Chapter 76: 74
The return flight took much less time, although I "lost" in the air for show, you never know. Some measly forty minutes at full speed and I will be able to see the vague outlines of the camp, with every second it became clearer and clearer.
Having issued a warning cry, it began to descend. At the very ground he again took on human form and headed towards the camp on foot.
Almost all of my companions were near the fire, with the exception of Crystal. Nodding to them, he headed towards Flitwick.
— Is there anything interesting? — the professor seemed to take it upon himself.
He sat down opposite him and gratefully accepted the mug of tea and drank from it. Surprisingly, Croco brews quite decent tea, and it also helps in restoring reserves, although I didn't spend much on the flight.
"Yes, there is something," I finally said. "No draugr were found at a distance of fifteen kilometers." Once this threshold has been overcome, loners begin to appear, loitering around with nothing to do," he stopped and took a sip from his mug. - And yes, these are elven draugr. I don't know who could have such power to raise immortals, but I don't want to meet him.
I fell silent and stared at the professor while drinking tea. Now I'm starting to understand Croco, the tea is incredible.
- How far could you fly? Was there anything else worth noting? — After a little thought, Filius asked another question.
- Deep. And yes, there is still quite a bit of important information. First, he raised his index finger in front of him. — There are an incredible number of Draugr. With every hundred meters their number grows. Secondly, the draugr are camouflaged. Having heard this, everyone in the camp paid close attention to me. — During the flight, I decided to test the sensitivity range of the dead. And yes, I understand that the idea is not the best, but that's how it happened," I threw up my hands. Shouldn't I say that I could have avoided instant capture with the help of spatial magic? Of course it would have hit me, but I would have survived. — The detection radius of draugr is approximately one hundred and fifty meters. At least those that are closest to us.
"I'm not going to lecture you, you're already an Apprentice, you have the right to be responsible for your actions," Flitwick told me in an even voice. Although his emotions were full of disapproval. "But the information you received will greatly help us, at least at first."
"That's great," I smiled. "So," I continued the topic. "As soon as I approached the specified distance, whole crowds of the dead began to dig out from under the snow. Only there I counted at least several dozen, and how many more there are.
My words seriously burdened everyone gathered here. Of course, it's one thing to guess about the number of enemies, but another thing to know. This will greatly affect the overall plan of action.
"But that's not all," he continued his story after a few seconds of waiting. — After I flew away, they closed in the snow again. After that, I went further, deeper into the territory. The dead zone extends for at least fifty kilometers. And with every kilometer the number of dead grows, and I'm not talking about the "partisans" - listening to my story, the party members became more and more gloomy. — Oh yes, there are elf buildings on the territory. It is quite possible that the city of the forest elves is buried under the snow.
— Lesnykh? What makes you think that? - Croco asked.
"The appearance of the buildings," he shrugged. The tea is over, sad. Handing over the mug and nodding gratefully, he continued. "They seemed to be in symbiosis with the trees." One more thing. Along the way I came across strange hills of snow. Having excavated one of them, I literally came across ice trees. Does anyone know what this is? — with a wave of my wand, I transfigured the snow into one of the trees, or rather into a branch of such a tree. —Have you seen such specimens before? — the answer was silence, as well as negative head movements. "Okay," I dispelled the spell. - Well, the last thing. At a distance of about ten kilometers from a kind of barrier," she pointed a finger behind herself. "My "sense" literally howled with danger. I don't know what's there anymore," he shook his head, thereby expressing his emotions. - But something is clearly not good. I didn't go any further. That's all," he wrote his story about this night.
Well, the situation is really bad, but I definitely won't reveal my eyesight and magical sense. It can affect me too much.
"Thank you Calder," the professor finally came to his senses after five minutes of silence. - Your information will greatly help us.
"What's wrong with that?" he waved his hand in response. "We're all in the same boat here." It is logical that I will help to the best of my limited ability. Although I'm not much use. In about a day or two you would have found out for yourself.
"But still, you saved us a decent chunk of time," he objected to me in response. - OK, have a rest. There is nothing else planned today.
Nodding to him, I went to my tent. At the initial stage, I helped as much as I could. At this point I'm no longer useful.
As soon as I lay down on my bed, all the sensations of "baptism" returned to me, which had previously been successfully ignored by my mind.
Hmmm, I still have a long time to recover, that's for sure.
Having finished his idle thinking, he plunged into meditation. Perhaps it's worth helping my body and soul recover.
*****
The next four days were not very diverse. Wake up, breakfast, meditation, lunch, discussion of the further plan of action, meditation, dinner, meditation again and finally sleep.
Subsequent reconnaissance attempts only confirmed my words. This is truly a "dead" city of forest elves, with completely undead inhabitants.
Reconnaissance was carried out with the help of dead hounds, as well as dead spirits. As I expected, our quiet and inconspicuous witch was a necromancer. Miss Crystal held the title of Master in this school, with the prospect of being promoted to Grand in the near future. Well, in the near future, at least five years.
On the second day of my "rest" I asked to look at her work. Looking at me with an unreadable glance, she agreed.
You know, at first I thought that Snape was an example of excellence in his specialized school, but I was wrong. Suzanne is a true master. The number of spells she weaved was simply amazing, and how she controlled them, mm. Mine still has to grow and grow to this point.
Then I couldn't resist asking a question that had been tormenting me since meeting the Thestrals, but I just couldn't get around to it.
"Miss Crystal," I turned to the girl, watching as she finished lifting another hound. All material was stored in a special spatial bag.
The hound itself looked like a typical wolf, only it was larger in size, some flesh was missing, and its eyes burned with a red flame.
- Yes? - she responded slightly surprised. It's possible to understand her, after all, this is the first time I've addressed her.
—What do the dead "live on"? - I finally said. "It's not exactly prana, and it doesn't even look like magical energy." Perhaps this is a type of it, but I'm not sure about it," I finished a little more quietly.
Looking at me expectantly, she still deigned to answer.
"Nekros," seeing my confused look, she continued. — The living live on prana, the dead on nekros. Prana is the diluted energy of life, Nekros is the diluted energy of death," having said this, Susan returned to work.
— Can you provide more details? — I asked again with hope in my voice.
"It's early," came the laconic answer.
This is where our conversation ended. He gave me a lot of food for thought. For example, thestrals are filled with such concentrated nekros that it is close to pure death energy. In turn, unicorns have the opposite situation; their prana is as close as possible to the energy of life. This is my theory, I still have to find out more about this.
Let's go back to reconnaissance. Interesting fact: the hounds are under the control of Crystal exactly until they cross the ten-kilometer border. As soon as they cross her, the "leash" is torn out of her hands. At least that's what Crystal told us. This is another fact that the Lich is waiting for us there.
I also made progress in studying the school of cryokinesis. It's as if the situation is conducive to this. My development is progressing by leaps and bounds, and the realization that the powerful spells of this school require delicate control warms my soul. By developing it, I can not only regain lost control, but also exceed past limits. And having such strong and concentrated mana will only help me. It's not for nothing that it has been accumulating here for at least a thousand years. "Ice" mana seems to be helping me itself, there is so much of it. Because of this, it is difficult for me to understand elves. How do they manage to do magic here?
Sol has fire magic, and Fox has wind magic. Together they create a duet, which they call sunny. Hah, what a comical name, but I have to admit it suits them. Together they can create a flame so hot that it feels like you're in the sun. Yes, it is false, but this does not make it any easier for the enemies.
In general, these days were filled with routine, but I also managed to glean new information. I even got to see Croco training. His flamberge fluttered as if it weighed nothing. Although, judging by the figure of the dragonite, he will be able to lift at least three of them, but only one.
Eh, it's still so sad to see the loss of control. I've been trying to move an object using the magic of space for an hour now. What I could do before, albeit with difficulty, now seems completely impossible. Eh.
Concentrating once again, I tried to "subordinate" the space to my will. For a moment it seemed to me that I had succeeded, but alas. At the last moment, the mana dissipated and the space stabilized. Here we go again.
Okay, I can do it. Shaking his head, thereby completely disheveled his hair, he began another attempt.
*****
Two hours of training, but zero results. Well, like zero, there is progress, but extremely small. Perhaps it's worth focusing on ice magic for now, and as I progress in it, I'll just raise my control to a decent level necessary for space magic.
Having finished training, I headed towards the exit. Now according to the plan, educational program is planned for the next day.
Leaving the tent, he headed towards the fire. How long I sat behind it, I never saw anyone throw wood at it. What can I say - magic.
There was no one around the fire except Flitwick. At the moment, he was sitting on a bench and looking at the flames, lost in his thoughts.
— What are you thinking about, professor? — my voice didn't reach his mind the first time, so I had to repeat it. Only the second time did he react.
Twitching and looking around, he finally noticed me. Having looked at my figure with a confused look, it felt like the professor was somewhere not here, Flitwick smiled.
- Ah, Calder. Come sit down and keep some company," he waved to the seat next to him. Shrugging his shoulders, he sat down in the offered seat.
We sit and remain silent. Flitwick is looking into the fire again, and I'm waiting for I don't understand what.
"You know Calder," the professor finally began without taking his eyes off the dancing flames. — This situation, well, which we find ourselves in, is much more complicated than it seems at first glance.
"Is it all about the draugr and the lich?" - I suggested.
"Not only that," he shook his head. - Why do you think I don't stop sending people on reconnaissance, knowing full well that they may not return?
— Agreement with the Mercenaries Guild?
"That's right," Flitwick nodded. —At the very beginning, we hoped that we would end up in a more or less familiar location, or not far from it. That's why we signed up for this bondage. The main clause of the contract is: "Ensure the maximum possible exploration of the territory." It seems that one can refer to the fact that the Lich is present here, as well as his personal army of draugr, but no," sharply turning to face me, the professor spoke in a slightly trembling voice. - Each of us, not counting you, can easily cope with a dozen draugr, and together we can cope with the Lich. But," his shoulders sagged and his voice became incredibly quiet. "Each of them is like family to me." Everyone is like my children, only Croco and Og are like brothers to me. If one of them dies..." at this point he fell silent. And I didn't know what to answer.
This was the first time I was able to see this side of the professor. A strong battle mage who knows his worth now looked depressed, I would even say defeated. Apparently the echoes of the past found a way to get out.
"Somehow I fell apart," the sensible one, beaten by life, disappeared, and in his place a confident magician appeared again. - Excuse me, old man, I'm tired. Each of us is strong enough to stand up for ourselves. That's why I shouldn't be discouraged," the professor smiled at the end. Yes, it's so contagious that even a slight smile appeared on my face.
For another five minutes we sat silently by the fire until I felt the approach of two intelligent ones. A minute later, Croco burst into the clearing, carrying the wounded Alistair.
- Calder! We urgently need your help! - he roared, heading towards me.
So you sat there.
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