Michael Manning - The God-Stone War

“He destroyed you, you’re dead,” I mumbled, as a series of violent images cascaded through my mind. I was reeling in shock.

Thillmarius sneered, “Congratulations! I still am, but I intend to correct that.” As he finished his statement his hands came up, and a wave of darkness flew toward me at the speed of thought.

My shield was ready, but it made little difference. The She’Har spell-weaving shredded it in an instant, and then it tore into my skin, ripping and slicing like a thousand knives. The last time I had fought the leader of the shiggreth, I had a Knight of Stone beside me, not to mention Walter. Without their help I would have been unable to survive long enough to trap Thillmarius underground, although I now knew that that tactic hadn’t been successful.

Today I had no one beside me. A potentially fatal mistake on my part, but I wasn’t ready to concede the fight yet. I had prepared for the possibility of this rematch, if only I could gain enough time to respond properly.

Experience had been an excellent teacher, and as the pain of my enemy’s spell-weaving threatened to overwhelm me, my mind quickly sought refuge in the stone. The pain of my physical body receded even as I sent a spray of stone shards upward. Reaching out to the wind, I spun them into a twisting storm of razor sharp death.

The deadly spell-weaving fell away from my flesh body as Thillmarius was forced to defend himself from the destructive stone storm. Resuming more direct control of my human form, my eyes opened and followed his movement. “Enjoying the fruits of my training?” I asked, taunting the undead creature.

The stone shards had torn his small body, but the shiggreth’s response was quick, and another spell-weaving flew from his fingers and lips, wrapping itself around him like a powerful shield and preventing further damage. I knew it would be only seconds before he regained the initiative, unless I could find a way to protect myself from his spell-weavings.

Reaching into one of my belt pouches, I withdrew a stone disk, the same one I had attempted to use the day the enchanted furniture had attacked. With a word I tossed it into the air above my head and watched as it split into a multitude of small pieces. Extending my hand, I began channeling power, feeding it to the enchanted shield stones, while in turn they began to spin and whirl around me with increasing speed, becoming a blur.

Another spell-weaving struck, but this time it skittered away harmlessly, unable to pierce the shield created by my stones. “Let’s go outside. We both have too much to lose here,” I told my opponent, indicating the still body in the center of the room. Turning toward the door I walked out and up the stairs, leaving a trail of blood behind as I went.

His first attack had left me with a collection of shallow cuts. The pain they caused might have been a distraction, but I kept my mind in an in-between state, partly connected to the earth and wind around me, which made the sensations of my human body seem small, almost insignificant. It was a technique I had practiced often since my battle with Celior and it afforded me numerous advantages.

The minor connection afforded me more power for my spells, while at the same time numbing my perception of pain. It also enabled me to control the environment around me in an automatic, almost unconscious manner that left my human mind free to cast spells at the same time. I had yet to come up with a marvelous name for my in-between state, but Penny, with her usual candor, had suggested I name it the ‘idiot-trance’. She had explained that my lack of pain made me less concerned for my physical body and thus, less likely to defend myself. I knew the truth though; she just liked finding new ways to call me an idiot.

Her worry about defending my human body was a valid concern though, which was yet another reason I had created the enchanted shield-stones. Even as I left the underground room, I continued to channel more power into them with my human mind.

As I had hoped, Thillmarius followed me without protest, though I suspected he was preparing other weavings as we went. I led him to the front door and out into the street before he struck again, a probing attack meant to test the strength of my new shield.

“You’ll have to do better than that,” I taunted, while at the same time reaching into another pouch to touch the small figurine within. I need you now, I said silently, projecting my thought at the small statuette.

By the time I returned my full attention to him, it was almost too late. Thillmarius had sent his second attack into the base of the building beside me, and whatever he used, it turned a large portion of one wall and some of the foundation into fine dust, leaving the rest of the structure unsupported. It was in the process of falling on top of me, as I realized my mistake.

The neighbors are never going to forgive me for today. The observation flickered through the back of my head, while the more practical parts of my mind were busy figuring out how to prevent my imminent future as a pancake. While my enchanted shield stones had many advantages over my normal impromptu shields, it wasn’t as easy to change their strength or the shape of the area they protected. They could probably stop anything Thillmarius might cast at me, but they would definitely fail if a building fell on me.

All this passed through my mind in an instant, and despite the timelessness of such adrenaline soaked moments, I still managed to do the wrong thing. Lifting my hand, I shouted a word and used my own power to brace the building. Such a move would have been fatal for most wizards, but as I had learned from countless other stupid moments in the past, I was the wizardly equivalent of a giant… and sometimes I was about that smart as well.

I understood my mistake immediately as the weight of untold tons of stone and timber made themselves felt against my invisible brace. Stumbling I gasped at the shock, but somehow I held it. The dumb part of my action was that I was now entirely consumed with the effort of holding the building up, it wasn’t something I could simply stop doing when it became inconvenient. Given a second thought, I realized I should have called on the earth and allowed it to hold the building for me, keeping my own power free to respond to Thillmarius’ next attack.

My foe was approaching rapidly now, charging toward me with a long dagger in hand. The blade was writhing with alien magics, and I knew instinctively that whatever he had put on the weapon would be able to pierce my new shield. Thillmarius had been one of the greatest lore-masters of his grove. Another bit of information had presented itself to me when I least expected it.

With my magic fully engaged holding up the building, I had no choice but to call upon the elements to defend me, and in my desperation I took a risk that I probably should have considered more carefully. I reached for that which the undead fear most, and the very thing that my ancestor had used to eradicate Thillmarius’ body, two thousand years ago.

I reached for fire, calling to the small flames in the oven within the very house I was holding up. Opening my mind I spoke to them, I called them… and I gave them a home, joining them with my own spirit. What might have been an entirely innocuous feat of magic, if I were using my regular wizardly abilities, took on an entirely more deadly meaning when done as an archmage, for the fire infused my mind as well as my actions.

Roaring my hatred at him I sent spiraling streams of flame at Thillmarius, seeking to engulf him before he could reach me. The wind guided and goaded the fire to an incandescent heat, as it surged toward the undead creature.

Suffused with the fire’s rage and desire for destruction, I laughed as I watched my foe stop, stunned at the conflagration racing toward him, but my glee was presumptuous. Reacting with incredible speed, Thillmarius wrapped himself within a slightly different shield that seemed to flow from his hands without effort. The ease with which he created spontaneous spell-weavings; magics that were as durable and as difficult to destroy as any enchantment I could craft… was simply unfair.