The Karayan could see that the Archdemon wished to punish the girl for having caused it such pain and so this creeping creature shimmied about after Damara as she ran in circles to avoid the creature. He was unhappy, though it was hard to tell there was any hope within his body as it remained collapsed beneath the great hooking paw of the Archdemon. The shroud about his body was almost spent, weeping and squeaking audibly at him to escape and run now that it was forming a separation between his flesh and the demon. Finally, he had a chance to get free, but in doing so he would have to reveal the deformities of his body, yet he could not bring himself to do so! Karayan groaned as he wrestled for some way to regain his strength until he felt a hammering hard in his heart. He could sense that one piece of his heart was already awake to an ally rushing their way and with this faster rush of blood and the energy of this new fury, the Karayan was able to give a roar and throw the hand from his body. It was only for a second, but he rolled to grab his axe, stood and with a gurgle of fury he felt someone else’s powers rip through his limbs and in their power a fire that shot through the front of his axe. He slammed it into the thumb of the Archdemon, giving it the greatest pain it had so far endured so that the limbs chasing Damara paused and the demon fainted so it’s hand fell back through the doorway. The Karayan rushed to lock the door once more before he turned towards Damara again.
“Get the stone… you’ve got to take it away Damara!” The Karayan hollered as the demon regained its strength to catch a claw in the door and start butting it again to get it open. The Karayan slammed his back firmly against the wounded limb, grunting gently as he dug his claws back into the earth and listened to the shroud about him wheeze in some relief from the heat of the limb. There was little of the shroud remaining, free from his near bald head but for its one side of long flowing raven hair, free from his limbs to reveal their tattooed and scarred forms and claws and toes, his midriff revealed as a scarred up patch of skin drawn in streaks of pallid skin as if made from the leather of another being, but his chest and his hips were covered enough and the shroud clung tight to protect the last part of his body that would reveal too much to the world, should he wake any more strength within himself. “DAMARA!”
The girl stood still, trembling as the creature in front of her began to fidget, her eyes locked on the black form of the spidery figure that gently uncurled a leg, trying to regain its senses and move at her again. When she realised the monster was about to start chasing her again, she turned towards the great rips in the courtyard that were keeping her separate from the rest of her people. For a moment she dared to think that she might just be better off leaping for dear life, escaping this situation and yet it would be cowardly; she could not allow herself to be such a disgrace. Despair gripped her baleful gaze towards safety when she spotted the stone sitting there near the remnant cloth Alagpo had worn, she spun around, darting straight past the creature though it tried to shoot out a limb to hook her. She galloped over towards the stone when suddenly the Archdemon’s hand curled into a fist and punched through part of the door, making the earth crack again and Damara to slip and fall flat onto her front with a grunt. At the sensation of her fall, the demon’s spidery assistant regained its ability to move and shuffled in a twitching moment before marching towards Damara’s dazed form.
Winded and feeling a need to not only scream to get the air out of her lungs but a desire to howl out in sorrow and fear, Damara shifted herself on the floor before watching the creature trundling towards her as the Karayan continued to roar at her to get to the stone. She managed to pull a shaky limb forward, feeling a curious burning from the rock floor that must be caused by the demon being so close to it. With a dizzying wheeze she managed to get up though her ears rang and then she started to shuffle towards the stone, wobbling about unsteadily towards it as if, perhaps, she had just given up on her chance of coming out of this alive. Only as she tripped again, and the demon spider shuffled over to her side did Damara perceive that death might be at hand and she shielded her eyes.
What was then heard by the sensitive ears of the young elf, let alone by the Archdemon, which seemed to screech and howl in agony, was a sound like a low roar. There was a noise like a chant, a strange song that was foreign to Damara’s ears and yet also known to her. She could see the reaction from the demon, but she knew her blade was no longer there and yet it was reacting to that sound. As her ears twitched she noticed the sudden expression of relief fall upon the Karayan’s face and then there was the intensity of this strange masculine chant bouncing around her head as it came to a climax. Suddenly the spidery creature trembling beside Damara was touched by a warm blast of air and exploded into a thousand disgusting, damp pieces about her. Damara saw something akin to a metal chain coated in spikes skim above her head as a sword, almost as short as a jungle knife, came hacking into the demon’s fingers in a spray of blood, gore and boiling that made the animal seem to collapse again.
“Damara get up and deal with that damn stone!” Damara’s eyes widened in total disbelief as she looked to the bald stranger covered in muck and cuts, wearing the attire of a prisoner that stood on slightly slouching legs. She could not recognise their looks but that voice and the energy that had exploded from them in a spray of green fire could not be mistaken for anyone but her sister! She wheezed again as Anouk pulled the Karayan up and away from the doorway as she closed it firmly and began to buzz with the green fire again. Anouk did her best to try and erase the writing remaining on the door and the Karayan lifted himself up to go and keep the door closed as he wheezed and sighed in relief to have her here and to be alive. Damara could hardly believe it, until the figure turned to look at her with those deadly green eyes and gave a sharp bark. “GET THAT BLOODY STONE AND SMASH IT ALREADY!”
With that Damara gave a shrill sound of delight and began to pull herself back to normal and rush over towards where the stone had been. However, by the shrouds that remained in tatters where Alagpo had fallen, there were only rifts in the earth and the stone was nowhere in sight. Panic gripped Damara as she managed to limp from one side of the fissures in the earth to the other, scanning every cleft and dark depth for the light the stone must be emitting. She could hardly believe her luck, hardly believe that even now she could be responsible for such a great calamity as the loss of a stone! She scrabbled at the warm earth, kicking about patches of dust and debris caused by the quaking and then finally she spotted the pale glimmer of the stone in one exceptionally tight gap. She dropped onto her hefty bosom with a groan over the little crevice and stretched her arm downwards, yanking up the sleeve of her robe to try and grasp at the stone. It was just out of reach and so Damara had to try very hard to wriggle and mould herself to the hole to try and reach down further and at least let her hands encounter the stone!
Anouk meanwhile was trembling on her weak limbs as she stood beside the Karayan and tried to wipe the markings away with her powers. The Archdemon had been stunned quite badly, but the pieces of its body still within the doorway kept twitching with life and Anouk had to switch from rubbing the markings to boiling the pieces of flesh away. The Karayan kept his body upright and pressed to the door, ready to dig his claws in again and yet at the same time he was embarrassed to be so clearly visible in all his hideous glory towards Anouk. She barely noticed, far too busy trying to deal with the matter at hand, but the Karayan could not stop himself from speaking to her, if only because he felt the tension might ease somewhat for it.
“I don’t know how you survived what must have happened below, but I can’t begin to tell you how thankful I am you’re here right now.” He could not stop himself from smiling at the sight of her, feeling his heart within them both trembling and fluttering with his joy to know that his foresight had been correct. However, Anouk remained quiet as she grimaced and tried hard to scrub the lettering away, swearing that the magic about it was strong and she was never very good at such things. The Karayan couldn’t care less in that moment, so happy to know that they
were both alive when he suddenly felt a crackling in the air and even Anouk seemed to freeze in surprise. They had both heard the familiar sound of something being formed before them and there must have been some Hive demons still left for the creature to use, for suddenly the door was punched hard and Anouk was sent flying from the wall. She landed with a heavy thud across the courtyard near the broken ground and close to Damara whilst the hand pinned the Karayan straight under the door. The demon had seemed to make the connection between the Karayan and his struggles to get in, for it squashed down to hear the groans and howls of agony from the angry being as he tried to wrestle the door back up, knowing that if he let go of it than there would be no way to stop the demon!
Damara gave a squeak of shock to see her sister and her friend in such trouble and in her moment of concern, she managed to flick her hand to snatch the stone. Her eyes spun back to the glowing rock and she trembled in preparation for the weird visions she might experience upon touching it, but for once it did not happen. Damara could not explain it, but she could not even feel the same buzzing sensation from the stone that she was sure was normal. But there was no time to think it over as she felt something grab her ankle and drag her backward. Her skin was grazed beneath her clothing and she groaned as she gripped the stone in her fingers, dragging it up and out with the strength of Anouk, at least she had assumed it to be her sister. When she sat up with the stone in her hands, Damara turned and came face to face with the horrendous spidery creature that suddenly lunged at her.
Damara rolled the stone out of her hands and the spider creature wrapped about her skin, she yanked it aside with a screech and then stood up. As she got up the creature sprawled on its back for a few moments before correcting itself but folding its central circle inside out as it scuttled after the stone. Damara ran beside the creature, trying to snatch at the stone as it rolled continuously towards the door and towards the Karayan. She ignored him and ignored Anouk pulling herself up nearby, her hands straining and snatching at the air about the stone as the creature beside her tried to snatch it too.
“DESTROY IT! FOR NABUTO’S SAKE SMASH IT!” Anouk wheezed as she got up and pulled out her whip blade. The moment she sent it out towards the stone her aim had to be altered. She had to send the instruction to grab Damara and the chain obeyed, looping around her sister’s waist as Damara fell into the ground in her attempt to snatch it. They connected, Damara had the stone and Anouk yanked her aside, but the horrendous spidery creature launched after them and this time its whole form seemed to ingest the stone. All eyes widened about Virenheim in shock as the realisation sank in, until suddenly there was an explosion of light and gore, throwing Damara right into Anouk and the pair of them crashing painfully into the magical shield formed about them.
The scream was running around the buildings and the kingdom, people on the walls were abandoning their posts in favour of their lives as the bright burning light of the explosion swallowed the magical sphere that had hoped to contain it. Everyone assumed that the Benaga daughters, the Karayan and whatever else was around them must have been killed too as the light faded and the Archdemon stood proud within the bubble, pulling up his great mace made of burning fire trapped within crystal. But just as it looked like the demon had broken through and was about to destroy the magic circle and them all, it gave a sudden jolt of surprise and shrieked in pain. The light settled and though the mace was held in a firm limb ready to swing and attack, the other half of the Archdemon was trapped within the wall itself!
The stone must have been a fake, for only the tiniest of power had been snatched by the nemesis and now it was stuck!
The Karayan remained trapped under the door, wrestling against a hand and a foot, but thankfully they were knotted together and trapped. All the Karayan needed to do was to get up from under the door, push it up into place and kick the limbs out. He could see his axe nearby and knew if he could just get it and pull himself out, he could probably hack these trapped pieces and with that expose the beast to more useful attacks. He knew the sun must be able to break through the spores soon, that the cloud could not last forever and that they could indeed get rid of this creature if there was still someone alive… but he could barely move and with sweat pouring down his head, his eyes reddened and blurred as he was crushed, the Karayan could see nothing.
Dangling from the whip line of her blade that was stabbed into the rock, the two Benaga daughters dangled in disbelief above a seemingly endless black tunnel. Damara had finally noticed that her sister was not covered in any way to avoid the poison of the spores, but that her sister’s skin was lined with strange green cracks that hissed and burnt away whatever poison must be in the air. Damara was stunned into silence, tears spilling out of her reddened eyes as she noticed the amount of vile mess that had scattered about the magic shield and onto their bodies. She wanted to be sick, whatever courage she had held when taking on Leridan and trying to help the Karayan here was lost completely and she had no idea what she could do to make this all end.
“I had told you to destroy it… why did you not use your magic and actually blow it up?” Anouk was grinding her teeth together tightly, fighting the pain in her body as she felt her sister’s arms locked about her waist, squeezing her as she kept them both from dropping to their ultimate ends. She did not mean for it to sound so aggressive, but she was trying to keep herself in control of her strength as she listened to the groans and squeals of the angry demon above. She could tell something ridiculous had happened and with a sudden growl she gripped her feet about the rocky surface and started to hook herself upward. “Alright, I’m going to start climbing up now, I want you to hook onto the rock as soon as you can and start climbing with me. I don’t know whether it was luck or stupidity… but that stone was a fake… I think for once Zehna’s brain was actually working.”
“A fake? What do you mean? What does that do?” Damara questioned with a slight groan of surprise as she felt her sister starting to shuffle and she felt herself slipping. She grasped tightly at her sister’s body, grimacing as she tried to grab with her very painful fingers, wounded by the explosion. Her hands still felt like they were on fire from what she had felt, but the rays of the stone as it had ripped apart had not really aimed their fury at her so much as at the demon. Perhaps Anouk was right indeed, but if it had been fake there had been something about it to have the real stone’s magic in to prevent that or… or maybe the mage circle had tried to help her out just a little. When she managed to hook her fingers into the rock and gain a firm position as the pair scrabbled upward, Anouk seemed to wheeze in relief before giving a snort.
“The real stone would have given the Archdemon power to smash the wall and the magic shield. We’d have been killed. They probably put a little trace amount in to trick whoever was going to take it, but as long as the Karayan can stop it getting its body smashing through the doorway, we can stop this monster.” Anouk groaned and as they both pulled themselves up onto the rocks they almost laughed. It was a funny image to see the limbs stuck in the door and the demon’s shoulder and neck caught in the wall that was driving the creature mad. They were both oddly more eager to fight it now it was such an easy target, braying and bleating as it swung its mace around weakly. Anouk took in a deep breath and gently pulled her blade up out of the rock and then let her green fire rise around it. She looked towards Damara with a snort. “Think of how we dealt with the other demon… I can distract that mace if you start chopping him up. Can you do it with your ice?”
“I can try… as long as I think about doing it for everyone else, I’m sure I can do it.” Damara stated, pulling her hands together to create a small ice blade to fight with. She turned to her sister with a massive grin, happy despite the terror gripping her that she was going to have her very first chance of fighting beside her sister. Somehow, fighting as two members of the Benaga house together, seemed the most normal and appropriate thing to do and though she could see that the Karayan was still fighting too, Damara
looked to her sister with a chuckle. “So, go for the brain?”
As the demon began to wrestle against the doorway and the Karayan was still kicking at the door to get it and the limbs off, the girls saw their chance and Anouk immediately rushed towards the creature with a roar of anger, followed by Damara. The bald sister threw her whip blade out to catch at the head of the demon and grab its horns, tugging it downward as Damara rushed. The Karayan was able to grab his axe and swing it into the creature’s limbs as Damara leapt upward to slam her ice sword into the demon’s shoulder. As it gave a shriek of agony, the ice blade shattered but burnt a hole into the creature’s shoulder and was enough for the Karayan to smash the door up and against the wall. The limbs still pushed it out but the Karayan’s legs were pushing it this time and he swung his axe out at every bit of the probing fingers and claws that tried to snatch him. Damara landed beside her sister with a gentle grunt and wobble as she steadied herself and turned to the elder Benaga. Anouk was forced to pull her whip aside from the horn before leaping with her sister out of the way as the creature swung its burning mace downwards at the pesky elves.
They leapt far enough away that the great crack produced in the ground from the blow hit neither of them and then the demon turned its head about. It tried to determine which of its attackers to go for and, as she was not showing the same kind of weapon, the demon turned at Damara. She realised what was coming and automatically she darted towards her sister and Anouk launched upward at the creature, swinging her whip again. She hooked it about the bottom of the mace as it was being swung and she flew along the wall with the chain. It yanked the mace at an awkward angle, so instead of the creature hitting at Damara the mace landed back on the ground again and the demon roared at Anouk. Damara took the moment to lunge with her blade and slashed her ice at the chin of the demon, causing a mini explosion of gore as the creature began to scream and holler again, helping the Karayan stuff the awkward foot of the beast out of the doorway, though the hand still flailed about to try and catch him.
Traitor to the King: A Tale of the Benaga Sisters Page 45
