Can't Kill a Dead Man (2/2)

The mad mage leaps on his feet and charges with his sword in front of himself. 'Something more than a no-magic pipsqueak!' Haalfrin is just relieved that all of the 2nd gate mages showed up, instead of sending the same old bunch of weaklings he's used to dealing with.

Within the first few seconds of the battle, all three of the Algori Syndicate learn that the collection of weapons in front of the gate aren't backup blades.

Not expecting a random attack from behind, a dagger flies at Falkri's skull; the only reason he wasn't killed that instant is that he's a cautious man who makes sure to keep protective spells over his head.

Just when Falkri turns around to see who the attacker was, the floating dagger – still refusing to budge from its spot on the back of his skull, is slammed into by a flying hammer coming in from the other direction.

With a sickening crack, the thin dagger is driven into Falkri's brain like a nail being hammered in. Falkri's corpse falls lifelessly to the ground.

In the next instant, Haalfrin has already disarmed Halban, and knocked him to the ground, just in time for Kaalhyme's spear to fall from the sky and pierce the man straight through the heart.

… Halban did have a protective shield over his heart, but with Kaalhyme's potent magic (plus its momentum from gaining a lot of speed), he was strong enough to rip straight through the mana shield.

Deep inside, Haalfrin is feeling disappointed. These bandits don't feel like very good fighters at all. Borin said that Halban was supposed to be an experienced warrior, but the guy was far too careless and overreached with his swing, making it laughably easy to cut the man's fingers and make him drop his weapon.

Haalfrin looks around, knowing there was a third mage in the fight… Upon looking closer, Haalfrin sees a figure fleeing in the distance.

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…Deeper into the forest, Kirst is running for his life. 'Ugh. I knew we couldn't beat him, but we're not even qualified to distract that monster. Sh*t SH*T!!!'

To make things worse, one of his lackeys inside the manor calls back over the far speak medallion Falkri obviously wouldn't be needing anymore, "Master Kirst! We've checked inside the manor, and the baron's already dead! Looks like it's been several hours now!"

The man then shakily continues, "I also found a letter on the baron's body addressed to you, sir."

"Read it aloud to me!" Kirst demands. Obviously, there's no way Kirst would be willing to go back there, so he can't care less how confidential the information on the letter might be.

"Master Kirst, it reads, 'To Kirst. If you don't listen to all my demands – namely, turning over all your stolen goods and giving up your remaining shareholders, then I'll kill your little lover back at your little getaway. From Haalfrin.'"

Kirst's heart thumps in fear, but before he can demand more information, Kirst hears desperate screaming on the other end, then all is silent.

After an ominous pause, Haalfrin's voice picks up on the other end of the medallion. "Well, he lived just long enough to get the message across. I'll see you soon, Kirst."

In a fit of fear, Kirst chucks his far speak medallion into the forest and runs even more frantically back to his horse. "SH*******T!!!!"

Only now does the man realize this was all a trap from the beginning. Borin never betrayed them at all; rather, Haalfrin had used their fear of being exposed to lure them out and kill them. Worse yet, the maniac knows their names, which means he might know more relevant information about them.

Even worst still… "Haalfrin knows about my Jerri! No! I can't let this man get away! I have to make sure Jerri's all right!" In Kirst's mind, his sweet little Jerri has already been kidnapped and held in a dark dungeon or something.

"No," Kirst thinks, "I can at least spare a second to warn my colleagues too."

And so, Kirst finds a tree to hide behind and pulls out Gruda's and Rist's far speak medallion. He spends a few moments letting them know what happened, and telling them they need to relocate immediately.

…Unfortunately, Kirst still can't figure out how Haalfrin was able to spot their ambush. If he did, he'd have never dared to stop moving.

Alas, those few moments of stopping to warn his colleagues was enough for Haalfrin to catch up to him.

Screaming out in fear, Kirst pulls out his last resort – a teleportation scroll. Perhaps expensive spatial magic would've been easy for the archmage to get, but for a poor "businessman" like Kirst, this is the only one he's seen in his lifetime. It breaks his heart to have to use it.

And so, a dozen blades pierce the tree trunk where Kirst's head was just a moment ago.

Haalfrin growls in frustration and slams his fist against the tree trunk. 'Fine. That wasn't a very advanced scroll, so he can't have gone far. I'll just have to find him…'

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Haalfrin closes his eyes and concentrates as he pulls on his own spirit for strength. He then uses another spiritual technique his master taught him.

It's called the pseudo-possession spell, and it's designed to suggest things to animals. Being a form of spirit magic, this spell is a lot stronger if used on a creature you have a deep connection with.

And, for some reason, ravens and wolves have always been the only animals he could successfully link with his spirit. 'Well, the crows make sense, due to my Contract with Freyya,' Haalfrin guessed long ago, 'but what about Wolves? I've never even liked wolves.'

Anyway, Haalfrin's golden spirit threads snake out into the forest, and they're drawn naturally to a flock of crows roosting peacefully in the trees. They're all awakened by Haalfrin's outstretched spirit, and they immediately answer his call.

At the same time, a few wolves had actually drawn closer to the baron's estate, attracted by the scent of blood. They, too, raise up their heads to howl at the sky before they set off to track down the runaway mage.

…Of course, Haalfrin has no intention of throwing these animals' lives away trying to kill a mage they can't win against. Instead, he just needs them to find the mage and learn where he's going.

Some of the wolves catch the man's scent almost immediately, and they bound tirelessly in Kirst's direction. Unfortunately for the crows, it's nighttime, and they don't have adequate dark vision. Soon after they answered Haalfrin, the mage has to let them retire back to their roosts, as they keep flying into each other and literally have no idea where they're going.

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Kirst finally reaches the horse he used to get here, and he nearly runs it to death going up towards the mountains – far away from any settlement Haalfrin knows of…

… And behind the man are scores of feet silently pitter-pattering behind him, and dozens of yellow eyes bobbing up and down as they chase him down silently in the night.

Wolves have freakish stamina, and they can run fast – around 40 miles per hour. They can do this for a couple of miles before they have to slow down their pace by trotting. Then, they can get back to sprinting again. Going at this pace, wolves can travel about 30 miles a day, though some species can go a LOT further than that.

Either way, the wolves have no problem keeping up with the mage and his magically enhanced horse…

The entire stressful ride to his hidden manor, Kirst is wondering anxiously, 'How did that man find out where Jerri is? He couldn't have tortured it out of the baron, since not even the baron knows… well… KNEW where I live.'

(…Of course, Haalfrin really never knew either; he was just bluffing. Haalfrin knows full well that people slip up and make mistakes when they're afraid. If Kirst slips up, then it would be easier to catch him. Beyond that, Haalfrin really doesn't have a plan; he can think of something when he catches up to Kirst.)

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Within an hour, Kirst finally catches sight of his manor resting on a crevice between two hills. 'The place looks clean and tidy…,' Kirst notes, 'but I won't let appearances fool me again.'

Fearful of an ambush, Kirst lights off his horse and goes to the front door. In case there's an ambush, he doesn't want to just stride into his house. At the same time, he deeply doesn't want to terrify his lover by kicking the door down with a fireball in his hands.

And so, Kirst knocks on the door warily and waits anxiously for any signs of movement.

Being confronted by silence and fearing the worst, Kirst is about to kick the door down, when the creaky door swings open. A slender, pale white hand grabs him by the scruff of his neck and yanks him in. An effeminate voice purrs out, "I haven't seen you in so long…"