Embers in the Dust

The creatures ran quickly toward them. Mr. Muffins aimed and shot a thunderous blast from Jimbo as the party split. The Twins used the force of his blast to push them forward, Myla going to a tree that she climbed up and hid inside, Lyla getting close and personal to the creatures. Next to him, Rhokhishi smiled, swung her hammer a few times, then ran to the left to stop the crystal beasts coming from that direction.

Behind him, the Deans’ chanting grew louder. He could feel the ground beneath him quake and he took one last look back at Leaf, who was placing his spellbook back into his robes and pulled a shard of a black stone from another pocket. Mr. Muffins turned to see that most of the creatures had already fallen from his friends’ attacks, crumbling onto the ground.

This is gonna be easy.

As if opposing his thought, he saw the creatures reanimate, stone and crystal reforming before taking slower steps toward Leaf.

“They don’t die!” Lyla shouted as she punched, kicked, and elbowed the creatures that were surrounding her.

“I see that!” Mr. Muffins responded.

To the right flank, he saw more of the creatures. With the rest of the party preoccupied, he knew these were the ones he would have to handle alone. Spinning the chamber and checking to see he had the correct one readied, he ran closer to the creatures and pulled the trigger. He felt the kickback as an explosion of wind burst from the barrel and grew. Carefully aiming it, he commanded the magic wind to slam down onto the creatures.

They crumbled under the pressure of the air gusting around them. As Mr. Muffins assumed the creatures tried to reconstitute, but since the wall of wind would not stop its pressure on them, they crashed to the ground again and again, being held to their location and unable to move further. Turning back to analyze the field, he saw that some of the other creatures were getting closer, but they were being held back easily enough.

Behind Lyla, one of the creatures managed to reform and pull itself away from her reach. She was stopped by another, and couldn’t stop the one from pushing forward. Reacting to the scene, Myla swung from a branch of the tree she hid in, holding her upside down by her legs, and threw her daggers at the creature. The first pierced the creature’s head, the second smacked into the first blade, causing it to drive deeper. At once, the crystal beast fell again, breaking apart into multiple pieces. Myla pulled herself back up, and Lyla flipped back, kicking another in the chest and sending it flying back, landing in front of the creature she had lost before it could reanimate.

Mr. Muffins kept his concentration on the wall and glanced over at Rhokhishi. Not only doing perfectly fine on her own, she glowed with divine power. Any of the creatures that managed to get close enough to attack her would shatter immediately, repelled by Rhokhishi’s abilities. While able to deal with two or three at a time this way, she still had to attack another, which fell quickly from her warhammer swings. He could hear her laughing, and it made him smile, because it was the first time in a while that they all felt good in a combat scenario. Keeping an eye on the rest of the party, he turned back to Leaf to see his progress.

Arcane energy flowed around Leaf as he had already started his incantation. Mr. Muffins knew much of magic, but most of his work was placed in glyphs or sigils that carried power. Watching someone use words seemed inefficient, but he knew that many mages had this requirement. The black stone in his hand glowed brightly, green vapor coming off it like steam. He was too far away to hear the spell’s words, and even though he could read Leaf’s lips as he chanted, it was a language he did not know.

Suddenly, the stone pulsed with energy. Seven pulses formed tiny motes of arcane power that rose above Leaf’s head like a crown that rotated inches away from his hair. They were bright white, but contained green centers. As the seventh pulse formed a mote, the stone dimmed, then stopped glowing. The Deans finished their chanting and the sigil on the platform’s light diminished. Around them, he saw the creatures fall and crumble, the stones that created them pushing into the ground and disappearing below where they would wait until they were called upon next. Dalia stepped away from the side of the platform, beaming with joy.

“Leaf has passed the third test! Now, we can return and celebrate our new-”

Mr. Muffins watched as Dalia’s voice silenced. She stopped, then tried to speak again. Turning to the other deans, then to Eduzan. The dragon’s voice growled inside his mind.

Cerrin…

He followed the dragon’s gaze behind them. From the sky, a topaz dragon fought to keep flight. It landed heavily onto the ground, and Mr. Muffins saw that something was wrong with it. Sickly, barely able to keep its eyes open, but also covered in shadow-like ichor that fell from its body like smoke. Above, Cerrin swung his leg over the creature’s neck and slid down to the ground, hitting with enough force to crumple against the grass. He was weak as well, and worse, missing his arm up to his elbow.

What are you doing, Cerrin? Tagitar asked.

“I’m tired of listening to you. I came to you in need. One of your brethren is dying, and you’ve done NOTHING! BEGONE!”

Waving his remaining hand, which clasped around a book, Mr. Muffins saw Dalia first, who tried to take a step forward, vanishing from where she stood. The other Deans followed, then the dragons as they attempted to counter his spell and failed. Cerrin walked forward slowly, blood dripping from the wound left from losing his arm.

“Leaf… You have passed your Mastery Training, haven’t you? Yes, I can see the arcane power you hold in those spheres that float around you. Good…”

“What do you want, Cerrin?” Leaf shouted, his voice having returned to him.

“Want? No, no Archmage Leaf. It’s not about want, it’s about need. I need Kirdoth to survive. The Deans… These dragons… They told me that they would help, but they didn’t. They did nothing… NOTHING!”

Mr. Muffins watched as he walked closer. He wasn’t sure how powerful he was, even in his weakened state, but he knew better than to attack unless necessity called for it. His friends were safe for now, but there was nowhere for them to go if things turned.

“I worked with your gnomish friend for a time as well. We spoke of the book you received after fighting Zidingris, the book you didn’t give him. As it so happens, I have one as well.”

He held out the book in front of him. It looked similar to the one Leaf had found, and the one that Humboldt had shown them after their fight with the Guild of the Ravenglades. Leaf asked the question that Mr. Muffins already assumed.

“It was you, wasn’t it? The one who sent the thieves guild to us?”

“You don’t understand, Leaf. I needed the book. I couldn’t let the others know of it, or they would have sent it away. One book is not enough. It has kept Kirdoth alive, yes, but barely. I need a second one.”

“If it’s true that you worked with Humboldt, then you know he had one as well.” Leaf stated.

“No…”

“Yes, Cerrin. He showed it to us.”

“No… No, no… You lie. Like the rest of them, you’re A LIAR! I tire of this, Leaf. Archmage or not, I will kill you, as well as your friends, and then I will take the book from your necrosis-ridden corpse and save Kirdoth alone. Kirdoth, kill them.”