Heroes of Magic and Might
Chapter 39 – The longest day
…
Flash! Shadow! Scream and roar. Light wavered and pushed against the dark in furious starbursts. Shadows roared and rallied to fall again in sudden streams of invasive light.
"Ugh! Stupid sun," he grumbled as sleep and dream faded into morning.
"Well, the dead rises and the vampire's not even here. You do not know your limits my lad. That's going to get you yet."
He glared at the old witch but made no argument. He'd only just woken and was in no state to be battling wits with anyone, never mind someone like Granny.
"It worked."
The mighty Prongs had done him proud, tearing the great shadow fiend to ribbons before his power was spent, executing in a brilliant flash that must have been seen halfway around the planet.
"Aye, it worked. You pulled it out of your arse, but it worked. What else ya got up there?"
He should have expected this from Granny, but that didn't mean he was in any mood to take it. "You're just sore it didn't spend so much effort fighting you."
The old witch scoffed, "Lot a things I'm sore about, but that ain't one of'em."
One of those things must have had her attention or she just didn't find him to be worth looking at. The old witch stared out past the wall; a small spyglass pressed to one eye. That was new.
"Where'd you get that?" Harry asked, using the wall of the tower as support to haul himself to his feet.
"The little man you have watching the gate," she replied. "Come look."
Annoyed at being ordered he none the less obeyed. Taking the spyglass and placing it to one magically corrected eye. "What am I looking for?"
"Round near the middle there, the ritual circle."
It was a mess. The bodies of dead Ashe were tossed carelessly aside away from the circle as those still alive conjured and chanted. There were only seven within the circle, a pittance compared with those already spent.
"Caused a bit of a mess last night," he remarked. "Are they trying to summon another shadow?"
"In broad daylight? I should think not," the old witch said but in a way that seemed to mock him. "Anyway, there aren't enough left to do what they did last night. Most of them are probably dead from the summoning. That kinda beast steals more than just power."
"So what are they summoning now?"
"Won't know that till it's here. Ashe love their monsters, or anything else they can enslave. Surprised you don't know that."
Her disdain dripped from every word and ground his gears like oil in reverse. "My one experience with the Ashe consisted of my assault, abduction, attempted rape, assisted escape, and the pursuit following, most of which I slept through," he said. "I learned little in that time except that I did not like them, and at present I lack the time to learn anything more about them before I am forced to fight it… whatever it may be.
"With that in mind, I'm doing my best and will continue to, and that would be much easier with a little less attitude from you."
"You're askin fur something she cannot give you lad."
The tension eased slightly with the appearance of the plump witch, "Where have you been?" said Granny.
"Looking through the heap," she said. "I found that old cauldron we stopped using when we got the bigger one."
It was small enough she could carry it, but big enough to be a hassle and she quickly set it down. Pulling out a tripod she hefted the heavy cooking accoutrement and plopped it on top, beaming proudly.
"There! Get this up and cooking we ought to be able to throw around a few bigger spells when the time comes."
"You're forgetting to even get it to start you'll need to fill it half full of pure water," Granny reminded.
"I can get's water," Nanny said.
"Yes, but not pure water. The only water sources nearby are hours away. We'll be engaged well before that happens."
"I've got water," Harry said, his exhaustion telling in the quiet of his voice.
"You alright lad?" Nanny asked. "You look like you could use a bit more rest."
"Rest isn't a luxury I can afford right now," he said, opening his pack and pulling out the old sherry bottle which clinked as he lifted it.
Addressing the *clink* he pulled out the other one and set it on the ground by the pack before going to the cauldron and carefully filling it halfway.
"Well, that looks pure to me," Nanny observed.
"Magically purified," said Harry.
"That one too?" she asked, gesturing at the other.
"Sort of," he said. "Magically purified anyway. That one's full of water sprites. Not sure how many. I pulled them out of a polluted river. Wasn't sure what to do with them so I left them in there."
"Them's might be useful in a pinch. Oh! There it goes."
A fire had started of its own accord beneath the cauldron, but Harry hardly noticed the feat. His mind was focused on the bottle, the one not in his hand. Smashing it would release everything contained within, but just how much was in there? He didn't know.
It would be a risk, but under the right circumstances.
Corking the regular water bottle, he put it back in his pack before turning his attention to the other. He'd need some way to carry it, like the twine wrapped around the mana potion flask. That thought brought him to another, that being his current available magical power.
He felt weak, exhausted, poorly rested.
Taking a deep breath, he layered on a full physical enhancement, and cringed at the warning orange glow, "That's not good."
His magic was low. His poor sleep and excessive casting had run him close to the bottom and worse, his use of the mana potion had burned off what little fat stores he had. He could feel his ribs, even see them. He was playing a very dangerous game.
A cacophony from the field drew everyone's attention and they rushed to the edge to see what wickedness had been wrought.
"Well, that's not good," the usually acerbic witch said softly.
"Looks like it took it out of'em though. There's three—no, four, four of'em down," said Nanny, trying to remain optimistic.
Harry was impressed. He was finding it near impossible to think anything positive, "Of all the things I thought I would see today, this was not on the list. Is that what I think it is?"
"If you think it's a three headed hydra, then yes," said Nanny.
"Damn!" he'd been hoping it was his imagination.
Giving the flask one last look, he popped the cork and slugged down the remains.
"I'm going to need food, now," he said sharply. "And I need someone to tie all this around 'that' bottle, and quickly. They won't leave that thing sitting there long, we haven't much time."
… Do you have the time?
"I've been thinking a great deal about time. It's such a strange thing, don't you think Puppy. For me, who ostensibly has all the time in the world, and yet I can't help but feel rushed. While these lizard folk, they walk around like they've got all day to do anything, and they barely live forty years. Time is running away from them and they just sit there and watch it go. I ask you, does that make any sense?"
The black furred wolf looked at his master and whined pitifully, philosophically speaking.
"I know, I know. It's not your fault. My mind goes to strange places when I get bored, and I am BORED!"
She was also worried about Harry, but that wasn't something she'd admit to out loud, on the off chance he'd hear about it later and start getting ideas.
The boredom was nearly just as bad anyway and much easier to complain about. She could have been bothering corpses, but her book was back at the tower in Harry's pack, leaving her nothing to do but wait, and wait… and wait.
"It's funny, usually I'm very patient."
Fortunately, a large lizardman came stomping out of the hut she was sitting by, saving her from herself.
"I see our negotiations are going well."
Hamma snarled, his legs eating up distance that made it hard to keep up. Luckily, the wolf was a marathoner and Rosebud was a very light burden.
"Still won't budge?"
"NO! The fat old fool. In fact, he forbids it, says we can't afford anyone leaving until the other hunting parties return."
It was a surprise revelation to discover their party was the first to return, especially given all the trouble they'd had getting back. Hamma was sure the others would have returned first; finding out they hadn't was a shock, and more than that, an annoyance. He'd wanted those forces as part of his return party.
"It's more than just the other hunters not being back, isn't it?"
The lizardman growled. "He hasn't the claw for this fight, or any other. He's grown fat and soft. This isolation is just cowardice."
"You are sure?"
The lizardman stopped, "What do you mean?"
"I mean," said the vampire, "if you truly think him a coward, if you think he hasn't the claw for a fight, well, that does leave us one alternative. Tell me, did you just now begin thinking this."
"No," he said. "And I know I'm not the only one who does."
"Then perhaps, the time has come for a new strategy," the vampire grinned, with teeth.
… Last resorts
"ON YOUR LEFT!"
"I see it!"
A fearsome swing and a roar of "GOEDENDAG!" the spiked club weapon smashed the hydra's head as it moved to strike the minotaur. Another head saw the opening and lashed out only to be clubbed by the mighty swing of Charlie's mallet, stunning the head and causing the whole beast to reel.
"Pull back!" Harry ordered. "They're trying to get around him!"
The orc's swarmed into the opening created by the hydra staggering back from Harry's makeshift walls. The crude transfiguration was proving its worth now, narrowed to the point the hydra could barely squeeze in, and too high now to simply climb over, even if the spikes on top didn't make it a thorny proposition.
The Ashe had come shortly after the arrival of the hydra, pressing all fronts with wave after wave of seemingly endless orcs. Boar-men mixed in made things more dangerous but mostly for the defenders on the wall. Those on the ground had their own concerns.
"He's coming again!"
The hydra was a mad, crazed beast. In the beginning there'd been an Ashe on its back, controlling it. They'd killed him, because it was, again, that rare male Ashe Harry hadn't realized there was till confronting Lyraka.
Upon his death the creature let loose a feral scream and charged, and that had been the fight for nearly two hours. Kali had made the mistake of taking a head early on, not knowing the hydra's mythic power till two new heads swiftly grew in place of the missing one and tried to take a bite out of her.
It wasn't just pure decapitation either. Tearing damage from Boren's Goedendag had proved sufficient to trigger the event as well, a lesson they'd learned the hard way. Fortunately, without its rider the creature was as dangerous to friend as foe, since it didn't appear to differentiate.
It did hiss though, a sound Harry understood in a way the others didn't, not even Kali for some reason, though this hardly made a difference. It wasn't saying anything coherent, proving it was entirely mad and beyond reasoning with.
"Charlie! Go for the body!"
The ox minotaur lunged under a pair of striking heads and slammed his mallet into the beast's chest. It staggered, all the heads flailing in mutual pain.
Taking advantage, Harry threw a binding rope that wrapped around all the heads as they stood up flailing. It wouldn't hold them long, it hadn't the last three times, but it would buy them a moment to breath which was the best they could hope for.
He wasn't using a full enhancement, merely keeping his eyes clear to conserve his power. The mana potion had helped, but he was still low and couldn't cast left, right, and center like he'd been doing. It was for this reason he had yet to employ the herculean strategy used to kill the mythical Lernaean hydra.
He was too tired to properly control the fire and with his comrades so close he couldn't risk it. Besides, the hydra was nearly as much a help as it was a danger.
Breaking the binding rope, the heads snapped at anything within reach. Several orc's standing too close lost heads, arms, and various other necessary parts while the two minotaur stood back and let it thrash while the naga coiled near Harry, waiting.
"The fight is not going well," she opined as the hydra once again forcing itself into the wedge to get at the minotaur.
"I can't use fire with them so close, and they can't fall back fast enough without it chasing after them. The walls are slowing it but if it had space, I'm sure it could make the distance quick enough."
"Why don't you squeeze the walls together then?" she asked. "You said this was just transformation, you could do that."
Yes, he could, now that she mentioned it, and he felt a little dumb for not realizing it himself sooner. Although…
"Why squeeze, when you can pin."
He went through all the motions of wand and incantation, everything to conserve his power and maximize the effect. The wall shifted slightly then rapidly grew long, thick spikes that punched into the sides of the many headed serpent creature.
The hydra wailed, a high, screeching, horrible sound. It clawed the ground, trying to move, but the spikes were to long and sturdy, as was its own flesh. The hydra was stuck, but just for good measure, Harry spiked its feet as well before calling back his bull boys.
"What did you do?" asked Boren.
"Spikes out of the walls."
"Good grief," said Charlie.
"So it's stuck?" Harry nodded. "Now what?" the spike club bull asked.
"Now we see how he reacts to fire."
Blue flame streamed from his wand, coating the enraged beast who flew into a panic at the sight of flame. The blue fire alighted all over its body, it's necks, even some of the heads, all of which began screaming and wailing.
"Pretty," Boren remarked. "Why don't it smell like it's burning."
"Because it's not," said Harry. "Bluebell flame is weird like that. You can hold it in your hand, keep it in a jar, there aren't many things it will burn."
"He don't seem to know that," said Charlie.
"I was curious to see how he would react," said Harry. "I've seen enough. Kali, take the heads, one at a time. I'll burn the stumps as you go. You two be ready."
The orcs were packed in behind the fear mad beast. As soon as it was no longer a threat, they were sure to swarm over the carcass. Lost in the throws of sheer terror, the hydra did not so much as flinch when Kali took the first head and Harry seared the wound closed.
They carefully went from head to head, expecting the creature to turn on them at any moment. It never did. Flooded with fear it didn't even register the pain of having its heads chopped and burned, not even when the last was taken and sealed did it show the slightest attention.
The orcs were paying attention though, and just as Harry feared; the last head was barely sealed before the first one came squealing over, its axe raised to cut the wizard down.
Kali was quicker and took the pig to pieces in four consecutive strokes. That was her only easy kill. The rest came as horde, like locust. Harry managed a single stroke of his sword before he was knocked back by the mass of bodies.
Boren and Charlie surged into the mass, weapons swinging, horns goring. Kali was lost beneath the crush.
Scrambling to find his feet, Harry flailed between stomping feet and swinging weapons. Several close calls forced him to apparate, zipping back halfway to the gate where he knew he wouldn't crash into anyone. He almost did anyway when an orc who'd braved his wall fell off after getting his feet caught on the spikes.
The squealing body nearly hit him as he appeared, and he stumbled to the ground yet again.
"Dammit. DAMMIT!"
Everything was happening too quickly. He couldn't keep up, and his friends were in danger.
Something exploded on the wall and he saw a host of bodies go flying, along with several ladders. He hadn't the strength for anything like that. And even if he did, the minotaur were in the thick of the fight and he couldn't even see Kali.
"Dammit!"
He only had one trump card left, and as he saw more orcs swarming over the headless hydra corpse, he knew he had to play it.
"HOLD YOUR BREATH!" he screamed, hoping they'd hear.
Snatching at the bottle, he sliced through the cord holding it, raised it high, then brought it crashing down against his sword.
The bottle cracked, then explode into a twenty-foot wave that towered over the swarming swine before crashing down like a hammer to an anvil. Over the sound of breaking water, something like the screams of furies echoed and Harry saw vague shapes, even as he himself was swept up in the backwash and hurled over the hydra and into the field.
The world tossed and turned, then suddenly righted as something took hold of him and gently lifted him above water.
It took a moment to regain the enhancement on his eyes as he'd lost concentration in the wave. When he did, he was shocked to see a watery visage staring at him, an impish smile playing at her lips.
"Hello," she burbled sweetly.
"Uh, hi."
Stupefied, he watched as dozens of others swam around him in a small lake being held together by, what he could only assume was the water sprites themselves.
"Are you alright?" she asked.
"Uh, more or less. Are you alright?"
She tittered at the question which Harry felt was unfair. They had tried to drown him the last time he was this close to one of them.
"You healed us, cleaned us," the sprite said. "We have been watching, watching from the bottle."
"You could see from in there?"
She nodded.
"Cor!"
His exclamation pleased her for some reason, and she came in close to nuzzled him. "We will help you fight. We saved your friends, now we help you fight."
She was true to her word. Boren and Charlie were already standing again, and Kali was slithering through the water in his direction.
"You'll fight?"
The sprite nodded, "You save us, now we save you. We fight. We keep wizard safe."
Her words were simple, but he couldn't help but feel moved. Moved, and worried. The Ashe had wizards as well. Would they know how to fight water sprites? Just how much could the aqueous maidens stand up to.
The fight wasn't over, not by far. And with his last trump played, he wondered just how much longer they would last.
