Gail cursed those rat-tailed fucks from the Gorfan principality. They had one fucking job, wait until she gave the signal to attack, and they somehow managed to fuck up even that simple order. Oh, how she wished she could have just controlled them all and been done with it. But that would have tipped her hand too early.
Their screw-up had cost her the opportunity to bend Donovan to her will. The slippery fuck had fled at the first sign of trouble, replacing himself with one of his morphling clones. And Sharina had gone to tour the city, likely to steal ideas from the locals since she didn’t have an original bone in her body. She should have triggered her attack back when the Council met, but Gail delayed it when she learned about this meeting. She couldn’t pass up on an opportunity to eliminate three threats at the same time.
Donovan’s escape was a minor setback, she would get him eventually. But another opportunity presented itself just before the attack when three people entered the waiting room. She couldn’t believe her eyes at first, the fools in this “kingdom” had gift-wrapped J-son for her. She would enjoy making him bow to her. The man was an insufferable prick and she had had multiple opportunities before today to bind him to her will. But she couldn’t risk them learning she had overcome their stupid magic dampening. But today was different.
She gave a cruel smile as she stalked toward the man, who seemed confused and angry. There were two of those guards with him, but she had a way to deal with the undead. She had originally developed the spell as a counter to all the undead in the Council, but it would work just as well here. Gail reached into her pocket and produced an item that Norman would be sure to recognize.
The small skull wasn’t green though, it was a vibrant amber color. She had reverse-engineered her own version of the spell after that bitch of a Mayor’s daughter had tried to kill her. Along with the undead of the Council, she had planned to use it against the necromancer if she ever encountered him again. It seemed that fate had smiled upon her and so today she would finally get her revenge.
She flicked the small skull at the two guards. To their credit, they reacted quickly by throwing J-son toward the wall and rushing toward her. That strategy may have worked if the spell was simply impact-activated, but she had changed that facet to something more convenient. She had plenty of time for that when her magic was locked away.
As soon as the orb got in range of the first undead guard, it cracked and emitted a blinding golden light that lit up the entire room. Gail looked away to save her vision and as soon as the room returned to its normal color, all that was left of the guards were two sets of empty armor smoking on the ground. She would have used the spell as soon as the last meeting started, but seeing Norman as a human made her delay.
“About time you’re useful for something, Gail,” the insufferable J-son snorted as he ran over to search the guards for a key to his magical suppression cuffs. “These fuckers have to have it somewhere on them.”
Gail waited for the man to be occupied with his search before she strode up behind him and shoved a black-coated finger through his skull. The man stiffened instantly and she pushed her magical tendrils through his mind. It took a lot longer to turn a person properly but if she wanted them to remain mostly themselves, she couldn’t simply lobotomize them like she used to.
She finished just before a second object impacted the building. “Hurry up and find the key, we have work to do!”
***
Norman cut a bloody path through the Ministry as he made his way to the meeting room. He wanted to ensure his friends and Ministers were alright before he went looking for the cause of this attack.
As he neared the floor, he heard the sounds of fighting. He glanced around a corner and saw three of the genetically-engineered gomer firing into the room he was trying to get to. Occasionally there would be return spells and even the loud crack of a desert eagle as his people fought back.
For some reason, the golem table wasn’t out here wreaking havoc on the invaders. He needed to get to the room to find out what was happening. Norman turned to a spell he hadn’t had a chance to use yet, Death Fog.
Thankfully he was able to hide around the corner as he prepared the spell. Just before it was complete, he stepped out and selected a spot just behind the three gomers. The black ball rose from the position on the floor he had indicated. It was completely silent, only emitting a thick black vapor as it rose. Once it reached approximately head height, it burst like a bubble, filling the hallway with the deadly black fog that gave the spell its name. This was Norman’s first foray into creating a unique spell and he had since improved it to what he had now.
The first two gomers didn’t even realize what was happening before they fell over dead. The last one attempted to scurry into the meeting room but collapsed dead halfway through the door. Norman smiled at that, the meeting room had his soul trap array setup, so he would finally get the information he needed on these demented creations.
The fog continued to pour from the spot in the air and eventually flowed past Norman. With the three attackers dead, Norman was about to approach the door when he paused. There weren’t any sounds coming from inside the room. He should hear something. He slowly approached, the deadly fog swirling about his feet as he made his way closer. He was thankful for the gomer's tendency to melt away after death, otherwise, the hallway and door would be blocked by their bulbous bodies.
Norman edged his head around the open doorway and had to yank it back quickly as a bolt of fire nearly took it off. In that short time, he saw the scattered remains of the table golem, as well as his friends. They had been pinned in the back corner and the table had done its best to protect them. From the pools of blood scattered across the room, they had taken down quite a few gomers though.
“Norman, is that you?” a sickly sweet female voice asked.
Norman immediately recognized that voice. “Gail, J-son… Where’s the rest of your Council? Especially, Donovan, I would like to have a word with him.”
He could hear the woman laugh, but there was no mirth in it. “That fool. He fled at the first sign of trouble. But don’t worry, I’ll deal with him in due time. Why don’t you come in so we can have a chat?”
Donovan fled? That didn’t make any sense… unless he didn’t orchestrate this attack. If he didn’t do it, then that only left these two as possible culprits. Gail was supposed to be censured, leaving J-son as the only other possibility. He knew he shouldn’t have agreed to revive that fuckwit until after this conference. But that didn’t seem right. J-son seemed like a hot-tempered fool, not the type to plan long-term. Now Gail, on the other hand, seemed like the type to plot something like this.
“I think I’ll pass, Gail. How’d you do it? Hmm? How did you get free from the censuring? How did you get the Gorfan to help you?” If Norman could keep them talking, his forces should have time to get here, or maybe his spell would spread far enough to kill them both.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk, Norman. You could have done this the easy way. But I’ll still enjoy watching you die.”
Norman was about to make a snappy response when he felt the wall behind him heat rapidly. He threw himself down the hall as part of the wall, he had been standing behind, blew outward in a molten spray of rock.
The only thing that saved Norman from a follow-up attack was that they couldn’t leave the room from this side. Not unless they wanted to die at least. His spell would keep this exit blocked for another twenty minutes. So unless they could dispel it, they were shit out of luck. Norman quickly got to his feet and sprinted past the opening, narrowly avoiding two more pencil-thin beams of white fire.
“There’s no use running, Norman!” Gail bellowed. “You took everything from me when you gave that bitch the means to hurt me. And now I’m just returning the favor! And unlike you, I’ll make sure you’re dead!” she laughed.
Norman ignored the demented woman. He wasn’t running away, he was sealing the crazy old bat inside the room. He reached the hallway he was sprinting for and spotted the window that looked into the opposite end of the meeting hall. The Ministry was shaped like a U with an inner courtyard to keep certain parties separated. But you could see the hallway and even the doorway to the main room from certain vantage points.
The section Norman was in was unfinished, but he saw that the windows where he needed to aim had had their glass knocked out by the impacts. He would have to speak with the engineers about fixing that problem. He carefully aimed across the courtyard as he cast Wall of Fog at the open doorway on the far side. The first spell missed and hit the window frame. He cursed and canceled the spell, preparing to cast it again. He finished the second cast just as J-son stuck his head out the doorway to see what the noise was.
He immediately spotted Norman and raised his hand, but Norman’s spell activated first, covering the doorway the fire mage was standing inside. The bastard slumped over dead and Norman gave out a nervous little chuckle. That had been too close. He would have revived, but it still would have hurt. And he couldn’t afford to let Gail escape.
Norman could hear Gail screaming in rage now that her puppet was dead. And enough of his body was in the meeting room to ensure his soul was trapped. After he ensured the door was completely covered, he returned to the hallway where his spell was still spewing black smoke.
“You’re dead, Norman! No matter how long it takes me, I will destroy you!”
Norman let the woman rage. Her fate was inevitable so there was no point putting himself at risk. She even tried tossing something out into the hallway but it got swallowed by the fog covering the floor. Although he could have sworn he saw a bit of golden light for a moment. The woman even had the gall to pick up Eugene’s pistol and fire a few rounds at him. The disrespect of using his friend's own weapon against him pissed Norman off enough that he tossed a handful of feral dinos into the room to bring her tantrum to an end.
He wouldn’t admit this to anyone, but he thoroughly enjoyed listening to her screams as the dinos tore her apart. And it took quite a bit of time because she did not go quietly.
After silence settled over the building, Norman peaked through the doorway. Only two of the dinos still stood but since they were meandering about, it meant Gail was finally dead. Which was good because he wouldn’t have been able to identify her from the mutilated remains anyway.
He scanned the room for any more surprises but didn’t see anything. After ensuring it was clear, he walked into the room and kicked the bloody head of Gail, sending it sailing from her body to splatter against the wall in a spray of bones and gore. After that, he took a deep breath and let the anger he had been holding onto fade away. He dismissed both of his spells and guards rushed in from the Fog Wall side.
“Sir, are you ok?”
“I’m fine. Has the site been secured?”
“Yes, Sir. The last of the enemy troops have been dispatched. Admiral Barnes and his people were a big help in slowing them down.”
“Where are they?”
“They are back in their waiting room, treating their injuries.”
Norman nodded. “Give them some potions and thank them for the assistance. Also, tell them they are free to leave at any time, the meeting is canceled.”
The Death Knight gave a crisp salute before hurrying off to relay his words. Norman glanced around the room before picking up one of the sturdy chairs and putting it back upright. He sat in the chair for an undetermined amount of time before Eugene appeared in front of him.
“Boss?” The man asked in a low concerned tone, “… let's get you back to the castle.”
Norman just nodded as Eugene helped him up and led him home. Once they were alone, Norman quietly asked a question. “They’re never going to leave us be are they?”
Eugene sighed and turned toward him. “Not unless you make them, Boss.”
Norman knew how to do that, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to take that step.
Gail cursed those rat-tailed fucks from the Gorfan principality. They had one fucking job, wait until she gave the signal to attack, and they somehow managed to fuck up even that simple order. Oh, how she wished she could have just controlled them all and been done with it. But that would have tipped her hand too early.
Their screw-up had cost her the opportunity to bend Donovan to her will. The slippery fuck had fled at the first sign of trouble, replacing himself with one of his morphling clones. And Sharina had gone to tour the city, likely to steal ideas from the locals since she didn’t have an original bone in her body. She should have triggered her attack back when the Council met, but Gail delayed it when she learned about this meeting. She couldn’t pass up on an opportunity to eliminate three threats at the same time.
Donovan’s escape was a minor setback, she would get him eventually. But another opportunity presented itself just before the attack when three people entered the waiting room. She couldn’t believe her eyes at first, the fools in this “kingdom” had gift-wrapped J-son for her. She would enjoy making him bow to her. The man was an insufferable prick and she had had multiple opportunities before today to bind him to her will. But she couldn’t risk them learning she had overcome their stupid magic dampening. But today was different.
She gave a cruel smile as she stalked toward the man, who seemed confused and angry. There were two of those guards with him, but she had a way to deal with the undead. She had originally developed the spell as a counter to all the undead in the Council, but it would work just as well here. Gail reached into her pocket and produced an item that Norman would be sure to recognize.
The small skull wasn’t green though, it was a vibrant amber color. She had reverse-engineered her own version of the spell after that bitch of a Mayor’s daughter had tried to kill her. Along with the undead of the Council, she had planned to use it against the necromancer if she ever encountered him again. It seemed that fate had smiled upon her and so today she would finally get her revenge.
She flicked the small skull at the two guards. To their credit, they reacted quickly by throwing J-son toward the wall and rushing toward her. That strategy may have worked if the spell was simply impact-activated, but she had changed that facet to something more convenient. She had plenty of time for that when her magic was locked away.
As soon as the orb got in range of the first undead guard, it cracked and emitted a blinding golden light that lit up the entire room. Gail looked away to save her vision and as soon as the room returned to its normal color, all that was left of the guards were two sets of empty armor smoking on the ground. She would have used the spell as soon as the last meeting started, but seeing Norman as a human made her delay.
“About time you’re useful for something, Gail,” the insufferable J-son snorted as he ran over to search the guards for a key to his magical suppression cuffs. “These fuckers have to have it somewhere on them.”
Gail waited for the man to be occupied with his search before she strode up behind him and shoved a black-coated finger through his skull. The man stiffened instantly and she pushed her magical tendrils through his mind. It took a lot longer to turn a person properly but if she wanted them to remain mostly themselves, she couldn’t simply lobotomize them like she used to.
She finished just before a second object impacted the building. “Hurry up and find the key, we have work to do!”
***
Norman cut a bloody path through the Ministry as he made his way to the meeting room. He wanted to ensure his friends and Ministers were alright before he went looking for the cause of this attack.
As he neared the floor, he heard the sounds of fighting. He glanced around a corner and saw three of the genetically-engineered gomer firing into the room he was trying to get to. Occasionally there would be return spells and even the loud crack of a desert eagle as his people fought back.
For some reason, the golem table wasn’t out here wreaking havoc on the invaders. He needed to get to the room to find out what was happening. Norman turned to a spell he hadn’t had a chance to use yet, Death Fog.
Thankfully he was able to hide around the corner as he prepared the spell. Just before it was complete, he stepped out and selected a spot just behind the three gomers. The black ball rose from the position on the floor he had indicated. It was completely silent, only emitting a thick black vapor as it rose. Once it reached approximately head height, it burst like a bubble, filling the hallway with the deadly black fog that gave the spell its name. This was Norman’s first foray into creating a unique spell and he had since improved it to what he had now.
The first two gomers didn’t even realize what was happening before they fell over dead. The last one attempted to scurry into the meeting room but collapsed dead halfway through the door. Norman smiled at that, the meeting room had his soul trap array setup, so he would finally get the information he needed on these demented creations.
The fog continued to pour from the spot in the air and eventually flowed past Norman. With the three attackers dead, Norman was about to approach the door when he paused. There weren’t any sounds coming from inside the room. He should hear something. He slowly approached, the deadly fog swirling about his feet as he made his way closer. He was thankful for the gomer's tendency to melt away after death, otherwise, the hallway and door would be blocked by their bulbous bodies.
Norman edged his head around the open doorway and had to yank it back quickly as a bolt of fire nearly took it off. In that short time, he saw the scattered remains of the table golem, as well as his friends. They had been pinned in the back corner and the table had done its best to protect them. From the pools of blood scattered across the room, they had taken down quite a few gomers though.
“Norman, is that you?” a sickly sweet female voice asked.
Norman immediately recognized that voice. “Gail, J-son… Where’s the rest of your Council? Especially, Donovan, I would like to have a word with him.”
He could hear the woman laugh, but there was no mirth in it. “That fool. He fled at the first sign of trouble. But don’t worry, I’ll deal with him in due time. Why don’t you come in so we can have a chat?”
Donovan fled? That didn’t make any sense… unless he didn’t orchestrate this attack. If he didn’t do it, then that only left these two as possible culprits. Gail was supposed to be censured, leaving J-son as the only other possibility. He knew he shouldn’t have agreed to revive that fuckwit until after this conference. But that didn’t seem right. J-son seemed like a hot-tempered fool, not the type to plan long-term. Now Gail, on the other hand, seemed like the type to plot something like this.
“I think I’ll pass, Gail. How’d you do it? Hmm? How did you get free from the censuring? How did you get the Gorfan to help you?” If Norman could keep them talking, his forces should have time to get here, or maybe his spell would spread far enough to kill them both.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk, Norman. You could have done this the easy way. But I’ll still enjoy watching you die.”
Norman was about to make a snappy response when he felt the wall behind him heat rapidly. He threw himself down the hall as part of the wall, he had been standing behind, blew outward in a molten spray of rock.
The only thing that saved Norman from a follow-up attack was that they couldn’t leave the room from this side. Not unless they wanted to die at least. His spell would keep this exit blocked for another twenty minutes. So unless they could dispel it, they were shit out of luck. Norman quickly got to his feet and sprinted past the opening, narrowly avoiding two more pencil-thin beams of white fire.
“There’s no use running, Norman!” Gail bellowed. “You took everything from me when you gave that bitch the means to hurt me. And now I’m just returning the favor! And unlike you, I’ll make sure you’re dead!” she laughed.
Norman ignored the demented woman. He wasn’t running away, he was sealing the crazy old bat inside the room. He reached the hallway he was sprinting for and spotted the window that looked into the opposite end of the meeting hall. The Ministry was shaped like a U with an inner courtyard to keep certain parties separated. But you could see the hallway and even the doorway to the main room from certain vantage points.
The section Norman was in was unfinished, but he saw that the windows where he needed to aim had had their glass knocked out by the impacts. He would have to speak with the engineers about fixing that problem. He carefully aimed across the courtyard as he cast Wall of Fog at the open doorway on the far side. The first spell missed and hit the window frame. He cursed and canceled the spell, preparing to cast it again. He finished the second cast just as J-son stuck his head out the doorway to see what the noise was.
He immediately spotted Norman and raised his hand, but Norman’s spell activated first, covering the doorway the fire mage was standing inside. The bastard slumped over dead and Norman gave out a nervous little chuckle. That had been too close. He would have revived, but it still would have hurt. And he couldn’t afford to let Gail escape.
Norman could hear Gail screaming in rage now that her puppet was dead. And enough of his body was in the meeting room to ensure his soul was trapped. After he ensured the door was completely covered, he returned to the hallway where his spell was still spewing black smoke.
“You’re dead, Norman! No matter how long it takes me, I will destroy you!”
Norman let the woman rage. Her fate was inevitable so there was no point putting himself at risk. She even tried tossing something out into the hallway but it got swallowed by the fog covering the floor. Although he could have sworn he saw a bit of golden light for a moment. The woman even had the gall to pick up Eugene’s pistol and fire a few rounds at him. The disrespect of using his friend's own weapon against him pissed Norman off enough that he tossed a handful of feral dinos into the room to bring her tantrum to an end.
He wouldn’t admit this to anyone, but he thoroughly enjoyed listening to her screams as the dinos tore her apart. And it took quite a bit of time because she did not go quietly.
After silence settled over the building, Norman peaked through the doorway. Only two of the dinos still stood but since they were meandering about, it meant Gail was finally dead. Which was good because he wouldn’t have been able to identify her from the mutilated remains anyway.
He scanned the room for any more surprises but didn’t see anything. After ensuring it was clear, he walked into the room and kicked the bloody head of Gail, sending it sailing from her body to splatter against the wall in a spray of bones and gore. After that, he took a deep breath and let the anger he had been holding onto fade away. He dismissed both of his spells and guards rushed in from the Fog Wall side.
“Sir, are you ok?”
“I’m fine. Has the site been secured?”
“Yes, Sir. The last of the enemy troops have been dispatched. Admiral Barnes and his people were a big help in slowing them down.”
“Where are they?”
“They are back in their waiting room, treating their injuries.”
Norman nodded. “Give them some potions and thank them for the assistance. Also, tell them they are free to leave at any time, the meeting is canceled.”
The Death Knight gave a crisp salute before hurrying off to relay his words. Norman glanced around the room before picking up one of the sturdy chairs and putting it back upright. He sat in the chair for an undetermined amount of time before Eugene appeared in front of him.
“Boss?” The man asked in a low concerned tone, “… let's get you back to the castle.”
Norman just nodded as Eugene helped him up and led him home. Once they were alone, Norman quietly asked a question. “They’re never going to leave us be are they?”
Eugene sighed and turned toward him. “Not unless you make them, Boss.”
Norman knew how to do that, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to take that step.
