Silently, all three Prodigals approached the stricken Tusker King. Without saying a word, the human Martine and the banderling Harraag entered the water and came up under a massive arm each, while I Shaped up seats for them there to be more comfortable… although likely it didn’t matter, but I was polite, right? The tumerok Hea Rheaga actually went right onto Bobo’s backside and sprawled out on the fur there, his arms spread wide and his head flat against the back of the great tusker.

  Magic crackled in the air. It was red, and blue, and green, seething with virindi energies from multiple dimensions and sources, and it danced around Bobo the Tusker King there in the water, alive and really, really powerful.

  A dim yellow flicker danced on the tips of the fur of the Tusker King in response, and the energies began to play with one another, adjusting, feeling one another out, trying to find a way to blend and to synergize with one another and the very different backgrounds of each of these Prodigals, three of races alien to this world helping one who was born here.

  “Dis be good. Dis be really, really good…” Madam Kleoh murmured from next to me. The Portal to Candeth Keep had closed already, but I knew Martine could re-open it with little effort, let alone with two others there to help.

  “That’s kind of what we were thinking. Those four have something among them that nobody else has, and they are probably the only ones who can understand one another and what was done to them. Of course they’d come to save him. He was the very first of them. He’s the big brother to all of them.”

  Reclining there in his pool, the grunt that escaped the lips of the Tusker King was heartfelt as he finally seemed to relax, and took solace there in the hands of his little brothers.

  “One more gift for the Tusker King.” I glided over above the ground, coming up next to him, and slowly brought the heel of Crown in contact with the top of his skull.

  Regeneration and Greater Restoration went out in waves of cool, soothing Healing energy. The moan that escaped Bobo was heartfelt as it washed through him, and his glowing golden eyes closed completely, basking in the moment and the energies around him as I uttered a single Note.

  The four disparate and very individual energies snapped together into a shining whiteness so suddenly that all three of the newcomers turned their heads to look at me in astonishment. The Sublime Chord echoed all around them, finishing up their harmonization instantly.

  “Can you sustain that?” I asked them reasonably, and all three just nodded and closed their eyes. The whiteness tingled, swallowing the other colors, and wrapped all four of them in a new energy that was somehow purer and freer than anything they had wielded alone.

  Jilna stared in me in wonder, but did not stop slowly feeding Bobo sips of water as I floated back and away from them, back to Kris, who was watching the whole process curiously, but as usual was not overly impressed by my miracle-working in the slightest.

  Madam Kleoh, however, was eager to know, “Dat magic! I never be seein’ magic like dat afoh! What you use on de king dere?” she demanded of me, waving her hand urgently but not daring to touch me.

  “New spells for a new magic to this world. Regeneration and Greater Restoration, Elder. The first will regrow his hand and his fur and replace his injuries. The second will ease the mental and physical strain he has been under, and repair the fundamental damage to his body the rot has done to him. His brothers will see to the restoration of his power, and his true might will return, although not overnight.”

  “A month,” Kris judged. “A month, and Bobo the Tusker King will stand tall on this island again.”

  “Do you want to apologize to him now?” I asked Kris. “You know Mudmouth and the fake Bobo aren’t going to live that long.”

  “Hey, a girl has to have some violent hobbies for stress relief, right?” Kris just grinned. “He’s a king, and he needs his rest. Mowen’s out there crying big tears of snot out of his nose over the scrapings from breakfast and sharing palm wine with Tim. Those two fake fuckers are so dead.”

  I couldn’t deny that at all. Some things were just meant to happen.

  ------

  Kris and I didn’t walk back up to the top, and although we could have visited the humans down here, that was Kleoh and Jilna’s job for now, as we hadn’t secured the topside and so none of them were coming outside.

  Instead we Dimension Doored across the distance, the magic easily enough to cross the intervening space… and deliver us back down below, if we were needed.

  Kleoh had to talk with the local humans, who probably wanted to send up a party to work with us if they could, and if not there’d be talks about moving out of the caves and back under the open sky.

  The first thing I saw was Mowen up there on the wall, sitting there next to Tim, who was leaning against it, the pair incongruous yet appropriate in their armor, looking almost like a knight with a pet monkey in scale. They were rumbling to one another as they looked out into the jungle and listened to the distant calls and cries of tuskers yowling back and forth.

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  “Cloud Flower!” Tim called out as his bottom eye tracked over to see me. “Want to join fighting!” he said loudly, puffing himself up. Mowen hooted and raised his fists as well.

  “Big Tim says you are good spellcaster, help boost power in fight!” Mowen called down to me. “Great Mowen has to stay strong to protect the King!”

  Confirming that it was how he’d managed to stay alive this long, getting magical Buffs to put him on more than equal footing with the Dark Bobo.

  “Give me a design for a couple of Tusker Knuckles,” I asked Kris.

  She glanced at me, then back at Mowen, studying his big curved paws with the massive knuckles. A design in stone popped into my head, and I drew stone up out of the ground, Shaping it into the pattern.

  Telekinesis from Zeks tossed the two spheres of stone up into the air towards Mowen. “Put these on, Mowen Udaun!”

  He proved adept enough to catch the great shells of stone, which not coincidentally looked like the massive stone fist of his king sitting discarded by the pool down there. He carefully fit his huge paw into the slots on them, and found they fit like gloves, accepting his grip in optimal style.

  He hefted them up and swung them around experimentally, then blinked as he watched Kris and I walk right up the air like it was a pair of steps in front of him.

  “Tim, club,” I told him.

  The big guy held out his hand, and Brown light flared as he pulled his Club out of storage. The massive thing was hefted in one hand, over twice as long as Mowen was tall, and probably just as heavy.

  The two Greater Magic Weapons and Firephasings went off on both set of stone fists and Smasher. With a woosh of ignition, both Weapons became instruments of solid fire, Mowen rearing back in instinctive alarm.

  There was a snap and pop as Fire Protection VII and Resist Fire went off on him together, cooling him right down instantly to the point where he couldn’t even feel the heat anymore.

  “Let’s go hunting,” Kris smiled, and Quaver flicked out, ringing Ding! Ting! Mowen found himself flinching at the two notes, especially as Kris’s Sword ignited and basically became a bar of sunfire wound about with starfire.

  I made sure Mowen and Tim had good Artificer Buffs to their Armor and hides, which would soak a LOT of punishment up, especially the Bludgeon Banes.

  “Tim is the bait. Let the slave-spirits see him, charge him, and we cut them down around him. The Magos keeps everyone Healed and watches out for surprises.” Vivus ignited on both of their weapons, red stars swirled as Regenerate Health VII circled around Mowen and Tim, amplifying their prodigious Fast Healing rates. “We are to make a spectacle of ourselves and let everyone know the two of you are out there and fighting. If we can pull in Mudmouth and Dark Bobo, we will kill them. If not, we’re going to Seal every Spawn Point we see and take away his army.

  “You ready, Mowen Udaun?”

  The massive tusker lifted the new balls of solid flame at the ends of his arms, and his dark eyes gleamed with satisfaction. “Mowen will fight!” he promised enthusiastically.

  “Then let’s go!” Kris hopped over the edge of the wall without hesitation. Mowen hooted and leapt over after her, while Tim bellowed and vaulted it easily with misting heels.

  My Wings popped out and I headed after them, hooking into the Markspace chat and heading south to where the action was building and Briggs was directing the fighting.

  They’d already sealed at least a couple hundred more Spawn Points while Kris and I had been down below, fighting enthusiastically and with grim purpose. They could hear Mudmouth gathering the Summons that were out here, but the fun thing was… we had a Tusker Champion with us right now.

  The only Summons Mowen couldn’t control himself were the Tainted ones!

  Mowen knew it, too, and easily half the Summons and more they were running across were Tainted, only fit for Burning and Sealing. But if they were normal tuskers… well, now, those were troops fit for recruiting and building up a force of his own, while we Sealed the Spawn Points behind them!

  Mowen Udaun, Champion of the Tuskers, was now going to be able to recruit a really, really big Tusker army to go up against Mudmouth, and that was going to save us a LOT of time…

  ------

  “TREMBLE. OH OHHHHH OH, TREMBLE, TREMBLE, TREMBLE!”

  The earth was pounding. Massive paws were thundering over the ground, great chests bellowing curses at one another in tusker-talk, then slamming into one another with great biting jaws and bashing fists.

  The crunch and crashing of great muscular bodies slamming together was non-stop, the din made hearing anything of relevance impossible… and still the Trembling Song cut right through it all, set the heart to pumping, and souls to singing.

  The +6 bonus to hit and damage didn’t hurt, either, meaning our tusker troops were mauling those of Mudmouth and the Dark Bobo as they came streaming at us.

  Tim was naturally the biggest focus of attention for these Summons, and they thronged him, trying to leap on him and bring him down with weight of numbers.

  That wasn’t working out too well, because there was a lot of absolutely murderous and very focused firepower concentrated around him, not to mention the mass of Smasher blowing through the clustered tuskers like a firestorm, sending them flying, flaming, and dying.

  “SMELL YOUR ROT UPON THE LAND! TREMBLE, TREMBLE!

  “TASTE YOUR BLOOD UPON THE SAND! TREMBLE, TREMBLE!

  “SEE YOU BREAK UNDER FIST OF STONE!

  “HEAR YOU SHATTER SKULL AND BONE!

  “FEEL YOU DIE WHERE YOU STAND!

  “TREMBLE, TREMBLE! WE COME!”

  Even the Summons roared along enthusiastically, as her Song was Tongues translating via her Mask, and they could comprehend all the spirit behind it as they raged in the fighting.

  Loyal Tusker Summons had black and white Faerie Fires dancing about their heads, making them easy to tell apart from those under the control of Dark Bobo. More pointedly, I was using Control Summons conjoined with Mass Faerie Fires under Triadspell VI to break the control of Dark Bobo over untainted tuskers, promptly slaving that control to Briggs’ Warlord status, and reinforcing us at the same time as I stripped three dozen tuskers at a time from the enemy!

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