* * * * * *
“I’m telling you Sinders. There is no trust in the world anymore.” Ashe muttered, trying yet another cabin door and finding it locked. “I mean how can I check everything is securely put away if everyone keeps locking their doors?” He continued along the corridor rattling and jiggling door latches, lantern held high, trying to justify the fact that Thomas had told him to remain below decks whilst the El Defensor passed through the gateway.
“I personally blame you for why we are down here.” He remarked to the pet perched quietly on his shoulder. “If you had not made all that noise the last time we went through the gateway, we could have been up on deck right now looking at all the spooky scenery but no you had to open your big mouth and make a nuisance of yourself.”
Sinders shot Ashe a bemused look, tilting its black and white head to one side, listening intently to its master despite having no idea what he was talking about and just hoping it would lead to Ashe offering another seedcake.
“A-ha!” The Halfling grinned, lifting the latch on the next door and pushing it open, before realising that it was Rauph’s cabin door. He moved inside, holding his lantern up high, pausing to let the supernatural chill of the room sweep over him and make him feel all tingly inside.
“Now we have to be careful in here.” Ashe warned his pet, moving over towards the chart table and standing up on tip toe to see if there was anything interesting left out on the table he could play with. “Don’t worry about the dead body sitting in the corner. I’ve noticed if I don’t go near him, he doesn’t go near me.” A loud bang sounded up above and the ship groaned alarmingly, sending a chart sliding from the end of the table to bounce across the deck and fall down near Rauph’s huge bed.
“Sounds like something is going on upstairs.” Ashe remarked, staring at the ceiling as several muffled bangs resonated through the planks towards him. A loud roar seemed to be growing under his feet and the deck started to vibrate. Was that water sounding against the hull?
“It’s not fair. I always miss out on all the fun.” He scooped to collect the chart from the floor, then turned about to place the map back on the chart table, just so that Rauph had no idea he had been here, because Minotaur could be quite tetchy sometimes, despite the fact Rauph was clearly Ashe’s best friend. His eyes swept over the bed and then froze as he noticed the shape of the blue and silver throwing weapon used by the lady Minotaur in the labyrinth.
“It’s as if…” What was that doing here? He moved over, forgetting the door swinging open behind him and looked down at the beautiful cross-shaped design. There was a small button at the centre of the cruciform and Ashe just had to find out what it did. He leant forward and pressed the button, then jumped back as the blades within the ends of the arms sprang out, one of them slicing through the top of Rauph’s blanket.
“Oops.” Ashe muttered, lifting the weapon from the bed and leaning forward to examine the damage. The blades had to be really sharp to do that! He put his lantern onto the bed and tried to push the pieces of the blanket together. No, that was not going to work. Ashe frowned and pushed up his bycocket hat scratching his forehead. He was not really that good at sewing and something told him that if he tried Rauph would notice. He looked at Sinders and shook his head. This was going to need some serious thought.
Voices and footsteps sounded in the corridor, heading towards him. Ashe snatched at the blanket in an attempt to pull it away and hide it, forgetting for a split second that the lantern was perched on top of it. Everything seemed to move in slow motion. He had no hands free to catch the lantern as it tipped. One was holding the boomerang blade, the other had a fist full of blanket. The lantern tipped, fuel flowed out of the reservoir and soaked into the bedding and the blanket caught fire.
“Oh mouldy acorns!” Ashe wailed, staring at the flickering flames and realising he was now in deep trouble. He tried to pat the flame to extinguish it, using the piece of the blanket he held in his hands but this just spread the flames further. What was he going to do? That had to be Rauph coming down the corridor. The Minotaur was going to be really mad. He dare not think how Thomas was going to take it.
He went to run away and hide somewhere, preferably several worlds away, then realised he could not leave the fire unattended. He scooped up the flaming blanket and ran for the door screaming an alarm as he ran, charging through the doorway, only to slam right into Brother Richard who was walking towards him holding Marcus’s large blue book.
The flames caught Richard’s robes instantly and licked hungrily across the surface of the blue book, causing the priest to shout in surprise, then alarm as the surface of the book blackened and bubbled. Several people behind the priest started to scream and dropped to the deck thrashing about as if in serious pain.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry!” Ashe screamed, dropping the blanket and fleeing through them all, jumping over some flailing people and dodging the terrified bodies of others, his eyes tearing up as he ran, his anxiety not allowing him to recognise that he had jumped over several knights he had never seen before.
Marcus reacted instantly, head-butting the knight behind him and snap-kicking another, struggling to free himself from the magical fighters that had him hemmed in on all sides. Ashe dodged through their legs, too scared to stop, too embarrassed to confess to the damage he had just caused, just desperate to get as far away from the scene of the fire as possible.
Richard dropped to the floor, using his bare hands to beat at the flames trying to consume his magical ledger. His skin blackened and blistered as he beat at the blaze but he would not relent, would not allow this magical book to be taken from him, not now, not after coming so far. He snatched at the blanket and threw it aside, not realising where he had inadvertently thrown it.
Tobias screamed in terror as the burning blanket landed upon his leg. He tried to kill the flames, tried to stamp them from him but his magical construct was based on paper and this was fuel for the inferno. Marcus barrelled past him, smashing the knight in the face, dropping Tobias to the floor, only for the ship to slew violently to one side, making the monk lose his balance and stagger, then trip on something left on the floor of the corridor. Whatever it was shrieked loudly in the darkness, then tumbled back inside Rauph’s cabin.
Richard hugged the ledger to his chest determined to extinguish the last of the flames, gritting his teeth as his flesh seared, then he turned to see Tobias being consumed by the fire and screamed. The knight wailed his own funeral dirge, his body crumbling away to glowing ash.
“Hold him!” Richard screamed, as Marcus tried to regain his feet to escape. The other knights sprang back into action as the flames extinguished and the threat to their form was removed. Marcus tried to fight them off but there were too many of them within the close confines of the restrictive corridor for him to do anything but fend off the worst of the blows. He moaned in pain as he was crushed back to the deck and Richard suddenly appeared above him. Marcus took in the fresh burns across his mentor’s chin, the blackened and split fingers that desperately clutched the precious ledger, leaving bloody prints across the blackened and blistered blue leather of the cover.
“Oh Richard please stop this.” Marcus begged breathlessly. “Nothing is worth this, nothing.” Brother Richard regarded his fallen student and fixed him with a look of pure hatred. He flexed his fingers, feeling the skin upon them start to tighten and split, the tissue still hot from the kiss of the flames. He knew the pain would soon be unbearable. This was all Marcus’s fault. He turned to the other knights, his face suddenly cold and lacking emotion.
“Shut him up and make him pay.” He snapped. The knights nodded their understanding then carried out their orders. Marcus tried to dodge the blows as they landed but there was no room left to manoeuvre. He felt a tooth crack, another loosen; he felt his eye swell, his lip split and then a terrific blow to the temple. He tried to tell the knights to stop, tried to beg that they leave him alone, screaming as someone s
tamped on his hand and the bones shattered but the knights were carrying out their orders and they simply would not listen to reason.
* * * * * *
Kerian jogged along the top of the archway, watching the scene unfolding below him in disbelief as the crew of the El Defensor fought for their very lives. He could not believe the crippling damage being inflicted upon the vessel. Even as he watched, the foresail and topsail crashed down upon her damaged decks, scattering crew and foes alike as the ship tried to push against what appeared to be a massive net entrapping her.
He tore his gaze from the decks, giving up on the faint hope he would be able to identify Colette from this far distance and instead traced the lines of the net back to the top and sides of the gateway the ship was trying to negotiate. He noticed several figures ahead of him; one clearly swinging a sword, the other a mass of swirling colours and snapping tendrils, then felt his stomach go suddenly cold.
Malum. He did not need to see much clearer to recognise the horror that awaited him. He swallowed hard and pushed down the worries and fears running rampant within him. That monster was between him and Colette. He had faced him on the Neptune and in Glowme castle, so he could face him here now!
His footsteps slowed despite his resolve and he took the opportunity to pull the mirrored shield from his back, slipping it over his left arm. Kerian drew Aurora and let the sword’s light illuminate the stone pathway beneath him, noting with some surprise how the lights from Malum’s tendrils became muted when regarded from Aurora’s own luminance. He took a deep breath, tried to steady his racing heart, closed his eyes and then slowly reopened them. He could do this. He had to do this. He took a step towards the monster, rolled his shoulders and then took another, this one more confident than the last.
Then he charged.
Chapter Fifty-Six
Another energy sphere crackled towards Colette. She reacted on instinct, dodging to the right, dragging the spectral thread of energy behind her that tethered her conjuring to the magical gateway. She recalled Aradol’s lessons, raising Kerian’s sword in preparation to parry the attack, knowing that this was pure folly on her part. Her skill with a blade only went so far and the power of the magic rushing towards her was such that it would probably incinerate her as soon as she swung at it. She needed to get closer to the sorceress attacking her if she were ever going to be able to fight back as Kerian’s blade was so heavy. The thought of the confrontation scared her but she had no choice, she could not give up when the crew and ship were at stake.
Colette swung the dulled blade wildly, the sword colliding with the magical spell just before it hit her. She screamed as she attempted to deflect it away and felt something race up her arm, setting all of the hairs on her body standing as if she had received a large static charge. Her teeth snapped together, nearly removing the tip of her tongue as the runes on Kerian’s sword lit up and then dulled as the magical attack was impossibly absorbed by the metal.
Justina frowned, her superior smile fading. Her spell should have turned the young mage into a dirty red smear and scattered parts of her across the deck. How could she still be standing? She pointed with her wand again, letting forth a blistering ball of fire that roared across the deck, narrowly missing the head of Cornbread who was astride Rauph and smashing him repeatedly on the nose. The lizard saw the flame approaching and ducked only for one of Rauph’s horns to score him viciously across the jaw.
Colette noticed the fireball advance, watched it grow in size as it closed on her and knew she would never avoid the magical spell. She closed her eyes tightly and swung up the long sword, not even having the time to step aside. A wave of heat washed over her; the sword in her hand growing uncomfortably warm. She staggered, dropping to one knee, then carefully got back to her feet, checking her concentration remained focused on the conjured gateway before opening her eyes.
“Impossible!” Justina uttered, pushing up her sleeves. Her fireball had failed to detonate, its arcane power also absorbed by the smoking blade in the young woman’s hands. The runes flickered along the sword’s length, then went dark again. Colette stifled her feelings of surprise as she felt the sword become lighter in her grasp, the metal cooling as it rushed through the air. Something strange was happening here but Colette was not exactly sure what it was. Her fingers snagged a ribbon from her hair as she moved; it was a simple spell she was considering but if it gave her just a second of advantage then that would be enough. She just needed to close the distance of deck remaining between them.
Rauph landed several heavy blows to Cornelius’s skull, rattling the lizard so he had to shake his head to refocus, his tail twitched angrily, slamming on the deck. Colette darted past them, heading towards Justina as fast as she could, hoping the shock of seeing her spells fail would rattle the sorceress just long enough for the mage to carry out her plan. She dodged and weaved, trying to make herself a harder target to hit, the tendril of her magic writhing over the deck behind her. If she could just land one blow with Kerian’s sword and get close enough to throw her ribbon before the sorceress gathered her wits.
The navigator managed to get his foot under Cornelius and kicked him off, sending the lizard towards Colette. The reptile bounced off the deck, tail flicking out to give balance, only for it to crack across the mage’s hand, forcing her to drop Kerian’s sword and jolting the ribbon up into the air.
Her heart sank as she watched the violet ribbon complete its upward path then arc back to the deck, only to land on the snout of the surprised lizard. The ribbon instantly lengthened before it tightly wrapped around Cornelius, binding him tightly, strapping the creature’s limbs to its sides and leaving him struggling helplessly on the deck.
Justina flicked her wrist, sending a barrage of magical darts out across the deck as Colette dived for the floor in an effort to recover Kerian’s blade. The darts split apart and wheeled away, one right, one left, the other straight ahead and coming in fast. Colette looked on in despair, completely helpless, her hand still reaching for the dropped blade. She realised she would never be able to intercept this attack whilst still on her knees.
Rauph dived between the two women, turning his back to shield Colette just as the third magical dart hit him, staggering the huge Minotaur and making him roar with pain. He snatched at Colette’s robes, physically lifting her from the deck, just as her hand closed upon the hilt of the sword. She felt herself snatched bodily from harm’s way as the navigator’s free hand reached out and caught the second dart, batting it down to the deck. Colette closed her eyes as Rauph tried to turn again, this time spinning her about as if they were dancing, so that the final dart impacted on the Minotaur’s right flank. He roared again, bloodied and battered by Cornelius, burnt and wincing from the explosive darts and the after effects of the powerful dark sorcery still smoking where his hide was singed. The navigator sank to the deck with an agonised gasp; despite being resistant to most magic, it was clear this sustained attack had nearly overwhelmed him.
Colette rushed out from behind Rauph, Kerian’s sword in hand, determined to drop the dark witch down. She swung the weapon as hard as she could, aiming for the sorceress’s neck but Justina ducked as the blade sailed past. The sword clipped a trailing lock of hair and struck Justina’s precious wand, shattering it into a thousand pieces.
The detonation threw Colette and Justina from their feet, dropping them to the deck and blasting Kerian’s sword from the young mage’s hand. Power surged through the weapon, causing the runes to glow and the blade to vibrate. It bounced once, then appeared to halt in mid-fall, hanging perpendicular, the eyes of the roaring dragons on its hilt now ablaze as the weapon hovered menacingly several inches off the deck.
Commagin felt the explosion rush over him as he charged up the port side ladder, his crossbow levelled out before him. A man knelt in his way, scooping something up from the deck, his clothing marking him as a stranger on the ship and therefore a potential threat who was annoyingly obscuring t
he Dwarf’s view.
“Get out of my way you fool!” the engineer snapped, shoving the man to one side so he could scan the scene for other dangers; Colette lay there as if dead, another woman lay prone opposite her, Rauph groaned loudly sitting up holding his head, his pelt marred with scorch marks and a giant lizard lay close by, wrapped up in a huge purple ribbon.
Commagin shook his head worrying if he had taken too much spirits the night before, then blinked several times to confirm the lizard still lay there. He lowered his crossbow, initially thinking there was nothing here to shoot at; then quickly reconsidered as the strange female started to stir. The Dwarf swung the Lady Janet across and sighted down the quarrel, only for the El Defensor to slam into the pillar of the archway again, the collision making the engineer stagger back into the man he had pushed aside and finally allowing him to meet his gaze.
“Scrave?” Commagin gasped, recognising the Elf even as he felt a sudden pressure on his sternum.
“Her life is not yours to take.” Scrave stared coldly into Commagin’s eyes, watching the horror suddenly dawn on the engineer that something was terribly wrong. The Dwarf looked down at his chest and noticed the golden serpent dagger writhing there, the hilt still held firmly in Scrave’s clenched hand. The Lady Janet tumbled to the deck, Commagin’s fingers now too numb to hold onto his beautiful crossbow.
“S… Scrave?” Commagin clutched at the Elf’s clothes, his hands twitching as he struggled to hold on, fighting to keep upright. His legs felt numb, there was a coldness seeping through his body as if someone was literally draining the strength from him.
“You bastard!” The engineer spat through gritted teeth, his face a mask of pain. “I hope you rot…in…Hell.” He tried to push Scrave away, tried to pull the dagger free but these actions required strength that the Dwarf suddenly found he no longer had.
The Labyris Knight Page 100