Realm of the dead, p.26
Realm of the Dead, page 26
part #1 of Empire Paladin Series
-BOOM- -BOOM- -BOOM-
The sorceress disappeared and reappeared as she fled, covering greater expanses of ground at each reappearance. Nonetheless, the ghastly speed of the hell dog was apparent as it quickly closed in on the sorceress, it’s snapping jaws narrowly missing Fausta just as she teleported away.
Still screaming, Fausta teleported near some of the paladins that were engaged in battle. “Get this goddamned hellhound off of me!” she demanded as she appeared, the ubiquitous sound of air displacement accompanying her arrival.
The paladins turned their attention to the oncoming demon and sent holy rays of light from their weapons at the hellhound. Streaks of the blazing light sliced into and through the demon’s body tearing massive holes in its flesh. It lurched and then fell to the ground, smoke rising from its corporeal husk as it turned to smoking cinders.
Fausta thanked her rescuers profusely before returning to the immensely gratifying business of burning undead corpses.
* * *
With renewed strength and determination, Talitha sprang back to her feet. Vhaldrynn had regained his footing and was advancing on the paladins, furious at being denied his kill.
“Talitha! Atrael! Hurry! Put an end to him!” yelled Camila. She was smashing undead and demons alike as they attempted to come to their master’s aid.
Talitha and Atrael advanced on Vhaldrynn together, determined to put an end to his corrupted life. Vhaldrynn brought both of his swords up to welcome their attack. Slashing and parrying their strikes, he seemed a whirlwind of gleaming steel. He was undeniably a match for the two of them. Talitha and Atrael, two highly skilled warriors within the paladin Order, could not land a single blow. Vhaldrynn dodged, whirled, and gave ground as needed, then countered with a blur of lightning-fast steel.
Just as Vhaldrynn seemed to be cornered, he sprang towards Talitha knocking aside her swing and kicked her in the side causing her to fall to the ground. Atrael, seeing Talitha fall, overextended himself in an attempt to strike Vhaldrynn and realized too late his error. Vhaldrynn dodged Atrael’s swing and brought one of his blades into Atrael’s side with a distinct tearing of chain mail and flesh. The strength went out from Atrael’s legs and he collapsed to the earth, his hand at his wounded torso. Blood began to flow freely between the steel fingers of Atrael’s gauntlet.
Shocked, Talitha could only gape at Atrael in horror. “Atrael…no…no…no,” she gasped trying to deny what she just witnessed.
Vhaldrynn spun about and brought his swords back to bear. He started towards the prone Talitha intent on making sure she did not escape death this time.
* * *
Irina Antal guided her stallion along the outer edge of the undead army; the demon, Nehpaz, leading some yards ahead of her master to secure the path. Irina’s fellow spellcasters and their demonic minions were also moving along the outer edge of the zombie host. The demon-conjurers intended to flank those damnable sorcerers, who were raining so much destruction down upon the undead army, and introduce them to a world of pain.
Irina watched a massive fireball roll through the shambling corpses turning everything in its path instantly into ash. Whichever sorcerer conjured that monstrosity would need to be dealt with quickly. Irina instructed her fellow spellcasters to send their demons into the path of the fireball. The sorcerer would certainly be in for an unwelcome surprise when the demons came charging out of the fireball.
Irina watched carefully and then saw her target. A mage in a bright, crimson dress and brilliant, red hair began running away as if the hounds of hell were upon her; which was precisely the literal truth. The sorceress began to teleport around the battlefield as paladins rushed to aid her. Irina kicked spurs to her stallion’s sides. This sorceress would not be for this world much longer.
Irina closed the distance to the nettlesome mage. Nehpaz closed it much quicker. The demon would put an end to the irritating sorceress before she knew what hit her. Irina had met several wizards in her lifetime and most lacked the necessary command of magic to defend themselves against a demon. Irina did not anticipate the outcome of this battle to be any different.
Irina was wrong.
The sorceress was good, Irina reluctantly had to admit. The red-robed mage must have detected the demon coming for her as she conjured up several walls of earth and cyclones into the path Nehpaz was taking. Invisibility didn’t protect Nehpaz from massive area spells. Irina commanded Nehpaz to retreat so as to plan their next attack.
* * *
Fausta sensed the demon just in time. Damn warlocks! God, how she hated warlocks and their demons. At least she had some spells that would work against those hellspawn.
Fausta conjured several more cyclones until it seemed as if there were a forest of spinning vortexes creating a wall of protection. She could no longer sense the demon. It must have retreated.
* * *
Irina saw her opening in the wall of twisting cyclones. It was all she needed. The silly mage was too busy searching about for the demon. Irina sent a green bolt of energy through the spinning tornadoes. The vexatious sorceress would never be able to react in time.
* * *
The spell hit Fausta squarely in her side. She screamed as she was knocked to the ground by the force of the spell. She scrambled quickly to her feet and looked wildly about searching for the next attack. Then the most hideous sensation swept over her body like a wave crashing upon a shoreline. It was the sensation of things crawling under her skin. And as Fausta looked down at her hands and arms, there were things crawling under her skin.
“There are things crawling under my skin!” she shrieked.
As she watched in horror, one of those things ripped through the skin of her arm and burst into view, spewing spots of blood. It was tiny, green toad and it hopped about on her arm.
Fausta shrieked again and batted wildly at her arms. More of the tiny, green toads began bursting through her skin. Completely losing control, Fausta fell to the ground rolling and writhing as she swatted furiously at the tiny and slimy toads that squirmed over and under the skin of her entire body.
* * *
Irina smiled evilly as she watched the floundering sorceress. She especially enjoyed that spell at it rendered the spellcaster helpless due to the fact that said spellcaster was too preoccupied with swatting miniature toads than preparing to defend themselves.
Irina’s demon, Nehpaz, moved in for the kill.
* * *
A paladin, perhaps the same paladin that had saved Fausta from the hellhound earlier, caught sight of the sorceress in distress and rushed to her aid. He sent a ray of healing light at the thrashing mage, its restorative power instantly removing the curse from Fausta’s body. The tiny, green toads disappeared and nothing else moved under Fausta’s skin. The bloody wounds where they had burst through the skin were also healed.
The paladin ran over to where Fausta lay upon the ground.
“Are you all ri—,” was all he managed to say before Nehpaz ripped his throat wide open, nearly decapitating the holy knight.
* * *
Irina continued spurring her horse towards the mage. She saw the paladin come to the sorceress’s aid, saw Nehpaz nearly take his head off. That would be the claws of nearly half a foot in length that the demon possessed. Wicked, nasty things. It only delayed the inevitable. The sorceress would be next.
* * *
Fausta shrieked as she saw the paladin’s throat opened wide; blood spurting out in streams. She did not wait around to see what had caused that.
-BOOM-
She teleported herself in an instant almost fifty yards from where she lay. Then she cast an apparition spell. Five other Faustas joined her on the battlefield.
Fausta was stunned. “Which one is me?!” she exclaimed as she experienced a moment of vertigo at seeing the multiple images of herself. The five other Faustas also inquired in unison “Which one is me?” at the same exact moment that Fausta uttered the question; looking about at the other Faustas with confused faces.
If Fausta had to be honest with herself—and she was being honest with herself—these were extremely well-done, life-like apparitions. Easily, some of the best she’d ever seen or created. When she recounted this spellcast to her fellow sorcerers, she planned to describe the absolute expert quality—with particular emphasis on expert—of the apparitions she’d conjured. No, better yet, masterful quality!
* * *
Irina growled in disgust. This mage had to be the most irritating, the most infuriating, the most annoying sorceress Irina had ever had the displeasure of doing battle against. She couldn’t tell which of the six mages was the real mage. Irina sent a few spells at several of the six sorceresses. Luckily, Nehpaz would not be fooled by such magic and ferret out the real mage quickly. Already, Irina sensed the demon making for one of the mages on the right.
* * *
Fausta sensed the demonic presence coming at her. Dammit, the apparition spell must not work on demons either; or possibly the hellspawn had just made a lucky guess. Oh, how she hated demons!
Let’s see how well demons fly, Fausta thought as she looked up into the sky.
-BOOM-
She teleported herself two hundred yards straight up into the air. Casting her levitation spell, she then began to drift slowly back towards the ground. Fausta quickly scanned about for the warlock. That would be the best way to get rid of the demon. If she could kill the warlock, the demon would be unable to remain in this realm. It would be pulled back into the netherworld.
* * *
Irina watched as the mage teleported up into the sky just as Nehpaz was closing in on her. This fight was taking too long and Irina didn’t want to run the risk of any additional paladins coming to the aid of the sorceress. She wheeled her stallion around to retreat just as bolts of ice and lightning began smashing into the earth around her.
Irina jerked the reins of her stallion this way and that to avoid the spells that were being directed at her. She was a very skilled horse rider and knew the right direction to send the steed to avoid the onslaught of magic. It was really a combination of anticipating where and when the next magic bolt was being sent, as well as sensing the spell-power being cast in her direction.
Irina didn’t doubt for an instant that she’d make it back to the safety of the undead army. That was until her horse’s left foreleg stumbled into a hole in the ground, buckled, and snapped like a tree branch. Irina was sent flying over the stallion’s head and crashing into the earth.
As Irina rolled across the ground, she realized that she would not be able to avoid the next magic bolt. She came to a stop, jumped to her feet, and looked up. Sure enough, an ice spell was coming straight for her. She would have no time to leap out of the way.
The ice bolt hit Nehpaz just before it would have struck Irina. It instantly turned the demon into an ice statue. The demon had sacrificed itself for its master, or more accurately, Irina had sacrificed her demon to save her own life. Irina did not wait around to see what would happen next. She dashed towards the undead army as fast as her feet could carry her.
* * *
Fausta absolutely enjoyed the sight of the demon turned into a statue of ice.
Oh, sweet revenge!
This was a spell that worked quite well on demons. She then conjured a cyclone that lifted the frozen demon many hundreds of feet into the air. The icebound hellspawn then fell to the earth, shattering into thousands of ice shards as she hit the ground. Without a corporeal form to maintain her in this world, Nehpaz dissipated back into the netherworld.
* * *
Irina saw her demon break in countless shards and then evaporate like smoke back into the netherworld.
What a waste!
If Irina attempted to re-summon Nehpaz back into this world, it would be a hideously difficult task. Nehpaz would be absolutely enraged at having been killed in this world.
Like a demon possessed thought Irina sardonically.
Nehpaz would certainly be in no mood to again be the minion of the same demon-conjurer responsible for her demise. Such a summoning would be extremely dangerous and might result in Irina’s death should Nehpaz be strong enough to turn upon her.
But Irina would worry about that later. She had barely escaped with her life. The demon-conjurer ran into the dubious safety of the undead army.
* * *
Camila saw Atrael collapse from his wound and despair nearly buckled her knees. She knocked half the head off of a charging demon and then began running towards her friends. She could sense the undead swarming, surging to the aid of their master, but the chance to destroy Vhaldrynn would be now or never. Vhaldrynn started towards Talitha and raised a sword to deliver a killing blow. Her legs churning, Camila leapt and swung her warhammer at Vhaldrynn’s armored carapace. The flat, blunt end of her weapon caught Vhaldrynn on his left shoulder sending out a shower of sparks as the metal clashed against metal. Vhaldrynn’s armor bent and folded inward where the warhammer connected, the force of the blow causing Vhaldrynn to pitch forward over and beyond the prone Talitha. Then something solid and immense struck Camila from the side knocking her to the ground.
* * *
Talitha scrambled backwards as Vhaldrynn started towards her. He was so fast. She was no match for him. She would not regain her feet in time to defend herself. He was already raising his sword in what would surely be a strike that would end her life. She feebly raised her own sword hoping to deflect the killing blow.
Vhaldrynn was starting his swing when Camila’s warhammer struck him solidly in the back and he was thrown forward beyond Talitha. Talitha did not wait for another chance. She leapt to her feet and rushed at Vhaldrynn.
Dazed and knocked to the ground, Vhaldrynn was nonetheless supremely aware of his surroundings. He spun onto his back, bringing his blades up to meet the charging paladin.
* * *
Hitting the ground hard, Camila rolled several times, her armor clattering, finally coming to a rest on her side. Her helm had been knocked loose from her head. She looked to see what had hit her with such force. Crouched several yards away and making as if to spring, was a demon the size of a lion with a head resembling some abominable offspring between a human and a snake. It hissed at her, flicked a monstrously long tongue, and launched itself at Camila. She swung her warhammer into the side of its head as it came forward and then hit it with a blast of holy light from her open palm. The demon shrieked and writhed upon the ground. Not bothering to make sure of its demise, Camila jumped to her feet and ran towards her friends.
The undead were teeming up the hilltop, on the brink of crashing down upon them like a wave of rotting, dead, flesh. Camila slammed her warhammer onto the ground sending out a blast of holy fire that turned this wave of undead into smoldering charcoal, momentarily stemming the tide.
* * *
Talitha stopped herself just in time to keep from being skewered by Vhaldrynn’s blades, and then stepped back out of his range. He got to his feet and smiled at her.
“You would have become a master of the sword given time, perhaps one of the best,” he taunted her. “You will make an excellent addition to my army upon your death.”
He lunged at her, his blades whirling and slashing. Talitha frantically blocked and deflected his strikes with her sword and buckler shield.
He’s so ungodly fast!
She knew that her only chance was to gamble and step into the mesh of whirling steel. She sprang forward and slashed at the forearm of Vhaldrynn’s right arm. Astoundingly, the blow landed and cut into Vhaldrynn’s flesh, muscle, tendons. With nothing to maintain the strength and grip on that blade, it fell from his hand.
Vhaldrynn’s second blade was still in motion. He knew not to stop a swing just because he had been wounded. His second blade would sink into the heart of this paladin. But Talitha anticipated that strike. She brought the buckler to her side and the sword was harmlessly deflected inside between their two torsos.
Talitha grabbed Vhaldrynn’s left wrist with her hand and then brought her weight into Vhaldrynn’s sword hand. The blade of Vhaldrynn’s remaining sword deflected from the buckler shield so that the point became directed at his own chest. As Talitha heaved her weight into his sword hand, the blade cut through his chain mail shirt and into his sternum.
Vhaldrynn stumbled backwards, groaning, not believing the sight of his own sword sticking out from his torso. Talitha brought her buckler shield back and lunged forward. She swung the buckler shield with full force into the pommel of Vhaldrynn’s sword, ramming the blade of the weapon completely through Vhaldrynn and out of his back. His body became as rigid as steel before he fell to the earth, unmoving.
* * *
Camila straightened up from slamming her warhammer into the ground and was intent on joining Talitha’s side. Then she sensed the presence behind her. It was a presence she knew all too well. She turned to see the figure coming across the battlefield towards her.
* * *
Talitha ran to Atrael and helped him to sit up. Blood was streaming through his fingers and from his mouth. He coughed and spat up globs of blood.
“Stay with me, Atrael. Don’t you dare die on me,” Talitha begged him.
Atrael managed to smile ruefully at her. “I…I should have tried to heal my own wound, but I was frozen…almost like I forgot that I had the ability.”
“It happens to the best of warriors in battle. With more experience, you’ll overcome it,” Talitha assured him.
She pressed a hand to his wound and a radiant, holy light sprang from her fingers into his side. Flesh was renewed and the wound ceased to flow with blood. “My healing abilities are just awful, Atrael. Nowhere near as effective as your own. I hope it will keep you alive until a master healer can take a look at you.”
Atrael poked at his side. “Actually Talitha, I think you’ve done quite well. There’s very little pain.”
