The Summoning

by Dale Britton

  She might as well have been attacking the mountain. Alakabal swatted at her and she flew across the platform, narrowly avoiding sliding off of the edge of the far side. She collapsed to the floor and lay there unmoving.

  "Take it," Alakabal said to a nearby lesser demon, pointing at Jordan's still form. "It shall be the first."

  As the demon moved toward Jordan, Ollie strained to break Alakabal's spell. It was impossible. He couldn't so much as twitch a muscle. He couldn't summon any magic. All he could do was watch as Jordan was dragged to the black altar.

  The battle was over, and they had lost.

  Chapter One Hundred and Nine

  When Ollie had told George to go, Ian had gone too. The fear wave of the demon affected him horribly, and it had taken all of his strength just to remain conscious while the party had stood in his presence. When the commotion had started, his only thought had been to get out of the demon's sight. He had to get away from the glare of Alakabal's burning eyes. So, when George ran, Ian ran too, and he had been lucky. With all of the action on top of the platform, nobody had noticed him when he had slipped around to the back of the structure. He felt terrible. It was just like in his vision. He was supposed to be protecting Sarah, but here he was hiding from the battle. He had completely deserted his friends. Even knowing this, and even with the horrible guilt he felt, he couldn't force himself to leave this relatively safe shelter and go back to fight at their side. He was completely worthless.

  Ian heard shouts from the valley and from the platform above his head. George must be doing a number on the demons. Little nerdy George, the great warrior. How crazy was all of this? Ian worked his way underneath the platform where there would be no chance of being seen. The support beams formed a lattice up to the floor of the platform, some eight feet above. His sword gave off even more light now than before, and he wrapped his shirt around it so it wouldn't give him away.

  Down here, out of the sight of the demon lord, the fear wasn't quite so bad. Ian's heart started to beat normally again, but then he heard Alakabal speak, and ice filled his veins once more. His friends had been spotted. That meant that they were as good as dead. Alakabal could kill them with a glance.

  For a moment, Ian's mind retreated from the world around him. He just could not accept what was happening. He was going to wake up any second, go downstairs and find his parents and Johnny eating breakfast in the kitchen, just like every day. There was no such thing as demons or magic. It had to be a dream.

  Ian was broken out of his stupor by the sound of Jordan's mace hitting Alakabal. It sounded like a machine gun. He shook his head and looked up just in time to see Jordan slide up precariously close to the edge of the platform, only fifteen feet above the place where he was hiding. She wasn't moving at all. She was probably dead.

  "Take it," he heard the demon say. "It shall be the first."

  The first for what? Ian knew the answer to that. Jordan was about to be sacrificed. The plan had failed. Sarah hadn't been able to activate the talisman. It was only a matter of time before he was discovered as well. It was exactly what he had known would happen. Ian heard footsteps and saw a lesser demon grab hold of Jordan's leg and drag her away as if she were a rag doll. The monster moved toward the altar.

  Ian suddenly felt a burning sensation in his side. He looked around for the source of the attack, but he was still alone. Still, the pain was horrendous. It took him a moment to figure out that the heat was coming from his sword. It was burning so brightly now that the light was shining through its scabbard. Ian stared at it for a moment, a suspicion forming in his mind. What kind of sword was this, exactly?

  Ian pushed his fear away and started to scramble up the back of the platform, climbing carefully up the support beams. Could he be right? There had been so many coincidences on their journey, but this? It was too much.

  He reached the top of the platform and looked over the edge. The heat from his sword was unbearable, but Ian ignored it. He was only going to have one chance at this. He saw that the lesser demon stood over Jordan's unmoving body, which lay on the altar. Only ten feet away, Alakabal stood at the front of the platform, like a giant king overseeing his kingdom. Beyond the demon lord, all was silent. There was not a single movement from the hoard of beings, not even from the other demons. It was like the entire valley was frozen in time.

  For a second, Ian froze as well, his fear at the sight of the being before him threatening to overcome him once again. But then, Ian heard Jordan moan and realized that she was still alive. But she wouldn't be for long, not if he didn't get moving.

  In one motion, he drew his sword and charged. The weapon blazed so brightly in the twilight that Ian was partially blinded. He aimed for Alakabal's back, but the demon lord either heard or sensed him coming and began to turn. It was too late. Ian's sword took Alakabal in the side, penetrating his armor easily.

  There was an explosion of energy, and Ian was thrown backward by the force of the blast. He flew through the air, and then something hit him on the head. The last sound he heard was an immense roar of pain that seemed to come from every direction at once, and then everything went black.

  Chapter One Hundred and Ten

  When Ollie saw Ian suddenly appear at the back of the platform, he was actually glad he was paralyzed. If he had been able to move, he would have surely given Ian away. He had no idea how Ian had found his way up there, but Ollie was afraid for him. Jordan had hit Alakabal at least fifty times with her mace without affecting him at all. How could Ian hope to fare any better?

  But when Ian drew his sword, Ollie felt a twinge of hope. The weapon shone so brightly that Ollie wished he was able to close his eyes. As it was, being paralyzed and all, he was forced to stare at the blinding white light and risk permanent damage to his retinas. It's a sword of demon-slaying. It has to be.

  Ian rushed the demon lord, the sword held in two hands above his head. Alakabal turned toward him, but not in time. Ian's thrust took him right in the side, slicing through the dragon skin armor like butter. There was a great explosion and Ian was flung backward. He slid across the floor of the platform and disappeared over the back edge. Ian!

  Alakabal roared in pain, clutching at his side. Black flames bled from his wound, spilling onto the platform and spreading out in a glittering pool. The demons entering the world through the portal paused, staring at their master. Who could have done this to their lord?

  And suddenly, the paralysis broke, and Ollie could move again. He turned to Sarah but found that she had already resumed her incantation, the repeating words of the spell flowing furiously from her lips, her brow furrowed in concentration. She almost seemed to be in a trance. Ollie turned his attention to the others.

  Lylor beat him to the punch. "Johnny–the altar! Ollie, stay with Sarah. George, come with me." He grabbed George by the arm, dragged him to his feet, and the two took off running toward the platform, sweeping lesser demons from their path.

  The demons surrounding Jordan had been distracted by the injury to their master and were still confused, but at any moment they might decide to continue their task of sacrificing Jordan to the portal. Johnny drew one of his two remaining arrows. He hesitated for just a second, worried he might accidentally hit Jordan, but then realized that this was silly. Every single time he had shot an arrow, it had always unerringly hit his intended target, often killing more than one enemy. So this time, Johnny concentrated simultaneously on all of the demons within ten feet of the black altar and fired.

  The arrow flew as if it were remote-controlled. It penetrated entirely through the chest of the demon holding Jordan, then flew in a tight spiral around the altar. In just moments, every demon that had stood anywhere near the altar was lying on the ground, either dead or incapacitated. Jordan fell onto the altar and lay there unmoving. Without a word Johnny raced toward the platform, leaving Ollie and Sarah alone.

  Alakabal had stopped yelling but was obviously still in terrible pain. Ian's attack had injured him
greatly, but Ollie knew it wasn't enough to kill the demon lord. In fact, the creature was recovering already. To make things even worse, several of the demons in the valley had realized that Ollie and Sarah were enemies and had begun to move toward them.

  "We're running out of time, Sarah," Ollie said, casting his fire spell. The fireballs came easily, and Ollie could feel why. There was so much ambient magic in this place that there was an almost endless supply of energy for him to use. It filled his senses, making him a little light-headed. One of the hyena demons rushed in, and Ollie engulfed it in a pillar of fire, burning it to cinders in an instant. Other demons approached, but Ollie formed a wall of fire to prevent them from reaching Sarah. It took surprisingly little effort to make a nearly six-foot-high barrier that cut them off from the rest of the valley.

  Johnny had reached Jordan's side on the platform, and George and Lylor had disappeared from view, hopefully going after Ian. Alakabal rose to his full height, and in moments would attack again. This time, Ollie was certain, the demon wouldn't be satisfied with paralyzing them. Before Alakabal could turn his gaze toward him and Sarah, Ollie threw up another wall of fire, this one completely surrounding the demon lord. Ollie knew it couldn't hurt Alakabal, but it might be able to keep him from targeting them with his spells. Sarah's voice had risen in both pitch and volume, and a humming sound rose from the talisman in her hands. Ollie could feel the energy building up in the device. Almost there...

  "You will pay for this humiliation!" Alakabal roared, and suddenly Ollie felt his spell unraveling. The demon was once again on the attack, and he was destroying Ollie's magic faster than he could build it. In moments they would once again be defenseless.

  Just as Ollie's fire wall disappeared, Alakabal screamed in pain again. At first, Ollie couldn't see what had happened, but after a moment he understood. An arrow was sticking out of the demon's side in the exact location where Ian had stabbed him.

  "Yes!" Ollie yelled. "Nice shot, Johnny!"

  He called more fire to make a new wall, but before he could finish, he heard a loud chiming sound from beside him. Sarah was sitting on the ground, silent and completely exhausted, but she still managed to hold the talisman up in the air in front of her. The fire gem blazed like a miniature sun, growing brighter every second. The symbols on the talisman lit up as well, blinking in a rhythmic pattern.

  But then Ollie was knocked down as a huge black form jumped over him. His head slammed against the rocky ground, and the world spun around him. A monstrous demon towered over Sarah, its arms raised and its glittering claws extended. Ollie tried to get up but stumbled and fell back to the ground.

  "Run, Sarah!" he yelled, but his voice barely came out in a croak.

  Sarah sat frozen on the ground and looked at the demon with a dazed expression as it attacked, its eyes burning with hatred.

  Chapter One Hundred and Eleven

  At first, Yrabelle was confused when she was rescued from the altar. One moment she'd been about to be killed by a pair of demons, and then, after a rush of wind, she found herself in total darkness.

  "It's alright," George said before she could scream. "It's me." He put his arms around her. "You have no idea how glad I am to see you. When I found out you were gone..." He clenched his fists so hard that his knuckles cracked.

  "I'm alright, George. Please, just tell me what is happening."

  "We're all here, Yrabelle. We're going to banish the demons."

  Yrabelle tried to look around, but it was too dark to see any of their surroundings. "Where are we?"

  "In the mine. You'll be safe here."

  "What? No! Take me back. I want to help!"

  George was not swayed by her pleading. "You've been through too much. You need to rest. Don't worry. We have a plan. I'll come back for you when it's over." And before she could protest again, he was gone.

  At that moment Yrabelle felt like throttling him. Why did everyone treat her like a child? Had she not proven herself on this journey? George wanted her to hide here in the mine until the danger was over. Well, she was not going to sit alone in the dark while her friends risked their lives. She climbed to her feet, only wobbling a little, and headed off in the direction she thought would take her to the front entrance of the mine.

  It was hard to get her bearings when she was totally blind, and she was forced to change direction several times. There were so many tunnels! How could George leave her here alone? I am going to feed him to a basilisk. Well, she would show him. Even though she could barely stay on her feet, she was going to find her friends and she would be with them during this battle, even if it meant dying by their sides. The only problem was that she was hopelessly lost, and for all she knew, she was heading in the wrong direction entirely.

  This fear was soon confirmed. Yrabelle came to the end of a short tunnel and stumbled into a wall. Dead end. She was on the verge of just giving up and just sitting here to wait for the others to come back for her. What if they don't come back? She was starting to slide down the wall to the ground when she heard a terrifying cry of pain and rage that could only have come from the demon lord himself. It sent a chill through her body, and she had to stand still and support herself against the wall of the tunnel to regather her courage.

  After a moment her fear turned once again to anger. Something big had just happened, and she had completely missed it! But at least now she knew which way to go. She turned toward the source of the sound and hurried on through the darkness as fast as she could manage.

  Soon there were other sounds. Sounds of fighting. People shouting. Chains clanking. She was getting close. The darkness began to lighten, but it was taking a great effort of will now to place one foot in front of the other.

  When she finally stumbled out of the mine and back into the valley, the scene that greeted her was very different than the one George had rescued her from. There was fire everywhere. The sudden brightness was almost blinding after her time in the mine. The brightest point was about forty yards to her right, where she could just barely make out Sarah and Ollie. The light came from an object that Sarah held up in the air in front of her. It gleamed with a blinding crimson aura. What could it be?

  Alakabal knelt on the platform, his hands clasped around the shaft of an arrow that protruded from his side. He looked somehow less formidable than he had before. Johnny stood at the center of the platform reaching to lift Jordan off the altar. She now lay in the place that Yrabelle had occupied not long ago. She could see no sign of George, Ian, or her father.

  Everything was chaos. The fires burned in every direction. The prisoners screamed, trying to escape their captors. which was nearly impossible with the chains that bound them together. The demons were confused as well. Some were trying to keep the captives from running away, some moved toward their master on the platform. Some wandered aimlessly, unsure of what to do.

  Yrabelle glanced back to her right and caught her breath. A large demon, a twisted cross between a wolf and a giant, was moving up behind Sarah and Ollie.

  "Ollie! Sarah! Behind you!"

  Her voice was completely lost in the chaos that ruled in the valley. The demon knocked Ollie down and advanced on Sarah, who sat defenseless on the ground. Yrabelle looked around desperately and spotted a spear lying in a pile of nearby stones. It was a poorly made demon weapon with an obsidian tip, but it would have to do.

  Forty yards was a difficult throw, especially in her current state of exhaustion, but there was no other choice. If she missed, Sarah and Ollie would die. Yrabelle took a deep breath, murmured a quick prayer to the goddess of accuracy, and flung the spear with all her remaining strength.

  The weapon took the demon in the upper thigh. Not a killing blow, but it sent the creature sprawling to the ground before it could hurt Sarah. She could hear its howl of pain over all of the other commotion, even from this distance. Still, it would soon renew its attack. Yrabelle wanted more than anything to join her friends, but there were dozens of demons in her way, and she wa
s far from being in a state to be able to fight them. There was nothing she could do. Where is George? Where is my father?

  But then, the glowing object in Sarah's hand literally exploded in color, and everything changed.

  Chapter One Hundred and Twelve

  Ollie saw the spear hit the demon just before the creature pounced on Sarah. He scrambled to his feet looking for the thrower, but he had no idea which direction it had come from. He saw Johnny carrying Jordan down the ramp. He also saw Alakabal turning in his direction, flames burning in the monster's eyes. Ollie frantically started to cast his fire spell again to block the demon's view.

  But before he could even begin to call the fire, the talisman activated. There was a musical explosion and the air filled with light of every color. Ollie stumbled over to Sarah and collapsed onto the ground next to her.

  "What's going on?" Sarah asked. Her voice slurred and her arms shook. Ollie reached up to grab her arm and help her keep the talisman steady.

  "You did it, Sarah! The talisman's working." He watched a concentrated beam of light flow from the talisman to the portal, sending crimson pulses of energy to the magic doorway. Alakabal screamed in anger.

  "It's going to be okay," Ollie said. "If the book's right, he can't hurt us now. Just sit back and watch the show."

  "Is everyone alright?"

  Ollie smiled. This was just like Sarah, worried about everyone except for herself. Then he frowned. Was everyone alright? He looked around, trying to locate their friends.

  The talisman was doing its job. The demons closest to the portal were dragged backward and disappeared back through the opening. Ollie spotted Johnny. He was half-carrying, half-dragging Jordan, and they had made it halfway down the ramp. Demons were being pulled up past the two of them. Fortunately, the demons were caught in the portal's power and were too distracted to worry about Johnny and Jordan. It looked like the portal was pulling against Johnny too, but unlike the demons, he was able to fight against the pull. He was slowly but steadily moving downward. Ollie hadn't considered that the talisman might affect non-demons as well, and he shuddered at the thought. What would happen to them if they were pulled into the demon lord's dimension? It wouldn't be good, that was for sure.