Deafening thunder shook our bones. A flood of orange fire blinded our vision as a wave of heat washed over us.

"Sanctuarium!"

And…

We were fine.

The fire didn't touch us. The explosion that should have blown out our eardrums was muted.

Something was protecting us—no, someone.

Shay deflated, draping over Reed and Phil like a well-used blanket.

The smoke cleared. The walls of the platform room were reduced to steaming rubble.

I raised my hand to my face, turning it over to look at the thin coating that covered it.

"What is this?" Castille asked, looking down at the coating around her body.

It was like the bubbles you would get when you rubbed a bar of lard into a lather.

"Salvation," Reed said.

She and Phil held up Shay by his sleeves. His head hung forward, the tips of his long, black hair brushing the platform.

"Shay…"

The concern was raw in her voice.

"What did he do?" I asked.

"I enchanted the platform."

Shay's voice was weak, absent his regular bravado.

"Are you OK?"

"I'll live, Apprentice."

Before our eyes, his body inflated into a shape that was almost human. He got to whatever he used as feet, slicking his long hair back with one hand.

"As long as we stand on it, neither we nor the platform can be harmed. In return, we cannot cause harm."

"That's... That's incredible!" Isla said.

"And draining."

"How much will did you use?" Reed asked.

He grimaced.

"Four-fifths of my reserves."

Reed matched his grimace with a deep frown.

Castille waved away the lingering smoke in her face.

"As happy as I am to be alive, we need to get ready. They'll be coming to see the results of the explosion."

Dugan nodded, eyes darting to the buildings a short distance away.

"We're exposed."

Thor grunted in agreement.

Reed turned to Phil.

"Return to the surface. We need reinforcements. Quickly!"

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"Y-Yes, Special Inquisitor!"

We shuffled off the platform, pulling ourselves free from the bubble coating that wrapped around us. The guard saluted Reed as he disappeared up the shaft.

"What now?" Isla asked.

"We hold off the stone men until reinforcements arrive."

Thor let out a series of short grunts.

My left hand reached for the handle of my cane. My eyes swept over our surroundings. With the walls of the platform room blown away, we were left on a small, sloping hill overlooking Nostrand Del's Undertown. By the cavern's pale light, red crystal eyes glinted in the distance.

"They're coming," Dugan said.

"Form up!"

Dugan took point with Thor and Castille at his sides. Isla stayed close to the platform landing, conjuring a ball of water in her hand. Reed stood back and off to the side with Shay, who tried to look unbothered. I slid my cane out of my sword belt, moving a few steps behind Castille's flank.

Heavy footsteps marched to the base of the muddy hill in unison. Polished, large shields shined in the artificial starlight. Long, green-tipped spears swayed over the heads of twenty-five stone men as tall as Castille and as wide as Dugan.

"They come in different forms?!" Isla said, a note of enthusiasm in her voice.

"One size fits all is out of fashion," Shay said, pulling his enlarged sewing needle out of his unravelling hand."

"I don't like the look of those spears."

"I recognize that shade of green even in this gloom. It's copper arsenite. It was a popular pigment in clothing until it was found to be toxic."

"Then we have nothing to worry about," Reed said.

"Speak for yourself."

She smirked.

"I can protect you, too, if you stay a little closer to me."

I glanced from Reed to Shay.

"I'll take my chances."

The marching stopped. We turned our heads to the silent soldiers. The large stone men raised their grey, rectangular shields into a wall. They lowered their long spears into the shields' circular cutouts. The back rows threw their shields over their heads.

It was an old-fashioned phalanx.

They continued their march, picking up the pace as they climbed the hill. Their heavy footfalls squelched in the mud.

Castille, Reed and I exchanged looks... and laughed. The tension that we've been holding in dissolved.

They can't be serious.

Castille slung her long sword on her right shoulder, shouting over the left.

"Isla, have you ever gone sledding?!"

"Once or twice."

"Why don't you show our friends how it's done."

The young noblewoman nodded, raising her staff and closing her eyes in concentration. The water in the mud was pulled to the surface, creating a thin, wet layer that froze to a mirror sheen.

The stone men slipped, falling into the ground and each other. Spears tangled with limbs and snapped under the weight of stone bodies.

Phalanxes...

I shook my head.

No one used phalanxes anymore. They were too inflexible—easily outflanked and harassed by more mobile forces. Crowding so close together also made them easier to knock down. These soldiers had little experience fighting Landbound mages.

Their loss. Our gain.

We rushed forward, descending on them like a pack of lions. Toxic spearheads were batted out of the way, and their crystal eyes were cracked. They were harder to break than the eyes of regular stone men, but we found a way.

Shay used the tip of his needle to pry their eyes loose while Reed took wild swings with her two-handed club. Castille and Dugan worked together like two halves of a whole, destroying the stone men while Thor grunted encouragement. I stayed back, throwing the blunt end of my dagger into the stone men's weak points.

Isla focused on support, selectively turning the ice back to water to give us sure footing for our fighting. The back rows of their formation struggled to their feet. Reed moved to attack them first, winding up and delivering a swing that broke through the stone man's face and the one beside it.

My eyes widened.

One of the stone men she decapitated fell to one side, revealing another pulling back to thrust his long spear. She was open, her body twisting away from the incoming attack.

I pulled back to throw my dagger. I wouldn't make it in time.

The spear thrust forward and bounced off a translucent, golden shield in front of the Inquisitor. She twisted her hips, sending the club around in a backswing that exploded the attacking stone man's head in a shower of debris.

Oh, so that was her game.

With her defensive Landbound ability, Reed could completely commit to attacking with her unwieldy club. She used this combination to bait her enemies with wild swings that made her look vulnerable. It was a perfect use of misdirection.

The last stone man ran for cover among the Undertown's buildings.

Shay raised his hand.

"Fractum."

The stone man's head exploded in a cloud of dust that scattered across the ground.

Shay winced, grabbing the side of his head with his raised hand.

"Shay! Are you OK?" Reed asked.

"That thing… It had will."

"What does that mean?" Castille asked.

The party walked down to the base of the hill, converging around the Immortal Tailor.

Shay looked over the stone men that lay at our feet.

"It means these stone men aren't objects or constructs; they're people."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.