Chapter 29
Part 6
The goat shed exploded as it was struck by multiple spells.
The twins paused again and tripped up two more Sylvan to the south-west, waited a moment for that
distraction to take effect and for the Sylvan running down-slope toward them to get close, then tripped
up the three Sylvan closest to them, just as they ran past their quarry’s hiding ce. The twins ran
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upslope through the underbrush past the tumbling and cursing Sylvan, found another hiding ce, and
tried to trip up all the Sylvan who were still running downslope.
“Stop running, damn it!” one of the Sylvan called. “They’re hiding the ground with Illusions! Check your
footing with every step!”
“They killed all our goats.” Helemia angrily realized as they ran up the slope again.
“And half the chickens.” Reggie added, just as angry.
They paused again a minuteter, and checked on the Sylvan.
“There’s nothing here but burnt goats, they weren’t here!” a Sylvan reported to Vanakit as she
inspected the smoldering wreckage of the goat shed.
“Kill everything that moves, or even seems to move!” Vanakitmanded. “We’ll find them by psionics
soon! Meanwhile try to track them from the shed they were in!”
A few trackers gathered around the wreckage of the shed, but the twins’ tracks were everywhere
around the area, and the st had obliterated the sign where they’d rolled on the ground.
Most of the Sylvan in the valley began wandering around at random, swinging their swords around
them, or casting arrows and spells at anything that caught their attention, while testing the ground by
feel in every ce they nned to take a step. More than a few were angrily aware of how ridiculous
they all looked. Some of them ughtered the rest of the livestock.
The twins drew within thirty meters of the ridge above them, and started slowly and stealthily moving
across the slope to the east, farther away from the pass. Every few minutes they paused to continue
their war of attrition against the Sylvan.
They continued tripping the Sylvan asionally by hiding things. Rather than casting an Illusion of a
rock over a hole or something simr, they made the Sylvan not notice a crucial root or rock that really
existed. Some banged their heads on tree branches they hadn’t seen. This served to keep the jumpy
Sylvan on edge, though it didn’t produce many serious injuries.
Every few minutes they helped Stripe or Scout kill or disable one of their enemies. It was fully dark now,
and they no longer had to hide the animals from the Sylvan, they only had to show where the chosen
Sylvan was. Stripe’s natural stealth and inherent psionic unnoticability served him well in the darkness,
and Scout could swoop down to make devastating attacks on the face and eyes of his prey with his
talons and be gone a momentter, or pull any Sylvan on a steep slope to a nasty tumble. Though he
could only lift a fraction of the weight of a Sylvan, he had enough strength to drag them down a steep
slope by one leg or one arm until they were incapacitated or dead.
Then the twins tripped one, who was immediately shot with an arrow by the nervous and startled
Sylvan closest to her. That inspired the twins to a new tactic.
A minuteter one of the Sylvan thought he saw the twins trying to sneak by him out of the corner of his
eye. He immediately turned and cast Force Bolts at them, only to find that he’d killed another Sylvan.
Reggie and Helemia reached their chosen hiding ce; behind the top of the low peak in the ridge at
the north-east edge of the valley. The Sylvan Shield dome was less than two meters behind it, so they
knew they could not be snuck up on from behind. They peered over the peak into the valley below and
inspected it with their psionic senses, and sharpened their n.
Over the next few minutes; by tricking chosen Sylvan into killing each other, they precipitated a battle
between two groups of them.
“WHAT IN ALL THE HELLS DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?!!! EVERYONE STOP!!!” Vanakit yelled
at them in absolute rage, his voice magically amplified to booming volume. “These cursed children are
making fools of you, and turning us on each other!!! Everyone just hold where you are, and put all your
concentration into finding them psionicly!”
The twins withdrew their awareness as they ducked down behind the peak, and lowered their psionic
activity to the minimum.
“Okay, Stripe and Scout got fifty-one of them up on the cliffs, and their little battle there took out another
thirty-four.” Helemia mused. “And almost a hundred ran away. Plus the rest of ‘em that we got.”
“There’s still more than three hundred of them left, three hundred and nine, actually.” Reggie counted.
“And we’ve still got at least half an hour before anyonees looking for us.”
“I don’t think any of them are maintaining the Shield dome. I think they just pre-charged it and cast it. If
we had some magic, we could just pound on it until its energy was all used up.”
“But that means that we can’t get rid of the dome by taking the ones casting it, like we thought.”
“Let’s just wait for a while. Maybe they won’t find us. Mother and Father are bound toe looking for
us soon.”
Sixteen minutester one of the Sylvan chuckled to herself, and quietly made her way to Vanakit
Lamitkeze. “I have them.” she reported.
“I have the cat and the bird by their body heat.” Vanakit quietly growled, his eyes closed in
concentration. “They’re keeping their distance. But I can’t find the prey. You found them psionicly?”
“No, by their auras, of all things.” she chuckled. “And impressive auras they are, too. See through my
spell, and look at that peak. You can see their glow behind it.”
“Ah, good work. They’re just inside the Shield. Can we reflect spells or missiles off of it?”
“No, it doesn’t work that way, it just absorbs the energy. Though if we hit the Shield with arrows or rocks
directly above the prey, they’ll fall straight down.”
“Bah, it’s only a couple of meters above them.” Vanakit spat. “We’d have to Move a big rock. They’d
have time to avoid it, and I want the girl alive if possible.
“Crap on it. You keep an eye on them. We’ll need to know if they move.”
He waved his lieutenants over. “Pass the word. Our prey is hiding behind that peak, and we’ll know if
they move, so disregard any other sightings of them. Have everyone except those at the pass form up
into a tight formation. We’ll just march up there and get them. Warn everyone to be careful of their
footing and to beware of Illusions. Once we start moving, I expect the cat and the bird to resume their
attacks, and I doubt I’ll be able to follow them by their heat once they start making speed. Keep
weapons out at the nks and rear to ward against the cat, and keep your daggers high to ward against
the bird. We’ll take the girl alive if possible. If anyone has the power left to cast some Shielding, have
them stand ready to cast it as needed.”
“If we hadn’t spent so much of our magic on the big Shield, we’d be able to protect ourselves properly.”
one of the lieutenants grumbled.
Vanakit back-handed him across the mouth, bloodying lips and loosening teeth. “You’ll follow your
damn orders!” he growled.
The lieutenants nodded and backed away, and went to their tasks.
“They’re moving.” Helemia noticed a minuteter. “They’re probably either leaving or they’ve spotted us
somehow. They’ve spotted us, I’m sure of it now, I can tell from Vanakit’s emotions.”
The Sylvan finished forming up in the center of the valley. They made a fairly tight bunch in an oval
shape about ten wide and almost twenty deep, bristling with weapons. Vanakit moved to their head with
his spotter beside him, and they began advancing up the valley to the north-east.
As they reached the top of the meadow and began entering the trees, Vanakit turned and shouted to
his troops; “The animals are on the move, be on your guard!”
They climbed the slope through the trees, stubbing their toes on unseen rocks and banging their heads
on unseen branches, but it was hard to make any of them take a serious fall, forewarned as they were
and walking uphill. Onward they came, with the asional cry and curse.