by Paul Yoder
Denloth pitched left involuntarily, his dark robes tugging at him, yanking left and right, attempting to bind him up. He tried to steady himself, but the bewitched clothes wrapped around his head, throwing him to the ground.
Jadu pulled another sparkling orb from his bracelet, blue electrical arcs pricking him as it was drawn from its tourmaline home. He winced as he held the stone lightning in the air above him, shooting it towards the man who had been wrapped up in his own robes.
The bolt arced, spanning the distance within a fraction of a second, blasting into the bundle of cloth, causing the man on the ground to go limp, along with the once animated robes.
He did not wait to see if Denloth had been finished by the blast, immediately preparing a counter spell in case the spellcaster was to answer him back. He chanted, marking lines in the air before him, establishing an invisible grid in front of him to net any incoming spells.
Denloth twitched to life, sitting up, shooting the praven a glare of absolute loathing as electricity arced all about his body, his eyes still aglow from the charge.
He stood up, his gait somewhat stiff, his robes smoking, and he snapped his staff point at Jadu, patterns in the sand cutting into the fabric of space in the area, gravity shifting this way and that as the ground became the sky, and the sky became a void, tumbling Jadu this way and that.
“I don’t have a counter for that!” Jadu grumbled as he flipped head over heels in space, losing hold of his ineffectual spell shield. This was no magic he had studied.
He smacked his wand to the last gemstone he held a spell in, pulling a silver glow from the quartzite stone, tracing a triangle around him as he stuck the wand tip to his chest. He righted himself as he began to float in air, looking for his opponent in the confusing split between half-realms.
A sizzling streak of hot metal ripped past him, singeing his arm and burning a hole through his robes as it flew by.
He turned and barely maneuvered under another bolt of molten steel, seeing Denloth producing a line of flaming rods before him.
Jadu’s silver aura pulsated, and he shot forward, floating towards the man, wand leading the way, beginning to glow.
Another bolt ripped by him from an odd angle, and Jadu weaved in his path, not sure where exactly the man was actually firing from, the warped reality throwing off his perception greatly.
He ripped off a trinket from his necklace, draining it for raw hexweave, channeling it into a spell, lines of runic ribbons flowing forth from his wand tip, another bolt of molten steel being batted away from him as the ribbons sprung to life, spinning around the tip of his wand, a slashing set of hex blades blazing through the void as he slammed into Denloth, the blades slicing into his robes, wrapping around the man as the warp released its clutch on their reality.
They both fell to the ground in a bloody, tangled heap, but Jadu was quick to spring back, yanking his runic tethers free from the warlock, slashing him to the bone as the thin bands sliced through the man’s body like paper-thin sheets of metal.
Denloth screamed in pain, his flesh having been corkscrew-unraveled, leaving him without the use of his legs as chunks of muscle and flesh peeled off his bones, falling to the sands.
Zaren, who had been watching the duel the whole time from his horse, after seeing the results of the last spell, trotted his horse further from the two, turning his mount back around at a good distance to watch the duel from a safer vantage point. Jadu began busily chanting another spell, drawing symbols in front of Denloth, ignoring his opponent’s cries of pain.
Denloth gripped his staff tight, blood seeping into its cracks as it began to glow a burnt umber. Lifting it skyward, black shale slabs shot from the ground all around Jadu, and small, spectral tethers shot out from the formation, shooting into him, the hooked barbs piercing his skin, holding him tight in place.
Jadu tried to ignore the web of hooks that was painfully binding him, finishing the spell he had begun, shouting the finishing line in his incantation as a blast of searing white light shot forth from his wand towards Denloth.
The blinding light engulfed the area where Denloth was, sizzling the sands, melting everything in the area, turning the desert’s surface to glass.
The beam of light abruptly ended as Jadu’s wand fractured and exploded, blasting him back, ripping him free of most of the barbed hooks that had penetrated the superior layer of his skin.
He stood up, shook by the explosion, hand burned to hell, feeling tenderly along his face and holding his side where patches of skin had been ripped loose.
He stooped over the shale slabs to see that a deep depression of glazed glass melted down the slope of the crater like thick honey. The heat from the blast point caused him to reflexively recoil behind the rocks, away from the intense heat.
Hunching down behind the stone slab, he began to tend to his flayed skin, a few of the hex chains still in him.
The space just outside of the rock formation warped, and a Seam rift deposited Denloth’s mangled body out onto the sands.
Before Jadu could reach for his spell book, Denloth darkened the area around them as he slammed the butt of his staff against the stone, more hex chains shooting out from its ends into Jadu, these going deeper into his torso, stringing him up, yanking him to the center of the rock circle.
Denloth yelled, blood draining from his lacerated legs, his anguish and anger pressing his spell to other levels as the sand in the rock pit fell out. A torrent of flames came up, burning along the rock walls, black gusts of ashen heat rising up, scorching Jadu from below.
Demonic chants issued from within the hole. Hellfire and twisted limbs licked their way upwards to the suspended praven, his robes only doing so much to keep him from getting scorched.
He reached into his folds, producing his thin spell book, but as it came out, a streak of melted steel slammed into it, splashing molten metal across Jadu’s hands and face, sizzling into his skin, a globule of metal eating through his left eye as it baked inside its socket.
He screamed out in pain, writhing in the hellish bindings as demonic claws and embery hands began reaching up from the hell pit towards him.
Denloth held his obsidian ring out, reaching for the praven, a dark tendril of energy impacting him, connecting the two life forces as Denloth began to drain aether from the small body to himself, his legs mending slowly as the life slipped from Jadu into Denloth.
Jadu’s jaw went slack, and his body quickly withered as claws latched onto his ankles, yanking a few hooked barbs from his skin as he began to tear loose from his chains.
He threw a hand into his robes, grabbing whatever he could find within, pulling forth a bulbed, corked bottle, flinging it directly at the warlock’s surprised face, it shattering as it impacted his skull.
The green contents within slimed the man’s face and robes, a light green flame sparking to life as soon as it made contact with the air, the ghastly fire carpeting the glue-like surface as Denloth’s draining tether released, opening his mouth in horror as the substance quickly began to eat away all surface materials, robes, hair, skin.
He dropped his staff, holding his black ring aloft, glowing a bright magenta as the Seam began to warp around him, diamonds in time cutting the reality that locked his anguish in place.
Jadu reached for the warlock’s black staff that lay against the rocks, grabbing hold of it as he began chanting a spell of levitation.
The hellish hands retreated, and the sands filled in the pit as Jadu ripped free from the remaining hex ties, leaving him badly bloodied and mutilated as he touched down outside of the shale prison.
He caught one last glimpse with his one good eye the final images of Denloth’s white skull, eaten all the way to the bone, flicker one last time before the Seam swallowed him up to a distant plane of existence.
Jadu crouched down on all fours, attempting to stay conscious through the pain of his injuries as Zaren rode back over to his student, dismounting, putting a hand on the small praven�
��s back, causing him to wince in pain at first.
He spoke quiet words over the man, a warm, white glow easing over him, and Jadu relaxed, slumping to the side in a peaceful slumber.
“What was that? It took Naldurn to wherever it disappeared to,” Arie called to Zaren, coming to him for answers as she rushed over to their location.
“Will he be alright?” she asked, kneeling down to see serious wounds speckled all along the praven’s body.
Zaren stared blankly, deep in reflection over his pupil’s amazing progress through the short months he had trained him. Impressed he was with the man’s ingenuity, and proud in his victory over such a powerful warlock.
“Naldurn, Denloth, and his minion, all warped into the Seam. There is no way to know of their fate now. The Seam is a void that few can freely travel—not even I understand its paths.
“I would not hold hope for your companion. The Seam is likely her final resting place,” Zaren said in a restful voice, bending down to scoop Jadu up in his arms.
“As for this one. I’ll see to it that he recovers,” he said, looking to Arie.
“We’ve finished our task here. Your warlock is dead, or at least no longer a threat to you lot.
“Best of luck with Sha’oul. Though he is a powerful magus, Reza has proved herself resourceful in the past. The odds are not impossible that your band claims victory this night.”
Arie was about to plead for Zaren to stay and help, but the sands gusted around him as he turned, forcing her to turn away from the sudden gale wind.
When she turned back with squinted eyes to continue her plea, she found the robed man and bloodied praven had vanished, leaving her a ways out from the ruins, none left in the attachment that she had traveled there with.
The night grew dark now and the sound of battle raged within the walls, the pillars at its center lit red with energy and red lightning.
She picked up her bow and gave the blood stain along the sands where Naldurn had last stood a mournful stare.
Nocking an arrow, she rushed back to the ruins to support the gold tabards in their fight.
39
Terrible Might Along the Lines of Battle
Yozo’s curved blade slashed through the neck of a large arisen as it rushed at Revna, Alva and Jezebel flanking the two, keeping the sides clear as they pressed through an outcropping of enemies struggling to make their way into Captain Durmont’s main troop.
They could see that the Rochatan foot soldiers at the east side of the ruins were having troubles, and the horsemen along the west side of the perimeter were hard to spot at that point, the arisen so thick there.
“Watch out!” Yozo yelled as he dodged out of the way of a charging, massive arisen, seemingly constructed of many bodies merged together.
His warning was enough to allow Revna time to rush to the side with Jezebel, but Alva slid to the ground, hacking into its shin as it rushed past towards the Fort Wellspring troops, toppling its large frame into the sand, soldiers at the front of the line taking the opportunity to chop into it with their weapons, dismembering it quickly.
“They’re getting bigger,” Yozo called back over his shoulder to the saren, Revna preparing a spell of light as Jezebel ran up to Yozo’s side to help him contend against the next wave of arisen.
“Two more!” Yozo called out to Jezebel whose resolute stance told him she’d be by his side for this one.
The two hulks that lumbered towards them were larger than the last one, a good ten-feet tall each. They came in fast, their long strides bringing them to the puny combatants that stood in their way quickly.
A huge bone club swung in towards Jezebel, attempting to swat her out of the way, her shield smacking the side of it at the last second. She jumped to the side as she brought in her sword to cleanly chop into its heel, unraveling the tendons that held it together, causing it to stumble on the exposed bone stump. It turned then, realizing too late the threat that it had underestimated.
She stood ready for the fight with the goliath, loaded on her heels, ready to spring.
Yozo dodged to the side of the rampaging hulk, rushing in behind the charging arisen, jumping onto its back before it could get too far along.
It swung a hand back, trying to swat the nuisance that had latched onto it from behind, but came back with only a stump for an arm as Yozo cut through its wrist.
It spun around wildly, attempting to fling the man off of it, dizzying Yozo, but not succeeding in detaching the man from its shoulders.
Alva hacked into its stomach and thighs as it focused on the nuisance on its back, slowly losing control of its functioning body parts.
It flailed madly, frustrated with the two harrying swords, smacking its bone club all along the ground around it, slamming into Alva’s shield arm, sending her flying, dazed and reeling, flinging Yozo off now as one twerk proved too violent for him to keep a good grip along the thing’s fleshy muscles
Revna held her staff up, the tip glowing a bright white as it shot a beam of light into the monstrosity’s face, burning through flesh as it backed away, holding its remaining hand and stump arm in front to block the burning light from eating through its skull.
Alva and Yozo recovered, rushing in, Alva slicing halfway through its hamstring, bending it backwards as bones cracked, the muscle no longer holding its weight. Yozo followed up with a slash that cut cleanly through the back of its neck as it came down, causing it to go limp instantly, nothing then but a massive heap of rotten flesh.
Jezebel jumped back, avoiding the club swing all together, knowing now that blocking with her shield was going to do little to blunt the massive blow.
She jumped and dodged once more as it lumbered on its stump leg towards her, swinging again, but overextending itself without a foot to balance on. It came down on a knee as she slashed into its club hand, causing it to drop the bone, snatching out at her.
It tore her shield from her arm as the other lacerated hand reached for her head, but she slashed it aside, cutting through the forearm. She batted it down with her blade, lunging at it in a gambit, moving in to swing at the thing’s head.
Her sword slammed into the large, bloated cranium, but didn’t quite crack through bone as she wound up for another smack, the thing’s other hand coming in to restrain her before she got her second swing, the arm with the broken hand tightening around her waist as she attempted to flee.
She was bound up, and the goliath began to squeeze, crushing into her armor as it opened its mouth, about to bite into her head.
At the last moment, another beam of light lit into its exposed back, crackling the skin open instantly as it threw its victim away, turning to rush towards the source of light to snuff it out.
Yozo was there in a flash, slashing through its knee joint, toppling it to the ground as Alva came in immediately after, stabbing through the back of its skull, cracking open its head as ooze gurgled free from its fleshy shell.
A rush of arisen stumbled past the downed corpses, forcing Yozo and the rest back to rejoin the main body of Durmont’s troops as their right flank was hit hard by the press of walking corpses, more goliaths coming in from the back of the line to make their way towards the fight.
A creature, a huge rack of antlers dipping low, scooping up soldiers as it flung men behind enemy lines to get mauled by the arisen behind, tore through the frontline of troops joined by two titan flesh behemoths, each smashing past both infantry and mounted soldiers alike, flattening those who dared challenge their charge.
Riders rushed in through the southern front; not Durmont’s men, or Rochatans, but another faction Yozo knew to be of the Plainstate.
Yozo smiled, suspecting it was the efforts of Fin that resulted in the timely arrival of the Plainstate’s much needed reinforcements.
The right line was being bolstered by the riders, relieving Yozo and the saren from their positions to make their way through the front line, headed towards the large beasts that were sending soldiers flying, leveli
ng a whole squadron of men with their massive club arms, each pincushioned with arrows, spears, and other shafts.
“Alva, Jez, take care of the one on the right. I’ll handle the left,” Yozo shouted, the two saren pushing through the line of men that were backing up away from the flesh golem’s destructive arm span.
It grabbed for a soldier, gripping him tight suddenly, crunching ribs, then slammed him to the ground broken as it swiped for another soldier that had lunged too close on the attack.
It grabbed ahold of the soldier’s sword, snapping the blade in its grasp as it lunged towards the unarmed man, scaring the line of men back a few steps as they gave ground.
A flutter of white lights hovered over the crowd, flitting towards the raging arisen, catching its attention just before the hovering lights pocked into its side, ripping holes in its skin as the thing recoiled, now aware of how dangerous the wispy lights were.
Alva and Jezebel broke through the line, one swinging at the front of its left leg, and the other at the back, both delivering solid blows with their blades to its supporting base, rotten sinew and muscle popping loose from its frame as the thing became off balance.
It frantically swung away at the lights that flickered about it, triggering the rest to explode, ripping its left arm up as it fell back to the ground.
The soldiers moved in all at once, sticking it in the head with spears, slashing at its limbs and core, Alva and Jezebel helping to lead the charge.
Yozo pushed through the line of horses that trotted worriedly back, giving space to the other goliath that had been gutting horses and their riders, ripping limbs free from their bodies brutally and with speed that made the front line hesitant to get close to, giving ground to the beast freely.
Yozo broke through the front line, surprising both sides, the men along horseback watching the lone man rush forward, the giant clapping its hands together in an attempt to snatch the small creature.
Yozo ducked under the tremendous hands that were half as large as he was, rolling forward through the thing’s legs, barely dodging the arisen’s shuffling feet as it attempted to see where the little one had gotten to.