by C Woodward
"I could have done that," Jerak whispered jealously.
We kept moving down through the alley once more. This alley wasn't as narrow but piles of clutter were all around. It looked like most of the buildings had been ransacked when people fled. The stench of death was getting stronger. We must be getting close.
So far, things had been almost too easy. Although the army down south had most of the attention, I knew there were a few foes guarding the mage school and the totems. Maybe this will be easier than we expected. We reached the wealthier area. Right in the middle of the wider street, we saw a totem.
The totem was about eight feet of blackened wood. Various bones were tied to it in an almost artistic fashion. Large runes were carved across it which gave off a dull, purple glow. Standing next to it was a bone-construct that was about as tall as the evil pillar.
"That might be a tad difficult to topple stealthily," Clagmir whispered.
"Do you see any other sentries?" Talestria asked.
Amgati looked around, "There are a few standing bodies not too far away."
Clagmir let out a sigh, "Looks like we are unable to sneak up on this one." He stood up and his shield started to glow. He looked at us, "The rest of you take on the others, and I will handle this monstrosity!" He pulled out his sword and the blade instantly kindled a blaze. He charged at the bone-construct.
The rest of us charged the others. I spotted about half a dozen figures. It was very dark and hard to sense which were living and which were not. I wondered if the aura was causing my special sense to dull. Well, no time to wonder about that now.
Jerak charged with a quick bash with his buckler and then a swing of his mace. Amgati swung his spear like a large sword and his blade cut into his target. I swung with both arms and decapitated the rotting, armored foe that came at me. A robed-figure cast a dark bolt of energy at us. I moved in and blocked it with my armor. Years ago, I had my armor enchanted to help ward off dark magic. It took a long time and cost a lot, but it was well worth it. A spear zipped past my head into the chest of the necromancer. He grasped it while giving a grunt. His body slowly plopped to the ground. His arm lost its strength and went limp along the rest of him.
"Well, that's the last of them," Amgati said while walking over to retrieve his spear.
,
He looked back, "Notice that she didn't lift a finger."
Talestria put her hands on her hips, "It would be a waste of my energy for such a meager conflict. Besides Blakey Poo can handle then by himself, if needed."
I cringed. I wished she hadn't called me that in front of everyone. Jerak had a sheepish grin and Amgati lifted a brow. He looked back at me with a perplexed expression on his face.
"I mean Blake. Sorry sweetie," Talestria sighed.
"If you are done chatting, we have a totem to destroy." Clagmir barked. He stood over a broken bone-construct. The skull was completed smashed into tiny bits.
"Talestria, would you do us the favor," Clagmir asked while catching his breath.
Talestria jogged over and stared at the runes. She walked around it and then began to chant quietly to herself. She placed her hand a few inches from it. Bright red and yellow glowed from her hand. The runes of the totem began to glow brightly. Suddenly the whole thing burst into flames and toppled over.
She gave us a smug look, "There is nothing protecting them magically. Fire can easily burn them."
Clagmir appeared satisfied and gave a little shrug, "Alright, let's keep moving. There are plenty more."
We moved on to seek out the next one. Two lumbering zombies hobbled toward us. Both raised their rusted weapons. Clagmir magically-charged shield shattered one of them and his fiery sword cleaved into the other. They didn't even slow him down. We kept moving and encountered a few stray zombies between the alleys and roads. Clagmir stopped as we approached another totem.
This one was guarded by an alert group of necromancers. They stood with their zombie servants in front of them. They were clustered together in a defensive formation. They were prepared for us.
"I got this," Talestria spoke confidently. She raised her arms and began to draw a yellow seal in front of her with both hands. She then pressed her hand on the seal as if she was trying to break through it. Out came a cluster of lightning bolts that engulfed the group. The air cracked violently as it fried up zombie and necromancer alike. The force caused the totem to fall over and slowly catch on fire. The aura around it began to fade as it crashed.
"There." Talestria said as she walked past Amgati. She gave me a wink and popped a candy in her mouth. Apparently she brought some with her.
Clagmir once more led us onward. A few more groups of undead crossed our path. His sword burned through them effortlessly. Amgati, Jerak, and I carved through the rest of them. Talestria followed closely behind me. We could finally see the mage school a short distance away.
The outside walls were surrounded by totems. On this side, I could see about seven of them, evenly spaced from each other. A large group of undead were cluttered outside of the walls of the school. This might take some time.
"Form up! Talestria in the center! The rest back toward her! We move as one!" Clagmir ordered.
Talestria stood behind Clagmir while we moved our backs around her to create a tight circle. We moved slowly toward the crowd, slashing, bashing, and stabbing at anything that came close. Talestria started to chant as they began to surround us. Amgati swung his spear fiercely to further the distance near him.
"Stand closer." Talestria uttered. The area around us started to get warmer. Soon the ground around us started to catch on fire.
We quickly backed really close to Talestria as the flames rose higher. The blaze moved violently away from us as the undead started to ignite one by one. I turned my head and saw her in a deep focus of her spell. The zombies kept advancing with no regard for the dangers of the blaze. By the time they reached our position, their bodies were too damaged to pose a threat. They started to fall apart as they futilely advanced.
"Not done yet," Talestria grunted. She lifted her hands and let out a loud incoherent shout. The fiery ring expanded outward. The force caused most of the zombies and a few totems to fall back on the ground. The ring expanded to a large area and then faded out. The ground was lined with a bunch of charred corpses and a few small fires. Talestria hunched over, out of breath.
I put my hand on her shoulder, "That will do sweetie. Good job."
She gave me a smile and tried to catch her breath. Clagmir gave her a satisfied nod. Amgati blew a sigh of relief. Jerak was busy kicking over an undead that had been standing.
"We are not finished yet. There are still more totems around the school, and then there is the source." Clagmir spoke. He looked around, "Take a moment to catch your breath. We will be pushing on to the school soon."
"What about the other totems?" I asked.
Clagmir shook his head, "It is more important to slay the lich foremost."
Talestria replied, "He is right. The totems only help amplify his power."
Jerak scratched the inside of his ear with his pinkie and walked over, "Well, I am more in favor of cracking enemies than knocking down some poles."
Talestria stood straight up and took a few steps, "Alright, what are we waiting for?"
"Let's purge these vile fiends!" Clagmir shouted as he led the charge to the front of the school.
The five of us moved around to the front. The gate was partially opened and guarded only by a small group. We four fighters cleaved through them with the sound of steel clashing into flesh and bone. Through the gate stood a large obelisk in front of the entrance of the school. It was far larger and more durable than the totems we had already destroyed. In front of it stood several figures. Two were very large.
We slowly walked through the gate and toward the figures. They stood waiting for us. The two larger creatures were bone-constructs armed with crude mauls. Between them were several dark-robed figures. Behind them all sto
od a cloaked, undead figure. The skull face made a mocking cackle as we come close. It stood with a twisted wooden staff in its bony hands. It was the lich, Njyak.
"It is good to finally see you again, Blake," the lich spoke. He took a few steps toward us but stayed within the cover of his minions. A faintly glowing crystal hung around his neck and he fiddled with it with his other hand. "We have been waiting for you. You did me a favor years ago by dispatching Janauntis for me. It would have been tedious to extract the knowledge of the tome with her still alive," he said in a mocking tone.
"What do you mean?" I shouted back.
Njyak laughed again, "You don't know what this is?" He lifted the yellow crystal for me to see. "It was much easier to extract it from her corpse and obtain the knowledge myself." He turned his head to his bone-constructs, "Take care of his friends!"
The bone-constructs lifted their weapons and started to advance toward us. Clagmir raised his shield and looked at us. "Amgati! Jerak! Take care of the other one! I have this one!" he ordered.
Jerak and Amgati charged the other bone-construct. Clagmir stepped back and avoided the heavy swing of a massive weapon.
"Take care of the lich!" Clagmir shouted as he made his counter attack which only chipped away some bone on one arm. That didn't seem to slow it down.
Talestria moved toward the lich. His necromancers quickly started to charge up a spell. Talestria shouted out a shaft of flames at them. The flames lit the necromancer's robes on fire, but a barrier became slightly visible around him which nullified the flames and kept them from touching him and another dark figure.
"Your magic is strong, my dear, but it is no match to my powers!" Njyak mocked.
I charged forward, "Your powers are nothing against mine!"
The dark figure next to him jumped at me wielding a scythe blade. I stopped my advance to block the attack and to my horror I saw who it was!
"Energetic isn't she? Even in death her hatred toward you runs strong!" Njyak laughed.
The Blood Witch stood before us as an undead minion. She still wore the same dark leather armor as she did the night I killed her. There was a blood stained patch where I made the killing blow. Her red mask with the smiling skull stared at me as she made another frantic attack. Her attacks were quick and deadly. Our blades clashed as I found my opening. I swung in and made a deep slash in her torso. It didn't faze her.
Janauntis’ blade detached itself on a small chain linking the two pieces. I couldn't react in time as the chain wrapped around my neck. I grabbed the chain with my left hand and tried to cut it with my blade. She leaned back and pulled with both hands. My body stumbled forward. She was even stronger than before! I fell to my knees. From the end of the handle of her weapon protruded a steel spike. She groan in glee as she lunged at me with the spike. It was stained with her blood from our battle back when.
A large, bright light came out of nowhere. It was a ball of lightning that slammed the Blood Witch several yards back while she uttered an undead scream.
"Back off, you rotted wench!" Talestria shouted in pure anger. Her eyes stared dead at the Blood Witch. "Blake, go take care of him. She is mine!" she shouted without losing sight of her target.
I gave a nod and removed the chain from my neck. Njyak stepped back and shot a wave of dark magic at me. My armor nullified it as I charged at him. I swung my blade at his protection shield. The first hit only cause a small crack, but I kept swinging furiously. Eventually the protection shield shattered like glass. Njyak countered with a spell creating a cone of frost. My body started to become encased in frost.
The joints of my armor stiffened and I began to get colder and colder. I took a deep breath and let out a war cry. My adrenaline was pumping as I broke through the ice in front of me and tackled the surprised lich.
Njyak tried to push me away as I pummeled his skull face. My armored fist gripped my weapon tightly and made solid blows. As my fists cracked his skull, he let out a shriek as the energy from his body flew out of him. I took several deep breaths as I stared at the shattered skull.
Slowly I stood up and gazed down at his lifeless corpse, "Good riddance." I let off a good shiver to shake off any of the frost still on me.
My eyes scanned the aftermath. Clagmir knelt over his defeated foe, catching his breath. Jerak was on the shoulders of his target. Amgati was busy moving around to avoid the frantic swings of a monster. Jerak ripped off the skull of a bone-construct and raised it over his head. His grin faded as the body fell back and took him by surprise. I could hear Talestria making incoherent vulgarities in the distance.
I turned and saw her stomping at the charred corpse of the Blood Witch. She wanted to make sure there was nothing remaining intact. I walked over and she looked at me with a sense of relief in her eyes. She quickly looked back and spit on the broken, charred bones.
"Well, we finally did it," Jerak said cheerfully, while holding his new trophy.
Clagmir walked over, "We still need to destroy this thing." He pointed at the obelisk.
"Well, that was easy," Jerak said confidently as he took a swing with his mace. A small energy field caused his mace to bounce back, and Jerak to fall flat on his back.
Talestria groaned and walked over, "It is protected against you dummy."
Clagmir walked to Njyak's corpse, "It's the crystal. It’s the device that stores the knowledge of that cursed tome!"
Talestria lifted her hand, "Careful! No telling how powerful it is!"
Clagmir looked at me and my blade, "Your armor should be able to protect you. And your cursed blade would be able to break it."
Talestria nodded, "Yes, and if anything goes wrong, it wouldn't affect you."
The four of them looked at me. Jerak took a few steps back just to be on the safe side. I wasn’t sure of the danger in breaking a breaking a crystal, but no one seemed to be eager to do it. I knelt over the corpse. The crystal gave off a faint, pulsating, orange glow. I raised my hand with my right hand and aimed a blow at it. The very moment the blade broke the crystal, my body was shot with a deafening blast.
I opened my eyes and could see them standing over me.
"You alright, Blakey Poo?" Talestria said sincerely.
"Just a bit winded, but I'm okay," I replied.
Clagmir extended his hand and helped me to my feet.
"Blake, your armor!" Jerak cried out.
I looked at my arms. My armor now had plain black trim instead of the white I had before. Did it get singed or something?
"It seems like the dark magic completely destroyed your enchantment on your armor!" Talestria said in surprise. She walked over to get a closer look at me, "Amazing! It completely dispelled it."
Clagmir stared at the shattered crystal, "At least the job is done. Scrathelm's legacy is over."
Talestria nodded, "Finally." She looked at me, "Don't worry hon. When we get home, I can put a new enchantment on your armor. It will be your birthday present!"
Jerak interrupted, "Um, Blake, your weapon is looking funny." He just stood there pointing at me.
I walked over and saw my blade glowing with dark energy. The blade itself was blackened like coal with glowing red veins all along it like it was being smelted. I reached down and carefully grabbed it by the handle. It felt different but I couldn't tell if it was better or worse. Talestria walked over and took a curious look at it.
Clagmir folded his arms and frowned, "Don't tell me the crystal transferred itself to that!"
Talestria quietly leaned over to get a close look at it. This really fascinated her. She looked at it like a child would when they discover something new and exciting.
"Oh wow! I wish I could take the time to study this further!" Talestria said cheerfully.
Amgati folded his arms, "So, is the blade corrupted?"
Talestria looked at him, "Well, yes and no. It doesn't carry the properties of retaining any knowledge. It does however seem to be highly compressed with incredible dark magic!"
Clag
mir sighed, "Well, better have it destroyed after we get back to camp. Be a sin to keep it intact."
Jerak leaned over, "I don't know. It looks pretty neat to me." He extended his finger toward it.
Talestria slapped his hand away, "Careful you dolt! For all we know that blade can cause your finger to rot off!"
Jerak grabbed his hand and stepped back in fear, "Oh, that isn't good. Blake, put it away!"
I put the blade in its sheath. Thankfully it seem to revert to its normal state once I did that. Now I was fearful it would do something crazy.
"Now, let's destroy this blasted thing!" Amgati said pointing at the obelisk.
Clagmir walked over and tapped it with his shield. The obelisk's energy shield was still coating it. "This doesn't make any sense," Clagmir muttered.
