Locmire's Quest: Book One A Tales from Calencia Novel

by Brian Hutchinson

  Chapter 40

  The Phylactery

  “Back away,” Oggy said as he began to slowly walk backward. “We must get out of here.”

  The Lich spoke again, “Where are you going? You are my guests! Do not leave so soon.”

  The Lich pointed its staff in the air, and a red light shot from out of its end. The light struck the ground around them.

  "Look!" Erimack exclaimed.

  The stone floor of the palace began to crack. Large hands began to rise from the floor all around them. Hundreds of deceased Dainties began to pull themselves up out of the cracks.

  “Looks like we have a fight on our hands,” said Lot.

  “Good,” Urganox replied. “I have grown restless.”

  “It will do us no good to attack it directly. We must find and destroy the object it has bound its soul with,” Locmire said.

  “Ah, you must mean my phylactery. Do you expect to find it here, Wizard?” roared the Lich.

  “No, I do not. I give you more credit than that,” replied the Wizard.

  “Well you are mistaken. My phylactery is here in this very palace.”

  This took Locmire by surprise. Why would he risk his soul being destroyed?

  “If we can find it, we have a chance at leaving from here alive,” Oggy replied.

  “Oh, you will have your chance to find it. Just as many others have had their chance,” replied the Lich.

  The Lich leaned its bony head back, looked up to the ceiling, and let out a piercing screech. The palace began to rumble. Footsteps shook the ground. Something was coming, something large. From around a corner came a massive skeletal beast, growling and roaring its war cry.

  “Oh my!” Golgar exclaimed.

  “A dragon,” said Oggy disbelievingly.

  “I have always wanted to kill a dragon,” Urganox said as he took a few steps forward. “Even if it is already dead.”

  “Oggy. Urganox,” Lot said as he readied his weapons. “Can you two bring this beast down?”

  “Yes,” Oggy replied.

  Urganox did not say a word but began to wrench the handle of his flail.

  “Locmire, can you hold off the Lich for a time?” asked Lot.

  The Wizard nodded his head and readied his staff.

  “The rest of us will keep these walking dead off of your backs,” Lot said.

  “Draw the dragon away from the rest of us,” Lot ordered.

  “What do ye want me ta be doin?” asked Red.

  “How is your arm?” asked Lot.

  “Beddar,” he replied.

  “You can help us fight off these creatures,” Lot answered.

  “Ahh dat be good. Didn want to be fightin no dead Wizard noways.”

  Oggy and Urganox charged the dragon before he was able to make his way to the center of the palace. Locmire slowly walked toward the Lich.

  “Ahhh, it has been a long time since I have had the pleasure of a proper duel with another of my kind. Come, Wizard! Let us begin,” goaded the Lich.

  "I am not your kind," Locmire replied loudly. "You are a disgrace to all Wizards."

  Lot, Red, and the four Dainties began to fend off the never ending wave of decomposing corpses. Their line of defense was solid. Even though there was a multitude of the undead Dainties, they were not skilled combatants. They relied heavily on their numbers to overwhelm their foes. Dispatching of them came rather easily to the heroes. It was like beating a path through tall grass. Not even a single corpse came close to making its way past them. This was very fortunate since Locmire, Oggy, and Urganox had more on their plate than it seemed they could handle.

  Locmire approached the Lich with his staff readied. He struck first. A fireball soared through the air, only to be countered by a flood of water.

  “Very weak for your first strike,” said the Lich.

  “I do not wish to show you all of my tricks so soon,” replied Locmire.

  The Lich took aim at the ceiling above Locmire. A black blot flew from his staff, striking the ceiling and crumbling it down upon Locmire. Locmire slammed his staff into the ground creating a powerful uprising force that effortlessly cleared the falling debris. The Wizard retaliated with a spell that bound the Lich within a prism. The Lich was able to cast another counter spell. A black light erupted from within him that destroyed the prism. The Lich pointed his staff at Locmire and their deadly game of chess continued.

  Urganox and Oggy were chipping away fragments of bone from the dragon's legs. They would land a strike and quickly evade the beast's counter attacks. The dragon was surprisingly fast for a creature consisting of only bone. In fact, he was a little too fast. He lashed out with his bony tail, like a whip, sending Urganox flying across the room. The Brazurkin slid across the floor and quickly made it back to his feet, charging the beast once again. The dragon was snapping its teeth and swiping its sharp claws at Oggy, who was narrowly evading the attacks. Oggy swung his hammer at the dragon, but the beast caught the head of the hammer in his teeth. Oggy frantically tried to tug his hammer free. Urganox came rushing in and smashed his flail into the side of the dragon's head. The bony reptile released his grip on Oggy's hammer and turned his fury toward Urganox.

  The horde of corpses seemed to be dwindling, mostly because the Lich was not focused on summoning more of them. The Dainties were living up to their reputation as fearless warriors. They charged the horde head on and began to slice, bash, and crush their way through the ranks. Red and Lot were easily dismembering any of the straggling corpses that made their way past the ferocious little Dainties.

  Lot heard Oggy call from across the room, “We could use a little help here!”

  “Red!” Lot cried.

  “Me be's on it.”

  Red spun around and began taking crack shots at the dragon. The pesky led balls did the trick as they found their target. The dragon turned, focusing his attention on Red, and began to stomp toward him.

  “Oh boy,” Red said, gulping down his words.

  He fired off two more shots before he began to flee. The dragon got very close to the Pirate, but quickly turned to the other direction when Urganox's flail smashed into its back side. All three balls of his flail landed flush, sending small bits of bone clattering to the ground. Lot turned to see his three new friends fighting for their lives against this colossal beast. He knew he had to help.

  “Erimack!” Lot called out. “Can you three handle the rest of these creatures?”

  Erimack's large mallet turned one of the Dainties into a pile of blood and guts.

  “We got this under control,” Erimack said. “Go!”

  "We do, eh?" Golgar asked as he saw Olaf running by with four of the dead Dainties clinging to his back and legs.

  Zulp ran over and swatted the Dainties off of Olaf's back.

  Lot nodded in return and rushed to Oggy’s side.

  The addition of the fourth warrior helped to even the odds. The dragon, at times, became confused with his plan of attack. It would begin to lash out with its tail, only to stop and change course as another of the warriors would strike it from behind.

  Meanwhile, Locmire and the Lich were unleashing even more devastating spells on one another. A swarm of what looked like dead locusts came buzzing through the air toward Locmire. He jammed his staff into the ground creating a wall of fire, incinerating the insects as they darted toward him. Locmire immediately retaliated, but this time it was not just one fireball, but dozens. The Lich summoned twenty or more corpses right in front of him, hunkered down behind them, and took shelter from the blasts. The Lich returned fire once again.

  The dragon was now in a rage. It was charging anyone who came too close. Once, it snagged Red by the collar of his leather armor with its razor sharp teeth. It began to pull him off of the ground. The Pirate took his razor sharp cutlass, swiped it behind his back, cut himself free, and fell to the ground.

  “I do not know how much longer we can keep this up,” Oggy cried.

  “This beast se
ems to have no weak point,” Urganox added.

  This was true. The beast was not slowing down, only speeding up its attacks. Bits of fragmented bone lay scattered about the floor, but they had only managed to inflict minor damage to the beast. The battle was starting to seem unwinnable when Lot had an idea.

  He called out to Red, “How much of the powder do you have left that fire the balls from your weapon?”

  “Nuff. Why?”

  “Can you make the powder explode?” asked Lot.

  “Me tinks so. Me be needin time to fix ur up.”

  “Time we do not have,” replied the Thief.

  “Aye! Me gets to work den.”

  The Pirate retreated from the battle, looking for supplies as he went. After minutes, Red came rushing back to Lot.

  “Me got ye sumpin dat go BOOM!”

  “Not a moment too soon,” Lot answered as he jumped over the dragon's lashing tail. “How did you get the material to make this device?” Lot asked.

  “Ye'd be surprised at da stuff layin round here.”

  “How do I make it explode?” Lot asked.

  “Juss add far!”

  Lot ran to Red and took a small wooden barrel from him. The dragon was in hot pursuit. As it passed, Red took a few more shots, distracting it long enough for Lot to think of a plan. He circled back to where Urganox and Oggy were awaiting the dragon's return.

  “I need you two to distract it long enough for me to get in behind it,” Lot yelled.

  They both nodded their heads. The dragon came back around and the two warriors stepped in front of it. They began to violently chip away at its front legs. The dragon was now snapping its teeth at them, like a cornered mutt. Oggy slammed his war hammer into the area between the dragon's eyes, providing Lot the break he was looking for. Quickly, he ran underneath the dragon and began to shimmy up its back leg. He crouched down on the beast’s large hip bone, leaped upwards, and climbed into the hollow rib cage. The dragon became aware of the intruder and began to flail violently. Lot wrapped his legs around one of the dragon's ribs and held on for dear life. His hands were fast at work securing the makeshift bomb to one of the many exposed vertebrae. Finally, he had firmly secured the bomb to the dragon and fell out from where its stomach should have been. He hit the floor and scrambled away as the skeletal reptile lashed out at him with its large claws.

  “The barrel is secure. Now we just need fire to ignite the blast!” Lot cried out.

  Locmire had just deflected a black swirling spell when he heard the word “fire”. He cast his next spell at the Lich and sent a fireball tearing through the palace, straight for the dragon.

  “Get down!” Lot cried.

  It was perfect timing. The dragon had unexpectedly advanced on the four Dainties who had just killed the last of the walking corpses. It stood on its hind legs, preparing to attack the unsuspecting Dainties when the fireball found its mark. It smashed into the barrel creating a thunderous explosion that scattered the dragon into thousands of pieces, but not before it was able to deal out one final blow.

  Lot, and the others, quickly turned to Locmire as a loud scream pierced their ears.

  The Lich was standing, arms spread wide, in front of the throne. It could not believe what had just happened. Its phylactery had been destroyed. The confidence that the skeletal Wizard possessed only moments ago, dissipated. It knew that death knocked on its door, and this time it would be the final death. Locmire leaned forward, bending at the hips with his arms stretched wide, as he summoned magic from somewhere deep within himself. A bright light began to radiate from him. He stormily unleashed a ball of blinding light that disintegrated its target upon impact. All that remained of the Lich was white dust floating through the air.

  “From sand we were created and sand we will return,” Locmire said under his breath.

  It was over. A battle that, at one point, seemed futile was now over, and they had emerged victorious. Locmire made his way back to the rest of the group where they were all standing in a circle. The Wizard's smile slowly faded. It was hard to smile when a companion had met his end.