The Attack of Ganhai Mountain by Jason Richard (fox in socks read aloud txt) 📕

noticed that the prisoner wasn't the only thing the lighting struck. Apart from him the lightning jumped from the bars to a nail on the wall. It was too specific and too accurate to be chance.
"For some reason or another the lightning was attracted to metal, which gave me an idea. I had a knife with me concealed with magic in an undetectable pocket, and since that magic was already in place removing the knife didn't activate the lightning.
"Apart from that I used the knife to remove the nails from the wooden frame of by bed and placed them in a circle around me. I used a spell to open the bars, and the electricity followed the nails, only striking around me. I will admit, it was a shot in the dark, but as I'm standing here you can be assured it worked."
Hurvun had an amused expression. "Well, I'll admit that was clever."
Leevan, still invisible, had to admit it too.
"But," said Hurvun. "That doesn't mean I'll let you live."
Leevan saw a glow in Hurvun's eyes! He acted fast, pulling off his invisibility spell and standing before Hurvun.
"You've already lost!" he cried, halting Hurvun's attack. "The spell is broken. The cyclopses will know you've been lying to them."
"Quite the contrary," said the cyclops sorcerer with chuckle. "I'll just deny it for real. The cyclopses will never believe any of you. So long as I don't tell them my real plans they'll continue to believe your people want our metal craft."
Leevan saw a sneer on Hurvun's face. Perfect.
"You enjoy deceiving your own people don't you?"
"Well, it is a bit too easy, but yes. I do. I can make them do anything I want just by making them believe something that isn't true. I can even get them to work with ogres and slefah, knowing full well what those flesh eaters are really capable of.
"Did you know? Some of those dark creatures have actually made meals of our cyclops brothers? All I had to do was put these disappearances down as work of the Ciniceros Empire, and you people get blamed. I can do whatever malicious thing I want, and just blame you for it. It's wonderful.
"And when I get my spell back I'll be able to speak openly about my plans to conquer the world, and the cyclopses will continue believing that I'm protecting our craft. What do you think of that?"
Leevan grinned. "Do you know what a scrying spell is?"
Hurvun was confused. "It exchanges the reflections two mirrors. You look in one and you see what should be reflected in the other. It's largely useless though."
"Really? What if you could also hear what was the other mirror should be reflecting?"
"Hear what's being reflected in a mirror? Well, if you ever figured out how to do it I suppose two people could talk to each other from a long distance"
"Or you can tell the truth to an armory full of cyclopses without knowing it."
"What?!" cried Hurvun, alarmed. Leevan just grinned.
Kemra took off her invisibility, revealing a small mirror. She was also grinning as she showed it to Hurvun, who looked at it horrified! The reflection was not his own face, but an armory full of cyclopses. Cyclopses who were quite angry. He could hear them shouting through the reflection.
"Dark magic has dulled your senses Hurvun," said Leevan as Hurvun looked at him. "It doesn't make you powerful. It just makes you feel more powerful. And you feel so good about that power that you can't help but boast. You just told the truth, and now the cyclopses won't follow you."
"You sneaky little man," said Maelin, grinning.
"Well done," said Kemra, putting her invisibility back on. Maelin followed her example. Normir, still chained to the wall, grinned as well.
Hurvun didn't. He looked at Leevan angrily, and said. "You'll regret this. You really will." And with that he turned towards Normir, who suddenly became afraid. Leevan understood, as he saw a glow rising in Hurvun's eye. He ran forward, shouting a name.
"Normir!"

Chapter Twenty Nine
Good Armor!

Hurvun shot lightning at Normir, who was still chained to the wall. Leevan jumped into the blast head on! Everyone in the room, Maelin, Kemra, and Normir shouted with one voice!
"Leevan!"
The bolt struck him dead in the chest! He flew backwards, landing at Normir's feet! A stayed still for a second, and then stirred. Hurvun, pleased at first, watched him with confusion as he slowly got up. He seemed perfectly unharmed!
Leevan felt the armor of his chest. It was a little warm, but other than that unscathed. He was as bewildered as anyone else, and then a voice sounded behind him.
"Oh. It worked."
Everyone, still astonished, turned to Normir, still chained to the wall. Normir, grinning, spoke so that everyone could hear him.
"Yes," he said. "I was hoping that armor would do the trick."
"You planned this?" said Leevan.
"Yes. I couldn't be certain it would protect you until it was tested, but yes I did my best to make armor that could absorb lightning. Worked like a charm didn't it?"
Hurvun, in frustration, shot another bolt of lightning at Leevan, who stumbled back, but was otherwise unharmed. The visor on Leevan's helmet fell down as he stumbled, which actually surprised Leevan as he didn't realize that piece was a visor. Still, it was a good thing it was there, as it now protected his face.
Hurvun shot a few more bolts, and Leevan just laughed, stumbling a little with each blast. Then Hurvun stopped, and looked around. Everywhere they could hear shouts, battle cries, and clangs of weapons and armor!
"You hear that?!" said Leevan. "I'm willing to bet your cyclopses are rebelling."
Hurvun looked at him, horrified, and Normir chuckled.
"The Revolution has started!" cried Normir.

General Hevman heard the cries and sounds of battle from his cell, and not long afterwards cyclopses stumbled into the room, battling with the slefah. The snake-like monsters slithered around the cyclopses, but their teeth couldn't penetrate their armor. The ogres couldn't fit in these passages, thank goodness, so here the cyclopses had the upper hand. The general couldn't help but smile.
Leevan had done it!
A cyclops came up to his cell during the battle and said, "Hurvun has deceived us! If we free you, will you help us?" he looked desperate.
"Absolutely," said the general without hesitation.
The cyclops quickly unlocked his cage, handed him a sword, and proceeded to unlock more cells. The human soldiers and magicians in those cells looked out excitedly. General Hevman shouted, "Men! It's time to end this once and for all!"
"Yeah!" cried the humans with once voice!
General Hevman lifted his sword and rushed into battle. The end of this war had finally started!

Chapter Thirty
The Battle.

General Hevman, now fully armed, rushed through the corridors, slicing every slefah he could. He cut down the giant snakes and...let the cyclopses deal with the ogres. Though the ogres swung their giant battle maces, sending cyclopses flying against the walls, they made no dent in the cyclopses' armor. The ogres were soon overwhelmed by sheer numbers.
The cyclopses had been shooting red beams from their swords, but it seemed that this accidental spell wore off, for now they couldn't. Now all they had were fancy swords, but they still cut down everything that got in their way.
The human magicians that were still alive fought as well, and the human soldiers did too. They were taking the castle from the inside out. Soon, all that was left would be Hurvun. As the general sliced the head off of a slefah, he wondered how Leevan was doing on that front.

Hurvun snarled, and unleashed a bolt of lightning at Leevan. It was hardly a bolt though, it was more like a stream of lightning that didn't let up. Leevan had trouble standing his ground. The armor absorbed the blast, but Leevan felt his armor getting hotter. He wouldn't last long if Hurvun kept this up.
He heard clinking behind him. Either Kemra or Maelin was freeing Normir. Normir didn't have his armor, naturally, but now they could get him out. Still, no one was safe with Hurvun in the room. Leevan pulled his sword out and stepped forward. The lightning blasting against his armor held him back, but he pushed himself forward one step at a time.
Hurvun growled more, and tried to strengthen his lightning, but Leevan was held back only for a moment. He continued to step forward.
Suddenly a red blast came out of nowhere and struck Hurvun, but it had no effect. Hurvun grinned as lightning still came from his eye.
"A nice spell," he said. "But I like my version better. My version is permanent."
He pointed his finger and shot a red beam where the other blast came from. Leevan heard Maelin fall with a cry! So, Hurvun had copied Maelin's spell, and made himself immune to it. Leevan couldn't help him now, but continually marched forward.
Hurvun pointed his finger at Leevan, but the red light bounced off his armor. Leevan was liking this armor more and more. However, the metal was still heating up, and it was becoming unbearable.
Hurvun increased the lightning, and Leevan groaned in pain, falling on his knee. Hurvun laughed. He laughed long and loud. Leevan scowled.
"Nothing is perfect," said Hurvun. "I'll kill you yet!"
Leevan still scowled, but he couldn't deny it. The heat was too much. If this kept up it would kill him. He would die.
And he would fail.

Chapter Thirty One
Now or Never.

"Get Normir out of here!" Leevan shouted. Kemra and Normir, to the side, looked on in horror as Leevan stumbled against the lightning. "Go!"
Reluctantly, Kemra led Leevan out of the room. Maelin was there, but he had been turned into a crippled old man by his own spell. Leevan was now alone in this fight, but that's the way it had to be. If the others tried to help they could meet the same fate as Maelin. He had to do this himself.
The lightning, still streaming against his armor, was starting to become unbearable. Leevan could barely stand in the heat. Invisibility wouldn't help him now that the lightning was already on him. His mind raced? What could he do?
He thought about the trick Maelin had used to escape from the prison; having lightning follow metal, but Leevan wasn't sure that would work. The only metal he had was his armor and sword. His armor was designed to resist lightning, and the lightning wasn't exactly following his blade.
Hurvun was grinning, enjoying Leevan's pain. Leevan understood that Hurvun controlled the lightning, not any natural forces, but if Leevan could restore the natural order he might be able to get the lightning to follow his sword and use that to his advantage.
But how?
Leevan sank to his hands. The heat was truly horrible now. Hurvun cackled. Leevan had only one shot. He formed the only spell he could think of. The lightning was supposed