Sevenfold Sword: Sorceress

by Jonathan Moeller

  Chapter 3: Five Heads Are Better Than One

  Tamlin reacted at once, yanking the Sword of Earth from its sheath and putting himself between Tamara and the creatures. Tamara took a half step back, taking the staff of Lord Amruthyr in both hands, magical lightning snarling up and down the golden shaft. Tamlin thought she looked beautiful standing there, her dark hair pulled back from her strong features, her mismatched eyes of blue and purple staring hard at the marsh.

  But Tamlin always thought she looked beautiful, from when he had first known Tysia in Urd Maelwyn, then when he had met her as Tirdua in Trojas, and when he had found her again in Kalimnos as Tamara. He had thought she looked beautiful when he had taken her in his arms after the battle at Cathair Caedyn.

  All this flashed through his mind in a heartbeat.

  Then his combat instincts drowned out all other thought.

  The creatures surging from the water were human-shaped, but with warty grayish-green skin. They had webbed hands and feet tipped with sharp black claws, and their heads looked like those of huge toads, the irises harsh and orange. Tamlin recognized the creatures at once. The dvargir gamemasters in Urd Maelwyn had been charged with keeping the masses of the Confessor’s soldiers and slaves entertained with bloody spectacles, and they had taken their work seriously. When duels between gladiators bored the mob, the dvargir had sought out and captured exotic creatures for the gladiators to fight.

  And Tamlin had fought swamp trolls before.

  The others reacted at once. Calem and Krastikon whirled, drawing their Swords. Kalussa lifted the Staff of Blades, the strange blue crystal at the end shifting and shivering. White fire snarled around the staff in Calliande’s hands. Magatai hopped off Northwind’s back and drew the bronze sword that Kyralion had given him, lightning wrapping around the blade.

  The swamp trolls stopped at the edge of the water, gazing at them with huge eyes. Tamlin heard a splash behind them and risked a glance over his shoulder. A dozen more trolls had emerged from the water on the far side of the island, crouching as they braced themselves to strike.

  They were surrounded.

  “What the hell are those things?” said Krastikon, his shield and armor glimmering with purple light as he called on the power of earth magic.

  “Swamp trolls, Prince Krastikon,” said Magatai. “Very dangerous. Sometimes they raid the Takai Steppes in search of food.”

  “What do they eat?” said Krastikon.

  “Halflings,” said Magatai. “Humans, muridachs, orcs, struthians, scutians, pigs, cows, sheep, birds, cats, dogs, rats, lizards, mice, and sometimes each other. Anything that runs slower than they do.”

  Tamlin drew a deep breath, calling on his magic, and lightning started to spark and flare around his free hand. The only way to permanently kill a swamp troll was to cut off its head and cut out its heart before the creature could regenerate, or to use fire or acid to cauterize its wounds and keep them from healing. Still, the trolls were wet enough that the lightning would give them a nasty shock, and the Sword of Earth would slice through their rubbery hides just as swiftly as it cut through anything else.

  “Hold!” thundered Ridmark in the orcish tongue, stepping forward. He had dropped his staff and now held Oathshield’s hilt in both hands. “What business do you have with us?”

  “Business?” rasped the biggest of the trolls. Its rubbery mouth spread in a hideous fanged grin. “You are in our swamps, human. All who come into our swamps belong to us.” The troll let out a croaking laugh, the sac beneath its mouth bulging. “We shall feast on you.”

  “Will you?” said Ridmark, his voice hard. “We are well-armed, and many of you will die should you attack.”

  The troll’s laughter redoubled. “Foolish human! Your swords are useless. Cut us, and the wounds shall heal. Slice off our arms, and we will grow new ones. Your pitiful weapons cannot harm us.”

  “Are you willing to wager your life on that?” said Ridmark. “For we also have weapons of magic that will burn your wounds so they cannot heal.”

  “A pitiful lie,” sneered the troll. “It…”

  “Third,” said Ridmark.

  Third spun the sword in her right hand, and as she did, the dwarven glyphs on the blade glowed. The sword erupted into snarling elemental flames, hot and bright. Tamlin supposed that would have been a sufficient demonstration, but Kalussa Pendragon could never let anyone have the last word. She lifted her left hand, and a sphere of whirling fire appeared above her palm.

  The trolls recoiled at the sight of the magical flames, their bulbous eyes rolling back and forth.

  “Let us go in peace,” said Ridmark, “and…”

  The swamp trolls screamed and charged forward in a mass, clawed hands outstretched.

  Well, they had tried.

  “Calliande, Kalussa, Tamara!” shouted Ridmark. “Fire and acid! The rest of you, cut them down!”

  The Shield Knight was moving before the final word had even left his lips. Ridmark charged into the trolls, Oathshield a blue blur in his hands. The big troll who had spoken lost its head, which bounced away into the marsh. Before a new head grew from the stump of its neck, Calliande gestured. A small globe of fire darted from her hand and landed in the stump of the troll’s head, exploding in a bloom of flame. The elemental flame charred the torn flesh, turning it to smoking ashes, and the troll’s body fell lifeless to the ground.

  Another swamp troll reached for Ridmark, but blue fire flashed behind it. Third jabbed her burning sword into the troll’s back, and Tamlin saw the golden tip burst from its chest. The troll fell dead, its burned heart unable to regenerate, and Third disappeared. She reappeared behind another troll and took off its head with a two-handed blow of her burning sword, sending its headless corpse to the ground.

  Third had spent so much time unable to use her ability to travel near the Seven Swords that Tamlin had forgotten just how deadly she was. She was superb with a sword but coupled with her ability to travel, she became a terror on the battlefield.

  Of course, Tamlin had some experience with violence himself.

  He charged to meet the swamp trolls, thrusting his left hand before him. A forked bolt of lightning leaped from his hand and struck two of the trolls. Coils of blue-white lightning snarled up and down their glistening limbs, and the trolls went into a thrashing dance.

  Before they recovered, Tamlin attacked with the Sword of Earth. He struck the troll on his left first, the Sword of Earth sweeping through its neck. The green blade passed through the troll’s hide and flesh without resistance, and the head rolled away through the grasses. The body staggered, and Tamara cast a spell, thrusting her staff. Purple light flared along the staff, and a tight sphere of gray mist appeared over the severed stump of the troll’s neck. The mist sank into the torn flesh, like water disappearing into a dry sponge. The troll’s corpse twisted and collapsed to the ground. Tamlin attacked again, taking the head from another troll, and once again Tamara conjured a sphere of acidic mist. The troll’s headless form jerked and fell over.

  Around them, the others struggled against the creatures. Ridmark and Third worked together, tearing their way through the trolls like a storm. Ridmark dealt powerful blows with Oathshield, using the augmented strength that the soulblade granted him to cut off the heads of his foes. Third finished off the trolls he wounded with quick strokes of her burning sword, cauterizing their wounds and keeping them from regenerating.

  Calem, Krastikon, and Magatai fought alongside each other. Magatai stunned the trolls with slashes from his sword, and Krastikon and Calem cut the trolls apart. Kalussa and Calliande stood back from the fighting, and both women hurled blasts of flame. Calliande’s bursts of magical fire were far more powerful than Kalussa’s, strong enough to turn a troll’s head to charred coals or to burn holes through their torsos.

  A troll leaped free from the pack and bounded towards Tamara. Tamlin snarled and moved to intercept the creature, whipping the Sword of Earth around in a sideways blow. He sl
iced through the creature’s waist, and the two halves fell to the ground. The troll’s head glared at him, the clawed hands reaching for him, and Tamlin swung the Sword of Earth again. He took off the troll’s head, and Tamara finished it off with a sphere of acidic mist.

  A third troll rushed at him, jaws yawning wide. Its tongue snapped out and wrapped around the Sword of Earth. No doubt the troll intended to wrench the Sword free from Tamlin’s hand. Tamlin turned his hand, and the Sword of Earth sliced through the tongue as easily as it cut through flesh and bone and bronze. The troll stumbled with a shriek of pain, black slime spraying from its wide mouth, and Tamlin went on the attack. The Sword of Earth sliced through the crown of the troll’s head and down into its torso, cutting the creature in half from head to groin. The two halves fell to the grass, and Tamlin wondered if both halves would regenerate into two new trolls.

  Then Tamara sent her acidic mist rolling over the creature, which rendered the question moot.

  Tamlin turned, seeking another foe, but saw that the remaining trolls had fallen back. Ridmark and Calliande and the others had killed maybe half of the trolls, and the rest fled to the east. They leaped into the water and vanished, swimming away with quicksilver speed. Tamlin was glad they had fought the trolls on land instead of water. The swamp trolls would have had the advantage in the brackish water of the marsh.

  “The enemy has fled our wrath!” said Magatai.

  “No,” said Calliande, looking to the west. “No, I don’t think they fled from us.”

  A metallic bellow echoed over the swamp.

  ###

  Ridmark turned to the west as the harsh roar boomed out again.

  “What is that?” said Krastikon, his shield flashing with purple light as he recast his defensive spells.

  “Sounds like a wyvern,” said Ridmark, remembering the brassy cries the winged creatures made as they swooped upon their prey.

  He had fought wyverns a few times before, and it had never gone well.

  “No,” said Magatai. “No, it is not a wyvern. Wyverns do not like swamps. Too easy to get their wings tangled in the water…here it comes!”

  The Takai halfling pointed to the west, and something huge burst out from behind one of the trees, rushing towards them with terrific speed.

  Ridmark had never seen a creature quite like it before.

  It looked like a giant lizard, with a barrel-shaped body propelled by thick, stumpy legs. It had scales of green and vivid purple, and its tail lashed back and forth behind it, its end tipped with a barbed stinger. Five long, serpentine necks rose from the front of the creature’s body, and each neck was tipped with a snakelike head the size of a grown man’s torso, their yellow eyes glaring, venom dripping from their fangs.

  “Definitely not a wyvern,” said Calliande.

  “It is a hydra, a hunter of the swamps!” said Magatai. “It can only be slain by chopping off all of its heads. Else it can regenerate nearly anything else. Beware! Its heads breathe a deadly flame!”

  The great beast lumbered to the edge of the island and stopped. All five of its long necks drew back and shot forward, their mouths opening wide.

  Fire erupted from its mouths, rolling across the island in a curtain of flame, but Calliande was ready for it. She cast a spell, and a wall of translucent white light leaped up from the ground to intercept the hydra’s fire. The flames struck the wall and winked out, though the grass still burned.

  The hydra lumbered forward, impervious or perhaps indifferent to the flames. Northwind let out a furious squawk, her tail lashing back and forth with agitation. The hydra’s heads slithered back and forth, and five pairs of yellow eyes regarded them through the smoke. Ridmark wondered if the creature was reconsidering them as potential prey, but he realized the hydra was getting ready to strike.

  “Tamlin, Krastikon, Calem,” he said. “Try to take its heads off. Calliande and Kalussa, burn them when we do.” The hydra tensed, its thick legs flexing. “Third?”

  She nodded, swords in both hands, stepped forward, and disappeared. Blue fire flashed behind the hydra, and Third reappeared there, driving her swords into the creature’s flank. Even with her strength and the keen edges of her gray elven swords, her blades did not sink deep into the thick, scaly hide. The hydra let out a furious shriek, and one of its necks rotated, the serpent head darting forward to bite at Third. She wrenched her swords free and vanished in a pulse of blue fire before the jaws snapped shut where her chest had been.

  Ridmark charged towards the hydra, Krastikon, Calem, Tamlin, and Magatai following him, while Tamara, Calliande, and Kalussa all began casting spells.

  ###

  Tamara thrust her staff and threw another bolt of magical lightning. The blast hit the hydra, knocking it back, and the creature screamed in fury. One of the snakelike heads whirled towards her and breathed a gout of flame, but Calliande intercepted it, a shell of white light appearing around Tamara. She flinched as the flames touched her, but Calliande’s magic held against the fire.

  The hydra recovered its balance and attacked again, its four remaining heads stabbing in all directions, fire and venom flashing from its mouths. Tamlin had taken off one of the hydra’s heads, and Kalussa had hit the stump with a sphere of magical fire. Tamara had hoped that they might be able to overcome the hydra quickly.

  That hope had proven futile. The creature regenerated with terrifying speed, even faster than the swamp trolls. Despite its bulk and stumpy legs, it was deadly fast, its heads and its barbed tail striking like the cracks of a whip. Tamara hoped that the creature might entangle itself in its own snapping necks, but that was likewise a futile hope. Sinuous grace and fluidity accompanied its deadly speed. The serpent necks never interfered with each other and fought both independently and in harmony. It was like fighting four creatures at once rather than one, and the four heads fought with eerie coordination much like the gray elves of the Unity.

  Tamara threw another blast of magical lightning, and this time she caught the hydra in one of its heads. The head reared back atop its serpentine neck, jaws yawning wide, and Tamlin leaped up, his jump enhanced by a spell of elemental air. The Sword of Earth was a green blur in his hands, and he took off the hydra’s head at the neck. The head bounced away, the yellow eyes glaring with venomous hate, and the long neck snapped back and forth like a cut rope, crimson blood spraying from the stump of the neck. Kalussa threw a burst of fire at the hydra, but the neck was moving too fast, and her attack carved a smoking gash along the hydra’s flank.

  A heartbeat later, a new head burst from the stump of the hydra’s neck. It was wet and glistening but fully formed, and the yellow eyes glared at Tamara. The head darted forward, the jaws yawning wide, and Tamara threw herself to the side as the hydra breathed a cone of fire across the smoking ground. Tamara got out of the way in time, but she felt the searing heat of the flames against the skin of her face and hands, felt the smoke fill her nostrils and burn her throat.

  A memory seared through her mind, a recollection of one of the nightmares that had tormented her for years. In that nightmare, she had been locked inside a house, desperate and trapped as the house burned down around her. She had choked on the smoke, coughing and wheezing, and then burned alive as the beams of the ceiling collapsed upon her.

  She had dreamed of it again and again, and Tamara had believed herself going mad, that she was dreaming of things she had never experienced.

  But she had experienced it, hadn’t she? It hadn’t been a phantasm of her mind, it had been something one of her other selves had endured. It had been the way one of her other selves had died.

  That other version of Tamara had burned alive in the flames, and she remembered it now, remembered how she had choked, trying to scream, as the fire consumed her.

  Fire…

  Tamara heaved back to her feet with a snarl as the memories blazed in her mind, and she cast a new spell, one she had never cast before in her life.

  And this time, elemental fire explod
ed along the length of her golden staff.

  She just had time to notice Calliande’s startled glance, and then Tamara’s full attention turned to the battle. Calem moved in a silvery blur, and the Sword of Air took off one of the hydra’s heads. Before the creature could recover, Tamara thrust her staff. A blazing shaft of elemental flame leaped from the end of her staff and slashed across the bloody stump of the hydra’s neck, turning it to smoking char. The hydra reared back in pain, its remaining three heads screaming in rage.

  Then the great beast whirled to face her. She had hurt it, had drawn its attention, and it intended to vent its wrath upon her. All three of its remaining mouths belched fire, and she heard Tamlin shout for her to move. But new knowledge flooded through Tamara’s mind, or knowledge she had known and then forgotten, and she understood the nature of the fire howling towards her. She cast another spell, and the flames answered her command, leaping back to strike at the hydra. The creature reeled back, and Tamlin struck in the instant of its confusion. His green sword took off another head. Tamara hurled a bolt of fire, turning the stump of the neck to smoking coals.

  Now the momentum of the battle had gone to Tamara and her friends. With only two heads and its tail remaining, the hydra could not attack in so many directions at once. Magatai and Third struck at the beast’s flanks, using their lightning-wreathed swords to stun the creature and draw its attention. Ridmark attacked from the front, hammering at the hydra with Oathshield. Calliande cast defensive spells, warding the others from the hydra’s fire, or worked spells of augmentation to make them faster and stronger in battle.

  Krastikon hewed off another head, and Kalussa cast a spell of fire. This time, her aim was better, and her sphere of fire punched right into the spurting stump of the creature’s neck. The hydra backed away, its final head snapping back and forth as it tried to keep sight of all its enemies at once. Tamara called on the magic of elemental fire, and she cast another spell.