by Dante King
“What?” I yelled, trying to fend off three more skeletons.
“Close your eyes,” Yarina said urgently. “Just trust me. Now!”
The skeletons were practically on top of me and I had to fight every instinct in my body to manage to close my eyes. But I did trust Yarina, she always seemed to have a good reason.
The moment my eyes were closed, I saw a piercing light rip through the chamber—even through the skin of my eyelids—which was followed by a bang that sent a burst of air rushing at my face. When the light had faded, almost as suddenly as it came, I opened my eyes and found skeletal bodies littering the floor like fallen leaves.
“How the hell did you do that?” I asked in amazement.
“It’s called the Holy Flash,” she told me.
I raised an eyebrow. “You flashed the skeletons?” If the spell was activated like it sounded, then I almost wished I’d been looking at Yarina rather than shielding my eyes from the light.
She rolled her eyes. “I can project a blanket of light from my body that temporarily blinds anyone who looks directly at me. Of course, in the case of the summons, it just saps them of their remaining life force and returns them to an inanimate state.” At that, she grabbed my arm and pulled me in the direction of the closest doorway. “Kalazar knows we’re here. And I’m willing to bet that the lesser summons are not all he has in store for us. We need to keep moving.”
“Who’s this Salazar?” I asked, panting slightly.
“Kalazar,” Yarina corrected me breathlessly, her eyes darting from side to side as we made our way through another dark corridor. “He’s a high-ranking member of the corrupted mages and one of the most powerful necromancers in Trysca. Trust me when I tell you that those skeletons he summoned are the least of his abilities. He was just toying with us.”
“Fuck,” I said, noticing a skeleton trip out of another opening at the end of the corridor. “There’s more of them.”
Yarina stepped forward and moved her rapier through the air with a flourish. “Don’t slow down,” she told me. “Those bastards don’t tire.”
“Of course they don’t,” I sighed, raising my axe as a skeleton rushed toward me. “They’re not alive.”
Instead of using my axe, this time I sent my fist crashing into its face. What satisfaction. The thing shattered like it was made of glass and dropped lifeless to the floor. I didn’t have a moment to breathe before three more skeletons were racing toward me.
Yarina was at my side, swinging her rapier with expert prowess. She was like an artist with a paintbrush, and it almost made me want to turn in my axe in exchange for a sword. The exhilaration of the fight had all but left my body. It had been replaced with the growing nag of fatigue. My arms and legs were heavy, my axe-wielding arm was getting weaker with each new hit, my body ached. I could sense Yarina was tired too. She had not slowed her pace, nor were her attacks any less ferocious, but I could sense her magic dim slightly, like a slow-burning candle on its last legs.
We fought our way through the corridor, leaving a trail of broken bones in our wake. The chamber we stumbled into was huge, marking it as the Main Chamber. The walls were a deep mottled grey with large recessed pockets in the center, the perfect size for a coffin. In the center of the square space was a large, elevated tomb that looked as though it had sprung from the ground. The elevated base it sat on contained an intricate pattern of interconnecting grooves that looked almost like a metal carpet. There were few torches; most light came from a collection of small candles that lay scattered around the space.
There were more skeletons in the main chamber, but strangely they just stood there instead of attacking us. I glanced at Yarina, whose eyes were darting around the room as though she were looking for someone. The scent of corrupt magic was strong here, I knew without a doubt that the necromancer was nearby.
“I must say,” a low, grating voice echoed through the walls, “I consider it the height of impertinence to enter someone’s home without an invitation. You have interrupted my experiments.”
“This is not your home,” Yarina rebutted fiercely.
“I beg to differ,” Kalazar spoke. “Anywhere dead bodies lie is my home.”
I glanced at the skeletons standing on either side of us. They were swinging from side to side in a slow, gentle rhythm. I had no doubt he would set them on us the moment he was done pontificating. I looked past the tomb toward the shadows beyond. Kalazar stepped out from behind the tomb, and instantly his presence seemed to fill the space, and not just because the two lanterns floating above his head radiated a warm green light that outshone the candles.
The seven-foot-tall figure wore a roughly sewn cloak with the hood pulled up. The tattered sleeves exposed long spiked arms with talons for fingers. His arms showed his body was pale and hairless, though strong enough to carry the thin black chains that covered the length of his body, snaking all the way up to his head, where they were attached to the two floating lanterns. His whole being radiated a power so formidable I wasn’t able to pick up on any other signs of magic.
“We came here for something,” Yarina said, “and we’re not leaving until we have it.”
An eerie chuckle swept through the room. His laughter seemed to propel more of his stink toward us. He smelt like a corpse but the flesh on his arms proved he was not. Still, he certainly wasn’t human…that much I could sense.
“Then you will die,” Kalazar hissed.
I stepped forward. “Today is not the day I die,” I said firmly.
He properly laughed then, a rasping drill that sounded like dry heaving. “You are too weak. You cannot hope to defeat me.”
“Watch me,” I said.
“I shall enjoy killing you,” Kalazar said, with a tinge of excitement in his tone.
He lifted his bony hand, finally putting his large and fierce talons on proper display. He made a snapping movement with his claws and I felt the atmosphere in the chamber change instantly. The skeletons jumped to attention as though they had just been woken up, and didn’t need a second to prepare before they charged at Yarina and me like blind foot soldiers rushing into battle.
Despite my tired arms, I heaved my axe upward and started ripping through the skeletons as fast as I could. There was no time to rest, no time to think…I had to keep moving, because the moment I stopped, they would overpower me.
I could feel Yarina at my back. They had us surrounded, but as hopeless as the situation seemed, I had meant what I had said to Kalazar only moments before. Today was not the day I would die. I cut through his minions with a fierce and determined anger, refusing to let my body slow its pace. I could tell that Yarina was fighting as hard as she could too. With every swing of her rapier she took down two more skeletons.
Slowly but surely, through the slashing and clattering of bones, I could see the skeleton throng was thinning. I knew I just had to keep my arms punching, my legs kicking, and my axe flying, and at some not too distant point I would have finished off the last one. Yarina’s proximity made it easier for me to sense her magic. I sensed light emanate from her body in sharp bursts, but I could tell her attempts to create another Holy Flash were feeble. Her mental and emotional energy was starting to shrink, the fatigue precluding the possibility of casting spells as strong as that first Holy Flash.
I punched a hole through my last attacker’s crumbling skull and turned in time to see two more skeletons closing in on Yarina. I sent my axe hurtling through the air. It obliterated both skeletons with a deeply satisfying whoosh. As I retrieved my axe, Yarina decapitated the last skeleton with her rapier, and the two of us turned in sync to face Kalazar, unscathed. He had been watching the whole fight with rapt attention, and now his energy pulsed with barely contained frustration.
“Enough of this,” he said, stepping down from the elevated tomb. “It is time I gave you a real fight.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Yarina give me a panicked glance, but I could not look away from Kalazar. His energy
was ebbing and flowing with dangerous purpose. The corpse scent that clung to him grew truly repulsively pungent.
The chained lanterns over his head glowed maniacally as Kalazar started to spin them around, without moving his body an inch. The ever-faster-spinning green light formed a misty whirlpool around him as he slowly grew in size.
“What is he doing?” I asked.
“He’s calling on corpse energy…he’s imbuing himself with it,” Yarina said, looking nervous but determined. Her defensive stance had not changed, and I knew that, despite her exhaustion, she would fight with every fiber of her being.
No matter what Kalazar did, his hood seemed fixed in place, hiding his face from view. I could only see a constant green halo of light above him now, with the ethereal consistency of smoke. It visibly fuelled his magic and replenished his strength. His muscles flexed, and the spikes on his arms gleamed hungrily. As he approached, I felt the surge of his magic envelope the air between us, a hot coursing corruption that blocked my airways and for a split second had me fear I would keel over. This was a power like I’d never seen before, a gruesome, disgusting power that worshipped only death.
And I had thought the corrupted pyromancer was bad.
5
The necromancer’s spindly fingers traced a strange pattern in the air. Necrotic green energy shimmered in front of my eyes, and the stench of rancid meat filled my nostrils.
Yarina and I looked at each other. She clearly also knew what was going on.
“Whatever you do…do not get hit,” she said before we both turned back to face our enemy.
Kalazar aimed at me first, sending a ray of green light hurtling toward my head. I leapt to the right just in time to hear the spell whiz past me. Another inch to the right and I was a goner. But he had only just begun. I could tell, from the now manically flashing light that surrounded him as he moved across the floor.
I ducked behind the tomb for cover and moments later Yarina fell at my side, panting heavily.
“What is that spell?” I asked. I hadn’t some knowledge of spells, but I hadn’t seen this particular one before. This was the first time I’d smelt the decrepit stench of what had to be necromancy.
“Weakening Ray,” Yarina replied in a hurry, tripping over her own words. “It saps your life energy. If we get hit, we’ll lose leg functionality first, then we’ll be unable to control our breathing and be paralyzed by fear. Soon neither one of us will be able to put up a fight.”
“Guess we have to avoid getting hit then,” I said matter-of-factly. “Easy.”
Yarina did a double take with a little gasp. “You’re glowing…your Negation Aura is working.” Her voice was suddenly bright with renewed hope.
I looked down and saw that she was right. The filmy haze was back, coating my body in its protective embrace.
“That aura won’t protect you from a serious attack,” Yarina reminded me fiercely. “Don’t be reckless.”
“I don’t believe in recklessness,” I said, peering out from behind the tomb. Kalazar was slowly circling the tomb, his talons aflame with corrupt magic. “I believe in calculated risks.”
“Kurt…Kurt, no!”
But it was too late. I had abandoned my position behind the tomb next to her and tuck rolled out into the open chamber, landing right in front of Kalazar. Before he had the time to register my presence so close to him, as wrapped up in his intoxicating magic as he was, I sent my axe flying straight at this head. The lanterns above him seemed to emit a painfully high-pitched scream, like sirens warning their master, and my axe missed the necromancer by a hair’s breadth. I was furious; I almost had him, almost finished the job at the first attempt.
“You will regret that, boy,” Kalazar hissed.
I sensed the tenor of the spell he was about to cast in my direction. It had all the flavors of death. Black flames shot from Kalazar’s talons and engulfed me in a ring of fire. My Negation Aura glowed a little brighter but every time I tried to leap out of the circle, my limbs got suddenly heavy and I found myself unable to move.
“Pathetic human,” Kalazar spat, as his hood turned to face me. “You think you can defeat me?”
“Yes,” I nodded amiably, refusing to show even the slightest bit of panic or fear. “Not only can I defeat you…I will defeat you. That’s a promise.”
I could see Yarina in my peripheral vision. She was still lying behind the tomb and I knew she was working up a plan in her head. I needed to keep Kalazar distracted until she settled on a game plan.
“You make promises about my fall while you stand there in Death’s Circle.”
“Death’s Circle…is that what this is?” I said, shrugging my shoulders with disinterest. “How unoriginal.”
“You are an impudent human,” Kalazar said.
“Why thank you,” I said, giving him a smile I hoped would rankle.
His tone of voice definitely betrayed his annoyance, and I had to make sure I toed the line. If he got too annoyed too soon, I was a dead man.
I thought I saw Yarina stand and move toward the opposite side of the tomb in the edge of my vision, but I dared not look straight at her now. There was no need to draw Kalazar’s attention to her. Thankfully, his hood remained firmly fixed in my direction. As he moved his head slightly upward, I thought I saw two red glinting eyes embedded in gray, decaying flesh, but I couldn’t be sure.
“Hmm…mage slayer, is it ?” Kalazar asked with a curious lilt in his voice. “I have not met a mage slayer in several centuries. I take it you know what happened to the last of them? They were murdered by the order I belong to, every last one of them was snuffed and returned to the dust where they belonged.”
“And yet here I stand,” I said tauntingly. “Ready to continue their fight. It doesn’t matter what you do or how you do it. In the end, you won’t win.”
“Fool,” Kalazar hissed. “In moments your life’s energy will combust. Your heart will beat faster and faster until, finally, it will explode.” I couldn’t be sure, but I felt like I sensed a hint of uncertainty in his voice, a slight wavering. Could it be that he was caught off guard by the sudden return of a real live mage slayer?
But my body did in fact feel as though it had been taken hostage. My limbs were heavy, and I felt a slight stabbing pain in my heart. I was willing to bet that without my Negation Aura, I might have already been on my knees, writhing with excruciating pain as my heart burst under the effects of the spell he had cast.
I saw Yarina step out from behind the tomb in total silence. She was right behind Kalazar now, but he was too focused on me. I watched her strong attacking stance, and I knew what she was going to do. She was trying to summon up another Holy Flash, and she was counting on my recognizing her magic in time to close my eyes and avoid its effect.
I inclined my head just a fraction to let her know I understood what she was planning to do, but I never took my eyes off the necromancer.
“In moments, you will be on your knees begging for mercy,” I said, letting a smile play across my face.
“Your confidence is misguided.” His tone was cool, he was properly pissed now.
I could see Yarina’s body glow with a subtle gleam that reminded me of my own Negation Aura. She was ready; this was the time to strike.
“And your memory is terrible, by the way,” I said. “Have you forgotten that I’m not alone?”
I saw his head jerk upward as he turned, the hood stretching taut. I closed my eyes, covered my head with my arm and felt the blinding light that burst from Yarina’s body. This Holy Flash was more powerful than the last one she had conjured, so I kept my face averted for five long seconds after the brightness had cleared. Once I could no longer feel its piercing light, I blinked my eyes open cautiously.
The fire that surrounded me had been extinguished, but Kalazar was still on his feet, only momentarily blinded by Yarina’s Holy Flash. He was too strong by far; even as I ducked for cover, he was already regaining his senses. But instead of turning t
o me, he swung his lanterns in Yarina’s direction with the dark growl of a predatory animal.
I spied my axe lying on the stone floor several feet away. I would need to reach it fast if I was going to help Yarina contain Kalazar. Just as I was about to make a dash for it, I heard the sound of scraping bones. I looked to my left and saw a new wave of summons.
“Damn it!” I growled under my breath.
As the skeletons rushed me, I balled my hands into fists and started punching as I tried to close the distance to my axe. I was vaguely aware of Yarina battling with the necromancer. She was using her rapier to try and pierce through his skin, but he was avoiding her attacks. His size belied his quick movements, I now realized he was a match for her in speed.
I felt my Negation Aura glow subtly over my body, and I hoped that it would stay in place because I didn’t know how to operate it at will. I could feel the skeletal claws of the lesser summons grab at me, but despite their number, I was stronger. I tore through their ranks easily before I made a dive for my axe. I felt my body gain strength once the weapon was in my hand. I turned and swung it in one forceful movement. Three skeletons crumbled to the floor, and I walked over them, their bones crunching beneath my boots.
Just when I thought I had managed to kill off the last skeleton, I heard a heavier, sloppier sound and smelled rotting human flesh. My eyes went wide as I realized that Kalazar had summoned a new wave of minions. Except that these ones were not skeletons. They were a mass of animated corpses, skeletal frames draped in decaying flesh. They moved slower, but there was a solid strength in their half-consumed bodies.
I glanced over my shoulder and saw Yarina dance out of the way of one of the necromancer’s spells. I needed to help her but the undead summons were closing in on me. I raised my axe and brought it down on one of the undead. The corpse let out a shrieking roar as it fell to the floor, but it immediately scrambled back to its feet.