by Greg Curtis
“Sera.” Knowing he had to tell her the unthinkable, he summoned her essence within himself and soon could sense her thoughts as she would know his. The ancients and the elves used fire to send their words, a useful form of magic; the dwarves could send drummed messages through the deep ore veins, the sylph used mirrors, but members of Sera’s house could simply pass their thoughts directly to their queen simply by meditating on her, a gift even more powerful than the others, and one that they never revealed.
“I’m in the renegade village. They’ve summoned the Everliving. There’s thirty maybe forty vampires here, the remains of the villagers, and they have Han’gre down and bound by some horrid green ropes, and are draining him as best they can though he is strong and fighting back. The dragons need to get into the air immediately. I don’t know where the rest of the villagers are, there are no corpses lying about that I can see, which probably means they’re now vampires out hunting, almost certainly heading for the main village of New Huron. They have to be stopped before they reach it. I’m going to try and destroy what’s left here and free Han’gre.” The dragon queen was ancient, wise and powerful, and she had surely seen all manner of evils before, but he could feel the shock and sorrow that ran through her at his report, her revulsion at the sights she was witnessing through him, and behind it, the outrage and implacable determination to make things right.
He cut the communication before she could give him any orders he didn’t want to obey, and then quickly began scaling a massive oak tree overlooking the new village of the damned. Cougars could climb rather well, and height was always a useful defence against vampires. They could neither climb nor fly, and had no ranged attack. Of course they could always start trying to tear down the tree itself, but its trunk was easily a dozen feet thick and it would hopefully last a few minutes against their assault. Long enough for him to wreak havoc upon them if he needed to, or take to the air.
Typically he began with the elementals. Foolishly he hadn’t thought to bring any with him as he’d come only to spy on the renegades, but then if he had they would probably have been air elementals anyway which he could summon quickly and which could fly. But they wouldn’t be much use against vampires, whose demon life made them incredibly tough, strong and fast. The most they could have done was confuse them for a while as they lifted them up in the air and spun them around.
Vampires had one true enemy, fire, and that was what he needed. But not just ordinary fire elementals. Though they could perhaps have contended with the vampires, it would have been a difficult and drawn out battle. He needed something more than that, much more. He needed their much tougher cousins, infernos.
Though he’d only practised calling them once before, and then in the great dragon cavern under the guidance of Sera herself, the infernos weren’t that much harder than the normal fire elementals to summon, not with the sun high in the sky for inspiration, the strongest inferno in the world, and the desperation in his heart as he thought of these foul creatures wreaking havoc in the world once more.
It took maybe ten or twelve minutes, longer than he wanted to spend as he heard the dragon’s angry roars becoming ever louder, but he knew he had the time as Han’gre was a dragon and very tough against even vampires and demons. But finally he had his small battalion of six infernos all sitting below him and out of sight of the vampires, and all waiting to go into battle. Six against maybe forty, he hoped it would be enough, but at least it wasn’t more that they faced. The only good thing about this evil, was that it was a new infestation. Afri hadn’t had the time or the people to build a true vampire army. As satisfied as he could be, he let them go.
Their impact was everything he could have hoped for, as the infernos simply screamed into battle, twice as fast as even a horse in full flight, and faster than the vampires, and from the instant they joined the fray, half a dozen vampires had become smoke and dust. The vampires of course were far from happy about that, and they quickly struck back with their truest weapon, their hunger, and tried to suck the life out of the infernos, not realizing what they were. Naturally, as the infernos were elementals, they were out of luck, and quickly another half dozen vampires joined their companions in a long overdue death.
It was then that the vampires realized their danger and started scattering to all quarters, while the infernos gave chase. The demon essence that controlled them, that owned their very souls did not want its possessed victims to die, not before they had drained as much life as they could find and fed their master every last piece of it. Meanwhile, even if its slaves were running and luring the infernos after them, Alan knew that the demon itself, or perhaps even Afri as a demon warlock if he had been accepted as such, would still be in the village somewhere. Waiting like a spider in its web. Waiting for Alan. He had to be prepared.
While the battle raged on Alan spent his time summoning his next batch of elementals; diamonds. Normal earth elementals, even steel ones would have been torn apart by the vampires, their strength and toughness was legendary. But against diamond even they would have problems, and with the spells he was imbuing into them, they wouldn’t want to try if they had any sense. Not that they did. The hunger in them was so strong it simply swamped all reason until it was sated, and it was never sated for long.
Another ten long minutes or so went by as the battle continued, and every so often Alan could hear the puff and see the flash of light and smoke as another vampire joined its companions in true death. In the distance he could hear the sounds of the dragons screaming their fury and launching fireball after fireball at any vampires they found, protecting the villagers. Meanwhile Han’gre, still bound in the demon lashings, was at last starting to regain his strength, and was struggling against his bonds. That was a good sign, even if he wasn’t yet able to free himself. Alan had no doubt that those demon bonds would have been especially prepared in advance to hold a dragon. It was a trap. No doubt Afri or the demon was hoping to catch him or another as they went to free the dragon. Which was why Alan planned on triggering it from afar.
Without warning the skies overhead suddenly filled with the sounds of wings as the dragons having been told by Sera what had happened, had come looking for their friend. Only the thick forest canopy protected the village from them and that was far from enough, as their fireballs started raining down and blowing vampires, trees and then buildings apart. There was a reason that dragons were considered the most powerful of all creatures, and dragon fire was a goodly part of it. At least he wasn’t worried about being hit himself. The dragons could see even him thanks to his membership of the House, as well as his small army of diamond elementals, even spelled as they were for invisibility. In any case they knew he was near and they would be careful while their attack would distract his enemies.
As soon as he was ready, Alan released the diamonds into the battle ground, but instead of having them give chase to any vampires he had them stay in the middle of the village and wait, completely still and almost impossible to see, his trap set within the enemy’s. All except for one, which he sent out to the angry dragon to speak with him and free his bonds. He remembered the way in which Ashiel had so foolishly thought him to be hiding behind a screen of air in the cavern so long before, not realizing that he was speaking through air elementals, and he planned on using that same deception again.
“Han’gre, are you all right?” He spoke through his elemental from barely twenty feet in front of the dragon, half expecting all of creation to break loose in front of him. But nothing happened. It wasn’t his voice that was the trigger.
“Is that you little one? Your skill is improving. Even I can hardly see you.” That was a huge compliment as far as Alan was concerned, but he didn’t have time to bask in it. He was still waiting for the trap to spring shut, and he was already sure what the trigger would be.
“It is only my servant I’m speaking to you through. Tell me about your bonds. Are they trapped? How? Can they be broken?”
“I’m already breaki
ng them. The demon was tough, and he caught me by surprise, and since then his vampires have weakened me, but not enough. The bonds are alarmed and there are traps everywhere, but they will not stop me. Not for long. Then I will torch him.” He was right too Alan saw. The evil green glowing bonds were slowly tearing apart on the dragon’s scales as he struggled, for whatever terrible magic they were imbued with was not enough to match an angry dragon, demon spelled or not. Meanwhile his companions overhead had disappeared into the distance again, the village all but destroyed, perhaps understanding that his intent was to draw the demon out. Even if he sprung the trap he was sure awaited him, he knew no demon would be foolish enough to come out and face an army of dragons. Afri might though.
“You are sure that the traps will not harm you?” For an answer Han’gre let out a roar of anger and frustration, and Alan knew he meant yes. He might not have been sure, but he would not remain bound any longer.
“Then it's time to spring the trap and bring the evil doers out. Please allow my servant to help you.” Immediately he sent the elemental to start work on one of the lashes to the dragon’s right front quarter. That was the trigger.
The instant the elemental touched the rope, its physical hand having enough weight to seem human, the ground itself rose up and attacked it. Actually an entire circle of ground simply started screaming as great steel swords as thick as the quills on a porcupine, started striking up out of the ground, intended to tear apart anyone foolish enough to be anywhere near the dragon.
Of course Alan was nowhere near Han’gre, for which he was grateful; the trap was intended to kill. But against his elemental it was useless, as diamond was far tougher then steel. The outcome, strange as it would have seemed to anyone watching and able to see the all but invisible creature, was that the elemental was tossed fifteen feet straight up into the air by the force of the strikes, only to come crashing down on more of the swords which promptly bent and smashed everywhere. The elemental wasn’t even scratched. Steel was no match for diamond.
“Are you all right little one?” Han’gre sounded worried as his head whipped around in a panicked lunge, his great neck flattening dozens more of the steel blades in the process. No mortal sword would ever penetrate a dragon’s scales.
“I’m fine, but here comes company.” Just as he’d expected, the sight of the trap being sprung had brought the main players into the open; the demon or rather a lesser demon since the Everliving would never risk its own hide by entering the mortal world itself, Afri, who as it turned out was still living, sort of, and Ashiel, who had been relegated to the status of a prisoner and no doubt a bargaining chip. Least ways she was on a silver chain which had attached itself like a steel snake around her neck, and the other end of which was in her betrothed’s hands. Worse he could see blood around her neck, a lot of it, and bruises all over her flesh, even her face. It looked as though she’d been in a fight with an army. There were more bruises and blood on the rest of her, he could see them peeking through the tears in the torn robe she was still trying to hold around herself, and he knew from the broken look in her face, that Afri had done more than just beat her. He had hurt her in the way that only a man could hurt a woman, something that made Alan very angry indeed.
But he didn’t have time to be angry. He had an enemy that badly needed destroying.
It was the first time Alan had ever seen a demon in the flesh, only representations of them in the various tomes he’d read, and the reality was worse than he could have ever prepared himself for. The creature was like a man in that it had two arms and two legs, much as he would have expected, but it was there that the resemblance ended. Its skin was slimy and green and vaguely frog like, with red and yellow pustules everywhere, which mostly resembled small volcanoes of disease. Its eyes, if that’s what the sickening yellow things were, were arranged haphazardly across its face while it had no nose or ears, and its mouth placed right in the middle of its head, opened from top to bottom as well as side to side, exposing whole rings of decaying blackened teeth with every nauseating word it was trying to utter. It was of course trying to cast one of its spells.
Afri meanwhile, was already well along in his own transformation as the demon’s poison had begun consuming him. His skin had turned several shades whiter than before, and there was a sickly green pallor in his cheeks. His finger nails had started forming into claws, and his teeth into poisonous looking needles. Like his new master, he reeked of disease and decay, but he didn’t seem to care. He had probably been transforming for several days or more by then, and what he cared about any more was unlikely to be anything any normal person would understand. Then again had he ever cared about such things?
It was time for Alan to spring his own trap he realised. Before the demon could continue its evil. But Afri, fuelled by hatred, was faster than both of them and caught them by surprise.
“Where are you?” That was as many words as Afri could get out before he returned to his natural violence and bad habits and cast a fire ball in the general direction of the dragon and where he thought Alan would be lying, hopefully injured or dead. Han’gre being a dragon was naturally fire proof and unbothered by the spell, the fireball simply smashing into him and dissipating harmlessly, but he was clearly very angry at the sight of the demon. Had his bonds not somehow still held him, that demon would have been a pile of molten green slime by then. As he would be soon. Surely even the demon knew that. Afri didn’t though. He thought he was invincible.
“Come out, come out, hedge wizard.” He had an evil smirk on his face, and a short blade that dripped with some sort of green gore in his hand. More foul demon magic he was sure.
“If you still survive.” And of course Afri was hoping that his trap and fireball had killed him, or so badly wounded him that he couldn’t fight.
“Come out now or Ashiel dies.” He screamed once more like a man possessed by rage, and Alan groaned as he realized that Afri meant it. That he intended to kill his own betrothed if he couldn’t kill him. He’d surely expected to from the beginning, since if Alan had been killed by his trap, he would have been unable to obey anyway, and he’d always planned on the trap killing him. Afri knew nothing of love, only power and he suspected it wasn’t just since the demon’s poison had started acting on his flesh. He had been a poor excuse for a man long before then. Alan also knew that if he went out there as he asked, the chances were Afri would kill them both. Fortunately, he didn’t have to as his elementals were already among the trio, silently, invisibly wading into battle.
Four diamonds suddenly grabbed the demon by its arms and legs, and started pulling it away from the others, and then apart, even as Afri stared at the results of his fireball, the spelled chain in his hands and Ashiel all but on her knees before him, and gloated. Clearly he considered himself all powerful. Master of the situation. The winner. Then he turned and saw his master being taken from him, screaming helplessly, and realized he wasn’t.
Demons, despite their diseased appearances, even lesser demons were unnaturally tough creatures, and normally nothing could match them. What their physical strength couldn’t destroy, their evil could corrupt and their magic could tear asunder. But elementals had no souls to corrupt, the demon couldn’t see them to blast with his spells, and they were far stronger than any mortal creature, diamonds the strongest of all. It screamed and struggled as they twisted and bent each limb as if it was a twig on a branch, unscrewing them even though they hadn’t been screwed on, but to no avail and its bones, if it had bones, were making strange popping sounds as they were ripped out of their joints and pulled apart. And Afri couldn’t see them at all. All he could see was his master being dragged off and slowly torn limb from limb, and gradually realised that he was in deep trouble.
“Master?”
The demon screamed one final time, a sound of shocked evil and hatred, before its arms and legs were suddenly ripped all the way out of its sockets in a spray of putrid blood, leaving a ghastly disassembled mass of green
and red flesh, still quivering and oozing all over the leafy forest floor. It was still alive of course as fire was the only true way to destroy such creatures and send them back to whatever realm they came from, turning them to ash, but it was helpless for a while. Until it could regenerate itself.
“Master?” Afri was staring at the remains of the demon, obviously shocked at the sight. He’d never considered that a demon could be killed, least of all by a hedge wizard that he’d hopefully just killed, and it was obvious that he was wondering if he was going mad. He was also wondering what spell, what magic could have done such a thing, and what it might do to him shortly. He was no doubt still wondering that as one of the diamond elementals, suddenly freed of its duties with the demon, reached out and snapped the chain by which he was binding Ashiel to him and a second reached out from behind him, crushed both his shoulders in its powerful grip causing him to scream like a baby, and then picked him up by the throat until only the tips of his toes touched the ground. Then it held him so tightly that he could barely even breathe as he waited for judgement.
No sooner had the chain been broken then Ashiel collapsed to the ground in a heap, the blood around her neck where the collar still bound her, obvious even from where Alan was perched, as were her tears as she gave in to her grief. It was time at least to end that.