By the cave entrance, Maya had apparently decided to have some fun with the last fool, as she decided to kill him with the same shrub he was hiding behind. Effortlessly, she ripped it from his hands and, reversing the broken stem, drove it through his leather armor deep into his heart. Surprised, the vampire crumpled bonelessly to the ground where a quick slice from Winya separated the head from the rest of the corpse. Suddenly appearing to normal vision, Maya came into view at the cave entrance holding a bloody sword, and her body language said she was having a great time. She waved us forward with a flourish and a grand bow.
Getting on my feet, I started down the hill with Belrothe and the two warhorses trailing silently behind; I also had an excited Combat Pixie on my shoulder. A couple minutes brought us to the cave entrance where Maya waited happily.
“Have fun?” I asked.
“Oh, you have no idea! It feels so good to hunt again.” She pulled off her helmet so I could see her mischievous face. “We should go hunting together some time; I hear there’s this lovely cave not far from here with hundreds of evil vampires in it, I think it could make for a diverting evening. What do you think, Magic boy?”
I laughed quietly and nodded. Belrothe, on the other hand, was not nearly as amused, and I could see she was truly beginning to question the sanity of both of us.
“What is wrong with you two? You’re both acting like this is nothing! As young as you both are, there is no way you should be this flippant about all this killing and death.” I nodded in some agreement and gave her the short version of what had occurred at Xarparion in all its gory detail.
“So you see, after the attack on our school and the thousands of undead we faced, three hundred or so doesn’t seem so daunting. Mind you, those were mostly skeletons, zombies and ghouls. Vampires are much smarter, tougher, and harder to kill; but still, it’s just three hundred.”
Maya grinned. “All jokes aside, this will be anything but an easy time. These guards were young and stupid.” She waved at the dead vampires around us. “But I’m sure there are much older ones inside.”
Belrothe smiled slightly. “If I hadn’t seen your performance at the attack on my caravan, I might be worried that you two weren’t taking this seriously. But hearing of the challenges you have already faced, I tend to believe that you both have wisdom beyond your years, and I believe we will prevail. Besides, you don’t need to kill them all, just cut your way through to Kotoch and destroy the amulet. Once that is accomplished, I will take control.
“Take control? Just like that?” Maya sounded skeptical and possibly a little disappointed as she replaced her helm.
Belrothe drew herself up regally, looking every bit the noblewoman she was, and smirked, “Yes, just like that. I am over twelve hundred years old and I am due some respect!”
She strutted in front of us as she entered the cave. Maya and I shrugged at each other. With a quick hand signal, Maya ordered our warhorses to guard the entrance and not let anything out. I didn’t foresee them having any trouble with that; vampires don’t seem to be able to get close to them. Nia, on the other hand, had a whispered comment to make about it.
“Why don’t we just ride them in? I mean, they can just burn all of them, right?”
Belrothe answered softly from just up ahead, “They probably could, but the cave gets too narrow for them to fit through, and there are some rocks to climb over and duck around. Besides, we would lose all the surprise we have.”
Maya chuckled, “Surprise? You want Alex to sneak up on someone? Ha, good one!” And we followed the old vampire into the cave.
Just as she said, the smooth worn path narrowed so much that I had to turn sideways to fit through, and there was perhaps fifty yards of very uneven ground. There were a couple places where you had to slide down on your butt between boulders. Belrothe was right, there was no way that Somnus and Kaima would have fit through the passage. Up ahead, Maya changed to stealth mode and ghosted out into a larger area with Belrothe and me following slowly. The nature of the cave was changing; what had been just fissures and holes for a path, was now opening up into progressively larger chambers. Most of them contained spikes of calcified stone that had dripped down from the ceiling and still glittered with moisture. Bat dung dripped conspicuously from the side walls and gave the place a pungent, damp ammonia smell.
Loud noise was starting to filter into our part of the trail now, sounding ominously like the crowds at the Wizards’ Tournament. As we moved closer, light started to flicker through to our area as well. Maya returned without a sound and reappeared to our sight.
“Ok,” she almost stammered, “that’s a lot of vampires! But I was able to hear part of their rally; we need to move quickly because I think it’s almost time. But let’s not go in blind.” She looked at me. “I think you should take a look first.”
I nodded and crept forward. About thirty feet of cautious travel brought me around a corner so I had a view of what was below. A stone ramp lead approximately twenty feet down from where I peered over to the floor of the main cavern. This area was cathedral-sized, the ceiling completely covered by smaller crystalline versions of the ‘icicles’ that we had seen earlier. Even though they probably didn’t need it, the vampires had lit sconces spaced evenly around the outer walls, the smoke from which cast a cloud-like pall among the crystal decorations on the ceiling. Using my mage sight to peel away some of the layers of obstructions, I could now view the entire chamber as if I were a small bird or bat. Maya was certainly right, there were a lot of vampires here. Fortunately, they were all concentrated at the far end of the chamber. A large, raised wooden dais dominated the room, and behind the platform were a number of smaller cave rooms with wooden portcullis-style gates across the entrances. Behind those gates, their faces peering through the small openings in abject fear, were the missing villagers. Between me and the dais was a small sea of riled up vampires; yelling, screaming, and generally pumping themselves up into a frenzy.
My mage sight finally lingered on the catalyst for all this commotion, there on the platform was a tall vampire. He was dressed in clothes I would normally associate with the nobility, but he wore them more like he had stolen them and these trappings were all some sort of joke at the expense of those he despised. In human years, he looked about thirty and had some body mass to him; he would have been an imposing figure when he breathed. According to Belrothe, this must be Kotoch and he was about 250 years old, which made him probably one of the older vampires assembled. The most striking thing about his face was his huge flaring nostrils and wild eyes as he exhorted the crowd to an even greater fever pitch. I always thought people who looked like that reminded me of hogs, but that’s just my opinion. Whatever he was telling them was working as the crowd was getting even more raucous, cheering at his words, presumably a speech about the upcoming battle. It occurred to me that you could gauge the age of the vampires present by how animated they became during the speech. In other words, the bulk of the crowd were all ‘fresh’ vampires. They had probably been human within the last couple months and retained their human boisterousness, whereas the older vampires lining the edges of the chamber were far more reserved, even looking upon the rally with clear distain.
As I watched, my mage sight picked up on a magical trace moving through the rock at the back of the chamber near the captives’ pens. By its size, I could only assume it was Reginaldo and, while staying within the rock itself, he took up a position guarding the villagers. Snapping out of my vision state, I crawled back to my waiting group of friends.
“What did you see?”asked Nia.
“I would say their numbers have gone up a few. There are about three hundred fifty of them now as well as almost two hundred villagers.”
Belrothe’s face was suddenly stone as she thought about the implications. “How did you…never mind. You’re saying there’s more of them now?” I nodded. “Damn it!” she growled. “That means they had another raiding party out, but where did they get the rest o
f them?” She paused for a second before her eyes widened. “They couldn’t have made it all the way to Riverfield, could they?”
I shrugged, “I don’t know where that is, but they came up with another one hundred twenty or so prisoners from somewhere.
Maya whispered, “So what’s the plan?”
“I’m not sure the original plan is still a good idea with that many more vampires to wade through before we get to Kotoch; and with as worked up as the crowd is, we might lose a lot of villagers in the chaos before Belrothe can assume control,” I stated.
Belrothe nodded in agreement. “We need to get my people out and that will take time. The best way to get that would be to have a distraction.”
I agreed. “And the best distraction is the one that doesn’t look like a distraction. Ok, I have an idea. Maya, use your armor to stealth down and free everyone. Reggie is already in position to cover you, and I assume the girls are bats or something down there if Reggie is there. Once you have freed the villagers, the girls can help you lead them out the back. Belrothe, Nia, you’re with me.”
Maya took my hand and looked me straight in the faceplate; I could see her eyes but, of course, she couldn’t see mine. Her beautiful green orbs were a little misty, and I could see that she was concerned for me, but proud as well. She is far more the professional soldier than I will ever be, and you could see the emotions running through her. A soldier knows that every time you go into battle, it may be your last, no matter the amount of preparation, the overwhelming force you have, or how well-trained you are…sometimes stuff happens. She hugged me quickly, before disappearing and setting off on her mission.
“Keep her safe, Winya,” I whispered into the link.
“I’m on it, Alex; the bloodsuckers won’t know what hit them. You be extra careful, too. I know that armor is almost invincible, but there are some major disturbances on the spirit plane in this cavern; something really evil, and I don’t like it!”
Belrothe and I gave each other a good luck nod and started down the ramp to the cavern floor. A few moments later, we were standing in plain sight, in armor, and only about a hundred feet from the edge of the mob…and not one of them noticed!
Belrothe was shaking her head next to me. “I can’t believe these are vampires; we could probably start killing everyone in the back and I don’t think they would notice. Think you could get their attention?” I smiled under my helm as I slammed my hammer into my shield, and with the aid of the cave, made the loudest gong ever. I have to say that it worked wonderfully, every one of them stopped what they were doing and crouched in pain with their hands covering their ears. Sadly for me, so was Belrothe.
“I didn’t mean like that! Warn an old woman next time, at least,” she groused at me. Thankfully, she was the first to recover and was looking presentable by the time the others turned to us. Now everyone was silent and looking right at us or, in this case, I guess it would be hissing at us. The one on the podium, who I could only assume was Kotoch, finally started speaking, playing shamelessly to the crowd.
“Belrothe, I am happy to see you. After you left so abruptly last evening, I was afraid I had said something to offend your ladyship! And when the troupe I sent after you failed to return, well I could only assume the worst.” He grinned maliciously.
“Really? Well, you assumed right; your troupe won’t be joining us tonight or any other.”
He waved off her jab and focused on me. “And who is your little friend who has come to die with you?” As he was talking, a group of vampires moved in behind us to keep us from retreating. But on a positive note, no one seemed to have noticed the armored pixie on my shoulder. Watching our apparent entrapment, Kotoch smirked and continued, “Some paladin you found on the side of the road? Belrothe, Belrothe…didn’t your mother ever warn you about picking up strays? Especially stray do-gooders? They are just bad for business! Well, no matter, you both will be dying tonight!” And the crowd snickered its appreciation.
Belrothe snorted and called out loudly, “Why don’t you just hand over that amulet of yours, and we will see who dies!”
“Ah, the amulet; no, I think I’ll keep it. You see, it has some wonderful powers of its own, one of which is that it allows me the privilege of speaking with my Lord Pharmon directly. He was rather put out with your antics last evening, as it could have ruined his plans for the dark elf traitors. As you may have noticed, we have increased the number of blood slaves in attendance for our big send-off this evening, almost all of which came from a place you are most familiar with, Riverfield! I mean, we were going to take them anyway, but to know that nearly all the humans left in the honorable Honalde line lived there made it that much sweeter!”
“You bastard,” Belrothe gritted.
Kotoch rolled with a huge, gleeful belly laugh. “Oh, it gets better! My Lord Pharmon wanted to send a message to all like you who would dare oppose him, so he ordered all of the Honalde bloodline in Riverfield killed and their heads put on pikes in the middle of the village. I’m sure he didn’t think you would be joining us here tonight, so I apologize that you won’t be able to see the fine display.”
I thought Belrothe was going to faint, as her knees buckled slightly with the news that most of her family was dead. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to comfort her in any way as, with a flick of his wrist, Kotoch sent his minions at us in force. Nia angrily buzzed up into the air, the whole ‘death of family’ concept striking particularly close to home.
Quickly, I gathered a stunned Belrothe behind my shield and raised my hammer high above my head. I remember thinking as I faced a wall of fangs and claws that I really hoped this enchantment was all I expected it to be, as I had never really gotten a chance to test it after all. Bringing the hammer down, I drove the head harshly onto the solid stone of the cavern floor, while activating the enchantment. Stone chips flew as a huge divot was blasted out of the bedrock with a loud crack. Suddenly, the rock turned hoar-frost white and the effect spread out along the ground like a concussion wave in a forward direction. It blew through the front line of vampires, stopping them immediately, and continued on through the next wave and the next, until it reached the base of the dais where it finally subsided.
The entire group of charging vampires was literally frozen in place; their feet, shoes, boots, whatever, now anchored into the frost. They looked at each other in confusion and dismay. With agonizing slowness, the frost started rising from ground level, and I could see first their ankles, and then shins and knees become coated in the crystalline formations. That’s when the screams started, the vampires started pulling savagely at their legs or lashing out at their nearest neighbor. A couple even tried to beg for forgiveness, but ice is relentless.
I smelled smoke and risked a look behind me; there I could see that Nia had dispatched the small group of vampires that were supposed to cut off our escape with a couple fireballs.
By this time, the vampires in front of us were almost completely encased in ice, frozen crystalline statues; some faces frozen in rage, some in fear. They reminded me of icicles along a roof back home in Foalshead; so beautiful, so brittle, so waiting for someone to destroy them. Judging that Belrothe was now fully able to stand, I released her and walked forward to the first statue. Kotoch and every other vampire in the place was deathly silent as I snapped my finger against the forehead of the first frozen vampire, and he shattered like a cheap wineglass thrown into a fireplace. At my feet was nothing but a small pile of frost. Looking Kotoch directly in the eye, I raised my foot and removed the enchantment that lightens my footfalls in this ultra heavy armor, bringing my foot down sharply. The chamber reverberated with vibration and sound waves bouncing from one wall to another. A small hail of crystals broke off from the ceiling and dropped to the cavern floor, but that was nothing like what happened to the statues. One by one, they dissolved into similar piles of frost. I estimated that by the time the enchantment had run its course there were close to one hundred of these piles. The other no
ticeable thing was that the temperature in the cave had plummeted so low that it felt like a harsh winter morning. Thankfully, my armor was ready for that and kept me warm. Nia wasn’t as lucky so she was forced to retreat to the back of the cavern where the still smoldering corpses from her fireballs provided some heat.
Turning my attention back to the vampires in the room, I noticed they were all staring at me in horror, even Belrothe. “How did you do that?” she asked shakily, as she shivered; even the undead were cold.
But I didn’t answer her; instead I sped forward through the piles of ice crystals which made a frosty trail behind me. Once I reached the base of the platform, I halted about fifteen feet from the shocked leader, stretched out my hand, and called the metal in the amulet to me. Like a rag doll, Kotoch was dragged by his neck across the platform floor and then off it where he face-planted into the stone at my feet. Kicking him over onto his back, I reached down and snapped the amulet off his neck without a lot of regard for the pain it caused. I looked over at Belrothe who had followed me, despite the cold and said, “He’s all yours, Lady Honalde.”
She smiled and pulled him to his feet. “Now, let’s see if you’re as strong as you always say you are.” I don’t know what she did; it looked as if she was only staring at him, but either way, he cried out in pain. “Hmm, seems not. In fact, I would say you are one of the weakest vampires here.” With that, she reached behind him, her fingernails growing and hardening into a glittering mass of wickedly sharp blades. With a soundless jerk and a splash of dark blood, Kotoch’s head came away in her grasp while his body slumped to the floor. She was still holding the trophy by the hair and displaying it to all the other vampires in the room when the amulet I was holding lit up with a arcane blood-red color.
Instinctively, I held it away at arm’s length. A second later, an image appeared; apparently, the amulets were scrying devices as well. Starting out blurred, the vision coalesced into the face of a really ugly, undead man.
Return To Sky Raven (Book 2) Page 19
