Legacy of Dragonwand- Book III Page 10

  “Nice try, dog,” he said gasping. “But this ends now. Either you jump or I’ll send you over in pieces. Those are your only choices.”

  Crystal trembled all over as she panted. “Please, don’t make me do this. I don’t want to kill you. I don’t want to kill anyone. Please, just let me go. You promised.”

  Morris raised his sword and took up an attack stance. He prepared to finish her off. “Oh, I kept my promise. When I am done with you, I will throw your body over the cliff, into the ocean, and only the trees will know what truly happened. Though, I honestly doubt anyone will miss you.”

  Crystal pointed her wand at the sword and conjured a spell without even uttering a single word. The weapon turned a bright red as though it were still being struck under the craftsman hammer. Morris yelled at the sudden intense heat emanating from it. Reflexively he threw his sword down and held his now burnt hand. “You…damned, infuriating, animal.”

  Momentarily surprised by her own skill of casting, Crystal calmed herself and turned her wand on Morris. “There, you’re unarmed. Go, leave me alone. I…I don’t want to have to kill you, but…but I will.” She was doing her very best to contain her fear at the mere thought of taking a person’s life. She was finally faced with the prospect of killing the man she hated above all, yet even now she couldn’t take a person’s life.

  Morris was furious, wearing a scowl that could kill on its own. “No matter. I don’t need a weapon to kill the likes of you. I’ll just push you off,” he yelled. He raced at her full speed. In defense, Crystal stepped back and her foot slipped from the edge and she lost her balance. Before Morris could make contact with her, Crystal fell from sight and Morris too lost his footing, falling on his chest and sliding to the ledge where Crystal had dropped off. He reached for the only thing he could – her foot.

  Crystal had successfully latched on to a bulging root from a larger tree above them with her left hand and solid ground with her right. The rest of her was dangling precariously over a fifty story drop down into the rocky waters of the shore. She screamed at the pain of Morris grabbing her foot and nearly pulling it off. It was only the strength of the root that was keeping them both from falling.

  “Don’t you let me fall...I….” Morris cried, trying to reach up to grab something else but struggled mightily to do both. The combination of a bare foot and thick fur along her ankle and lower leg was a bad combination; especially the fur that was slick from sweat. Slowly, Captain Morris slid down her foot, gliding over her claws, until finally free-falling away.

  From her leg down the long sheer cliff and into the lapping ocean waves, the famous Captain of the Royal Guard met his demise. The last of him anyone would ever see was his broken body floating out to sea. He was once a great man with power second only to the King of Gallenor. Now he was the dead pawn of a mad wizard from a bygone era.

  Crystal was crying and screaming for help. She kicked her legs and hit dirt, but each time she touched anything it crumbled. Far below her the ocean crashed and seemed to beg for her to fall, but she would not give up until there wasn’t an ounce of strength left in her. Treb, Kiin, Markus, her parents; she would not leave them like this. Suddenly the root began to break from the soil and was failing under her weight. If she could only call her wand she could try something to save herself, but that would require a free hand, something she could not spare at the moment. Over and over she cried out for help, hoping dearly that someone would come to her aid. The root slipped again this time it popped and cracked under the ground.

  Miraculously, a strong hand reached down and squeezed her right hand before pulling her up. She was pulled over the edge and back to her knees on solid ground. There stood Lord Kellus and an entire legion of the Rakki’s finest warriors were before her. She purred with joy.

  Kellus came over to Crystal and gave her a big hug. “Oh my goodness, what were you doing there?” He then helped her to her feet.

  “It was Morris, he… he was trying to kill me,” she said with tears in her eyes. She backed away from the leader of her people and stumbled on her injured foot.

  Kellus and two of his guards helped her sit back down. “Crystal? What’s wrong? Are you injured?”

  She produced her wand and pointed it at her foot. “Morris nearly pulled my foot off when we fell. I can fix it though.” Using a basic healing charm, she quickly repaired the damage. She stood. “What are you doing here with this army?”

  Kellus cocked his head and glanced back into his troops. “Someone came to us and told us that we were needed.”

  Crystal noticed someone forcing their way through the crowd. A giant smile crossed her face as the sea of troops parted. “DONNA!”

  Chapter 13: Awakening

  “This is just great, we’re lost. We even have a map and we’re still lost.” Kiin was so confused she wanted to hit someone.

  Treb turned the map over and over again, trying to see if he could tell where they were. “This stupid map is a giant square and this labyrinth is so complex I cannot tell which way is up.” He threw the map down. “That’s it, it isn’t helping and we are hopelessly lost.”

  Kiin opened the spell book yet again. “What about…uh…maybe there’s something…” she snarled and growled a little. “I’m tired of looking at this wizardry gibberish.”

  “Ugh, I want to break through the walls and make a clear path out of there,” Treb cried out. I know we have an important task, but I want to get outside and breathe for a moment. I’m so sick of this place. I just can’t stand it!”

  Kiin closed the book and muttered, “We haven’t been in here that long.”

  “I wanted to free these people, but I’m afraid we are going to be trapped in here forever trying to figure it out.”

  Kiin stopped and looked at an alcove containing one of their own. “What if we’re over thinking this?”

  Treb cocked his head. “What do you mean?”

  She turned to her husband wearing a clever smile. “Maybe we just need to bust them out. Try hitting it with your sword. Give it all you’ve got.”

  “This isn’t glass, it’s a spell. Besides, if it works, what happens if I accidentally kill a person?”

  Kiin looked around and found an alcove with a small child in it. “Try it on this one. If you strike through it, you’ll go over his head.”

  “I don’t think this will work, but I don’t have any better ideas. Stand back.” Treb pushed her aside. Swinging his arm back he took in a deep breath and released it as he crashed the sword into the barrier. The shock of his sword bouncing off was so hard it nearly threw him on his butt, and the sound that it made was shrill. It felt like it went through his bones. He stopped and held a hand to his head. “Ow. That didn’t work.”

  Kiin’s attention was elsewhere as she turned her ears to listen to a distant sound. “Wait!” she said lifting a hand. “I think you’re wrong. I heard something. Do it again.”

  Treb frowned at her. “That hurt.”

  “Just do it,” she commanded.

  He rolled his eyes and swung his sword at the barrier again, only not quite as hard. This time the shock to his system was much less severe.

  Kiin smiled brightly. “I definitely heard something that time. There’s something in the distance that makes a sound when you hit the barrier.”

  Treb looked around. “I can barely make out the sound with my ears ringing, but I believe you. What do you think?”

  Kiin ran in the direction of the sound. “I don’t know. The barriers and the thing that’s creating them must be connected. Come on.”

  Treb followed after her. They turned down path after path, every few yards he would graze another barrier with his sword and Kiin would listen for the echo in the distance. They jogged around the whole place while they followed the sound.

  After what seemed like five miles of running, they came to the very center of the maze. There, hovering above a stone pedestal, was a huge blue gem cut like a diam
ond. It was as big as a watermelon and spinning around in the air. Out of the top flowed a constant stream of magical energy feeding right into the nearest alcoves, from there, the energy spread across the entire labyrinth.

  “I can’t believe it. We found it!” Treb shouted as he hugged his wife, wearing a foolish smile.

  Kiin shoved him off of her as she considered their next action. “We have to disrupt it somehow.”

  Treb walked up to it and slowly reached out to touch the surface.

  “Treb, no,” Kiin cried.

  “I won’t ask you to do this,” he replied. With one hand he felt the side and let it rotate against his palm.

  Kiin, who was holding her breath at the sight of him reaching up to it, asked, “Does it hurt?”

  “No, in fact it’s a little cold to the touch. I can’t stop its spinning, but I think I can move it.” He pushed on it slightly and watched it float in the direction he shoved it.

  Kiin stroked her chin. “Well, we could try moving it away from the pedestal. That might be the source of the spell.”

  Treb pushed it again, this time with a pretty good shove. The crystal floated away like a cloud moving, but it did not stop spinning or producing the spell. “I don’t think it’s going to be that easy.”

  Kiin opened up the book. “We’re going to have to figure this out then. What if we…”

  Treb held up his sword. “What if we apply a little more non-magical ideas?” Without any further discussion, he reared back with his sword and let it swing with seemingly the same amount of force he had used against the barrier. The sword crashed right through the crystal and it exploded with a huge wave of blue energy that sent both him and Kiin flying across the open center and colliding with several of the alcoves. Kiin opened her eyes and realized there was a ball of magical energy still floating there, but it was highly unstable and looked like it was about to explode as well.

  Treb jumped up and covered his wife just as the source energy blew up. It was a cold fire that blew out like a massive winter wind.

  Kiin looked at her husband. “Treb, is it over?”

  “Yeah, I think we did it.” His eyes rolled back in his head and he slid off of her in a slump.

  “TREB!!” Kiin screamed, coming to her knees at his side. She put her hands on his chest. He was still breathing, but his breaths were shallow. “TREB, HONEY, WAKE UP. PLEASE!”

  “What is going on?” An entirely new voice startled her.

  Kiin looked up to see an old human wizard man standing right next to her. She turned around to see the alcoves were all beginning to lose their barriers and the people inside were stepping out. “It worked.”

  The old wizard held his head and blinked his eyes a few times. “Is it over? Are we free?”

  Dozens of people were now gathered around. Kiin stayed close to Treb. “It’s a long story. Can any of you help him?”

  An old woman knelt down and put her hands on Treb’s chest. She closed her eyes and focused her magic. His body glowed for a second and he suddenly coughed and began to breathe better. The woman smiled at Kiin. “It was nothing. He was just badly shocked by something.”

  The old man asked her, “Please tell us, what is going on?”

  Kiin held Treb’s hand to help pull him up. “It’s a long story. But, we don’t have a lot of time. We need to get everyone out of here as fast as possible. I will explain everything on the way.”

  ***

  Back in the center of Thendor:

  Markus batted yet another fireball away, this one just about taking his head off. He wasn’t going to last much longer and it seemed that Hallond had an unlimited supply of power. Though, even at a distance, and through all of this firepower, Markus could see that the old man was getting more grey with each moment and looking like an undead body. His eyes were sunken and his cheek bones pronounced like a decaying corpse.

  “I see Tolen didn’t give you much education. Too bad. I was hoping for a much more interesting battle,” Hallond said, pausing for a moment to gloat.

  Markus raised his staff and attempted to turn the advantage back to his side by transforming into a dragon. Hallond was faster than expected. A well placed fire bolt slapped the Dragonwand out of Markus’ hand. Markus was slammed so hard against the wall he nearly fell dead. The staff had saved his life by absorbing some of the magic, but he was battered enough that this was all he had.

  Hallond released a short chuckle and threw an even larger fireball at Markus as he yelled, “ASH.” Markus was too dazed to deflect it this time.

  A blue ball of energy appeared between Markus and the fireball, colliding with it. As they met, both Hallond and Markus went flying in opposite directions. Just then, a huge gale of wind swooped down through the square and Hallond was dropped to the ground.

  Markus, coughing and catching his breath, looked around to see what happened. Two people flew down on a strong breeze, one he knew well, the other he wasn’t entirely sure. “Are my eyes playing tricks on me,” he mumbled, wiping them.

  Crystal came running over to him. “Markus! Oh, Markus! Please, be alive.”

  He took his staff and used it to stand up, “I’m not dead yet.” He coughed. “Where the heck did you come from?”

  “We don’t have time for this.” Donna held a wand in one hand ready to fight.

  Markus’ eyes widened, “Donna?”

  “Yeah, it’s me. Now, let’s move, we don’t... WATCH IT!” She waved her wand in the air and threw another blue ball of energy at an incoming red ball of flames.

  Hallond yelled in a rage and conjured five more balls of fire. Donna prepared to deflect one of them, but it wouldn’t be enough. Then Markus came up between them and he cast a spell that made a barrier that protected all three.

  Crystal jumped back when the fire exploded against the barrier right in front of her face. She pointed her wand at Hallond’s general direction. “HRINDA!”A massive force shoved out and acted like a shockwave that made several of the statues stumble and Hallond was even pushed back a little further.

  Markus lowered the shield spell and smiled at her. “Good one. My turn.” He thrust his staff forward and shot a bolt of lightning at Hallond.

  Hallond tried to deflect it with a spell but his magic was countered by Donna who used a disenchantment spell on him. The bright energy hit him and sent him sailing across the square, crashing into several of his own golems.

  Donna blew on the end of her wand. “We make a good team.”

  “ATTACK THEM! KILL THEM!” Hallond screamed.

  All at once the statues began to move. In unison, their hands went up and the programmed spells prepared to fire.

  Markus lifted his staff and jammed the end into the face of one of the statues nearest them and sent a spell right through its body. Donna grabbed Crystal’s hand and pulled her out of the way just as a ball of energy from a golem’s hand nearly hit her in the face. The old potion master pulled out a small teardrop shaped bottle and threw it at the ground, creating a fog.

  “Run for it!” Donna screamed, heading down the wall toward the nearest exit from this square.

  Hallond created a wind that blew away her magical fog. “Not so fast.”

  The statues advanced on them, each showering the area near them with their red energy magic. Their aim was terrible, but their numbers were great. Markus got in front of the two women and started to deflect the magic as quickly as he could. Donna threw a few spells at the statues, but these creations were nearly impervious to any kind of destruction magic.

  “We are not making any headway!” Donna pulled out another potion and threw it at a statue, freezing it solid, and then cast a shield spell to reflect several of their energy balls heading right for her.

  Markus swung his staff around, batting five of the balls away from him, and casting a wind spell that threw the nearest golems to the ground. “Damnit, they have us in a corner.”

  Markus cast a shoving spel
l at two golems and looked up to see another waiting to attack him. He knew he couldn’t stop it, but he didn’t have to. An arrow lodged right into its empty eye socket. From inside the socket where the arrow was stuck a blue mist poured quickly over the golem and it was frozen solid. There were thin shards of glass dripping out of the socket, this was a potion attack. Then two more were hit, then a dozen, soon a rain of arrows fell over them.

  Crystal laughed. “Did I forget to mention that I brought friends?”

  ***

  Standing on the hill above the city’s eastern side were the legions of Rakki marksmen, firing row after row of potion laden arrows into the attacking golem armies.

  Kellus, bow in his hands, pulled back and took aim at the one living person on the golem’s side. “Time’s up, old man.” He released an arrow that flew right at Hallond’s forehead.

  ***

  The arrow flying right at him would have been impossible for any other man to see or stop, but not this one. Hallond was a thousand year old ancient wizard bent on survival. With a simple wave of his hand the arrow was deflected. He was so furious his skin flamed a shade bright ruby red as he burned with rage.

  Raising his hands, he yelled out, “Hrid St…ack!” As he tried to cast a spell, his body’s weak heart stopped, and then started again. He felt the skipping rivet inside his chest. The dark spell struggled to keep him alive while his flesh was failing quickly. He laid a hand over his heart and clenched at his breast. Lifting his other hand, he attempted the spell again, this time completing it. “HRID STORR!”

  The words resounded with a deep booming echo. Above the city, a huge storm began to spin out of the little wisps of clouds in the evening sky. Lightning cracked the heavens and a forceful gale ripped across the lands. He directed the winds to blow at the ridge of Rakki warriors. Several flying arrows repelled back in the direction of the archers, skewering them with their own ammunition.

  Hallond was gleefully bringing about a hurricane, the likes of which the lands of Gallenor had never seen before. Although he was growing older and more denigrated by the moment, he willed himself to release the last of his powerful magic.