Master of the Hoard - Chapter 32 (Patreon)

Two hours later, I was in position. Once the Talpi understood the plan, their enthusiasm grew and they worked with a spring in their steps. The knowledge that they weren't going to have to weather the attacks of the Dweelers probably helped too. The Crawls were unaffected, obeying orders without questions or curiosity. I had to fight down a bout of claustrophobia from within my position. I wasn't usually bothered by tight spots, but then again, it wasn't every day I was being bricked up by choice.

The cave I was in barely qualified for the name. Rather, it was an offshoot of a larger tunnel that was currently in the process of being sealed off from the main tunnel. Right now, they were just building a thin mud wall, with Arthor adding a few cosmetic choices afterwards to have it seem like the tiny side cave never existed. My cave wasn't special, though. The main tunnel, however, held a few rather unique qualities I had specifically asked for. First, it was a one-way street for the Dweelers - according to the Talpi's maps, anybody attacking our group would arrive from one side only. Next, the main tunnel was wide, maybe fifty feet at the narrowest and open enough that the Dweelers would be able to run in larger groups. There would be no need for them to spread out and run in single file. And finally, the ever-diminishing window to my tiny enclosure was angled backwards, meaning I would be looking at their backs once they'd passed me by. The odds of them spotting me by accident was low. I hoped.

I reached out mentally. "How are you doing, Aelis?"

Her calm response was instant and comforting. "I have tried worse, Sire. Besides, my effort this time, will be limited." Her mental voice sounded weak and tinny and with good reason. She was undergoing the very same process I was, further down the main tunnel, at the very edge of my mental capacity. In this, she would be our eyes and ears, warning us when the Dweelers were inbound.

"Arthor? Are you ready?"

His voice was clearer. He was closer to me, and his Mental Power way outpaced that of Aelis. "As good as ever.” He harrumphed. “Lizard. Next time we create a plan, I require one that doesn’t leave me placed right in the path of a hundred angry enemies."

I smiled. "You know we need you there. If somebody manages to sneak by me, we need you to stop them before they disrupt the illusion."

His grumbling subsided a little. "I'm not saying that the plan is horrible. I just dislike it. Dweelers, for all their faults, are heavy hitters."

"I hear you, Arthor. That's why you're placed on the far side of my illusion. If all goes well, I can stop them all, and if I don't, they probably won't even spot you."

"Probably." I could feel the unspoken complaints oozing from him.

It was definitely a shortcoming of the illusion spell. I couldn't attack through the spell, or it would cancel the illusion. Of course, it might have been too overpowered like that, but... it would have made my life a lot easier. As it was, Arthor was all the way on the right side of the tunnel, camouflaged and protected behind an outcropping of rock and dirt.

Ten minutes later, the work on my cave finished. I was left with a tiny hole the size of my head in front of me and nothing else. Alright, fair deal. I was, in fact, very aware that my head was not at all tiny, but it felt tiny.  In front of me, our second scout appeared. He was a tall, silent one, with heavy, black fur and a loping bound. I always forgot his name - something with H. "Onyx. We are ready."

"You've done everything to protect Arthor's spot?" A nod. "Everybody else ready in reserve around the corner?" Another nod. "Alright. Let's do this thing." I cast Camouflage on him, watching him slowly fade into the background. "Stay safe, you hear? Just make them angry and lead them here!" I said to his blurred retreating back.

Then we were back to the waiting game. This time around, it wasn't nearly as restful. We didn't have too many moving parts in our plan, but a lot of things could still go wrong. If, for instance, we had misjudged the intelligence of the Dweelers, or the information they could relay mentally - either could lead to disaster.

My mind had a field day, playing around with all the things that could go wrong until Aelis' voice broke through the monotony. "Heivel is returning. Judging from the sounds, he is being hunted." After a moment of silence, she continued, "I can see them now. One group, seven Dweelers. They are running in a tight group. Heivel is alright."

I quickly relayed the information to Arthor, when a crackling sound made my head spin and a light brightened the dark hallway. I stared at the wall for a split second and grunted in annoyance. There was a reason we had set it up like this,still it was annoying that I couldn’t see back down the tunnel. I focused my eyes forward again, and concentrated, building the illusion I had in mind for on the opposite side of Arthor's hiding place. Then, as I felt the spell come alive and the illusion click into being, I started listening for their arrival. A blue spurt of color lit up the cavern just behind me, and then things started happening fast. The first enemy arrived, a mere thirty feet before me, running silently with its head bopping left and right, scanning for enemies. I got my first good look at a Dweeler. They were spindly, four-legged creatures, with long, springy insectile legs and large, awkward heads filled with teeth. Mostly, they looked like the bastard offspring between a carnivorous pitbull and a stick insect. As it spotted my illusion, it let loose a long hiss and opened its maw, releasing a tiny ball of frost.

The remainder of the group followed right on the leader's heels, and the moment I counted seven, I let loose with a Weakening Fog, craning my head to hit every single Dweeler. Some droplets gathered on the edge of my tiny window, but my craftsmen had done a good job. The opening allowed me to attack at a wide angle, and my heart jumped a bit, as I watched every single enemy fall to the ground like their strings had been cut. I took no chances, and let loose with a second attack the moment the cooldown was over. I held my breath, studying the downed group one at a time. Not a twitch among them. "Good news," I sent to everybody in range. "we can do this. They're buying into the illusion." Also, I was able to maintain the illusion mid-combat. I hadn’t been too sure of that. Yeah me!

Seconds later, Aelis responded. "Good, Milord. Because there are more inbound now. One group, no, two. Six in the first, then seven."

The next ten minutes were chaos. The Dweelers arrived in a steady stream, and it was all I could do to keep hosing them down before they sprinted past me. The frustration on their part must have been immense. They arrived, spotted a reinforced earthen fort manned by Talpi armed to the teeth and proceeded to cast spells to burn the place to the ground, with no effect whatsoever. The trick here was to incapacitate them before they managed to see through the illusion, and especially before they managed to run onwards to touch the illusion and realize it was all fake.

Fortunately, their instincts worked against them. When they came within range, they tended to slow down, spread out and bombard the illusionary fort with all sorts of spells. In the corner of my eye, colors exploded as elemental attacks lit up the end of the hallway. I dared not slow down my own attacks, but did spare a thought to Arthor, hoping that he would avoid being hit by a stray spell. The pressure intensified as the groups kept coming, and the floor was littered with the collapsed, but living, ugly quadrupeds. A couple of them managed to sprint their way out of my vision range and I crossed my claws, hoping that Arthor would be able to stop those.

Just four to go. I cursed as one of the Dweelers slipped at an unlucky moment, causing my Weakening Fog to go high. The ugly critter slid across the ground, gawking at the tiny droplets flying straight over its head. I watched almost in slow motion, as it finished sliding, scrabbling to get up and see what just happened. Damn. I opened my mouth and used my Deafening Roar, watching as the creature and the trio of remaining survivors further back dropped to the ground, stunned. I kept a close look on everybody as the cooldown for my Weakening Fog approached zero and I spewed a layer of weakening droplets over the stunned monsters.

It was not a moment too soon. Aelis interrupted me, even before I could hit them again to make sure they stayed down. "Prepare yourself, Sire. This must be the main group. There are - more than twenty. More incoming."

Bad timing. I had hoped to have my Deafening Roar in reserve for this very event. Still, if wishes were bricks, I'd be able to build a mansion. I relayed the message to Arthor and asked him to join the rest of the group. This time, I heard the Dweelers before I saw them. A skittering, huffing noise, slowly increasing in intensity. And suddenly they were there. The noise increased tenfold, when they first spotted their downed kin and then the illusionary fort, taunting them with its impressive walls and silent, stalwart defenders. This time, I allowed the first handful of Dweelers to pass me by before I went on the offense. My heart was hammering inside my chest, equal parts adrenaline and nerves. And then I let loose.

It was an impressive wave of attack. The droplets almost reached the opposite side of the tunnel and I slowly moved my head from right to left, encompassing every single ugly monster within range. Then I dropped to the floor and pressed my behind as far back toward the back of my tiny cave as possible. Not a second too late. This time, I was spotted and elemental attacks started hitting the entrance to my cave. The next ten seconds lasted forever, as fire battled with frost, earth and other attacks to creep ever closer to me. A few glancing hits made me wince, as they kept up the barrage, and I finally lost my patience. With a mighty roar, I settled my hind legs against the wall behind me and exploded into motion. I lowered my head when I hit the wall and burst out into the main tunnel, half blinded by elementary attacks to face my enemy.

There was a period of shock on their part and I reveled in the way they froze, like a herd of deer transported into the middle of a busy highway. And then they broke. As one, they turned and fled, turning tail and fleeing back where they came from. The fury and wrath struggling for dominance inside me held only contempt for their panic and annoyance at the lack of blood. That wasn't going to stop me from catching every single one, however.  Two leaps, and I sprayed a breath attack over the leading Dweelers, laughing as they fell in droves. I sprinted as fast as I could, reveling in my speed as I outpaced the fastest of the flock and watched them disperse in all directions, when they realized I was faster than them.

I have never seen a cat play with a mouse, but this must surely be what it felt like. I was larger, faster and deadlier than the Dweelers and had already whittled their numbers down to a double handful. What few remained split in all directions and it was all I could do to keep up. I tried to keep a clear picture of what was happening. Meanwhile, I really wanted to just take them apart, rake my claws through their scrawny insides and feast, though that was not the point. A trio of Dweelers ran the other way, towards the Talpi, and I let them. The remaining ones circled around the tunnel taking potshots at me from all sides. I took a couple of attacks straight on, and, after looking at my health, decided that the remaining six or seven creatures were no threat to me. I dodged around, avoiding the worst of their attacks, while keeping between them and the exit. Ten long seconds later, I covered the entire corridor with my breath attack, watching them drop one by one. As silence fell over the tunnel, jubilation erupted from the other end of the tunnel and I gave a satisfied nod. Job well done.