Dust and debris rained down upon them.
Jethcal stepped back as he watched the collapsing structure, and he dodged as pieces began to fall immediately around him. He growled. This would be so much easier if he could fight this man one-on-one! Why wasn’t the Anicocina’s presence negating his power? What kind of magic was this? But Jethcal didn’t have time to reflect on this as Theran stalked up to him, bringing his fist back to punch Jethcal, but Jethcal caught the punch with the gauntleted hand of the handblade.
His hand didn’t immediately break upon contact. However, Jethcal saw cracks beginning to splinter the gauntlet. He strained against Theran, trying to stand his ground, and he met Theran’s eyes—or rather, the reflective visor of his helmet. As he strained to keep hold of Theran’s fist, he warned him, “You...don’t want...to...unleash what is...in the handblade...”
Theran continued to press down on him. “You shouldn’t have killed my brother.”
Suddenly, something hit Theran on the side of his helmet, and he looked over his shoulder to see Draben had thrown a large rock at him.
Seeing he now had Theran’s attention, Draben shrugged. “As much as I’d love to see you finish him off, he’s a thymord—like us. I’ve got to defend him.” He picked up another rock and weighed it in his hand. “Your armor breaks things on contact, yes? So this really shouldn’t hurt.” He threw it at him.
Theran caught it with his other hand and it crumbled at his touch, then he tossed aside the dust. “Stay out of this, and I might not kill you,” he warned Draben before turning his attention back to Jethcal.
However, Draben had given Jethcal an idea. While Theran had looked away, Jethcal had picked up a rock, and when Theran looked back, he slammed it as hard as he could into Theran’s visor. If Theran couldn’t see him, then maybe Jethcal stood a chance. He hit him again and again, cracking the visor until suddenly Theran grabbed Jethcal’s wrist, snapping it as soon as he touched it.
He heard Jethcal cry out and through his cracked visor could see Jethcal sinking to his knees, gripping his wrist right below where Theran held it, but Theran didn’t let go. He smiled. “I don’t need to see you to break you.”
Across the way, Vixen still strove against the Anicocina, but nothing she did seemed to affect it. When she tried to stab it, it merely teleported away and appeared behind her, forcing her to keep turning in circles, and she cried out in frustration. “Why won’t you just stand still?”
It teleported again, and she spun around, and again, and she spun around once more.
A black cloud began to surround her, and it darkened all around her, limiting her vision. However, as quickly as the darkness grew, it began to dissipate, and Vixen looked down at her vest and realized the black cloud was being sucked into the material of the vest. “It’s like a handblade,” Vixen recalled. She could use this to her advantage, but still the Anicocina tried to blind her with the dark cloud.
Going on the offensive wasn’t working. It didn’t bother to engage with her. As soon as it saw her move, it teleported away from where her blade would hit. She needed a different strategy. The vest wasn’t absorbing the blackness quickly enough. For the first time, she wished she had Lorrek’s magic or Theran’s technology to see through the black mist before her, but she had to rely on her ears, so she became still and listened.
The clawed feet of the Anicocina tapped on the stone floor with each step it took. This made tracking its movement easy, yet Vixen was not yet accustomed enough to its movement to determine when it was too close—until it appeared right in front of her and smacked her out of the way, sending her sprawling. She was quick to roll to her feet but stayed low.
She realized the black mist raised off the floor as it began to disperse, so she could see the feet of the Anicocina until it teleported. Muttering under her breath, she stayed on the floor and looked both ways until she saw the Anicocina reappear, and she watched its tri-clawed feet stalking the blackness.
Vixen held her breath as she gripped a blade tight.
The Anicocina stepped toward her until finally it was within range.
Vixen stabbed its foot, causing it to cry out with a screech. It tried to teleport away, but with the foot pinned, it couldn’t, and Vixen rose to her full height right in front of the creature and smiled at it. “That’s better.” She moved to plunge her blade into the hollowness of its hooded face, yet the Anicocina ducked, dodging the blade with more fluidity than she expected.
It hissed and reached toward Vixen’s chest to rip out her heart, but it halted short of the vest of black blades she wore. It stared at the scaled vest then shifted its gaze to Vixen’s face.
Even though she couldn’t see its features, she could still sense its confusion. She smiled. The Anicocina really didn’t like the handblades. Good. She lunged for it.
It grabbed her by her throat, halting her, but Vixen didn’t waste any time. She shouted as she stabbed another blade into its hand, causing the Anicocina to shriek again and drop her.
She hit the floor right next to the foot she had impaled. In one fluid movement, she yanked that blade out of its foot and spun back around to slice it across the chest, but with its foot now freed, the Anicocina teleported away.
Vixen cursed at her foolishness as she rose to her full height, still gripping the blade in hand. She should have kept its foot impaled. At least now she knew it couldn’t go anywhere if she did that. For now, it still had her blade impaled in its hand. She wanted it back—among other things.
She lunged for it. It sidestepped her and whipped its clawed hands around to cut her across the face, but Vixen blocked with her blade, stopping the hand. She saw her blade still stuck in its hand “I’ll take that.” And she reached over, yanking it out, causing the Anicocina to cry out again.
She saw it shift to teleport, but Vixen tried something new. She grabbed its shoulder, and then blackness. Suddenly the blackness cleared, but Vixen found herself being thrown to the floor. She hit the floor with a thud and rolled to her feet. It worked. If she had a hold of the Anicocina when it teleported, she would teleport with it. “Good to know.” Now, if only she could get it to stand still long enough for her to stab it properly so the handblade’s power could take effect.
She looked around and saw Theran still fighting Jethcal in the distance. She also noted how Draben and Reven were strangely absent from the fights but had not left the scene. They hovered closer to Theran and Jethcal’s fight. Vixen didn’t understand why, but she fixed her attention on the Anicocina once more as it towered over her. She gripped her blades and shrugged. “You getting tired of this yet? Because I’m getting a little bored.”
The Anicocina began stalking toward her and then began to charge. Vixen lowered her stance with two blades in her hands, bracing herself. The creature dove for her, but in mid-dive it teleported, reappearing behind Vixen and slamming her from behind.
Vixen hit the floor but rolled to her feet, spinning with her blades, slicing black air as the Anicocina teleported again. She didn’t wait for it to reappear as she kept spinning, cutting the air with her blade as the Anicocina reappeared right behind her. It shrieked when it saw how close the blades had come to cutting it, and it teleported away. Vixen smiled.
She began to move, predicting where it would reappear. Again and again, it teleported, but Vixen moved with fluidity, countering its movements and attacks but never quite managing to strike it as it would teleport away just as quickly.
Finally, it teleported away, and she turned every which way but couldn’t find it. Weighing her blades in her hands, she searched the area and growled. “Where are you?” Then she noticed movement on the wall and lifted her gaze to find the Anicocina scaling the wall, and she tilted her head to a side. “You climb walls too?” It scaled the vertical surface on all fours with swiftness that surprised Vixen.
What was it planning? Vixen didn’t wait to find out. She looked across the way at the enraged prince of Cuskelom. “Theran!” She shouted to h
im. “Bring down the ceiling!” She pointed at the Anicocina above them.
Theran looked up through his broken visor, saw the creature, and nodded at Vixen. However, he turned back to Jethcal once more and punched him in the hip, shattering it, sending him crashing to the floor with a cry. Theran stared down at him. “You’re not going anywhere. I’m not finished with you yet.” He then turned from him and marched over to a pillar. Sensing this was a bad idea, Theran took a deep breath then placed both his hands on the pillar.
Crack starting from his fingers snaked over the pillar, climbing up higher and higher until it came to the ceiling and continued to zigzag toward the Anicocina. The creature watched the crack approach it, and it teleported to another side of the ceiling. The cracks followed it. It teleported again.
Vixen watched its movements, tracking it, waiting for it to come crashing down.
Outside of the fight, Reven observed everything, and she saw what neither Vixen nor Theran realized. The Anicocina teleported at strategic locations above the out-of-commission magic users. If Theran brought down the ceiling, it could crush all of them, and since they didn’t have their magic, they couldn’t shield themselves. “Stop!” She ran out to the midst of the magic users, earning everyone’s attention.
Theran realized the danger he had caused to Anelm and the others, and he gritted his teeth. Stupid. Foolish. He should have known better. He wasn’t sure what to do. If he let go now, everything would come crashing down, so he maintained his grip but didn’t will for the crack to spread any further. “Vixen!”
Vixen saw what was happening and grumbled under her breath that the Anicocina had played such a nasty trick. “You. Are. Dead,” she muttered to the creature under her breath then threw a blade at it, forcing it to teleport away. It reappeared on another part of the ceiling, so she threw another blade. Again and again this happened until it finally teleported back on the ground again.
Theran ground his teeth as he tried to keep the whole place from falling down on them. “Vixen—hurry!”
She charged for the creature as fast as she could, leaping over a boulder. However, as she expected, just as she was ready to lunge for it, it teleported away, causing her to growl in frustration. Skidding to a halt, she looked around.
“Reven!” Draben’s alarmed shout caused Vixen to look his way, and she saw him pointing at Jethcal. Her gaze followed and saw the Anicocina standing over Jethcal. Vixen didn’t wait. She began to run.
As she got close enough, she heard the Anicocina tell Jethcal, “There is no home for me.” With its bladed hand, it sliced Jethcal’s throat then dropped him and left him to drown in his own blood.
The Anicocina rose.
Vixen lunged for it, tackling it from behind. She expected it to teleport, so she held on tight, but the Anicocina hit the ground and shrieked as it struggled against her. Vixen held her grip, and the Anicocina began to crumble beneath her until it was only black dust, and all that dust was sucked into Vixen’s bladed vest as she finally managed to make contact with the Anicocina, using the handblades.
Vixen found herself on her knees on the floor with nothing in her hands. She looked at her vest and saw black smoke swirling around within her blades, and at first she panicked, thinking the Anicocina had gotten into her, but Reven placed her hand on Vixen’s shoulder. “You defeated it. Those blades absorbed the Anicocina. That’s the only way to defeat it.”
Hearing this, relief rushed through Vixen, and she nodded but saw Theran still trying to keep everything together. The longer he held the pillar, the further the potential damage went. Vixen darted her gaze to Radella and the others and could see them visibly improved and heaving with breaths. However, she knew Theran couldn’t hold it for much longer. She rose to her feet. “Everyone, watch out!”
At this, Theran finally let go.
Radella covered Lorrek’s body with her own and closed her eyes, willing a shield over them.
Skelton lifted his hands to shield himself.
Rykeldan and Caleth looked up from shielding Anelm. They shared a look and a nod, and as the ceiling, pillars, archways, and walls all came crashing down, they willed every piece of rock into water, so instead of boulders crushing everyone and burying them, water rained down upon everyone, drenching them.
Silence and stillness settled in the air.
Theran hesitated but then looked up to see the damage he had wrought, only to find water everywhere. The structure of the castle was gone. He didn’t understand, yet his gaze fastened upon Radella still shielding Lorrek’s body, and he took a stumbling step forward.
While all the others began to move and recover from the fight and being drained of magic, Theran numbly kept moving toward Radella and Lorrek. Part of him hoped she had shielded his body because that meant Lorrek was still alive, but Theran recalled seeing Lorrek’s heart with his own eyes. He could not have survived that, and grief rushed over Theran.
He took one step toward Lorrek and then another. Unable to see clearly through the shattered visor, Theran yanked off his helmet and let it drop to the floor with a heavy thud. Finally, he collapsed to his knees beside him. Radella withdrew but still held him. Theran reached to pull his little brother to him, but he hesitated, knowing his touch would break him. “But he’s dead,” he realized. Lorrek wouldn’t feel anything now.
Blinking back tears, Theran reached for him, and Radella withdrew until Theran held his little brother in his arms. She sat back and watched as Theran cradled Lorrek close to his chest. He rocked back and forth as if trying to sooth himself. He fought the tears, tried not cry, but still the tears rolled down his cheeks until finally Theran buried his face in Lorrek’s shoulder and quietly sobbed.
Not wanting to intrude, Radella pulled back completely and stood. She saw Skelton had climbed to his feet and disappeared down the corridor where they had sent Gremina and the others. She wondered how they had fared, but dismissed it from her mind as she glanced at Vixen who stood at a distance watching all this. The assassin stared, void of emotion, yet Radella could sense the tumult of emotions just below the surface. She was good at hiding her feelings, but she had other ways of releasing them.
Vixen spun around and stalked up to the thymords with hands clenched into fists. “He told you to stay away!” She motioned back to Lorrek’s body. “Why did you come back? Why did you bring that...thing? If you do not give me a good reason, I will kill you where you stand. Damn the consequences!”
Reven rose from closing Jethcal’s eyes, and she faced Vixen without fear. “Our superiors don’t take kindly to failure. We came here to retrieve the World Orbs and handblades, yet Prince Lorrek sent us away without them. When they learned Rykeldan had been released, it became a high priority to secure him in addition to retrieving the artifacts. Draben and I tried to warn them against this course of action, but Jethcal...” She gestured to the body of the dead thymord. “He could be quite persuasive. Since he knew he would be facing numerous sorcerers, he brought the only thing he knew could immobilize them.”
“For what it’s worth,” Draben interjected, “we thought this was a terrible idea, and the only reason we came along was to stop it from happening.”
Vixen glared at him then focused on Reven once more. “And why did that creature kill him?” She pointed to Jethcal’s body, and Reven gathered a deep breath.
“He made a promise, and the Anicocina must have realized that he could never live up to it.”
Vixen shook her head. All she wanted was to be furious and to fight these two to the death. However, Reven had saved her life during her fight against the Anicocina, so she owed her better than that. The assassin stepped up to the female thymord, making sure to maintain eye contact, and she spoke with a quiet but very determined voice. “You will take the body of your friend, and you will leave. Never return.”
Reven stared at Vixen. She respected the assassin a great deal, so she bowed her head to her and crouched down beside Jethcal’s body. “Draben, come!”
“But...what about the World Orbs...?” Draben trailed off as he approached Reven.
She shook her head. “We forget about it. Let’s go.” Placing her hand on Jethcal’s shoulder, she reached her other hand over and touched the handblade, vanishing away.
Draben watched her go with the body and then glanced over at Vixen. “You sure we can’t get you to join us? You’d be an awesome addition to the team.” But Vixen took a menacing step forward. “Okay, okay! Leaving now.” And he teleported away too.
With the thymords gone now, Vixen sighed and finally turned back to the others. She noticed the kelliphs had fully recovered now, and she also saw Skelton was nowhere to be found. Vixen frowned and glimpsed around, only to pause when she heard voices. Her eyes searched the source until she located the dark corridor where Gremina and the others had gone, and she stared, listening closely.
“...next time don’t push me into the fire!” Aradin’s’ voice sounded.
“I’m sorry!” Dustal responded. “I was trying to push you out of the way.”
“And into the fire!”
“Skelton healed you, didn’t he?”
Finally, Skelton emerged, followed by Gremina, the thief brothers, Therth, and Kinnard, and they all looked like they had just engaged in battle. However, when they emerged, they slowed to a halt as they took in their surroundings. There had been a castle here when they went in, but now only a few pillars and archways remained.
“What happened?” Dustal asked the question on everyone’s mind. He stepped forward and into a puddle of water, and he frowned. “And where did this water come from?”
“Long story,” Skelton muttered under his breath, but he gestured to Gremina for everyone to see. “She has the book.”
“Oh good.” Radella sighed in relief and then glimpsed at the kelliphs. “Now what?”
Everyone turned to Lorrek for direction because he always seemed to know what to do next. That’s when Therth and the others realized he was dead. Therth’s eyes widened, and he took a step toward his cousin. “What...” He locked eyes with Theran. “What happened?”
The Chronicles of Lorrek Box Set Page 107