Wizard Trials: Chapter 143 (Patreon)

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          “And that’s been going on how long?” Alex asked.

          “Since early this morning,” his scout reported, “but at the rate it’s slowing down I think everyone that’s going to leave will be out of there in another hour.”

          “Okay, great work, Kyle. Get back out there and signal Faedra’s people. We’ll need the caelyn if this is going to have any hope of success. Come find me if there are any significant changes. I’ll be in the, uhh… council chamber.”

          Alex’s scout gave him the casual head nod that had recently become the standard salute among his resistance fighters. It’d been weeks since he’d bothered to correct any of them. If they were willing to crawl around in dirty, stinky goblin caves with him then as far as he was concerned, they’d more than proven their loyalty. Kyle shambled off in the awkward, hunched-over gait that everyone taller than a goblin was forced to do in their current living conditions. He’d come and found Alex in his “room”—a literal cavity carved into the side of one of the tunnels with a tiny hole to let in light and air.

          Everywhere Alex went he was forced to endure the ever-present smell of goblin feces and try his best to shake out clumps of dirt from his clothes, his hair… even places no dirt should ever end up. It was impossible to keep clean. Every scrap of clothing he or anyone else had brought with them was now permanently stained brown, with holes fraying through all over. He and his remaining men were about at their breaking point with the living conditions. It finally looked like the end was in sight, and it couldn’t have come soon enough. Alex hunched over and shambled down the tunnel in the opposite direction Kyle had left in. Glowing green mushrooms they’d stolen from supply shipments bound for Dwyra’s army lit the tunnels as he made his way towards the largest room the goblins had dug.

          He found Taelshin in the center of the chamber, basking in the paltry sunlight that filtered down through a hole in the ceiling. It wasn’t much, but she’d been storing up as much as she could get without going above ground for weeks. Alex had insisted on keeping her safe; as their only dryad she was also their only source of mana. She was too invaluable to risk on the guerilla attacks they occasionally engaged in.

          Alex leaned back until his back cracked. Opportunities to stand upright weren’t as frequent as they once were and he took advantage of every chance he got now. Councilor Lorash, the lizard-kin councilor, was huddled on the far side of the room chatting quietly with Draevin’s nephew when he came in. The previously expansive council Alex had established when they’d been in charge of Arena City had been reduced to just six: Taelshin, Lorash, Graevin, Faedra, Boom’ba, and himself. They didn’t maintain anything like the level of formality they once had and Alex had even passed a new rule that said they only needed a majority of councilors present to vote and pass resolutions. Boom’ba only came around when he needed something and Faedra spent most of her time with the other caelyn, who’d set themselves up in a nearby mountain. It was a pale imitation of the original Council and with none of the authority.

          “What’s the news?” Alex asked of Graevin right away.

          “Sorry?” Graevin asked. The young-looking-but-not-actually kid was second only to Taelshin in how clean he looked, thanks in part to never being sent out on missions and using the council chambers as his bedroom. He rubbed at a chin only half-covered in dirt while he waited for Alex to explain himself.

          “From Tenna,” Alex clarified, “did you get an update last night? Did the battle over Truntstown happen yet?”

          “I… don’t know,” Graevin said. “She never showed last night. I could try taking another nap now, but I doubt it’s going to change anything. She shows when she shows.”

          “Would Draevin dying make her lose her connection to you?”

          “I don’t think so.” Graevin frowned.

          “What’ss thiss about?” councilor Lorash asked. He was one of only two lizard-kin remaining among the resistance fighters, and his previously red scales had turned the same shade of brown as everything else down in the tunnels they now lived in. “Why are you ssundenly sso interessted about Truntsstown?”

          “Something’s happening up there,” Alex said. “I think Truntstown is related. I just got a report from one of my scouts that almost a thousand of Dwyra’s soldiers have abandoned the base today. They’re just walking away from their posts. Most are heading South, but they don’t look organized like they normally do.”

          “You think Dwyra called for reinforccementss?” Lorash asked.

          “Or she died,” Alex said. “Either way, we need to move the timetable up. To today. Now. We might not get another chance like this.”

          “You know what this sounds like?” Graevin asked. “The time you said that transport wagon was unguarded and it turned out to be filled with soldiers. What if this is another trap?”

          Alex shook his head in annoyance. “You weren’t there. This isn’t like that at all.”

          “Surely it’ss posssible?” Lorash commented.

          “No. It’s not. What kind of trap could this be? Sending away almost a third of your garrison? We’ve been keeping a close watch on troop movements. Even if she has a bunch more guys waiting out in the woods for us to attack we could have the entire city under our control and the gates barred before they got in.”

          “Well wasn’t our attack planned for, like, two days from now? Why can’t we just wait until then?” Graevin asked. “If the soldiers are really gone, they’ll still be gone in two more days.”

          “And what if a whole platoon comes marching out of the next valley to replace the soldiers that left tomorrow? We’ll be kicking ourselves for not taking advantage of this! No. It needs to happen today.”

          “Well too bad it’s not up to you,” Graevin said. “At the very least I say we should wait until tomorrow. If something really happened I’ll probably hear from Tenna tonight, then we can make an informed decision tomorrow. You can use today to get all that prep work in place you’ve been talking about.”

          Alex threw up his hands in exasperation. “Most of that’s just the tunnels,” he said. “Stop acting like you know what you’re talking about!”

          “I do know what I’m talking about!” Graevin objected. He stood up, looking down at Alex from a solid half a head’s extra height. “Stop treating me like a child! I’m holding Draevin’s seat on the council. I get a say in how we do this, and I say no!”

          “You get one peasley vote!” Alex shot back. “Lorash. Back me up. You want to attack today, don’t you?”

          “Only if it’ss ssafe,” he said in a much lower voice.

          “See?” Graevin said. “He agrees with me!”

          “He didn’t say that! He only said he wanted to make sure it’s safe, which it will be!”

          “Boys! Boys!” Taelshin’s voice cut in. “What’s with all the yelling? I was trying to sleep.” She blinked her eyes open and glared at Alex.

          “Don’t look at me,” Alex said. He jammed a finger at Graevin. “He’s supposed to be the mature one.”

          “Oh, nooooow you bring up my age. When it damn well suits you. How convenient!”

          Taelshin clapped her hands together, causing a brief flash of light. “Boys! Stop this! Can you explain what’s going on, Lorash?”

          “Alexx wantss to move up the asssault to today. Graevin doess not.” Alex nodded grudgingly. It was a brief, yet accurate assessment.

          “Don’t forget,” Graevin said, “I’m the one that will be carrying the most weight. Who else can access the mana trapped in Tenna’s statue?”

          Taelshin skewered Graevin with the sort of glare reserved for disappointed mothers. “Please don’t talk out of turn, Graevin. I’ll ask you a question when I want to hear from you. This isn’t going to break down into more screaming.” She turned back to Alex. “Alex?” she asked. “Are you wanting to move up the attack just because?”

          “No!” Alex answered. “A third of Dwyra’s soldiers just abandoned their posts today! They’re walking South down New Beacon road as we speak. We might not get another opportunity like this! I was trying to tell Graevin here that—”

          Taelshin held up a finger to stop Alex from saying anything else. “You don’t need to convince me, Alex. If what you say is true it would be stupid to ignore it.” She held up another finger to stop the objection that nearly jumped out of Graevin’s mouth. “Just as it would be stupid to attack before we’re ready.” She looked back at Alex. “So how would you do it? The tunnels won’t be ready for two more days.”

          “Not all of them,” Alex corrected, “but at least one of them should be close.”

          “How will we get enough people through to force the gates open with just one tunnel?” Taelshin asked.

          “I’ll do it myself!” Alex blurted out.

          There was a pause as the others looked at him with a mix of surprise and concern. “That’s crazy,” Graevin finally said. “Yourself? What? You’ll just cut your way through hundreds of guards? We were planning to send at least forty of our best fighters. You’re talking suicide!”

          “Not in the least,” Alex said, “if you’ll recall I suggested just going in there myself when we came up with this plan.”

          “And if you’ll recall, we all agreed it was an unnecessary risk,” Taelshin interjected. “Putting the whole mission in the hands of one person? Hmmm? Remember when we decided how foolish that was?”

          “I’m not asking to put it all in my hands. Look. How about this: I go in using the closest tunnel we’ve got and if I’m successful you all have the rest of our boys waiting for my signal. If I get caught, you just wait two days and go with the same plan as before.”

          “You really think you can do it?” Taelshin asked.

          Alex shrugged. “I’m human. I’ll blend right in.”

          It took a little more convincing, but eventually Alex got his way. Even Graevin had to admit the risks were pretty low as long as Alex agreed to make sure they didn’t take him alive in the event he was caught. That was how, an hour later, Alex found himself crawling on his belly like a worm through a narrow tunnel with a clump of glowing fungus in his mouth as his only light source. When he stopped to think about what he was doing he could only cackle at the insanity of it. The close quarters were getting to him. He’d never fought like that with Graevin before they’d all been sequestered underground. He was damn well ready to start killing people if it meant he’d never have to go back to these foul-smelling goblin tunnels again.

          Alex had always assumed the caves they’d been occupying were unnecessarily small, but when he reached the new length they’d been digging in preparation for their planned attack he realized just how narrow they made them when they weren’t attempting to accommodate their much larger allies. It was a wonder he could fit at all. Eventually he reached a dead end. According to the instructions he’d been given by the goblin that had been most recently been digging he should “definitely, for sure” be under the arena. There just… was no exit hatch yet. There wasn’t anything at all. He’d assured them he’d find his own way through and now that he found himself at the end of the tunnel he was starting to realize how absurd that was. He was going to have to burst right out of the ground like some kind of mole.

          To start, Alex spat out his glowing mushroom, then he stuck his hands in the soil over his head. It was soft and came away in clumps fairly easily. He thought about it and decided he should just be able to muscle his way through. “Here goes nothing,” he told himself, and he pushed his back against the ceiling as hard as he could. Dirt started to rain down on his head. He took a last gulp of air, then tried pushing his arms up, pumping them like he was swimming. He reached a standing position, then had a moment of panic as he realized his head was still under the dirt. He reached a hand up until he felt air. He was close! He grabbed at the soil and heaved himself up. Once. Twice. On the third try he barely managed to force his mouth past the surface. He took a quick breath, then shook the dirt out of his eyes so he could see what he was getting himself into.

          Gardens. He was in the gardens. That was probably the best case scenario. As he heaved his body out of the soil he realized he was coming up in the middle of a patch of carrots. Only a few paces away, he could make out the back of a single gardener in the green haze of the gardens. It was a human with long leather gloves and a straw hat. Alex moved as quietly as possible while he dredged himself from the earth. He could tell the man hadn’t noticed him by the fact he was humming a tune to himself while he worked: pulling weeds.

          Alex wiggled, he wiggled for all he was worth. He got his arms free, then his waist. He was able to use his arms to leverage himself out of the ground, pushing up and kicking. The dirt slowly parted, collapsing into the tunnel below. There really was no going back now. It was do or die. Even if he wanted to, there was no way he’d be able to return back through the tunnel that had brought him here.

          The gardener must have heard something. He turned around, eyes going wide as he noticed Alex. He dropped the wicker basket he was carrying full of dead weeds. “I… I…” the man said, slack jawed. Alex could only imagine what he was seeing. He must look like some kind of horrible mud creature, bursting out of the ground. He probably didn’t even look human at the moment.

          “It’s alright,” Alex said in a calm voice. “I’m not here to hurt you. Whatever you do, don’t scream.”

          The man’s mouth quivered, then opened to do exactly that. Alex moved fast. There was a knife right on his belt in easy reach. He grabbed it and tossed it in one smooth motion. The knife struck the gardener right in the throat. He gurgled and clutched at his throat, then collapsed. Alex pulled himself the rest of the way out of the hole in the ground, then crawled over and retrieved his knife. The gardener wasn’t quite finished dying. He looked up at Alex with such a look of betrayal. “Sorry, pal,” Alex told him. “I couldn’t take the risk.” The gardener had died the moment he noticed Alex. Nothing he could have said or done would have convinced Alex to risk leaving him alive to potentially signal an alarm. The man had a slender frame and was easy to pick up. Alex took his gloves and straw hat and shoved his body in the hole he’d just burst out of. Posing as a gardener actually seemed ideal, as it would explain away the layers and layers of dirt covering him. Alex completed his disguise with the wicker basket of weeds, which he also used to help hide the dagger he held in one of his hands.

          It took a moment to orient himself; Alex hadn’t been to the gardens in several months. Only after getting turned around twice did he figure out which way he had to go to find the front gate. He passed several other gardeners on his way, but they were easily fooled by just keeping the straw hat pulled down low and grunting wordlessly when they said hi. As he slipped out between a row of green beans growing on stakes, Alex came face-to-face with a guard. That was new. They’d never had to guard the gardeners when he’d been in charge.

          “Where do you think you’re going? And why are you so dirty?” the guard asked as Alex approached.

          “Weeds,” he answered as simply as possible. He vaguely gestured with his basket and tried to walk past as though he thought his answer had been perfectly satisfactory.

          The guard stepped to the side to block Alex’s path. His armor was light and he carried a spear. That was good. Just a chainmail shirt. No helmet. “I don’t care what you-hrrg!”

          Alex’s knife answered whatever question the guard had been about to ask. One thrust to the neck. Making a man drown on his own blood might have seemed needlessly cruel, but Alex was far more concerned with making sure he had no opportunity to shout for help. The soldier went down with a surprised look on his face. He hadn’t even seen the knife. Alex wrapped the soldier in a hug and eased him to the ground. He struggled ineffectually, one hand pawing uselessly at his throat, dying slowly.

          “Shh, shh,” Alex whispered in his ear. “None of that now. It’s over. It’s all over.” He finished him off with a sharp punch through the man’s temple with his knife. He wasn’t a monster. He wasn’t going to make the man suffer unnecessarily.

          When he was sure the soldier was dead, Alex dragged him back into the row of green beans and dumped his basket of weeds over the body. It wasn’t a great hiding spot, but it would at least stop someone from spotting the body from a distance. The hiding spot only needed to last for one minute anyways. Without the cover of his basket he kept the hand with a dagger in his pocket. Not even five seconds after leaving the body behind two guards came around the corner of the walking path that covered the garden’s perimeter. They were engrossed in conversation, not really paying Alex any mind. He kept his head down and tried to walk with a sense of purpose.

          “…and she says, ‘It’s the biggest I ever seen!’” One guard was saying to the other.

          “So she was a virgin?” the other guard asked, setting off pearls of laughter from both soldiers.

          Alex had just gotten past them when a shrill scream came out of the garden. He turned his head to see a woman in gardening clothes stumble out of the row of green beans he'd just left the dead guard in. Just his luck.

          “He’s dead!” she shrieked. “Someone cut his throat!”

          The two guards immediately turned around to look at Alex. “Stop right there!” one of them said as both of them fumbled to retrieve their swords. Like the other guards, these had taken to only wearing a light chainmail shirt rather than the full suit of armor guards accompanying transports always wore.

          “How do you know it was me?” Alex asked.

          “There’s blood on yer shirt,” the same guard answered. “Stay right there. You’re under arrest.” It was a stupid mistake to make but Alex had been more concerned about speed. That was starting to seem like a mistake.

          Alex palmed the knife in his pocket as he raised his hands in surrender. “Well shit,” he said. “Looks like you got me.” As they approached, he couldn’t quite keep a slight smirk from tugging at the corner of his mouth.

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