Goatie Tales - [The Bored Wizard] Chapter 6 - The Broken Leash

[Goatie Tales] The Bored Wizard - Chapter 6: The Broken Leash

Hey everyone, I'm Goatie from Server 73.

This is Goatie Tales, a collection of short stories set in the world we all know, with a bit of humour and chaos mixed in.

This story is The Bored Wizard, following Merlin, an immortal who built a team to fight a threat that has apparently decided to fight back creatively.

The puppet master has been watching. Now it is done watching.

Welcome to chapter six.

Chapter Six: The Broken Leash

The attack came without warning.

Three figures crashed through the east wall like it had personally offended them. Leonidas was moving before the dust settled.

The first was enormous, sword already swinging. Genghis Khan hit the hall like a weather event. The second landed in a crouch, white light blazing, eyes burning with absolute certainty. Joan of Arc. The third walked through the hole calmly, surveyed the hall once, and said nothing. Cleopatra.

Merlin looked at all three.

"It sent us a gift," he said.

Genghis charged Leonidas immediately. Steel met shield with a crash that shook the ceiling.

Leonidas held. Joan moved for Merlin. Alexander intercepted, blade meeting hers cleanly.

"Easy," Alexander said.

Joan said nothing. Her eyes were distant, fixed on something that wasn't in the room.

Cleopatra had not moved. She stood at the edge of the chaos, watching everything. Then she looked at Merlin.

"They cannot hear you," she said.

"I noticed," Merlin replied. "Can you?"

"I hear everything," she said. "Something has been speaking to us for days. Quietly. Underneath. I followed them here to see where it was sending us."

Baldwin stepped beside Merlin. "She broke free on her own."

"Clever woman," Merlin said.

Across the hall, Genghis drove forward again. Richard moved to flank, cutting off his momentum. Genghis turned on Richard with immediate enthusiasm. Richard looked almost pleased.

Joan pressed Alexander hard, her strikes carrying conviction rather than technique. Alexander was grinning, which meant he was working harder than he looked.

"She is not here," Alexander called. "Her eyes are wrong."

"Working on it," Merlin said.

He turned to Cleopatra. "Where does it come from?"

"Beneath," she said. "Deep. Patient. It does not force. It suggests, until the suggestion becomes the only thought left."

Merlin snapped his fingers.

Blue light cracked through the hall, sharp and sudden. It hit Genghis first. He stumbled, hand going to his head. It hit Joan second. She froze mid-swing, blinked, and found Alexander's blade an inch from her face.

"Oh," she said.

Alexander lowered his sword. "Welcome back."

Joan looked at the hall slowly. "That was not my idea."

Genghis surveyed the damage around him. At Leonidas, unmarked. He let out a short sound that might have been a laugh. "Strong walls."

Leonidas looked at him. "They hold."

Merlin looked at his hall. Nine immortals. One hole in the east wall. Runes steady.

Cleopatra stood beside him. "It will try something else now."

"Yes," Merlin agreed. "It knows that did not work."

"Does that concern you?"

Merlin smiled. "It means it is running out of ideas. And we are not."

Deep below, something ancient and patient recalculated.

That is chapter six of The Bored Wizard.

Genghis arrived like a storm, Joan like a verdict, and Cleopatra walked in and understood more than anyone else in the room. The puppet master's plan backfired, and the hall now holds nine.

But it is still out there. Still patient. Still watching.

What do you think is pulling the strings? And did Cleopatra earn her place as the one who saw through it first?

Drop your thoughts below.

This is Goatie Tales, and the endgame is getting closer.