The bells sounded, long and hard, driven home by the strength of a skeletal warrior. All around the gate nearest to the Council chambers, Gerald could sense power from several magi. The Zombies were moaning outside, and Gerald assumed that that was what the magic was being directed at…
Boy was he wrong.
With a large crash, the gate flung open, bursting the beam that was supposed to hold it strong. As the ash and dust settled, Gerald saw what he most feared standing outside the gates. Three men and one woman were standing outside the gate. All wore red capes and each bore black staff.
"Everseekers!" Gerald shouted, and the Vampires melded into the shadows behind the Necromancer.
"Seems the intel was correct." A wizard at the front stated, his voice confident.
"The stupid woman wouldn't stop screeching about it either. Though I'm surprised about the husband." The woman responded. "And don't worry, Necromancer." A bell rang with the word going again as she turned her eyes on Gerald. "We destroyed the bodies so you can't get rid of their purity."
Power surged around the four people and shot out away from them and towards the Necromancer. The Necromancer moved quickly to his left, and the beam of light shot past him and into the building behind him. Gerald reached into the pocket where he had placed the charter for Portal. He pulled it out and shouted "Cover me!" He then pulled it open and began to chant. "Passage grant, passage be, the portal of ages be opened to those who believe in the makers' mercies and the Master's graces…" He continued to chant, and all the while the people around him fought. The Vampires flashed and attacked, with many being turned to ash before one finally bit one of the Everseekers. Another one was dueling Hermina with magic, her pulling from the powers of her rank more than the Necromancer even knew where possible. Sarah, the Sorceress, was just running away, attempting to escape in the chaos. ('Not that I blame her.' Gerald thought later)
Lydia was taking on an Everseeker on her own, only one of the men was dealing with a large contingent of Skeletal Warriors who seemed to rise from the dirt beneath him. Lydia's battle was surprising, as she pulled on the dirt and the soil to provide her fighting power. 'Pity she doesn't know what she's capable of.' He thought, not breaking the chant. Crossbow bolts took the second man down, and Gerald looked around only to see Rory Davith standing with the Crossbow, along with several other of the non-magi people who were wearing the armor of the town guards. Gerald didn't even stutter. The poetic spell to activate the portal was getting more and more complete. The Necromancer watched the battles with a strong intensity, as he kept chanting.
Finally, the woman shouted, "NECROMANTUM INFER" and the sound of a loud boom echoed throughout the city. All at once, it felt like the entire plaza was filling with the red robes.
Gerald paused for a moment in his chant, allowing them to fully materialize, before he shouted, "...AND BY THE GRACE OF THE SPIRITS, EXPEL THOSE WITH PAIN!" There was a massive surge of ancient energy in the place, and all of the fighting stopped as both the magi, non-magi, animals, and even the soil of the earth felt it. The wind kicked up, and the ash flew down upon the Wizards in the plaza. Lydia hurried back to Gerald, as did Hermina and the Non-magi hurried over to him as well. The ash wouldn't have affected them, but there was still something comforting in being nearer to the man who had cast the spell. The wind died down, the ash stopped flowing into the city, and the Wizards were nowhere to be seen. But they were now just outside of the city. A large wall of ash now surrounded the city as well, standing tall in the night sky, and (based on the feeling of magic that Gerald could sense) was repelling the spells of the Everseekers who were nearby.
"By the gods…" Lydia muttered, her eyes wide.
"Gods preserve us all…" Rory stated openly, immediately getting on one knee and praying openly.
Hermina just looked around in shock, the Vampires slumped on the ground, and wept for the loss of their kin, the Skeletons immediately began to perform a sweep of the area, in case one had escaped the ancient magic. (The unfailing logic of a skeleton) The Zombies outside of the city were moaning their calling card for the slaughter, and the power of the ancients now called additional Zombies from all around to defend the city. The magic was now directed away from the city, and the Everseekers now fought the oncoming hordes of the Zombified undead.
Gerald just watched for a moment, feeling the magical power of the Everseekers outside the barrier, Then he slumped on the ground, and sighed. True, his connection to the magic was not any less, but he was exhausted mentally. A lot had been happening in a short amount of time, and he hated that he never seemed to get a chance for a break. Hermina rushed to the side of her Master, holding him close and rubbing his back.
"What in the hells was that?" Lydia finally said, breaking from their stupor.
"A gift from my father and the rightful king of these lands." He refused to say more on the matter, despite the other questions that they asked.
Finally, Rory asked the question that made the most sense. "How long will this hold?"
"Not long. A few hours? Till sunrise at the longest." There was some muttering at that.
"Master… what should we do?" Hermina asked.
"What else? Use the Portal of Ages and leave this place."
"The what?"
Gerald looked at Rory, who had asked the question, and smiled. "Why do you think they named the town Portal?"
Hermina interjected. "But if they find the Portal of Ages, won't they be able to follow us around the world?"
At this, Gerald frowned, "It's possible…"
"The Portal of Ages is just a myth… a legend…" Lydia stated, her eyes wide.
Gerald chuckled. "And so were Necromancers just a few days ago." The Taboo gong rang, but he didn't care. 'They know where I am anyways.'
"We can't just walk out of here?" Rory asked. "They surely don't care about the non-magi-"
"They will kill every man, woman, child, pet, plant, or anything before they let anyone with connection to a Necromancer (Gong) live." He frowned. "Ask Lydia if you don't believe me."
Rory shot the Druidess a look and she nodded. "Do you remember the town of Marquis?"
"We don't have time to talk at the moment." Gerald stated, his mind racing. "Hermina is correct, but we can come back at a later time for the Portal of Ages. Right now, our concern is keeping as many people as we can alive."
"Agreed." Rory stated. "Without dad here, hopefully he's safe, I'm the de facto leader of the non-magi community here."
"Don't." Gerald stated, looking at Hermina. The Vampress nodded. There would be a time to grieve for the old man, but it wasn't now. "I'll do what I can to make sure that you, and your people, remain safe and taken care of."
"And how will you do that?" Lydia demanded. "These people are going to die, and you know it."
"I Don't know." Gerald replied, shooting Lydia a dirty look. "I know that you just fought a hard foe, and would have lost had the ancient magic not intervened, but-"
"But nothing! I'm one of the strongest of the Druids, outside of the imperial palace, and-"
"And we don't have time to bicker amongst ourselves." Rory demanded. He then turned to the Necromancer. "How do we survive this?"
Gerald pondered for a second, allowing his brain to go into overdrive. "We hide." He said at length.
At this, all of the bickering, angst, and frustration seemed to suddenly turn into a questioning gaze. "What?" Lydia asked, after a couple of seconds.
"It could work." Hermina stated, thinking about it. "I have some lands that are free from the Necrotic curses. It isn't much, but it should be enough to feed the living here."
"But could you control the entire brood?" Gerald asked, raising an eyebrow.
Hermina stood tall. "I can proudly handle everything that my brood is and has created. Thank you very much." The hurt tone in her voice was eminent, but Gerald took no heed of it.
"But it is far more magic than I have here to move the city to a new location."
"We could run." Rory suggested.
Gerald raised an eyebrow. "With the children, sick, and elderly?" Rory deflated at that. "If we had some time before these bastards had come, I would have said that that was a great idea."
"We could join our magic…" Lydia mentioned, quietly. All of the people nearby stopped at those uttered words.
"That's… incredibly dangerous." Hermina stated, her eyes filled with worry.
"I know." Lydia stated, her eyes fluttering to the ground. "It's stupid…"
"It's an idea…" Gerald stated. "One that would require at least an hour's complete focus from all of us here, at least if we are to do this safer." He turned to the others. "Are there any other ideas that could work?"
The others sat motionless, and looked forlorn. "I'll get the other Vampires." Hermina stated. "They could add their magic to ours to help speed things along."
"Thank you Hermina. I forget that your kind has a link to magic as well."
"It's far less powerful, but it is a connection." She admitted. Almost as quick as a flying bat, the Vampires (the survivors, which Gerald sadly noted there weren't near as many as before) were surrounding them.
"It will still take around half an hour to forty-five minutes."
"Then you better stop running your mouth and get started." Lydia said, before sitting down on the ground and having a small pad of moss grow underneath her for her comfort.
"Wish I could do that." Hermina stated, sitting next to the Druidess, and bunching up her dress a little to cushion her backside.
Soon, all of the participants were sitting down in the central plaza, including the Necromancer. The Skeletons and the Non-magi were taking their positions on the walls, desperately praying that the Zombie horde outside of the wall would be able to hold them back for long enough. Gerald smiled as he felt the mass of magic coming from the group and made an executive decision that surprised them all. "This will take one hour, and I think you will all be pleased with the results…"
*One Hour Later*
"Ok… maybe more like an hour and ten minutes." Gerald stated, the sweat from the concentration building on his brow. The spell was almost complete. "Just remember, that this is, in part, in honor of the Druidess here tonight." There was some muttering, and a smatter of light applause from the Vampires and even Fash. The Abomination would have to be left behind, and there was nothing that Gerald could do about that. (It would have doubled their magic load to bring him along with the children he had inside him)
"They're getting through!" A shout from a guard on the wall.
"Well they're too late." Gerald shouted in triumph. "Hold onto your pants… DROMIUN DREFS GALFA!"
As quickly as the final syllable was out of his mouth, the city around them was gone, and so were they, and all but the Skeletal commanders, the Zombies, and the rest of the normal skeletons who were to remain behind.
Gerald closed his eyes. He hated traveling in a large group with teleportation. It always made him feel sick to his stomach.