Elementary Education

Muld and Syndi battle a pair of powerful Elementals.

20.

Elementary Education

 

“We’re not going to be able to outrun them,” Syndi shouted as Muld pushed her forward out of the building.

He didn’t respond, but was chanting a spell, trying to keep her close to him so his body would shield her from any archers still on the roof watching them, but blocking her from the Water and Air Elementals that were rushing toward them.

“Muld!”  She said, needing to hear some idea or direction from him right then.     The Air Elemental moved at the speed of the wind and was nearly upon them, manifesting itself as a twirling cyclone similar to the spell that a Faesidhe wizard had cast when they had first began attacking the city.

But this vortex moved with some degree of intelligence and determination.

Syndi could not figure out what spell Muld was attempting to cast, but she had no time to ask, for with a howl of a hurricane the Air Elemental attacked them.

The tornado plucked them off their feet as if they were rag dolls.     Yet before they could be spun more than a few feet around the vortex, Muld finished his spell.

There was the sound of escaping air and to Syndi’s amazement, the Air Elemental rapidly diminished in size, dropping them to the ground as it disappeared with a pop.

“Are you alright?”   Muld called to her, leaping to his feet and rushing over to her.

“Yeah, I’m fine… what did you cast?  It was huge, yet it disappeared so quickly.”

Muld pulled her up, glancing upward at the roof of the building, then back toward the entrance, where the slower moving Water Elemental was approaching.

“It was a Vacuum spell -the type we use on airship vacuum engines- since it sucks all the air out of a space, and an Air Elemental is comprised entirely of air, I thought it might work.”

“Brilliant, sweetheart!”  She smiled sweetly at him, but her smile faded as she saw the Water Elemental nearly upon them, “Any ideas about our other friend?”

Muld looked grim, “There’s no time for a spell - I have no ideas.   Here it comes!   When it attacks, take a deep breath and hold it or it will try to drown you!”

“But how do we-“ Her question was cut short, for the Water Elemental crashed down upon them like a huge tidal wave.    The force of the water knocked them both off their feet, slamming them onto the cobblestone pavement.

But it wasn’t merely a wave, it had some sort of cunning to it, for the water seemed to flow around them and with them, moving against every part of them.    It tried to force itself into their noses and mouths, it pressed against their stomachs to try to push their breath from them.    They could not pull free of the elemental.    Their lungs screamed for air, but all sensory perception was lost in the prison of water around them.

 

As their minds began to cloud and their lips quivered with an involuntary desire to open their mouths to gulp some air, suddenly the water divided in two, separating to each side of them and dropping them onto the ground where they gulped in air.

For a few seconds they just s breath, but Muld noticed that the divided Water Elemental seemed to be fighting against an unseen force.   Glancing around, he saw, across the wide street leading from the airship docks to the keep, Archmage Drake, his arms held high, holding the dividing effects of the spell in place by shadowing it with his gesture.

*Part Water Spell* Muld telepathically sent to Syndi, since he was too tired to talk, *It won’t hold it back much longer.*

*What’ll we do?*  Syndi sent back, her mind frantic after nearly drowning inside the Water Elemental.

*Take the Offensive; maybe it will be too busy defending itself to directly attack.*

*How?*

Muld answered by weakly chanting a common Evaporate Cantrip that they used to remove water from objects that they needed to be dry.   Syndi understood his plan, and putting aside her nerves, assisted by chanting the Amplify spell.    It was a longer spell to cast, but Muld slowed his chant down so she could catch up.

Just as she finished it, Drake’s spell wore off and the water rushed back together, intent on stunning them with the impact.

Muld’s spell would normally only evaporate about a cup or so of water, but the Amplify spell she cast boosted the effect greatly.

There was a hiss and a section of the Water Elemental turned to steam and disappeared.    The magic creature flowed backwards a few feet in what looked to them like a reaction of pain.

“Good!”   Muld exclaimed, now quickly chanting the Burning Hands spell that Syndi had taught him days ago.

As the Water Elemental regained its courage and moved toward them, Muld reached out and plunged his hands through the creature, while the spell was still active.

His fiery hands sizzled as it encountered the watery form, which caused the creature to jerk violently backwards, injured again.

“Heat!”   Muld called back to Syndi, “Anything that causes evaporation injures it.”

“What about cold?”  The Faesidhe princess asked, then began casting the Cold Cantrip that they used to make Cooling Chests, as the elemental tried a new strategy.    It flowed across the ground in a trickle toward them in a wider area, which stretched it thin across the cobblestones.

But just as it touched Syndi’s boot, she finished the spell and leaned over to touch the elemental.  It surged upward to grab her arm with a watery hand, but her touch turned a section of it into ice from her spell.   Frustrated, the arcane creature flexed backwards, cracking the ice to free itself of it.

“It’s not as effective,”   Syndi yelled to Muld as both of them continued to back away from the advancing elemental.

From a short distance away they could see Drake, Carn and Alvis - who had dispelled the magic giving them the forms of the captured Faesidhe guards- rushing to join them.

“Get back!”  Alvis was yelling to them, “Retreat to us, quickly!”

Muld and Syndi wasted no time but turned and ran.   Halfway to their friends, an archer still on the partially collapsed roof, took a shot and hit Muld in the back of his leg.

The Practical Magician went down hard, but was struggling to get to his feet again before Syndi could get to him.

“Go!  Don’t worry about me!   Get out of range of those arrows!”   He shouted to her, but she ignored his command and rushed to him, as other arrows and crossbow bolts now began raining down upon them.

Syndi took his arm around her shoulder and helped him limp and hop toward their friends.   An arrow nicked her ear as they hurried toward them, and now the Water Elemental was nearly upon them.

“Drop to the ground!”  Alvis suddenly yelled to them with such urgency and authority that they immediately complied.

A moment later a fierce blast of arctic air blew over them from the direction of the Paladin toward the advancing elemental.

It was a hurricane of ice particles and howling wintery wind.    Muld looked up, amazed at the force of the spell and wondered how Alvis had cast it.    He found the Baron standing with his magic great sword in hand.   It was ‘Helke’ the Great Sword of Ice that the Baron had wielded for years.    Muld wondered how he had managed to conceal it while disguised as a Faesidhe guard (none of which used two-handed swords), but a pouch hanging at the Paladin’s side gave Muld a clue.    The baron probably possessed his own Bag of Holding.

The ice storm mostly went over them, though they were pelted by a bit of ice and a brutally cold blast of air.

*Are you alright?* Muld asked his wife-to-be telepathically.

*I’m fine - I’m used to the cold from years living at home.*

*But your home is in an extinct volcano crater - it isn’t that cold there.*

*We didn’t just live on that island, you know.   We went all over the mountains.   I love snow, Muld.*

The blast ended and Muld attempted to jump to his feet, but the arrow in his leg made him cry out in pain and slip down to his knees.

But out of nowhere, Carn appeared, taking Muld up and hurriedly dragging him backwards toward Drake and Alvis, while Syndi ran along side, monitoring both the Water Elemental and the men on the roof.

The force of the sudden winter storm had caused the archers on the wall to pause, though they now were beginning to resume their barrage of arrows and bolts.

The Water Elemental had been the target of the Baron and Helke’s winter magic had frozen the Water Elemental as it flowed forward after Muld and Syndi in the form of an ocean wave.

It was a strange ice sculpture, but already the Elemental was cracking and breaking the ice to free itself, assisted by the sun in the endeavor. 

“You’ve been hit!”  Drake exclaimed, seeing Muld’s injury as Carn gently sat him down on the pavement.

“I’m alright, we’ve got bigger problems right now.”

The Elemental had crushed the ice and was using its earlier strategy of flowing close to the ground in a wide area, to approach them.

“That’s too wide for my sword to freeze again,”   Alvis told his companions.

“Evaporation works - fire based spells are best,”  Muld told them.

“I think you’re right,”   Drake agreed, turning to Carn, “Do you have an Amplify spell?”

“I have a version of it that will do the same thing.   Shall I begin singing it?”

Drake nodded, “Quickly!”

The wizard pulled out a wand from a belt pouch that was also clearly a Bag of Holding, “I’ve been saving this for such a situation.   Everyone behind me.”

Syndi helped Muld slide behind Drake while Carn and Alvis joined them.    Arrows were flying toward them again and in response, Alvis sent a blast of ice and wind toward the roof of the keep.   The archers saw it coming and ducked behind the parapet, but it kept them from firing long enough for Carn to finish singing his spell.   Drake listened closely to the song, noting when Carn was about to finish the spell.    The Water Elemental now was only a few yards away from them and was resizing itself into a tidal wall to overwhelm them.

It surged up twenty feet above them, a monstrous wave that sought nothing else but to kill all of them.

But Drake struck first.

The moment before Carn completed his spell, Drake pointed his wand upward at the massing Elemental and flicked his wrist.

A small ball of fire appeared, then, as Carn’s spell ended a moment later, the ball grew to the size of a huge boulder of fire, which shot forth upwards, slamming into the Water Elemental with a roar.

There was a blast of warm, moist air as the fireball consumed the Water Elemental.   The force of the impact sent the Elemental backwards, dissolving into a huge cloud of steam that moved quickly like a storm cloud airborne at an angle.

It engulfed the top half of the keep in front of them for several moments before rising and dissolving into the air.

Terrible screams came from the archers standing on the Keep’s collapsed roof.    

“It scalded them!” Muld exclaimed, “The cloud of steam shot over them and scalded them.”

“Unlucky for them, but fortunate for us,”  Drake replied.

“There are two more inside the keep " Fire and Earth Elementals.   We’ve got to go assist them!   If Gelden dies-“  Muld tried to stand up, but his leg wouldn’t allow it.

“You’re not going anywhere!”  Syndi responded, pushing him back down, “You’ll bleed to death and you can’t walk.”

“But if we don’t help Gelden, your parents…”   He didn’t finish his thoughts, knowing she knew it all too well.

Syndi tightened up her face and nodded, blinking back frustrated tears, “I can’t lose you too.”

There were voices shouting from downhill toward the airship docks.   Everyone turned, fearful that more of the pirates were leaving their hiding places in the buildings and massing to attack them.

It was to their great relief that they beheld four lovely women racing up the hill toward them.   It was Alleania, Zeatt, Allea and Amala.

“Thank Yesh, are we glad to see you,”   Carn greeted them.

Zeatt immediately went to Muld, kneeling down to examine his wound for a moment, then turning to Carn, “Pull the arrow out, as gently as you can.”

Syndi squeezed Muld’s hand and Zeatt smiled sympathetically while she chanted a healing spell.    Carn pulled quickly, but gently on the arrow shaft and Muld grit his teeth, only a little groan escaping him before the arrow came free.

Blood poured from the wound, making him feel light headed as Zeatt completed her spell.    Warmth covered him and immediately his leg wound entirely healed.

“Thank you, Reverend Mother,”   He said to the Drow matron, who was already casting another healing spell on Syndi’s slight wound on her ear.

“Where are Gelden and his men?”   Alleania asked and Muld filled them in on the details.

“We’ve got to assist him or we might not see Syndi’s parents alive again,”   He told the group, “But if he sees all of you, he’ll know something sneaky is going on.”

“It’s a chance we should take,”   Zeatt replied, “There is not enough time to work out other disguises and if we’re assisting him, maybe that will be enough to keep him honoring his obligation.”

They all looked at Syndi for the final say, as it was her mother and father who would be jeopardized if Gelden was offended at their presence.  

“If you don’t help, I don’t know if Gelden can succeed.   He’s arrogant and reckless and if he dies before we find my parents, they too will perish.    Let’s take the chance.”

“Alright then,”  Drake said, “There are two elementals battling Gelden and his men in the Keep and probably at least a handful of pirates still held up in some of the lower levels undamaged by the roof’s partial collapse.   Magic is the name of the game now - water and cooling based spells against fire, and any spell that crumbles stone against the earth elemental.   We’d best hurry and see, for it is awfully quiet-  I’d think we’d hear more noise from the battle, even this far away.”

They gathered up as a group and hurried again toward the keep.   As they ran, Amala sang a bard spell that put a magical fog around them - they could see out of it clearly, but they were indistinct and partially obscured from the outside.

“It will last about ten minutes,”  She told them as they cautiously went through the gateway into the square tower.

Inside they found both of the Elementals hovering around close to a glowing red dome of energy that took up the center of the room.

“What in the world?”   Alvis whispered to the others as they stood just inside the doorway watching as the rocky form of the huge Earth Elemental walked around and around the magical protective sphere, searching for a way to get through it to those hiding inside.   The Fire Elemental levitated in the air above the sphere.

 

“It looks like Gelden has protected himself from the elementals so far, but that protective sphere won’t last much longer,” Drake answered, “We’ve got both to deal with at the same time.”

The Fire Elemental abruptly roared around the magic sphere was upon them before they could move.

But they weren’t completely unprepared.     Syndi had softly chanted the Gust of Wind Cantrip that was used by wizards on Airships or water-based ships to put wind into the sails for a few minutes.   The Cantrip was one of the few minor spells that could be postponed by delaying the final syllable of the spell until the caster was ready to use it.   Syndi had done this and as the Fire Elemental attacked, she yelled the last word of the spell, pointing at the attacking arcane creature.

The Gust of Wind spell was not powerful enough to destroy it, but it pushed it back across the room, against the far wall.

By then Zeatt had chanted a Cloud Burst spell which sent a torrential rain into the room.

The Fire Elemental fizzed and weakened slightly.

Allea took her cue from Syndi and also chanted the Gust of Wind Cantrip, to keep the Elemental pushed against the wall.

Alleania cast a Protection from Fire spell around them at the same time and then it was Alvis’ turn with his sword.  

Pointing Helke at the Fire Elemental, he released the fury of the winter storm again.    The ice and wind pelted the creature and it was too much for it.    With a pop it disappeared.

But the attack on the Fire Elemental had pulled the Earth Elemental off of its attempt to break into Gelden’s magic sphere.

It stuck its hand into the stone floor of the tower and attached to the blocks that made up the flooring.    Then it yanked its arm upward, pulling several blocks free as they were now stuck as if attached by glue to its stony hand.

The floor crumbled away and fell, sending everyone in the room falling about four feet to the foundation of the tower.   As it was an artificially made floating island, it lacked enough room for a basement or dungeon, so their fall wasn’t fatal.    Muld and his companions laid there stunned in the debris and dust.    Gelden’s magic sphere dissolved as the floor collapsed, revealing the wizard and his lieutenant sprawled injured underneath.

The Earth Elemental lifted its huge hand with the stones still stuck to it and pounded down on Legech with a fury.    The Faesidhe Elf’s body was crushed under the elemental’s assault, but it gave Gelden enough time to crawl around some of the rubble of the collapsed floor in a hopeless attempt to conceal himself from the arcane monstrosity.

Drake and Alleania were the first two of their group to recover their senses and both immediately began chanting spells.    Whether the Earth Elemental had ears (or any of the senses) was not clear, but when their chant began, it spun quickly and flung the large flooring stones that it had used as a hammer, from its hand.

The stones were too large to avoid in the rubble of the collapsed floor and crashed into the wizard and sorceress with sickening force.   There were two flashes of light and the two were gone.

“Autocasters,”  Zeatt whispered, her voice still betraying her worry over their well-being.

“We’ve got to get out of here before he finishes us all!”  Alvis said, struggling to pull part of the collapsed floor off of his daughter’s legs.   Seeing his frantic struggle to free Allea, Carn and Amala crawled over to help.

“There’s no time!”   Muld warned them an instant before the Earth Elemental scooped up a huge piece of rubble and tossed it at them as if it were a small pebble.

They had nowhere to dodge.   The rock fell upon them with a deafening boom.    Allea screamed as she watched the rock crush her father, cousin and Carn, but they too wore Autocaster rings and vanished immediately.

The boulder was prevented from crushing the half-Drow girl by the very stones pinning her legs.     The boulder rolled off one side of the stones and thumped against the side of the foundation of the keep, sending bits of rock falling from somewhere above.

“Yesh keep them safe!”   Zeatt yelled out, desperately trying to figure out how to free her daughter and keep the Elemental at bay at the same time.

The Earth Elemental now picked up the rubble that Gelden had hidden behind and lifted it over its head to toss at Zeatt, Allea, Syndi and Muld.   The piece of stone was half as wide as the hole they were in and Muld knew there was no place for them to go.

But there came a twinkle of light from behind the Elemental and suddenly a huge ghostly hand grabbed the Elemental and slammed it against first one side of the hole then the other side, again and again.   Gelden was using the magic ring effectively, for the blows were causing the Elemental to crumble bit by bit.

Yet the hole they were in was bordered on all sides by the very foundation of the Keep.     Having been first damaged by the catapult attack, then the collapse of the first floor due to the Earth Elemental, followed by the creature’s flinging of stones against one side of the foundation, it could not take the repeated impacts from the giant hand’s attempt to destroy the Elemental.

All at once one wall just crumbled, there was a loud rumble and the tower collapsed as those trapped below screamed in horror.