“What was in that?” Katie asked. One of the rats squeaked a reply. “It’s something you made by tweaking some ancient dwarf recipes and adding some exotic ingredients? Do you think that I could borrow some later? It burns very hot without making a big explosion, which makes it perfect for getting through walls and doors.” The rat nodded and cackled, waving his arms in the air. “Yes, I guess we can do some more field testing the next time that we have to storm a castle, but don’t teach Avraniel how to make any until my master has had a chance to talk to her about safety precautions.” Although it wasn’t like Avraniel needed help melting through walls and doors. She could already do that without breaking a sweat.
They stepped into the cell, and Katie gasped. Were they too late? The vampire looked like nothing more than a dried-up, old corpse that was chained to a wall by both wrists with more than a dozen stakes driven into her body. She cringed. Was the vampire – Amanda – even alive? However, their footsteps roused the blood drinker, and her head snapped up, so she could stare right at them. Amanda’s eyes were the same brilliant blue as James’s. She tried to speak, but she couldn’t form the words – not surprising since a stake had been driven through her throat. Instead, Katie reached out with her shadows as Rubens and Rembrandt moved in front of her. If Amanda had lost her mind, they’d have to beat a hasty retreat.
“We’re here to get you out, Amanda. My master is currently battling the head warden of this prison, so we need to hurry. Your… descendant sent us.” Katie paused and grimaced. “I… I need to break your chains and pull those stakes out, so try to hold still. This is going to hurt – a lot.”
Katie wrapped her shadows around the stakes and chains and yanked as hard as she could. The chains snapped, and the stakes ripped out. Blood – old and clotted – spilled onto the floor, and the vampire flopped onto the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.
“Uh… are you…” Amanda raised her head and bared her teeth. Wow. Those fangs were really long and really sharp. “Wait.” Katie backed away. “Hey, I’m trying to help you –”
Whoosh.
Katie never even saw the vampire move. All she felt was the wind rushing past her. What she did see, when she turned, was the vampire pinning a guard to the ground. The burly man thrashed and wailed as he tried to bring his magic to bear. Sparks danced across his fingertips, but Katie was forced to cringe and look away as the vampire latched onto the guard’s neck with her mouth. There was a horrible, horrible slurping sound – like someone trying to slurp a whole bowl of noodles through a straw – and the guard’s screaming and wailing tapered off into a hideously wet gurgle. There was a squishy thud as Amanda dropped the guard and studied her surroundings. Her eyes were no longer blue. Instead, they were a deep violet tinged with crimson. More guards arrived, and they formed a loose circle around the vampire. All Amanda did was lick her lips.
“Should we help her?” Gerald asked.
Katie didn’t have time to reply. Her jaw dropped as the vampire – for want of a better word – devoured the guards. She tore into them and drank them dry with unbelievable speed and ferocity as she shrugged off attack after attack and spell after spell. It was, in all honesty, terrifying. “Uh, no. I think she’s got this.”
When Amanda finally stopped moving, the guards were all dead. Or not. One of them twitched and tried to crawl away, and Amanda grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and lifted his throat to her lips. He thrashed, legs kicking and scrabbling across the stone floor, and then went still. Katie gulped. Amanda had sucked the guards so dry that they could have been mistaken for mummies with their shrivelled bodies and leathery skin. In contrast, the vampire couldn’t have looked more different. She was now a stunningly beautiful, young woman with lush, black hair that went down to her waist and piercing blue eyes with streaks of crimson and violet. She licked her full, red lips and turned to Katie. Her voice was filled with the faint thrum of magic.
“You said your master was battling the head warden of this prison? I assume that is taking place in the large hall not far from the entrance?” Katie nodded slowly. “I see.” And then Amanda vanished, moving with supernatural speed.
“We should go after her, right?” Katie nodded again, and Gerald asked the question that was on both their minds. “Does she realise that she’s still completely naked?”
Katie shook her head. “I don’t think so. I think she was too busy eating those guys.” She shook herself. “Okay. Let’s move. We have to after her!”
* * *
Timmy commanded his zombie warriors to attack the spirit tigers and called his zombie hydra over to lend him a hand. As the huge zombie lumbered forward, he leapt up onto its back. But Tithion was far from idle. More spirit tigers appeared, and the glowing creatures surged forward to meet the zombie warriors.
The two groups met, and the zombie warriors were immediately at a disadvantage. Spirit tigers were holy creatures from one of the blessed realms, so their attacks were naturally more effective against undead creatures likes zombies. Unlike normal wounds, the wounds left by the spirit tigers would not regenerate, as was usually the case with higher-level zombies. But these zombies were some of Timmy’s best. They met the spirit tigers without a hint of hesitation and raised their huge shields to protect themselves as they lashed out with swords that were easily the size of grown men. They might still take extra damage from the blows the spirits tigers were able to land, but they would not be easy to hit. Timmy had also worked hard to craft his zombie warriors in a way that minimised the extra damage they took from holy magic. The process was far from perfect, but these zombie warriors would only take about half as much extra damage.
Timmy pulled a crystal out of one of his pockets and tossed it at the ground. Wraiths that he’d taken from his castle spilled out of the shattered crystal. He ordered them to attack the spirit tigers, and Tithion had no choice but to summon more creatures to prevent his spirit tigers from being overwhelmed. This time, the other man summoned spirit warriors, glowing warriors made of light that matched the size of Timmy’s zombie warriors. The melee intensified, with some of the spirit warriors devoted to warding off the wraiths that flew back and forth around the hall, freezing and paralysing whatever they could get their hands on. The spirit tigers broke past the line of shields, and his zombie warriors wheeled away, trying to fall back into a stable formation as the smaller, more agile spirit tigers tried to flank them. Sensing an opportunity, the spirit warriors formed into a wedge and drove forward in a bid to rout the zombie warriors before they could reform their shield wall. One of the spirit tigers spotted Timmy and leapt at him. His zombie hydra snatched it out of the air in a pair of its jaws and tossed it into the far wall.
But all of this was nothing more than a distraction. Timmy wasn’t an idiot. With the resources he had at his disposal, he would never be able to overwhelm Tithion. However, the simplest and often best way to beat a summoner was to get close to them, which was why he had brought along a zombie hydra. The giant zombie was there to lend him a hand – and a few heads.
Timmy pointed at Tithion with his shovel. “Get him!”
The zombie hydra rumbled forward with all the power of an avalanche. Several spirit warriors tried to bar its path, but it crushed them under its bulk, spewing acid to ensure that there were no more interruptions as it slammed into Tithion, squashing the summoner into a bloody pulp – at least, that was the idea. At the last moment, a vibrant shield of white light appeared between Tithion and the zombie hydra. Holding the shield, its form partially hidden as though wrapped in shimmering mist, was a spirit giant, one large enough to match Timmy’s zombie hydra. He made a disgusted sound. Of course, Tithion could summon something capable of holding back a zombie hydra. The spirit giant’s feet dug into the floor, cracking tiles, as it fought to shove the zombie hydra back. The beast teetered for a moment before losing its balance. Timmy scowled. That was one of the key weaknesses of hydras. They were very top heavy due to their excessive number of heads.
Thankfully, his zombie hydra managed to regain its balance before it toppled onto its side, and Timmy reached into his pockets again. Unholy water wasn’t exactly common, but he’d brought some along, knowing that a skilled summoner would almost certainly summon holy creatures against his zombies. He waited for the spirit giant to lower its shield ever so slightly and then tossed the glass bottle of unholy water right into the spirit giant’s eyes. A cloud of black steam rose from the point of impact, and the spirit giant cried out in agony and dropped to its knees. Timmy’s zombie hydra seized the opportunity and coiled some its necks around the spirit giant’s arms. The reptile yanked hard, and the spirit giant lurched and almost fell over. Timmy poured more of his magic into his zombie hydra. He needed to get the spirit giant out of the way. Behind the spirit giant, Tithion no longer looked quite so calm. Instead, he seemed to be seriously considering a tactical retreat, especially since reinforcements had not arrived during the battle. Timmy could probably thank Avraniel and the others for that.
Timmy steadied himself on his zombie hydra and tightened his hold on his shovel. He only needed one chance – and there it was! The zombie hydra finally pulled the spirit giant out of the way, and Timmy took three steps and then hurled himself off his zombie hydra at Tithion. His shovel came down to end the fight – only to meet steel as Tithion drew a sword and blocked the attack. Timmy rolled away and got to his feet, barely avoiding a stab and a slash followed by a downward chop that would have cut him in half. Ah, yes, he was a swordsman too. His master had lost to Tithion all those years ago because of the other man’s summons. However, Tithion had also had the temerity to face Timmy’s master with a sword. He hadn’t won – which was why he’d resorted to his summons – but he’d done well, and there hadn’t been many people in the world that could beat Timmy’s master when he wasn’t drunk.
Fine. Timmy wasn’t a slouch with a shovel, and he’d faced better swordsmen than Tithion in the years since he’d been locked up in the Nameless Citadel with his master. They exchanged blows, and Timmy’s shovel flicked out again and again to turn Tithion’s sword aside. Around them their summons and zombies continued to battle, but neither of them could afford to divert their attention long enough to take personal control of any of them. Timmy slashed at Tithion’s side and jerked back to avoid the other man’s reply. He couldn’t afford to get cut even once. If he remembered correctly, Tithion had a second form of magic – paralysis magic – that he could transmit through objects like swords, knives, and even paperweights. This was why he was the head warden. His summons combined with his swordplay and paralysis magic were usually enough to subdue even the most unruly prisoners.
As their duel continued, Timmy made sure to maintain a certain distance. As dangerous as it would be to get hit, he couldn’t allow Tithion to back off and summon even more creatures. If that happened, the tide would turn. All Timmy had were the zombies he’d brought, but he knew from past experience that Tithion hadn’t come close to summoning everything he could. In some ways, Tithion reminded him of Vicky. Not only did Vicky’s magic make close-range combat almost impossible due to her overwhelming damage output and incredible durability but the cleric could also summon a ridiculous number of holy creatures from the blessed realms. But Tithion wasn’t anywhere near as dangerous as Vicky, and Timmy still had a few tricks up his sleeve. As Tithion finally managed to put enough distance between them to summon some kind of glowing bird thing, Timmy drove his shovel into the floor.
The majority of the building was made up of the strange black stone that was virtually impervious to magic. He definitely wouldn’t be able to influence it with his magic quickly enough for it to matter in a fight. But over the years, to prevent the material wearing away and because it was actually rather ugly, someone had decided to put stone tiles on the floor – and those tiles were not impervious to magic. It was a small oversight, the kind of thing hardly anyone would notice, but Timmy had noticed. Now, he was going to make sure that Tithion noticed too.
The tiles around him ripped free of the floor and hurtled toward the glowing bird like bolts from a crossbow. The summoned creature came apart in cloud of light, and Timmy lunged forward again as more tiles shot toward Tithion. But he wasn’t done yet. No, he had another card to play. A sharp swing of his shovel seized control of the sand that was still scattered around the hall and hurled it at Tithion.
“You cheater!” Tithion howled as one of his summons stumbled in front of him to shield him from the brunt of the attack. The spirit warrior was able to stop the tiles from hitting the other man, but it wasn’t able to stop the barrage of sand getting in Tithion’s eyes, nose, and mouth. Tithion staggered away blindly, gagging and coughing. A frantic wave of his arms summoned a cloud of glowing insects that buzzed with furious intent.
“It’s not cheating,” Timmy shot back. “It’s winning. And why would I fight you fairly? I happen to enjoy living.” His zombie hydra finally managed to defeat the spirit giant with a deluge of acid, and it stomped toward Tithion. Another spray of acid scattered the cloud of glowing insects, and the zombie hydra drew its heads back to unleash a volley straight at Tithion.
“I’ll show you!” Tithion roared. He hurled his sword. The blade dug into the zombie hydra’s side and paralysed it – but the half-blind summoner never saw the small zombie snake hidden amongst the hydra’s coils until it leapt off the zombie hydra and bit him in the leg. “What – what is this?”
“Now, that was cheating.” Timmy chuckled as the zombie snake’s venom paralysed the summoner and cut off his magic. The creatures Tithion had summoned vanished. “Nobody ever sees the zombie snake coming. They always think that the zombie hydra is how I’m going to try to win the fight. Nobody ever expects me to hide a zombie snake on a zombie hydra. Now, how about you –”
Timmy stopped speaking when Tithion’s eyes, which were the only part of him that could still move, darted over to something behind him. Timmy turned and rolled out of the way as a woman – a very naked woman – strolled past him. Okay. That was weird.
She walked right up to Tithion, and her voice, when she spoke, was liquid velvet tinged with a hint of pure malice. “I told you what would happen if I ever got free, did I not?”
Tithion tried to scream. He really did.
But the woman was having none of it. She yanked him over, jerked his head up to expose his throat and bit down. Timmy winced as a hideous sucking noise filled the air, along with some truly horrific shrieking and slurping. He considered asking the woman if she was Amanda, but unless there were two ancient vampires being kept here, she was probably her. He’d also met James’s younger sisters, and the resemblance was unmistakable. This woman – this vampire – had to be Amanda Aurora Arthurs.
Amanda took her time finishing Tithion and then let the summoner drop to the floor. From his shrivelled appearance, Timmy was fairly certain he was dead. Amanda stepped over the corpse and licked her lips as she advanced on Timmy. “I shall assume that you are the master of the child who freed me.”
“You mean Katie? Where is she?” Timmy tightened his hold on his shovel and reached out to his zombies with his magic. He didn’t know what Amanda was going to do next, but he wasn’t arrogant enough to believe he could take on a vampire as old and powerful as her without his zombies lending a hand.
“I must confess that I was… busy extracting my revenge on the guards. I believe that she shall be here shortly, undoubtedly with a tall fellow and those adorable rodents of hers. I made certain to take care of all the guards, so she should not have any difficulty in returning here.”
“Of course, you did.” Timmy made a mental note to pick up some fresh blood as soon as he could. The last thing he needed was a hungry dragon and a hungry vampire hanging around. That was a recipe for trouble.
“I believe she mentioned something about a descendant of mine. She said that he was the one who sent you. I was under the impression that all of my descendants thought I was dead. I certainly went
to enough trouble to fake my death. Did the child speak truly? Is one of my descendants responsible for sending you here?”
“Yes. We were sent by James William Arthurs. He is a direct descendant of yours and a member of Everton’s Council of Mages. Our mission is to free you and bring you back to Everton.”
“Everton?” Amanda’s eyes, blue mixed with streaks of violet and crimson, turned thoughtful. Her full, red lips curved up into a smile. “It has been far too long since I have been in Everton. Very well. I suppose it is time I returned.” She paused. “I can hear fighting outside. Do you have an escape plan?”
“We do. The tall fellow you mentioned earlier is named Gerald. He has some zombie wyverns stored away with his magic that we can use to fly out of here.” Timmy shrugged off his cloak and tossed it to her. “You should put that on. I mean… you do realise that you’re naked, right?”
“Naked?” Amanda glanced down at her body and then smiled. It was an utterly wicked smile. “Does my nakedness bother you, necromancer?” She sashayed forward. “How amusing. Your eyes have never left my face. Come now, surely you must want a peek? Think of it as a reward for coming to my rescue.”
Timmy shook his head and kept his gaze fixed on her face. “Are you kidding? I just watched you eat the head warden of this prison. I’m going to keep my eyes on your face because I’d rather not become one of the many bloodless corpses that you’ve no doubt already left behind.”
Two Necromancers, a Dragon, and a Vampire (The Unconventional Heroes Series Book 3) Page 23