Chapter 20

Ice Cave Round 2- Fight!

"So who would like to go first?" I asked, late the next day. I was excited, rubbing my hands together, and grinning like a fool.

"Oh, oh!" Snarly put his hand in the air and danced around.

"Would you-"

"Not it!"

I sighed.

"I will be the guinea pig," Hanz announced, stepping up.

"Whath a guinea pig?" Snarly asked.

"Do they not exist anymore? It's so hard to keep track."

"Anyway," I broke in. "Give me your arm. As the only one here that is, no offense, not flesh yours is in some ways the most convenient."

"My what, exactly?"

"Watch and learn." I cast for a minute, then forced the power technology spell into the empty spaces in the spell symbol spell. Completed, it sank into Hanz's arm leaving a detailed replica of the spell circles as though I had painted it on. "Done. This," I showed the others, "is our new weapon against anything that tries to stand against us. It's magic, and I don't even need to be around for Hanz to use it. Simply touch it, say the keyword 'power' and you'll have full use of your beam weapon without worrying about depleting it. Or yourself? I'm not clear on that point. Anyway, it's single use, so after you use it the symbol will be gone and I'll have to put it back. Easy. Happy to do it. Next?"

Malachite went next, and I put the spell to augment someone's skill at something on his sword. "You should be twice the swordsman you are now at least," I told him, "and all you have to do is pull your sword out. It's automatic."

"Nice!"

Snarly got the spell of invisibility on one dagger, and the same augmenting of skill on his other. He wanted the symbol on the sheath for some reason, I didn't think it wise to advertise it being magically active but someone close enough to see it would probably be put off by the smell, so it wasn't that big a deal. I then handed out 12 stone disks with a symbol on it. "Three are healing," I explained. "One is light. Use is pretty simple, just hold the one up and say 'light' and it'll make a ball of light that follows you around. The other just touch to the person you want healed and say heal. Keep the blanks or chuck them, I can always make more. Oh, Hanz, yours are the repair spell not healing. They'll only work on your kind. I figure if we only had two healing potions before, nine of them spread across the three of us should be sufficient." And no breakable glass either, a plus.

"And none of this affects you in any way?" Hanz asked, still looking their new symbol over.

"The spells have been cast and are completely separate from me. I have no idea why it works this way, but I'm happy it does. You can have all these spells going at once, while I have my new companion out and I'll still be in top fighting form. I can assist you as I always do without penalty."

"So you did manage to create it?" Malachite asked.

"Let me show you!" I cast, and in a burst of magic nothing seemed to happen. "Isn't she great? Exactly as I envisioned her to be!" I gestured in front of me like "look at my cute little baby."

"Uh?" Malachite wondered.

"Humm," Hanz agreed.

"I don't get it," Snarly decided.

"Oh!" I feigned surprise. "Let me help you a little." I knelt down and held a hand out. "Boline?" A paw hit my hand, and as that was affecting another creature she became visible. She was a crystalline looking panther, more sleek than Athame who was closer to a diamond in form, being more angular. She just seemed to be made of glass. "Everyone, this is Boline. Say hello, Boline." I made it bow a little and then vanish again. "Sorry, she's shy." I petted nothing, scratching her ears.

"Does she have other abilities apart from invisibility?" Hanz asked.

"Yes. She knows my balk spell, to keep an opponent off balance, and my thrust spell. I debated deflection, but I figured thrust was probably better, it will throw people away from me. If someone is hitting me with a sword or something I don't just want to stop them, I want them nowhere near me. And she's fairly strong and fast, in a pinch. Stronger than me, anyway."

"So the plan, upon our return to the cave, is to use our new capabilities to overwhelm our opponents and at last take the orb?"

"I figure you should be able to take out an ice creature fairly quickly. We keep the ghosts busy, watch out for the ice attack, and as Malachite and Snarly shouldn't ever miss what they swing at, with me further buffing you it should go quite differently than last time." And they can self heal if they do get hit.

"I do share that hope, I am not quite ready to go to silicon heaven if you take my meaning."

"If you died, I woulth hollow out 'ur 'kull and make a beautiful planter!" Snarly assured them.

"That's very… kind… of you?"

"And one of your arths could be a back 'cratcher."

"Shall we go?"

We flew back to the cave, transitioning to the astral plane when we got near just in case. Malachite landed us down the path as he saw something odd through the haze and as he shrunk down again said he would go check it out and to wait here. He moved closer, not really being stealthy about it as there wasn't anything to hide behind here anyway. He went right up to the mouth of the cave and jerked back, making us all perk up. But nothing happened and he jogged back to us.

"There's two wolves guarding the entrance," he reported. "They could see me, too. One howled, at least I'm pretty sure that's what he was doing. Do wolves yawn? He howled, gotta be. I noticed something odd about their eyes, like there was smoke or something coming out of them."

"Guarding? Are you sure?" Hanz asked.

"Totally. They were sitting up and looking around. One started to pace back and forth when he saw me. They're acting different than before."

What in the world is going on here? What kind of power can be given to normal wolves that not only increases their intelligence but allows them to see into the astral? Is someone in the cave maintaining a spell on them? For the last two days? No way. Is the orb itself doing something to them? Protecting itself somehow? None of this makes any sense.

"Getting past them is now the question," Hanz decided. "I do not wish to have them attacking our flank while we try to defeat the ice demons and ghosts in the far chamber."

"Or spreading whatever happened to them to other creatures in the wilds," I agreed. "But by the same token fighting them here will draw the ice creatures from the other chamber."

"Not if we do it quickly enough!" Malachite announced with a grin. "It's fire time!" He got out some wrappings and a small vial of what I assumed was lamp oil.

I closed my eyes. "You want to blow them up, don't you?"

"I sure do! Come on, it'll be fun!"

Fire dragon. By the Allfather… I opened my eyes again with a sigh. "I suppose it's an enclosed space and a narrow opening. If I'm to the side when I cast it should go by me."

"Can you draw them into the cave, so that if any remain there they can be affected?" Hanz asked.

"No problem!"

They looked to me.

"We can do it. You two hang back for now. I'll step us down and Malachite can rush the two. Bully past them into the cave, and I'll follow a bit behind. I'm slower anyway. Once in position I'll combust the fire… which will be your hands, I guess?"

"Can you see it? Boom!"

Good thing you're immune to fire to I guess…

He set his hands on fire with a jet of flame from his mouth, and got into position. "Ready."

Hold on! Since when can he do that? He just… did it. Like a dragon would. He really is turning into a dragon, not that there was really any doubt at this point but still. He never mentioned it to me like 'hey look what I discovered I can do now' he used it like he could do it all along. I do have to say this evolution of his is a bit scary to watch from the outside. Are we going to wake up one morning to find he's doubled in size? What else can dragons do I should watch for, that he'll just pull out one day like it's completely natural?

I looked to the other two, who were hunkered down around the bend in the path. "Okay." Worry about that some other time, keep your head in the game. Taking a deep breath I put my emotions back in the box, something I hadn't been doing much lately. But I felt it was best to do it now, otherwise worry might creep up on me and I needed focus for what we were going to do. I dropped the spell and the real world returned, and Malachite charged the two wolves. Yelling his head off, he raced toward the cave entrance, hands outstretched to hopefully drive the two wolves back into the cave. They did not retreat however, instead worked together to tackle him and all three went spinning down the side of the mountain.

Uh, that wasn't supposed to happen. I reached the area and looked down, he was struggling with the two wolves and trying to get his wings in position. Before they were out of range I gathered magic and cast thrust on the pair of wolves, figuring they would be blasted off him. They somehow held on, and so all three of them were thrust even further away in a blast of magical energy. I looked to the cave entrance. It was such a simple plan, too. How has it gone so wrong already? There was a thump as the group landed, skidding to a halt several meters down the mountain now. I stared as Malachite seemed unable to dislodge the wolves, and I wondered if they hadn't been enhanced somehow, as he was a pretty big driag. Not that all driag weren't big, but his arms were about the size of my legs so that was saying something. I figured they were still in range, and gathered magic for a long rang attack. The only spell that could reach them now was the knockout blast, which was fine, it was pinpoint accurate and would help him throw them off. I cast, gathering as much mana as I could and fired it off. Direct hit on one wolf, who yelped, but stayed hanging on. What? But that did seemingly help, as Malachite twisted and threw that one off him. I had to tag the second one twice with my magic before it was driven off, and Malachite was able to get up and fly back up to me.

"Can't get past the scales," he called. "We're sticking with the plan!" He raced into the cave, only to be stopped by the four other wolves that had come to investigate. Malachite folded his wings and tried tumbling past them, but only served to get into the middle of them.

I can't do it right here, I'll fry myself. Get going further into the cave!

But he couldn't, as four wolves latched onto him and started to overwhelm him. It hadn't worked very well the last time but I figured it was all I had, and gathered mana again. Taking a fairly large risk I cast on all of them, hoping to blow them into the other side of the cave. Predictably, at this point, somehow all four wolves were totally unaffected leaving only Malachite to go flying and land several meters away. Two wolves took off after him, two started to push through the hole that wasn't big enough for the two to use side by side and so got in each other's way.

"Orchid!" I heard from within, as I had been taking a step back as I didn't want to deal with these two jacked up wolves. I could see over them though, and in the darkness of the cave was the fire. I guess the plan is still on, I thought. I quickly cast, throwing myself to the side as I did. Fire roared out, roasting the two wolves who were in front of me and popping them out of the cave like a cork. Hanz ran up with an ax in their hands, and chopped the one nearest them in half.

Oh, that's right, they do carry an ax I forgot. I figured they would give it up for the beam weapon, was I not clear enough that it would last long enough to get through a whole combat? They should use that, or I should enchant the ax too.

One hadn't gone that far and was in front of me, and getting up. It looked pretty badly burned of course but I did notice the eye thing Malachite had talked out. Creepy. I called up elemental energy and needled it in the head with wind, dropping it.

Hanz thundered past me, another singed wolf was on the way out, so I quickly cast my successful strike spell on them. They dodged a strike by the wolf but took that one out too. Malachite by this time had gotten up and was facing the last wolf. He scored a good hit on the body of it but it was still up. I cast dazzle on the wolf, making him stagger back, and Hanz rushed over and bashed him in the head. Snarly appeared, finishing the wolf off with the dagger in his hand, not having drawn the other one yet. There was silence in the cave as we waited for something to come from the passageway.

Nothing did.

"They're waiting for us?" Malachite asked finally.

"Very considerate of them," I agreed. "That didn't go exactly to plan, did it?"

"Plans are of little importance, but planning is essential," Hanz intoned.

"Sure," I agreed. "Come here Snarly, let me put your invisibility back on." He came over and handed me his knife, I activated my light token and started casting.

"I'll scout the next bend," Hanz announced.

"I'll back them up," Malachite agreed, and they both headed off that way. They came back with plenty of time to spare, and I finished up.

"Nothing," they reported. "Our enemies await us in the final chamber it seems. Malachite, you saw it, did you not? What can you tell us about the chamber?"

"The orb was in the far back corner. There's plenty of cover in the form of natural stone pillars. One small hallway in and out."

"Then our strategy is clear," they announced. "We rush straight to the back corner in the astral plane. We drop out of it and the two of us are in the front. Snarly grabs the orb while Orchid recasts the spell to take us back to the astral. We defend them. With the orb in hand he grabs Orchid, she grabs us, and we all go together."

They all looked to me. "That's doable," I agreed. "I bet I could seal the cave entrance off, too, trap them in there before we leave."

"They probably would not give chase, seeing us vanish in that way," they agreed. "Let us go quickly."

And we tried. We really did. But it seemed the universe wanted us to slaughter our way though this cave as well, as we screeched to a halt once we could at least see most of the other room. Two wolves had been added, but that wasn't the worst part. That was the fact the orb, floating above the ground still, was now encased in a lattice of ice, like a spider. It was at least two meters across, meaning we as a group would have to spread out as the wolves were basically snug up against the ice, meaning it would be impossible to do a smash and grab as we intended. The ghosts turned towards us, something I still couldn't accept, and we backed off again. As we did the ghosts seemed to be saying something, they were pointing and the ice demons were taking an interest as well.

"So now what?" Malachite asked. We were now "above" the wall so at least if the ghosts could somehow reach us here, it would only be them and not the ice demons as well.

"Is the universe punishing us in some way?" Hanz asked seriously. "That ice cage was not there before, was it?"

"It wasn't," he agreed. "But now, the moment we have a plan to get in and out, suddenly we can't? Had we simply carried on a few days ago we probably could have done the grab and go plan. But now it's like we're being forced to kill everything around here."

Could the world itself be rejecting these creatures? Are we the instrument it is using to purge itself of this incursion? "We'll have to split up," I decided.

"Never a great plan, but I'm listening," Hanz told me.

"You're over there, by the entrance. Only one ice demon can come through there at a time and you have a clear shot to a lot of the room. Hopefully you'll draw their attention as they try and stop you beaming them. Meanwhile Malachite and I will stay phased, so we can deal with the ghosts. Once they're gone, if there are ice demons left, we take them together. We know they can hurt us, and it's area effect, be careful. Snarly… I have no idea. Those wolves seemed a lot stronger than I would have said before today, given the trouble Malachite had with them. Run around invisible and strike when you can, I guess?"

"I'll think of 'omething."

"Do try to keep something between yourself and an ice demon," Hanz suggested. "They may not attack if they are going to hit one of their allies, such as a wolf or ghost."

"That's true," I agreed.

"I shall get into position. Power." They activated their symbol and jogged over to where the entrance was. Snarly pulled his one dagger and vanished. I cast phase on both of us, wishing I could use my new companion spell but it couldn't exactly hold onto me, could it? Plus using thrust on a ghost was an exercise in futility, it would not be damaged by hitting a wall or anything. We wanted them near so Malachite could stick them with his sword as quickly as possible.

Hanz was in position. I hoped Snarly wasn't anywhere dangerous but had no way to tell. Malachite and I were together, I needed to touch him in some way to keep him phased, so I just had a hand on his back. Better that I only have one hand to cast than he only having one hand to use a sword with. I dropped the spell, bringing us into the real world again. Malachite took a deep breath and tried to roast a ghost, but it dodged. An ice demon behind it sent ice our way, through that ghost, which seemed unaffected. We dodged back into the wall and it smashed against it.

Such a cheap attack. It can hurt us and not them? Come on.

Inside the wall it was like the outside world didn't exist. Like the wall was the outside world now, we could see perfectly well inside the stone, but not into the air beyond. A hand came through the wall, searching for us, but Malachite deflected it. He brought his sword up and with a shrug I figured, you know what? A little bit more help is always appreciated. I did a quick casting of my successful strike spell, and he followed up with an attack at random, where he believed the head would probably be. I could tell he hit something, the blade didn't fly smoothly, and he nodded. Even phased we could tell it was getting cold, but was that a danger? It wasn't the direct attack, and nothing should be able to affect us. Still, best not to take any chances.

"I'll make us invisible, we can step out from a new location." I started casting.

"Good plan." He dragged me along, we were in the corner of the cave so I figured he wanted to step out from the other corner. I finished casting and suddenly a bunch of the wall next to us vanished, making me wonder what had happened to it. Did the ice demon crack it with ice or something?

"I think we could use a little more heat," Malachite decided. He put his head through the wall and must have been breathing fire again. So much for stepping out invisibly.

"I hit the ghost, it's still there," he reported, jerking back.

I nodded, and cast successful strike on him again. Another hand raked through the stone, missing my face by a few centimeters, but that just let Malachite know where it was. He slashed and finished it off.

"Yeah, no more ghosts, come on let's help Hanz," he told me, taking a quick peak back out through the wall.

I am the woman in the wall… We headed out and I dropped the phase, looking around. The ice was damaged but Snarly was nowhere to be seen. The passageway into the chamber was blocked with ice, but two of the creatures were down and dying. The wolves were sniffing around looking for something. Malachite roared and rushed to one of the ice demons, smashing it across the chest and driving him to the floor. It clearly said something in a language I didn't recognize as he did this, but then went still. He swung his sword around as a wolf leapt at him, driving it back. A beam took the other one in the head, and moving a little I saw a hole had been melted into the ice allowing Hanz to shoot through. They tried to block it off.

"I think Snarly is hurt!" Malachite yelled, pointing vaguely in a direction. I headed that way, but didn't see anything. Did he take a lucky shot and as he didn't get a chance to attack back, he's still invisible? But if he's unconscious his connection to the magic would be broken, right? He would go visible again. Or am I wrong about that? The spell didn't say, exactly. Or is there just so much magic in here it's doing something to him? I felt a lot of magic, I couldn't even tell where my own spell was, so I just swished my hand through the space until I felt his body. I moved up his leg, trying to figure out where he was hurt so I could heal him, and basically decided to just focus on his body. Once we weren't in danger my spells should drop anyway, and I could do more. But if he had been hit in the head it may already be too late. I cast, and he seemed to be coming around.

"I think he's fine," I said, turning. It seemed the others were mopping up, the last wolf was down and Malachite was about to chop the last ice demon apart. "No, wait!" I shouted, reaching out but it was too late. The sword came down, and it was gone.

"What? What happened?" he asked, looking around.

"I wanted to bring one back," I told him. "We need to study these things. And it clearly said something, it could be intelligent. In fact I'm pretty sure the ones we killed before were talking, a few days ago. I could have talked to it, tried to figure out where it had come from, what it wanted here. I can't do that if I don't have a prisoner to question. I can't take a ghost prisoner this was the next best thing."

"Oh. Sorry," he apologized sheepishly. "I didn't think of that."

"Clearly," I muttered. But it was my fault for not thinking of it earlier too. "Well, let me finish up with Snarly here, and we can get the orb." I turned back and put my hand out again. That's odd, we're not in danger the magic should be gone. "Once I find him again."

"Is that a problem?" Hanz asked. I turned to them and looked, they were pointing at the only way out of the cave. I whipped around to see Snarly, a suspiciously round bulge in his pack, wiggling through the hole Hanz's weapon had made in the ice. I couldn't believe my eyes, and looked back at the orb. Yup, it was gone. I looked back at him, now vanishing into the darkness.

Was he not hurt as badly as I thought? I wasn't done, how much more healing does he need? Why is he just leaving? "How did he know it wouldn't freeze him solid when he touched it? Or pull him into an ice realm?" I asked no one in particular. "You don't just go grabbing strange, floating objects at random like that! We had the time to study it, now."

"Did it take him over?" Malachite asked. "Should we go after him?"

"He's not getting anywhere, unless he plans to walk back to town," Hanz reminded him. "We flew here, how would he even know which way to go?"

"Good point. Hey, is that loot?" He went over and pulled up a small coin pouch of all things, pulling it out of the ice and opening it. "Hey, silver! Great. At least we won't leave empty handed. I mean the orb we have to give away, you know what I mean."

"Let's just get after Snarly, before he does escape with the orb in yet another twist," I decided. I guess at least we're alive, and my new magic proved itself. Really wish we could have talked to one of these things though. And if Snarly has been possessed by the orb somehow, well, I'm sure we can separate them only cutting off one arm...