“What do you mean by that?” Rialta asked.
“I mean that the second we cross over this threshold,” Lorenza said, pointing through the archway into the temple proper, “all hell is going to break loose. The guardians will come from those pillars,” she said, and she gestured to the massive pillars beyond the arch. “There’s some kinda mechanism or trap door in those things, and once the trap’s been sprung, they’re going to come flying out.”
“So we need a plan,” Remmy said.
John shrugged. “I say we keep this simple. The pillars are all in front of us, so we can be sure that no attack is going to come from behind, at least when the fight starts. Nivin, Rialta, and I should run out ahead to fight. I’ll try to get in front of both of them to help keep a buffer between them and the guardians while they attack from a distance. Remmy and Lorenza, you two can work your magic from as far away as possible. I think that makes the most sense, since neither of you are capable of attacking on your own. If either of you sees a guardian breaking through our ranks, you let us know as soon as possible, and we’ll begin to retreat back toward this archway,” John said. “We’ll form a closer huddle for protection, and if we start to get overwhelmed at that point, we can retreat.”
“That’s actually a pretty solid plan,” Lorenza said, nodding.
“Don’t sound so surprised,” John said with a grin. “What do you all say? Are we ready for this?”
Nivin stepped forward and drew his swords.
“Ready, Rialta said, coming up alongside John and Nivin.
“Same,” Remmy said.
“On your signal, John,” Lorenza said.
“Go!” John shouted.
Rialta charged forward through the archway and into the temple, Nivin at her side. Just like Lorenza had predicted, a number of rushing, clattering sounds echoed throughout the temple, and trap doors shot open in dozens of the pillars all around them. Twenty massive stone guardians leapt down into the temple and began to charge toward Rialta, John, and Nivin. They were vaguely humanoid in their design, all with a vaguely defined heads, torsos, arms, and legs—but Rialta was immediately intimidated by their size. Each of them rivaled John in stature. Half of the guardians carried large, rusty swords while the others trudged forward slowly under the weight of their gigantic axes. Somewhere in the distance behind her, Remmy had begun to shout his prayer, and Lorenza began to play her horn. Rialta felt a bizarre amalgamation of love, determination, fear, and courage flow through her as she ran into forward into the fray.
John let out a battle cry as he withdrew his half-time spear and ran straight ahead of both Nivin and Rialta.
Rialta planted her feet and aimed at a group of guardians approaching from their left.
“Fyorferstruit!”
Rialta waved her wand and sent torrents of purple flames into the swarms of guardians hurtling toward them, but the soulless guardians were quick to react. They leapt and weaved their way through the flames and they continued to run toward her. Rialta slowed to a halt, bewildered by their dexterity. Nivin apparently noticed her hesitation, as he turned on his heel and stood back-to-back with Rialta, shooting volleys of arrows into the crowd of guardians beginning to surround them. Rialta sensed Nivin’s presence behind her and redoubled her efforts.
“Fyorferstruit! Fyorferbarne!”
Rialta sent a fresh wave of wild purple flames into the oncoming guardians, followed by a massive, crackling ball of fire. Yet no matter how fiercely Rialta and Nivin attacked, the stone guardians did not relent. Only a small minority of their ranks faltered when pelted with a particularly fierce barrage of flames or arrows.
“Nivin, I’m so sorry,” Rialta gasped as she attempted to keep casting spells into the crowd of guardians forming around them. “I shouldn’t have been so arrogant as to attempt this,” she said. Just before the nearest guardian closed in on them, she cast a fire ward, causing a pillar of flame to surround her and Nivin where they stood. The guardians began to swarm around the ward, all of them slamming their weapons into the barrier as their empty eyes looked in toward Rialta and Nivin. The metallic clang of their weapons was so powerful that it reverberated through the floor at their feet. The tremors rattled through their bones as they awaited the inevitable onslaught. The ward began to fade, and Nivin lowered his bow and leaned in closer to Rialta. Rialta pointed her wand outward in preparation, her arms shaking so violently that she nearly dropped it.
“Nivin! Rialta!”
Rialta turned to look between two of the surrounding guardians to find Remmy charging toward her, his tome open wide.
“Don’t you dare give up yet!” Remmy shouted. “We have too much left to do with our lives! Don’t you even think about letting yourselves die here! Stay strong! Fight! Cast them back!” he shouted, and he began to glow with a bright green aura as he continued to run toward them.
Rialta’s wand arm steadied at once. Her breathing became even and relaxed. She stood up straight and snarled at the guardians swarming about her. The ruby in her wand began to glow, and she summoned a fresh wreath of flames around herself and Nivin while she awaited their attack.
Nivin let out a bemused little huff. He slowly slung his bow over his shoulder and withdrew his short swords. His hair began to wave in the non-existent breeze, and he turned to look Rialta in the eye.
If we’re going to die here, it won’t be cowering before these stupid, lifeless dolls.
The ward vanished, and the guardians rushed forward, their weapons held high in the air.
Rialta slashed her wand back and forth through the air, causing a continuous burst of flames to crash down in front of her. At first, the guardians seemed unperturbed by the attack, but their pace had slowed. Rialta screamed with fierce determination, willing the cascade of fire to fall upon the guardians. Somewhere in the distance, Lorenza belted out a new song of hope and courage, and a familiar chorus of heavenly voices accompanied the sound of her horn. The music seized Rialta’s soul, and her will to fight mounted. She screamed even louder as she pushed her magic to its limits, causing a constant barrage of flames and embers to cascade over the guardians. The effort of maintaining this spell was sheer agony—but its effect gave Rialta resolve. Slowly, very slowly, the guardians began to collapse around her, crumbling one by one into dust as they fell to the floor. She continued the assault of flames until her body forced her to stop and finally collapsed to her knees.
So it was no good after all, Rialta lamented as she stared down the looming form of one last guardian before her. The guardian slowly walked toward her, holding its gigantic axe high over its head as it approached. Behind her, she could hear the furious battle between Nivin and at least two other guardians. She watched the axe-wielder come closer and closer. She attempted to raise her wand to defend herself, but she was too exhausted to even manage that. The hulking guardian now stood directly in front of her. It held its axe steady, then swung down hard toward Rialta’s head.
“Like hell you will!” Lorenza shouted as she leapt out between Rialta and the guardian, her horn held high in the air. Lorenza grunted, and a great clang echoed through the chamber—the blow that had been meant for Rialta had struck Lorenza’s horn instead.
Rialta watched in shock as Lorenza’s mangled mess of a horn went flying through the air. The song of hope and victory and glory faded into nothing more than a din of mundane, metallic rattling as the broken horn went clattering across the floor of the temple.
Lorenza spared her horn one final glance before slowly turning to her attacking guardian, only to find it halfway through a huge, arcing leap in her direction. Lorenza fell to the ground, instinctively trying to cover her face against the oncoming blow of the massive axe bearing down upon her.
Panic surged through Rialta as she watched the massive figure of the guardian careen toward Lorenza’s prone form. Without thinking, she charged forward, brandished her wand, and dove. She fell to the floor beside Lorenza and cried out the only incantation that she could think
of:
“NO!”
A continuous arc of pulsing red light shot from Rialta’s wand and connected with the guardian’s axe. The axe halted in place, hovering only inches above Lorenza’s neck. There was only a moment of reprieve before Rialta was struck with the sensation of a massive, crushing weight. It took every ounce of her magical strength and internal constitution to maintain the shield that prevented the axe from cutting into Lorenza’s throat.
Rialta had never pushed her magic to this degree in her entire life. It felt as though every inch of her skin was being slashed apart by ice-cold knives, but her sheer refusal to allow Lorenza to die forced her to maintain the spell. She watched the guardian’s blank, impassive face. It continued to press the weight of its massive axe down toward Lorenza’s neck. Rialta’s body began to tremble violently with the effort of maintaining the shield. At any second, she knew she would be forced to break the spell, and Lorenza would be finished. A trickle of blood spilled from the nape of Lorenza’s neck when the axe split the surface of her skin. Rialta locked eyes with Lorenza.
“Rialta,” Lorenza whispered with a gentle smile. “It’s okay.” She let out a shuddering sigh as a gentle stream of tears began to roll down her face. “It’s okay. You can let go. You’ll survive this place and go home. I know it. I know it in my heart. It’s all going to be okay.”
Rialta’s arm trembled. And with one sharp gasp of horror, her magic was dispelled. The axe came crashing down.
Rialta let out a wail of despair the instant her shield broke. She collapsed on the ground, her face turned away from Lorenza; she could not bear to look at the result of her failure. The cold marble floor against her cheek starkly contrasted the hot liquid pooling around her face. Her eyes shut tight in a fit of uncontrollable sobs, she could not tell whether she was lying in her own tears, Lorenza’s blood, or both.
Though she heard the sounds of battle continue all around her, she was too worn, too numb, and too tired to care whether she lived or died anymore. She let go of her wand and sobbed into the floor. But suddenly, a gentle hand grasped her by the shoulder.
“Rialta,” Lorenza whispered.
Rialta’s eyes shot open wide. She frantically wiped away her tears and looked up to find Lorenza kneeling beside her, a trembling smile breaking across her face. Stunned, Rialta looked up to find the half-time spear protruding from the guardian’s chest. The guardian was stirring, but before it had a chance to regain its offensive stance, John—wild-eyed and aglow with a green aura—bore down on it, using his unerring strength and Remmy’s blessing to force it backward with his bare hands. As John attacked, Nivin pelted the guardian with arrows. Soon the guardian had met its limit, dissolving into rubble like the rest of the guardians around them. There was a moment of ringing silence, then John and Remmy began to cheer, their voices echoing all through the temple.
As soon as the threat dissipated, Rialta collapsed onto Lorenza. She sobbed into Lorenza’s shoulder, waves of relief crashing over her at the realization that Lorenza was still alive.
Lorenza looked around the massive empty chamber in disbelief. It seemed she was in too much shock to reciprocate Rialta’s feelings. Rialta looked around at the others. Nivin was likewise looking about the chamber wearily. John was panting and wiping sweat from his brow, the axe-wielding guardian lying in a heap of rubble at his feet. Suddenly, a platform rose from within the middle of the room, forming a dais upon which a little altar stood. A golden light issued from the altar.
“Is that it?” Remmy asked. “Did we really do it?” he continued, his voice cracking as he spoke.
John looked to Rialta and Lorenza, both of whom were still lying on the floor. He took it upon himself to walk toward the dais. But as he approached, his left knee gave out and dropped to the hard floor with a hideous cracking sound. John grimaced, struggling to get back to his feet.
In response to this, Nivin began to run out to the center of the room himself, doing his best to signal to John that he would take care of the final task of retrieving the treasure from the dais. John seemed to understand, and he gave Nivin a nod of thanks before collapsing onto the ground. He let out several long, low grunts as the toll of the battle settled upon him.
Given her current condition, Rialta was only vaguely aware of what was happening, but she was so wary of any further attack that she felt compelled to watch what the others were doing. Her body trembled with aches and pains, but she forced herself to sit upright, to remain vigilant to whatever degree she could for the sake of the rest of the party. She watched Nivin approach the raised platform that had risen in the center of the room. As he came closer, he shot his gaze from one side of the massive empty temple to the other. Clearly, he was just as wary as Rialta of the possibility of yet another guardian attack. All the same, silence dominated the sanctuary but for the sound of Nivin’s careful footsteps. As he grew closer to the dais, he broke into a light jog, and then a run.
A smile broke across Nivin’s face, and he stretched his arm toward the dais. He was now mere feet away.
The moment before it happened, something deep within Rialta warned her of the horror that was about to occur. Some inexplicable, terrible, visceral something in her soul told her to scream out to Nivin, to warn him, to cast a spell, to do whatever she could to protect him, but the warning hadn’t come in time.
A trap door sprang open from the center of the dais, and one final small stone guardian appeared from within its depths.
Nivin trotted to a halt. He gaped incredulously at the stone figure in front of him. The twang of a crossbow echoed through the temple, and the massive bolt of the ancient guardian’s crossbow tore straight through Nivin’s abdomen. Nivin stood steady for a moment, reaching for his bow as if his body’s battle instincts simply refused to accept reality. He took one trembling step forward before collapsing onto his side.
Rialta’s heart sank as she heard Lorenza’s guttural scream. Somewhere behind her, John let out a cry of rage, and he began to sprint toward the guardian. Rialta rose to her feet and lumbered toward Nivin. Even as a crimson pool of blood formed around him, she was determined to do whatever she could to help him. She managed to break into a run before her legs gave out and she fell to the ground. She didn’t waste time trying to get up, opting instead to simply crawl the rest of the distance to Nivin’s side.
When she finally reached him, Rialta found Nivin looking desperate and afraid, and the look of terror on his face only amplified the same feelings within her. She scrambled forward to take his hand. She sat upright by his side and watched panic begin to overwhelm him. He thrashed about the floor in a desperate attempt to steady himself, to have some semblance of control over what was surely his own impending death. Remmy ran to Rialta’s side and collapsed to his knees beside her.
Rialta watched helplessly. She gripped his hand as tightly as she could before his movements became slower and less frantic. With her remaining strength, she propped his torso up and laid him across her lap. She held onto him until he was still. And then she was numb. All thought and emotion seemed to leave her when she heard the nearby cries of Lorenza, Remmy, and John as they all ran to her side. She did not look at them. She could not look at them. She closed her eyes tight.
“R-R-Rialta…”
Rialta opened her eyes to find Nivin looking at her, a serene, resigned smile etched on his face.
“Nivin?” Rialta gasped.
“Rialta…”
And Rialta leaned in close, for his voice was barely more than a whisper.
“Rialta, please...”
“Nivin…”
Nivin let out one last slow, deep breath, and Rialta knew it was too late to talk to him any longer. His body slumped backward in her arms. She stared at Nivin’s lifeless face, his vacant eyes reflecting the glowing blue walls of the temple back at her.
“Remmy. Do something,” she said flatly as she clung tight to Nivin’s body.
“Rialta, there’s… there’s nothing I can do ab
out a wound like this,” Remmy said. “I can heal deep cuts and mend minor fractures, but I’m nowhere near advanced enough to heal something this devastating.”
“There has to be a spell!” Rialta said, reaching up and grabbing Remmy by the collar. “Something! Anything to anchor him here!”
“Rialta, even if I had the power to do something that advanced, there’s nothing I can do anymore,” Remmy whispered. “He’s already gone.”
“You’re wrong!” Rialta said, shaking her head. “If you won’t do it, then I will!” She leaned down and rested Nivin’s head against her legs, then held her arms open wide and began frantically swiping through the air, willing her mind to come up with some sort of incantation that could bring him back. Nothing happened. She was still waving her arms over Nivin when John stooped down and carefully lifted him off the ground. Rialta wanted to protest, but she was too shocked to stop him.
“Rialta, enough,” Lorenza said quietly as she walked up beside John. She gently took Nivin’s body from John’s arms, and she stared down into his blank, glassy eyes. Silent tears drifted down her face.
“Lorenza, I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry,” Rialta said. “I should have listened to you. I should have tried to convince everyone to just stay here on Tyntala and leave well enough alone…”
“There’s nothing to apologize for, Rialta,” Lorenza whispered. “Nivin got the chance he always wanted. To him, this journey was worth the sacrifice, no matter the cost. I knew him well enough to say that with confidence. It was just like you said all those weeks ago. If he hadn’t tried this, if he hadn’t at least tried to get closure for the way things ended the way they did all those years ago… he would have died with regret in his heart.”
Before Rialta could respond, a blinding light filled the room, and two circular portals appeared at either side of the dais, each of them rippling at their edges. The portal on the left appeared to show the town square in the Chasm, the image rippling as if it had been projected onto the surface of water. The portal on the right displayed a beach—and Rialta did a double-take. It was the very same beach that she, Remmy, and John had arrived upon when they first came to Tyntala. Remmy walked forward and retrieved the scroll from the top of the dais, and at that exact moment, a piece of paper fluttered down to him, appearing as if from nowhere.
A Quest for Chumps (Departed Dimensions Book 1) Page 25
