Mark of the Fool

Nothing happened.

“What?” Alex pressed his palm to the Ravener’s surface. “What’s going on—”

The construct seemed indifferent to him, fully focused on gathering strength to stop Claygon.

Alex called on Hannah’s power once more while recalling the image he’d seen when he’d connected to the Ravener. A dark place, filled with crystalline columns and crystalline wires.

He knew the space was inside the Ravener.

Again, he tried teleporting into the construct.

But…couldn’t.

Nothing happened.

‘What in all the hells is happening?’ he wondered, calling on the Mark of the General.

Focusing on him ‘jumping’ into Kelda’s sanctum. The sanctum had been teleporting so quickly that it had been in four places at once, and Alex getting into it had been the most challenging ‘jump’ he’d ever made.

But the guidance was not enough to help him teleport to the location he had seen inside the Ravener.

He couldn’t find or make a connection.

‘It’s like…’ he thought. ‘It’s like the Ravener’s mana pathways continually change. And I don’t have enough of a connection to it to teleport inside.’

Even as he tried to get into the construct, he could feel its mana pathways shifting in location and configuration. He was rapidly losing the limited connection he had with it.

Its attention turned to him, determined to be rid of him.

An ageless intelligence focused its mind on the young wizard.

‘No,’ was all it said.

Lethal magic came at Alex too quickly for him to escape unscathed.

Like an electric shock, the deadly mana shot into his body, rampaging through every cell. Alex screamed, teleporting away before the destructive energies could consume him completely.

When he reappeared, it felt like white-hot coals had been pressed into his flesh, mana pool, and soul. Chaotic energies stormed through him, seeking to rip his very being asunder.

His teeth clenched, he fought to endure, but the vicious power moved faster, shattering his mana pathways, rupturing blood vessels.

His heart thundered in his ears, beating faster and faster, his mind racing.

‘Did it use…a mana poison?’ he managed to think through the white-hot agony raging through him. ‘I have to get it out! I have to—’

A glowing hand fell on his shoulder. ‘Oh mighty Traveller, heal this great representative of yours. Bind his wounds and jettison this evil rot from his body and soul!’

Divinity poured from Merzhin’s hand, passing through his body, bringing with it a familiar warmth.

Hannah’s teleportation energy reacted to the divine touch as his body was washed clean. His mana pathways instantly mended. Blood vessels healed and pain vanished like it was never there.

Alex took a deep, relieved breath and looked up at Merzhin. “Thank…you.”

“It is nothing!” the Saint said. “But what happened? Were you unable to—”

“You cannot control me, filthy Usurper,” the Ravener broke in. “You are not the first to try. A Usurper once tried the same, underestimating me, labelling me as merely a dungeon core and seeking to control me as she had my cores. She did not get very far before my defences annihilated her. You cannot control me, but you are free to try again…Fool.”

The Ravener—re-sheathed in its cage of death—was firing beam after beam at Claygon, defending Uldar’s corpse.

Alex’s eyes narrowed on the construct.

His mind started to race.

The world slowed.

‘Alright, Alex. Think. You can’t get inside,’ he acknowledged. ‘Which means you probably can’t shut it down. What do you do, then? What do you do?’

His heart beat faster.

‘What can you do? If you can’t get inside to shut down its ability to reconstitute itself, this war’s lost. It can’t be convinced to stop trying to kill everyone. You have to shut down its ability to restore itself, you have to. But if you can’t get inside…the plan’s dead. What do you do?’

He spotted Hart, flying toward the Ravener.

Then he looked back at Merzhin.

‘When you were near death, you were able to teleport to Merzhin. You were able to surpass your limits because your soul was closer to Hannah’s. Do you get Hart to stab you now? Is this where you go to the desperation move?’

His streams of consciousness raced faster and faster.

He was getting closer to calling out to Hart…

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

‘No,’ he decided. ‘No, you need to get rid of Aenflynn. Better to destroy the throne, that’ll stop that fae bastard from helping the Ravener. It’ll also give us more time for Hannah to come back, and for me to work out the problem. Okay. Follow the plan.’

He watched the Ravener closely.

‘It’s distracted with the others right now, you and Merzhin can go and take care of the throne…but…’ He thought about the injectors sitting on the floating platform. ‘Maybe you can attach some to the Ravener’s surface before you go. Drain its power—No wait. The cage.’

His eyes focused on the cage of deadly beams wrapped around the construct. ‘Yeah, even if I was to attach one of the devices, all it’d have to do is activate that defensive cage around itself and destroy the device. And…if I use them too early, it’ll be warned that they’re a danger to it.’

He watched the battle progressing before him. ‘Right now, it’s focused on us; it thinks we’re trying to grab Uldar’s body and destroy its servants. We don’t want that to change. The more it believes that’s our goal, the better for us to get it to exhaust its power. It must have used up a fair bit of its power using those worms and beams against us. …it looks like it’s firing the beams more sparingly than before. So, now’s probably a good time to go for the throne, before it gathers more strength and before it realises that we’re doing more than just attacking it and Uldar’s corpse.’

The world sped up again.

Alex looked at Merzhin. “Alright, you ready? When it hits me with that mana poison again, we’re gone.”

The Saint’s eyebrows rose and he nodded. “Now would be a good time. It is quite distracted—wait a moment, did you actually say when you get poisoned again?”

“Yeah,” Alex whispered. “We need a reason to leave the battle. If I’m injured, that’ll be a convincing reason.”

“Alright…I just pray I’m ready to open the divine ward on the throne.”

“I hope you are too,” Alex said. “But I’ve got faith in you.” He said, as he contacted Claygon.

‘Buddy, we’ll be heading to Aenflynn’s castle soon. I want you to protect everyone, okay?’

‘I will…father…’ the golem thought.

A death beam shot out, striking Claygon’s chest.

Steam hissed from his iron body as he returned fire, fire-beams striking the Ravener’s surface. Explosions ripped over the lake.

‘Trust our friends to me father…I will protect them…’

‘I know you will,’ Alex thought.

The General threw a glance over his shoulder.

Together with Thundar, and Najyah, the prince of Tekezash had sealed another entrance. Behind them, the tunnels they’d already sealed were reinforced and being guarded by elder earth elementals.

They would protect the seals from air blasters, titans or other Ravener-spawn looking to break through. The elementals wouldn’t be able to hold the line forever, but…well, hopefully, it would be long enough.

Alex caught Khalik’s eye and nodded.

The prince nodded back, gravely.

Alex also nodded at the others, silently wishing them luck.

Any who were looking at him, nodded back.

‘It’s going to be okay,’ he thought. ‘They’re going to be okay.’

“Here I go,” he whispered to Merzhin, turning his attention back to the Ravener, and teleporting to its side.

The world slowed.

He readied four Shred Magic spells.

The world sped up again.

He released them.

The cage shattered, and Alex shot forward, pressing his hands to the Ravener’s surface.

“Alright, you big round piece of trash. You invited me to try again, well, here’s round two.”

He drove his mana into the Ravener’s inner pathways, focusing the Mark of the General on the task of controlling it…to better sell the lie.

“Uldar might have built you,” Alex snarled between clenched teeth. “But he couldn’t have thought of everything. I’m going to take command of you, and I’m going to stop all of this carnage you’re trying to—”

The Ravener groweld. “Do not speak his name. It seems you need another lesson.”

Power flared within the construct.

Alex tensed.

‘This is gonna bloody hurt,’ he thought.

Mana poison flooded from the Ravener, racing through the young archwizard’s mana pathways; the amount was greater this time.

A scream tore from the General’s throat.

His whole body burned, feeling like he’d been scalded.

His heart felt ready to burst.

His brain throbbed as his vision washed red. Blood vessels ruptured, filling his mouth with the taste of iron.

‘Now,’ he thought weakly.

Screaming, he focused the Mark on showing all of his agony, then teleported back to Merzhin, coughing blood.

“Help…” he groaned.

Merzhin grimaced. “We have to get away from here.”

The Saint pressed his light-sheathed hands to the General.

Healing divinity washed through the young archwizard from head to toe, yet Alex kept screaming as though the poison was overcoming the Saint’s power. He imagined a forest clearing in Och Fir Nog: one far from the Ravener’s lair, a place he’d flown above when he and the engeli were tracking Uldar’s body.

The General of Thameland focused the Traveller’s power on that image.

Abruptly, he and the Saint disappeared.

A thrill surged through the Ravener.

Creating the mana poison had taken no small amount of its strength, but it was well worth it! If it could have smiled, it would have done so endlessly as it watched the wounded General flee to nurse his wounds.

Surely he would return, but with less arrogance in him.

Now, it would use the time to focus on destroying the Heroes and their outlander companions.

“Your Foolish General has fled,” the Ravener announced. “You should have done the same. I am disappointed: this will be less of a trial and more of a purge.”

“Aye, well, we’ll see about that,” the Chosen countered, wrapped in divine power.

The Ravener’s focus went to him.

Should he be the next to fall?

Or should it be the metal golem?

No, its attention should be on the Chosen so he could not heal the rest. But first…

The Ravener’s surface rippled.

More Spawn emerged, each bearing their own dungeon core.

Time to replace those that were lost.

It drew on the stream of divine power from its ally and—as it did—a voice spoke in its thoughts.

‘We’re nearly there,’ Aenflynn said, though his voice sounded strained.

‘Uldar’s enemies have reached me,’ the Ravener answered. ‘I am resisting, and have wounded one of them…a treacherous Hero.’

‘Excellent. Soon you will be ready to wipe them all away,’ the fae thought. ‘Just a little more.’

Alex and Merzhin reappeared in the skies over Och Fir Nog, with the Saint pouring his divinity into the General’s body. Alex felt himself healing; his mana pathways were restoring and his body was repairing.

He sighed with relief.

“Thanks again, Merzhin,” Alex looked down at his body, stretching then looking up at the sky.

Strange stars—if they really were stars—twinkled in the heavens of Och Fir Nog.

“It’s hard to tell how much time’s passed,” Alex noted. “Ah, well, there’s nothing we can do about that except move on.”

“Precisely,” Merzhin said, balling his hands into fists. “I pray we can reach the throne quickly. Do you think…we can really destroy it?”

“Yeah, I do,” Alex said. “Between Hannah’s teleportation power, your divinity and my magic, I think we have a real good chance of destroying it. We just need you to get us through that ward…no pressure or anything.” He smiled.

“Yes, of course,” the Saint looked a little nervous. “I will not let us down.”

He almost sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than anything, though the magic of Army of Heroes was lending confidence to his voice.

Alex simply nodded. “I know you won’t, Merzhin. I don’t doubt it. So, let’s get going.”

The young archwizard raised his staff, channelling invisibility magic.

Both Heroes vanished, turning transparent in the eyes of their own true seeing magics.

‘Alright,’ Alex thought, with fleeting anxiousness.

If this worked, they’d take a major step forward.

If it didn’t…

He shook the thought away.

It didn’t matter now. They were there, and they had a job to do.

“Let’s go take Aenflynn’s toy away,” the young archwizard said.

He touched Merzhin’s shoulder and together, they teleported to the fae lord’s castle.