Legend of Fire and Ice

by Xaiver Morden

  “Luckily, the leader of the Night Blades, Artuli Ardokon prepared a good copy of the original map,” the captain pulled out the paper from his pocket.

  “Oh, I see how you managed to get here then. Tell me, who was able to understand the scripture written on the map? Because you couldn’t have come this far without that,” the sorcerer smoothed his beard.

  “I am Mergoth Al Sarran, sorcerer of the Inner Circle order,” the rour said.

  A sorcerer from the Black Tower order? I will need all my power to defeat this magister. I can sense that he has incredible magical power. The rour was clenching his staff nervously.

  “Good job, only a few are able to understand this dead language on the continent. Unfortunately, this is your final destination. I cannot keep you alive with this dangerous knowledge. The North will burn in flames soon anyway. Our troops may have already crossed the border. Our lord Vulgron will need the weapons, to succeed with his plan. Commander Vardo, kill all of them!” he commanded the shadow elf standing next to him.

  “Leave the sorcerer for me, I will take care of him!” he added, turning to the milky haired warrior.

  We meet at last my elf brother, only one of us will leave alive I swear! Lowarien pulled out his weapon with determination.

  The assassins were moving towards them silently. Al Sarran, Larianna and Everly backed behind their mates, who were ready to fight back.

  The faceless fought with a special battling style. They pressed their weapons to their lower arms and started their hardly visible movements from there.

  Holding his shield in front of him, DaMatta was protecting himself, countering the series of skilled attacks with his knightly sword.

  The orc was baring his teeth as he threw himself into the fight, holding his battle-axe with both hands, while Lowarien was spinning his saber wildly.

  Corwen was looking straight into the eyes of the ash gray skinned elf. Their swords clashed fast and furiously, their blades were sparking as the steels, were battling loudly. The weapons of Vardo were made of an extremely rare star metal, which was the best noble metal in the continent, only mined in a small quality in the Nozgold Empire. Luckily, the Terwaldian steel blades strengthened with ruin magic could hold the field.

  They could estimate the opponent’s fighting skills within seconds. The captain had never met such a dangerous enemy. The elf, demonically spinning his weapons, burst into a laugh during the battle.

  “You must have had excellent teachers captain, but you stand no chance against me!”

  He hit the head of the captain, with a well-maneuvered spinning kick. The helmet blunted the kick and he still had a magical shield around his body, he could not sense before, as it protected him invisibly. It must be the drink Larianna made, the captain thought with gratitude.

  “Well, well, are you protected with magic? Then I will use magic too!” the dreadful opponent said.

  There were mysterious black flames bursting out from his blades after his command.

  Everly shot from her crossbow to the magister, but an invisible shield diverted the bolt. Whom smiled sinisterly, and looked on the girl with his one eye.

  “I will deal you later you little snipper-snapper. After I finish these two,” he pointed on the red haired beauty and the panther man.

  Larianna and Al Sarran with Dergo on his shoulder were maintaining eye contact with the magister of the Black Tower. The magical battle was about to begin between them, they shouted words at each other and drew signs in the air.

  A phantom stepped out from the shadow of the dancing lights of the torches, for Morquol’s command. It took up human form and threw itself on the panther man in seconds, reaching his insubstantial arms through Al Sarran. The sorcerer brayed out of pain and he could not focus anymore.

  Then Larianna’s eyes were smoldering like fire, burning the attacking phantom, who pulled out his airy arms, from the body of its victim and was trying to escape. It hid between the shadows of the room, to regain power and be able to attack again. Al Sarran looked at Morquol with pain.

  “You will regret this you one eyed bastard!” he grunted, collecting all his power.

  “It was nothing, wait for the rest cat man!” the dark magician shouted, clenching his staff with two hands and began a new magic.

  Murmuring words, Dergo summoned a human sized stone fist and controlled it fast with his willpower, aiming at the dark magician. He was cautious and created a stone shield in front of him, that blunted the attack, mutually extinguishing each other’s magic.

  The burning eyes of the witch were focused on the one eyed enemy now. She burnt his coat in seconds, bruising his body. The grey haired sorcerer shouted out of pain and pointed at Larianna, with his wolf headed staff.

  “Damn witch, you will pay for this!” he shouted furiously and cried out a spell.

  The ginger-red haired beauty grabbed her throat, as an invisible power lifted her up in the air and lashed her to the wall. She screamed of pain as she fell on the ground and lost consciousness immediately.

  Corwen heard Larianna screaming and looked aside for a moment, worrying about Larianna. Then his opponent cut his leg, piercing through the magical shield as the black flames, were burning menacingly on his blades. The captain was struck with unbearable pain, as the weapon hit his body.

  “Don’t worry about the girl, worry about your own life that will soon end! I will kill you slowly, cut by cut, until you beg for your own death!” the shadow elf snapped at him, gloating.

  The captain was gritting his teeth and by the sudden attack and had to protect himself. His Terwaldian steel swords were impossible to follow as he was spinning them in front of himself, but the elf avoided them, with dainty movement. Corwen applied a trick and stepped on his foot, to reduce his scope of moving, then hit him with the handle of his weapon. His power ring turned out to be very useful. The steel mask was broken in two and blood was pouring out from the ash gray nose of the warrior. He lost balance after the hit. A tattoo under his right eye became visible, depicting a series of strange signs, linked like a spider web.

  “Don’t underestimate me assassin, I have a few tricks left!” the captain said.

  “I hope so. I like tough battles!” he was smiling menacingly with ruthless fire burning in his turquoise eyes.

  Meanwhile, the panther man was in the middle of a magic battle, with the magister. Shouting out magic spells, there were fire gazes springing from his finger towards the opponent.

  The servant of the Black Tower was cautious and created a water wall in front of him that extinguished the arrows of fire. Making the wall disappear, it was his turn to attack. He pointed at the floor, where Al Sarran was standing and suddenly, stone hands were reaching out from it, clenching the arms and legs of the rour, making him unable to move. The sorcerer of the Inner Circle order was moaning of pain, but his servant dragon came to his help. He was shouting magic words and smashed the stone hands.

  “Thank you Dergo, that was perfect timing!” the panther man was grateful.

  He turned towards the opponent again, to make a final beat at him.

  The assassins of the empire slowly overcame the opponents, The orc was seriously wounded. The elf tracker was holding his side with one hand, covering an ugly cut. The priest/knight was holding on the best. A bright aura was glowing around his sword. There was blood pouring out from the joints of his armor, as the enemy only attacked these weak points. It seemed like our friends were about to lose shortly.

  I have to help them, or we will all fail, Everly decided. She grabbed her throwing knives and aimed at DaMatta’s opponent with three sharp blades. They all hit, although they were blunted by the magically strengthened leather armor, but it stopped the assassin for a while in his fighting rhythm.

  The Faceless looked aside where the attack came from. Dancing away from his opponent, and flipping backwards, he was next to the small thief girl in seconds. He was aiming at the throat of Everly, which must have had killed her in a moment,
but the power of the goddess living in her was awakened.

  Her eyes turned blood red and she grabbed the throat of the assassin as fast as lightning and pushed him to the wall. The blades fell out of his hands, as he tried to escape from the unbelievably strong clench of the girl’s small hands, gasping for air, but he was unsuccessful.

  The almond-eyed girl tore off the mask from the assassin, with one hand and pushed in the eyes of the opponent with the other. He cried out of pain helplessly. She threw him away to one corner, like a rag doll. Bones were cracking as he reached the ground, but he was still alive. Waiting for the redeeming death, he was struggling slowly and painfully until life left his body forever.

  The goddess gave back control over her body again, retreating silently. He looked around confusedly, with her ocean blue almond shaped eyes, to figure out what happened.

  Taking advantage of the unexpected events, DaMatta, rescued from his opponent, rushed to the help of Tusk. He warded off a hit with his shield and they cornered the fleet assassin together, with the giant warrior.

  The two-handed battle axe struck, the Faceless ran up to the wall and jumped behind the orc. The priest/knight waited for the opportunity and shouted a magic spell. Then an invisible hand strongly pushed the assassin and he lost balance, as he reached the ground. The orc was cautious and quickly pierced his giant weapon, into the shoulder of the opponent. He was shouting and spitted blood into the air. Pulling out the axe, it left a wide-open wound in the enemy’s body, who shouted out one last time, but no other voice left his throat anymore.

  They rushed to help the Ertonfellian warrior, who could hardly avoid the attack, of the viper-like blades anymore.

  The panther man collected all his power, as he aimed at the dark magician with a powerful, blue, flashing flame, coming from his hand. He created a protecting aura around himself, which could ward off the devastating attack.

  The phantom came out of the shadows again, but Dergo noticed it and he could protect his master. Before it could come closer, he created a flying disc of fire, that cut the airy body of the creature in two and it disappeared completely.

  The battle between the two sorcerers consumed all of their power, their faces reflected pain and exhaustion as they used up all of their remaining resources. The aura protecting the magister was weakened for a moment and the blue energy flame struck him in the chest and hit him to the wall. He was moaning painfully and a foxed scroll fell out from his burgundy coat.

  Al Sarran directed his unicorn horned staff at Morquol, who estimated his possibilities. The intruders, the priest/knight, the orc and the elf tracker just now, defeated the third Faceless. They needed all of their battling skills to defeat him together. Only Vardo was still fighting with Corwen, slowly overcoming his opponent. The magister underestimated the enemy and weakened by his wounds, he had no other choice. He turned one of his golden rings and immediately disappeared from their eyes, within a second.

  “Dergo, find out where the servant of the Black Tower went! I am too exhausted to do that,” Al Sarran asked the servant dragon on his shoulder.

  Clenching his staff tightly, the panther man went down on his knee, being exhausted of the magic and the wounds received from the phantom creature.

  “As you wish master!” the little creature began to focus and he soon began to talk. “I cannot sense him anywhere, He is not in the room. He must have teleported.”

  The captain could hardly hold the field, the shadow elf always seemed to suspect, what he was about to do next. Even though he changed the different fighting techniques, he learnt from his masters, Vardo always knew how to ward them off. He only managed to cut him once on his arm, but he was already bleeding from many wounds, despite the magical shield. The special blades covered in dark flames, could beat any protection. His opponent was only playing with him by now. Suddenly a few of his mates joined him in the fight, driving the dreaded enemy towards the wall.

  Everly rushed to the unconscious witch and tried to wake her up, by softly slapping her face. She opened her poison green sparkling eyes. Her face was shadowed by pain as he tried to move.

  “What happened?” Larianna asked.

  “The sorcerer grabbed your throat and lifted you up with some kind of magic and pushed you to the wall,” Everly replied nervously, as she tried to help the injured to sit up.

  “Only the ash gray skinned elf is left fighting, the sorcerer escaped, the rour and the servant dragon defeated him, but they are both completely exhausted,” she informed her about the current situation.

  The witch was holding her side, she had several broken ribs and she probably had internal bleeding and she also hit her nape, which was covered in blood.

  “Excellent news, I hope the boys can get rid of this assassin,” she looked towards the battle with a painful face.

  They managed to corner Vardo, who was forced to defend himself. His situation was becoming hopeless, as he still managed to ward off the constant line of hits coming at him.

  “You cannot defeat me you fools, no matter how many of you try! You will see something, only a few have experienced on the continent, the shadow dance!” he shouted, laughing loudly.

  He stepped above one of the shadows at the wall and simply disappeared in it like the shadow had swallowed him up. The group was left there clueless and shocked. They pointed their weapons, where Vardo had been standing before, but there was only air.

  “What happened? I don’t understand! Where did he go?” the captain shouted.

  “I heard that the shadow elves, the traitors of our nation, have some special abilities, thanks to dark magic. This is it apparently,” the Ertonfellian tracker was clenching his saber tightly.

  Suddenly the giant orc began howling, as blade appearing from the shadows cut his back. They heard laughter from the dark, as Vardo was attacking the helpless fighters, from unpredictable directions. He played with the like a cat plays with a mouse.

  The warriors pushed their backs together, to have better chances at warding off the attacks of the Faceless. He could reappear from any shadows in the room and disappear in the shadows again after his attack.

  Suddenly the shadows came together in one point, melting into one big circle, obeying the will of the witch, forcing the shadow elf hiding in them to reveal himself. Larianna took a deep breath and like the breath of a dragon, she blew a several-yards-wide flame at the assassin.

  Burning in flames and tortured, the elf was trying to extinguish himself, rolling around on the ground. The smell of burnt meat filled the room.

  “Attack him now until I can hold on!” the wounded witch shouted desperately, leaning on Everly, but still in control of the shadows.

  The priest/knight was chanting sacred words and bracing himself, began a devastating attack. His bleeding, wounded mates did the same thing.

  Vardo, still in flames and with a heavily burnt body jumped up from the floor, but he could not avoid the long blade of the knightly sword controlled by the divine hand, cutting his side.

  He could avoid the sword of Corwen, but the other pierced his shoulder. He leaned from the saber of Lowarien, but the giant orc pushed him over. The battle-axe struck the enemy, lying on the floor, but the shadow elf rolled over and avoided it. The two-handled weapon missed its victim and got stuck in the floor.

  He stood up quickly, as the captain collected all his remaining power for on last attack, with his Terwaldian twin blades and cut down his left lower arm. The turquoise eyes were burning of fury and pain. Then the saber of Lowarien found its way through the defense of the one armed fighter and pierced the leather armor of the ash gray warrior at the stomach.

  “Traitor of my people, your faith finally found you!” he shouted at him with fury as he dragged out his weapon from the body of the shadow elf.

  Spitting up blood, he backed, and then fell to his knees as the pound of his own blood was constantly growing around him.

  “You cannot defeat me so easily, I don’t believe it!” he shou
ted in rage.

  “You should believe it you bastard!” the orc howled as he swished his two-handed battle-axe and beheaded the opponent.

  Spinning in the air, the head landed in a corner. The body collapsed on the stone floor, which was painted with the pouring blood around it.

  Chapter Eleven

  They leaned against the wall, gasping and squeezing their scars, after the exhausting battle. Only Everly was intact as the goddess of misery and agony living in her, successfully protected her well-being.

  “That was a tough bastard, that smoky skinned elf!” Tusk groaned.

  “Sure he was! I have never met such an excellent fighter before, even though I have been in the business for a while,” the captain replied.

  “I told you, he was going to be a dangerous opponent and he proved me right. Without Larianna, we would have failed!” the golden haired elf warned them.

  “How lucky we drank your potions ginger,” the orc thanked the witch.

  “Without the magical shield I would probably be dead, we are all very grateful to you Larianna. How are you feeling, how bad are your wounds?” Corwen asked, limping to the witch.

  “Are you worried about me my captain?” the girl asked with pain in her voice, but still with a little smile in the corner of her mouth.

  “I saw how hard you were pushed to the wall. I was afraid you might not even survive it,” he softly hugged the ginger-red haired beauty.

  “My injuries are serious, but I will survive, I am not the fragile type,” the girl replied, caressing the captain.

  “I still have some power left to heal someone. Who should it be?” the priest/knight asked, getting rid of his helmet.

  “Why can’t you heal all of us?” the elf tracker asked while sitting on the floor and clenching his wound.

  “I can only ask for the healing power of my god once a day,” DaMatta replied.

  “It should be Larianna, she is a healer and if she feel good, she will be able to help us. Right?” the panther man turned to the beauty.