The Black Morass

by Gerald Lambert

  Be careful, Zadí and Lena thought in unison, and their husbands gave them each a kiss before turning toward the door. Then the brothers shoved them open, shields up as

  protection, and charged straight ahead into the hall with Ajh closely following, all three shouting as loudly as possible.

  Var, Will, and Ajh made a spectacle on purpose to give Nefin the chance to slip in unseen behind. He hung back in the shadows along the wall perpendicular to the one Brom and

  Brin hugged, releasing an arrow a second. Each projectile sank into a stunned magician's eye, and before fifteen seconds had passed, the same number of enemies had fallen. Brin

  had already brought down five in the same manner, and Keeta wasn't far behind that with her bow and arrows.

  As Nefin continued to mow down the opposing army, he expertly surveyed his surroundings and the layout of the battle.

  The expansive room rivaled the Great Hall on the Isle of the Eldunarí in size. Hundreds of feet wide, deep, and high, it would have accommodated dozens of dragons each decades

  old. Once graceful stone walls—now pockmarked relics of Galbatorix's senseless destruction—swooped up in a series of patterned columns away from the interlocking stone floor.

  Along the perimeter of this elevated ceiling gaped enormous open spaces large enough for a dragon several centuries old to fly through.

  At a less dizzying height sparkled the remains of what Nefin guessed had once been spectacular stainedglass windows of elven creation. Now only jagged fragments stuck out of

  the stone sills at odd angles, reminding Nefin of a cavernous maw with sharp pointed teeth. Glittering heaps of colorful glass littered the floor at the base of these formerly grand masterpieces, reflecting light from the sun in a pretty way. Nefin supposed that might explain why the residents hadn't cleaned them up.

  Though according to Lena this hall served as the main living area of Vroengard's bedraggled inhabitants, it smelled of decay and ruin—piles of damp rubble covered in mildew,

  puddles of stagnant water, the stench of underground sewage wafting through crevices in the floor, and the fresh reek of fear and death.

  The sounds accompanying these newest smells bombarded Nefin's keen ears as they bounced off the stone walls and echoed around the vast space. Indignant shouts and screams

  rent the air as his arrows reached their fleshy marks. Deranged laughter grated on his ears—paradoxical evidence of the mutants' immunity to pain.

  Var, Will, and Ajh had run into the room together and plowed through the middle of the first ranks of enemy magicians, forming a triangle with their backs facing one another.

  Already they had decapitated a dozen opponents, while also chopping off arms, legs, and other deformed limbs as needed to keep the horde from trampling them.

  Nefin's first task was to clear a path for these three so they could attempt to keep the majority of the fighting focused on the center of the room—away from Brom and Nefin. From

  his first sweeping glance, Nefin speculated that he and his five fighting friends had over a hundred and twenty enemies to kill. He didn't allow this knowledge to sicken him as it

  would have under normal circumstances.

  Tenga was located centrally near the rear of his mob, perhaps hoping to avoid detection, though Nefin easily spotted him. And the ancient sorcerer stared straight back at Nefin,

  clearly intent on targeting him as Brom had warned. But Nefin didn't concentrate on Tenga—that was Brom's responsibility. Nefin, on the other hand, needed to kill as many people

  as he could as quickly as possible.

  Only thirty seconds had passed since he had darted into the room, and Nefin had already killed as many people. He now changed his tactic and sent every other arrow directly at

  Tenga. These flew askew due to the old wizard's wards—Tenga smiled crookedly when he noticed—but Nefin really only hoped to make Brom's task slightly easier by draining

  Tenga's vitality.

  "The elf!" Tenga screamed. "Go get him, you fools! There should be two! Where is the other?"

  Knowing he was nearing the end of his supply of arrows, Nefin redoubled his efforts—shooting two arrows a second—as those closest turned away from the trio in the middle and

  rushed toward him. But I have to take out as many as possible. Even if I could kill half, my friends are still outnumbered ten to one.

  Nefin instinctively dodged when something tiny buzzed by his face. But he couldn't quite identify it, as intent as was his focus on his job. He took out another magician and nocked

  his next arrow, using a hasty spell to summon all the stray arrows he had shot toward Tenga. His momentary attention to this minor effort distracted him enough to miss the next

  small projectile sailing his way, and Tenga's triumphant chortle alerted Nefin to his mistake.

  The tiny dart—small as a needle—buried itself in the exposed skin under his jaw. Nefin felt the magical force behind the dart and knew Tenga had driven it into this area

  unprotected by his armor. And the only wards they had devised were against magical aggression.

  Nefin swiped the dart away, already feeling the poison's effects.

  A poisoned dart! he irritably thought. Really, Nefin! This is how you're going to die?

  The second dart landed opposite the first, and Nefin staggered against the wall.

  Keeta was close behind Nefin, who hadn't move far from his initial position, and this unexpected reaction made her look over. He sagged into the wall, dropping his bow and

  clutching his throat.

  "Nefin!" she hissed. "What's wrong!"

  "Poison," he choked, falling to his knees.

  Keeta's heart froze and she slung her bow over her back so she could remove her shield, which she protectively held up as she dashed to Nefin's side. His eyes rolled in their

  sockets and drool dripped down his chin.

  "Nefin!" she helplessly cried. "Nefin, no!"

  He forced himself to focus, and Keeta saw how hard it was for him. Raising one hand to her face, Nefin opened his mouth.

  "Keeta—" he began, but frothy white foam filled his mouth, drowning out his next words. Nefin gagged on the lather, and his eyes again disappeared behind fluttering lids.

  "Nefin!" Keeta panicked, grabbing his face. "You promised!"

  Nefin once again managed to glue his eyes on hers. In her mind his voice firmly thought, Keeta, I love you. Don't give up.

  Then they slid shut, though Keeta could see how wildly they darted about. Veins stood out on his forehead and in his neck. More foam bubbled from his mouth. His breath escaped

  in short bursts.

  Keeta knew she was running out of time before she would have to rejoin the battle. Mutated men and women were still hurrying toward Nefin in fulfillment of Tenga's orders, and

  she guessed Brin was doing her best to keep them at bay with arrows from afar.

  "Hanna!" Keeta screamed, praying she would hear over the clamor. "Nefin's been poisoned!"

  Nefin slumped to the ground, and Keeta heard Tenga release a fanatical cackle followed by the gleeful declaration, "One down!"

  Anger flared in Keeta at these words, but she stooped down and whimpered, "Nefin, I'm so sorry. I love you too."

  Hanna appeared two seconds later.

  "There's the other!" Tenga hollered. "Target her!"

  Keeta kept her shield up to block Hanna as the elf fumbled in her pouch.

  "Nefin," Hanna mumbled. "No, no, no. Please, Nefin." Then she gasped and cried, "Ajh!"

  Keeta risked a quick glance over her shoulder. Through the choppy movement of misshapen magicians stumbling her way, she watched Ajh's shield dissolve as he raised it to block

  a swinging cudgel. The club hit him in the temple. He staggered back into Will, barely keeping his feet as he beheaded the attacker. Then another enemy demanded his attention.

  Keeta felt sick. Even though Nefin must have killed fifty people in the first minute or so
of fighting, her friends were already overwhelmed by how outnumbered they were.

  "Keeta!" Hanna exclaimed. "I can't focus on Nefin and combating all of their spells at the same time. Pour this into his mouth. Hurry! They're coming for me! You'll have to hold

  them off!" She hunched into the wall, wrapping her arms around her knees and lowering her face to focus on sustaining the magical wards protecting their friends. Keeta wondered

  if Hanna had taken over defending her when Nefin lost consciousness and felt a fleeting sense of admiration that the elf could concentrate on shielding so many people from

  countless magical attacks.

  Keeta quickly obeyed. She scooped the foam from Nefin's mouth and unstopped Hanna's vial, pouring its contents down his throat.

  Please work, she thought, dropping the bottle as she sprang to her feet and spun around.

  "You'll never touch them!" Keeta screamed at the flock of disfigured magicians closing in on her. She twirled her axe, chopping off the legs of the first creature to reach her and

  taking off its head on the back stroke. She screamed again as blood spurted all over her but had no time to react to the nausea before she repeated the actions, removing arms,

  legs, and heads with every swing of her axe.

  This one had a huge growth bulging from the side of its head like a second brain. Slice. Both heads rolled. Keeta gagged.

  As the herd of assailants spread out to surround her, Keeta was aware of arrows sprouting from their backs and ears to bring them down. Brin really must have been helping from

  where she squatted in front of the adjacent wall, and Keeta was grateful for her friend's assistance.

  One side of the next mutant's face was completely slack, and a disturbing skin tag waggled from the middle of its cheek as the creature screeched in an unearthly tone. Squelch.

  Another head gone.

  The next man had grisly burns covering all of his exposed skin, like he had been dipped in a vat of acid. Keeta took off one arm, but before she could shorten the man by hacking

  off his lower legs, he swung his sword at her neck. Rhunön's armor and helmet protected her, but Keeta was vaguely aware of her braid falling to the floor in a shower of blood as

  she truncated the man.

  My hair! she despaired. It's gone! And Nefin loved it so much. This she thought as the finished off the scarred man and his head joined the many others already surrounding her.

  Keeta didn't have time to dwell on her increasing queasiness or exhaustion, for each magician who fell was replaced by another. And she would never let them hurt Nefin or Hanna.

  Using the name of the ancient language, Brom feverishly worked to reverse Tenga's wards. He was overwhelmed by the vast quantity, but he really wasn't surprised. Tenga had had

  countless years to formulate his safeguards.

  Brom sensed the cheerful thought, One down! as Tenga's plan finally became obvious. The old wizard had been zealously guarding his plot to bring down Hanna and Nefin, and Brom

  had only been able to hope that their magical wards would deflect the attack, since he was focusing all his effort on making Tenga killable.

  But Tenga's offensive wasn't magical. It was physical! At least, mostly physical. Rather than casting a spell directly at Nefin, Tenga had used magic only to ensure that his

  unexpected weapon would make contact. And because of Brom's oversight, Nefin had been hit with two poisoned darts! Would one of his best friends die?

  Brom didn't have time to mourn, for Tenga then began assisting his devoted followers with a magical onslaught. Huge flames suddenly erupted from all of the high windows, rushing

  down toward the skirmish below. Brom felt Brin cringe beside him, and he instinctively reacted to divert the fire away from his friends.

  Thanks to their mental link, Brom couldn't ignore Brin's appalled thought as it passed through her mind: Tenga didn't even worry about his followers! Now they're all on fire, but it

  doesn't even hurt them! And that laughing! Ugh!

  Still using her bow, Brin took out two more of the magicians swarming Keeta before Brom forced himself to focus, feeling grateful he couldn't hear or see—at least, not with his own

  eyes—the scene which Brin described. But he did extinguish the burning magicians so his friends wouldn't be harmed by the flames.

  As Brom rifled through Tenga's thoughts, removing wards and anticipating the ancient wizard's next assault, he also sensed something about what Tenga was observing, which was

  how he became aware of his other friends' desperation. They each grappled with a handful of magicians, but there were still so many enemies standing, milling about the fringe of

  each clash as they waited their turn to face an opponent. Brom hated to admit it, but he realized that Brin needed to be more involved in the fight than shooting arrows from a

  distance or the rest of their friends would be overwhelmed by sheer numbers, no matter how skilled of fighters. But she would never leave his side.

  With Nefin now unconscious or dead, Hanna would be maintaining wards on herself and all of the fighters besides Brin, which was too much for one person. If Brom hadn't

  reflexively protected his friends just then, they might have all been incinerated.

  Brom knew he couldn't hold back any longer, even if it meant giving away his whereabouts and endangering Brin. He needed to get Tenga and some of his devotees' attention away

  from Will, Var, Ajh, and Keeta to help both them and Hanna. So he began not only blocking Tenga's spells but also mounting an offensive of his own, all while continuing his efforts

  to remove Tenga's magical protection.

  Gaining inspiration from Tenga's first major enchantment, Brom harnessed powerful gusts of wind from outside and whirled it in through the destroyed windows. He funneled the

  gale toward the collection of magicians surrounding Keeta and the three men backtoback in the middle of the room, distracting them long enough to give Hanna a brief respite.

  Brom could feel how exhausted she had become, though she was bolstering her strength with vitality from the precious gems in all of the Rider's blades.

  Tenga's wrath escalated when he realized that someone besides the two visible elves was using magic to attack his cohorts.

  There is a third! he fumed. Those two were never fighting me. No, it was this one. But where!

  "Where are you!" Tenga bellowed, though because of the beeswax stuffed in his ears, Brom was aware of the communication only through the sorcerer's mind. "Show yourself,

  coward!"

  Enormous chunks of the ceiling abruptly broke away in response to Tenga's next effort, which reflected his wild rage. He channeled all of the rubble toward those fighting against his

  supporters, including Brin.

  Steadying himself against the heaving ground, Brom finally drew power from the belt of Beloth the Wise as he redirected the thousands of pounds of falling rock toward Tenga and

  the magicians standing guard around him.

  Tenga exclaimed in surprise and fury, and Brom felt Tenga's corresponding energy dip as he was forced to throw the immense weight away from himself.

  Tenga retaliated by targeting Brom's friends with spells designed to cause bodily harm—bursting eyeballs, compressing lungs, or tearing off limbs. Brom countered them all by

  recognizing Tenga's intentions before he executed them.

  Brom ripped all of the sharp implements from the hands of the enemy magicians nearest their master and sent them sailing toward the old wizard's heart. These Tenga narrowly

  evaded by magically reversing their trajectory and returning them to his overzealous followers.

  Tenga's next endeavor consisted of creating a gaping fissure in the floor. Acting entirely unconcerned when several of his crazed enthusiasts fell into it, he summoned forth a flood

  of putrid sewage from beneath the city and guided the wave toward the former young Dragon Riders.

&nb
sp; Brom gagged as the stench assailed his nostrils, but he thwarted Tenga's trick by forcing the rancid muck back into the yawning crevice and slamming it shut.

  Brom then levitated all of the arrows from Keeta's quiver—since Nefin's was empty—and shot them at Tenga's head. The ancient sorcerer's livid holler, along with the sensation of

  pain—again only evident through Tenga's thoughts—indicated to Brom that at least one of the missiles had somehow grazed his opponent. Brom felt a surge of relief that his work of

  removing his adversary's wards was beginning to be fruitful.

  But as he finally recognized that Brom had been busy doing more than simply mounting a physical attack, Tenga reached his limit. That's enough! he mentally shrieked with panic

  filling his thoughts when he realized that many of his wards no longer protected him. Where are you!

  Brom sensed as Tenga swept his eyes and mind around the room in search of Brom's energy. Though he couldn't see or perceive Brom, the old man easily identified the blaze of

  light emitted by the diamonds in the belt.

  Brom read the words in Tenga's mind as he hysterically bawled, "Attack the Urgal! Over there, you fools! She's guarding someone immensely powerful behind her! A boy! Kill the

  boy!"

  Tenga's line of sight revealed a throng of lunatic magicians as they turned in unquestioning compliance and swarmed toward Brom's wife. Brin loosed two more arrows as she fluidly

  rose to her feet, dropping her bow and drawing her first two daggers. Almost before these two were buried in the nearest magicians' eyes, the next two sank into their targets. How

  was she so fast?

  Brin whipped out her sword, taking one step away from Brom as she beheaded the next three magicians moving her direction in one stroke. On the back stroke, which decapitated

  another two magicians, Brin hurled her sword away—through another enemy's heart—and snatched her doublebladed staff from her back, which weapon she never used when

  dueling Brom, as it was meant for close quarter lethal combat. The last picture Brom saw of Brin through Tenga's eyes was her face set in grim determination as the horde closed in

  on her. Then he forced himself to refocus on Tenga, ignoring any other feelings that threatened to distract him from his duty of ensuring that Lena could kill their enemy.