Tall Tales and Shiny Stories

"As best we can tell the rebels are up in the Majir Mountains in the small mining town of Cabel." Cladius nodded, and glanced over at Gerron, who seemed to be intent on the map. "Alright then Captain. You want us to go there, find the rebels, and eradicate them. Do you have an estimation on the numbers of this group, and how sympathetic the locals are to them?"

  Captain Betruga pulled out a small notepad and glanced at it. "The miners are local, and the ties between them and the capital are virtually non existent. They are more pragmatic then most country folk, so the church is also weak there...As such, I doubt you will find many supporters." The captain smiled crookedly, and Gerron sighed, then spoke up. "We better go incognito, and I assume that we will be alone..."

  "Yes, you two will be going in alone, and in disguise. Best we can get there are twelve of the bastard rebels up there, lead by some sort of mage."

  "Great, a mage. I hope its not a pyromancer. I hate having to clean soot off my armor."

  "Ah Cladius, even now, your vanity is showing."

  "Well don't you ever get sick of getting oil on your vestments Gerron?" Cladius pointed to Gerron's left arm, its gleaming metal and whirling servos open for all to see. "Layoff my cybernetics. I had no choice and you know it Cladius."

  "Will you two quit arguing like a married couple?" Betruga said angrily. Cladius and Gerron both turned to face him. Betruga sighed, and pinched the bridge of his nose and continued. "You two leave tomorrow on fast train to Cabel. The trip should take about two hours. You are dismissed." The two holy men nodded, saluted, and left the room.

  It took the two men barely any time at all to pack. Being holy men, they didn't have many possessions to speak of. Cladius packed away his armor, holy symbol, and sword. He put on some travel clothing and had the barber of the monastery dye his hair black from its usual blond. Gerron disconnected his usual cybernetic arm and leg and replaced them with prosthetics, even though he hated to do so. He also wore a pair of sunglasses to hide his left eye and its cyborg implants. After a quick breakfast, the two men boarded the train and were off. They tried their best to look like new miners bound for the iron mine up at Cabel.

  "Well Cladius, what do you think of our latest mission?"

  "Truth be told I am not too comfortable with the subterfuge. Beyond that I am alright with it."

  "So you are fine with the killing of these rebels? Why can't we just arrest them?" Gerron glanced out the window at the passing hills, sighing. Cladius looked at his friend and smiled.

  "You know as well as I do that their magic is sin. Our church teaches us that. They rip their powers from the earth and nature, and twist it to their own ends."

  Gerron sat quiet for a minute, staring at the green hills and farm that were whizzing by. "I know what our mother Church teaches us Cladius, I have been a priest longer then you have been a templar you know. I am well aware of our teachings, having preached mass at for the brothers. What I mean is...what if we are wrong? Our magic comes from God, you say? How can we be so sure?"

  Cladius smiled and reach over to pat his friend on the shoulder. "Because God is in our power. I can feel him when we use it. We all have our doubts."

  "I know, and I do have doubts on occasion. But doesn't our God teach mercy? Is it right for us to go and kill these people because they are different?" Gerron looked over at his friend, and found that his friend's face had darkened.

  "Yes we must kill these people Gerron. Not because they are different, but because they hurt others. They bomb our churches, they hold people hostage! They claim our God is false, and that they are in the right, and we are wrong. I am sure our leaders would have us leave them be if they did not do the things that they do. But...we cannot sit by while they destroy our homes..." Gerron nodded, and sighed.

  "I agree Cladius...I just...sometimes I just don't know." Gerron went quiet, and so did Cladius, and for the rest of the train ride they simply sat quietly. And waited.

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  "Looks like we are pulling in Cladius, wake up." Gerron poked his friend with his foot, and Cladius awoke with a start. "Huh wha?"

  "Look outside Cladius. Geez, you can fall asleep anywhere I swear." Cladius did as his friend bid, and caught a good look at the mining city of Cabel.

  The first thing he noticed were the columns of steam and smoke rising from the mining area in the back. Sloping downward on the hill below the mine, small buildings dotted the landscape here and there. It was a quaint town, very rural looking. There was one large building off to the side, and as they got closer Cladius noticed that the building was in fact a wall compound. He noticed the bell tower and smiled. "Well Gerron, at least they have a church here so we can seek sanctuary if things get ugly!"

  "Cladius, I hate to break it to ya, but I doubt the Arcanist Rebels will respect that..."

  Cladius simply mumbled angrily "If they didn't then they really are heathens."

  The two holy men disembarked from the train and found their luggage. They quickly determined two things about the city of Cabel. One, that the people seemed to be very dour faced, even the children, and two, that the city had a constant haze of smoke over it from the forge's up on the mine. Gerron began to cough almost instantly upon contact with the air, a very heavy hacking cough that brought the technopriest to his knees. Cladius was instantly at his friends side, and helped Gerron to his feet. "Are you ok Gerron?" Gerron shook his head, and tried to speak between the coughs.

  "Its the *cough* smoke! Its clogging my *gasp* internals! I need to get out *choke* of here!" Cladius nodded, and with a quick hand gesture, cast a spell that would increase his physical strength. Then, he lifted Gerron up, backpack and all, and carried him off to their room at the hotel nearby to meet their contact.

  The hotel room was dingy, with two mattresses on the floor that had been obviously stuffed with straw. Gerron had since regained his breath once inside, and sat down on one of the mattresses with his shirt off, working dials and buttons on his chest. "I have to calibrate my sensors and filtration systems to handle the smog. It was horrible!" Cladius nodded, but was paying more attention to the other man in the room. The man was filthy, his hair matted to his head under a felt cap, his eyes were almost black and he stood hunched over. He spoke to Cladius.

  "Aye mate, I know of the people you are talkin bout. Why do ya care bout them though?"

  "Look, you were told that if you had information about these people we would pay you, however, you have done nothing but ask me questions... You are trying my patience!"

  "Oi! Come on guvner, I am just a humble miner! I need to feed mah family!"

  Cladius sighed, and patted the miner on the shoulder. "I know that... but we need that information... Come on! You don't want to hold out on us do you? Think of the money..." With that, Cladius pulled from his belt a pouch that jingled gaily. The miner stared at it.

  "The men you gents be looking fer have been hiding out in the deep part of the mines. They been paying mah boss a fair mount of cash so he don't care." Cladius smiled, and glanced over at Gerron who was still fiddling with his chest plate. "Good man. Here you are, fifty gold pieces, and our Lords thanks. May you go with God." The miner smiled, nodded, grabbed the bag and bolted from the room. Cladius sighed, and grabbed his robe. "Come on Gerron, we gotta get moving to the other base so we don't have to worry about that guy coming back to slit our throats." Gerron nodded, and smiled. "Almost done with the calibrating. Once I am done, the smog out there will be like sweet air to me." Cladius sighed and nodded. "Sometimes I wish I could just switch a few dials and not have to worry about the smell of things."

  Gerron grinned broadly, and then got a serious look on his face. "Believe me Cladius...I would give anything to be like you again." Cladius nodded, and put on his robe. "Come on, we need to get moving." Gerron finished his adjustments, put his shirt and robe back on, and the two left the dingy little
hotel room and made their way down to the common room.

  The common room of the Iron Horse inn was quiet, as it was still fairly early in the afternoon. A small fire was in the hearth, and cooking on a spit above it was what appeared to be some beef. Gerron glanced at it and sighed. Cladius heard him and turned around. "What now?" Gerron simply pointed at the beef. Cladius glanced over at it and laughed. "You know as well as I do we cannot eat meat to begin with! Even if you could you shouldn't!" Gerron nodded, and they began to walk out. Then, as they reached the door Cladius heard something. He realized what it was a split second too late, and felt a knife slam into his shoulder. Both he and Gerron spun around to find the barkeep and the grimy man who Cladius had paid, both with swords drawn. "Well now," the barkeep said, "what have we here? Churchmen coming to try to stop us eh? We can't have that..." The grimy man grinned and nodded. "Heh, you honestly thought you could beat us? Two unarmed men?" Cladius smiled as he watched the two slowly come around the counter. He grabbed the knife, and yanked it out of his shoulder with a wince and examined it. "You know...this blade could do with a sharpening.." He muttered under his breath, and the two men watched wide eyed as the knife slowly grew until it became a full longsword. "Ahhh thats better! A proper weapon! Now then, shall we gentlemen?" Gerron smiled, and dropped his pack to the ground. "Well I better get a proper weapon myself!" To the surprise of the barkeep, Gerron's left arm fell off, and from his pack Gerron pulled out a second arm, all gleaming metal and strange buttons. He attached it to his shoulder and the arm came to life with a whirling noise. "Now thats more familiar. I was wondering how long I was gonna have to wear that blasted fake arm." Gerron then pushed a button on the side of the arm and the area behind the wrist lifted up out of it. He pulled a small blue crystal from his pocket and shoved it into the top, and a barrel popped out of the front. "Say hello to my custom made mage cannon."

  The bartender and the grimy man shared a glance, then charged. Gerron fired off his cannon, but missed and hit the bar instead. Both men stopped and turned when they felt the cold from the shot, and they both saw that where the shot had hit was now covered in ice. Gerron grinned and Cladius charged while the men where distracted. Before they could react Cladius ran the grimy man through the belly with his sword. The bartender turned around and opened his mouth to shout something but was instantly silenced as Gerron got another shot off. The bartender was quickly encased in ice, and both Gerron and Cladius stood there and looked around for any other trouble.

  "Well, there goes our cover... I wonder if they had time to alert anyone else."

  "I hope not Gerron. We need to get rid of the bodies, and quickly. Pick up your arm by the way, its giving me the creeps." Gerron nodded, grabbed his fake arm and stuffed it into his bag. He then removed the blue crystal and put a red one in, and glanced up to see what Cladius was up to. Cladius was moving the frozen bartender into the back room, which was not easy considering he was encased in a block of ice. Gerron moved and picked up the impaled grimy man, thankful that for once he couldn't smell anything. The two of them moved the bodies back into the kitchen and dropped them off.

  "Now what do we do?"

  "Well Cladius, only thing I can think of is to melt the bodies down." Gerron patted his mage cannon at this, then sighed. "Only issue is of course that might set the place ablaze. Otherwise we just run and hope no one notices the bodies till we make it to the safe house." Cladius glanced around the dingy bar and sighed. "Well...if we leave the bodies there is the chance that our presence will be alerted and the rebels will move their base."

  "However if we burn the place down we could cause more trouble..." Gerron said.

  "I am aware of that. But we need to figure something out before we have an angry mob of miners on our trail."

  "Then I vote fire. We could almost make it look like a hearth fire, and if we do it right..."

  Cladius nodded, and they began to get to work.

  After about ten minutes the two men were running out of the Iron Horse inn, and thankfully the streets were fairly empty. They made it two blocks down the road and turned before they could see the smoke of the fire of the inn. They began to hear screams of "Fire Fire!" and "The old Iron Horse is burning!" They quickly made their way to the safe house that had been arranged for them. Once inside they locked the door, and walked up to the second floor and looked out the window. They had been given one of the only two story buildings in the city to be used as a base of operations, and from this point they could see just about the whole town. They were almost dead center.

  Cladius glanced out of one of the windows, and from there could see the blaze burning from the Iron Horse.

  "Man we did a number on that place. I feel kind of sorry."

  "Don't feel sorry," Gerron began as he laid his kit down on his bed, "They did it to themselves. It was a front as best we could tell for the Arcanists."

  "I know Gerron, but what if he had family? What if he was really just a miner who had been brainwashed into believing the Arcanists's tripe?"

  Gerron shrugged, and began to work on getting sheets together. "I am trying not to think about that. I am trying to focus on our mission. We have to find a way to verify if the rebels are really holed up in the mine. And if they are, we need a map of that place otherwise we may get lost."

  Cladius nodded his agreement, and glanced out the other window, up the hill and towards the mine. In the distance, the mine sat quietly, belching out foul black smoke and steam. Somewhere, Cladius thought, in those mines, sit the enemy. Gerron finished putting the sheets down on the beds and laid down.

  "We better get some sleep my friend, because tomorrow we have a world of work ahead of us." Cladius nodded, and went over to his pallet and got ready for bed.

  And in the window, the flames from the inn continued to dance across the sky.

  The next morning, the two men woke up from their sleep slightly groggy. Cladius stood up and stretched, and glanced out the window towards where the Iron Horse Inn used to be. He noted that it appeared that very little collateral damage had taken place, and for that he was thankful. He was never happy with some of the things he had to do in the name of duty, but he would obey his superiors commands as if they came from God themselves. Gerron immediately started getting dressed upon waking, making sure to put his fake arm back on and storing his cybernetic arm in his pack. "Did the fire cause any extra damage Cladius?"

  "From the looks of it, no." Cladius said as he put his armor on, and donned his cloak. "Best I can tell some minor smoke damage, but in a place like this that won't even be noticed."

  Gerron smiled. "You do have a point. With all the smog this place produces its a wonder how people stay clean."

  Cladius let out a booming laugh and grinned. "I know what you mean, I am gonna take a bath the instant we are back home."

  "Well we won't be getting home unless we finish this mission. What do we need to do today?"

  "Well," Cladius began, "we need to verify somehow that the rebel's have holed themselves up in the mine. We also need to do this quickly, because if they get a whiff of us being here they will go to ground and we will fail."

  Gerron nodded, and finished getting dressed. He realized that he shouldn't take his pack with him and removed his cyborg arm and hid it as best he could under his cloak. "I need a holster for this thing."

  Cladius just grinned and belted on his sword under the cloak, and felt the worn handle under his hand. It was warm to the touch, like always, his sword having been blessed by the Father of the monastery that both he and Gerron had been stationed at. It was an heirloom from his father, his brother having been given the shield and armor. "Well, we won't be getting anywhere just standing here Gerron. I think we should hit the mine itself, and just observe as best we can. Don't forget to bring your telescope attachment."

  Gerron grimaced at this statement, and reached into his pack to pull out a large metal
tube. "You know I hate this thing." He said as they walked out of the room.

  Cladius grinned. "I know, but it is rather funny to see you with a tube coming out of your eye."

  "Bah."

  When they left the safe house, they found that the sun could barely penetrate the haze of smoke and smog that hung over the city. They also noticed the sound that came from the mine and seemed to permeate every part of the city. It was the din of machinery, and industry. A clanking crescendo as it were. The closer they got to the mine, the louder it became. It took the better part of an hour to walk up the roads to the mine proper, and when they reached it, the sound was nearly deafening. Gerron simply turned down his hearing, but poor Cladius was forced to put his hands over his ears.

  "Sweet holy mother this is loud!"

  "What Cladius? I can't hear you, I turned my hearing off till I can get the sound filters adjusted."

  "Ohhhh how I envy you!"

  "What?"

  Cladius simply motioned with his hands for Gerron to forget it, and motioned for Gerron to follow him. The two men made their way around the edge the mine, making sure to stay hidden behind the rocks and debris that littered the edge. They found themselves, after a few moments, up in an area where they could see the mine clearly, but were safely hidden from view. The outcropping of rock that the two holy men sat in was also sheltered from the sounds coming from the mine, due to the position of the outcropping. Cladius sighed and smiled. "Now thats better. At least it doesn't sound like the screaming sounds of hell up here."

  "And you know how hell sounds like how exactly?" Gerron began to fit the tube on his cyborg eye.

  "Well I just imagine that hell would be loud, what with all the screaming."

  Gerron began to focus his eye through the tube and laughed a bit. "Yes I am sure. Anyway, lets see what I can see."

  Gerron began to focus his spyglass eye into the mine, and began to slowly scan it. The first things he saw were all the hard workers, moving iron ore with carts, carrying pick axes into the mine shaft, and various other bits of machinery. He noted the placement of the entrances to the mine shafts themselves, as well as where the main portion of the machines where located. Hm, that must be the forge, Gerron thought to himself, upon noticing a large building that was belching out hordes of smoke. Next to that, Gerron saw something that caught his eye. A man in a robe, with red hair, was talking to another man in a hard hat and a clipboard. He watched as the robed man gave the other man a sack of something, and the man with the clipboard smiled and walked off. Gerron nodded, and zoomed back out and disconnected the spyglass.

  "Well, I think we found our wizard. He just paid off the foreman, I think."

  "They are still down there then eh?"

  "As best as I can tell yes. It doesn't look like they have been alerted to our presence yet either."

  Cladius rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Well then! Any idea's on how to proceed at this point?"

  "Well," Gerron began, "we can attack at night. I am sure they will have lookouts. And they are probably centralized somewhere in the mine system itself."

  Cladius nodded, and then grinned. "Hey, why not watch the wizard you found? I bet he will reenter the mine system...and we can figure out which entrance to use from him!"

  "Now that's a good idea! Let me reattach my glass." Gerron put his spyglass back on, and turned back towards the mine. After a few minutes of searching, Gerron spotted the robed man with the red hair, and watched.

  It took four hours before the robed man entered the mine. By that time, Cladius's leg was cramped, and Gerron was tired. The sky was darkening as well, the promise of rain on the air. The two men began the walk back to town as fast as they could. While Gerron's body was protected against water, he didn't like the risk of having a short. Halfway to the safe house, it began to rain.

  "Blast, I was hoping we would avoid this." Gerron said, a look of anger on his face.

  Cladius sighed. "Least it seems to be washing away the smell."

  Gerron pointed down to the ground, where several bits of things were washing down the street. "I really don't wanna think about what else its washing away Cladius." Cladius gagged a bit when he saw bits of bone flow by. "I agree....lets get home and get ready. We have some dirty work tonight."

  "I know. Being in a mine is dirty enough as it is. I hope I can keep my vestments clean."

  Cladius laughed a bit, and then his face took a serious cast to it. Tonight was the night they would attack the rebels and, given the rain and what they faced, it was not going to be a good night.

  The sky was dark and cloudy, and the rain was still falling hard. The mine was quiet, the workers having gone home hours prior and the machines having been turned off. The smoke that normally hung in the air was gone, thanks to the breeze. The moon seemed to be trying its best to shine through the clouds, and because of that, here and there patches of moonlight adorned the rocks. The night was filled with the sounds of raindrops hitting stone, a song of nature that Gerron stood quietly and listened to. It calmed him, the sounds of the rain. He then felt a tug on his robe, and glanced forward to Cladius, making a motion to be ready to enter the quarry pit.

  The rocks on the ground were crushed under the boots of two men, who were for once open for all to see. Cladius's armor gleamed in the patches of moonlight they passed, his shield and sword at the ready, a silver cross swinging from his neck. Gerron's arm light up the area around them with strange colors, its whirling noises thankfully low enough that the sound of the rain covered it up. They sprinted across the open ground of the quarry and hid behind a large mine cart, and Gerron turned on his night vision sensors in his left eye and looked towards the opening they were heading for.

  The opening in question was on the second level of the quarry, in the far back. A spot that would be hard to see from the front of the mine, but one they had been able to see from their reconnaissance earlier. Gerron noted that there were two guards, armed with what appeared to be rifles. The opening itself seemed to be slightly brighter then the rest of the area, and given the way Gerron's night vision system worked, he could tell that there were people inside there, or at least some light source.

  Gerron whispered to Cladius, his voice low. "There are two armed guards. I can see a light source as well coming from somewhere inside that shaft. I gauge the distance to be about one hundred feet from here to there."

  Cladius nodded, and began to cast a spell. His voice was muffled by the rain, but grew louder as the spell reached its completion.

  Neilson and Tarmi stood silently at the entrance to the shaft. They were proud to be chosen as guards. Where they came from, it was an honor to be chosen for such a difficult position, and one that both men took very seriously. Tarmi glanced out into the night, and thought he caught the glimpse of orange and green light.

  "Oi, Neilson, you see that?" Tarmi pointed out to where he thought he had seen the lights.

  Neilson glanced out into the night, but could not see anything. "Nope, I don't see nothing."

  Tarmi scratched his head. He could have sworn he saw something. The two men stood silently at their post. Then, Neilson began to hear something. It was different from the sound of the rain. It was the sound of what he thought was a voice. It started out low, then grew louder. Tarmi turned to face Neilson, and spoke.

  "Ok now I know I hear something."

  "Same here...its coming from that mine cart over there!" And as Neilson pointed, a man rose up from behind the cart, his voice growing louder with every second. His armor gleamed in the moonlight, a brilliant silver hue. The sound was almost like a song, and both Neilson and Tarmi were confused. Then, they saw it. A blue light began to cover the man and next to him another man rose, this ones left side gleaming with multicolored lights on it. He too was covered in a blue light. Tarmi and Neilson looked at each other as the two men began to race towards their position, leveled their rifles and fired.


  The way the spell of Protection worked is that it was based on the willpower of the person who cast it. The more willpower the caster had, the longer the spell would last. This was a good thing for a templar like Cladius, who had buckets of willpower. Another thing that was needed was a strong mind in general, as the level of protection was based solely on the strength of mind the caster had when he cast it. A side effect however was that every blow to the shield would cause the caster to feel horrible pain, and so it was with Cladius. Every bullet that impacted the shield that surrounded him and Gerron felt like someone took a hammer and slammed it into his forehead. Thankfully, he had a high pain threshold.

  "Gerron, would you shoot one of them please? My head can't take much more of this!" Cladius yelled. Gerron nodded, and leveled his arm towards the two men. He had pre-loaded it with a purple crystal while Cladius had been casting, and was primed and ready to go. Tarmi and Neilson were very surprised when a bolt of what appeared to be bright white lightning suddenly shot from Gerron's arm. They leapt to the side to avoid the blast, and watch as it slammed into the right side of the doorway and left a huge scorch mark. Gerron cursed under his breath as his arm began to rev up for another shot.

  "You had to pick the lightning crystal Gerron?"

  "It seemed like a good idea at the time! I forgot how long the blasted thing takes to charge!"

  The two guards were quickly back on their feet but during that time Gerron and Cladius had made their way up the ramp to the entrance, and the fight was on. Cladius drew his sword and swung at Neilson, who attempted to block the blow with the shaft of his gun. His face took on a surprised look as the blade cleanly sliced through the barrel of the rifle. Before Neilson could react he found the same blade in his stomach, and feel to the ground as Cladius removed it.

  Gerron was having a bit more trouble with his guard, Tarmi. Tarmi had been smart, and had packed a knife and was trying to slash Gerron. Fortunately, Gerron's arm was well armored and he was adept at using it like a shield. As Cladius turned to come help, Gerron spat out a spell, the sound of the single word he had spoken reverberating through the quarry. Tarmi immediately fell to the ground, racked with pain and sobbing, and as he curled up into a fetal position Cladius ran him through.

  "You had to use the Word of Pain eh?"

  "Yes, and you know how I abhor using it. It's very inhumane."

  Cladius nodded. "What's done is done. Now we need to finish off the rest of em. Thats two down, and ten to go according to the numbers we have."

  Gerron nodded and the two men entered the mine.

  The inside of the shaft was lit by a few lamps which appeared to be made out of glowing glass. Gerron quickly realized that they were filled with fireflies. Slowly the two men walked down the shaft, the gravel on the ground making crunch noises beneath their feet, the dim light of the lamps barely enough to illuminate the walls. The hallways they walked down had some tracks laid out on the ground for the miner carts to go back and forth, carrying the loads of iron ore. After about ten minutes of walking, they came to a fork in the shaft.

  "Left or right Gerron?"

  Gerron put a finger over his lips for silence, then slowly began to turn up his hearing. After a few moments he began to hear the sound of voices from both tunnels. The right side seemed to be the loudest of the two, and the left only seemed to have two voices and after a few moments Gerron turned his hearing back down.

  "Well there are voices on both sides of the tunnel. The right side seems to be the loudest. The left side seems to only have two distinct voices..."

  "Hrm, lets start with the louder of the two and see where that goes."

  "Right then, to the right we go!" Gerron grinned and the two men slowly began to go down the right hand corridor. It gently curved to the right as they went, and after a few moments the sound of voices started to fill the corridor, and Cladius could hear it without the augmented hearing his friend had. Then they found themselves at a doorway that was open just a crack, and the voices seemed to be coming from within the room. They stood for a moment outside and listened into the conversation. Cladius was sure he heard around seven different voices from within the room.

  "Ivael is wanting to move out soon."

  "Thats what I heard. Looks like our agents in town haven't reported back either."

  "Didn't you hear? The inn burned down!"

  "Oh my...do you think they were hurt?"

  "I have no idea. Ivael is furious though."

  "I would hate to be on his bad side.... Did he decide on where we are going to hit?"

  "I think he said he wanted to hit the church in town first."

  Cladius and Gerron shared a look at this statement, and their faces both took on a look of determination. Gerron lifted up his arm and took out the purple crystal, and switched it out for a red one, and Cladius drew his sword. Gerron motioned towards the door, and mimed himself shooting it down. Cladius nodded, buckled his shield on and got ready.

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  Inside the room, the eight rebels sat around a table talking and eating. Next to each of them sat a rifle and a sword, and in the room itself were eight pallets for sleeping. It was a very spartan sort of room, with one door in the far wall. The men sat and chatted about various things, chief among them being the subject of their mission. Then, one of them, a man with unkempt gray hair sat up and held up his hand for silence.

  "Do you all hear that?"

  The men went silent and listened. "Hear what Gray?"

  Then, before any of the men could react, the door was blasted into the room off its hinges, golden red fire billowing out from behind it, and the yell of "For God and the Church!" following it.

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  Cladius ran into the room shouting "For God and the Church!" with Gerron following behind him. Cladius quickly charged into the main group, shouting out the words to the Spell of Protection. Cladius focused the spell just on himself, so as to save energy. The fire seemed to disorient the rebels, and Cladius quickly downed two of them. As the smoke cleared, he did a quick head count and realized that with the two he had just killed, there still were six. It seemed that the numbers they had been given were off.

  "Gerron, quickly, fire a blast into that far group over there!" Cladius pointed to a group of three men who seemed to be getting over the surprise and were trying to find their weapons. Gerron pointed his arm out and fired a blast of red flame, quickly incinerating the three. By the time this was done, the remaining three rebels had found some weapons. Two had picked up swords and one had managed to grab a rifle. Cladius faced off with the swordsman, leaving Gerron and the rifleman to square off.

  The two men faced Cladius, who simply smiled. "Gentlemen, I hate to interrupt though, but I had to ask: thinking of attacking a church? I thought I should let you know that I do not approve of this, and neither does our holy lord God."

  "Shut yer yap, you filthy templar! What do you know of anything?"

  Cladius struck out quickly at the speaker, who barely dodged in time. The other man swung at Cladius thinking to cut him, but found quickly that the templar was an experienced combatant who smoothly blocked the blow and impaled the man. The first man, the one who spoke, stared at the speed of the heavily armored holy man. Cladius quickly realized his position was not the best he could be in as the remaining man swung out at him. Cladius dodged as best he could, but took a grazing wound to his sword arm, which was left unarmored to help with his speed.

  Gerron on the other hand was hunkered down and exchanging fire with the rifleman. He was holed up behind the table, and the rifleman had used a nearby chair as a defense and was laying down a hail of bullets. Gerron just waited. He knew that the man would run out of shots eventually. Besides, thought Gerron, my gun never runs out of power! After a few moments the constant fire ceased, and Gerron sat up and looked over the ta
ble edge to see the man looking for another clip. Without wasting any time, Gerron fired his arm, bathing the man in orange flames, vaporizing him. The fire also hit the nearby pallets, which started to burn.

  Cladius was still dealing with the last swordsman. This one had proved to be an apt opponent, playing defensively and not allowing Cladius any killing blows. Instead, Cladius was wearing his opponent down with constant string of blows. Over and over Cladius continued to swing his sword at the man, forcing him to move and block as best he could. The man had several gashes on his arms from where he couldn't quite block Cladius's blows, but he refused to back down. Then, after a few moments, Cladius saw an opening. He rammed his shield forward, causing the man to misstep and start to fall. Then, before the man could react Cladius shoved his sword forward, point first into the mans chest, killing him.

  "Well that was bloody work. That should be most of them, but we need to check the other hallway."

  Gerron nodded, and the two men began to walk out of the room and back towards the fork. Behind them, the fire that had caught on the pallet began to spread, engulfing the bodies and the rest of the chamber.

  They went down the left side of the fork this time, and found themselves in a much darker and older looking tunnel. The sides of it had been stripped clean of iron, and most of the track had been removed from the area. The path below their feet was worn smooth from the passing of people. The voices that Gerron had heard earlier were absent, and after about five minutes they found themselves entering a large open chasm. It was one of the underground quarries, an area where a huge load of iron ore had once been, and was now mined clean. They had come out on a ledge about one hundred feet above the ground, and they saw no people.

  "Well, this is anti-climatic now isn't it Gerron."

  Gerron said nothing. He could sense something, and after a few moments of quiet concentration he knew, instantly, it was magic. And not the priestly magic that he and Cladius used. No, it was the magic of the Arcanists. He felt it coming from the left side, and he dove to the right, knocking Cladius down. Right above them, where moments before their heads had been, shot a blade of compressed air, visible only as it passed over them.

  "Well! Looks like I found the people who burned the Inn down. How novel."

  Gerron and Cladius stood up to find a man flying over their heads. "You must be Ivael."

  "Ah, you have heard of me! And who might you be, so I know what to carve on your gravestones?"

  "I am the templar Cladius!"

  "And I am the priest Gerron! And we are here to deal with you. We heard about your plans to destroy the towns church, and of course we disagree with that."

  "Well you would of course, being churchmen. Your inner eye is blinded by your faith." And before either of the two holy men could react, Ivael suddenly thrust his hands out in front of him, and another blade of compressed air fired out. This time however, Gerron shouted out the Word of Dispelling, its power rippling through the air and causing the very walls of the cavern to shake. Both the blade of air and the spell that was causing Ivael to fly failed, and Ivael began to plummet. He recovered quickly however, and shot out past them and into the hallway, laughing.

  "Come face me outside fools! If you dare!"

  Gerron glanced over at Cladius, who face was the picture of anger. "You know Cladius, we go out there, into the open, and given that he seems to be some sort of wind mage, he will have the advantage."

  Cladius nodded, then turned to face Gerron. "It is our duty, and our mission, to put a stop to him, and all like him. You know that."

  "I know Cladius. We need to be careful. I can only use the Words every so often you know. They are extremely dangerous if used too much."

  Cladius nodded again, and the two men slowly began to walk out of the cavern and back towards the mouth of the mining tunnel.

  When they reached the mouth of the tunnel, they could see that the storm had kicked up greatly. The mage who called himself Ivael was standing out in the middle of the quarry, a sword in his hand and a smile on his face. The rain pounded into the ground and steel of the machinery, creating a cacophony of noise, as if a multitude of drums where being stuck. Cladius and Gerron stepped out into the rain, and stared down at the mage. Gerron quickly checked to make sure his arm was ready and active, then realized that the rain would stop the fire crystal from working well. He looked at Cladius and mouthed "Stall him." Cladius nodded, and then with a yell of "For God and the Church!" charged down the ramp towards the mage, and Gerron quickly began to look for a very specific crystal.

  "Come mage! Let us battle as God wished us to!" Cladius shouted as his sword met the mage's in the air.

  Ivael parried the blow and then with a surprising amount of speed struck forward, attempting to stab Cladius in the face. "Your god is a fool, and is a false god! The only true law is that of nature!"

  Cladius was barely able to block the blow with his shield, and then swung his sword in an overhand motion in an attempt to chop Ivael. "My God is the True God! You are nothing more then a terrorist, trying to disrupt the peace we have here!"

  "Please," Ivael said as he leapt backwards to avoid the chop, "your church invaded my land first! We were peaceful!" Ivael then used his free hand and thrust it forward like a spear, causing a blast of wind to slam into Cladius and knock him down. Cladius gasped for breath and looked up at the mage.

  "You lie! We did nothing! You attacked first!"

  "Believe what you want little templar. It matters not here."

  Cladius began to try to get up, and found Ivael standing over him, sword raised. "Goodbye little templar. Next I will be dealing with your friend."

  Before Ivael could begin to swing however, a flash of light illuminated the quarry, blinding both Ivael and Cladius. Ivael rubbed his eyes and quickly realized that he no longer held a sword. He looked up and found Gerron staring at him, his arm raised and the barrel smoking.

  "You know, I never thought I would find a use for this crystal."

  Ivael raised his hands, and began to gather power to himself. Gerron simply smiled and fired his arm again, right at Ivael. Ivael dodged to the side, releasing the spell he was trying to cast and looked to where the bolt hit. It left nothing more then a hole, around two feet in diameter in the center of an sheet of iron.

  "What the devil is that?!"

  Gerron grinned and walked over to join Cladius, who had finally managed to get to his feet.

  "This is my void crystal. I never thought I would have a use for this thing. Its too dangerous to use normally."

  Ivael scowled and dove to the side, grabbing Cladius's sword on the way. He quickly dropped the sword however with a howl of pain. "What in the world?! The sword is enchanted?!"

  Cladius smiled and retrieved his blade, and stood over the prone mage. "Yes, this sword was my fathers. He enchanted it so that only those of our bloodline can wield it." Then, without another word, Cladius drove the sword straight into the mage, ending his life.

  "Well, now I am wet, bruised, and tired. Can we get out of here Cladius?"

  "Yes, I think we can. We need to clean up this mess here however." Gerron grinned, pointed his arm down at the body and fired, instantly making the body vanish without a trace. "There, problem solved."

  Cladius smiled, and the two men began to walk back into town, the only sound in the air that of the rain.

  -------------------------------------------------

  "You finished off the group, but you couldn't find out who that second voice was eh?" Captain Betruga said.

  "No sir. We only located the mage Ivael, who as best we could tell was an Aeromancer. He seemed more reluctant to use his spellcasting however. It was rather strange." Cladius stood at attention, Gerron sitting down in a chair nearby. "In fact, the group of them seemed rather undermanned for any sort of real threat."

  Captain Betruga smiled. "Had they been able to subvert the town t
o their cause, then we would have had a real fight on our hands. That town is one of the major suppliers of Iron to the kingdom. If the Arcanists had controlled that town..." Betruga let it hang in the air.

  Gerron nodded, and spoke up. "Sir, we made sure to clean up the mage's remains, and I am pretty sure the fire that had started in the chamber where we fought the rebels themselves dealt with the remains there. I am however displeased that we had to burn that inn down."

  Betruga nodded, and smiled. "That inn was owned by the town, and I will make sure a small sum of money is sent to the mayor to rebuild it, as well as an explanation of what happened. Does that make you feel better Gerron?" Gerron smiled and nodded. "Indeed Captain. Thank you."

  "Well then," Betruga began, "You two better get cleaned up and bathed. You smell horrible and look like you spent your day playing in a dust pile."

  Gerron and Cladius nodded and left, each thinking about the events that had happened, happy that they had helped styme the efforts of the Arcanists yet again.

 

  Waver: The Cold Shoulder