Staff of Shigmar: Chapter 16, Part 3

14 July 2026

We return with another installment in the serialization of the second book of our epic fantasy, Staff of Shigmar, as the battle begins in earnest, and Delgart comes up with a way to tip the balance in their favor. . . . (3 August 2015) We remind all readers that this book, Staff of Shigmar, as also the first book, is free for download from Smashwords! Glossary links: Book 2, Book 1

Chapter 16, Part 3

Delgart watched this, his brow wrinkling.

“What is troubling you?” Grelsor asked, seeing his concerned look.

Delgart shook his head. “At this rate,” he noted, “there will not be many of us left to aid Shigmar.”

Grelsor nodded. “What else can we do?” he asked. “We cannot leave this army unfought.”

“I know,” Delgart said, “but what I meant was that there must be some quicker way to disrupt the purgle? Can’t you shoot them with a disruptive bolt?”

“We don’t have that ability,” Grelsor said.

“But they do,” Delgart protested, pointing back to the maghem.

“We do not have disruptive teka,” Luthina said.

“Why can’t you combine ortheks?” Delgart asked. “Isn’t that the way the red kailum and black maghem operate?”

“They do,” Grelsor admitted, a frown wrinkling his brow, “but they do not use power the way we do.”

“What is the difference?” Delgart asked. “I mean, since I have never seen them in action, what do they do differently that allows them to combine powers that you could imitate?”

“They chant,” Marilee put in, picking up on Delgart’s thinking, “but it is a chant that is almost like a song.”

Grelsor was at a momentary loss for words, looking from Delgart to Marilee. Luthina touched his shoulder in almost a caress.

“We are trained,” Luthina said, “and we practice our arts, separately, because our teka is highly specialized, but we are working with the same powers and forces, so it must be possible to combine them.”

Grelsor shrugged. “You may be right, but how would we do it?”

“There have been experiments among the maghem,” Hrelga put in, “chaining more than one maghi together, and they found that the powers had to be channeled through a single rod, which meant that only a trio of maghem could work together through the same rod, as we have lost the art of creating a more powerful rod or staff. They also learned that the ortheks were very difficult to control, although the strength of the ortheks was exponentially greater.”

“They only tried single, known ortheks,” Luthina said, “so I am not sure how we would combine two different ortheks into one.”

“It must have something to do with the chanting,” Lidelle said, thoughtfully.

“Why couldn’t you,” Delgart interrupted, “do something like that exploding ice ball you used on the heavy archers: you created it, then sent it toward the archers. Couldn’t you create it, let Grelsor put the disruptive orthek on it, then send it to the target?”

Grelsor’s mouth fell open at the simplicity of Delgart’s suggestion. Lidelle, Hrelga, and Luthina’s faces lit up, as they considered the possibilities opened by it.

“That’s brilliant!” Grelsor exclaimed. “Why has no one thought of it before?”

“Our orders developed in isolation,” Hrelga said. “It was not until the end of the first millennium that we joined the seklesi squads to lend our expertise to them. By that time, the ortheks of both orders were well-established and did not lend themselves to combination.”

Grelsor looked to Marilee. “We’ll need to get closer,” he said.

Marilee nodded. “Captain!” she shouted.

Their company captain turned and rode toward them. “What is it?” she asked, one hand holding the reins, the other held in a sling of white cloth.

“Request permission to move my squad forward,” Marilee stated, “my kailum and maghem wish to try an experiment of combining kailu and maghi ortheks to disrupt the purgle from a distance.”

“How?” the captain asked.

“We believe, captain,” Grelsor put in, “that if the maghi first creates the exploding ice ball, then we kailum cast an orthek of disruption upon the ball, then it is sent to the target, we think it might work. But we need to be closer to one of them to try.”

The captain nodded. “I think the tide is about to turn below,” she noted, “so you may not have much time. I’ll pass the word around, so the others will be watching you.”

“Let’s go,” Marilee said, as the captain turned and rode off. “How close?”

“The closer the better,” Grelsor said, “at least until we figure out how to do this.”

“Let’s go halfway down,” Hrelga added, “and try it.”

They jogged off down the hill; they could hear queries moving through the companies of the Third Legion, wondering what they were doing, and they knew the word was passing through the legion, and that all eyes were upon them. They stopped halfway down the hill.

“I think you should take turns,” Marilee noted, “Grelsor, you and Luthina try first.”

Grelsor nodded, and he and Luthina raised staff and rod. “Don’t make it too big,” Grelsor said.

Luthina smiled and spoke the words. “Wedro-pleugikel,” she said, and a blue ball of ice about a foot across grew out of the tip of her rod. She held her rod up, holding the ball in place.

Grelsor reached out to touch the ball with his staff, chanting the orthek used on their maces. “Reu-komhilum-gleubespi,” he chanted, and the ball of ice changed from blue to green. Grelsor nodded once, and Luthina pointed her rod at the nearest purgle, but before the ball traveled half the distance, it turned blue again. Luthina raised her rod to point high in the air, the ball soaring upward and vanishing from sight.

“It is not only a thing,” Hrelga noted, “but a thing of power.”

Grelsor nodded, and Luthina created a second ball of ice. Grelsor changed his chant to “reu-komhilum-demaghu-gleubespi,” changing the bright blue ball into emerald green.

“Keep chanting the orthek,” Hrelga said, and Grelsor continued to repeat the incantation while Luthina pointed toward their target. Grelsor followed the ball with his staff, still chanting, and it continued to glow green. When it was very close to the purgle, Luthina jerked her rod up suddenly; the globe exploded into a thousand shards of ice, ripping through the robes of the purgle and the nekerpum near him. The purgle jerked once, surrounded by green light, then the now tattered black robe fluttered to the ground; golden dust gathered and flew up; the nekerpum around him fell to dust.

On Thursday we will continue down this path, showing the difference this suggestion of Delgart makes. Until then, get a full ebook copy from Smashwords for free! If you prefer print, purchase your copy from the link provided. Good reading!