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

said Leevan excitedly.
At the foot of the mountain, late at night, general Hevman said, "So?"
"So! The cyclopses are deceived by some magic into believing that this war is about metal craft! They think we really do want to steal it! And what's worse is they don't hear Hurvun's ranting about taking over the world! Normir is the only one unaffected by this talk. Don't you see! It's that fear! His spell makes them think that their fears are realities!"
Normir looked surprised. "That makes sense."
"Wait a moment" said the general. "Are you saying you can create a counter spell for this? Maybe turn the cyclopses to our side?"
"We don't even need a counter spell. If we find the source of the spell, a relic or set of symbols or something that represents the cyclops people, we can either physically destroy it...and I mean completely...or have Normir touch it."
"What?"
Leevan sighed, "The spell plays off of fear...fear that Normir doesn't have...if he touched whatever the spell is rooted it...and trust me, it would have to be rooted in something physical to make it last...it would sense a cyclops without the very fear it plays off of, be in conflict, and simply stop. The spell would be broken! It would be like replacing my ugly cloak for a pretty one. My invisibility spell wouldn't work. It's the same with this."
The general thought for a moment. Leevan and Normir waited anxiously. The general then smiled, and the other two smiled back.
"Leevan," said the general. "Good work. This gives me a new plan...with a much higher chance of success I might add. Hurvun has slefah and ogres at his command, yes, but the cyclopses are the bulk of his army. If we can win them over we can then win the day. Yes, this is good! Leevan, Normir, I have a new mission for you!"
They listened excitedly as the general spoke his new plan...but someone else listened as well. Maelin listened from behind a rock, and he was not excited. How could that loser Leevan and that cyclops be so respected by the general? Maelin thought. He slipped away, feeling quite bitter.

Chapter Fifteen
A Second Chance in War.

The sun rose over the camp. Soldiers and magicians lying on the ground in their blankets got up, ready to march up the mountain again. The soldiers were up faster than the magicians, immediately in fact, but soon everyone was awake.
All of them got ready for battle, putting on armor, making sure their weapons were ready, and finally making sure that their invisibility spells worked. The magician's cloaks had gotten torn and dirty and they still had their sun amulets so they were fine, but the soldiers needed help. Normir the cyclops helped with that, making their leather armor uglier. He even modified the headdresses on their helmets.
He left one beautiful thing with them so that the invisibility spell could work, but even then, the army was soon the fiercest looking army that anyone had ever laid eyes upon.
Amid this Leevan put on his armor. He didn't need help from Normir this time, even though it was so intricate, but it still took quite a while. When he was finished he looked at himself. He looked hideous. He took his sun amulet and clamped it into the notch that Normir had put in the chest, and he disappeared.
Perfect.
"So," said Maelin behind him. "Now the laughing stock of all magicians is getting special cyclops armor."
Leevan looked at him venomously, removing the sun amulet and reappearing.
"No one else was friendly to the cyclops," said Leevan. "There's a benefit to being friendly with people."
Maelin laughed scornfully. "Perhaps. I guess I can't call you the laughing stock of magicians anymore."
"You can't."
They stared at each other for the longest time, and Leevan knew...it wasn't over between them. They would still be feuding for a long time. However, from this point on one thing was different.
Leevan had leverage.
"Just fight well today," said Leevan.
"Oh trust me," said Maelin with a mischievous chuckle. "I will."
He walked off, and Leevan was left wondering what he meant.
"Alright!" shouted general Hevman. "We're going up now. Magicians, you've done well, but now the fighting must begin."
Again he spoke loudly and clearly, gaining everyone's attention.
"Hurvun struck a blow yesterday that killed many of us. Good men that deserved to go down fighting; not be killed by a cowards trick. And yet I say we fight fire with fire and catch him with a trick of our own, only this time we will bring the fight to him anyway!"
Cheers sounded through the crowd! And Leevan cheered along with them!
"Today!" the general cried! "Remember why you are here! Remember why you fight!"
Leevan thought of all the people that Hurvun had murdered in his quest for power, and of the cyclopses deceived. He also remembered his father, telling him to be the best he could be. He would be the best, for the sake of those they needed to protect.
"Today!" the general went on. "We look Hurvun in the eye, and I say to you, it will be he who falls! Fight for your friends! For you homes and families! Fight for victory so that they may be safe once again! For Victory!"
The army chanted, "Victory! Victory!" over and over again, in tune with the general. When the finished, Kemra stepped forward. She spoke the spell she had come up with, and then marched forward. Eventually she seemed to walk up, and into the air, and soon she was walking three feet above the ground. The army followed her.
This was it, Leevan kept thinking, they were really going up this time. Some ways up, still walking above the ground, Leevan dropped a rock he had picked up. He slid across the mountain and into an invisible hole. Hurvun's traps were still working, and they were about to walk right over them without trouble.
Leevan grinned. He kept thinking that Hurvun had better watch out!

Chapter Sixteen
A covert battle strategy.

The army reached the top of the mountain, hiding from Urachan's view. They were still walking a few feet above the ground, protected from the mountains slippery spell. They waited, watching Urachan's castle. Leevan still thought it looked like a rock with windows and a drawbridge. They waited behind the rocks, Leevan, Normir, and the general, spying on the castle, waiting for the right moment. Eventually the drawbridge started to open.
This was their chance.
"Alright Leevan, Normir," said general Hevman. "You know what to do. Find the spell and break it. When the cyclopses see Hurvun for what he really is, we'll attack."
"Right," said Leevan and Normir at once.
They wore their full body metal armor. Leevan's was as ugly as ever, and Normir had made his own uglier so that their spell could work. Leevan reached for his sun amulet, and Normir pulled out a gemstone. Before they added them to the armor, Normir looked at Leevan with his one eye gratefully.
"Thank you," he said.
Leevan smiled. He knew Normir meant that they had a chance to save Normir's people instead of fighting them. They could because Leevan had figured out Hurvun's spell. It was all thanks to him.
"You're welcome," said Leevan.
They added their amulet and gemstone to their armor, and disappeared. Invisible, they cautiously approached. A small platoon of ogres and slefah marched out. The ogres were large, much taller than a human, with rough brown skin and one hand twice as large as the other. They carried giant battle clubs in their hands, with the bigger end held in their bigger hand. The slefah were of course like cobras with the head of an eel. Once they touched the ground they didn't seem to slip down the mountain, so they must have been impervious to that spell.
Leevan and Normir snuck by them, invisible, and made it past the drawbridge and into the castle. As of that moment, the siege of Ganhai mountain had begun.

The ogres and the slefah passed by their hiding place without seeing them. When they were out of sight the army removed their beautiful objects from their hideous leather armor and reappeared. The magicians all had sun amulets, but the soldiers each had some trinket. A marble, a ring, anything.
General Hevman had a locket with a small painting of his family in it. As far as he was concerned it was the most beautiful thing in the world. He looked at the painting with his wife, three daughters and two sons, and smiled. He was fighting to protect them.
The magicians in their colorful but torn and stained robes looked about, ready for this battle, when one of them asked, "Where's Maelin?"
They looked among their ranks, but Maelin had disappeared, and unlike the rest of the army, he had not reappeared again.

Chapter Seventeen
What are you doing here?

Leevan put his armored hand on Normir's shoulder. It was the only way he could follow when they were both invisible. Their armor didn't make much noise, Normir had made certain of it. Leevan wondered at that. Cyclopses really were good with metal.
They sneaked through the palace, which was much more attractive on the inside than it was on the outside. The stone was carved ornately, and golden torches lined the walls, along with some fine tapestries. Leevan understood why the palace was like this. Hurvun made the outside look fearsome to show his enemies, but kept the inside comfortable for himself. After all, he probably didn't expect his enemies to get inside.
Leevan grinned. Being invisible no one saw it, but he grinned all the same.
They had to move quickly, and find the spell without being discovered. As it was they often had to get out of the way in order to avoid cyclopses, slefah, and ogres that marched the hallways. Leevan kept his hand on Normir's shoulder as they searched. Normir kept looking down passages desperately, and Leevan could feel his panicked movements.
"We'll find it," he whispered. "We'll save your people."
Normir calmed down, "Thank you."
They kept searching.

Maelin made it. He had found the spell before Leevan and Normir. Naturally. His eye enchantment allowed him to see that there was a magically hidden door in the wall. It looked like a normal wall, but if you reached around you would find the knob that opened it. The other two had passed right by it. Maelin, however, had entered, and now was staring at the focal point of Hurvun's spell.
In that moment, he wondered how cyclopses could stand having only one eye.
The spell was physically made of a statue of a cyclops, carved completely out of metal. It stood on a pedestal covered with various symbols of the cyclops people. No doubt the symbols, when translated, spoke of the fear of the cyclops that their metal craft would be stolen by others, and the statue represented the cyclopses and their love of metal. Yes, this had to be the spell that clouded their judgment.
He took off his sun amulet and reached his hand