George concentrated on dimming the spectral illumination, much as he’d done while stalking the party of adventurers some time ago. The ploy had worked perfectly back at the abandoned inn, and had also allowed him to jump from one body to another undetected. Well, except for the wolf which had been guarding the wizard. Even when he was dimmed the creature could see him. Thankfully the beast was dead and no longer a threat. The dragon, on the other hand, was far from that status. After rendering himself invisible—he held out a hand to make sure his effort to dim had been successful—the crimson monster continued to stare right at him! Apparently the dragon was imbued with similar abilities to the wolf in regards to seeing supernatural beings. Just what I need, more complications!
Although the mythical creature could obviously see him, it made no hostile moves and continued to watch him suspiciously. The pause gave George the time he needed to come up with a solution. Picking a spot on the wall of the stone spire that was near the anomaly, he sped toward it and hoped there was an empty space on the other side. In the few seconds it took him to traverse the distance, he realized that if there was someone on the opposite side of the wall they could raise an alarm and alert the wizard to his presence. When George passed through the stone he was greeted by blissful silence. There were lit torches jutting from the wall nearby, casting dancing shadows on the stone, but no movement otherwise. He waited and listened, hoping the dragon would find something else to occupy its attention.
Several minutes went by before he finally heard the sound of the beast’s wings fading into the distance. Even so, George knew he must be careful. The giant beast had shown itself to be crafty and it could just be a ploy to get him to reveal himself. As such, he didn’t fully commit to going through the wall again, despite how curious he was to study the strange anomaly. At first, only his disembodied head poked through the stone. Once he was satisfied that the dragon had truly left the area, the remainder of his body followed. A soft grunt came from the direction of the odd, bubble-shaped object on the ground. Being this close to it, George thought it looked like it could be a portal … or perhaps some sort of magical trap. Then, a raspy voice drifted from it, one that seemed vaguely familiar.
“No, stay away from me, you foul thing.” Brian barely managed to get the words out. It was quite apparent that something evil was extremely close to him. His lungs felt like the air had been sucked out of them and his eyes had clouded over so much that he felt like a blind man.
George looked at the broken shell of a man and couldn’t help but laugh. Although the shaman’s limbs were contorted in such a way as to suggest they were pretty much useless, and blood bubbled from his lips in an indication of his internal injuries, none of that mattered. What did was the fact that the red-haired man was someone the wizard trusted. Everything else was just trivial window dressing, which would help lend believability to the act.
In hopes of alerting Skarr to this new threat, or any of his friends if they were still nearby, the shaman attempted to cry out. Barely a sound escaped his lips before George merged his spirit with Brian, immediately stepping forward to take firm control over the broken man’s body and mind.
Chapter 16
An explosion shook the ground as Edward entered the stone spire with Katie in his arms and Julie a step behind him. Despite the urge to set the aging woman down on the floor so he could run outside to check on Skarr, the labored breathing that had become more pronounced in the last few minutes prevented him from doing so. He was more worried at the moment about Katie’s ability to stay alive long enough for him to reach a god who could possibly reverse the curse than of the ancient dragon’s uncanny resourcefulness and her capacity for destroying enemies. After all, she hadn’t lived for thousands of years by being naïve and weak.
The wizard paused briefly and gave his eyes a chance to adjust to the dimly lit interior of the tower. Torches adorned the outer wall of the structure, but the light they cast upon the vast open spaces provided no more illumination than a flickering candle. Even so, it was enough for him to make out a staircase to his left, which spiraled upward into complete darkness. Normally he would have used a spell to give him the light he required to see where he was going, but doing so while carrying Katie was impossible. At least, without catching her clothing on fire. He knew that ascending the stairs was likely his best hope for finding the gods, though without a light source it was more probable that a missed step would cause him to plummet to his death. The mere thought of the possibility brought on a pang of sorrow, knowing that Brian lay in a crumpled heap outside after his fall from Skarr’s back. The red-haired shaman was a vital part of the group, one that had bailed them out of trouble more times than Edward could count.
Keeping one shoulder on the outer wall to guide him, the wizard began to climb the staircase. It seemed like only moments before he’d ascended beyond the reach of the torchlight below. He let out a heavy sigh as he slowed the ascent to a crawl. It bothered him greatly that he couldn’t look down at Katie to see if she was still conscious and breathing. The only thing he could rely on now was the slight movement of her body as her lungs expanded and contracted. The exertion of the climb made that task difficult. He couldn’t distinguish the difference between her breathing and the pulsing of his blood, pounding in his veins like a thousand tiny drummers banging their instruments at once.
Edward had nearly given up hope of reaching help for Katie when an erratic light shined up from somewhere below. As he carefully rotated his head to see what the new light source was, he almost shouted in exultation. “Amber!” Within seconds the spirit was on the stairs beside him. “Thank the gods! I wasn’t sure if I’d ever see you again.” In his opinion she should have been relieved, perhaps even happy to be near Katie again, but the telltale pulsing of her glow said otherwise. She was extremely nervous about something, possibly afraid.
“I had a difficult time keeping up with you guys when you were flying on the dragon,” she admitted. “I’m thankful that I reached you while you’re still drawing breath.”
“We are a resilient bunch.” The wizard chuckled, but the ghostly woman didn’t share his mirth.
“This is no time for jokes,” Amber scolded. “Danger, and likely your death, closes in on you from every imaginable angle. If you are going to save Katie, you need to be quick about it. The sooner you can accomplish that and eliminate a distraction, the better the odds you and your friends will survive this night.”
Edward sighed deeply, feeling chastised. “Will you light our path and lead us to the gods?” He asked the question humbly, with a sense of renewed urgency.
Amber turned away and started the upward journey. Her disembodied voice floated back to the wizard as he resumed the long climb. “Let me know if I get too far ahead.”
For several minutes, the only sound came from the scuff of the sorcerer’s boots on the stone steps and the limping scrape, clomp of Julie’s gait as she tried to keep pace. Then, Amber stopped. She didn’t need to explain why. The butchered bodies of at least a dozen, possibly more, armored men were scattered on the stairs. Their severed and bloody limbs were a gruesome reminder that even inside of the tower, Edward and his friends weren’t safe.
Although most of the blood appeared to have soaked into the steps and begun to dry, small patches of wetness were visible under Amber’s glow. “There isn’t a safe path through this carnage. I would advise you to clear the obstacles from the stairs before we continue in order to prevent one of you from accidentally slipping and falling to the bottom of the tower.”
It was obvious to Julie that the ghost’s instructions were meant for her. She waited for Edward to flatten himself against the outer wall, then limped past him. The task was repulsive to say the least, and she nearly vomited several times as she flung the cleaved limbs over the edge of the stairs. The noise they made when they struck the floor at the bottom of the tower wasn’t half as bad as the sickening splats that the torsos made. The eviscerated trunks were not only b
ulky and more difficult to move, but the slick innards which spewed from them would fling blood everywhere as they tumbled off the stairs, splattering almost every inch of Julie in gore. She did her best not to think about her appearance, although she probably looked like someone from a horror movie she’d watched in another lifetime … one in which the main character was doused with a bucket of pig blood. At this point, Julie wasn’t sure if she ever wanted to go back to the bottom of the spire, even if she did manage to survive long enough for the return trip to be an option.
Once the last obstacle was out of the way, Amber began to lead them upward again. Julie’s queasy stomach didn’t start to settle until they were beyond the crimson stains. The next several minutes were deathly quiet. The only sound was the rattling echo of their breathing. By the time Edward noticed there was a strange luminescence just ahead of Amber’s position, he wasn’t sure if Katie was still alive. The barely detectable rise and fall of her chest had become so weak that there was only one other way he could tell. He stopped climbing the stairs for a moment and used the ghostly illumination to study the aging woman’s features. Gently, he shook her. For a few seconds he feared the worst. Then her eyelids fluttered open weakly, as if it took all of her energy to look up at him. Her mouth gaped slightly, as if she were attempting to talk. No sound passed between her lips, however.
While Edward was focused on Katie, Julie squeezed past him to investigate the strange glow beyond where Amber had stopped. It was obvious that whatever lay just ahead of the ghost was something which made her nervous. The fact that Amber’s phosphorescence had grown similar to a strobe light only heightened the blonde woman’s curiosity. There was no sound coming from farther up the stairs, so why was the ghostly woman acting as if she was terrified? Was the mysterious illumination created by a more powerful, and possibly malevolent, spirit? For a second, Julie hesitated. Was it possible that Mr. M. had shown up from beyond the grave to finish what he’d started? If it was, how could anyone in the group put an end to his madness without Brian’s help?
It took a few moments to shake her own trepidation. After finally gathering the courage to continue toward the anomaly, Julie limped past Amber. When the cause of the glow came into view she exhaled loudly, the rush of air from her lungs shattering the silence and breaking Edward’s intense concentration on the rapidly aging woman in his arms. His gaze snapped up as he attempted to locate the source of the noise. He immediately noticed Amber’s pulsing form, but for a brief instant he couldn’t find Julie and he began to panic.
“Julie?” Edward paused for a second, then became impatient when the blonde woman didn’t respond right away. “Where are you?”
“I’m up here,” she replied. “You need to come see this.”
The wizard started to climb again, but hesitated when he reached Amber. He opened his mouth to ask her to step aside, then quickly closed it. She’s a ghost, you idiot. She doesn’t need to move out of your way, just walk right through her. As Edward rounded the curve in the staircase Julie came into view. It took a few seconds for the scene in front of her to get his attention. Once again, the stone steps appeared to be littered with carnage. Although, this time it was different. Instead of the strewn body parts from their previous encounter, these individuals seemed as though they’d been cooked.
The air inside of the tower was cool, so it was difficult to be certain whether the mist rising from the corpses was smoke or steam. Every body on the stairs was nothing more than a blackened husk. It seemed apparent that these people had not been part of the group who’d been dismembered below. What remained of their armor bore no similarity to the shredded and blood-soaked garments the others had worn. It seemed likely that the scorched soldiers had killed the maimed individuals below, but Edward hadn’t the first clue why the warriors would slaughter a small group of obviously unarmed men and women. Unless, of course, it was the Black Knight’s doing. If that was the case, then these people had gotten what they deserved.
Julie could tell by the look on the wizard’s face that he was deep in thought, probably contemplating scenarios. She returned her attention to the seared bodies blocking their path, her cheeks puffing out slightly as she blew out a sigh, knowing it would be up to her to clear the stairs again. At least it didn’t seem like it would take as much effort this time, and the task would be far less likely to make her blow chunks. It should only be a matter of using her injured foot to push the charred remains over the side of the steps because most of the flesh had been cooked away, kind of like the shriveled black disks that used to be commonplace when her dad had grilled hamburgers. The likelihood that she would never see her parents again brought tears to her eyes.
As she desperately attempted to keep sadness from overwhelming her, Julie closed her eyelids and tried to focus on something else. In moments her emotions did a complete flip-flop, the depressing thoughts giving way to an anger unlike anything she’d ever felt. When she opened her eyes the physical pain she’d been feeling had vanished like a bad dream. Apparently, that whole myth of mind over matter was real. She began kicking corpses over the edge of the staircase as if she were brushing a child’s toys from her path. After the first body tumbled into the darkness below, Julie realized what had been causing the glow she had originally come to investigate. A bluish hue radiated from a sword nearby, and when she swept another body off the stairs she found another. Apparently this small army of men had been carrying weapons imbued with magic, for what other explanation could there be for the eerie appearance of the weapons?
Her head still filled with savage emotions, Julie bent down and snatched up a glowing sword with each hand. Instantly, her sentiments switched from anger to an all-encompassing rage. Amber’s disembodied voice screamed behind her, but Julie didn’t hear it. An insatiable thirst for blood was all she could focus on.
“Julie, no!” Amber wailed with despair, knowing that she should have warned the blonde woman before she’d picked up one of the blades.
***
In the throne room of the tower, Zeus struggled to raise his head from the floor as the commotion on the stairs drifted to his ears. The wound he had suffered at the hands of his son’s man could have been a death blow, but thankfully the belief of his followers was at least enough to keep him alive. Without the aid of Asclepius, however, the injury would never heal. He was weak, and that would not change unless his faithful could track down the wayward God of Medicine. In light of the new disturbance in the stairwell, the prospect of regaining his power and stature was bleak.
His eyes moved over the congregation of white-robed men and women between himself and the chamber’s entrance. They were frightened, and rightly so. His followers were peaceful people, not warriors. The sounds coming from the stairway only heightened their terror. Even so, Zeus knew that if he asked them to investigate, they would sacrifice their lives to do his bidding.
With this in mind, Zeus cleared his throat to get their attention. His voice sounded like that of a frail old man as he addressed his people. “Despite the deception of Ares that brought all of you to this world, your presence is likely what allows me to continue drawing breath. By the way events have transpired since your arrival, I am guessing that my son brought you here to slaughter you. So far, his devious plot to overthrow me as the King of the Gods has backfired on him. However, we cannot be content with this minor victory. Surely he will make another attempt on my life in the very near future, and there is only one viable option I can foresee that may see us victorious once more.”
Speaking to his people took great effort. Apparently, when he’d been stabbed in the back the blade had perforated a lung. He continually gasped for air while blood bubbled between his lips, spraying a fine crimson mist from his mouth with each exhalation. Even so, Zeus had to finish the instructions to his followers before he could rest. The men and women watched him patiently, although it was difficult to maintain concentration when an unknown threat approached. Many that were near the room’s exit cast
nervous glances toward the aperture.
After catching what little breath he could, Zeus continued. “It pains me to ask this of you, but I believe the best course of action is to have all of you go back to the portal that brought you here and return to Earth. I need you to do whatever is necessary to find Asclepius. If you succeed, let him know how dire my need is for his help and then bring him to me.” In his oxygen deprived state, Zeus fought to remain conscious. Hesitant though they may be, his followers rose to their feet and made their way to the stairs. It was the last thing Zeus saw before collapsing to the floor. Their backs blurred, then everything went black.
Chapter 17
Although none of Zeus’ followers were violent people, their hands were forced shortly after their deity had asked for their help. As they rose to do their god’s bidding, a crazed, sword-wielding blonde woman appeared within the arch that led to the winding staircase and their way out of the tower. Shouts echoed up the stairs from below, pleading for someone named Julie to come back. The glint of insanity in the woman’s eyes spoke volumes to her intentions. She wasn’t entertaining the thought of retreat. Her hungry expression said only one thing would satisfy her … the blood of anyone who dared stand against her! The irrational look on her face gave Zeus’ followers the impression that she’d like nothing more than to bathe in the crimson liquid which gave them life.
The glowing weapons in Julie’s hands were intimidating, especially when considering that the white-robed men and women had nothing to defend themselves with. They were peaceful people who hadn’t wielded anything more dangerous than farming implements in their lives. They were more used to fighting their battles with words, not physical violence. Confronted with an adversary who was obviously not going to show mercy, however, they would be forced to engage the woman with any means necessary if they had any hope of reaching the portal and traveling back to Earth to find Asclepius.
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