by R A Oakes
Lord Pensgraft had noticed the same thing, as had Andrina. But that still pitted two black crystal, fire-breathing giants and 11 White Angels against what looked like over 100 of Balzekior’s lava warriors. Chen’s “mother” didn’t like how things were shaping up.
The older warrior woman walked up to Marcheto and said, “If you have any tricks up your sleeve, now’s the time to use them.”
The young wizard quickly consulted his mentor. “Eldwyn, is there anything I can do to help?”
“Well, you’ve got King Tarlen, Chaktar, Andrina, Gwendylln, Corson and 30 of Chen’s warrior women to draw upon for assistance,” the elderly wizard said from within the staff Marcheto was holding.
“What should I do?”
“Well, their human bodies won’t stand a chance against Balzekior’s minions, so transform a few into something more durable. Change them into clear crystal warriors. But not all of them, that would take up a lot of your staff’s energy. And remember, it can’t be recharged while we’re this close to the presence of evil. Use its power sparingly, and keep as much as you can in reserve. You don’t want to end up with a debacle like I did when defending King Ulray and his family. And remember, King Tarlen is the last of the Kardimont line. If he dies in this fight, no one can replace him.”
Marcheto became nervous when he heard the fear in Eldwyn’s voice. The elderly wizard still hadn’t forgiven himself for Ulray’s death. Fear of failure haunted Eldwyn, and Marcheto wondered if it would impair the old wizard’s judgment, making him too cautious this time around.
However, General Zarkahn didn’t give his opponents time to decide on a course of action. He leapt at Chen, swinging his sword with all his might. Black Scarlet sidestepped the blow, and it glanced off her left calf muscle leaving General Zarkahn surprised and confused when his sword struck the stone floor creating a shower of sparks. Had Black Scarlet been made of flesh and blood, the general’s weapon would have severed her leg. As it was, the blade just slid harmlessly off of the smooth, hard black crystal.
Taking a step towards the general, Black Scarlet went up on the ball of her left foot, leaned forward and, using her right fist and putting her shoulder and back muscles into it, punched him in the chest with all her might knocking him to the ground.
Two of General Zarkahn’s captains jumped between their fallen leader and the black crystal behemoth as Chen raised her dark sword and got ready to hack her enemy to pieces. Lord Pensgraft quickly joined his wife carrying a weapon he’d gotten from the scruffy human warriors who’d been harassing Genevieve. When Lord Ridgewood’s men had bolted from the room, one had dropped a sledgehammer-like mace. Lord Pensgraft had spotted it, picked it up and was pleased when it instantly transformed into a huge, black crystal sledgehammer worthy of a giant, fire-breathing warrior. After lifting this hammer of doom high above his head, Lord Pensgraft swung it at one of the lava-rock creatures knocking him to the far side of the great room.
However, before Chen or Lord Pensgraft could take any further action, ten of Balzekior’s flaming minions swarmed all over the black crystal giants pounding them with large, red-hot rocks. Black Scarlet swatted away some lava creatures, but others hung around her neck, and two clung to her ankles beating at her feet and chipping off a few black crystal shards.
One of Balzekior’s minions was standing on Lord Pensgraft’s shoulder, stomping on the black crystal warrior’s neck, while another repeatedly smashed the giant in the face with a large fiery rock.
Seeking to take back the initiative, White Angel 19 stretched out her wings and launched herself into the air, flying over the dozens of red-hot lava creatures in front of her. Nine of the other White Angels followed her, but White Angel 26, being very pregnant, stayed behind to guard Genevieve and Dylancia.
The tall, elegant angels flapping their wings with long, powerful strokes filled the air and dominated it. But the confined area of the great room afforded them little maneuvering room, and their sheer size made them easy targets for the flaming lava rocks Balzekior’s minions began hurling at them.
Andrina sensed that the battle was going against the forces of Light and shouted, “Outside! Take the fight outside!”
Balzekior, who was happy with the way things were, picked up a lava rock and threw it at Andrina, but Marcheto immediately transformed the warrior woman into solid clear crystal. The rock hit Andrina on the side of her head, and hit her hard, and would have killed her if Marcheto hadn’t acted so quickly.
After Black Scarlet, Lord Pensgraft, the White Angels and the human warriors fought their way back to the courtyard, the angels had the entire sky at their disposal and split up putting greater distance between themselves. But it was Black Scarlet who first recognized a new dilemma. Upon hitting one lava warrior with a devastating blow to its chest, she watched with grim satisfaction as it exploded into a shower of rocks. However, each rock began growing and growing, transforming itself into yet another red-hot, flaming lava creature. Chen’s one opponent had now turned into a half-dozen.
The White Angels were discovering the same problem. As they swooped down and struck the lava creatures with their Swords of Fire, the resulting pile of rubble just turned into a greater number of the enemy.
“The more you attempt to strike us down, the greater we become,” Balzekior cackled, her eyes glinting with malignant evil.
“They’re feeding off our anger,” Lord Pensgraft shouted. “It seems our rage is fueling them.”
“But what can we do about that?” Black Scarlet asked. “War and anger go together.”
It was Marcheto who came up with a solution. “Extinguish them. Put them out like a candle.”
“How?” Chen shouted.
As Balzekior’s flaming minions approached the young wizard, Marcheto quietly stood his ground and whispered, “Entomba encasta smothrar lasity.”
One by one, the red-hot lava creatures nearest to him were covered head to toe by a thick layer of clear crystal, cutting off the creatures’ air supply and extinguishing their flames.
Following Marcheto’s example with a variation of their own, the White Angels began radiating purple, blue, green, yellow, orange and red prism light. Then they sheathed their swords and dropped from the sky onto Balzekior’s minions. Each angel chose a target and wrapped her long wings around a lava creature. Squeezing tightly, they suffocated the fiery beings and snuffed them out. The prism light protected the White Angels from the intense heat somewhat, but after laying waste to about 20 of the enemy, the angels began getting burned and flew back into the air.
Having another inspiration, Marcheto selected Corson as the next person he’d change into clear crystal. The young mystic chose her because she loved fighting more than anyone he’d ever known. Corson was a happy warrior, and that’s exactly what he wanted.
As the warrior woman admired her new crystal body, Marcheto asked, “Corson, will you see how many fiery creatures you can hit with extinguished lava rocks?”
“Sure,” Corson said. “Happy to oblige.”
Marcheto scooped up an armful of rocks, brought them to her and said, “Have a good time. Knock ‘em dead.”
Corson wound up and tossed a rock at a lava warrior bopping him on the noggin and literally knocking his head off. “Oh, I’m sorry. Did I do that?” she laughed.
Black Scarlet quickly noticed that this lava creature didn’t multiply into several more versions of itself. It just stayed dead and remained as a pile of rocks on the ground. The black crystal warrior woman thought, How could I have been so dumb?
“True evil feeds off of fear, everyone,” Chen shouted. “Loosen up, relax. Enjoy yourselves. Treat today like a holiday.”
“What else would you call it?” Corson laughed as she busted up creature after creature.
Balzekior became dismayed when she saw that Chen and the others had stopped taking her flaming warriors seriously. In fact, Black Scarlet and all the humans began openly laughing at her minions.
“Hey, spar
ky, eat this!” Gwendylln laughed as she threw a rock with all her might at a flaming enemy warrior. Seeing how Gwendylln was enjoying herself almost as much as Corson, Marcheto turned her into clear crystal warrior number three.
By being frugal with his wizard staff’s energy, the young mystic was trying to heed Eldwyn’s advice. He was changing only as many warrior women into clear crystal as appeared to be absolutely necessary.
White Angel 19 and the other White Angels got into a festive mood as well. Swooping down, they each grabbed a lava creature, lifting it high into the sky and dropping it. The fiery minions looked truly beautiful as they fell through the darkness before smashing onto the courtyard floor in a shower of sparks and disintegrating into a pile of rubble.
“This is my idea of a good time,” White Angel 29 laughed as she looked around and saw all the angels were having fun. One after another, Balzekior’s minions were meeting their demise.
Disgusted by Balzekior’s inability to see the obvious, General Zarkahn took it upon himself to snap the old crone’s forces out of their confusion. He shouted, “If you want to inspire fear in your enemy, strike hard at their most vulnerable spot. Go after Dylancia.”
To himself, General Zarkahn thought, Swarenth’s one sorry example of leadership, but this Balzekior doesn’t seem to be much better. She has lots of power but doesn’t understand how to allocate it.
Out of frustration he yelled, “Doesn’t anyone around here understand strategic warfare?”
“I do,” Andrina shouted.
“I mean on our side,” the general growled.
“Sorry,” she said as she laughed.
But suddenly, the remaining red-hot lava creatures responded to General Zarkahn’s advice. Running over towards the far left of the courtyard, they tried to circumvent the human forces and reach Black Scarlet’s baby.
As soon as Chen saw what the fiery warriors were trying to do, the battle became a whole lot less funny. “Protect Dylancia,” she shouted desperately. “Save my baby.”
Playing on Black Scarlet’s fears, General Zarkahn shouted, “Death to Dylancia! Death to Dylancia!”
Balzekior and her minions quickly took up the cry shouting, “Death to Dylancia!”
The evil old crone, seeing the fear on the young mother’s face, had a good laugh herself and thought, Chen, you’re so easy, so very easy.
But Balzekior stopped laughing when she felt something take her by the collar of her robe, lift her off the ground and swing her around and around. The decrepit old hag found herself flying through the air and slammed up against the courtyard wall near the shattered entrance gate.
It seems that while Balzekior was laughing, she hadn’t noticed that her remaining minions had run past her, leaving her unprotected from behind. Lord Pensgraft had quickly and quietly crept up on her and had tossed the old hag as far as he could, which was a long way.
Bouncing off the stone wall, Balzekior fell to the courtyard floor in a heap. When the lava creatures saw that their master was almost knocked unconscious, they lost interest in Dylancia and ran in the old crone’s direction.
“Stay where you are, you fools,” Balzekior shouted.
But the fiery warriors ignored their master’s warning and kept running towards her, at least that’s what Balzekior thought they were doing. However, instead, it turned out that they were making for the front gate. The creatures were intent on getting back to the safety of the crack in the earth’s crust with its warm, comforting flow of fresh lava.
“Cowards!” Balzekior shouted when they ran past her.
Moments later, General Zarkahn and his men reached the old crone, and he confronted her directly. “Maybe you’re not as powerful as I thought you were. Maybe my men and I need to find another way out of here. You might not be our best option.”
Ignoring the general, Balzekior watched the retreating lava rock creatures and shouted, “I’m done with all of you. Be gone!”
With that, they collapsed into piles of dust, except for three lava creatures that merged into one and picked up Balzekior. Next, the old crone turned back to General Zarkahn, pointed a bony finger at the opposite side of the courtyard and said, “We should head over there. Most of Lord Ridgewood’s men are hiding inside that far tower.”
“How can they help?” General Zarkahn asked shaking his head. “They’re a bunch of vagrants.”
“You have to look for the good in everyone,” Balzekior said in a cynical tone of voice.
“You’re not serious?”
“Of course not. People are nothing but miserable failures. But let me handle Lord Ridgewood and his men. I think you’ll see that they can prove useful if properly motivated.”
“That’ll be the day.”
But having no other alternatives at the moment, General Zarkahn and his men ran after Balzekior as the lava giant carrying her lumbered across the courtyard.
Black Scarlet, White Angel 19 and the others attempted to follow but found themselves blocked by a force field.
As Andrina watched their remaining adversaries fleeing, she said, “Balzekior’s not going to give up, not this easily.”
“What do you think she’s up to?” White Angel 19 asked.
On the far side of the courtyard, screams of agony came from inside the buildings. Human screams. Hundreds of them.
“What in god’s name is going on over there?” Zorya asked as horrendous cries of terror reached their ears.
“I don’t think god has anything to do with what’s happening to Lord Ridgewood and his men,” Baelfire said.
“True, but Balzekior will be coming back. I guarantee it,” Andrina said.
Wailing and pleas for mercy filled the night air. Next, choking sounds began dominating the courtyard as if dozens and dozens of men were being strangled all at once. The killing went on for what seemed like a very long time, but suddenly there was silence. Dead silence.
“Expect the worst, but no matter what comes out of those buildings, don’t panic,” Andrina cautioned them. “Marcheto, are you able to turn more than three of us into clear crystal, or is that all you can do?”
I’m not sure,” the young wizard said hesitantly. He hated to go against his mentor’s wishes and thought, What if Eldwyn’s right? What if we need more power later and don’t have it?
King Tarlen walked up to Andrina with his tiger, Chaktar, at his side. “I agree that it’s going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better.”
“If we can’t beat a weakened Balzekior here, what can we possibly do against her when she’s back at Dominion Castle with thousands of gargoyles at her disposal?” White Angel 19 asked.
“First things first,” King Tarlen advised. Then everyone around him got to witness his dramatic transformation into the Tiger of Dominion Castle.
“That’s impressive every time I see it happen,” Black Scarlet said.
“Yes, but where’s the Creative Light? Why hasn’t it appeared yet?” White Angel 19 asked. “Why are we always having to wait for its help? For all its power, it can be so very frustrating.”
Zorya glanced over at Baelfire, who said, “Don’t look to me for answers. You’re older than I am. You should know more.”
“Well, it’s only a rumor,” the magic horse said. “However, when I was young, I was told that at one time evil did not exist. But, then, the Creative Light’s greatest creations, beings of pure energy, challenged it for supremacy, and there was a terrible battle in the spiritual world. Now, for its own protection, the Creative Light has us begin life in the physical world. That way, if anything goes wrong, the trouble is contained here, outside the spiritual world.”
“But why is evil allowed to roam the land?” Aerylln 19 asked. “It seems unfair. We haven’t caused any trouble.”
“Evil was banished from the Creative Light’s kingdom forever. But evil gets to torment us and try to break us to its will here on earth. If we’re going to defect and join the forces of darkness, I guess the Creative Light would rat
her have that happen here than in its own world,” Zorya said.
“Why doesn’t the Creative Light just kill off evil and start anew?”
“It’s not that simple. The Creative Light once loved its greatest creations, and its disappointment runs deep. I think we might be caught in a lover’s quarrel. Evil is like a rejected lover who won’t go away. And the Creative Light can’t completely handle the loss of those it once loved so fully. Evil is trying to get back at the Creative Light by causing heartache here on earth, and the Creative Light is forever hopeful that some of us will prove evil wrong by going beyond temptation and remaining loyal even when all seems lost.”
Andrina looked hard at what was coming at them from the other side of the courtyard and said, “I guess we’re going to be testing some of those theories right now.”
There, marching towards them, was an army made up of Lord Ridgewood and his men. All 300 of them.
“Those sounds we heard of men screaming and dying were in preparation for this,” Lord Pensgraft said.
Lord Ridgewood and his men were no longer a bunch of dirty vagrants. They were worse. Crossing the courtyard were hundreds of human skeletons covered in flames and without even a scrap of flesh on their bones. For eyes, each skeleton had two red coals. With relentless precision, this army of dead bones was making its way across the courtyard.
“Steady, steady,” the Tiger of Dominion Castle said.
“Eldwyn, I’ve got to get more involved,” Marcheto whispered. “I have to use more of the staff’s energy.”
“First see what the White Angels can do,” Eldwyn advised. “But above all else, stay near King Tarlen.”
Marcheto didn’t like this at all. He realized the old wizard was only concerned with saving King Tarlen, not with the outcome of the overall battle. The young wizard thought, Eldwyn’s lost perspective. I’m on my own.
