Light and Darkness

Aurei and Eleazar desperately battle Thantus in the snow, but will they succeed in defeating him?

42.

Light and Darkness

 

 

 

Eleazar was valiantly holding his own against the Death Knight.   The undead warrior had managed to pull his own personal sword from his scabbard by the time the Elf reached him.   Thantus’ sword resembled somewhat the dark sword he wielded, but from the Death Knight’s extremely cautious defensive stance, Eleazar knew that Thantus’ sword was not on par with the weapon he used.

Still the Death Knight was a formidable opponent; his swordsmanship was blindingly fast and accurate.   But no strike got past him and he could sense Thantus cringing when the tip of the dark sword came toward him.  

The light from Aurei’s sword had illuminated the area as if it were high noon on a sunny day, but Eleazar had no chance to see how her battle with Alvis went.   There came a blast of fierce wind, causing both Thantus and Eleazar to stumble in the blast.   Thantus frantically clawed to get back to his feet, using his sword as a crutch to regain his footing.   Eleazar saw his chance and swung his sword at the Death Knight’s sword.   There was a loud sucking noise and suddenly Thantus’ sword was gone, sending him sprawling backwards into the snow.   Again he had disarmed the Death Knight.   Eleazar was quickly trying to stand in the hurricane wind so he could take advantage of the Death Knight’s loss of his weapon, when there came an ear-ringing crack of thunder.   All at once he had no control over his muscles, and he felt himself jerking and twitching as his heart raced.   He fell backwards in the snow, catching a glimpse of his opponent as he fell.   Thantus was engulfed in electricity and seemed frozen in the act of getting up, though his body did not jerk or twitch.  

The gale force wind suddenly ceased, yet Eleazar felt like his muscles were only now slowly coming back under his control.  

The Death Knight, however, had completely regained movement and stood up as Eleazar just began to move.  

Thantus reached down into the snow between them as Eleazar realized in horror that he’d dropped the dark sword during the electrical assault.

“I believe you dropped this.”  The Death Knight taunted, picking up the dark sword with an evil smile on his dead lips.

 

***

 

Aurei could see the Death Knight had somehow gained the Dark sword, but she couldn’t stop or else he’d use it on Eleazar.   Thantus was raising the horrid sword to strike at him, when in complete desperation, she pointed the sword tip at the Death Knight and again brought forth lightning.   The bolt hit Thantus in the lower back and again electricity spread up and down his body.   But this time he seemed affected.   His legs jerked and he fell down flat so that he was sitting in the snow while his hands, still clutching the dark sword, shook and jumped, though they did not break their grip on the black sword.   As the electricity coursed up and down his form, occasionally some of the arcs would encounter the darkness sword and the energy would be sucked into the void at the tip of the blade.   This drained the effect off much quicker than usual, though it was enough time for Eleazar to get to his feet.

“Here!” She placed the great sword in his hands then stepped to one side, drawing her Drow longsword.

“Don’t let him hit your sword with the tip of that black sword or it will suck your weapon inside.”  Eleazar warned.

“What is it?  At the sword tip, I mean?”

Thantus stood up and answered, “Why, Duchess, it is called a Sphere of Annihilation.  It is complete and utter destruction and I know how to wield it.”

He came at them then, swinging the dark sword low and quickly in a reaping fashion so that anything it encountered would be drawn inside.  

They both backed away, stepping cautiously as the snow partially concealed the debris from the room of the airship.   But then Eleazar’s foot connected with a small chest hidden in the snow and he stumbled backwards, off balance.

Thantus moved in at once, but so did Aurei.   As his sword swiped at the half-Drow knight, Aurei managed to intercept the blow with her blade.   There was no sound as the two weapons met, but fortunately for her, her blade missed the sphere at the end of the sword’s tip.   Eleazar clawed at the ground, trying to get up in the slippery snow, and his hand scooped up a handful of jewelry that had spilled from the chest.   Aurei stood in front of him, deflecting a whistling string of attacks with her sword.   Somehow she’d kept her sword from contacting the sphere tip as she matched his whirlwind attack.  

 

He’d regained his footing and was charging in to help her, when all at once a ball of darkness surrounded the girl, generated, no doubt, by the dark sword.   She deflected a couple of more swipes at her until the Death Knight abruptly thrust out with his sword.   Blind in the ball of darkness, she was unable to see it coming.   There came a loud sucking sound and a moment later Aurei fell to the ground with a wound hole the size of a hand, neatly circular, going deep into her belly.  

Eleazar lost control at the sight.   With a roar he leapt at the Death Knight, who was still pulling his dark sword from the dying girl.   As he brought his blade down, Eleazar wished that a ball of lightning would explode upon impact.   At that same moment, Thantus brought up the end of his dark sword and light and dark touched, only slightly, both generating their magical effects.  

They felt, rather than heard, the explosion.   Both swords shattered into a thousand shards of light that were sucked into the sphere as it came free from its enchantment on the tip of the dark sword.   It fell, like a ball, directly into the face of Thantus, sucking his head and neck into the void, then continuing down through the snow, and into the earth, down, down until the enchantment ended and it shrunk in on itself with a pop.

 

 

Reviews

[Elina]

"... from his scabbard by the time Elf reached him." Not entirely sure what this was supposed to say...?

Ack! Such an intense chapter...

[Eddie Davis]

Thantus was pulling forth his own sword, not one of the swords in the Emperor's Cache, which he had been using prior to this.

[Elina]

I knew that much, but was a bit confused about the "Elf" part. Looking back at it, I'm assuming it's Eleazar you are speaking of and I think maybe "the" was left out before "Elf."

[Eddie Davis]

Ah, now I see it. I'm so poor at proofreading that I didn't see it until you mentioned what word was left out. Thanks again, you are absolutely at proofreading.