it went.

Landing on my feet, I turned to run to the portal, but as I watched Verina getting to her feet in the courtyard and look towards me, the portal blinked out of existence, leaving only the crumbling ruins of the portal maker. It had survived the energy wave, but the line of power had smashed it to pieces.

It wasn't all that it had done as I discovered as a searing pain ran over my skin. Even the near miss had disintegrated the leather armor and every other magical item I had on me, leaving standing only in my loincloth with the equipment harness still on my naked upper body, and the left side of my body covered with burn wounds, though I could feel the Ars Mentalis healing starting by itself, as it was designed to do.

Blocking the pain, I froze for a heartbeat, when I realized that the extra portal maker was gone along with the rest of the magical items.

Several glows appeared in the horizon and for a moment, I was certain the Goddess of Death had called me to her but remembered the Gate that had brought us here.

Using an Ars Mentalis trick, I teleported to the Gate, grabbed the bags we had stashed there and threw myself through it just as I felt an enormous power wash over me. I had barely gotten all the way through before the portal winked out of existence, obviously having been hit by the force from the returning power lines.

Rolling to my feet, I looked around in the room. It looked peaceful with one notable exception: Chuzara, the redheaded half-breed was laying in a pool of blood on the tiles by the outer wall, looking like she had passed out from blood loss judging from the amount of blood surrounding her. She must have found the portal during the escape and simply opted to take it to get away.