Voella’Tien’s divine magic envelops us and I feel the blessing’s energy shielding me from harm. A second spell is cast and I feel her will, trying to sense me, press on my will. Normally I would try to resist these types of spells—I don’t need someone reading my thoughts or assessing my motives—but this spell is known to me so I don’t fight it. Through this magic, she will be able to monitor my position and tell whether I am wounded. No thought-reading is involved; it is a spell of pure earth arcanum.
Vong runs ahead as we spread out, taking a wide arc to the copse of trees up ahead. It is a shabby, thick bramble but the path cuts right through the densest part. I follow closely behind Rakatha who is trying his best to sneak through the brush and tall grasses beside the path. It’s not perfect and I’m not stealthy either but our movements probably won’t alert them if they are not already watching. Let’s hope they are not watching. Voella’Tien is further behind and will stay outside the thicket unless called.
As Rakatha and I come right up to the opening into this copse, an odd bird call can be heard ahead. Or rather, a person making a bird call. Have we been spotted or is Vong really attempting to signal us with a strategy we’ve never even discussed? I reach out to my owl who is circling in the sky above grumpily because it has not been able to nap enough today. A few long moments and I get the impression of where Vong is. He is indeed on the other side, in position. The calls have stopped so I can’t be certain it was Vong who made them. Rather than have my owl go in to search the thicket (something this party is capable of doing) I leave it to observe from up high (a thing we cannot ourselves do).
I nudge Rakatha, who turns and gives me a steely-eyed, strong-jawed look and a slow nod that is almost comically serious. I give him a curt nod forward and raise my staff meaningfully. He begins to lurk into the dense foliage and I bring the words to the front of my mind that will paralyze the creatures around me including whatever goblins, birds, rodents, or whatever else is nearby. This spell doesn’t exactly skip people I consider on “my side”, so Rakatha and Vong will probably become paralyzed as well. They didn’t really need to know that though, so I didn’t mention it. I can always release them after the fact. It’s better this way—I can keep them from doing something stupid again.
There is a rustling coming from some dense, tall bushes at the base of a large tree that the path forks around. Rakatha gives me a questioning look and I motion that he should go left while I go right. He grips his bastard sword more tightly and brings the point up in a ready position. His stance also settles low and wide like a cat before it pounces.
I round the bend in the path and see Vong behind a tree just down the path. Seeing me as well, he mouths something unintelligible and points at the tree we are flanking. I nod and pull back, allowing him to slink forward and get in position. We are now surrounding a tree rather effectively. The tree is advised to surrender.
Now what?
Vong looks at me and waggles his fingers questioningly.
No, I am not going to cast blindly. I shake my head.
He shrugs and begins poking into the brush, trying to part it. I can’t see what Rakatha is doing but there is extra rustling coming from the other side.
Then there is a sound, a voice, from the brush at the base of the tree. It sounds like a person trying to sound like a…sheep, maybe?
Vong and I share a look a split second before a figure erupts from the brush and flings its whole person at Vong’s face, who drops his sword in a panic.
Far from panic myself, I say the words and thrust the arcana outward from where I stand. It bursts in an area around me for several meters in every direction. The copse goes silent as all the insects, rodents, birds, and men go still. All except for me.
Paralyzation can be nasty business. It keeps a living thing breathing and able to see and feel but with no ability to move to do anything about any of it. Torture is an obvious use. But even without express intent to terrify a person, becoming paralyzed is fear inducing in nearly all things. The thought of being trapped in a body that does not obey. To watch mutely as the world exists beyond the capacity to interact with it. To have an itch but no way to scratch it. No way to ask for help beyond some clever use of breath or eye movements. To feel the moisture evaporate from your lips, your tongue, your eyes. That kind of thing will get under a man’s skin without ever having to push a needle through his eyelid or rest hot coals on his genitals.
So the looks of abject terror from Vong, Rakatha, and the naked recluse who leapt from the brush is understandable. I focus on the sense of all the creatures currently spellbound and release them one by one, starting from the smallest things. Before releasing any of these humans, however, I walk over to Vong.
“I will release you in a moment. There are no goblins, just this man.”
I let the spell’s power over Vong drop and he relaxes and blinks his eyes tightly while trying to hold the naked man upright, “That was awesome.”
What an interesting reaction. I’m glad he thinks so, I suppose. It’s better than the alternative.
I walk to Rakatha and his eyes are spinning wildly in their sockets and his breaths are fast and shallow. Veins in his neck bulge and his face is going red. Is he going berserk?
“Rakatha,” I say to him calmly, “you are paralyzed now but I will release you in a moment. Calm down. There is no need to attack.”
I pull his sword from his hand and lay it a few feet away, then stand behind Vong and the strange man before releasing Rakatha.
The Wordbearer Chronicles is a dark fantasy web series with new passages on Tuesdays.
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