Broken Mage (16 page)

They wouldn’t be putting the traps into
effect until the tunnels flooded with enemy soldiers looking for
whatever was killing off their people. Thad wasn’t sure how long
that would take but every day he had gave him time to make more
traps to help reduce the enemies’ numbers. From what he had seen
there were countless numbers of the creatures and every one that
they killed without having to engage increased their chances of
surviving this endeavor.

Over the next few days they continued
to stalk their prey only attacking if there were six or less of
them in one group. Thad had gotten much better at timing his
initial attacks to do the most damage. During their fights he had
learned that the enemy had at least three different types of
soldiers. There was the small agile ones that seemed to do most of
the manual labor and the large ones who protected the smaller ones
as well as kept them in line whenever they seemed to argue amongst
themselves. There was also one that was in-between the two, though
taller than the large one, it wasn’t as well built and seemed to be
in charge.

They had only found one of them so far
and even though the group was slightly larger than the ones they
had faced so far Crusher was eager to attack. From Crusher’s
actions and eagerness he was sure that the new creature was
important to their enemies. The battle had been short lived as
Crusher’s axe had found the tall one first nearly cutting it in
half as Thad and Avalanche rushed the others scattering them and
easily cutting them down in the ensuing chaos.

Each day when they finished their
hunting they would return to their base and plan out the next day’s
attacks. They had centered their attacks a good ways from where
they were based and kept them to a close group of tunnels in hopes
that they could lure a large group of soldiers into one area. Every
time they went out Thad would place the traps he had made the night
before but he wouldn’t activate them. The traps would simply lay
dormant until he decided it was time for them be of use. He could
either activate them all at once from a distance or set one off
from close range without activating the others.

The traps were an assortment of types
from fire, lightning, ice, light, and darkness. The wide array of
types was Crusher’s idea. Thad figured it was to increase the
amount of panic and confusion among their enemies but without being
able to really discuss the issues with Crusher he only had guesses.
His staff had also been helpful with some of the ideas for traps,
giving him a picture of how one could be used much like his
exploding glass orbs. It was simple it would build up magic and
then destroying itself causing all the magic to be released in a
massive explosion. There was some risk in using an explosion,
namely a cave-in, but Thad figured it was worth the
risk.

Thad’s favorite new enchantment was the
different magical eyes he had placed around the tunnels. They were
each linked to the metal mirror just like the one hung around
Avalanche. It allowed them to search out the area they had hit
without the need to let Avalanche go out.

Thad had learned a lot from watching
the enemies when they discovered their dead allies. Unlike humans
they didn’t seem to mourn their dead. They would simply drag them
off then begin looking around for the perpetrators.

With his spare time Thad had also been
working on a new spell that could be effective without leaving a
noticeable trace. It was simple, so much so that he wondered why he
hadn’t thought of it before. All the spell did was push against
whatever it was targeted too. It could be used to push down from
any direction the only problem Thad faced was adjusting the force
to be effective without being deadly. In the end he came up with
three different strengths for the spell and placed it on a rune and
added it to his necklace.

Their loot room was growing steadily
with an assortment of goods. Thad had found a bastard sword much to
his liking on their third excursion. It was well balanced though he
could have done without the bone hilt. Crusher had noticed the
sword as well and without being asked changed the hilt out with one
from another of the other swords, making Thad wonder what kind of
bone it had been.

Thad had heard of evil creatures who
lived off bringing others pain but most of them only functioned on
the most base of thoughts. These creatures not only seemed to revel
in the pain of others they seemed intelligent. They obviously knew
how to make weapons and clothing and had a language even if Thad
couldn’t understand it. The idea of an intelligent group living
under the earth that prayed on others indiscriminately sent a
shiver down his spine.

On the fifth day, one of the creatures
found one of Thad’s magical eyes and placed it in one of their
pouches. Thad contemplated canceling the spell but decided against
it after giving it a bit of thought. Later that day the magical eye
was passed off to one of the tall creatures.

The tall creature carrying it kept it
in its own pouch but would bring it out occasionally to look at it.
Two days after it had been taken Thad got his first view of how the
creatures lived. When the tall creature pulled the gem out and
presented it to another of his kind though this one seemed squat
and fat compared to the others he had seen.

It wasn’t the other creature that had
caught his attention but the surroundings. It was obviously a small
village but it was built right into a massive cavern. Thad couldn’t
see all of it but from what he could see it looked as if the Farlan
capital could easily fit inside the cavern. The creature looking at
the gem was obviously a merchant as it had an assortment of other
items placed in front of him on a shoddy looking table.

After a few moments the merchant handed
the other creature a bag of something and took the gem placing it
in a lockbox. Thad knew he should cancel the spell but his
curiosity had piqued. He had never imagined such a place as that
before. He wondered if the dwarves lived in the same fashion.
Suddenly the urge to continue onto the dwarven village hit him and
he had to force it aside and concentrate on the war ahead of him.
Switching the magical mirror to another of the eyes Thad continued
to watch the tunnels for any signs of their enemies.

That night when Thad laid down to sleep
the vision of the massive underground town filled his thoughts. The
sight of the thousands of the creatures moving around scared him.
At first he had no clue how many of the creatures roamed the
tunnels and now he had gotten a small glimpse of their home. If
they sent even a fraction of their true strength against them there
would be no way they could hold out against them. With those
thoughts thoroughly in his mind he drifted off into an unsettling
sleep filled with thoughts of being tortured at the hands of the
monstrous creatures.

CHAPTER XIII

It didn’t take long before the tunnels
were filled with search parties that began scouring every corner
for whatever had been attacking their men. The first few days of
the increased activity they were still able to kill a few of the
smaller groups without the use of magic but now the tunnels were
packed so tight with the creatures even leaving their base without
being seen was a challenge.

Thad had figured that once the tunnels
were crawling with enough creatures they would rush out and fight
until they finally fell. Luckily he was wrong as Crusher continued
to plan out strategic movements that would allow them to take out
their enemies with little danger to themselves.

He still hadn’t had to use any of his
magical traps even though with as tightly packed as the creatures
were he could deal a massive blow at any time he wanted. The
problem was it was hard to keep himself from doing just that.
Crusher wanted to wait until they engaged an enemy in the area to
use the traps in case they needed them to escape or to increase the
confusion among the enemy troops. It sounded reasonable to Thad but
it was like holding a wrapped package and not being able to open it
until you’re told.

To take his mind off of the traps Thad
had taken to watching the magical eyes including the one that had
now traveled into the enemy’s city. The gem had changed place many
times over the past few days and right now it had been fixed onto a
gaudy necklace that hung around what he believed to be one of their
females.

There were obvious feminine traits to
the creature and Thad had to admit that she was beautiful in her
own fashion. Unlike the other creatures who had ash grey skin the
females were almost ivory white. Their eyes were smaller but still
slightly larger than that of a human. Their body was slender and
their fingers were shorter than their male counterparts. None of
the males Thad had seen had hair but the females had long pale blue
hair.

Thad found himself captivated by the
creature that now held the gem. He wished he had added an extra
enchantment that allowed him to hear as well. He wasn’t a genius
but if he could pick up a few of the words of their language it
might come in handy.

He had learned a lot from his hours at
watching their enemies. Thad had seen children only once so far
though there had been hundreds of them. They looked young most of
them barely old enough to walk and were being trained to fight. The
sight really drove the point home that the creatures were
completely warlike in nature.

Thad had mixed emotions about the
creatures from what he had seen. They were warlike but not
completely evil as he had first surmised. He had seen them laugh
and talk in a group setting though there didn’t seem to be a
traditional family structure. There seemed to be one member in a
group that was in charge either male or female that ordered the
others. Even that was a guess since he only had his own sight for a
reference.

Shortly after Crusher finished his
planning he grabbed up Thad and Avalanche for their daily sortie.
The halls nearest their base were clear so they quickly exited and
put the wall back up.

The air surrounding them reverberated
with noise that echoed from every corner of the tunnels. Usually
one could follow the noises of the underground to whatever was
making them but with so much noise it was nearly impossible to tell
what noise was coming from what direction.

They headed down one of the smaller
tunnels. The small tunnel narrowed even more forcing Thad to crawl
on his hands and knees. It was slow and slightly painful and got
even worse when the tunnels started sloping up and he had to fight
for a handhold just to pull himself forward.

Thad breathed a sigh of relief when the
tunnel finally started widening back out. It wasn’t enough for him
to stand all the way to his feet but at least the feeling that the
world was collapsing around him was gone.

When Crusher came to a stop he moved
over against the tunnel wall and signaled for Thad to join him. The
tunnel they were in seemed to stop abruptly at a ledge overlooking
one of the larger caverns where they had concentrated a lot of
their attacks. It made sense to Thad why they had waited and only
attacked in certain areas. If there were other tunnels like this
that allowed them to move in and attack from a position of great
advantage they could kill most of the enemies before they even knew
they were present.

Thad had a little trouble seeing the
exact number of enemies as he only had his nightsight vision to go
off of. He hadn’t used his normal sight in days outside of the
base. It wasn’t for lack of want though but Crusher had refused to
let any amount of light to be used forcing Thad into his only other
option. On the upside once the battle begun he was allowed to bath
the room in as much light as he wanted.

He had tried to fight without light
before and if not for his shield he would have died a very quick
death. He was getting better every day at using his nightsight but
the few seconds it took him to decipher what was happening it had
already happened. Not only was his response time slowed down there
was also the small problem of his narrow vision since only one eye
had the ability to see in nightsight.

Below there were six of the creatures
in the center of the room sitting around in a circle calmly eating.
It looked like the perfect group to attack until Crusher pointed
out the others that were hidden around the cavern tucked into every
nook and cranny that could hold them. All told there was at least
three dozen of the creatures packed into the room. It was a good
ambush and had Crusher not been with him Thad would have easily
fell for the bait. The problem with an ambush is that once known
about there are certain ways someone can exploit it.

Crusher pointed to Thad’s pouch of
magical slugs then toward where the hidden creatures were located.
Thad knew he still wasn’t a great shot with the weapon but he was
getting better with them with every throw.

The first slug arced silently threw the
air until its enchantment was released then it jumped forward
speeding toward its target. Thad had aimed for the center of the
creature and though his aim was still off it stuck the poor thing
high ripping through its neck. Thad tried to call back the slug but
was too slow and the sound of its slamming into the wall
reverberated throughout the cavern.

The other creatures looked around for
the source of the noise and one of them spotted their downed
comrade and went to inspect. Thad feared he had messed up but from
the slight sound coming from his friend he could tell he was
enjoying the spectacle.