David Wells - Linkershim

As Alexander backed away, he saw five more coming out into the corridor. They must have built a nest right next to the door, he thought, chiding himself for not looking before opening it. Those thoughts vanished when the first three insects got on their feet and started coming his way.

“Bugs!” Alexander shouted. “Go quickly, all of you.”

The giant insects were fast. The first three reached him at about the same time. He swept the Thinblade across their bodies, cutting them in half, but not before the third in line managed to lock on to his leg with its pincers, cutting into both sides of his calf and dropping him to one knee.

He looked up, estimating how long he had before another six were on him while swiping the Thinblade through the pincers still attached to his leg and pulling them loose, wincing in pain, fresh blood beginning to flow.

Jataan darted past him, his Weaponere’s stone becoming a ten-foot pike that he used expertly to keep the insects from advancing, killing three in a second. One went over the cornstalk railing and started crawling along the outside toward them.

Alexander regained his feet and yelled, “Fall back!”

His leg hurt. It almost couldn’t support his full weight, but he managed to work his way backward while Jataan killed bugs with surprising efficiency, modifying his weapon into a spear when they got closer, then into a sword. They kept coming, filling the passage and crawling along the outside of the cornstalk railing, advancing as fast as Alexander and Jataan could retreat.

“Go!” Alexander shouted to Jack over his shoulder, swiping through a bug crawling over the railing into the corridor. Jack slid down the rope into the fissure.

“Go, Lord Reishi, I will hold them,” Jataan said.

The battle mage was fighting an epic battle, spinning, stabbing, slashing, killing dozens of insects, but they kept coming, spilling over their dead in waves, large numbers going over the railing and onto the wall of the chasm.

“Be quick,” Alexander said, then slid down the rope, descending into a pitched battle three levels below. Anja was close to the edge of the chasm, hacking every bug that came around the wall. A dozen lay dead at her feet. Jack was close behind her and less than visible while Lita stood farther back, shield in place, casting a spell.

A bug fell near Alexander. He flicked the Thinblade through its head. Jataan was sliding down the rope. Another three bugs fell around Alexander while dozens more crawled over the edge above and started picking their way down.

Alexander killed two bugs before a third locked its pincers around his leg a few inches below where the first one had bitten him. He cut its face off with a swipe of the Thinblade and pulled the pincers off his leg. His trouser cuff and boot were soaked with blood and he was starting to feel light-headed.

A force-push from Lita blasted five or six bugs out into the chasm-Anja looked back at her with a frown when they passed over her head.

When Jataan hit the ground, Alexander opened the Wizard’s Den.

“Inside, quickly!” he shouted.

Jack slipped inside without taking his hood down, kicking a bug along the way, sending it skittering across the floor.

Lita was in next.

A wave of bugs fell off the path above, six landing all around them, then four more.

“Anja!” Alexander shouted.

Anja ran for the door, slashing a bug along the way and sending it flying away in two pieces. Another landed right next to her and locked on to her leg. She stabbed it through the head, driving the tip of her broadsword into the dirt, then tore the body off with her free hand and threw it at the nearest bug before darting inside the Wizard’s Den, followed quickly by Alexander and Jataan.

The door closed behind them and the sound of skittering stopped.

Alexander sat down on the nearest bed, tenderly probing the four gashes on his lower leg. “Everyone all right?”

“You seem to make a habit of getting beaten up the most,” Lita said, pulling a chair up next to him. “Let me have a look.” She laid her hand on his leg and closed her eyes, muttering under her breath.

“Well, the good news is, they’re not poisonous,” she said. “The bad news is, those are some pretty nasty wounds. Lie back, let me clean them and spell them to speed the healing.”

Alexander eased himself onto the bed and let Lita go to work. She cut away part of his trouser leg, then gently cleaned and bandaged his wounds. Only after she’d done all of the more mundane work of a healer did she cast her healing spell. Isabel had told him once how rare healers were among the Reishi Coven. While Lita couldn’t channel the realm of light like Isabel could, she was a very capable healer.

Alexander felt warmth and soothing detachment fill his leg, then spread into the rest of his body, lulling him into a deep, restorative sleep. He woke with a dull throbbing in his leg. Peeling away the bandages, he was surprised just how well it had healed, even though the wounds had yet to fully close.

Lita came bustling over when she saw that he was awake.

“Let me see,” she said, peering at the four crosswise gashes on his lower leg, shaking her head. “These haven’t healed as well as I would have liked. Let me make a poultice and put on a clean bandage.” She didn’t wait for Alexander to respond before hurrying away.

Jack pulled up a chair and sat down. “I’m sorry.”

“What for?”

“Suggesting you open that door,” he said. “Wasn’t such a great idea after all.”

“You couldn’t have known … but I could have, if I’d just looked. If anyone’s to blame, it’s me.”

“Do you think they’re still out there?”

“I’m hoping the overseers attracted their attention.”

“That would certainly make sense,” Jack said. “My money’s on the bugs.”

“There did seem to be a lot of them. Let’s hope we don’t run into another nest.”

“All right then,” Lita said, sitting on the edge of the bed. “This might hurt a bit.” She carefully spread a green paste into his wounds, then wrapped his leg with fresh bandages.

“You should eat something before I spell you again,” she said. “Have to keep up your strength.”

Just then Anja woke in the bed next to his, sitting up and stretching with a giant yawn. She seemed to come to her senses a few moments later and frowned, looking down at her leg. Her wounds weren’t as bad as Alexander’s, but even with Lita’s healing spell, her injury still hadn’t fully healed either.

“I didn’t like those bugs at all,” she said.

“Me neither,” Alexander said. “Hopefully, we can avoid them from now on.”

After breakfast, Alexander eased himself back into bed.

“Are we ready?” Lita asked.

“Not quite yet. I need some counsel before I go back to sleep.”

He smiled at her quizzical frown, then touched the Sovereign Stone, his awareness abruptly transferring from the world of time and substance to the Reishi Sovereign Council.

He sat down at the table and detailed everything that had transpired, starting with his voyage from the Spires right up to the present moment. He dredged his memory for everything of significance or importance that he could offer them: Anja, the Goiri, Luminessence, Demonrend, the Tyr Thinblade, the keystone box and Lacy, progress with his magic, and finally culminating with an exhaustive recounting of his experiences with McGinty and Siduri.

“The news about Anja is disturbing,” Balthazar said. “Protect her well; your life may depend upon it.”

“I know,” Alexander said. “Bragador seemed willing to accept her daughter’s decision for now, but I doubt she would forgive me if Anja got hurt.”