Son of the Keeper: Book 1: Principles of Magic Page 11

  “Sir Omasa will take tactical command and organize the sections. I’ll travel with him and other members of the high protectors to the castle. Once there, I’ll speak with whoever wishes to deliver me a message in exchange for Glenda being released. Once we have her, we kill every single one of them.” The wizard nodded as Omasa came down the stairs and started grouping people together and taking care of getting everything organized. Chris had left unsaid that if his mother had already been killed they would immediately move into retaliation mode.

  Everyone spilt off to get organized and Chris found himself standing alone in the middle of all the chaos. It was an odd feeling realizing he was fixing to go into battle for the first time. He didn’t like having to wait for everyone to get organized since it was increasing the time his mom would be stuck with those animals. Wessel came over and led Chris to a black hummer they’d be taking to the castle. They climbed in the back and sat down to wait for everyone to be ready to move out. Two of the high protector knights saluted and loaded up in the front of the hummer. Chris asked Wessel if he had any ideas what they may be up against.

  “It could be anything your highness. Remember the enemy we’re facing has been building up forces across the dimensions for eons. There are planets with creatures from your nightmares roaming them and the dark horde gathers all that evil to its bosom and works to pervert it even more. When we ride into battle all we typically know is that we’ll be facing evil. I wish you had more training in shield magic but we’ll be covering you as best we can. I would expect you’re going to be the main focus of this attack. I think they’re scared of you and what you may become.”

  Chris was going to ask him some follow up questions around the nightmare monster comment and why they’d be scared of him. His questions were interrupted by Omasa and Penny climbing in the back of the hummer and motioning for the driver to get moving. Once they were moving and everyone was settled in Omasa leaned forward and let them know that they suspected a necromancer was leading the enemy. The idea was to get close to the castle and then stop and wait for the enemy to come out. They would then face them on the open field. At that point the enemy should present Glenda and deliver their message. No one thought it was going to actually work out that way. They were just using the best scenario as a baseline to plan for contingencies.

  The hummer was driven fast and hard for the castle. Chris looked out the window as the lush green Irish landscape rolled by. Other than the airstrip there had not been any other signs of habitation. He’d asked and been told that the family who owned the castle also owned all of the land for miles around it. After they had driven for about ten minutes Chris began to see the shape of some large buildings forming up ahead of them surrounded by so much fog it looked like the buildings were sitting in a cloud. The driver slowed the hummer as they began moving into the dense fog. Chris felt a cold chill settle over him.

  “Sire, focus and you’ll be able to see through the fog. It’s not a natural fog so we can overpower their wizards and literally blow away the fog once we decide to. I assume they’ve moved their people out into the fog and are using it to hide from us before the battle commences and to try and escape through afterwards.” Penny took a deep pull on the water bottle she’d been holding. “This is going to be bad your highness. If they have a necromancer here then this could get really bad, really fast.”

  The hummer rolled to a stop when the fog got so dense there was no longer any visibility. Penny and Wessel got out of the hummer and started chanting and waving their arms around like they were trying to shoo away an annoyingly persistent swarm of gnats. Chris heard other voices mix in and saw that more wizards had joined them around the hummer. The fog began to dissipate. Slowly at first then with increasing speed the area around them became visible. As the fog disappeared the enemy came into sight.

  Standing about two hundred yards away from where they had stopped the hummer was a castle wall. Standing in front of the wall in complete silence was a long double line of dark cloaked creatures. Interspersed amongst them were regular looking people in tourist attire. Chris focused and the tourists disappeared to be replaced by the creatures hiding behind the illusion charms. The line included many of the Corvellans who were the same wolf demon creatures who had attacked them at the lighthouse. There was also a smattering of shifty looking humans in the line. Standing out in front of them all was a black cloaked and hooded figure leaning on a large staff. Tied up and lying on the ground in front of him was Glenda.

  “That’s a necromancer your highness.” Penny informed him as she gazed across the rock-strewn field at the enemy. “They’re the most powerful shaman we normally see in this dimension. There are only a few of them around. Rumor is for their final test they are killed and have to bring themselves back from the dead. Looks like Glenda is ok from here. What’s the call?”

  Omasa began to speak. Chris cut him off by holding up his hand. “I’ll go and demand they turn Glenda over and then I’ll listen to their message.”

  “That sounds good your highness but you’re taking our little army along with you. Those things across the field don’t know anything about honor. If you don’t show up in force they’re as likely to kill you as to talk to you.” Omasa motioned for the hummer to start driving slowly forward. The rest of the convoy behind them did the same. When they got to within fifty yards of the enemy Omasa told the driver to stop and they all started getting out. The long line of cars behind them were all emptying out as well. A couple of large busses towards the back of the line were looking like clown cars at a renaissance fair as they dispensed knight after wizard.

  Once everyone was out they moved to form a line on either side of Chris. They moved without a word. As quiet as the warped figured across from them until there were two lines standing and facing one another. Chris began walking towards his mother. His legs became heavy. The air became heavy. Dark feelings of foreboding weighed him down and overpowered him and he found it impossible to fight against them. He dropped to his knees on the ground as everything around him turned red. As suddenly as it had started it stopped. Chris straightened back up to his normal height and looked around him. A few of his guards were laying on the ground. Miss Penny and Wessel were both looking very strained. Chris focused and saw red rays of light emanating from the necromancer’s staff. Even as he watched the rays stopped and Wessel and Miss Penny and the others working on repelling the attack breathed a concurrent sigh of relief.

  Chris shook it off and headed towards the necromancer and Glenda. No further attacks were forthcoming from the hooded figure. Chris walked to within a few yards of the necromancer and looked down at Glenda. His mom seemed to be doing fine other than a bruise and the metal cuffs fastened on her wrists and ankles. She also had a rag wrapped around her neck and shoved into her mouth. Chris motioned towards his mom and saw a knight go to her and pull off the gag. The necromancer did nothing. Glenda sat up and coughed and smiled at Chris. It was a bittersweet smile. She told him she loved him as if expecting to feel a knife plunge into her back at any second.

  The knight, Chris realized it was Niko, picked up Glenda and carried her back through the line and towards the cars. Presumably she’d work on the cuffs and first aid for Glenda once she got her away from the field that was soon to be the site of a vicious battle. The necromancer still had not moved or spoken.

  “What’s your message?” Chris said to the necromancer. He realized his voice had been very low and possibly cracked a little bit. He gathered his nerves about him and in a much firmer voice asked the necromancer again. This time the necromancers head went up and his hood tilted back slightly.

  “Tell your guards to drop their pathetic attempts at shield spells and I’ll show you your highness.”

  Chris motioned for them to do so. A second later he felt the psychic hit from the necromancer. A psychic attack that left him disoriented followed by a dark cold feeling throughout his body. The necromancer was extending himself into Chris. Chris gathe
red himself to repel the necromancer. Before he could make the effort he found himself sitting on a rock overlooking landscape that may have been somewhere on Mars. Just barren rock and reddish dirt everywhere. Sitting on a rock across from him was the necromancer.

  For this conversation the man had taken his hood off. For the first time Chris noticed there was a human skull attached to the top of the man’s staff with large gem stones where the eyes should have been. The necromancers skin was pale. His hair was pulled back into a tight topknot with the outside portions of his hair shaved off. He had multiple steel rings in his ears and nose. Tattoos swirled up his neck and onto his face. His lips were so blue it looked like he’d used some kind of Halloween makeup on them. When he spoke the undertones were like steel nails on a chalkboard.

  “Thank you for coming to meet with me your highness. I was asked to give you a simple message.” The necromancer moved his hands around while speaking and Chris could see the man’s long nails curling around his hands. His eyes were bright red and when he spoke you could see that his teeth had all been filed to sharp points. “We are coming and if you don’t resist you will be placed as ruler of this world. If you resist all will be destroyed. This world will be made an example of.”

  As he spoke the coldness around Chris increased. It covered him like a blanket of ice. Focusing on not letting the cold penetrate his skin or his composure Chris responded to the necromancer. Chris was still fearful but he was also seething with anger. “If you survive this day then tell your master I am coming for him and will stand over him as he breathes his last.” Chris stared hard at the necromancer. His fear had been forgotten and he’d begun to radiate heat in this vision as his anger peaked.

  “Foolish king. You will die. Do as you will with me. A necromancer embraces death every day.” Chris continued to stare at the necromancer as he felt that cold blanket of ice embracing him tighter and tighter. Chris threw his arms up in the air and yelled in defiance. The spell of ice shattered, and he directed pieces of it to fly at the necromancer who ducked back from it and the vision was broken. Chris was once again standing on the battlefield yards away from the necromancer. Chris raised his hand and then slowly brought it down to point at the line of beings in front of them.

  A battle cry rose up behind him as his vassals began to move towards the enemy. An object was pressed into his hand by Niko. He looked up at her in surprise as he figured out it was a sword. Niko shrugged and smiled.

  “Glenda is in the care of the healers. She’ll be fine. I figure today is a good day for you to start in on your sword lessons. Swing the pointy part at the person you are mad at. Try not to get killed your highness.” Lesson completed Niko shifted her focus back to the necromancer and the men standing directly in front of them. Chris hefted the sword and swung it around a few times to get a feel for it. He knew his small frame would not keep him alive on a traditional field of battle like this. However, when he poured his martial magic into it he now had the same stature as any of the warriors here today if not more.

  He felt his body start to respond to the rush he was pouring into it from the air around him. He began to notice everything as the world slowed down for him. The monsters and men who had seemingly burst into flame or fell over dead for no reason at all when Chris had given the battle signal now showed signs of the magical attacks on them. Other streaks of red and blue and transparent white streaked through the air between the enemies. In some cases, the colors interlocked and shoved one another back and forth.

  The two forces were roughly equal in terms of numbers. However, the dark forces were clearly outclassed. The majority of them seemed to be the Corvellans who had no magic of their own and whose fighting skills mainly centered around assassinations. They were not the kind of troops you wanted to try and line up in a battle formation such as this one. Chris saw a wave of knights charge towards the line of the horde. Battle magic swirled around them both from themselves and from the wizards supporting them. The knights crashed into the lines on either side of where Chris and the necromancer were still facing off. Chris figured he should act on his own signal to charge so he ran forward planning to plant the sword in the necromancer’s heart.

  The necromancer made no move to defend himself. Chris moved forward with Omasa on one side and Niko on the other. Wessel was already engaging a large spider shaped thing that had come over the wall and skittered out to attack them. Chris swung the sword with all the force of his magic pushing his arms towards the robes of the evil being in front of him. As the sword penetrated the man’s heart the hood fell back and revealed not the evil face of the necromancer but the face of Chuck. The sword went through the torso of the zombie. The body of Chuck continued to stand as he stretched out his hands to grab at a paralyzed Chris.

  Chris let go of his sword leaving it stuck in his father’s body. He took a shocked step back as Omasa swept in and removed the head from the reanimated corpse of the man who had raised him. Several more of the large spider looking beings had swept over the wall and charged for them now. Omasa and Niko and several other knights raised their swords in challenge to the eight-legged monsters and charged towards them. Penny moved in and put her arm protectively around a shocked Chris. Wessel had dispatched the giant spider that had attacked them and threw a cloak over the body of Chuck after respectfully removing the sword Chris had left behind. Wessel walked over to his king and presented the sword.

  “Sire. Are you able to fight?” Wessel asked with no disrespect in his voice. He figured seeing the Zombiefied corpse of his own father would probably mess him up pretty bad too. Chris visibly shook it off and with an effort of will raised the sword then brought it down to point at the remaining horde forces. He started running towards them then used his battle magic to push himself off the ground and rocket towards a spider that had gotten around the knights and was moving towards them from the side. He flew parallel to the ground with his outstretched sword in front of him and buried both himself and his sword in the middle of the spider’s body.

  He tried to stand up but was off balance as he now had a large spider corpse wrapped around him like some kind of demonic tutu. He was completely covered in spider gunk. The spider was still in its death throws so the legs were twitching and thrashing as the head tried to turn around and get at him. Chris knew he’d be visiting this scene again in his nightmares. The remaining dark forces had turned and ran once Chuck had fallen. Several knights gave chase but the giant spiders and Corvellans were very motivated to run very fast and even with their magic assisted running and jumping the knights were having a hard time catching them. Especially the spiders who ran and jumped over the cliff using their legs to walk down the steep sides of the cliff.

  Omasa and Wessel came over and helped Chris extract himself from the insides of the spider. Niko came over as well and just kind of stared at him in awe.

  “Wow your highness. I’ve never seen anyone just go ahead and impale themselves right through the enemy like that. Probably the grossest thing ever. Effective though I guess.”

  Chris completely agreed with that sentiment. Someone handed him a towel and he used it to wipe the gunk off his face and the rest of his body as well as he could. Then he motioned at the manor. “Should we go inside?”

  “Aye your highness. We have some of the family that wasn’t here when the castle was taken. This is theirs now and they’ll need help getting it cleaned up and protected.” Omasa started gathering together the knights around them for a push into the castle.

  Chapter 14: Life Goes On

  Chris walked over to the hummer and they drove up to the front gates of the castle. The gates were open. They had been blown off their hinges by some force in the attack. Knights and wizards were walking slowly into the castle and spreading out as they looked for survivors or booby traps. There was also the very real concern that a sniper or assassin had been left behind to attack the king when their guard was down. Omasa spoke to the driver and then to Chris.

  “Yo
ur highness, they’re going to search the place and make sure it is safe before we get out to survey the damage. They’re going to make sure the vault has not been disturbed.”

  “What’s in the vault?” Chris asked.

  Penny took that one. “You know how we told you that portals are the way to travel between dimensions and it takes a combination of physics and magic to open one? We figured out a long time ago where the strongest places on the planet were for portals and we built these strongholds to protect them. We linked the strongholds with portals to let us get from one to another easier. Then we got attacked via one of those portals. We shut them all down and now we just guard them like crazy to keep the horde from using them to send an army to earth. We all fly around like rock stars in private jets now instead.”

  “How did my dad get here? How was Chuck standing there when I was talking to the necromancer?”

  Wessel explained that one when Penny looked away. “They must have taken Penny’s manor after we left and dug up your dad’s body. A necromancer is able to reanimate corpses and make them do his will. He sees through their eyes and can use them to project his power to other places. That is why he didn’t need to be on the battlefield. He could have been sitting on the other side of the earth. They probably attacked with their powerful folk and then left a few zombies and the Corvellans and other foot soldiers behind just to coax you into a battle after the meeting. They knew the ones they left behind had no chance against a large force of our nobles led by a royal.”