Not wanting to waste his friend’s sacrifice, Tao became a blur of motion as the cockatrice leapt forward and shattered the newly formed statue. Tao rolled and slashed, dove and stabbed but he could’ve been pissing on a forest fire for all the good it was doing. His blades cut into the serpent’s hide but not deep enough to do any major damage. Tao’s only advantage was the fact that he was extremely agile and by staying underneath or near its legs, the cockatrice couldn’t bring his breath weapon to bear on him. Or at least that was the plan and it was working, right up to the moment that the ground exploded underneath him.
Tao felt himself flying through the air. It was a strange sensation. The world seemed to slow down and a loud ringing filled his ears that drowned out all other sounds but he was aware of everything else.
The goblins had broken through the perimeter and were threatening to overwhelm the humans. Kastle and Gamble were battling Cozad. Mathias, Arieal, Aaliyah and Pixi were all fighting the berserk wyverns and through all of this confusion, the power-hungry wizard was calmly walking his way. Tao even noticed that Sartael had an evil grin plastered on his face with his pet serpent at his side. Tao felt all the air leave his body when he slammed against the stable wall and the world went fuzzy. He knew at that moment that he was at the mercy of his enemies and there was nothing he could do about it.
He had failed.
* * * * *
Arieal couldn’t believe her eyes. The wyverns that she had come to think of just as big, ugly, winged horses had turned on them. Luckily for Mathias, he and a few of the archers had dismounted only moments before. The rest of the reformed bandits were already lunch for the wyverns. But then, the beasts were only following the commands of the black robed wizard.
Even from this distance, the dark elf could feel the power which radiated from him, or more importantly from the strange device he was wielding. It was intoxicating. It called to the necromancer part of her soul. It promised pain and suffering to all living things and the power to have the dead permanently walk the land.
She, Aaliyah and Pixi had taken position off to one side of the battle. From here, the three mages had been able to aid each other while directing their spells and servants all across the battlefield. However with the attacking horde of goblins on one side and the wyverns on a rampage on the other, it was only a matter of time before one faction or the other reached them. Arieal had been secretly hoping for the goblins. But no, the huge beast Tao had ridden into battle turned towards them and with a couple flaps of its mighty wings it was on them. Thankfully one of Aaliyah’s stone constructs was standing in front of them acting as a guardian and intercepted it.
Arieal was about to cast a spell against the beast when she spied Tao flying through the air towards the sole remaining building. To complicate matters, a band of ten hobgoblins broke through the line of defenders and were heading toward the archers. Mathias had his back to the onrushing enemies and didn’t realize the danger he was in. Arieal knew at that moment that she would have to make a choice, aid the samurai or the archer. She didn’t have time to do both. Biting her lip as she made her choice, cast her spell and hoped for the best.
* * * * *
Callistra and Tariq watched the raging battle from the vantage point of the hay loft.
The assassin’s first instinct had been to rush out and help his former companions. Actually that wasn’t true. His first instinct was to slip in the shadows and out the back. With his skills, he could make a decent living anywhere in this world but he had made his choice several days ago by choosing to aid Calli and he still felt he owed some penance. Therefore, he would stand by her side. What he was most shocked about was that it was the vampyress’ idea to quietly wait. He thought she would leap out of the loft when the rooster-headed dragon creature attacked her husband but other than chew on her fingernails and a few whimpers, she remained silent.
Finally, Tariq nudged her. “What are we waiting for?”
“Our one chance,” she replied without looking away from the expanding battle. “I was captured by Jericho because I acted rash. I didn’t think. I reacted out of emotion, not logic. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” She pointed at the wizard. “That’s Sartael. He is a very powerful wizard. He aided my original party when Al Shaytan brought us across. But he killed my friends and would’ve killed us if we hadn’t escaped.”
“Why? Why would he do that?”
“Because he wants power, absolute power and domination over all living things in this realm.”
Tariq cocked his head to the side. “How do you know all this?”
Callistra pointed at Sartael’s jerry-rigged wand device. “Because he has my wand.”
Tariq squinted at the device, not that he could make much out of it from this distance. “Are you sure?”
“It still calls to me although not as strongly as before. It is slowly becoming his. I can tell you this, he’s using it to power that black orb on top of his staff and that’s what giving him dominion over the dragon-kin. We need to separate it from him if we are to have any sort of chance.”
Tariq looked incredulously at the witch. “Are you serious?”
“Yes, but Sartael isn’t your concern. He’s mine.”
“And what did you have in mind for me?”
Even as she pointed toward the rooster-headed cockatrice, she flinched as Sartael’s bolt knocked her husband for a loop. “You must take out its eyes. That is our only hope.”
Tariq swallowed hard. “Surely you can’t be serious.”
Callistra flashed him a crooked grin. “I am serious…and don’t call me Shirley.”
Before the assassin could say anything else, the witch drew her two daggers and jumped out the window.
* * * * *
Sartael was pleased with himself as he gazed around the battlefield. His day had started bad when he’d received reports that the witch had escaped but now he saw that as a blessing. If she hadn’t run, then the other Outlanders wouldn’t have arrived on site to rescue her.
Sartael did a stuttered step as that thought rolled through his head. The witch. She was unaccounted for. From all descriptions that had reached his desk, he could only guess who it was. That’s when he felt a slight twitch in his caduceus. She was close.
Seconds later, he found out how close she was when she landed five feet in front of him and directly in his path to the fallen samurai. He did notice that she was wearing a form fitting black leather body suit that was extremely flattering and holding a pair of knives. Considering the fighting stance she was in, he guessed that she knew how to use them. Not that it really mattered to him. He could tell that they weren’t enchanted which means they had no hope of penetrating the magical shield radiating from his caduceus.
Plastering a smile on his face, he summoned his most persuasive voice. “Callistra my dear, it is a pleasure to see you again.”
“Liar! You might’ve stolen my wand from me but you will not take my husband from me.”
That revelation shocked him enough to make Sartael jerk backwards slightly. “Your husband? Wow, Al Shaytan wasn’t kidding when he said that he had a present for me. I can only imagine the power his blade will add to my caduceus once it’s joined with your wand.”
“You won’t have a chance since you’re not leaving here alive.”
Sartael couldn’t hold back his laughter. “You are outnumbered and powerless against my army. You have lost already, you just don’t know it.”
“As John Paul Jones once said, I have not yet begun to fight.” And the vampyress attacked.
Back in the real world, Cassie had been training in TaeKwonDo for over a dozen years. She was no where near as skilled a martial artist as Tao was in this realm or even Patrick back on the other side but then, her real self wasn’t nearly as fast or as strong as this body. Since Calli had lost her wand, she had relied on her marital arts skills many times to get her out of sticky situations and had become downright deadly.
&n
bsp; However she hadn’t counted on his magical defenses. She started her assault with a jump spin side kick that landed square on his scepter. She had hoped it would be knocked out of his hand but it was only knocked aside. It did allow her the opportunity to stab with her daggers. Both scored direct hits in the center of his chest but the blades seemed to pass through Sartael’s body and robes without injury.
The sickening grin plastered on his face only angered her.
Channeling her fury into her attacks, Callistra let loose with a dazzling series of kicks followed by more knife attacks. Sartael seemed to be moved backwards from the force of her attacks although he didn’t seem to be hurt by them at all and once again, the non-magical daggers just passed through his body without injury. Regrettably for Calli, her last series of attacks actually put her out of position and almost directly under the raised head of the cockatrice.
“My turn,” said Sartael as his caduceus began to glow with a reddish light.
Calli hazarded a quick glance upwards and saw that the deadly serpent was sucking in air, not a good sign. Her eyes flicked to the body of her husband and she saw him move, not much but at least he was alive. Refocusing her attention onto the wizard, she tensed in expectation of his spell. She would only have one chance to dodge whatever spell he was about to cast and she needed it to count. One wrong move and she was toast or a statue.
Neither sounded like a good option to her at this particular time.
* * * * *
Mathias reached over to his shoulder to grab another arrow only to find empty air. Not that it should surprise him. He’d been firing arrows non-stop since they had begun this assault. He’d already gone through the two quivers of fifty he’d strapped onto his hips before the raid. And now his back quiver of one hundred arrows was also empty.
This was not good.
The half-elf began scanning the nearby corpses for arrows. None that were close seemed to have any usable arrows protruding from their bodies. Not that they didn’t have arrows stuck in them, they did, but most seemed to have been bent or broken in the enemy’s death spasms.
Damn it! Here he was an archer without arrows but plenty of targets.
Expanding his gaze, he saw the ivory skinned witch backing away from the black robed wizard. Even though Matthew hadn’t officially met Cassie’s current avatar, he knew it was her. And now she was caught between the wizard and the cockatrice. She couldn’t dive to her left since that would put her back to the wall of the stables and nowhere else to dodge. If she dove to the other side, it would be easy for the cockatrice to breathe on her. If she stayed still, the wizard had her.
The Matthew part of him couldn’t help but think, ‘Lord, if only I still had some arrows I could help.’
Mathias felt the enchanted bow vibrate in his hand and right before his eyes, an arrow of pure magic formed across the riser. It was solid white and seemed to pulse with its own heartbeat. Sighting down the shaft at the rooster-headed serpent, Mathias Strongbow held his shot as he witnessed a dark shadow leap from the barn loft onto the cockatrice’s head.
* * * * *
Brandon couldn’t believe what he was doing. But then, he wasn’t Brandon at least not entirely. At this precise moment he was Tariq al’Nasir al’Rafiq of the Hashashin Order. He was the Silent Blade of the Burning Sands. He had been given the challenge of killing the cockatrice. And a Hashashin never backs down from a challenge.
Biding his time, Tariq had waited until the serpent’s attention was fixed on the witch before he struck. He had dialed up the poison in his katar to its most deadly venom. He doubted it would do anything more than slow the beast down. His only hope lie in his first strike and then his agility.
The knowledge of anatomy imparted to him by his assassin avatar did not cover the vulnerable parts of a dragon. He had to trust in the witch’s suggestion of attacking the eyes. It was only logical. Even if it didn’t kill it, at least it would put the great beast at a disadvantage. And that might make all the difference.
As soon as he leapt, he knew that he’d timed it perfectly. Tariq landed and stabbed his magical blade deep into the serpent’s left eye. What he didn’t take into consideration was the speed at which the beast would react. The cockatrice jerked back so violently that he was flung off its neck. Tariq flipped over in mid-air and bounced off of the nearby barn. Meanwhile, his katar was still lodged in the ruined eye socket of the cockatrice and it was now pissed off and after him. This didn’t bode well for his immediate future.
Chapter 30
Callistra would’ve smiled at this situation if she was still back home sitting at the keyboard.
Actually, that was incorrect. Cassie would’ve smiled. There was a distinct difference in the two and she forced herself to remember that. Back home the worst thing she’d ever done was a speeding ticket or smoked a little pot. But over here, she was a killer. She’d had to drink the blood of innocents to survive. She was still unsure of how Patrick’s sense of honor would react to that fact. Although, she hoped to have the chance to find out and that all depended on the next few minutes.
Tariq’s attack on the cockatrice had caused Sartael to pause but not enough for her to escape. Now, he was about to cast a killing hex. She knew this through her faint connection with her former wand. It still answered to her but only slightly. It was slowly being drained of power and soon wouldn’t even recognize her. Even as Sartael cast the spell, she leapt high in the air to avoid its deadly effects but it still struck her.
As she was knocked back through the air, she knew the only reason she was alive was her wand. It had resisted the killing aspect of the spell but in the process she could sense that it was done. It was no longer attuned to her and now only responded to the black robed wizard.
Callistra came to rest against the corpse of a wyvern that still had its saddle and bags strapped to its back. Something about the saddle rig tugged on her memory but she couldn’t concentrate. The world was fuzzy.
Sartael calmly walked toward her. His brow was furrowed as he chewed on the inside of his lip. “You’re supposed to be dead. Why aren’t you dead?”
Callistra grimaced when she tried to move. At least one rib was broken, that much she could tell. Not that she was worried about it. If she lived through the next few moments she would heal and heal quickly, one of the few benefits of her vampirism affliction. If Sartael had immediately cast a second spell, there would not have been anything she could have done to defend against it but the wizard wanted to talk, so she would talk.
Grinding her teeth together at the pain, she shifted to a more upright position and looked the wizard in the eyes. “It’s simple, I wasn’t supposed to die.”
That brought Sartael up short. “What do you mean by that?”
“There are more forces at work in this realm than your precious Al Shaytan.”
Sartael rubbed his chin as he considered her implications. “You’re bluffing.”
She licked her dry lips and knew that there was blood on her tongue, typically not a good sign. “Think so? Then why didn’t your spell kill me? I know that was your intention.”
“True.”
She nodded toward his makeshift caduceus. “Why do you only have half of the Dragon Orb? Because that is how the powers that be want it.”
Callistra could tell that her words were causing him doubt. She could almost see the uncertainty flooding his face. But more than that, she saw that her husband had pushed himself up to his knees. He needed more time to clear away the cobwebs but she didn’t know if her current bluff would give it to him. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw the half-blind cockatrice as it chased the nimble assassin through the onrushing horde of goblins, who quickly discovered that they were just as susceptible to the serpent’s devastating breath weapon as Jerrick had been.
The witch nodded toward the wounded cockatrice. “Your pet isn’t faring well.”
Sartael glanced in that direction and shrugged. “No matter. He is only one of many. Th
e same could be said about the goblins. They are naught but pawns to be used and discarded when they’ve outlived their usefulness.”
Calli shifted to her left and felt a jolt when her hand brushed up against a familiar object wrapped in a blanket which had been shoved into a saddlebag. Sartael didn’t seem to notice her actions since he was still talking.
“This world is nothing but an elaborate chessboard. Anyone and everyone are just pieces in the game. Nevertheless I’m playing to win. I’m happy to trade pawns for nearly any gain but more importantly, I’ve traded a simple knight for a powerful bishop. Hell, I don’t even mind trading my cockatrice for the death of your friends.” Sartael nodded toward the rooster-headed serpent. “Behold. Bear witness to their destruction.”
Calli couldn’t help but look and the sight crushed her hopes.
The cockatrice had Tariq pinned underneath one claw with scores of broken and shattered statues of goblins and men surrounding them. Not far from that spectacle, Kastle was down with blood flowing from a head wound. Gamble the dwarven skald was standing over top of him, injured and putting up a brave but futile defense against the massive dreadknight.
“Now it’s time to end this. However, don’t take this personal. It’s just business.” Sartael raised his caduceus and spoke the command phrase of his strongest and most painful curse.
Calli gripped the hilt of Roland’s sword and pulled it free. Thrusting it in front of her in a desperate measure of defense she couldn’t help but mutter, “Oh Lord, let this work.”
* * * * *
Tariq looked up from the flat of his back at the massive cockatrice as it raised its head high and took in a deep breath. This was it. He was trapped and didn’t have a single trick left to play.
“By God, I didn’t think this was how it would end.”
* * * * *
Something had told Mathias to hold his shot. He wasn’t sure why but he’d held the arrow of energy and waited for the right moment. Seeing the cockatrice rearing up overtop the prone form of the assassin, he knew it was time. Exhaling slowly, the half-elf sighted down the shaft and trusted his archer instincts on the wind and release his shot.
Lost Lands: The Game - Atlantis Page 24
