Kezra did not waste the opportunity. She leaned over him, gripped his head and plunged her thumbs to the knuckles into his eyes.
As the Demon yowled and his legs kicked, threatening to sweep across and smash into the charging animal, Corbett held Donalt and Felicity even more tightly to him.
‘No fun at all.’ he said, then laughed a little, and they were gone.
If Francis had realised that she would plough into the three adventurers she didn’t show it. Andreton had shouted to her to
‘TURN TURN TURN!
But she didn’t.
And a moment after she reached the point where Felicity, Corbett and Donalt would have been undoubtedly smashed and crushed to a pulp they appeared on her back. As they exited the dimension that Wizards crossed when teleporting Corbett grabbed onto her thick hair.
‘Valeran!’ He shouted. ‘Hold them!’
The Cleric was stunned for a moment, then realised that Donalt and Felicity were here, with him, and about to slide off the back of the great Steppe-beast as it thundered on.
He stretched over Dorian and Daisy, hoping they wouldn’t mind his imposition and that he caused no further harm to the Ranger. His old but sturdy hands grasped at the clothing on the Sorceress and the Rogue. They all began to bounce as Francis mounted the steps of the Gate, her heavy hooves chipping the finely cut blocks and sending a sprays of ice flying about her.
Corbett looked back and saw Kezra. She was awesome, horrible, terrifying and yet truly beautiful. Her mouth opened. An impossibly large maw stretched revealing sabre-like teeth that gleamed white against her ebony skin. She clamped her mouth down onto Moloch’s head and tore the top of it off with a single wrench.
‘Ohhhhh. I did not need to see that.’ Corbett said.
An eruption of black something’s issued from the Demons opened skull. The something’s flickered, almost like bats wings flapping in a chaotic swarm, and then Moloch began to become insubstantial.
The speed of the Demon’s demise staggered Corbett. In an instant it had gone from there, to not there. Only a thin fog of black vapours remained where it had knelt before Kezra.
Corbett stared at the Demon that had occupied his mind for so long that he could barely imagine a time that she had not been there, driving him crazy with her almost insane optimism and worry over his actions and his health.
At first, he couldn’t reconcile his Kezra with what was behind them, a monster, a Duke of Hell, Anath.
But as she looked towards him, and she too dropped to her knees, her power exhausted, he saw care and kindness in the smile she gave him and truly did recognise his companion. No less a companion than Spyra was to Dorian, or Andreton to Donalt. Tears welled up in his cynical old eyes because he had spent so long wandering about without friends and now realised that he had one with him all along. And she had sacrificed herself for him. And he knew he didn’t deserve such friendship.
Kezra faded as the Abyss drew her back to it.
‘Ve go in!’ Andreton shouted back to them. ‘Ze Gate!’
Corbett turned to look and Valeran raised his head as best he could while using his entire body to keep the others clamped to the back of Francis.
Corbett blinked as Spyra suddenly appeared on the chest of Dorian. It was covered in blood which was definitely not its own. Clearly it had been doing its bit to protect its friend before he and Valeran had reached him. Scout squawked as it flew over, banked, and then perched upon Steppe-beasts head, leaning into to the wind like a fucking awesome hood ornament.
The portal of the Gate loomed closer and as they neared, the twisting, changing colours of it radiated outwards and illuminated the party, or at least what was left of it. Corbett and Valeran felt a swell of magical Essence as they closed in, and the Cleric, refreshed by the surge of energy into his system called upon his Gods to offer them thanks, especially to Zebedy, God of Tight Spots. As the magical energy surged into Corbett he soaked it up, it flooded into every fibre of his being. The Gate was an incredible source of magic and he realised why the Demon Moloch didn’t want them near it. With this kind of charge inside him he was sure he could have dialled his attacks to eleven and toasted that foul bastard’s arse.
Felicity began to stir.
With Moloch’s link broken she was now able to return to her own mind and her consciousness began to swim to the surface.
‘It’s ok Fliss.’ Corbett said, not unkindly. ‘You’ve missed the party, but you can help with the cleaning up.
‘Moloch.’ She said, ‘He’s here!’
‘Oh, he certainly was here.’ Corbett said. ‘We were introduced and…’
Corbett felt a movement in his mind. He recognised it instantly. It was Carl.
‘Excuse a moment would you.’ He said, ignoring Felicity’s widening eyes when she finally saw the Gate in front of them.
‘Where the fuck have you been!’ Corbett mentally demanded.
‘Sorry mate, you wouldn’t believe what I’ve been through trying to find out about that Moloch fella. Listen, you won’t believe this but it’s the actual Moloch, like a fucking Prince of Hell!’
‘We know, you satanic bell-end. We’ve been fighting it for the last hour! Corbett snapped.
‘Oh… Really? Well, anyway, listen… Hey, have you seen Kezra?’ Carl asked, and then quickly continued, ‘Doesn’t matter, listen whatever you do don’t go through that fucking Gate.’
‘What?’ Corbett said out loud.
‘What?’ Valeran said, thinking he had been addressed.
‘The Gate.’ The Demon said excitedly, ‘Don’t go through it. It’s a…’
‘You’re going to say death trap aren’t you.’ Corbett said evenly.
‘Here ve goooooooo!’ Andreton shouted with absolute delight as Francis plunged them into the Gate’s portal.
As the party entered the radiance emanating from it grew even brighter for a moment and then returned to its twisting, colourful pattern. Then, after few more seconds fissures began to streak through its structure. The magically enhanced ice cracked and shattered and as shards fell from its columns and the steps before it splintered the portal began to lose its colour, and finally it popped out of existence.
End Credits scene
The vast dome of God Magic surrounding the area began to dissipate and a natural flurry of snow was able to sweep in from the mountain, the one that Donalt had drawn like a cat. It began to hide away the many dozens of Orc and Warg corpses littering the plain and as the heavy snowflakes whirled around the remains of the Gate a figure appeared. He was tall and slim but was padded with furs from exotic animals that once lived in similar freezing climates.
He walked towards the dissolving Gate and smiled. It had gone very well. Just the right amount of chaos to make it dangerous, yet fun. The figure held out its hand palm up and gazed into a ball of light that appeared above it. In the sphere there was an image. The great Steppe-beast the adventurers called Francis chewed upon lush green grass all around it. The Healer, Valeran, tended to the injured party. Such was his skill that the badly injured Ranger was already sitting up, and the Rogue too was able to walk although with a mild limp. He noticed that the Cleric now had a staff, someone had picked up the Rogue’s handiwork and fastened it to the cow’s harness. He smiled. No one appeared to have noticed this little inconsistency. The Rogue wasn’t the only one capable of sly actions in the heat of a battle. He smiled.
The Wizard sat with the Sorceress. They were talking without either of them jabbing fingers at the other as the Warrior came walking towards them, having appeared from the tree-line of a vast forest. Across his mighty shoulders was a deer. An old animal that had lived a full life in the forest and that must now take its part in the circle of life and death that all living things were subject too. The little Blink-Dog slinked in and out of the fighter’s legs then looked up excitedly as Andreton came near. What an impressive example of her species this ‘Daisy’ was.
He thought that perhaps he might try his
luck at seducing her
some time, what fine children she would bring to the world, especially if blessed with his talents. He tilted his palm a little and the sphere moved past the group as they rested and recovered and swept over the verdant landscape until the patchwork of fields was replaced by an even more vast and dense forest than the one in which the Warrior had sought their meal.
The Trees here were huge, taller than any church steeple and at the centre of it was a building with a tower, and that tower seemed to reach in to the clouds. Its masonry was dark and heavily weathered, and it cast a sombre shadow onto the grounds around it.
Loki closed his palm and nodded. That was a very apt Quest for this group of individuals.
The Cleric had asked for his help, and he had given it. But there was a price to be paid for the assistance of a God and Loki’s currency was always entertainment. He decided that while this had all been a good show the balance was not quite settled. He clicked his fingers and moved through time and space to get a better view. He was ready to wager with the other Gods that this was going to be a good one.
The End
Other books by Eddie Skelson
Crowley: The Ravensblack Affair
Crowley: Mad Dogs and Englishmen
Crowley: By Day and By Night
Crowley: Crowley’s Last Stand
Winter Falls
Superhero City
The Whitby Horror and Other Tales
The Lemonade Brothers
The Lemonade Brothers 2: Dawn of the Dave
A Ballet of Bullets
Audio Books
Superhero City
Crowley: The Ravensblack Affair
* * *
[1] Michael Bay movies are another good example
[2] See: Star Trek – Holodeck episodes
[3] Pretty much everyone born in the late sixties hopes to get to one with David Bowie still rocking it out.
[4] Also called Fanny Magic
[5] Like alchemist stores, wizard schools tended to be set away from buildings… and people
[6] The exact same thing occurs in marketing agencies.
[7] Donalt has been robbed at least fifteen times while alseep
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