Chapter 66 – Retreat

  Jack caught up to Elaine and the elves shortly after leaving the camp. They were leading the elves toward the cave entrance on the side of the cliff, before they would pick up Bryant and navigate back to the camp.

  They led the elves through the tangle of trees. Every so often, one of the small spiders would see them and move to attack, but they killed these quickly. Elaine made sure to leave their bodies out in the open to show that they had gone this way as Savgar had wanted them to. They need to convince Clayton but also not bring the whole camp down on them right away.

  Other than those occasional spider killings, the path to the hidden cave entrance was uneventful and quiet. It was almost too easy, but no one voiced that thought aloud. Upon arriving and seeing the gap in the rocks, the elves made to descend into it. Both Jack and Elaine helped them down into the cavern below while keeping an eye out above them.

  “How do you think the others are doing?” Elaine asked as she helped another elf into the tunnel.

  “Nothing we didn’t expect so far,” Jack said. “If Zajowle can find the last three then hopefully we will be on our way out of this place soon. What are you thinking?”

  “I’m thinking we managed to get here without alerting the others,” Elaine said. “We might not need both of us in this next stage. I’m worried about the others.”

  Jack nodded. “You or me?”

  “I’ll go,” Elaine said. “You can help the elves get to Bryant waiting for them.”

  “Alright,” Jack said.

  “I just hope the others are having as easy a time as we did,” Elaine said.

  “We had the easy task,” Jack said. “Still, I was expecting something to go wrong.”

  “No tempting fate,” Elaine chastised him. “Hurry and be safe.”

  “Same to you,” Jack said.

  Elaine shifted away. Jack watched her ascend the cliff and disappear into the camp. He continued to watch the cliffside for a few minutes after she disappeared before turning to the remaining elves.

  “You are certain she is human?” Alzona asked also watching her go.

  “Yeah,” Jack said. “It’s not an issue. We got another human below that is going to take you the rest of the way to a place we have set up.”

  “You are not coming with?” Alzona asked.

  Jack shook his head. “Just to my friend below. If everything is good on his end, then I need to return and help the others can get out of the camp. I don’t think Rayne and Sylvian will be willing to leave until they know you are safely out of the camp, and I’m not willing to leave any of my friends behind either.”

  “Honorable,” Alzona acknowledged. “Rayne and Sylvian are here? Where are they?”

  “Helping to provide a distraction for us,” Jack said. “You’ll see them soon enough. I promise, but we need to go now.”

  Alzona was the last elf down the gap followed by Jack. The elves were making their way through the tunnels, but the pinch points made it so they couldn’t move in anything but a steady line. Jack shifted past the points, grabbing whoever was next and taking them with him as he made his way to the front of the line. He helped navigate the elves through the cave system. Luckily, none of the elves had Bryant’s issue with squeezing through the cracks.

  Bryant was waiting for them where the path to their escape tunnel detoured away from the path to Kharzast. He looked bored but perked up as people started appearing in the cavern. Jack was among the first to show up and greet Bryant.

  “You got them all then? Where are the others?” Bryant asked.

  “Almost and they are good,” Jack said. “They went to help add support to the other groups. You ready to take them the rest of the way?”

  “Yeah, just been sitting here,” Bryant said. “We got a walk ahead of us but it should be safe.”

  “What are you saying?” one of the elves asked Jack in Elven.

  “Whoa!” Bryant said. “What kind of language is that?”

  Jack had to stop himself from facepalming. This must be the first time Bryant had ever heard Elvish. Likewise, the elves had never learned English. They had gotten so use to Rayne and Sylvian understanding English, that they forgot most people of this world didn’t know it.

  “That’s going to be a problem,” Jack groaned. “How are we going to deal with this?”

  “We could try hand signals?” Bryant offered. “Assign a simple meaning to them and everyone should be able to learn a few quickly. We started using them in some construction jobs I been on. Can’t always hear each other.”

  “That could work,” Jack said. “Might be the best option for now.”

  Working together, Jack interpreted for the elves and Bryant as they assigned several hand signals to mean halt, proceed, hide, attack, don’t attack, and run.

  “Savgar set up the tunnel to collapse right?” Jack asked once they settled on the signals.

  “Yeah,” Bryant said. “I should be able to collapse it from here once you go back through.”

  “Give me a two-minute head start?”

  “Done,” Bryant said.

  Jack made to leave, but Alzona grabbed him. “My people? The last three?”

  “I promise we’ll do everything we can,” Jack assured her. “I can’t promise more than that.”

  Alzona nodded. “If this works out, the Azure sect will owe you a debt.”

  Jack shook his head. “No debt between friends.”

  “Friends?”

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Well, I consider Rayne and Sylvian friends, so consider this us helping them,” Jack said.

  “What about this Clayton?” Alzona asked. “Is he not one of your people?”

  “No, not all humans are together,” Jack said. “Clayton is not one of us.”

  Alzona nodded at that, satisfied and letting him go. Jack shifted away, disappearing back through the tunnel. He had just made it to the other side, when he heard rumbling from the cave behind him. Rock and earth filled the tunnel cutting off the path for good.

  *~*

  Elaine ran through the camp cutting through spiders and Wenduags as she moved, building stacks of electricity as she went. She used the stacks to increase her speed. With her new weapons, she was able to keep a constant charge of electricity on her blades. Her boots would let her add more, but right now speed was her friend. She just heard a scream that sounded a lot like Teresa and knew she had to get to her fast.

  She found the three quickly after entering the camp. Teresa was on the ground struggling in intense pain.

  “Look! Another one to join our merry group,” Clayton chuckled as Elaine appeared next to Teresa. “Glad you could join us. It’s like a reunion.”

  “What did you do to her?” Elaine yelled.

  “Nothing,” Clayton said. “Not yet at least. Me and her are having a little battle of wills right now. She’s a fighter though, rarely has it taken me this long to break a mind.”

  “I thought you needed a ritual to take control of a person,” Victor said.

  “Been doing your homework,” Clayton grinned. “You’re almost right. I used to need a ritual at first. But I have grown stronger. Now I can start to gain control over a person like any beast. It might not be as strong of a connection as what the ritual provides, but in a pinch, it is good enough for my purposes.”

  “If that’s true, then it just gives us more reason to kill you,” Savgar said. “I’m okay with that.”

  Clayton smiled. “You are welcomed to try.”

  “Enough,” Ciao hissed appearing nearby. “It is time. I’m signaling the retreat now.”

  A globe of black and white energy rose into the air spinning and shedding light in every direction in a pattern that covered the whole camp.

  “Disco?” Victor asked.

  Clayton turned to the beasts. “Don’t let them get away, but don’t kill them. I want these ones alive. I have plans.”

  The Wenduags and spiders surged forward as the humans and dwarf moved to meet them.

  *~*

  Jack jumped out of the opening, appearing once again in the bright morning light. He jumped up the cliffside climbing and shifting his way back into the camp. He looked around hoping to see Elaine, but she was already gone. Several bodies of dead spiders and Wenduags littered the ground, and fire was everywhere.

  Jack ran through the camp. He could hear yelling and fighting up ahead and Jack knew that was where the others had to be. He made his way through several spiders and Wenduags that tried to stop him, but he didn’t waste time fighting everything. He bypassed what he could, only fighting when he had to. Even then, he only focused on landing a few attacks before continuing on and then letting the poison take care of the rest. Up ahead, Jack saw a disco ball light the sky.

  “That has to be Ciao,” Jack said. “Works as much like a beacon as a signal.”

  Jack rushed towards it, finding the others busy fighting several Wenduags and spiders that looked tougher than the ones he been fighting. The Wenduags were better equipped with oversized weapons that looked the perfect size for them. The Wenduags had bulging muscles with pulsing red veins. He wasn’t sure about the spiders, but they appeared larger than the ones he had seen so far.

  Victor and Savgar were guarding each other’s backs as three of the Wenduags came at them. Each of the Wenduags carried a large mace that they used to try and overwhelm them with. Victor and Savgar could only defend against the onslaught, unable to get a single attack of their own in. Jack could tell they wouldn’t last long.

  Elaine had the focus of two spiders and one Wenduag. She shifted around the field, but no matter where she appeared, one of the beasts was there a moment later. It was like they knew where she was going to be before she moved. She was constantly dodging and shifting to avoid them. She tried to fight back whenever she could, but her weapons were having little effect on them. All the while, Clayton watched from the sidelines, his eyes focused on Teresa who was clutching the ground trembling, as she fought back against whatever Clayton was doing to her.

  “Just give up!” Clayton yelled at her, his eyes glowing red. “You can’t win this fight.”

  Jack jumped into the fight throwing balls of his new Dark-Flame fire and slashing with his spear at everything he could, spreading poison and fire around before they took note of his sudden arrival. He needed to take some of the pressure off them, so they could turn the tide in this fight. He summoned his shield around Teresa, hoping to break Clayton’s line of sight on her, but it only served to help reduce the effects of whatever he was doing, not stop it.

  Clayton didn’t like that. He summoned a glob of red energy in the palm of his hand. Red crystal shot from the glob at them. They flew at everyone including Teresa, but Jack’s shield served to block them from her, but he couldn’t use it to help the others. The crystals shards shattered on the dwarf’s skin leaving only a few scratches, but he was otherwise unharmed. Jack was able to block the shards coming for him with his spear, but Victor and Elaine weren’t so lucky. Several of the projectiles they couldn’t dodge or block in time stabbed into them through their barrier and armor, leaving red bloody crystals sticking out of their shoulder, chest and thighs. The shards exploded a moment later taking out chucks of their skin with them.

  Victor had an easier time, with his hardening ability helping to reduce the damage that they did to him, but Elaine fell to the ground in pain. Jack had to move to stop the Wenduag and spiders from taking advantage of her vulnerable state as she downed a healing potion. Her wounds quickly started to close, and she was able to stand back up a few seconds later. Just in time to dodge another volley of missiles from Clayton.

  The fighting started again, but now they had to also worry about Clayton sending his own spells at them while trying to deal with his elite beasts. Several arrows continued to fall around them. Most bounced off Clayton’s Barrier or the armor of the Wenduags and spiders but every now and then one would stick. The only blessing was that while Clayton was concentrating on sending bloody shards at them, he couldn’t focus on Teresa. He hadn’t given up completely, but she was starting to recover.

  Every time she managed to stand though, he would renew his focus on her, bringing her back to the ground. Blood was starting to stream out of her eyes and nose as she struggled against Clayton’s spell. Taking advantage of his distraction, Jack sent a ball of his Dark-Fire at him, hitting him squarely in his center. Flames clung to him eating at his Barrier.

  “It would be a lot easier on you if you just gave up,” Clayton said. “Why prolong this? Even if you can take these down, I’ll only summon more to help. You made a mistake coming back here, and now you are going to pay for it.”

  “Fuck You!” Teresa coughed between painful groans.

  “You’ll be mine soon,” Clayton said extinguishing the flames with a wave. “Then I’m going to send you to get your…”

  Suddenly Clayton let out a scream shocking everyone and interrupting him mid-sentence. It even made the Wenduags and spiders pause in their attacks as Clayton’s back arched. The next moment, Zajowle appeared from behind Clayton. The small kobold was holding a dagger he had just jammed deep into Clayton’s back. He shifted away before the furious man could grab him.

  Clayton struggled to pull the dagger out, but the angle and position of the blade made it difficult for him to reach. Teresa took the opportunity to get back to her feet. Clayton’s concentration on the spell having broken. She wiped the blood from her face and rejoined the others. Strangely, Teresa wasn’t the only one reacting to change.

  The Wenduags and spiders were also looking around confused, but not over what was happening to Clayton. They seemed to care little about that. Instead, they looked confused by their surroundings and everything that was happening. Many had stopped moving entirely.

  “What did you do?” Clayton roared. “What did you do to me?”

  “Hemotoxin,” Zajowle said. “Blood Poison. With just a touch of Darkness. You won’t have the full strength of your powers for a while. If you live.”

  Clayton made to move after them but stopped as he looked at something behind them. With a gesture, he disappeared from their sight. In his place stood a confused Wenduag. It glanced around the area, unsure what had just happened as a large fireball fell on the spot Clayton was just standing, engulfing the Wenduag instead.

  “He’s weak!” Savgar roared. “We should hunt him down. This is the best chance we have.”

  “No, time to retreat,” Zajowle said. “Your rule, remember. I don’t know how much of an effect that poison will have on him, but it already didn’t have as much as I hoped for. I missed his heart. If I hadn’t, he wouldn’t have been able to use any of his abilities just now. We need to get out now.”

  “Did you locate the other elves?” Elaine asked.

  “Yes,” Zajowle said. “But I’ll need help.”