Road of Sacrifice

Aurei and Eleazar receive some unexpected help in an answer to prayer.

12.

Road of Sacrifice

 

 

Back at the caves, those assembled watched with great dread as the half-score of airships began descending slowly to the ground.   Immediately the Clerics began chanting spells of protection and defense upon the people assembled.   

 

While the Priests chanted and those that could bear arms, took up what they had or could borrow, St. Kinnis began praying for guidance in the upcoming conflict.   His soul, long attuned to the will of Yesh, kept coming back to the Drow girl, Aurei Bugley.   He knew that the Lord had a plan for her, but still her path seemed dark to him.  This greatly concerned him, for he was led to pray for her with an urgency that strongly hinted at great danger.  

“What can I do to help her?” He asked Yesh in a whisper as he stood to the side watching the frantic preparations as the airships slowly descended like spiders on a drop line.

 

“Where is Sir Eleazar?”  He heard King Haroldris ask Sir Alvis as the Knight joined the others.   Alvis wore a somber expression, “He’s gone.”

“Gone?!” The King asked in alarm and the Knight recounted the events that had just transpired.  

“They’ll still be overwhelmed.”   Haroldris groaned as he shook his head.

 

Suddenly the command to ask filled St. Kinnis’ mind.  He knew what to ask, ‘Lord, may I be allowed to assist those two young Elves?   I know my life will be endangered; I willingly offer it to you and rejoice in the chance to die for you.”

There was only a moment’s pause and it seemed to the elderly saint that a doorway opened before him.   Through the doorway was a darkness that loomed like a snarling wolf.   It was the path of sacrifice and of death; a path that both of the Drow had willingly trod down in the hopes of ending evil.   His faith in Yesh demanded that he take that road, and the elderly saint went willingly, stepping through the portal and vanishing before any of those around him could see him.

 

***

 

Aurei looked around, and finding no golem still animated, ran over to Alleania, who was sprawled atop the last Golem’s form.   She was already getting to her feet.

“Chal?”  Aurei asked her.

“He is not dead, only confined to his coffin for three days.”   Alleania said somewhat grimly as she looked around.

“Where is his coffin?”

“Here; Soric demanded that all his Vampire Lords have their coffins in this castle.   Chal’s is in a room down the hall from here.   We won’t be able to teleport out of this place until he recovers and comes forth.”

“Three days?!”

“Yes, I am truly sorry, Aurei, but I do not know the teleportation spell.”

“We’ve got to destroy Soric’s phylactery before we think of anything else or he will reform.”

“Yes, but no-one knows where he keeps it.”

“He would be very guarded with it, I would think.”

“That would make sense; he feared assassination or destruction, so he would want to know where it was at all times.”

“The most logical place to keep it would be upon him.”

“Let’s look.”

The two ran up to the Necromancer master’s corpse, still sprawled on the floor.  

“He would not want it damaged by an attack from a spell, so he’d conceal it upon himself.”   Aurei suggested and together they turned Soric’s body over.  

 

The Drow girl felt her skin crawl when she looked closely at the horrid corpse that Soric had lived in for many years.   His form was badly burnt by the effects of the Dragon acid and they could not find anything on him that resembled a phylactery.  

 

“He could have had it embedded within his body,”  Alleania said.

Swallowing back a gag at the action, Aurei used her Drow sword to cut a large incision in his chest from neck to waist.   As soon as the cut was made, a strange greenish glow seemed to pulse from within.

“What is that; it beats like a heart?”  Aurei asked, but just as they were about to investigate, the doors at the back of the room suddenly opened.

They spun around in alarm and were surprised to see Chal walking rather stiffly through the doorway, smiling.

 

“My Lord?” Alleania called, pleased but very confused, “How is it you may walk again?   Three days have not passed.”

“I will show you.” He said and began chanting a spell.

 

Something about him seemed wrong; Aurei didn’t know why, it was something about the way he walked and his expression.   It was as if someone else was walking toward them chanting, yet someone who seemed familiar.

It came to Aurei like a flash of light, “That’s not Chal! He’s-“ Before she could finish her warning, Chal finished his spell and flung four glowing orange spheres of fire at them.   They streaked across the room in an instant, giving the two Drow ladies only a moment to dive out of the way in opposite directions.

The spheres of fire exploded, filling the back portion of the room a second time with an inferno.   Aurei’s quick evasion kept her from taking the brunt of the blast but the flames still lapped fiercely at her.   Her armor protected her, but heated up in a moment’s time and she screamed in agony as she writhed on the floor.   On the other side, Alleania disappeared into a smoke-like mist, the blast being too much for her.  

 

She heard the voice of Chal laughing from across the room as she was burned horribly by the hot metal of her chainmail undersuit.

“Fools!” He roared, “Did you think I would be so easily slain?   I am Soric Potollis, master of all undead!   I have returned fire for fire, dark elf, and your companions are no more.   I have taken the body of the traitorous mage; he exists no more, and soon I will have both of his lieutenants groveling at my feet like dogs.   Alleania I knew of, but I know not who you are, Drow.   Tell me and I will shorten your suffering.”

 

Aurei could do nothing but scream in agony as her body was seared by the armor, much to Soric’s delight. 

“Cat got your tongue, Drow?   Very well then, I will let you cook some more; then perhaps you will tell me.”

 

Through the thunderstorm of intense pain coursing through her, she could hear him slowly, leisurely, crossing the room.  No doubt to enjoy the sight of her being cooked alive in her own armor.   The pain was giving way to a numbing cold when she heard running footsteps and managed to open one eye in time to see a form flash into the room.

 

“What?” Soric managed to say before he was knocked backwards from the furious slash from the Holy Sword.

It was Eleazar, his red eyes burning like the fires of Hell.

Soric had no spell quick enough to cast at such close range, but instead slammed his hand down upon the Knight.  

 

The blow of the Arch Lich knocked the half Drow to his knees, and yet he fought on, but the Arch Lich stepped out of range of the Knight’s great sword.   By the time Eleazar had risen and moved in to attack, Soric’s hands burned with yellow flames.  

Putting his thumbs together, he pointed his fingers at the advancing Paladin and fire roared forth, slamming into him.  

 

He staggered at the onslaught, but ducking his head to avoid the fire, he swiped at Soric.

His blow just grazed the Arch Lich’s arm, yet he hissed in pain from contact with the Holy Sword.

 

Aurei was beginning to feel the healing effects of Nitthum’s ring, as Eleazar with his matching ring was now within range.  

In sheer agony, she forced herself to stand, but fell sideways instead, on top of the smoldering corpse of the Lich who had taken possession of Chal’s body.

 

Soric didn’t notice her movement, for he had cast a spell that created what looked like a huge bird’s talon, which raked the half-Drow savagely, then grabbed him, pinning his arms to his side.

Aurei knew she was about out of time.   Crawling forward on knees that were still raw from the burning armor, she approached Soric’s corpse.  

The green pulsating light still came from the incision in the chest she had made, and though the fireballs that had exploded had burnt the body, it had not been consumed.  

 

She ripped the chest cavity open with nausea, yet reached in with burnt hands to paw at a fist sized box made from some sort of green gemstone that pulsed with what seemed like a heartbeat.   It had to be Soric’s Phylactery, so she pulled it free from the body.   It came with some effort, and she was reaching for her sword to smash it when the Arch lich noticed what she was doing.

 

He screamed in rage and made a throwing gesture with one hand, which caused the eagle’s talon holding Eleazar to throw the half-Drow across the room as if he were a rag doll.  He slammed into her, knocking her end over end onto the floor.  

The phylactery fell from her hands.  

Immediately the Necromancer’s master was across the room and snatched the gem-box up.   A gleeful smile crossed the face of Chal as the fiend possessing his body recovered his most prized possession.

 

Looking down at the two Paladins sprawled out on the floor, he sneered, “Thank you for retrieving that, Drow.   I would simply be lost without it, and as I believe that I like this Drow body better, I shall keep it.   But for the two of you, I’m afraid I’ll have a worse fate waiting for you… as Death Knights.   But first I’ll have to secure you away so you can no longer cause me any grief, until I decide to show you the errors of your attempted assassination.”

 

He began making strange motions with his hands, as he chanted something in a low, rumbling voice.   In the air around them, a shimmering wall of multi-colored lights began to form, and Aurei knew that this would become their prison.  

She tried to move, but Eleazar’s unconscious body had her arms pinned.   She began to push with all of her might, but he wouldn’t budge and she suddenly realized with horror that apparently the belt of giant strength that she wore had been damaged in the fireball attack and no longer functioned.  

The shimmering wall grew more and more solid as Soric chanted the spell, but suddenly someone yelled out from the back of the room.

“Soric!”   

He spun to meet the new threat and his mouth fell open in amazement.

“You!” He said in dumbfounded disbelief.  

At the entrance to the room, leaning on his staff, came the elderly form of St. Kinnis, ambling forward purposefully toward them.

“Release them, Soric, and face me, you vile worm.”

With a snarl, Soric flicked Chal’s hands and snake-like trails of blue-white lightning shot forth, enveloping the saint and knocking him from his feet.  

“Today I will destroy you!”   Soric screamed in rage as he continued to hold Kinnis in a dancing globe of crackling energy.  

Eleazar was only now regaining consciousness and Aurei called his name, begging him to awaken and move before it was too late.  
“Not today, Soric.” Came the saint’s voice from somewhere inside the cocoon of electricity, “This is the end, Soric; far too long have we lived, beyond the length of time allotted for men.”

“You have bedeviled the world for years, bringing death and fear to everyone.   Long have I tried to counter you in Yesh’s name, but now He that is Merciful demands a sacrifice to end your evil.   This I gladly make.  Lord have mercy on the two souls who lay here wounded; may my sacrifice be pleasing unto you.”

 

Aurei saw white light shining from within the ball of electricity and she knew at once what it was, as well as what the Saint was about to do.

“Laz!” She cried out in alarm, but that was all she was able to say, for at that moment, St. Kinnis, threw to the ground within Soric’s tormenting sphere of electricity, the last remaining Light of Yesh gems.  

 

There was a deadening boom, and the sensation of being flung through the air like an arrow.  At the same time there was blinding white light that seared through her.   But only for an instant, then Aurei and Eleazar were no longer there.

 

In the hall of Soric Potollis everything was consumed by the light.   The castle, the many crypts, the piled corpses used by the Guild for various necromantic reasons; it all became one with the light and vanished as if it were merely shadow.   Soric felt his phylactery melt, taking his soul with it into a screaming whirlwind fall into the very darkest, deepest pit of Hell.  

For St. Kinnis, his consumption brought the dawn of joy as he shook off his ancient body and appeared at the foot of the throne of the one he had so faithfully served for so long.  

 

In King’s Reach, all the Liches and Vampire Lords sensed the destruction of their master and for a moment paused in fear and uncertainty.   But only for a moment, then they renewed their assault.

 

 

Reviews

[Elina]

"...flung at them four glowing orange spheres..." It may sound better "...flung four glowing orange spheres at them..."
"...to his knees, but he fought on, but the Arch Lich stepped out of range ..." This sounds a bit awkward to me, with the double "but."
"Aurei knew she was about out time." I think maybe you forgot "of" here.
"...ambling forward purposely toward them." I think you were meaning "purposefully" here, instead of "purposely."

[Eddie Davis]

Thank you as always, dear Elina. I was looking at some of the formatting types used by several of my favorite fantasy books, and it looks as if all of the fantasy writers use an initial indentation any time a new paragraph is indicated. Thankfully, this is easily done in Microsoft Word to existing documents, so I'm going to try to start reposting 'fixed' chapters here soon. You've been an incredible help with your almost supernatural proofreading skills.

[Elina]

Haha! I am glad to help! I get this odd sense of satisfaction from proofreading things. As always, it is such a joy to read your writings.

[Eddie Davis]

Thank you, Elina