Chapter 15

A Pile of Frog Imps

Foli was lucky we had my cloak which could dry her off, but it was safe to say she was now quite wary of Vynk. Whenever he came near her beside another spring, she’d move clear away from him until he finally promised to put all jokes aside.

There were three other spring pools in the immediate area. For whatever reason, Vynk was thrilled to dive in each time. His enthusiasm was a mystery to the rest of us. I did my part and spent the mana to dry him off each time.

As it turned out, each spring pool had an item at the bottom. Each pool was also slightly deeper than the previous, which was worrisome. If that continued, we may be forced to choose between our options when it came down to using the water breathing potion.

Vynk had dived into the last spring pool in the immediate area after casting aside his weapon, pack, and cloak. Through steam and vapor, I could see his form returning to the surface. He came up and handed off a piece of metal to Foli before lifting himself out of the spring.

“What on Felke is this?” Foli said, examining the metal.

We gathered around her as she tumbled the piece in her palms. It was a bar about the size of my thumb. Runes sheened metallic along the shaft. Both ends were broken, as though it had been snapped apart.

“Looks like it belongs to a greater piece,” Arris said.

“That’s what I’m thinking too,” Lep said.

“So that’s three keys we’ve collected so far, and a piece of something,” Foli said.

The piece of metal remained a mystery. We gathered our gear and set off across the rest of the grotto. We didn’t get too far before coming upon a wide set of double doors set into a stone wall. There was a key slot on the right. Robern didn’t sense any traps so we tried a couple of different keys until the correct one worked. Mechanisms whirred within the door and we heard a heavy click.

“The key is stuck,” Foli said.

“Probably by design then,” Arris said. “No choice but to leave it.”

Before Vynk could lead us forward, the doors flew open. One smacked into Pelle and the other smacked into Vynk. From the open doorway came a horde of frog-ish imps. Each of them were varying colors of clay. They were almost as tall as us. Their heads and bodies were entirely frog, but their arms and legs were eerily human. Their hands were massive and each finger had a number of bulbous, calcified knuckles.

They poured out of the open doorway, immediately attacking. They rushed us soundlessly. What followed was pure chaos. It was everyone for themselves. We were flooded with frog imps.

Since I was at the rear of the group, I had the most time to react. I dropped back and speared one of the frog imps right through its chest. It wheezed and croaked before falling over and hitting the ground with a slap of frog flesh.

My comrades were all surrounded by multiple frog imps. I would soon be surrounded as well which would occupy my attention from keeping an eye on everyone’s health. I did the only thing that made sense to me at the moment. I cast Zekaidean’s Anvil four times in rapid succession. That should keep us healed until we can thin the enemy and regroup.

When I cast the final spell, I was overrun by frog imps. They launched themselves at me and arrived seemingly from all directions. Their eyes were simple blobs void of emotion. Their boney knuckles arrived next with brutal beatings. My grip was weakened and my flagstaff was yanked from my hands.

I didn’t last but two more seconds on my feet. There were too many punching fists and grabbing hands. I collapsed under the brutality and landed on my side. Bulbous knuckled feet came kicking in. I could hear toes crack as foot after foot slammed into me. Fists rained from above and I panicked.

I have to do something!

My friends must be in the same position. I imagined each one being beaten to a gradual death as gold rings of Zekaidean’s Anvil healed us throughout the beatings. It was a race against time, because Zekaidean’s Anvil wouldn’t last more than 13 more strikes for two of them, and 14 more strikes for the other two that I’d cast.

I need to keep everyone healed!

Blows rained down on me and I was forced to protect myself as best as I could. A hand clutched at my cloak and pulled. Another grabbed my hair and pinned my face down. Kicks and punches continued relentlessly.

It’s now or never! I don’t know where my flagstaff is!

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I saw it then between the legs of the frog imps. It lay discarded against the wall. I also caught a glimpse of Pelle. Her face was bloody. She too had gone down beneath a barrage of fists.

Spectre Sentinels!

I had to act as fast as I could. I concentrated through the beatings with all my willpower. I brought out a Spectre Sentinel from my inventory bag. Punches to my ribs stole my breath. I cast the statue’s spell to manifest where my flagstaff lay.

A moment later I felt a connection to my flagstaff. I could sense the Spectre Sentinel’s exact position. I concentrated on having it pick up my flagstaff and strike it on the ground. Though I lost sight of it, I saw my mana deplete after hearing a crack of wood strike ground.

It worked! I just need you to keep using my flagstaff!

The number of frog imps surrounding me lessened. I saw some of their feet move in the direction of the Spectre Sentinel.

Must cast another one! This may be the best chance I get!

Again I focused all my willpower on ignoring the debilitating pain and cast my second Spectre Sentinel right in front of me. The sentinel manifested from a fuse of sparking light. For a brief moment, the frog imps ignored me to focus on taking down the sentinel. I shakily got to my knees as fast as I could and brought out my spellbook. Crystal edges cut my hand and blood pooled in my palm. My blood smeared across the back of the book and dripped off the edges. I felt the spellbook’s single eyelid flutter against my bloody hand.

I quickly turned to page three and cast Silver Light Kite Shield six times. I erected each shield around me in a circle until I was safely caged in. Frog imp knuckled fists began battering against the shields. Their monstrous forms wavered through the translucent silver of each shield.

I have to act fast!

I was nearly healed to full. I heard my flagstaff strike upon the ground once more. I saw the articles shudder and flap under the impact. Then I felt my connection to the Spectre Sentinel fail. I saw my flagstaff tip over.

No! I must act fast!

I turned to page 4 and cast Burning Flare. I aimed in the direction of Pelle. I picked a trajectory that was thickest with frog imps. A bright flare appeared above the spellbook and careened like the tip of a lit fuse through frog imps one at a time, dealing 100 damage to the first, 50 damage to the second, 25 damage to the third, and so on until careening through Pelle, bringing her health to full.

One of my shields cracked. Then another cracked. Yet another cracked. I stood behind my Spectre Sentinel and cast Burning Flare once more in an attempt to pave a path to my flagstaff. Several frog imps collapsed along that path with burning holes in their bodies.

When my silver shields collapsed under the barrage of frog imp fists, I bolted away. Most of the frog imps were preoccupied with attacking the sentinel. One of them chased me as I lunged for my flagstaff.

The frog imp had leapt over my head and landed in front of me. I skidded to a halt and cast Burning Flare. A wretched hole of burnt flesh was left in its body and it tumbled over. I felt my connection break with my second Spectre Sentinel. At least I reached my flagstaff in time.

I struck the staff down twice before casting Burning Flare at the densest group of frog imps. I felt hopeful when I saw Arris’s green Oakbeard form bashing through the horde.

Vynk’s greatsword came flying over the crowd of frog imps in my direction. The massive blade sliced through one of the monsters as it spun. Just before I moved to dodge, Vynk appeared out of thin air where his greatsword had just been.

He appeared as though in mid leap, muscles bulging, blood and gore staining the cloak I’d lent him. His face was lit with mirth and glee. I heard a dozen frog imps slice open behind the warrior. I heard the same dozen hit the floor with splats. A half dozen more were sliced in half as Vynk’s greatsword returned to him, just as he landed back on the ground and turned to receive it.

From above the heads of the monsters, I saw Foli’s Steed of Elwohire rear and neigh. The ancienne was astride, twirling her punishing staff. The steed bucked and two frog imps went flying. Lep’s Hand of Flames caught one of them and crushed it in a fiery palm.

A shadow passed between my legs and twirled in front of me. Robern leapt from the inky depths and intercepted the frog imps bearing down on me. Others came in from my right and I speared two of them before suddenly becoming ensconced in Pelle’s Star Armor spell.

That was all we needed to finish off the frog imps. When the last of them lay dead, we plopped down for a quick rest.

“Is everyone doing alright?” I said.

“I’d say so,” Arris said. “You kind of went overboard there with the healing Tosin.” He chuckled. “I didn’t receive a single dent thanks to you.”

“Yes you did,” Foli said. “I saw you take a foot to the mouth.”

“I saw it too,” Robern said.

For the next half hour we exchanged our melee victories and perspectives of battle. Pelle wasn’t ashamed to admit she’d been pinned down most of the time, and apologized for casting Star Armor so late.

“It was weird,” she said. “Since Tosin went overboard on the healing, I barely had time to feel the injuries. How much mana did you use!”

“Nearly 700,” I said. “Speaking of. I should use Boeras Flux before we continue.”

It would have been nice to absorb some of the mana crystals on my spellbook so I could replenish my mana nearly to full, depending on how many crystals had grown today. However, it was still a secret. I began to ask myself if it really was that important to keep a secret. Others had told me to keep quiet about it, but now I was having doubts. I wished that I could just simply go about my business. It was simply a matter of time before my comrades would see it when I used it in combat anyway.

I’d learned that I couldn’t choose when the crystals grew. It didn’t matter if I tried to absorb them in the mornings. They simply grew at random points in the day.

All these thoughts of the spellbook reminded me of something odd that had occurred when my blood had spilled upon it. I was certain I’d felt the eye blink. Had I felt it shudder as well?

“Tosin?” Lep said. “You alright there buddy?”

I gave a heavy sigh and made my decision. Enough with this nonsense.

“I want to show you guys something,” I said and pulled out my spellbook.