Chapter 249 - Rats... So Many Rats

Had fun with this one.

“Where are we going?” Hump asked.

“To see if we can find where these rats are coming from.”

“Take Uris and Kel with you,” Sulamir said. “You should have a keeper with you.”

A tall woman stepped forward, armoured in black scale. A dark red cloak draped around her shoulders, and she wore a war skirt that partially covered her legs. In her hands she carried a one-handed spear and a round shield.

“It would be my honour to accompany you, Packmaster,” she said.

Ado gave her a hard look and nodded. “We move on foot. Have Kel stalk us from above.”

Hump wondered why Uris had called him ‘Packmaster’, but as Ado strode toward the woods, a presence of power came over him, green light pouring from one of the tattoos beneath his shirt. Hump suspected he was about to find out.

More and more essence poured from Ado as he continued walking forward. Hump heard a snapping sound and Ado grunted, then another.

His bones, Hump realised, watching wide eyed as Ado’s entire body contorted.

As the tattoo shone brighter, the razorclaw shape materialised vividly beneath his tunic, filled with green essence. His entire body expanded, gaining height and breadth, as his hips and shoulders broadened. His legs twisted into a poised and agile stance—the knees bent and pointing slightly outward. A thick, brown fur enveloped his skin, resembling the spikes of the razorclaws he’d encountered in Stonebark Forest. Yet, amidst this metamorphosis, Ado’s essence remained intact. Unlike the transformation of Winston, the shapeshifter Hump and Celaine fought on their way to Drakalyn, Ado’s change was more akin to what Hump knew of were-beings—man and beast becoming one.

Ado tilted his head back and a roaring snarl exploded from him, filled with essence. Hump felt its power around him like a cloak, asking to be let in. He didn’t resist. It seeped into his body, filling him with strength. an eagerness to run, and a thrill to hunt.

“I take it this is why you called him ‘Packmaster’?” Hump said.

Uris looked at him in surprise. “You’re not familiar with the wolf pack?”

Hump shook his head. “Should I be?”

“They’re Owalyn’s elite hunters,” Uris explained. “Ado used to lead them, and even dragons would join his hunts.”

“It was a long time ago,” Ado said, his voice snarled and deeper. “Now… Let us hunt some rats.”

Ado burst forward on all fours. He was fast, but enhanced by the shaman’s blessing, Hump had the strength to keep up. He and Uris fell in line, following Ado swiftly through the trees.

The three of them raced through the trees. Excitement simmered in Hump’s chest, his heart raced, his body felt strong and his movements easy.

Beyond the dungeon, it became significantly more difficult to locate rat remains. They were more spread out—it seemed the lich concentrated their presence in the dungeon, or perhaps that was simply the instinct of the creatures. Either way, it made for a difficult search. Alone, Hump wondered if he’d have found anything at all, but Ado had a sense for it that he couldn’t match, as if the trees were truly guiding him.

When Ado first came to a spot, Hump was almost disappointed that the chase had ended. The shaman sniffed at the air, searching for something. He came to stand over a patch of earth.

“Dig here,” he instructed Hump.

Hump didn’t question him. Using Transform Earth, he quickly created a hole unveiling the remains of another rat only a few inches below the topsoil.

“How did you find it?” Hump asked.

“Do you remember when I told you I could sense something strange in the forest?”

Hump nodded. “I remember.”

“It’s concentrated in areas like this. I can locate them and then sniff out the rat. My theory is if we head in the direction of the Charred Heights, we’ll find them increasingly frequently.”

“You want to trace them back to the source?” Uris asked.

“Yes,” Ado said. “Or at the very least, narrow it down to where it most likely is.”

As they continued their search, the true scale of the invasion became clearer. Rats formed a pattern across the land, creating a web of essence throughout the forest on the East and South side of Drakalyn. They would need to do a more comprehensive search to confirm the invasion was elsewhere, but for now they headed toward the mountains. They followed the pattern for what felt like hours, traversing miles of forest. They didn’t bother to destroy the rats as they went, instead trying to trace it back as far as they could. After that, they could begin considering operations to undo the damage.

Out of nowhere, Ado surged forward, rushing ahead of them with a speed Hump couldn’t hope to match. Hump ran to catch up, finding Ado standing there with a live rat in his hand. Hump activated Essence Sight, not needing herbs to see the lich’s presence in this one. Her poisonous essence leaked from it like miasma.

“You got anything to store this in?” Ado asked Uris. “I want to bring it back alive.”

She nodded, looking to the sky. A few seconds later, her dragon, Kel, appeared, deftly gliding between the canopies of the trees to land with them. He was a handsome dragon, though little larger than Finnian’s Aurora, which surprised Hump as she was supposedly the youngest of the bonded. His eyes were a piercing blue and fell on Hump with a gaze as sharp as knives. He met the gaze and smiled, not backing down as the creature took measure of him. After a few moments, Kel looked away.

Uris went to the bags latched to her saddle, taking a large ceramic pot from inside. She emptied it out, tossing sludgy soil to the ground.

“It’s just samples of the dungeon soil,” she explained, opening the lid. “We can get more.”

Ado lifted up the squeaking, writhing rat and dropped it inside. It scratched manically in an effort to escape, but Uris didn’t give it a chance, closing the lid on it. She then took a flat, fibrous paper from her saddlebag and wrapped the pot tightly, binding it with some sort of glue from a small glass jar.

Hump stared out through the thinning trees and toward the Charred Heights. “Do you think they’re coming over the mountains?”

“Long way to go for something so small,” Uris said.

“I don’t think so,” Ado said, continuing forward. “There are more of them close. I can smell them.”

It didn’t take long to find the source. Within minutes, Hump had seen a dozen rats scurrying past them and deeper into the forest. The number only grew greater as Ado led them onward. Soon, they came to a bush that rats poured from—a constant stream of invaders, spreading the lich’s plague.

“Shield,” Hump said, summoning a domed barrier around them as they stepped closer. The rats swarmed the outside of his spell but could not get inside.

“Well, that answers that question,” Hump said. “There must be more holes like this across the forest.”

He knelt, trying to peer inside the hole but it was too dark. He held up is Osidium Ring and called upon the sands, directing the shining bronze grains into the hole, and illuminating it with light. The rats squeaked and fled in panic, clearing the way for him to get a better look.

“It’s impossible to see how deep it goes.” Hump turned to Ado, meeting the half-man, half-razorclaw’s eyes. “Any chance you can shift into something that can fit inside?”

Ado laughed and shook his head. “No chance. I think this is as far as we go today. We’ll burn it—who’d like to do the honours?”

“Allow me,” Uris said before Hump could speak up. “Come here, Kel.”

Hump withdrew his sands of Osidium and stepped back so that his Shield was out of the way. Kel approached the rat hole. Despite his size, his footsteps were light. Smoke smouldered out between his teeth as he peered into the hole, a low grumble building in his threat. He hunched his neck, curling it, his mouth falling open. The flicker of red appeared in the back of his throat, and then fire exploded forward in a blaze of glory. Hump marvelled at the sight, only awoken from his stupor as the rancid stench of burning flesh filled the air, thick black smoke rising from inside the hole.

Whatever rats had made it out were long gone now, leaving no need for Hump’s Shield. He dropped the spell.

“I’ll fill it in,” Hump offered. “Might as well make sure they can’t get through again.”

It was a simple job wielding Transform Earth. He fed the hole with his essence, letting it seep deeply into the ground and fill the walls with power. Once the area was saturated, he caused it all to expand in all directions, turning the packed earth to sand and filling in the area, then he hardened the earth to stone. It would take some time for rats to dig their way through that, even with the lich’s help.

With sun beginning to set, the three of them returned to Drakalyn. Uris flew on ahead of them to ensure the rat survived. Hump wasn’t sure what Ado thought they might discover from the creature, but any clues about how Irila’s magic worked could help them to find a way to undermine it.

Returning to Ado’s cabin, Hump realised how tired he was. Ado had relinquished his blessing, leaving him aching all over and starving. Turned out, the empowered strength came with side-effects. Who would have thought?

Hump slumped into a chair once he was back in Ado’s cabin and caught his breath. The shaman didn’t seem tired in the slightest. He was completely human again now and stuck on a pot of wisa before turning to watch Hump with a grin.

“You’ll find this gets easier once you’re dragon blooded,” Ado said.

“I’ll keep that in mind during the agonising procedure,” Hump said, still catching his breath.

Ado huffed. “Well, I appreciate your help today anyway. Finding that pattern was a good catch.”

Hump shrugged. “You’d have found it once you started locating the remains anyway. The first thing we wizards search for are signs of a formation. What will you do now?”

“Start mapping the area.”

“With the wolf pack?” Hump asked.

“I told you, that was a long time ago. Vorda leads them now. I prefer to do things alone these days.”

“Do you not have orders to prepare for war?” Hump asked.

“When the time for battle comes, I will be there. For now, I’ll prepare equipment to defeat the undead, and try to figure out a way to defeat the lich. Our sunweavers will have a blast.”

“I’m happy to help if you need it,” Hump said.

“Focus on the trial,” Ado said. “I know I said you will be fine, but you want to be at your peak. Find the calmness of your mind and the peace of your spirit, and your chances will be highest. Once you’re done, I’m sure I can put you to use.”

That sounded agreeable. Already, his mind was ticking over the new spells he needed to work on for the upcoming fight. Learning in the heat of battle was good and all, but the fact was, sometimes a wizard just needed to stick his head down and study.

The old man would be proud of me, Hump thought. Voluntarily studying! He’d never believe it.

He had a few useful options. Daybreak, which Vivinenne had first used when he’d arrived in Fishers Lake to push back the shades was a no brainer. The Tier 4 spell was an obvious choice against an army of undead, however there were other options to consider too. Molten Stone, which he hadn’t learned since his spellbook had revealed it to him in Bledsbury, would add a devastating projectile-based attack to his repertoire, or there were two Tier 4 earth spells he’d taken from the Daston Library. After being so restricted due to the explosive gasses in the forest dungeon, that option was particularly tempting. And then, of course, there was Lava Coils, the Tier 4 spell of his lava Spell Tree that he was not yet proficient in.

There was a month until the summer solstice, when Drakalyn would launch their counterattack. He’d need to make use of the time.

Hump was surprised when he sensed Nisha’s presence nearby. He went to the door to see Celaine approaching up the path, Nisha curled around her shoulders. At the sight of him, Nisha started chirping excitedly. She stood on Celaine’s shoulder and flapped her wings.

“Careful, Nisha,” Celaine said, startled. Before she could support her, Nisha leaped, beating her wings, bouncing from side to side as she flew through the air.

Flying, though she was off target…

Hump rushed to the side and caught her, laughing. “You flew Nish!” He looked at Celaine. “Did that count as proper flying?”

Her eyes were wide open. “I think so. She didn’t do that earlier.”

Nisha made excited sounds, rubbing herself against Hump’s neck and face.

He held her up. “Can you do it again? Try flying to Celaine.”

He sent an image of her flying through the air then let her rest her feet in his hands. She flapped her wings, building up strength and then Hump pushed his hands upward, launching her.

She fluttered clumsily through the air, bouncing from side to side before barrelling into Celaine, who caught her against her chest with a laugh. Nisha let out a soft chirp, excitement pouring through her bond.

Hump couldn’t stop grinning. “Did she really do that for the first time just now?”

Celaine nodded, the same grin on her face. “She’s been bouncing off the walls for about twenty minutes, so I guess she was a bit excited.” Nisha wriggled out of Celaine’s arms. “You want to go again?”

Nisha adjusted in Celaine’s hands so that she was standing, then threw herself forward once more. She glided more accurately this time, landing softly in Hump’s arms.

“You’re doing amazing,” Hump said. He looked at Celaine, noting the fine blue dress she wore, embroidered with gold flowers. “How’d it go today?”

“Very well,” Celaine said. “The ceremony is over. And Nisha handled it all well too.”

Hump nodded. “Good.”

“I can’t stay,” Celaine said. “I’m having dinner with Finn tonight.”

Hump raised his brow. “With Finn?”

She nodded. “He went to speak with the gnolls again today. Apparently, the Trinity of Elders are fine with contact with them but not Countess Daston.” She shrugged letting out an exasperated sigh. “He wanted to get dinner for old times sake once he got back.”

Hump pushed back a pang of jealousy and forced himself to smile. He’d already expressed his interest in Celaine, and she’d not been interested. He was being ridiculous.

“Well, good luck with it,” Hump said. “You’re going to need it.”

She snorted.

Behind her, Myra suddenly appeared and wrapped Celaine in a hug. Celaine jumped, her face turning red.

“Still got it,” Myra laughed.

“What are you doing here?” Celaine said.

“I was with Stonefang and heard you arrive. You’re finally going to dinner with Finn. Mum will be happy. You look lovely, Cela.”

“You better not tell her.”

Celaine waved and said her goodbyes, then the two sisters started walking. Hump watched her go with a frown, when Ado came to stand beside him, cup of wisa in hand, clasping Hump’s shoulder with the other.

“Tough luck, lad.”

Hump said nothing—he had his studies to focus on anyway. Having manifested his soul so recently, now was the time to capitalise on his progress.

Don’t get distracted, he told himself. Celaine sure did look nice though.