"I hope whatever is in that chest lives up to the expectations. I'd rather not put in so much effort only to end up with something as mundane as a collection of soul gems." I said to Alontar as I mounted my toad again under the respectful but clearly stunned gazes of the guards who had survived the attack.
Not that I could really blame them as watching a massive powerful man use a huge toad like creature as a mount was a disharmonious image no matter who you were.
They were professionals if nothing else though so even with their minds in confusion about the image they quickly sorted themselves out and got moving as the horses drawing the carriage were urged forward once more. Alontar rode behind the carriage while I rode in front with a detection spell running constantly. Between my passive regeneration and massive magicka pool I was barely even feeling the spells drain. For the next hour there was no sign of any more attackers but that changed at the end. My detection spell picked up a group of seven ahead and one of them was clearly a mage of some skill because they dropped all pretense of hiding the moment my spell washed over them.
"ATTACK!" A male voice roared and camouflaged tarps were tossed aside as these hidden archers took aim and unleashed a volley of arrows.
"Tiid(time)!" The word tore from my throat not like thunder but like the rattling of leaves in the wind.
Immediately my personal time sped up to such a degree the arrows were moving in slow motion to me. I narrowed my eyes and cast [telekinesis]. The arrows froze in mid air before turning around and launching far faster at the ones who loosed them to begin with.-
The shouts effect ended and there wasn't even screams as six of the seven ambushers now had arrows sank into their throats. All that was heard was the sound of six people drowning on their own blood while the final one stood horrified among them. Without skipping a beat I ripped their head off with [telekinesis]. We didn't even slow down before the would be ambushers were dead. I urged my toad forward without even acknowledging the stares leveled at my back as I led the procession.-
'Sudden ambush on foot followed by sudden ambush by archers. If the pattern holds it should next be mages to "finish" us.' I thought recognizing the strategy behind the attacks.
The first two were meant to weaken the guards and hopefully kill a few of them. Each attack was slightly more difficult to counter than the previous, especially if you were on guard for the one from before. If you expect melee attackers only to get rained on with arrows and a single mages spells you'll waste energy reacting in a panic. Even further when spells start raining down or exploding underneath you from runes you'll be wiped out without any resistance.-
Unfortunately for whoever planned this tactic this entire thing gets rendered pointless with even a single competent battle mage added to the procession. Melee attackers? Crispy or frozen? Arrows? Ward. Spells? WARD. There's a reason battle mages are always planned around first. I'm not saying there's nothing to be said for the warriors that charge forward. But when you are dealing with archers or other mages a sword comes up short a good half the time. The other half is when the battlefield itself favors those who have to get up close and personal.-
Magic and arrows are all good in an open area but in say a forest? Warriors win those battles almost always. I was an entirely different sort of beast from a normal battle mage though. Not only in terms of power but versatility as well. Any plan that didn't involve overwhelming amounts of people or power was practically doomed from the start. The expected magical ambush two hours later proved as much. It was pretty clever in truth. Delayed detonation runes along both sides of the narrow path between two cliffs that would turn the entire corridor into an inferno no normal person would walk out the other side of.-
The delay was the clever part. Because it meant you'd be dead center of the corridor when the runes went off. One second everything would be clear, the next your world was nothing but fire for however long you survived it. I detected the runes almost immediately because they were barely even concealed. The concealment was literally a coat of stone colored paint thrown over them. Anyone even slightly magically sensitive would have their neck hair stand up just by approaching the spot.-
These people were professional though and even after I lightly tapped the runes to set them off with an apprentice level firebolt they moved to more direct attacks. There wasn't a lot of them though. Exactly three in fact. They all shared the same face however though they were each wearing a mages robe in a different color. One in blue, one in white and one in red.-
"Triplets? And mages all at that? How rare." I commented as I threw up a ward that blocked the three journeyman destruction spells that they launched.
"Fuck! Why is there a mage with the target!?" The one in red cursed angrily.
"I think the noble bastard screwed us!" the one in white said equally pissed.
"Focus you two!" the one in blue barked .
"Hold fire! I don't usually do this but could you possibly just leave? I could kill you but honestly it seems like such a waste with how rare it is that siblings, much less triplets, all become mages. I can pay you too if that helps." I called casually to them.