Simon grabbed the cadet on the shoulder. "Swear it on your honor that you won't go back."
The cadet's eyes darted around.
"Swear it!"
The cadet's shoulders slumped down. In a loud voice, he said, "I swear on my honor that I won't go back."
Kirl pointed at Marc. "You swear it, too, but on your magic."
Marc sighed. "I swear, on my magic, that I won't go back."
Simon nudged his horse forward. "Let's go."
The next evening, both of the men who paid the toll fell sick from lack of Lotus Flowers. The following morning neither could ride, so they put them in the back of a wagon. Within a few days they could eat again and got back on their horses.
The caravan made good time to Lynken. They unloaded the gold and all but two of the flaming swords at the castle. Robert's scrolls and books they unloaded at Juxta's house. They went to the blacksmith to have the fire blades re-forged to fight undead and ward against magic. They easily enchanted the blades to fight the undead. The ward against magic required both Kirl and Juxta to push themselves to their limits.
Simon and Rollin rallied the rangers. They needed a volunteer to help face Balron. Monroe stepped forward. "I think I should go. I helped get the swords. I lost a brother when Balron's army invaded last time."
Simon and Rollin nodded. Rollin said, "Make it so. Send Balron to hell."
*
Lisa lay in bed next to Juxta. She ran a fingertip along his chest sending a shiver up his spine. She said, "You do know I'm going with you to face this evil."
"I think not," Juxta said.
"You need the hand of God to win the day. I won't sit and await your return."
"You'd leave me, if I don't take you along?"
She nodded. "Yes, you and your cat."
"The cat stays here." Juxta reached out to fondle her breast and then pulled his hand back. "Are you sure about this? We'll face the greatest evil the world has likely ever known."
She pulled his hand to her breast. "My faith is stronger than his foul magic."
"We'll have another amulet prepared to protect you from his telepathy."
"My faith will be enough."
Juxta looked into her eyes. "It's a simple amulet, and you'll wear one. Let your faith protect you should the amulet fail."
"Fine, when do we leave?"
Juxta rolled over and curled up with his pillow. "The amulets aren't finished. Maybe in another week or so."
Within the week Juxta, Lisa, Simon, and Monroe rode along the King's highway to Tercia. They left Juxta and Simon's cats in pens where Teresa agreed to care for them. After three days of hard riding, Juxta's cat showed up. He collapsed at his master's feet. Lisa petted it, saying, "Good kitty," over and over.
Juxta said, "He could get hurt in the coming battle."
She kept petting the cat. "He's supposed to be a war cat you know."
Within another week they crossed into Tercia. Since the government of Tercia had been largely disarmed, they encountered no patrols on the road and soon found themselves in Terc proper. People stared at them. Tercians never saw priests, magi, or rangers, let alone all three traveling with a giant cat. A necromancer stepped in front of them, and Simon readied his bow with a knocked arrow before the necromancer could say a word.
Juxta sparked a fire in his amethyst gemstone. The necromancer nodded and stepped aside. They found their way to the largest mausoleum in the city, Balron's den. It stood as Juxta and Simon remembered it, with walls inset with body sized spaces mostly full of mummified corpses. It reeked of death and decay. They made their way to the lowest level where Balron awaited.
An arcane fire blazed atop a dais. Balron spoke from the rear corner of the room, "Mighty Juxta come to face me again? It'll be the last time for you!"
Juxta put up his magic shield and a second shield for Lisa and their cat. Monroe turned to guard the door, while Simon approached Balron, sword drawn, growling a low guttural snarl.
Balron started to chant a deep but simple and repetitive chant. Juxta drew power into himself and put a triangle over Balron causing a great bolt of lightning to rain down. Balron's shield held. Lisa started to pray to her God. Simon engaged the monster toe-to-toe with cold steel. Balron wielded the king's blade.
Between parries, Balron shouted, "What's that BITCH doing here!"
Lisa's eyes narrowed into tiny slits. "It's time for you to answer to The One True God!"
Juxta did his best to redouble his efforts to penetrate Balron's shield, and lightning crashed. Balron lashed out with his mind at Lisa, Die, bitch! The shout echoed loud enough for the others to hear it. Simon scored a slice on Balron's shoulder, and he howled in pain. One by one walking corpses descended the stairs, and Monroe dispatched them with quick jabs to the brain.
Lisa held back the cat and started a new prayer. Balron used a web of force lines to push Simon back. Juxta started to pound Balron with fire: red, blue, and green. Juxta shouted to Simon, "You're caught in an invisible web! Cut away at it."
Simon started slashing at the air in front of him. He gained ground moving towards the undead monster.
Balron shouted with his mind at Lisa, Go to hell, bitch! She buckled as a huge wave of force hit her, as a strong wind in her robes, and she fell like a stone to the floor. Free, the cat leapt at Balron. He threw the cat back with another web of force lines. Juxta saw the cat in the air and then saw Lisa's crumpled form, and he tapped into more power than he could control. He sent it into a white and silver ball of fire aimed at Balron. It cut through Balron's shield like a hot knife, and his body burst into white and silvery fire. The flesh started to drip off his bones. Balron shouted, "No!"
Monroe said, "There's too many of them."
Juxta glanced over in that direction and with a flick of his wrist he put up a wall of force on the entryway. He turned back to Balron. The fire dwindled out, and only Balron's bones remained.
He started to approach Juxta with the great sword. Balron howled, "Taste my steel!"
Juxta looped a force line around Balron's shoulder, elbow, and wrist, and like a spring he pulled at Balron's arm. All three joints came apart, and Juxta pulled the blade to his waiting grasp. Balron roared, "Yes, kill me with my own sword!"
"It's an idea!" Juxta poured huge amounts of power into the great sword until it turned black with tendrils of dark smoke wisping off it. He plunged the great sword into Balron's heart. When he jerked the sword free, Balron's still smoldering body crumpled to the ground. Juxta ran to Lisa's lifeless form. Fortunately her heart still beat, and she still breathed, but he couldn't wake her. He tried, very gently, to wake her with telepathy, nothing. The cat walked over and bumped its head against Lisa.
Monroe said, "There are a lot of undead. We need to go."
Juxta almost struck him down. He handed the great sword to Simon. "I'll carry Lisa. Stand behind me."
"For sure," Simon said.
Juxta stood before the warded doorway and released the wall of force. Quite a lot of undead waited for them. They lined the stairs two and three across. Juxta threw a ball of white-silvery fire at them, and it incinerated them in a heartbeat. More started scaling down the stairs, and Juxta let loose with more fire. They found the upper levels full of undead too, and Juxta killed them in scores. When they made it outside, they found so many undead it was as if Balron wakened all the corpses from all the mausoleums across the city. Juxta put them to rest in droves. Simon and Monroe caught a few stragglers.
They made it to their horses. Juxta used lines of force to clear a path out of the city. They rode to the outskirts of the city, and Juxta wanted to stop and try to help Lisa. Everything Juxta tried failed. She didn't even blink. He closed her eyes.
Chapter 31
Simon and Monroe cut down two saplings to make a stretcher for Lisa. They attached it to Juxta's horse. Juxta told Robert to fly to Quann in Druidia and request help. Robert flew like the wind. They made slow progress home. They stopped at inns and fed
Lisa gruel. Robert returned after a week.
"Quann said she's to be returned to the priesthood," Robert said.
Juxta's glare burned into Robert. "Back to the priesthood! What'll they do?"
"Apparently those were the instructions Quann got from Lisa." Robert looked down at the ground. "That if anything bad happened, she or her body was to be returned to the priesthood."
"Bah!"
"Her spirit is lost," Simon said. "Can't you see that?"
Juxta blinked back tears. "I guess you're right. We'll see what the priesthood says."
They had a forlorn outlook for the rest of the trip. Even the cat had a dampened spirit. He wouldn't hunt when they camped. Finally they made it to the outskirts of Lynken's capital city, and from there directly to the main temple of the priesthood. Juxta picked up Lisa in his arms and kicked open the front door of the temple. He burst in on a small mass. Juxta ignored it and walked straight down the walkway between the pews to the altar. A priest spoke, "Our priestess…"
Juxta said, "Yes."
The priests nodded. One of them said, "Come this way," and led Juxta to one of the rear doors of the temple. The cat walked with Juxta. The priest led them into a bunkhouse. The priest said, "Put her on this bed." Juxta complied, setting her down gently. The priest asked, "How long has she been like this?"
"About two weeks."
He looked at her eyes, and lifted up an arm, which simply fell back down. "What happened?"
"We were fighting a great evil, Balron, and he used telepathy to send her to hell."
The priest nodded as if that occurred everyday. "We'll care for her, and pray for her everyday. There's nothing more you can do for Lisa. You should go."
"I would say goodbye first, at least," Juxta said. "Count on me visiting her."
"Say your last goodbye. We can't have you bringing your witchcraft in here!"
Juxta's hand twitched as power welled up in his being. His mind started drawing triangles on the priest. He closed his eyes and willed the power away. "We'll see. There are priests with more authority than you."
The priest nodded again, apparently his only skill.
Juxta turned to Lisa. He picked up her hand and kissed it. "Goodbye, my love. I'll watch over you from afar."
Juxta turned and started to leave, but the cat stayed by Lisa's side. "Come here, cat." The cat moved to halfway between Juxta and Lisa. He sighed and started walking. "Come here, cat!" The cat caught up with Juxta and followed him outside. About fifty paces from the bunkhouse, the cat turned around and ran back. Juxta waited. After a few minutes the cat approached him. Juxta started walking again, and the cat followed.
They returned the king's great sword to him and explained the loss of Lisa. The king asked if Balron was destroyed, and Juxta answered, "I believe so."
"If there's anything I can do to make things right, name it," King William said.
"There's nothing I can think of," Juxta said. "I knew from the beginning I'd outlive her. I just assumed we'd share more years first."
Juxta went home with Robert and the cat. After a few days Juxta reached a point where he began to get angry, and then angrier still. He fished out Hebron's scrying orb and looked in on Lisa. He began to think to himself, why not try and look into hell and find her spirit? It didn't seem to want to work. He leapt onto his horse and galloped to his grove. He wanted a fire burning. He woke the grove up and asked them for their dead branches and their power. Branch after branch fell. Juxta quickly gathered them up and formed them into a bonfire. The cat simply stared, transfixed.
Juxta started to boil with power and rage, and the trees fed him. He poured all of it into the orb. At first the orb showed Lisa in her bed at the priesthood. Then it started to dart around. Eventually it turned black as night. Finally, it showed an image of a gate, and then flatlands of scorched earth with a red sky. It passed over a river of fire, and then through darkness again. Then over a strange pyramidal temple. Then into a great mausoleum like those found in Tercia. The orb showed Lisa chained down to an altar, writhing in pain with her belly stitched closed, and a great beast whipping her with a barbed whip. Hell had her in its grasp.
Juxta tried to summon her spirit out of hell as if she were a demon, to no avail. Juxta thought of something. "Robert, are you here?"
"Yes."
"What was the name of the wizard who forged the crowns and great sword in the first place? We saw it in a book in Weslan?"
"Isher, I think."
Juxta pulled in all the power he could. "Isher, I summon thee!"
A spirit rose up from the fire, and looked around. The spirit said, "This is a first…"
"My name's Juxta. You're Isher? You forged arcane swords and crowns in your life?"
Robert showed himself. "I'm Robert."
"How many years has it been since I walked the Earth?" Isher asked.
"About an eon," Juxta said.
"How many of my crowns still exist?"
"Two that we know of and the great sword."
Isher's eyes were black as any ink could be. "I'm assuming you summoned me about the crowns?"
"Correct."
"I constructed them in an attempt to force man towards his destiny…"
Robert asked, "What destiny would that be?"
"Either peaceful coexistence or constant war. I never knew which myself."
Juxta thought, no wonder they called him insane. "Can the dark crown and great sword open a portal into hell?"
The spirit rubbed his chin. "That would be a clever trick."
"Can they or not, ghost!"
"If they were wielded by a powerful enough magi, it's possible in theory. You must be powerful indeed to have summoned me."
Juxta paused. The spirit continued, "You don't want to open a portal to hell. If mortals went into hell, anything they changed, even moving a single rock, would have repercussions in the mortal world. The balance that exists between the gods would shift."
"You don't believe in One True God?"
"I know there is a god of heaven and hell. I've seen evidence of a pantheon of gods. Although, they don't meddle in man's affairs like they did in Robert's time."
Robert perked up. "How do you know how old I am?"
"Simple logic, you're from the Lost City aren't you? We figured if there were ghosts that they'd be in the Lost City. I helped hide the history of it. We burned the history books containing reference to it."
Robert cried out, "Why?"
"Too many people went looking for it and never came back. Simple matter."
"Back to the topic at hand!" Juxta exclaimed. "How do I use the crown and great sword to open a portal to hell?"
Isher sighed. "I have no real idea. You'll have to be creative."
Juxta glared. "You're lying."
"Why do you need to go to hell so badly?"
"My lover was banished there by Balron, and she must be freed."
Isher's form burst into flames. "Balron still lives? Dear God."
"I sent him to hell in our last battle with the great sword. I'd like to kill him again in hell."
"Only a god can kill a spirit, all you can do, Juxta, is move it from one world to another. Balron commands a great spirit-army in hell. You don't want to face him there."
Juxta's eyes narrowed. "I'll deal with his army. How do I open the gate?"
Isher crossed his arms on his chest. "Why should I help you again?"
Juxta pondered that, what would a spirit want? "Is there something you want or need?"
"I spend half my time in heaven and half my time in hell, a cruel curse upon me. I guess if you could convince me it's an act of goodness."
"My lover who we aim to save is a priestess to The One True God. Isn't that a good enough reason?"
"Yes. I'm pretty sure opening a portal would be much like casting a simple ward through the crown and great sword."
"Any particular ward?" Juxta asked.
Isher shrugged his shoulders. "I merely constructed the
crowns and great swords. I never used them."
Juxta asked, "There's more than one great sword?"
"Most were probably destroyed as they were cursed you see. Backfiring on the wielder."
"The great sword that goes with the dark crown seems fine. Very powerful in fact."
"Its curse is more subtle," Isher said.
"Perhaps you misconstructed it… It was made for Balron, maybe it is only cursed for him," Robert said.
"Perhaps," Isher said.
Juxta glanced off in the distance checking a mental list. "Shall I send you back now, Isher?"
"Yes, but I must say, if you're planning to go to hell, you're a great fool. Dying there will surely condemn you to exist there forever."
"You don't really know that, do you?" Juxta asked.
"Not for sure, there are many things that didn't turn out as I planned. My own predicament for one."
"Shall I banish you now, or do you wish to ramble on?"
"Such arrogance for one so young. Yes, banish me."
Juxta recited, "I banish thee, Isher." He poured great power into the words. Isher blinked out of existence.
Juxta turned to face Robert. "While I'm banishing spirits, would you like me to try and banish you?"
"I've actually grown fond of this existence. My end can wait."
Juxta returned the power he'd borrowed from the trees.
Chapter 32
Friend to a dragon is friend to no one. End of Days. - Reptilian Parchment.
Juxta went before the king to borrow the crown and great sword to experiment with opening a portal to the nether regions. King William readily agreed. Juxta wore the crown and held the great sword high. Instead of pouring power into them, he pulled power out of them. It took some effort, but finally the power flowed freely. It was tainted with darkness, and Juxta heard the faintest of agonizing screams in the great distance. Juxta invoked one of the few square wards he knew, and the outline of a door flashed in white. Then a pool of darkness puddled in the ward's center. It grew and grew until it filled the ward.
Before Juxta could stop him, the cat leapt through into the darkness. Juxta waited, and within a few moments, the cat poked his head back out. Juxta tried to step through, and his Amethyst staff wouldn't pass through. Neither would his Dragon's Fire ring. He left them behind.
Juxta, Magi Page 23
