by Philip Blood
“I take it that is a StarWard?” I asked any of the other mages present.
Hydan grinned, “A very BIG StarWard. I would have to say this one probably covers all of Mystical Island.”
I nodded. “OK, how do we take it down?”
Toji was looking at it dubiously. “When Finnabair suggested we take this down, I had no idea how much power she was talking about!”
“That matters?” I asked.
“Oh yes,” he said, “It takes the same amount of power it took to create the StarWard to take it down, and this is very powerful!”
“I’ll do it,” Hydan said.
“Maybe I should, I’m a Second,” I noted, “So I have more power available.”
Hydan nodded, “But, you don’t know what you are doing with a StarWard, and if you release all that energy incorrectly, well, this will be a very large crater afterward.”
“Ah, OK,” I said, “maybe you should do this then.”
Hydan gathered himself for a moment and then walked right into the rotating StarWard. His body glowed brightly for a moment, and then the StarWard just winked out of existence.
“Wow, that was a lot of power; I feel quite fatigued!” Hydan exclaimed after taking a big breath.
“So it’s down?” I asked.
But right then Finnabair spun into existence, wearing white plate armor over white leather. She looked quite stunning.
“Mother!” I exclaimed. “What are you doing here, has something gone wrong?”
“Not at all,” Finnabair said with a white flash of teeth, “I just have something else I need to accomplish as well as your mission here!”
Hydan sighed and shook his head, “I warned you, Nick, this is the part of the Albus plan which you only learn about while you are in the middle of doing it.”
Finnabair just shrugged, “Just trust me, this is important for Abal! Now, you need to get on with what you were doing, go release the Archimage of Abal! You must hurry, Morgain is coming!”
“Morgain!” I exclaimed, “Didn’t she go to Ouroboros or Ivory Castle?”
Finnabair shrugged, “No, though I really thought that was a long shot anyway.”
Hydan snorted, “Which is an opinion you didn’t share with us, of course.”
Finnabair smiled, “Why worry you about something you couldn’t predict? You must go, now! Find your father, Nick, and set him free, or you won’t be able to withstand Morgain or Medrod.”
“Medrod! Is he still here as well?”
Finnabair was headed out of the chamber, but said, “I don’t know, but assume so! I have no time to explain in detail, but once you get the Archimage free he can stop Medrod while you find Ziny. I will deal with Morgain! Once you have Ziny, don’t wait for your father, Five Point travel off of Mystical Island! The Archimage can get himself free if he isn’t trying to protect you.”
Then she was gone.
“Super-duper,” I muttered, “Why in the hell didn’t she tell us this before?”
Hydan shrugged, “Because she’s an Albus, Nick. Remember, you still don’t know what she really boxed you into here, or about her real plan. That won’t come until later on.”
“I’m going to have a word with my dear mother about this if I live!” I promised, but then said, “OK, so how do we find The Wizard of Abal?”
Hydan considered. “He won’t be far from here, I would guess; he is likely hidden so that even if someone came to rescue him, he would be hard to find.”
“So, that doesn’t sound good!”
“But, now that the Starward is down we should be able to sense the power being used to hold the Archimage!”
Hydan, Toji, and Myrka all searched, and I even tried to ‘feel’ something, but all I got was an itch between my shoulder blades. Then both Hydan and Toji pointed the same direction, which was good enough for me.
We headed out of the now empty StarWard chamber and got back into the hallways. Soon we were headed toward the source of power they were sensing. As we got closer, I thought I started to feel something too, a kind of subtle tingle on my skin from one direction.
We came to a set of massive double doors, and the feeling was coming from inside.
“This doesn’t seem right,” Hydan noted, wrinkling his brow.
I paused at the doors and said, “Why?”
“It’s too prominent, he would be hidden.”
I shrugged, “Maybe this is only on the way there, and he is hidden further ahead.”
Hydan nodded and then said, “Toji, perhaps you could?”
Toji stepped to the doors and they opened.
What was revealed was a massive audience chamber. This had to be where the Island Witch held court. There were massive, ten-foot-tall statues of saeran warriors along each wall, set back in alcoves. There were two sets of large pillars, over twenty feet in diameter, going from the highly polished red marble floor up to the tall ceiling above. Ahead was a raised pyramid, with two throne chairs on the top, both currently empty.
“This isn’t good, this is Morgain’s and Medrod’s audience chamber or I’m an Earth duck,” Hydan noted.
The voice which spoke boomed out with authority, and replied, “And you will have your audience!”
Then Medrod strode out from behind the ten-foot-tall pyramid, and behind him were six necromages.
“Damnation!” I muttered; we didn’t have the Archimage free yet! This was NOT going to plan, either plan.
Myrka didn’t wait for any invitations; she slammed her fist straight down into the hard marble floor and blue energy flashed. Simultaneously, blue lightning seemed to fork out in all directions, fracturing the floor with dark jagged cracks. Out of those new cracks, black mist flowed up swiftly. This was more than fog, it blinded you completely. It was like all the lights went out in a windowless room.
“Shit, Myrka, now we’re all blind!” I exclaimed.
“Quiet!” she hissed.
I got the idea, if I spoke, they could orient on me.
Just in case, I softly stepped ten paces to my left.
I could hear the soft sound of feet moving across stone; both sides were attempting to gain an advantage. A voice I couldn’t place, so probably one of the enemies cried out.
Suddenly a massive wind blew through the chamber, and the black mist was taken out of the room with it.
This almost acted like a fade in on an old movie; Myrka had just cut a necromage’s throat. It seemed she had immediately dashed straight at the enemy after she made the blackness, and managed to get one before they had thought to start moving as well. But the others had now moved toward us, and in the darkness, we had all moved in different directions and were spread out across the chamber.
Immediately, mages and necromages paired off. There were six opponents to the four on my team, though, so two of us ended up with two opponents. I was lucky if you could call it that, I had only drawn one opponent, but it was Medrod.
Hydan had been unlucky since two necromages were near him, but Myrka had also drawn two, likely because their companions had called out as Myrka attacked.
I felt a moment of worry for both of them, but I had a bigger fish to fry, specifically, one Saeran Second, returned from the dead.
He took one look at who was near, and grinned. “How fortunate!” he exclaimed, “That saves me the trouble of finding you!” Then he strode forward raising his hands.
Duel blasts of Derkaz power lanced out at me, but thanks to my mother’s teachings, my protections were up to the task and the beams were deflected.
At the thwarting of his Derkaz attacks, Medrod frowned.
“Turns out, I’m a Second,” I noted casually, and then added, “You sour faced snogfish.”
Medrod snarled and answered, “That will not save you!”
Then he drew Caliburn.
Hells bells and a bucket of blood!
Now I wished I had never gone to that chick in the pond, according to myth, this sword was good against even a Second.
/> Medrod smiled at my expression and advanced.
“It seems you brought a knife to a sword fight, let’s see how long it remains real,” he noted with mirth, and then added, “Once I close on you, your shield will no longer function.”
I retorted, “How did you get in here anyway? Did your wife leave your cage open?” But I was backing away swiftly, trying to think of something brilliant; so far I had bupkis.
My latest insult made him snarl and he leaped forward twenty feet while swinging Caliburn in a backhanded slash.
Crap on a stick! How did he jump so far! I leaped backward, much less spectacularly. I needed to keep my distance from Caliburn if I was going to manage any magic.
“Afraid, little Bastard?” he snarled.
I replied, “Sorry to disappoint you, but it turns out I’m not a bastard after all!”
He just lunged forward and I jumped back again to avoid the thrust, hoping I didn’t run into one of those pillars in the room. This wasn’t going well at all, I was fighting a completely defensive battle, and in the end, this wasn’t going to work out well for me. One of these times I wasn’t going to dodge properly, or he was going to blast me with Derkaz while I was too close to Caliburn.
That’s when things went from firecracker bad to stick of dynamite terrible.
Medrod was about to take another slash at me, when he suddenly smiled and stepped back a pace and said, “Well, I think the party just got a little more interesting!”
To which I retorted, “Stop trying to be a smart-ass, when you’re really just an ass, Medrod.”
That made the grin on his face dissolve into a grimace of hatred, and he raised his off hand, palm toward me.
I’d seen this gesture from Myrka while looking down the barrel, and I leaped as far back as I could, hoping to get out of Caliburn’s range in time.
The blast which issued from his palm hit my shield and tore a large crater in the ground in front of me. I landed on my ass, sliding backward.
But that’s when a powerful voice spoke from behind me. I didn’t dare turn to look at who had arrived, but that took every bit of concentration on my part; this new voice was mesmerizing!
“Stop this battle!” the voice boomed.
Medrod hesitated, and then finally stepped back, lowering his hand with a scowl.
I shifted around on my butt so I could keep Medrod in sight, but still get a look at the newcomer.
It turned out to be two people. One was a large saeran, and when I say large, I mean the biggest dude I had yet seen in blue scales. He was wearing a suit of black armor, and he was damned imposing.
Next to him was a tall saeran woman. She was also in battle garb, though hers was gray and silver, with lots of scale mail which mimicked fish scales.
“Morgain Dokkalfar,” Hydan hissed.
The Island Witch turned with a wicked smile and said, “Hydan Friare, so good of you to return for a reckoning.”
But Hydan turned to gaze at the large saeran, and then said curiously, “The Dragon, I presume?”
The big saeran smiled, and it was not a chummy kind of expression.
Myrka and Toji turned and raised their weapons, both of them ignoring their opponents as they took in The Dragon.
Hydan called out, “So, it is you who has been supplying Morgain with her new powers of magic!”
The Dragon just bowed slightly, and then said, “This World was ripe for the taking, one less House on my list of enemies. All I had to do was show Morgain how to create necromages, and her husband how to bind his father. This world is ours; the battle for control of Abal is all but over now, so there is no need for any of you to end here. Run away and live for a time before I end your Houses!”
“We can all go?” Hydan asked curiously, though from the sound of his question I don’t think he believed this was true.
The Dragon laughed, and it was a deep kind of chuckle, “All but Nicholas here, we have some business first. This wizard has stolen something of mine. I will get it back, and then I will dispatch this nuisance.”
“No, Nicholas Sivaeral is MINE!” Medrod exclaimed to The Dragon.
The Dragon turned his dark saeran eyes onto Medrod and ordered, “Step back, Medrod, I need this mage. You have many others under your control!”
“No, I want him! He has insulted me, and I have sworn to make him my slave!”
The Dragon shook his head and answered, “That is unfortunate, for I cannot allow you to take him.”
“You would deny ME! I am Medrod, the reborn, ruler of Abal! You have lost your World! This is Abal, and it is MY World! Do not stand between me and my prey, or I will do unto you as I did to my father!”
The Dragon actually laughed at that. “I taught you how to trap your father, but do not think you can do the same to me, Medrod!”
Medrod suddenly gestured at The Dragon, and some kind of crystal started forming around the feet of the Dark One.
The Dragon looked at Medrod darkly and then gestured down. A blackness seemed to flow outwards from his feet, coloring the floor in an expanding circle. As it touched the crystal the green substance seemed to explode. The black expanding circle continued to move outwards, and everyone, including Medrod, took a step back from the pitch black flowing void.
But that’s when Morgain’s reinforcements arrived, over thirty necromages poured in through the double doors and into the chamber.
Medrod grinned and said, “Even a First can fall!” Then he gestured to the statues at the sides of the hall, and they all came to life.
“Destroy The Dragon!” Medrod screamed insanely, pointing at the Dark One.
Thirty golem statues headed for The Dragon.
Hydan spoke, “And that’s what you get for getting in bed with a crazy mage, they will turn on you every time!”
But The Dragon just scowled and a look of concentration came over his face, and he spoke to Medrod, “Don’t be a fool, Medrod; together we have the upper hand here!”
Morgain spoke to me, “Nicholas Sivaeral, tell your companions to stand down or die!”
Medrod was almost foaming at the mouth and he spoke to The Dragon, “I am the ruler of Abal! You will depart Abal immediately, or die!”
The Dragon snarled, “Oh, it’s not that easy, Medrod, you invited me in, and now I am calling my payment due. I will take Nicholas, though you may have these others.”
“Ah, we might have something to say about that,” Hydan noted dryly.
Myrka had been silent, but now she started drawing a Star on the floor of the chamber.
But The Dragon’s blackness flowed out and when it touched the red flames of the Star, the fire winked out.
“We will have no interference here!” he noted. Then a new StarWard appeared next to him, blocking any kind of Five Point travel.
Morgain’s thirty necrosouls were slowly approaching us now, and cutting off any chance of escape while the golems were closing on The Dragon. Medrod started toward me with death in his insane eyes.
The Dragon spoke to Medrod, “You will back away from Nicholas, or I will become quite vexed.”
“He is MINE!” Medrod thundered.
The Dragon’s voice grew louder, “Medrod Sivaeral, if you attack Nicholas, I will consider that the end of our ‘relationship’, and deal with you directly. Do not test me!” His last line boomed out so loudly some of the pillars cracked.
Medrod snarled at The Dragon, but he stopped his advance. I think he wanted to see how The Dragon dealt with the golems before he started anything.
The first three golems to reach the black circle around The Dragon sank into the blackness, and then black hands reached up and pulled the rest of them down. But the black circle retreated. As each golem was dispatched, The Dragon’s dark circle got smaller. But then The Dragon roared, and lifted a hand to point at three of the approaching golems. Derkaz power lanced out, and they exploded.
In a few moments he had dispatched them all, and then he turned on Medrod, “I am growing i
mpatient with your lack of respect, Second! Do NOT attack Nicholas, or my next attack will fall on you!”
I was surprised he hadn’t destroyed Medrod already, but then I realized he had invested a lot of time and energy in this Sivaeral Second, and he probably didn’t want to destroy his tool if he could help it.
But then a sly smile appeared at the corner of Medrod' s face, and I liked that even less than his snarl.
He turned to face me again, though he did not raise Caliburn. “I will give you to The Dragon, to do with as he wishes, but I will keep your little sorceress as my personal pet! Do you know what I did to your little Ziny?”
My eyes narrowed, which made his smile grow even wider.
Medrod added, “No? Well, I see even the thought has made you angry!”
“You have never seen me angry,” I answered. I’d figured out Medrod’s game, he wanted me to attack him, and then he could kill me without going against The Dragon’s orders.
“No?” he said, and then smiled, “Well, here is your little friend now.”
Right then, a very small form entered the chamber through the double doors, flanked by two necrosouls. Their small prisoner had a hooded cloak up, so I couldn’t yet see if this was really Ziny.
When she drew near to me she suddenly reached up and pulled down her hood with both hands, and then smiled. It really was Ziny. But that’s when I saw her milky white eyes and drawn skin.
I whirled to face Medrod, “You sick murderer!” I screamed, realizing the truth, Medrod had already killed the little girl and then had his wife bring her back. Ziny was now one of their undead necromages.
Ziny leaped at me, and at the last moment, she drew a knife and slashed at my throat with a snarl on her little saeran face, now so dry and hard in death.
“STOP THIS!” The Dragon bellowed.
But Ziny continued to attack.
I parried with my Bowie knife, but she turned and leaped in again, trying for a disemboweling thrust.
“This is not Ziny, not anymore,” Toji yelled to me. “Fight!”