Disclaimer: I made a mistake in my last disclaimer I actually don' t own the world that this fic takes place in, which is Faerun and the Forgotten Realms Setting, but I did add a few new places that are my own. Other than those places and the characters that I made up I don't own anything from D&D.
Sephirothxx-Thanks for the review Andy, and as you can see I did keep writing so here is the next chapter.
Chapter 2
The Attack
It has been eight years since Eldon and Diesa had seen Nexal and that made Thamior eight years old. That meant that Eldon and Diesa had taught him many things within those eight years. They had also spent a great amount of time studying that scroll that Nexal gave them.
They found out that no tree in the Arcane Forest could be burned or chopped down, for they were protected by spells of fire protection and well as a spell that made them as hard as metal. But this also meant that if some other wizard or cleric were to come into this forest and cast a spell that made the trees vulnerable to fire or a spell that canceled the other spell the trees would be more or less just like a normal tree.
They also noticed that Thamior did in fact have some kind of affinity with magic. He wasn't able to cast very many spells but the spells that he could cast he learned quickly and could cast them better then some other wizards.
Eldon and Diesa had devoted a lot of time to teaching Thamior and preparing him for what they knew was to come. Most of Thamior's time was spent with his mother learning the ways of magic and a few spells, but the was some time spent with his father learning some hand to hand combat skills. Thamior quickly developed some skill with the staff, and his father recently presented him with his own quarterstaff made of maple.
One day as Eldon was making his rounds through the forest a very excited squirrel came up to him, "Orcs and goblins in the forest!" the squirrel chattered excitedly, almost too fast for Eldon to catch what was being said.
"Where are they? How many are there?" Eldon asked the squirrel.
"They just entered from the northern edge of the forest. There were a lot of them, too many for me to count. And they were heading for the center of the forest," the squirrel said this time a little bit more calmly.
Since a squirrel couldn't count very high this didn't help much, but Eldon knew that the squirrel wouldn't get this excited over a couple of orcs and goblins. "Thank you my good friend. I will see to the forests defenses immediately," Eldon said as he quickly ran the opposite way from the invaders, toward his house.
"What's the matter?" Diesa asked her husband when she saw him running back to the house.
"There are orcs and goblins in the forest, and I think they're heading this way," Eldon replied.
Diesa reacted quicker than you would have expected from someone who was just told that her home was being invaded. She took Thamior into the tree and to the library, which was inside the tree not up in the tree house part. She stopped at a large painting of a tree and said, "Kazakh." And the canvas disappeared leaving a door into a dark chamber. "This is my own chamber that I created when we first made this house, only those that know the password may enter. Remember the word well so that you can get back out of here."
"But where are you and daddy going?" Thamior asked.
"The forest is under attack," his mother replied.
"But I wanna fight too," Thamior protested.
"We promised someone very important that if this forest was attacked that you would live," Thamior's mom said then she added, "That is why you must stay in here for a couple of nights. I will disguise this tree to look like all the rest and make a different tree far away from here look like our house. But if they see through that there will be all sorts of wards around the real house. And if they somehow manage to get through that then you will be safe in these chambers, for I will lock them so that you and only you may enter and leave them."
"Fine I never get to do anything fun," Thamior wined. "How long do I have to stay in here anyway," he added in a more regular tone.
"Stay here for only five hours, that should give you plenty of time to gather your things and for us to distract them long enough. On the table you will find a letter, you must follow the directions on the letter and go to the detailed place when you are eighteen and no sooner. You will also find my spell book; it is yours along with anything else in here. And one more thing all of your belongings have been put in a closet over there," Diesa said as she pointed to a nearby closet.
At that moment Eldon walked into the room, "Come on dear, we don't have much time left," he said to his wife before turning to his son and adding, "When you leave here you must never come back to this tree. Instead find a cave or something and make that your home for now, then go to the house in the letter when you are old enough. Learn all that you can within that time limit."
"Ok," Thamior said trying to sound grown up.
When he finished his parents said goodbye and gave him a hug, and with that they were gone the door returning to the painting from the outside and just the back of the canvas from the inside sending the chamber into darkness again. So with a few hand gestures and a simple triggering word Thamior cast a simple light spell that he was taught and set about looking through his mother's secret chamber.
OoOoOoOo
Eldon ran through the forest with his longbow, a quiver of arrows, and his long sword in case they got too close. While Diesa ran with nothing but a pouch of spell components in case she had to use some of her more complex spells, which she thought very likely and her quarterstaff.
They stopped running long enough for Eldon to ask a nearby bird to see how much farther away the orcs and goblins were.
"They're up ahead a little bit. Not much farther from here. And it looks like they are making camp, guess they don't want to travel in the dark," the bird replied before it flew off into the distance.
"Perfect for us," Eldon said turning toward his wife with the deadly gleam in his eyes that he only got before a battle. "Do you have any spells that will allow us to see in the dark," he added already forming a plan in his head.
"Yea, hold on," Diesa said as she made some familiar gestures and softly spoke the command word so that none would over hear her.
As the spells affect took place all colors started to fade into nothing but black and white, but Eldon and Diesa found that they could see as normally as if it were in color. And their sight was much better suited for the darkness now.
"Alright hears the plan, is there any what you can damper their vision somehow?" Eldon asked Diesa.
"Will some fog work?" she asked back.
"Yea, as long as we can see them from out here," Eldon said.
"We should be able to see into the fog but wont last very long and it won't be very dense cause there isn't much water vapor in the air tonight." Diesa said as she noticed how dry the air had been for the past couple of days.
"That's fine. Next I'll pepper them with arrows until the fog disappears, while you bombard them with spells; use anything that can kill. Once the fog wears away I'll go in with my sword and you continue to use as many spells as you have left. If you need to take what you can with your staff, though I'm sure they'll have some archers to pick you off so keep that in mind," Eldon said laying out his newly formed plan.
"Sounds like a pretty good plan for something you just made up on the spot," Diesa said noting her husband's uncanny ability to form a good plan on the fly. The she added, "You should use your bow from over here I'll teleport to their flank so we can confuse them some more."
"Alright, I'll send a bird to you when I'm ready for you to cast the fog spell," Eldon said as waved goodbye to his wife for she had already cast the teleport spell that would take her to the groups flank.
OoOoOoOo
Diesa took care to make sure that she cast the spell so that she would appear far enough away from the group that they wouldn't notice her. As she arrived at her destination she started to look for the best vantage point from which she could cast her spells.
She cast a spell of invisibility on herself so that she wouldn't be seen then she cast one on her husband and sent a message to his mind letting him know that he was invisible. Diesa heard him silently thank her while she was still connected to his mind, but her spell ended abruptly cutting off the end of the statement. She found a good place where she could easily see the camp, and finally being able to see the numbers her and her husband were up against. There were so many, more than the eye could see. But she didn't concern herself with numbers for she knew that she would die for a greater cause, so her son could live.
After she had finished gawking at the number of foes she prepared the fog spell and left it on the tip of her tongue until the bird was sent to her.
OoOoOoOo
Eldon felt the tingling sensation that usually accompanied a spell being cast on him, then he heard the message in his heard from his wife and he thanked her.
He made his way closer to the camp so that he could easily shoot at them with his bow. He found his spot and looked out over the camp, sure it went on farther than he could see but he had long ago learned not to concern himself with the numbers.
Eldon took his bow off his shoulder and then took the arrows out of his quiver and stuck them in the ground so that he had easier access to them.
When he was ready he called a nearby bird to him and sent the bird to his wife. Then he set the first arrow to his bowstring and waited for the fog.
OoOoOoOo
As soon as the bird landed on her shoulder Diesa spoke the word that would send an obscuring fog into the enemies midst.
The fog started from the center of the group and worked its way to the edges, sending the orcs and goblins into a state of panic and confusion. The situation only got more confusing for them as arrow after arrow flew into their ranks, every one reaching its mark and killing him.
As soon as the fog spell was off her lips Diesa instantly started to cast another one. After a few gestures and a slightly longer incantation a bolt of lightning burst from Diesa's fingertips. She purposely chose an orc that wasn't on the edge of camp so that the bolt would head straight for him killing any in it's path. As it turned out the lightning bolt had killed six goblins and two orcs.
As their ranks thinned Diesa could see the arrows flying into the camp and knew that her husband was still alive. And with this knowledge she cast her next spell, sending three blue missiles of raw magical energy at three unsuspecting foes. As the missiles killed their targets the fog spell ended and leader of the group, a giant orc, managed to restore some order within the group and organize them.
OoOoOoOo
Eldon was down to his last two arrows, meaning that he had used twenty-three, each killing someone before the fog spell wore off. Sticking to the plan he fired off the last two arrows and dropped his bow on the ground, replacing it with his long sword.
Without the fog to hide him and the invisibility spell having worn off when he fired his first arrow the orcs and goblins quickly noticed him and drew rusted swords. They charged him as he charged them.
He reached them with the point of his long sword down. As soon as someone was foolish enough to come close to him he slashed upward, right through the unfortunate fool's armor, spilling his innards onto the ground. He continued to slash and stab at all of them, suffering only minor cuts here or there. But with the rusted blades the cuts hurt more than they should have.
The enemies' ranks were thinned greatly in a fairly short amount of time. Eldon could see flashes of light out of the corner of his eye letting him know that his wife was still alive, and that each flash brought at least another orc or goblin to his death. His happy thoughts were dimmed quickly, as soon as the giant orc leader of the group stepped up. He was clad in scale mail unlike the leather of his subordinates and Eldon knew that he would not be able to cut through this ones armor.
The orc leader said something in it's own guttural language that many would not have been able to understand but Eldon was a ranger who knew many different languages, "Why do you attack us, we have done nothing to you."
"You have invaded our home that is reason enough for us to attack you. Why are you here anyway?" Eldon replied.
"My master knows of a child in these woods with a special gift, and he believes that gift could hinder his plans so he sent this strike force to take care of the child," the orc said.
"That is my own son whom you are talking about, and that gives me another reason to kill you. Though I should warn you that if you do manage to kill me you will never find my son," Eldon said as he ran forward his sword held up high to slash across the orc's face, or to block any blow that might come from the giant leader. Even with the leaders abnormally large size Eldon was still quite a bit taller than him.
The orc leader drew an axe with a huge head but a small handle from his back, and attempted to slash Eldon across his chest.
But Eldon, having the faster weapon, was able to get his sword over in time to block the blow. As he felt his bled stop the axe he slid it up along the handle of the axe so it was above his head, then he stabbed downward and his sword went into the orc in the arm right below his protective armor, and was stopped by the orc's bone in his arm.
The orc howled in pain but he quickly recovered after the blade was yanked out of his arm. He hefted his axe so that he could cleave Eldon in two. He swung down with all his might, and even though Eldon managed to stop the brunt of the blow, though his arms were numbed from the force of it. And to make matters worse the orc leader pulled his axe back a little bit so that when Eldon tried to move his blade to attack back he found that it was caught between the curve of the axe blade and the handle.
"Not so tough now are ye," the axe wielding orc sneered. "Attack!" he shouted at everyone nearby.
Three orcs rushed in, two with swords and the other with an axe like its leader. Eldon felt the searing pain as two swords dug deep into each of his thighs. He saw the axe coming straight for his head and he ducked letting go of his stuck sword in the process.
As he ducked he spun and stuck his leg out tripping one of the sword wielders. The stupid sword wielder dropped his sword, and Eldon picked it up and stabbed the idiot in the heart killing him instantly.
As this happened the crowd of orcs and goblins merely stood by and watched the fight. With them distracted magic missiles continued to bombard them from the other side of their camp, though most didn't even know it.
Eldon was crouched down trying to free his newly acquired sword from its former wielders heart when suddenly pain erupted from his entire body, and when he tried to release his grip on the sword he found that he couldn't move his fingers. Though he would never know it, for he couldn't even turn his head, the orc leader had stuck his axe in Eldon's spine.
The orc leader yanked his axe out of Eldon's back, sending even more pain though Eldon's body. The realization that he had been paralyzed dawned on him just before the orc leader's axe came down on his neck with such a force that his head was lopped off entirely.
With Eldon dead the warning ward that Diesa had placed on his body, to let her know when he was dead was activated sending a single spark of light up into the air.
OoOoOoOo
Diesa in mid spell when she saw the sparkle of light go up into the air. Her heart skipped a beat as it dawned on her that her husband was dead, and she lost her concentration on the spell and lost it.
Knowing that she had just wasted a spell Diesa silently cursed herself, and knowing that her husband was dead sent a wild flare in her eyes and she cracked becoming completely reckless.
Diesa decided it was time to use the secret art she had been perfecting over the years, a special technique that allowed her to cast a spell to the point where all that was left was the triggering word and then she would leave it and cast another one and then say the two triggering words one right after the other. She knew that it would take a while to do it, and suspected that the orcs and goblins would have bows and crossbows trained on her in a matter of moments so she decided to cast a spell called wind wall that would deflect the arrows.
She went through the movements and gestures of the spell and when she finished it she could hear a faint wind surrounding her, and she immediately fell back into her casting state as she went through the simple of the two spells and spoke the incantation leaving out the last word. Then she hastily started the next spell, a much more complicated one that would take slightly longer. As she started it she could hear the wind pick up speed as it stopped an arrow and then quieted again. In less then a second arrows came in at Diesa in a steady stream so that the wind wall didn't get the chance to quiet again.
The syllables for the second spell came out rather quickly and sound almost like she was muttering to herself. Just as her wind wall spell failed she spoke the final two words two unleash her wrath upon the camp.
An arrow struck her in the shoulder but it didn't matter anymore since she had used the strongest and most destructive spell combo she could think of and was completely wiped out to the point where she couldn't even move a muscle.
More arrows struck her as her spell took its shape. Her first spell, another lightning bolt was sent through the group, leaving behind a line a death. But then came the second spell, a giant fireball, continued to grow in size as the lightning bolt finished its destruction. Then it soared into the group sending smoke and the smell of burning flesh into the night wind. When the dense smoke had cleared all that was left was a circle of dead bodies and smoldering tents with orcs and goblins that were lucky enough to avoid the spell around the circles edge.
With all of her energy drained Diesa was left standing there dumbfounded, she couldn't even fall down, so she made for an excellent target for the remaining orcs and goblins.
Arrow after arrow pierced her thin clothing endlessly. And when they ceased to come anymore you wouldn't have been able to tell that it was a human standing there, dead on the spot, for Diesa looked like a giant pincushion.
"Hurry up you maggots, we've got no reason to stay here so let's get our business in this forest done with," the orc leaded shouted to the troops under his command, and not being able to wait until they were done and out of this forest. But also dreading having to tell his master how he lost almost half of his troop to two humans.
OoOoOoOoNexal sat in a soft, cushiony chair, in his little shack; watching the magnificent performance Eldon and Diesa were giving in the depths of a circular mirror lying on his desk.
"I didn't think that they were going to do so well and provide such an excellent distraction," he said to a gray owl that was perched on Nexal's shoulder also watching the events in the mirror. "Too bad I wont be able to ask Diesa to teach me that spell combo thing, eh Graycloak," he added still thinking about learning new things after such a very long time.
Graycloak sighed and said, "Maybe young Thamior will find the secret to that technique in one of his mother's books, or just developed something similar to it and then you can ask him when he gets here in ten years."
Most would have been surprised that Nexal was talking to the owl and the owl talking back to him, but Nexal was not for the magic of the forest also affected the animals in strange ways. For example the already intelligent owl had developed even more intelligence and was now able to converse and understand all different races.
"Right you are Graycloak," Nexal said as he waved his hand over the mirror and the scene of Diesa's body full of arrows disappeared and an image of a young boy appeared.
OoOoOoOo
(Before the fight with the orcs even began)
As he cast the light spell to illuminate the chambers he gazed around and found that he could not see a single spot of wall due to all the bookshelves lining the room, each one filled with books of all sorts. And in one spot there was a cabinet instead of a bookshelf, and inside the cabinet Thamior found his meager amount of belongings neatly arranged. And in the center of the room there was a single desk with a comfy chair to sit in.
He walked to the cabinet and looked at his belongings deciding what he would take with him when he left in a little while. He instantly grabbed the quarterstaff that his father had made for him from a maple tree outside the forest. He started to grab his spell book with the few spells he had learned from his mother, but then he remembered what his mother said about leaving her spellbook for his. He decided that he would take both of them and transfer the spells he learned from his mother's book into his own to keep track of his progress. Then he grabbed his backpack and put a change of clothes in it as well as his spellbook, he also found a bedroll with his belongings that didn't really belong to him but knew that he would need it so he strapped it to the bottom of his backpack. And left the rest of his belongings deeming them unnecessary to bring with him.
He went to the desk and put the letter in his mother's spellbook and put that into his backpack as well. He also noticed a small bag of coins on the table as well and took them too. As he looked through the drawers of the desk he found a belt with a ton of small pockets, knowing right away that it was his mother's spare belt that she would use to keep her spell components. It was the same belt that he used when he was practicing his own magic with his mother, so he checked the pockets and found the all full of different components and put it safely into his backpack as well. In another drawer he found a ring with a strange looking gem in the center and added it to the growing stockpile in his backpack.
He checked all the bookshelves and found mostly stories, his mother loved to read, but he didn't think they would be worth taking with him, so he continued looking across the many shelves. Until he found something truly interesting, the series of three books that he knew his mother used to write her research in. He could have spotted those threes books anywhere they were some of the only books he had ever seen that had bright white covers that he thought impractical because they would easily get dirty. But nevertheless he took them anyway
Then he went back to the desk and took some writing materials, an inkpen, a couple vials of black ink, and a few pieces of parchment and carefully put them into his backpack with the rest of his things.
After Thamior felt that he had everything that he would probably need and shut his backpack and checked a giant clock that was in a corner almost hidden by the bookshelves that flanked it. He saw that it had been just about five hours, so he put his backpack on his back and took his quarterstaff in hand.
He walked up to the canvas back of the painting and spoke the opening word, "Kazakh." And the canvas gave way to the doorway that he had entered from.
After Thamior was through the painting he spoke the word again and the painting returned back to normal. He thought about checking the rest of the house from more things to take but his backpack was already full and he figured that he could just travel to the town that wasn't too far from the forest if he really needed something.
And on that note he walked out of the library and through the halls of the magically enhanced tree trunk, still marveling at the fact that his mother's magic had made the inside of this tree trunk the size of a small house on the inside but still appear normal on the outside.
Thamior exited the concealed door that lead in and out of the tree and took one last look at his home before he turned and ran off through the forest to a place that his father had once showed he on one of their many walks through the forest.
After running, and sometimes walking, for close to an hour Thamior finally came to the place he was looking for, and after getting lost more then once in the now dark woods. Even with the rock that he held glowing from another light spell that he cast upon it the forest was still extremely dark.
Somewhere not very far from the from the dark corner of the forest where Nexal lived Thamior came upon one of his favorite places in the whole forest that he knew no one would be able to find him in. The spot was a large clearing with a small pond in the center that had a river flowing off the one side of it and on the opposite side of the river there was a cliff that had a decent sized cave in it.
Thamior walked into the cave and found it was just as he remembered it, stalagmites growing up from the floor, which meant that there must be some water source up above the cliff. The cave went back a good fourteen or so feet and was maybe around ten feet wide. He walked to the back placing the glowing rock on the floor as he took his backpack off laid it next to the rock, and then he took the two spellbooks and his mother's research books out and put them in a little cubby made in the back of the cave to keep them dry. Thamior also put the belt and the ring in the cubby as well as the pouch of coins, and then he undid the bindings that were holding his bedroll to his backpack.
Thamior unrolled his bedroll and lay down inside of it to catch at least a few hours of sleep. He used his backpack as a pillow and was asleep as soon as his head hit it.
OoOoOoOo
"It looks like you were right as usual Graycloak. Thamior wouldn't take those three heavy books if they weren't important, and I don't think they were all spellbooks," Nexal said to the owl as he waved his hand over the mirror again and the image faded leaving nothing but the mirror's smooth surface.
"We'll just have to wait and see," Graycloak said exhibiting his unusual amount of patience.
"That we will my friend," Nexal said with some delight at his very intelligent friend, but then added in a sadder tone, "It's too bad I couldn't help Eldon and Diesa, I really liked them."
"You know that the gods would have punished you for not doing what they said, and they specifically said that your only ask was to make sure the forest didn't fall into the wrong hands, they didn't say anything about protecting the child. And they would not be happy if they found out that you left your mirror unattended to help this child, no matter how important he is," Graycloak replied his amber eyes resembling pools of intelligence to Nexal as he stared into them.
And there you have it folks, chapter 2. I just started chapter 3 so it will take a little while to get up since school takes up most of my time, but I'll do my best. Please read and review, thanks.