Darkness and Hellfire

Chapter 50 Bright Ideas.

“How far back have they retreated?” Alexander asked Isaac after around ten minutes of wasting his mana maintaining the Wall of Flames.

“Halfway and into the side tunnels. Horseshoe ambush formation.” Isaac explained curtly. “Damn, I wish that scout hadn’t gotten himself killed.”

“Azazel?” Alexander questioned.

Isaac nodded. “Yeah.” He replied. “I am clearly their target but I am also the best person to try and sneak past them to find their master.”

Alexander let his Wall of Flames fade. “Why not bring backup?” Alexander offered. “Like when you fought Lord V’Nova.”

“Didn’t the Flame Ravens say something about leaving?” Lenna asked Alexander.

“They will be escorting a caravan to Sapphirestone soon, yes.” Alexander informed them. “What about our Lady’s guard?”

“Marie?” Isaac questioned. “Not a chance she’ll leave Sera’s side unless there is no other option. Without knowing what we are going up against, she won’t take the risk.”

“There are plenty of high level wizards in the city, myself included, who could cast flight on you.” Alexander offered another suggestion to up Isaac’s chances of survival.

“None of that will really help with what I am afraid of.” Isaac began. “I am afraid of the smarter undead being able to track me through my invisibility based on the feeling of emptiness in their soul senses.”

“Oh.” Alexander spoke. “I am afraid I have nothing for that.” His brows furrowed. “But it should not matter. Undead cannot track you like that. Their senses would have to be honed to an obscene degree and no simple undead will maintain their faculties enough to train something like that.”

“Jallen’s ancestors did it just fine.” Isaac replied with obvious skepticism towards Alexander’s comment.

“That is because those were not truly undead. They were the souls of ancient elves summoned into magically created bodies that mimicked the form of a specter.” Alexander explained. “You should be fine.”

“Should?” Isaac latched onto the word.

“I would be a fool to state anything of this nature with total certainty.” Alexander replied. “I can give you a tracking device I have been working on if you would like.” He offered Isaac. “In the event you require my specific set of spells, you can activate it and I’ll teleport above it.”

“How does it activate and why above it?” Isaac questioned.

“Simply press down on the activation button. The runes will line up and activate the magic which will both activate the item and keep the button depressed.” Alexander explained. “I would be teleporting blindly and teleporting into an object is rarely a good time.”

“Don’t teleportation spells switch the areas in space instead of trying to interpose one on top of the other?” Isaac asked.

Alexander nodded. “Yes but that is not the real problem. Let us say that I teleport into a wall. A section of the wall would suddenly be gone and in all likelihood it would lose integrity and come down on top of me. That is why I said ‘rarely’.” Alexander enlightened him.

“Hmm.” Isaac hummed. “What would happen if you tried to teleport inside of someone?”

“Nothing.” Alexander explained. “Their soul would prevent the magic from taking hold in the same place that it exists. If a teleportation spell is overlapping with a creature that has a soul, even a bestial one, it will fail.”

“Do all creatures have souls?” Isaac wondered.

“Yes.” Alexander replied simply.

“Even trees?” Isaac pressed.

“More so than insects actually.” Alexander answered. “Though I am sure that Lady L’Vore would have more information on that subject.”

“Back to the topic at hand, please.” Lenna cut in. She was letting them talk as she rested from their recent battle but now she was ready to start actually solving the problem.

“I think you and I are going to have to just walk there while invisible.” Isaac told her. “Or I run there and Alexander teleports you and himself to me once I am at the castle.”

“There is a secret, third option.” Alexander informed them. He looked up like he was searching for something along the cavern wall. Finally his eyes locked onto an oddly flat spot on the stone. “Right there.” He pointed at it. “The stone there is only six inches thick. On the other side of it is the uppermost tunnel. You should be able to sneak the entire way to the end without the skeletons noticing you even if you weren’t invisible.”

“As you said, sneaking shouldn’t really be a problem.” Isaac reminded him. “Why go through the trouble?”

“If you bait them into a charge again and then teleport up to Hellfire, who would be already there waiting for you, we can keep them busy here and lock their forces into a pitched battle. At that point most if not all of their forces will be piling through the tunnels at us instead of guarding their master. The skeletons will be packed too tightly for you to push through even if they weren’t all charging at us so you will have to go around.” Alexander finished his explanation with another point towards the flat section of rock.

“That… is actually a pretty good plan.” Isaac complimented Alexander. “Let’s go with it. Does anyone have a map of the tunnels?”

“I have an old one.” Alexander replied. “The original court wizard of this domain extensively researched them.”

“Wow, uh, okay then.” Isaac stammered. The plan was coming together almost too easily. “Lenna, Kahtesh, and I will stay here just in case something changes. I’ll trust the rest of the plan to you.”

Alexander nodded. “I think I will fly to conserve mana for now. Are you alright if it takes a few hours?” He questioned the duo.

“As long as nothing changes and Isaac can sit still for that long.” Lenna replied before Isaac could.

Alexander nodded again. “I will hurry.” He assured them and took a running leap into the air. Mana swirled around him as his gravity was nullified and wind magic started pushing him forwards. Dust was kicked up as he soared towards the city.

“Now we wait and pray that our new enemy doesn’t get any bright ideas.” Isaac said with focused eyes directed towards the tunnel. Kahtesh was crouched low at its entrance and seemed to be debating whether or not to go on the hunt. “Stay here Kahtesh.” Isaac told him. The little dragon looked back at him and then back in the direction of the skeletons. He slowly slunk back towards Isaac a few feet to show that he wasn’t going to go on the offensive. He made sure that his new position still had a clear line of sight down the tunnel however. If any of the skeletons were going to make a move he would be ready.

Kahtesh didn’t know why but the skeletons just rubbed him the wrong way. Something about them just felt like they were created wrong. They didn’t feel like they were like him at all. They felt like someone had smashed two things together that weren’t supposed to be together and then glued them in place with something else entirely. That was very different from Kahtesh who was simply a perfect union of his old self, his master, and every aspect of dark mana. No, Kahtesh didn’t like the skeleton soldiers one bit.

A few hours later a small group of forty men and women arrived at Isaac and Lenna’s location. Among them were Edward, Fable, the Flame Ravens, the ex-Crimson Coins, Eliot and the elf sisters, three garrison teams of nine men each and Alexander. “It is always something crazy with you isn’t it.” Edward commented as his phantasmal horse came to a stop in front of Isaac and Lenna. He dismounted and then held out his hand. “Return to four, then to me.” He commanded and the horse faded away. The horseshoes floated into his hand and he deposited them into his Bottomless Bag.

“We still need to get a pair of those.” Isaac stage whispered to Lenna.

Lenna nodded in agreement. “It would be nicer than running everywhere.” She agreed. “But running is good for you. You still can’t run twenty miles without your magic yet.”

“I don’t think I want to run twenty miles without my magic, thank you.” Isaac replied like she had just told him to walk on hot coals or stab himself in the hand.

“The day before we are about to leave.” Fina grumbled.

“Can’t be helped.” Esk replied to her. “The Guild Master is paying an electrum coin per skeleton, which is shit pay I might add, but since we’re here, we should help out.”

“It’ll be a good workout before three days of riding in a wagon.” Mark added.

“I’ve been working out every day.” Shy mumbled under her breath. Marie hadn’t stopped training her and Lenny so the rogue was being pushed to her limits multiple times per week.

“I’m just here to watch.” Eleonora chimed in. “It’s not everyday I get to watch my predecessor in action.” She said and eyed Edward up and down.

“I wouldn’t if I were you.” Isaac warned the lithe and flirtatious swordswoman. “His girlfriend will gut you in your sleep and then stitch your corpse back together so it looks like nothing happened and your organs just split into pieces on their own.”

Eleonora put her hands up in a placating gesture. “Fine.” She acquiesced. “But I’m still just here to watch.” She thumbed towards her two companions. “Brick just wants to smash stuff and Bart’ll actually be able to make good money.”

“It’s Bar-thol-o-mew.” Bart corrected her but otherwise stayed silent.