Chapter Twelve: A Desperate Fight
Gray ran his hands across the pages of the leather bound book. The pain in his head had lessened some and he had taken the opportunity to concentrate fully on the spell that was written there.
After Grim had explained concept of it to him, he found it fairly easy to understand, it was based on his teachers Ice-Make magic after all so most of the principles were the same. Although he understood most of it and he was pretty sure that he could learn how to cast it, he didn't see the flaw that was somewhere in the spell, the one that kept it from working when Ur first used it.
He felt a presence at his side and looked over to see that he prince had come over to sit next to him. The younger boy held a sheet of paper in his head and was staring at it intently. He looked up when he felt Gray's gaze upon him and turned to face the ice mage.
"Do you think that the spell will work?" he asked, his voice quiet.
Gray looked back down at the book in his hand. "It didn't work before, so I doubt it will work now until we find out what the problem was and fix it."
There was a moment of silence before Erander spoke up again.
"I'm sorry."
Gray's head jerked up in surprise. "What was that?" he voice was so quite, he could barely hear him.
"I'm sorry I asked you to come here. It seems I've been expecting the impossible from you."
Gray let out a small laugh, "Well, it seems a little more possible now with this." he gestured at the book "Before I had no idea of how I was going to help."
The younger boy looked at him in surprise before shaking his head. "Still, I can't expect you to do anymore. Your practically a step away from having your memories messed up. You should go back home while they're still intact."
The ice mage looked at the prince in concern.
"You don't really want me to leave, do you?"
The prince flinched at the question. "I don't," he admitted, "Having you here makes me feel hope, even if we have no plan of how to move forward. But, I can't ask you to stay, knowing what will most likely happen to you."
Gray froze for a moment, then he gave the boy a reassuring smile. "Well, I don't want to leave either, so you don't need to worry. I'm going to keep fighting till the end."
Erander shut his eyes at this and looked away.
"I-I'm not sure you would say that if you knew." he said softly.
"Knew what?" the ice mage asked, hesitantly.
"How terrifying it is to have your memories being messed up. I mean, you've had a little taste of it, but-"
Gray reached a hand out to reassure the boy, then froze when he saw that he was trembling slightly.
"You're-" his eyes widened with realization, "Your memories have been corrupted haven't they?"
He nodded slowlym then opened his mouth, his voice grew more intense as he spoke. "It happened not long after you left. Thankfully, Grim had made me write down all of my important memories prior, but-. It-it's just sickening. I don't want to have to think anymore. I don't want to have to look at these terrible things that have been put in my head. I just sit here day after day, reading what I wrote and trying to convince myself that they're not real." he turned and looked Gray in the eye as he said the last words, "I don't that to happen to you Gray."
He looked away then and they both stared down at the ground in silence. He thought about it for a long moment, then looked up at Erander.
"I'm not leaving. I'll stay here and finish this. I know it seems hopeless, but there's got to be a way to fight off this magic." he lifted up the book and stared at it intently, "We'll find some loophole, some weakness we haven't thought of yet. Nothing's impossible."
The prince looked up at him and forced a smile.
"If you truly wish to stay, then here." he said and handed him the piece of paper in his hand.
"What's this?" he asked, taking it.
"I wrote down your mission in case you even ended up forgetting it again."
Gray nodded, "A good idea. Thank you." he said and stuffed the paper in his pocket.
Just then there was a loud thumping from above and Erander immediately tensed. They waited for a few seconds before the trap door was opened and Ren jumped down.
"Oh, it's just you." the prince said, breathing a sigh of relief, "I thought you might have been one of the king's soldiers for a moment there. Your footsteps are a lot louder than Grim's."
"Sorry I scared ya." the man said with a laugh, "Grim'll be back soon. He's taking care of something at the castle. In the meantime, I brought you guys dinner." he held up a large basket then set it on the ground.
They all gathered around and proceeded to pull out assorted foods and dig in.
Before long, evening turned into night, and they all lay down for some much needed rest.
The captain was regretting agreeing on coming along on the infiltration mission into the city. Sure he, would be useful to have along since he knew what the supposed ice mage looked like, and he did relish in the thought of having the change to beat the daylights out of that arrogant boy, but right now he was doubting whether or not it would be worth it.
On top of his current company being a pain, with Ulfrick taking the lead and four of their most skilled, yet irritating warriors, they were in one of the most disturbing places he'd ever been. He'd gladly take a snowstorm over this any day.
"My lord, how did you even find out about this place." he asked, trying to hide how irritated he was.
Their leader turned and such a sudden and hard glare that he literally bit his tongue.
"Did I not tell you to keep quiet!" he hissed, "There could still be dark mages about."
That effectively shut him up and they all proceeded with as much caution and as little noise as possible.
After thinking about it for a moment he supposed it was only natural for someone to do copious amounts of research on the city he was planning to invade. Thought, he still would like to know how Ulfrick managed to find out that the center of the dark mage's magic operations was right underneath the capital city; a fact not even the king himself seemed to be aware of. He even knew where the hidden entrance was, how to get in, and when the place would be the least occupied.
Although very useful for this mission there was no way they were going to bring the whole army in through here. That would only temper the mages, and there wasn't a man among them that knew how effectively fight against magic.
The Captain cringed when they passed by a line of corpses, their hands still changed to the wall and their bodies cut in various odd places. Even though it was dark, he could still see the various unearthly leftovers that were the aftermath of black magical experiments. Mangled corpses of both humans and animals, vaults of putrid smelling liquids, walls covered in runes written in blood; even if the closed his eyes to these things the place still seemed to seep into him and chill him to the bone. He wondered just how long they would have to stay down here.
They continued traveling through various passageways and rooms, all the while Ulfrick acted like he knew exactly where he was going. Finally the man stopped in front of a bare wall.
"This is it." he said and stepped through.
The Captain blinked, but wasn't too surprised, after all, that was how they got into this place. He sucked in his breath and followed.
Erander was the first to hear the footsteps as they reverberated above them. He immediately sat bolt upright off the ground and turned to shake Gray awake.
"Gray, get up." he whispered fervently.
As soon as the ice mage's eyes were opened, he grabbed him by the arm and pulled him to his feet.
"What-" he started to say then froze when he heard the approaching footsteps and muffled voices.
"What's going on?" Ren asked, drowsily as he sat up and looked at the two of them with half lidded eyes.
"It has to be the king's men." the prince whispered, "They must have found me somehow."
They all flinched as they heard the trap door being forced open. Gray immediately leapt forward. He raised his hands above his head, placing the palms upon the door and froze it shut.
"That should hold them." he said.
There was a string of curses from above followed by someone pounding mercilessly upon the door.
"Is there another way out of here?" Ren asked.
The prince shook his head.
"Will just have to fight 'em then."
Gray immediately set to work trying to come up with a strategy. Before he could think of anything, however, a flash of metal appeared in front of his face as a sword was shoved through the floorboards. The weapon was then bent to the side as the man above tried to pry the boards apart.
"You need to freeze the whole room!" Ren exclaimed.
He was already on it before the words were even said, but before he could bring the spell into fruition a jolt of pain coursed through his head like a gun shot. He collapsed on his hands and knees, his mouth open in a silent scream. Erander rushed over to him and pulled him out of the way as a board was about to fall on top of him.
"Gray," he pleaded, shaking him, "Snap out of it, you have to fight."
Wasting no time, Ren produced his weapon and jumped in front of them, just as as another board fell. Now there was a hole large enough for a man to fall through. And it wasn't long before one did, but he was ready. Before the intruder's feet even hit the ground, he thrust his sword forward, stabbing him in the side. He fell to the ground with a scream. In a second another attacker leapt down, eyes ablaze with rage, gripping a machete in both hands.
"I could use some back up right now, Gray!" Ren yelled, as he was viciously attacked by an onslaught of strikes from the two blades.
A second later and Ren was outnumbered as two more men joined them, both waring equal fierce expressions.
Erander watched helplessly as Ren tried desperately to fend off their attackers. He could see now that these weren't the king's men, but rebel soldiers, and top-notch fighters at that. He wished he could help fight, but his skill level was no where near that of these men; he doubted he'd be able to last five seconds. Instead, he focused on trying to get Gray to come back to them. He shook the boy's body again, pleading him to snap out of it.
The ice mage had his mouth slightly agape. His eyes were opened wide, but he was not contentious of anything around him. He was locked in a world of pain, completely unreachable.
Ren managed to slash on of the men across the arm, only to be stabbed in the thigh, then kicked in the gut, knocking him backwards and slamming his head against the wall. He staggered to his feet only to have his weapon ripped from his hand, then grabbed by the collar and hoisted into the air.
"Are you the ice mage?" the man holding him demanded.
He didn't answer, his mind was still foggy with pain and the collision with the wall. Erander was about to stand up to try and do something when he felt cold metal press against his neck.
"Don't move, boy." he looked to see a man standing above him with a sword to his throat and instantly froze.
"Hey, captain, get down here and tell us which one is the ice mage so we can kill the rest!" the man yelled.
The prince's breath caught in his throat at those words. He dared to look over at Gray and pleaded in his mind for him to do something. His heart skipped a beat as he saw the ice mage shift slightly, his head turning up to look at him.
Gray blinked then, opened his mouth to utter one word.
"Run."
000
In an instant all thoughts vanished from his head and were replaced with pain. So much pain that it seemed all singles to his brain were cut off. He could no longer feel his own body, only the torturous pain, that filled every corner of his head. At first it was like a needle, sharp and piercing, after which it evolved into a vibrant pounding.
At that point he could actually think, think how much he wanted the pain to stop. It seemed like the only thought capable of entering his mind was how much it hurt.
Then he heard it, or rather felt it, someone calling to him for help.
He felt the urge to respond. And he began to fight. Trying to force his other sense to return to him, he pulled back from the pain, shoving it to the back of his mind.
Finally it cleared a little and he could see, they were surrounded by enemies, Ren was subdued, and the prince had a blade at his throat.
With all the force of his will, he turned his head and told the younger boy to run then called on his magic. There was no way he would be able to summon enough concentration to form his ice into any sort of shape, instead he just used it to freeze the four enemies inside the room. Then he turned to face the wall. Sucking in his breath, he sent a blast of pure energy, pushing away stone and dirt to make a way of escape.
As soon as the task was complete he collapsed to the ground, the pain flooding back again and blocking out all other senses.
