“It was probably a decoy spell of some kind,” said Nickelo. “You’ll notice there aren’t as many vampires attacking the dwarf and you. I think if you look at the area outside the entrance to this tunnel, you’ll see why.”
Richard did look. At least a thousand life forms were gathered outside the entrance. He knew there’d be no escape in that direction. Thankfully, only the one vampire fighting Fenmar remained in the room where they were. Richard picked up a couple score more heading down the tunnel in their direction. At least another score was in the void and coming through the walls. The situation looked hopeless.
First things first, Richard thought. I need to concentrate on living for the next five seconds. If I last that long, then I’ll figure out how to live for another five.
“That’s the marine spirit,” said Nickelo. “Never give up.”
Since he had a moment’s respite before the next wave hit, Richard turned toward the battle between Fenmar and the female dwarf. She had backed the general into a corner. With a hard swing of her battle-axe, the vampire knocked Fenmar’s war hammer out of his hands.
The vampire drew her axe back for the kill. Before she could swing, Richard wrapped the battle-axe with Power and yanked hard with his telekinesis. The vampire was caught off guard. The battle-axe was jerked out of her grasp and into Richard’s waiting right hand.
The vampire turned and snarled.
General Fenmar dived for the ground and came up swinging his war hammer. With a mighty stroke, the old dwarf caved in the left side of the female vampire’s armor. Richard sensed her heart crumple. Suddenly, she was no longer in the void. On a hunch, Richard wrapped the vampire’s heart with Power and twisted. The vampire screamed and fell to the floor. Richard twisted the heart some more. He felt something in the heart trying to repair the damage.
“She’s a fighter,” said Nickelo.
A fighter she might be, but Richard knew her weakness now. He sensed a powerful source of energy surrounding a mass of bacteria in her heart. Richard imagined how the dwarf’s heart would be without the bacteria and compared that with how the heart was now. He wrapped the difference with Power from his healing reserve and pulled half of the Power into himself.
A sudden hunger overtook Richard. He smelled the warm blood pumping through Fenmar’s veins. Richard had an overpowering desire to rip the general’s throat out and feast on the dwarf’s blood. Before he could take a step in Fenmar’s direction, his healing power destroyed the mass of bacteria in the vampire’s heart. A moment later, Richard’s healing Power brought his body back to baseline. The desire to kill Fenmar was gone.
When Richard returned to normal, he saw General Fenmar on his knees beside the female vampire. Richard sensed no signs of life in her. With the destruction of the bacteria mass in her heart, she was finally and truly dead.
“Actually,” said Nickelo, “it was a viral mass, not bacteria. There’s a difference, you know.”
“Oh, my queen, my queen,” wailed General Fenmar. “What have I done? How can I face your daughter knowing I killed you?”
Richard ran to the dwarf and jerked him to his feet. “You can’t tell Emerald anything if she’s dead. Besides, you didn’t kill this one. Neither did I. She died a hundred and fifty years ago. We just put her out of her misery.”
Shoving the vampire’s battle-axe into Fenmar’s free hand, Richard yelled, “Now, let’s go! We’ve got to get to the others.”
With that, Richard turned and ran toward the firing he’d heard echoing down the tunnel. The others were obviously in a desperate firefight. He had to save them.
Chapter 53 – Vampires
____________________
When the door opened, Gaston saw a dark form diving for Telsa’s throat. He knew immediately what it was.
“Vampire!” he shouted.
Before he could get to Telsa’s side, the vampire bowled the little wizard scout over. She came out of the tangle of limbs on top with her sword sticking out the back of the vampire’s neck. The creature continued snapping at Telsa, but with a twist of her sword, she decapitated the undead monster’s head.
That was all Gaston had time to see before a mass of dark forms began clambering through the previously hidden door and out of the very walls of the tunnel. With a thought, he energized the titanium in his battle suit as he activated his phase rod in destructive mode. An overpowering sense of hunger permeated the area from the demon essence in the phase rod. Gaston swung wildly at a dark form to his front.
The vampire screamed as the phase rod sucked life force out of its body. The creature fell back, but another vampire took its place.
Gaston’s passive scan indicated most of the vampires were in the void. He fired a round from his Deloris blaster. The blaster’s phase round tore through the head of one of the vampires. It fell backward, spraying blood into the air. Almost immediately, the vampire was back on its feet. Gaston noticed the gaping hole in the monster’s forehead begin to close over.
“The heart,” said Wanda in their shared space. “Your brother’s battle computer says the heart is their weak spot.”
Gaston adjusted his aim and put a phase round into the left side of the vampire’s chest. It went down. This time it didn’t get back up.
Gaston yelled to the others. “Go for their hearts! Go for their hearts!”
“Wanda,” Gaston said. “A little help would be nice.”
Gaston felt the arm of his battle suit holding the Deloris blaster jerk left and right while firing phase rounds as it moved. Each time the blaster fired, a vampire went down with a hole through its heart.
“Reload,” said Wanda.
Gaston thrust his phase rod into the left side of a human vampire’s chest. As the demon essence sucked life force out of the vampire, the phase energy’s subatomic explosions tore the heart to shreds.
Wrapping the magazine of his Deloris blaster with Power, Gaston extracted the empty magazine with his telekinesis as he swung his phase rod at another vampire. Once the magazine was out, he used telekinesis to pull a fresh magazine out of his ammo pouch and insert it into the butt of his blaster.
“Go, Margery.”
No sooner had Gaston thought the words than the right arm of his battle suit began moving and firing again. The phase rounds, combined with the phase rods and magic weapons of the others, blunted the initial charge of the vampires. However, for every vampire his team destroyed, two more of the bloodsuckers took their place.
A double team of vampires came at Gaston from the left. He caught one in the side with his phase rod. The second vampire was a well-muscled dwarf wielding a double-handed war hammer. Gaston tried to dodge but knew he was going to be a hair too late.
A phase rod swept in front of his face and knocked the war hammer aside. The body of a black-suited wizard scout slammed into the vampire. Both the vampire and the wizard scout fell to the ground. As Gaston watched, the wizard scout stabbed a magic dagger into the vampire’s heart. The wizard scout jumped up and headed for another target. The wizard scout was his mother, Janice Deluth.
“Empty,” said Wanda.
Using the same technique as before, Gaston switched out his Deloris blaster’s magazine for a fresh one with his telekinesis. He destroyed two more vampires with his phase rod before the reload was complete.
“That’s the last magazine,” Gaston told his battle computer. “Make it count.”
“Compliance,” replied Wanda as the phase pistol began barking once more.
Gaston took a moment to check his heads-up display. The white dots of everyone on the two recon teams still shone brightly. No one had been killed yet. He had no doubt they’d been lucky so far. The mass of red, yellow, and orange dots converging on their small group made him doubt their luck would continue much longer.
A glance at two white dots near the entrance gave proof Fenmar and Shepard were still alive as well. Unfortunately, what he saw beyond them added to the seriousness of the situation. Fully a thousand dot
s were massed outside the secret entrance. There’d be no escape in that direction.
“Empty,” said Margery. “I’m returning control of your battle suit’s arm to you.”
Gaston kept fighting, but the image of his son flashed in his mind. Thank the Creator he’s safe on the shuttle. My only regret is that I never got a chance to tell him I was his father.
Wanda intruded upon his thoughts. “I’ve got a message from your brother’s battle computer. Wizard Scout Shepard says to use telekinesis to rip the vampire’s hearts apart. He says there’s something inside their hearts keeping them alive. You have to get it out of their bodies. He says using telekinesis might destroy the vampires faster than using swords and phase rods alone.”
Gaston noticed several vampires shifting out of the void. He picked out one of the vampires who was no longer in the void and reached inside its chest with his telekinesis. The vampire wasn’t wearing armor. Gaston jerked hard enough to cause the heart to explode out of the monster’s chest. The heart was a putrid black. It had a pulsating mass of goo near its center.
Before Gaston could do anything else, he heard the twang of a bow. A magic arrow passed over his shoulder. The arrow struck the heart dead center. The pulsating mass on the heart exploded in a flash of light. The vampire fell and moved no more.
“Tear out their hearts,” Gaston ordered. “Rip them out of their chests. Emerald and Chancee, destroy the hearts with your magic weapons.”
Six lines of Power reached out and burrowed deep into the chests of vampires who weren’t in the void. Gaston sent out a line of his own Power and split it into two separate lines the way his father had taught him. Eight hearts were jerked out of vampire chests and suspended in the air by telekinesis. Phase rods and magic swords struck home. Eight hearts burst into flames.
At the destruction of eight of their companions, most of the vampires began shifting back into the void. However, the vampires weren’t fast enough. Eight more hearts were jerked out and destroyed.
“Enough!” came a deep shout which wasn’t a true voice. “Can you not destroy even a few pathetic wizard scouts? Pull back. I, Lord Cancontus, will show you how it’s done.”
The words were accompanied by a great sense of evil. The sense of evil reminded Gaston of the demon essence in his phase rod, only it was something different. He sensed Power building in the very atmosphere around him. The Power was similar to the Circle Emerald had created at Cantonsburg during the battle on the wall.
Wanda spoke the words Gaston felt. “I’ve got a very bad feeling about this.”
Chapter 54 – Lord Cancontus’s Plan
____________________
As Cancontus watched his vampire minion’s battle with the wizard scouts, he grew increasingly annoyed the longer the battle took. When the wizard scouts began ripping the hearts out of his servants, he started having serious doubts about the ability of his servants to succeed. Logic told him the thousands of surviving vampires should overwhelm the paltry group of wizard scouts and their companions, but his doubts remained.
The wizard scouts should have been dead already. The Master’s variable escaped my last trap. He may escape this one as well. Perhaps I should have used the Circle differently during the battle with the dolgars. I used the Circle to trap the Master’s variable inside the valley. By doing so, I allowed him to maintain his free will. That was a mistake.
Lord Cancontus spun on his heel and struck the wall of the cavern in which he waited. Pieces of shattered stone fell to the floor. He stretched out the wings of his Crosioian avatar until they touched opposite sides of the small room.
He won’t escape this time. Zentra’s plan is to use the vampires to kill the Master’s variable and the other wizard scouts. He’s a fool, and I’m not. What if I can use the Circle to make the Master’s variable my willing slave? Using the power of the Circle, I could make them all my slaves. Once captured, even if the Master’s variable tried to resist me, I could torture his companions in front of his eyes. He would be forced to submit. He would be forced to obey. Once he is under my control, I could compel him to open the gate to the demonic plane. The demon armies would be mine to command.
Cancontus laughed. He envisioned his three brothers kneeling down before him as they quaked in fear at his presence. He would be the new Master. He would rule the three galaxies. He only needed to capture the Master’s variable and keep him for himself.
Reaching out with a line of Power, Cancontus sought out the three spheres surrounding the Dragars’ temple. He took great care to avoid touching them directly with his Power. Even his current avatar was susceptible to their insidious enthrall spell.
The wizard scouts won’t stand a chance. They’ll all submit to my will.
Using the information he’d obtained from the dwarf king, Cancontus formed a Circle and connected a link to the three spheres. He stretched the Circle out and attached a link to the Master’s variable, then extended the Circle to the variable’s friends. Cancontus felt them all trying to resist, but they could not. The spheres’ enthrall spell was too much for them. The power of the Circle increased the strength of the spheres’ spell. Cancontus was confident none of the wizard scouts would be able to resist the peace the spheres offered.
While carefully monitoring the Circle’s links, Cancontus made sure his keystone link remained far from the Master’s variable.
This time I’m ready. I won’t allow him to use the Dalinfaust’s essence against me. This time the Master’s variable will be mine. This time the variable will not escape.
Chapter 55 – Ancient Dragon
____________________
The seventh day on the Defiant found a grim lot sitting around the galley table. They’d been at it nearly an hour. Jeena could tell Sergeant Ron was beginning to lose his patience. Like most humans, he appeared to hate hearing the same arguments repeated over and over.
Come to think of it, so do I, Jeena thought.
“I know Jeehana’s got a foolproof way to get the bottles back to our wizard scouts,” said Sergeant Ron. “The problem is, how do we get Stella and her onboard the space station without getting the Defiant blown to smithereens?”
Jeena winced internally at the use of her friend name by the Defiant’s captain. None of them can pronounce my formal name. That’s why I insisted they use my friend name instead. I’ve just got to put up with it.
Jeena turned to face Sergeant Ron. “Even if we’re able to get onboard the space station there’s no guarantee we’ll be able to get the DNA gas.”
“You’re too modest,” said Terrie. “I’ve watched the videos of your holo-square simulations. You’re good.”
The redheaded woman sitting next to Terrie punched him on the arm.
“Hey! What was that for?” asked Terrie. “I was just stating a fact.”
“Then state it without your tongue hanging out,” said Angela. “I told you before, I’m the only one you should be looking at that way.”
Terrie’s face turned pink. “You are, Angela. Trust me.”
“Oh, I trust you, sweetheart,” said Angela. “But rest assured, I’m keeping a close eye on you as long as this temptress is onboard the Defiant.” Turning to Jeena, Angela said, “No offense, Jeehana.”
“Uh…, none taken,” Jeena replied.
The idea of the young woman thinking she was after her husband was actually a little amusing. True, of all the human males on the starship, Jeena avoided Terrie the least. What little aura she could detect from the wizard scout was emotion free. While she knew he was an emotional creature just like all humans, he was able to keep his emotions under tight control. Actually, she had to admit the auras of all the humans she’d encountered in the physical dimension were kept under control. She had a feeling there’d be a lot less friction between elves and humans on Portalis if the human race there could do the same.
“It’s too bad you can’t use your staff to teleport onto the space station,” said Kester, the youngest of the gnome ma
ges.
“Yes,” Jeena agreed. “But as I’ve said, the staff is preset. I’m confident I can use it to teleport Stella and I back to the Oracle on Portalis. However, that’s all it can do unless I misunderstood the directions.”
Dren, who was sitting next to Jeena, turned to face her. “No, you understood correctly. The first two uses of the staff are preset. After that, it’ll still teleport you to the Oracle, but the time differential part of the staff will no longer work.”
Sergeant Hendricks was sitting at the end of the table next to Sergeant Ron. He whispered something in the ear of the Defiant’s captain. When Dren finished speaking, Sergeant Hendricks stood up.
“I’m just an armorer, so I don’t profess to know a lot about teleportation or any of that mumbo-jumbo. However, as I was telling Sergeant Ron, what we need is something that can travel to other dimensions like Rick’s spirit-horse.”
“Unfortunately,” said Terrie, “Rick’s not here. Gaston was depending on his brother and that spirit-horse of his to get our team on and off the space station. Normal teleports won’t work. Otherwise, Gaston could’ve requested a teleport from one of the teleporters on Velos.”
A lot of what the people around her had discussed over the past hour went over Jeena’s head, but a teleport was something she understood. Because she was a priestess, she couldn’t do them herself, except for the limited use of the staff, of course. However, she did understand the concept well enough. Teleportation was an advanced mage spell. Since she had a couple of friends at the mage academy in Silverton who kept her up to date on mage magic, she was familiar with their teleportation spells.
“I’ve been wondering about that,” Jeena said. “Keka had an advanced teleporter on Storage. I was wondering why we were wasting our time going to the space station in the Defiant? So tell me, couldn’t we have just teleported there?”
Wizard Rebellion (Intergalactic Wizard Scout Chronicles Book 5) Page 40