by James Wisher
She felt holy energy from the area of the gatehouse. When Lidia traced it to its source she spotted a single paladin fighting with eight warlords, one of which was Jennifer. Thank heaven, she was still alive. Alive and hard pressed. A force of demons was attempting to smash their way past the warlords and out the gate. Only the narrowness of the gate kept them from being totally overwhelmed. And even with that advantage they couldn’t hold out long.
Lidia drew deep from her near-empty core and hurled a sphere of destructive energy at the massed demons. It exploded and sent them flying. The warlords seized the moment and rushed out, bashing the fallen constructs at a blinding pace. One after another they exploded.
A warlord went down with his leg severed at the knee. The paladin dragged him back into the gatehouse. The rest paid no attention and kept pounding. Lidia flew down to lend a hand.
Chapter 47
Damien put the final touches on his construct and stepped back. “What do you think?”
An excellent likeness. Even the soul force matches.
He nodded. That had been the hardest part, dividing his soul force as well as the sustaining flow exactly in half. If Connor noticed any difference the trick wouldn’t work.
A blast of corrupt energy shook the platform where he stood. Time to stop fooling around.
He sent his construct to fly around behind Connor then went the opposite way for a direct attack. Damien swooped down below Connor’s level while the decoy came in from above. Come on, damn you, take the bait.
Damien sensed the black lightning gathering a moment before it streaked down at him. He just managed to twist aside. Even a near miss stripped a portion of the power from Damien’s shield.
Before Connor could adjust his aim the construct slammed into him. Unlike Connor’s decoy, Damien’s was dense enough to hit hard.
The warlock staggered.
Damien flew up and swung Lizzy at the urn. The foul thing went flying across the cavern.
His back cut should have taken Connor’s head off, but instead struck a dark shield harder than steel. The vibration numbed Damien’s fingers.
Damien’s construct had Connor wrapped up, but even though he couldn’t move he still wielded his power with no trouble.
Corrupt soul force gathered. Damien read the flow and reclaimed the power in his decoy a moment before a massive burst of hellfire would have blown it away. The influx of power instantly repaired his shield and refilled his core.
Damien drew deep and sent a dense blade of soul force screaming at Connor. The warlock blocked it but went flying across the cavern. Connor used the momentum to flee up to the top level.
After a moment’s thought Damien flew back to the prisoners. Everyone was still breathing, though they all looked gaunt. He tapped each person’s restraints with Lizzy’s tip and shattered the bindings with a small burst of soul force.
One by one each prisoner slumped to the floor. When he’d freed them all Damien wrapped the group in a protective barrier and sent a stream of soul force to maintain it.
Are you sure? You might miss that bit of power when we catch up to him.
Damien wasn’t sure about much, but he couldn’t let the other sorcerers die if he could help it. Without the threat of the urn he felt pretty good about his chances of defeating Connor. His master would probably snort and say something about the arrogance of youth. Luckily she wasn’t here to see him do something potentially stupid.
If you get yourself killed I swear I’ll tell her.
Damien put a hand to his heart. “Cold-hearted woman. Don’t worry. I won’t be leaving you anytime soon. Let’s go get him.”
He conjured a second shield with enough power to turn aside anything he could imagine Connor sending his way. The third level was empty so Damien continued on to the top. A small doorway shaped from crystal, barely big enough for a single person to pass through, waited at the top. An ominous aura radiated from the room beyond.
Connor had to be in there, but Damien couldn’t separate him from the corruption that filled the air. What was causing that aura?
It’s a hell gate. What you feel is a fragment of the true power of hell.
Damien’s face twisted. “And you used to live there. I’m so sorry.”
He charged Lizzy’s blade and stepped through the narrow opening. The room beyond was pure crystal with a pedestal in the center. Connor stood beside it, his hand resting on a slightly darker piece of crystal protruding out of the pedestal, his head thrown back so he could stare into the swirling black void that covered the ceiling. He wore an ecstatic look unlike anything Damien had ever seen.
Damien shuddered. What in the world was Connor doing?
Whatever it was it couldn’t be anything good. He slashed Lizzy in the warlock’s direction, releasing the stored energy in her blade. The wave of soul force struck an unseen barrier and blew apart, sending golden motes drifting around the chamber as they winked out.
That blast would have killed an average demon, but Connor didn’t even blink. In fact it didn’t look to Damien like he was breathing.
Damien extended Lizzy and took a step. He found nothing. Another step then a third, still nothing. On the fourth step she hit what felt like a solid wall, but there was nothing there. What was he supposed to do now?
A deranged cackle drew Damien’s attention to his left. A black mirror hung on the wall and a blurry figure stared at him from its hazy depths.
It’s an imp, Damien. Trust nothing it says.
Damien hardly needed the warning. The ugly thing had to be a demon of some sort. Connor didn’t look to be going anywhere and Damien seemed unable to attack so he walked over to the mirror.
“Who are you, another of Connor’s minions?”
The imp huffed. “Hardly. I serve the great King Alexious and sometimes the master himself.”
“The master? You mean the Horned One?”
“You’re a smart one. Did you figure that out all by yourself or did your tame spirit tell you?”
Lizzy’s anger radiated through her hilt. Damien was tempted to smash the mirror on the spot, but he wanted to see if the creature knew anything useful.
“I deduced it from the company you keep. Speaking of which…” Damien jerked a thumb towards Connor. “What’s he up to?”
“It’s a surprise.”
“A surprise?”
“Mmmm. I fear you won’t like it. You’re about to meet the master. Have fun.” The imp vanished.
“Did you understand that?”
I assume it was implying that Connor was summoning the Horned One himself. That’s impossible. Even if Connor sent the entire planet’s soul force through the portal it wouldn’t be enough to allow a demon lord to pass through.
“Then what?”
A tremor shook the chamber and Connor howled. Black mist drifted down from the portal and entered the warlock’s eyes, ears, and mouth. His face contorted in paroxysms of mingled rage and pain.
Damien risked slamming Lizzy into the invisible barrier to no more effect than the earlier blast. Whatever was happening they were nothing but observers for the moment.
Chapter 48
Connor’s flesh warped and flowed like clay in a master sculptor’s hands. Long, curved horns grew out of his head, his arms and legs elongated, but his body remained the same, making him look completely out of proportion. His mouth doubled in size and filled with needle-sharp fangs. The warlock’s look hadn’t been especially appealing before, now he was a real horror.
A deep, inhuman laugh welled up from Connor, if Connor he still was. “Long has it been since I tasted the air of this reality.”
The voice matched the laugh: inhuman. It appeared Connor was long gone.
He traded his life to allow more of the demon’s soul force into his body. This isn’t the Horned One’s true self, but an avatar.
“What does that mean for us?”
“It means,” the demon lord said. “You are about to die.”
D
amien leapt aside as a massive burst of hellfire streaked out and splashed against the crystal behind him. The hard blue stone melted like snow in the summer. The flames were more intense than anything he’d dealt with before.
A weak counterattack struck the unseen barrier and dissipated.
Don’t bother trying to attack. There’s no way Connor’s body will be able to host that much demonic power for long. You don’t need to win, just survive.
Damien’s lip curled. If there was one thing he hated it was being told he couldn’t win. Another blast sent him sprawling. It looked like he didn’t have many options in this case.
Flesh dripped like wax from Connor’s hands and arms, exposing the bone underneath. It looked like he was starting to disintegrate already. Damien rolled and lunged out the chamber door. An explosion was followed by a boulder striking him in the middle of his back and sending his sailing halfway across the cavern.
The rock didn’t penetrate his shield, but damn, that was some blow. A feeling of approaching corruption prompted him to dive under another blast of black flames. He twisted and stared. The crystal chamber was gone, blown to smithereens. All that remained was the pedestal and the swirling portal above it.
Curious, Damien sent a little bit stronger blast streaking in at the demon lord. The attack hit him in the chest without effect. The shield was gone.
It doesn’t matter. He’s still too strong.
“He is, but what about that pedestal? Unless I’m mistaken that’s the source of the portal. If I smash that it’ll sever the connection between them and close the gate.”
I doubt he’ll give you a clear shot at it.
Damien doubted that too, but if he could just force the monster to move a few feet one way or the other he might be able to sneak a shot through. That was all he needed, a little gap.
The Horned One raised Connor’s skeletal hands and hellfire gathered around them. The flames shot up and formed into giant bats. The constructs rushed toward him. There wasn’t room enough for a drawn-out chase in the cavern.
Damien slashed Lizzy at them and released a potent burst of soul force. It sliced through the bats, opening a foot-thick gash which closed an instant later. His attack hadn’t bothered them in the least. They were like Mikhail’s flame serpents only stronger.
He flew in an endless circle, around and around what was left of the crystal chamber, thinking furiously. If he couldn’t smash them maybe he could remove them from the battlefield. Damien wrapped both bats in soul force bubbles and hurled them back at the Horned One.
Connor’s face had melted off in places, exposing the skull. Gah, how much longer could he hold that body together? The bats flexed their wings and destroyed the bubbles. Too long for Damien’s liking.
The bats rushed him, gnashing their fangs. Time to get aggressive.
Damien turned toward the demon and flew full speed in his direction, the bats in close pursuit. He’d take a certain perverse delight in crashing his opponent’s constructs into his head.
Alas it wasn’t to be. A wall of hellfire sprang up and Damien barely turned in time to avoid getting burned to a crisp.
He flew all the way around the pedestal. The hellfire surrounded the whole thing.
“Can he see us through that?”
He can see through the bats’ eyes, the same way you use your spy bugs, plus he can sense your soul force.
“But he can’t actually see through the fire.”
I don’t think so.
“Perfect.”
This is a bad idea, Damien. You have no idea how strong those flames are.
“True, but if we don’t do something while we’re still near full strength we’re going to lose this fight. I don’t need to tell you what happens then.”
No.
“So are you with me?”
Always.
He grinned. As long as he had Lizzy’s support Damien could do anything.
He drew power and wrapped the bats in opaque golden bubbles then dove for the wall of fire. As he accelerated he sent most of his power to his shield layering it and pushing it out from his body. Lizzy sent her power to the edge of her blade.
They hit the flames.
Even with his multilayer shield the corruption burned and sickened Damien. An instant later they burst through.
He skidded across the platform and slashed. Lizzy sliced the base of the crystal pedestal like it was pudding.
The hell gate winked out, prompting the Horned One to howl in rage. His wall vanished. Connor’s body seemed to melt as Damien watched, going from reasonably intact to meat soup in seconds.
When nothing tried to kill him for a few seconds Damien started feeling pretty good about the situation.
A tremor ran through the chamber and corruption gathered under the stub of the pedestal.
Damien!
“I know.” He leapt aside an instant before a torrent of corrupt energy erupted from the ground. The geyser of darkness struck the roof of the cavern, burned its way through and shot into the gray sky.
Damien raced for the exit, pausing long enough to collect the still-unconscious sorcerers as he went. Outside the hill looked like the volcano he’d set off only it spewed darkness. It was a shame to waste all that power.
He conjured a bubble over the geyser, expanding it as the darkness filled it. It grew and grew, forcing Lizzy to reinforce his bubble with her power. When the flow stopped the bubble was almost as big as the royal castle. Damien flew up, shaping the bubble into a dragon as he went. He landed between its wings and settled the sorcerers behind him
It took every bit of strength he could muster to maintain the construct.
What now?
“Now we go see if Jen needs a hand. She’s not that far away.”
Chapter 49
Jen pounded her mace through the chest of the last construct in her immediate vicinity and bounced back before it exploded. While they had a moment to breathe she looked around for the sorcerer that launched that blast. Whoever it was had saved them all.
She spotted the archmage behind her leaning against the wall. She looked all in.
Jen trotted over. The remaining crystal constructs appeared focused on the wall and would probably remain so until the witch ordered them to shift around. Golden shafts of light rained down on the constructs as they attempted to climb the wall, sending them sprawling. The overall results weren’t that much more impressive than when the warlords knocked them down the old-fashioned way. Their outer shells were just too tough for a regular blast.
“Archmage, you really saved us. Thank you.”
For the second time Jen thought the archmage looked her age. Her skin was pale and sallow, her eyes bloodshot, and she bled from a small cut on her arm she appeared unaware of. The battle was taking a toll on everyone, but the archmage was getting the worst of it. At least they were still alive.
“Glad to help. Unfortunately, I put most of my soul force into that blast. I won’t be much use for a while.”
“And after that?”
She managed a wan smile. “I still won’t be much use, but at least I won’t be in danger of falling over.”
Jen grinned back. There wasn’t anything amusing in their situation, but she couldn’t help feeling a strong connection to the archmage just then. Maybe it was the sharing of danger, or the suddenly vulnerable look in her eyes, but Jen was seeing her as a person and not The Archmage.
“If it’s any consolation my hands are so numb from pounding on those crystal statues I can barely hold my weapons.”
“Oddly that doesn’t make me feel at all better.”
“Here they come!” Marie-Bell shouted.
Jen turned and found ten more demons headed their way. It appeared rest time was over. “If you go into the gatehouse we’ll cover you while you rest.”
“The archangels’ blessing on you. I’ll take that deal.”
While the archmage limped into the gatehouse Jen said, “Form up. Defensive positions.�
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The seven surviving warlords formed a curved front blocking the gate. No one groaned or complained, not that it would have done any good. Jen would have appreciated a quip or even some gallows humor, but no one had the strength to spare. At this point everyone’s soul force was so depleted they weren’t much more than highly trained regular soldiers. Still, that little burst they could draw on in a pinch was a major advantage.
Jen took her place at the center of the line beside Marie-Bell. The two women shared a look and nod. They’d been fighting together for so long now no words were necessary. If this was to be their final stand Jen was glad to have the paladin beside her. It would have been nice to see Damien one last time, maybe give Uncle Andy a hug.
The demons were only five feet away. They looked as strong and implacable as when they first appeared at the entrance of the pass. Nothing seemed to bother the constructs.
Two paces away they raised their claws. Jen tightened her grip on her maces, determined to take as many of them with her as possible.
The demons stopped. They trembled in place. One spun around and around like a giant top. What the hell was this? Were they being mocked?
“Jennifer?” The archmage stuck her head out of the gatehouse door. “What’s going on? I sensed a change in the demons’ soul force.”
Jen stepped back from the nearest demon. It showed no reaction, just stood there with its claws raised staring into space. She ran back to the archmage while the others kept an eye on the constructs.
“They just stopped moving. As to why, your guess is probably better than mine. Whatever it is, I’m not complaining.”
“Heaven’s mercy! What is that?” Marie-Bell pointed up into the sky above the haunted lands.
A huge gray shape hung in the air. Massive wings spread to either side for over a hundred feet. A narrow, serpentine head swept left and right.
