Deliverance

by Brittany Comeaux

  Blaze brought his sword up and swung at the creature from the side, striking the creature in the ribcage. It landed to the ground roughly, but it immediately rose to its feet like nothing happened.

  “What the hell?! Not even a scratch!” Blaze yelled, befuddled.

  “Lookout!” cried Kerali, who shot an arrow at another creature that crept behind Crystal. It bounced off of the creature’s snout, and Crystal immediately shot a fireball at the creature’s face and it whined with pain. Gavril then attacked a third beast coming from another direction, and Thaddeus cast a thunder spell on the one Blaze was fighting.

  The shock paralyzed the beast momentarily, and so Blaze took advantage by swinging at it again. This time, his sword easily sliced through the beast’s scaly skin and poured dark blood onto the dead grass. The creature moaned and cried out in pain, and Blaze responded by slicing its throat. The beast then fell to the ground and became still.

  “Thunder spells weaken their scales, Crystal!” shouted Thaddeus.

  “Got it!” Crystal shouted back. She then shot a lightning bolt at the monster she and Kerali were fighting and Thaddeus then did the same to Gavril’s monster. Gavril then sliced the monster apart, and Kerali unloaded his arrows into the other. Once the three creatures were dead, Crystal examined one of the bodies.

  “What are they?” she asked Thaddeus.

  “I do not know,” he replied.

  “I have lived for three centuries and have killed thousands of monsters, but never have I seen anything like this,” said Kerali.

  Upon further examination, Gavril noticed something.

  “Their eyes are blood red, and I feel the same dark presence as I did with the Eye of Gaull when we first saw it in the City of Magi,” said Gavril.

  “Yes, you’re right,” Crystal said softly.

  “What do you mean? I do not sense this presence you speak of,” said Kerali.

  “The Eye of Gaull can only be used by a human, so it only tempts the humans who go near it, but elves, dwarves, and others are not affected.” Thaddeus explained, “There is no doubt about it; there is indeed a shard in these ruins.”

  “So what about the monsters?” asked Gavril.

  “This is only a hunch, but perhaps the monsters are demons, possibly even followers that sold their souls to Gaull, that are protecting the shard,” the old mage supposed.

  “Why protect it? Wouldn’t they want it to be found?” asked Crystal.

  “I do not know. Like I stated, it is only a hunch,” replied Thaddeus.

  “At least we know how to kill them, now.” said Crystal, who then stood and looked at the ruins and added, “Let’s head inside, and we’d better watch for any more of these demons, just in case.”

  The five of them then grouped together still grasping their weapons and ventured cautiously inside. Crystal held a small fire in her hand above her head to light the way, and Thaddeus lit his staff behind the rest of the group. They walked through what used to be the foyer, their every footstep creaking on the rotting wood floor. They tried a few different rooms around the ground level, but some rooms were inaccessible due to the massive damage.

  Suddenly, another demon appeared. Crystal used her thunder spell and stunned it while Blaze attacked it with his sword and Kerali shot it with arrows. They soon found that the deeper into the ruins they ventured, the more demons appeared.

  “We have to be getting close,” said Crystal.

  Room by room they walked on with no sign of the shard. The rebels were becoming tired from fighting all of the demons, but they knew that the shard had to be close. They finally came to what looked like a kitchen area that led to an archway where the rebels assumed a back door used to be.

  “We’ve looked in every room that we could get to.” said Crystal, “So the shard has to be in the backyard.”

  Once they stepped outside, they could see numerous old trees against the night sky and a dense, overgrown hedge that lined the property. There were dead bushes and a cobblestone walkway that led further to the back of the property.

  “This must have been a garden at some point,” said Gavril.

  “I feel the dark presence further towards the back of the property.” said Crystal, “Let’s find our way there.”

  The rebels followed the walkway, which twisted and turned around rows of bushes and trees almost like a maze. The group could see old and crumbled statues that once resembled human form, but now had fallen apart from years of decay. Dead leaves crunched under their feet as they walked, but it was the only sound they heard other than the cool wind.

  The group eventually came across the end of the walkway. They stopped a few feet away from an old fountain that lay against the hedge. A faint red glow came from the dirty water, and when Crystal inched closer, she could see the shard.

  “It’s here! The shard is in the fountain!” she called out.

  No sooner than Crystal said this, however, did a voice say, “Thank you for finding it for us.”

  The rebels turned around to see none other than Saitar. He was no longer wearing his elder robe, of course. He now wore a black robe with silver trim and carried his staff like a walking cane.

  “What are you doing here, traitor?!” yelled Thaddeus.

  “Oh I didn’t come alone,” replied Saitar. After he said this, half a dozen high ranked soldiers jumped over the hedges and landed near the rebels. Perun had also appeared on top of the fountain. He had somehow slipped past the rebels without either of them being aware and now had his hands on the shard.

  “We are here to take this back to our king, and we owe you for doing the work for us,” said the dark elf from atop the fountain. He then jumped forward into the air, flipped and twisted around in midair, and then landed next to Saitar facing the rebels.

  “My, my, Prince Blaze, you look different!” Saitar exclaimed, “Your father has been looking for you. I am here to personally escort you back to the castle.”

  “Forget it,” Blaze snapped.

  “Oh? You refuse?” Saitar asked curiously.

  “Does that asshole really think I’ll go running back to him like a lost puppy? Does he really think I’ll forget the way he tossed me aside, drop everything, and be his bitch again? You can tell your king that he’d better watch his back, because if he doesn’t, he’ll find my sword plunged into it!” Blaze threatened.

  “I see. Well then, if you refuse to comply, I have been given orders to kill you,” replied Saitar.

  “And to bring the rest of you filthy rebels into custody,” added Perun.

  “Just try and defeat us!” Gavril shouted.

  “With pleasure,” replied Saitar.

  The former elder then launched a wave of rock and dirt that came up from the ground in a path towards Crystal. She blocked the flying earth with a force field and counterattacked with icicles that flew around and shot at Saitar from the side. He blocked the ice with his robe, but Thaddeus had attacked with a lightning strike from his hand from the other direction, catching Saitar off guard.

  The shock knocked him off of his feet, and so Perun attempted to attack Thaddeus while his comrade was down. Gavril, however, stepped in the way and blocked Perun’s attack. Kerali also teamed up with Gavril against the dark elf. The elf hurled arrow after arrow at the dark elf and was attempting to distract him so that Gavril may grab the shard.

  Blaze had begun fighting three soldiers at once while Crystal fended off the other three. Crystal managed to incapacitate two of them with various spells, and it wasn’t long before she was able to defeat the third. She turned to Blaze in time to see him kill the last of his opponents by making him stab himself with his own blade.

  “Must you use so much force?” she yelled.

  “It’s either us or them! I choose us!” he yelled back. He then ran in Perun’s direction to attempt to grab the shard.

  Perun slowly became overwhelmed by everyone attacking him, especially since he only had one hand free. Crystal could see that he may cave i
n, but she looked to Thaddeus first. He was fending off Saitar well, but the rogue elder was younger and quicker, so Crystal decided to jump in to help her mentor.

  Saitar was trying to help Perun, but with Crystal and Thaddeus keeping him busy, he could not defend his comrade. It wasn’t long before Kerali’s arrows distracted the general to the point at which he lost focus and allowed Blaze to plunge his sword straight through his chest. The Gaull shard slid out of Perun’s arm and rolled in the dead grass. The dark elf then fell to the ground and bled to death.

  Blaze grabbed the shard, held it up, and shouted, “I’ve got it!”

  Crystal turned to face him, at which point Saitar quickly took advantage and shot a gust of intense wind at her.

  “Crystal!” yelled Thaddeus as he jumped in her way. He was hit by the wind and fell to the ground hard, and so Crystal quickly rushed to his side.

  Saitar then teleported next to Blaze and grabbed his neck with one hand and the shard with the other. The two struggled against the other, but before anyone could rush to help Blaze, a blast of energy emitted from Saitar’s hand that gripped the prince’s throat. Blaze was knocked to his back by the force of the blast and Saitar didn’t waste a second after grabbing the shard and disappeared before anyone could yell, “stop!”

  CHAPTER 8

  Once Saitar had disappeared with the shard, Thaddeus suggested that they cremate the bodies of Perun and the other soldiers that were killed. Crystal agreed to help him, stating that even though they were enemies, it was not right to just leave their bodies to decay out in the open.

  “I’ll kill the unconscious ones so they don’t go crawling back to Bogdan,” Blaze offered.

  “You’ve done enough needless killing for one day,” Crystal remarked.

  Instead, once the soldiers awoke, Crystal informed them that their leader abandoned them. When they realized that the rebels had spared their lives, the soldiers begged for forgiveness. Crystal informed them that if they wanted redemption, they could join the rebels. The soldiers agreed to do so, but claimed that they needed to get their families out of harm’s way. An agreement was made that a group of rebels would meet them back at the village once they had their families and bring them all to the hideout to start new lives.

  Though disappointed by the loss in the ruins, when the rebels returned to the village, Crystal assured them that it did not mean defeat.

  “They only have one shard that we know of.” she said, “As long as we can get our hands on just one, it would mean that they didn’t have them all, so the Eye of Gaull cannot be used.”

  “You are far too optimistic,” replied Blaze, who walked past Crystal without looking at her.

  “Sometimes you have to look at the glass half full, lad,” replied Thaddeus.

  “Well, I think we should stay here for the night.” said Crystal, “There is an inn right down the road. I will go ask the owner if there is a vacancy.”

  “I will let my men know that they can rest too,” said Gavril.

  “Good idea,” responded Crystal.

  Once the innkeeper heard from Crystal that the monsters were no longer a threat to the village, he gladly let the rebels stay the night for free, even though Crystal objected. Even when she asked the innkeeper if he needed help cleaning or cooking, he would not hear of it. He was quite amiable and insisted that the other villagers would be just as thankful for their deed as he was.

  “It is the least I can do for you and your team mates,” said the kindly old innkeeper.

  “I appreciate your generosity. We will try not to be a burden,” Crystal replied graciously.

  Crystal was given a smaller, separate room to herself. The innkeeper’s jolly wife insisted that she take their daughter’s old bedroom because she felt it was not proper for a young lady to share a room with a group of men. Even though Crystal didn’t think anything of that sort of thing, she was still grateful to have privacy.

  Gavril’s men were given one room and Gavril, Blaze, Thaddeus, and Kerali were given another. Each room had four narrow beds that were each covered with fresh, linen sheets and feather pillows. The walls were decorated in old, dull-colored wallpaper. When the men lay on the beds to sleep, they noticed that the beds weren’t very comfortable, but still better than the beds at the hideout.

  “It’s better than sleeping on the dirt outside,” Gavril claimed.

  “I have slept on worse things than dirt in my younger years.” replied Thaddeus, “Try a prison cell in Dwyp.”

  “You’ve been imprisoned by dark elves?” Kerali inquired curiously.

  “Yes, forty-five years ago.” replied Thaddeus, “I traveled quite a bit in my youth and I went to Dwyp with my brother to find an artifact for the High Elder at the time. Needless to say, we were captured by the king’s men and locked into his dungeon for trespassing.”

  “I never knew that about you;” replied Gavril, “That must have been terrible!”

  “I never knew that about you.” replied Gavril, “That must have been terrible!”

  “Indeed, it was.” Thaddeus responded, “There weren’t even any beds to sleep on, so we had to sleep on the cold, hard ground that was covered in urine and feces for ten days straight! Thankfully, the High Elder discovered we had been captured and, considering many dark elves were students in the city, the king was forced to release us to avoid conflict within the kingdom.”

  Blaze thought about the dungeon Thaddeus spoke of. It sounded almost like the dungeons back home in Daldussa, only at least the cells had beds. While his father stayed in Cartigo, Blaze would sometimes travel to the castle in Daldussa to oversee the military and other matters there. His father said that it was part of his training to take his place on the throne, but thinking that now it was all for nothing only angered Blaze.

  Suddenly, Blaze’s thoughts were interrupted when he suddenly heard Gavril say, “Try lying in agony on a raft floating down a river in the dead of winter.”

  “That’s right, I remember that!” Thaddeus exclaimed.

  “Remember what?” interrupted Blaze.

  Gavril paused and then said, “I was . . . very seriously injured many years ago and was left to die on a raft in Daldussa—”

  “You were from Daldussa?” interrupted Blaze.

  “Yes, I was. I floated down the river from Daldussa into Cierith for many days. King August, Crystal’s father, finally found me and Elaine, Crystal’s mother healed me. After that, I stayed in Cierith and served the royal family for years.”

  “I do not ever recall you ever telling anyone who gave you that injury, either.” Thaddeus pointed out, “I don’t even think August ever knew. It would have taken someone horrible to do that to another human being!”

  Gavril’s head snapped up, he looked at everyone nervously, and said, “I do not care to discuss it.”

  “I apologize, Gavril. I did not mean to upset you,” replied Thaddeus ruefully.

  “No, don’t be sorry. I just . . . it’s too painful to talk about. I have my demons from the past and do not wish for them to surface,” Gavril responded.

  “Well then, I will not press the matter.” replied the old mage, “Now then, I believe we should all get some sleep. We have a long day tomorrow.”

  “Yes, you are right,” replied Gavril.

  Within the next few minutes, Blaze’s three roommates were fast asleep, but he was wide awake. He never knew the old general was originally from Daldussa and yet he hated them so much. What could have happened to him in his homeland that made him serve another kingdom? Not that Blaze cared, of course; curiosity was getting the best of him. However, something else nagged at his mind. It could be that he was just tired, but when Gavril spoke of the demons from his past, Blaze could have sworn that Gavril looked straight at him.

  ****

  The following morning, Blaze woke to see his roommates were gone. Figuring they were in town somewhere, he decided to head to the tavern for a drink before he had to leave. He got up, put his jacket and gloves
on, and walked downstairs. Before Blaze even asked him, the innkeeper told him that his friends were all in the village. Even though he hardly considered any of the rebels his “friends,” Blaze didn’t tell the innkeeper anything and just nodded.

  Outside, the villagers were conducting their everyday business. The quiet little village was filled with light-hearted citizens who lived modest lives. Blaze didn’t really care much for the town, so he began walking and scanned each building. He could see a bakery with dozens of rolls and cakes in the window, a few houses, and eventually caught sight of the tavern.

  Upon entering the tavern, Blaze caught smell of strong ale and was immediately drawn inside. Before he sat at the bar, he froze when he saw that Crystal was already sitting there.

  Blaze frowned and said, “You are the last person I would expect to see in a tavern.”

  Crystal turned around. “Oh, you’re finally up. Good, now we can get the team together and get going.”

  Blaze eyed the cup in front of her curiously. He gestured to it and said, “Little early, don’t you think?”

  She looked at her cup and then looked back at him annoyed. “It’s water, thank you very much. I’ve never had a taste for alcohol. And what about you? I doubt you came here for a little cup of water,” she retorted.

  “I meant that it was early for you, Miss Madame.” he responded, “I, on the other hand, have a high tolerance for alcohol, and therefore can drink whenever the hell I like. Besides, I haven’t had any booze in a while because I have been cooped up in your hideout.”

  Crystal glared at him and turned back to her drink. Blaze grabbed the empty seat right next to her and ordered a cup of ale from the bartender. For the longest time, they sat in silence. It wasn’t until Blaze received his drink that Crystal broke the silence.

  “You didn’t by any chance ask around for more rumors?” she asked him.