13) Making Waves [ Working the shaft ]

  As the Undine made its way upstream, the Tamer shouted an order to his Ratling. “Wave one!”

  Wait, did that make the Dire Wasps wave zero?

  While one part of my mind was pondering that question, and another was watching the Undine getting ready to make its move, yet another was watching the Skeleton as it peered down the shaft at two of the Lizards rushing into its sight with the Ratling mounted on their back, clutching on for dear life.

  The first of the two Lizard leaped upwards to begin climbing up the shaft in leaps and scrabbling claws against the remaining steps carved into the wall, as well as the sheer stony surface of the shaft itself.

  “Oh, that’s why their claws don’t look like weapons. They aren’t made for fighting.”

  The first Lizard paused for only a moment as the Skeleton pegged it in the face with a firt sized stone, but the next stone from the Skeleton’s other hand took the reptile in the body and sent it falling back several feet until it hit the second Lizard, which had started climbing up the shaft behind the first.

  But the second Lizard had time to brace itself to take the impact well enough to stay in place as the falling Lizard only brushed against the second and almost immediately clambered to its feet on impact with the floor before recovering well enough to climb up the shaft again.

  Without its rider, who had been knocked free of their mount, and had hit the floor with an audible snap from its arms.

  The rider had just enough time to scream before its former mount landed on it.

  Even as the second lizard began to climb again, a dozen or so Ratlings rushed forward, jumping over and running around the wounded one, and working their way up the shaft.

  Without the Undine to support him with two more hands, hurling stones down the shaft, the Skeleton was unable to keep the Lizards from making their way up the shaft. But he did have other tricks.

  “Aura of Fear.”

  The Skeleton paused with one hand raised high above their skull, a stone gripped in their bony hand, and a dark mist lifting away from their bones.

  My Summons leaned forward, and the Ratling, which had begun scrambling up the bottom of the shaft, froze in place with terror in their eyes before beginning to slowly back away.

  But the Lizard with the light of the Tamer’s green colored magic in its eyes nearly flew up the last of the shaft before clawing its way up the Skeleton’s body. Its weight took my Summons over on its bony backside in a clatter of bones.

  Hrmmm… “A Tamers control can force his bound servant right past magical means to influence them.”

  I sighed to myself. “Noted.”

  Two things happened next.

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  The remaining Wasps, which had been swarming around the Skeleton, took off to fly towards the opening in the wall of the outer corridor that accessed the steps.

  And my Undine used its Puddle Jump ability to transfer into the Infinite Ocean, where it swam for a moment to pick up speed before Puddle Jumping to the top of the water in the channel right next to the platform being held up by eight of the Ratling, with their master, the Goblin, sitting on top of the litter in a fancy chair.

  From my remote view, I could see the Tamer’s eyes go wide, while elsewhere I saw the glow in the eyes of his bound servant, which were under his direct control… flicker.

  Then…

  The carved wooden upper corners of the back rest of the Tamer’s chair flicked open to reveal eyes shaped like those of the Goat. At the same time, the armrests of the chair lifted free from the seat and wrapped around the Goblin.

  And all four legs of the chair ran off with the Tamer.

  “...what?”

  Viola’s eyes went wide. “Oh, he has a Shammery. I didn’t think you could Tame those.”

  As the Undine landed flat faced onto the litter, and well before it could scramble to its webbed feet, the conveyance was dropped to the ground, and the eight Ratlings, which had been carrying it all, produced various small sharp implements and fell onto the Summons.

  “Well, that’s six Magic I’m not getting back anytime soon.”

  In the outer corridor, the Skeleton had taken advantage of the Lizard’s hesitation as the Tamer nearly lost control of it, and my bony Summons had managed to get in two solid hits on the Reptile's head with the rock still held in his bony hand before the other Lizard also piled on to my Summons.

  Biting down on the Skeleton’s leg, the second Lizard began jerking my Summons sharply back and forth while the first was shaking off the blows to his head.

  And the second Lizard’s rider, who had jumped free on its back as they reached the top of the shaft, was now pounding a steel spike into a crack in the floor with a hammer. Most likely to secure the rope coiled up on the Ratling’s back.

  Wonderful, is anything going right?

  Oh yes. I guess there is. As the last of the Wasp entered the narrow stairwell, Caesar stepped up to the top of the stairs.

  The fiery breath of my innate Summons at rank one had been a one inch wide ribbon of flames that had shot out ten inches or so from the Fire Lizard's mouth.

  At rank six, the flames now flared out to all of three inches wide as they left Caesar’s mouth, but they also shot out several feet.

  And my Innate Summons could move its head around faster than the Wasps could fly out of the way of his flames.

  The continuous stream of fire sweeping back and forth within the stairwell was sending Dire Wasps falling in crispy little balls of scorched insect. Each of them still smoking as they fell to the spike covered steps below.

  The Earth Snake had been hard at work. I had imagined each stop becoming entirely covered in stone spikes, but the Snake had instead spread out the upright, shapened points which would be easy to step around… Unless you were in a hurry, like a rushing riding Lizard, or moving along as part of a furry mob, like the pack of not longer frightened Ratlings lined up at the bottom of the shaft to make their way up.

  “Let’s put a stop to that.”

  Two small boneless mouths opened in a silent war cry as the blazing fist sized Fire Snail dropped down the shaft, hitting, and for a moment, clinging onto the shoulders of the second Ratling coming up the shaft, before the screaming invader, thrashing around, sent both it and the Fire Snail tumbling down the shaft.

  Even as the two Lizards pulled my Skeleton apart in a puff of cloudy orangish red magic which flowed back to the center of my domain, the Undine was done in by the knives and shapered sticks of the Ratling litter bearers.

  All too quickly, the Undine also vanished into magical mist. A mist that was outside of my Domain just dissipated until it all faded from view.

  “Skeleton. Undine.”

  Two of my Summons appeared behind the Lizards, one for each of them.

  “Spider.”

  The brown and dull yellow Summons began to close in from behind the Ratling, who was swinging its hammer wildly, desperately, at his spike.

  “Viola.”

  My defender drew her sword, which flared up in the flames of every color at once.

  The Fairy grinned at my Core. “I’m on it Fell.”

  Turning to race away, I heard Viola’s voice inside my mind, carried along our familiar bond.

  -I won’t let them hurt you-

  At the same time, the Fairy voice called out. “Air Burst.” Then she and the Air Hawk were racing down the hall and heading down the steps, with Ceasar carefully jumping down the steps beneath their wings.

  “Wave two, you… Pot thief.”

  I really needed some better insults. Pot thief wasn’t really cutting it anymore.