“I thought the only way to really kill a demon, soul and all, was with a trueblade,” Evelyn said.
“The lower level demonic spirits like the Pukwudgie can’t jump bodies like the high and medium level demons that inhabit the bodies of the Tainteds,” Eve replied, “When you kill the bodies of lower level demons, the spirits eventually just fade away and become noncorporeal energy.”
“Is everyone okay?” Cai asked.
“We all have our share of cuts and bruises, but nothing major.” Cadell said. “You forced the Pukwudgie to fight us on our terms. The only advantage they really had then was numbers.”
“Let’s get moving,” Cai said. “Blackwell didn’t send the Pukwudgie to stop us, just slow us down. The real fight hasn’t started yet.”
Chapter Fourteen
The snow returned and the wind intensified to near blizzard-like as the group pushed toward South Island. The blowing snowflakes became tiny projectiles and the wind howling through the trees was now an almost deafening roar. The swamp itself seemed to have sided against the Selkirks. Josh and Cadell each took one of Eve’s arms to help her struggle forward through the stinging wind and pelting snow. Inches of snow accumulated within minutes, making each step laborious.
“Eve isn’t going to last much longer,” Cadell yelled of the wind’s howling. “This weather isn’t natural,” he added. “Chepi, is there anything you can do?”
“I can try, but it’s the dark spirits of the swamp causing the wind. I can feel them,” the Wampanoag replied. “They’re helping Blackwell, feeding off the power his warlock is drawing through the ley-lines!”
“Do what you can!” Cai shouted.
Chepi stopped closed her eyes and began a chant. After a few seconds the wind’s speed only increased. Coming from one direction and then another, the wind seemed to have become a living creature which Chepi had just enraged. Her chant became louder as she redoubled her effort, pitting her force of will against the ephemeral spirits that haunted the swamp. Finally she was almost screaming her chant, forcing the words out as the brutal wind tried to cram them back down her throat. Suddenly a great gust of wind carried her off her feet and hurled her toward a particularly large tree. Callum made a mid-air interception, placing himself between Chepi and the tree.
Chepi hit Callum and Callum hit the tree. They both thudded to the ground and Chepi did not move. Callum crawled to her. “She’s alive!” he announced, “but it looks like she’ll be out for a while,” he added, taking the unconscious woman into his arms. “What about you?” Cai asked Callum.
Callum put a hand on his left side. “I might have cracked a couple of ribs,” he replied. “It felt like something slowed me down just before I hit the tree.”
Boys, I’m with you, a voice said in Selkirk’s minds.
“It’s mom,” Cai shouted. “She’s going to help us get through the storm.”
Cadell took Eve into his arms and looked at Evelyn and Josh. “Mom is going to protect us from the storm. Stay close to me or one of my brothers. Mom will use her family connection to us to direct her power,” he instructed. First the frigid air was warmed by Astrid’s projected power, then the wind and snow were deflected away from the Selkirks and their friends by an invisible wall of magical power.
“Okay,” Cai said, pointing to the island. “Let’s go.”
Protected by their mother’s magic, the Selkirks trudged through the swamp as the magic-fueled blizzard raged around them. Finally they reached the plateau of higher, drier ground. Climbing the bank, the Selkirks found that the weather was calm over the island itself, much like the eye of a hurricane. Cadell set Eve on her feet and Callum laid the still-unconscious Chepi next to her. “Take care of her,” Callum said to Eve before following his brother into the interior of the island.
Hiking quickly to the island’s center, they found their enemies were already far into the process of unlocking
Solomon’s vessel. Lines of magical force were crisscrossing the sky hundreds of feet overhead and beginning to bend toward the ground, where Blackwell’s human form and the warlock, with a crude wooden prosthetic in place of his portal-severed leg, stood facing each other and surrounded by dozens of Tainteds. Looming over them all of them was another gigantic human shape.
The giant was well over twelve feet tall, red-haired with six-fingers on each hand. He held a spear with an elongated leaf-shaped head and a long wooden shaft. The giant’s hair extended to its waist in a matted tangle. It saw the Selkirks as they approached and roared a warning, exposing two rows of massive teeth. It charged, bellowing out an ear-splitting war cry. The Tainted guards were only steps behind. Blackwell and the warlock remained, unmoving.
Cadell targeted the giant and Evelyn and Josh instantly followed him. Cai immediately rushed toward Blackwell and the warlock as Callum, Colm and Christian cleared the Tainteds out of his path. Above the battle, the ley lines, supercharged with magic, grew brighter and broader, bowing farther toward the warlock and Blackwell as they murmured the spell that would bring that power into them. The warlock held Solomon’s vessel, Blackwell wore the ring on a chain around his neck and sparks of magical power were flowing between the two ancient artifacts. Both deep in a spell casting trance, they were oblivious to the battle that had been joined around them.
The giant’s spear head swished over Cadell’s head and he darted underneath the monster’s sweeping blow to slash the monster across his left thigh. Evelyn had circled behind while it was focused on Cadell and she landed a two-handed chop to the giant’s right calf while Josh managed a shallow cut to its left calf. It seemed unconcerned about its wounds and spun its spear into another attack on Cadell. He evaded a spear thrust aimed at his chest but was caught squarely by the giant’s sandaled right foot and sent in a uncontrolled, tumbling flight that ended with a head-over-heels roll that impacted against a tree.
Ignoring Evelyn and Josh, the red-haired goliath charged at Cadell as he was fighting to regain his feet. Rolling away from another spear thrust, Cadell brought his sword across the spear’s shaft and cut nearly halfway through it. He launched himself upward, bringing both knees to his chest as he leaped. He brought both feet down on the part of the spear’s shaft he had cut with his sword, snapped it almost exactly in half and then rolled out of his opponent’s reach. The giant roared as he looked at the two parts of the ruined spear, discarded them and drew a giant-sized knife from his belt.
Chapter Fifteen
Evelyn ducked beneath the giant’s sword, cut it across the back of its left ankle and then darted away. Josh came from behind and sliced the beast across its lower back, rolling out of range of its counterattack just as Cadell came from the right to cut deeply into its side. The giant had many wounds on its legs and body, and it was swinging its huge knife about, almost randomly, in an attempt to deal with the hit-and-run tactics Cadell and the others were using.
Cadell’s last cut passed just beneath the ribcage and had reached the internal organs. Purple/red blood was flowing freely and splashing out of the wound in all directions as the giant flailed about in its continuing attempts to strike his enemies. Josh rushed in again and cut another deep gash into the giant’s right calf. The cut flayed open the muscle and bit into the bone beneath. As Josh retreated, Cadell attacked the same leg and severed some of the ankle’s tendons. Evelyn came from the left and chopped the giant behind its right knee. It dropped onto that knee but still flailed about with both arms in pain-fueled rage. Josh moved in from behind in hopes of delivering the killing blow.
The giant turned with surprising speed and tackled Josh, throwing him onto his back. Straddling him, the giant pinned Josh beneath its massive form. The sheer weight of the giant upon him squeezed the breath from Josh’s lungs even as a six-fingered hand threatened to crush his throat. The giant raised its sword-sized knife, ready to plunge it through Josh’s chest. Josh’s struggles began to weaken quickly as his face began to turn blue.
The giant’s blade was coming
down to administer the deathblow just as Cadell’s broadsword flashed across the knife arm and severed it at mid-forearm. The giant reared back and rolled away from Josh, holding the blood spewing stump of its arm. Its back arched up and it released Josh’s throat, roaring its defiance at Cadell. Evelyn charged in with a primal war cry and drove the edge of her longsword into the monster’s throat without breaking stride.
Her momentum sent the beyond-razor-sharp blade through the flesh of the neck and through to the spine, leaving the giant’s mammoth head dangling from a bit of flesh on the back of its neck. The nearly headless body teetered on its knees for several seconds, as though the body had to realize that the head was gone, then thudded, lifeless, to the ground.
Cadell helped Josh sit up. “Are you okay?” Cadell asked his friend.
“I don’t think anything’s broken,” Josh replied, his voice raspy and strained from his damaged throat. “I think I might actually be flatter, though,” he added, feeling his own ribs gingerly.
Evelyn and Cadell helped Josh to his feet. “Come on,” Cadell said, running to where his brothers were battling a score of Tainteds. “We still have work to do.”
The last of Blackwell’s Tainted guards fell to Callum’s greatsword, and the Selkirks rallied to Cai where he stood just outside the magical barrier protecting Blackwell. Colm knelt and examined the ground at the barrier’s perimeter. He observed a circle of dark gray and black power. “Ash and sulfur,” he announced. “I doubt we can breach this barrier without mom and Helen’s help. Maybe we can channel mom’s power like we did to get through the blizzard.”
Cai shook his head. “No,” he said. “We’d need a mage here with us to take down something like this.” He turned to Callum. “Cal, go see if we can get Chepi back on her feet.”
“I might be able to do it,” Cadell said. “I’m a Seventh and I can use magic, I’ve just never bothered to develop that skill. But I’m just channeling power, so I might be able to make it work. I’ve gotten good enough at the healer caste’s telepathy to contact mom from here.”
Then everyone’s eyes were drawn upward as the ley lines flashed and arched further toward Blackwell and the warlock.
“Try it,” Cai consented. “If Chepi gets back into the fight, she can help you.”
Cadell closed his eyes and reached out to his mother with his mind. When her thoughts answered, he explained the situation that he and his brothers currently found themselves in.
You’re not trained to handle that kind of power. His mother thought to him. Evelyn had an amulet to filter the power when she brought down the wards at Blackwell’s house, but you’ll have taken all of it into your body. It could hurt you.
Let it hurt, Cadell replied. There’s no choice. “Stand back,” Cadell warned the group. “Mom’s about to send the magic, and I might not be able to focus it too well.”
Cadell closed his eyes and opened himself to his mother’s magic. In seconds, his body was surrounded by a swirling blue and white light that rapidly grew to a blinding intensity. Seconds later, tendrils of magical energy lashed out at the barrier circle. Cadell’s body jerked and his back arched. He forced himself not to scream. The magic poured into his body and out of it through twisting ribbons of light that broke against the magical wall protecting Blackwell. Cadell’s face was twisted in agony.
“Maybe we should try something else,” Callum said, hating the sight of his youngest brother’s pain.
Cai stepped between Callum and Cadell. “No,” he insisted. “There’s nothing else we can do.”
“There’s something else I can do,” Evelyn proclaimed. Before anyone could protest, she took Cadell’s hand.
She screamed for herself and for Cadell. Astrid’s magic flowed through Cadell into her, then assailed the barrier. Cai and the others were forced farther away from the barrier and had to avert their eyes as the clashing magical energy took on a nearly sun-like brightness. The pain lessened and Cadell looked toward Evelyn, who had also found new resolve. There was still pain, but it was now borne by two. Evelyn tightened her grip on Cadell’s hand and the flow through them increased. Cadell felt Helen’s presence with the magic coursing through them. He pulled Evelyn to his side. Blackwell’s barrier flashed out of existence.
At the same moment, the ley lines were drawn into contact with Blackwell and the warlock. In the next moment, Blackwell inserted the top of the ring into Solomon’s vessel as the warlock held it with both hands. A seam appeared in the vessel’s center and the smell of sulfur and burning flesh filled the air. Seconds later, monstrous diabolic forms took shape all around the vessel. They roared in unison and then set upon the Selkirks.
As before, the Selkirks and their friends formed a circle and met the demons’ attack. “Show your sigils!” Cai ordered, cutting through a demon’s arm as it reached for his throat.
The Selkirks and Evelyn allowed the angelic marks in their palms to flare and become visible. The light from each of the Blessed formed overlapping circles of luminance and their combined power held the demons at bay. The beasts waited at the edge of the angelic light, occasionally testing its strength. Behind them, standing apart, was a goat-headed six-eyed demon with cloven hooves and large, bat-like wings.
It stood and watched impassively as the other demons circled the besieged Blessed Warriors. Blackwell and the warlock approached it but its eyes did not leave the Selkirks. “Father,” Blackwell said. “You’re free!” he said, kneeling at the feet of the goat-headed beast, “Azazel is free!” he exclaimed in the direction of Cadell and his brothers.
The warlock was also kneeling. “We are yours to command, Great One.”
Azazel seized the warlock’s head in its huge, three-clawed hands and ripped it from his shoulders. “And serve me you shall,” he said, clawing through the flesh in the neck and scooping out a handful of brain from the warlock’s head, which it swallowed in one gulp while absorbing the warlock’s spiritual energy.
“And who are these soon-to-be dead wretches?” Azazel asked, gesturing toward the Selkirks with a gore dripping hand.
“Servants of Uriel,” Blackwell spat.
“You are a good, son,” Azazel said. “You’ve brought me entertainment and a snack.” He swallowed another mouthful of the warlock’s brain.
“We can’t hold them like this forever.” Cadell said.
“We have to get the ring,” Cai proclaimed. “We have to use it to force them back into the vessel.”
“Sure,” Christian quipped. “I’ll just walk over there and ask Blackwell for it.”
“Get ready to break out of the circle,” Cadell said, taking Evelyn’s hand. “We’re going to call Uriel’s power.” He squeezed her hand more tightly. “I know you haven’t done this before, but you just have to open yourself up. Let the power come to you.”
With that, Cadell took a deep breath and called the archangel’s power. First his hand sigils flared even brighter, then that light spread to his body and finally to Evelyn. His eyes transformed into pools of white, pulsating light. He looked to Evelyn and met the same shining eyes. The demons in front of two Sevenths were forced farther back by the angelic light. Some were seared as it touched them.
Cadell’s voice rolled through the air like a wave of force. “Get the ring!” Cadell said, before rushing into the mass of demons before him with Evelyn at his side. Surprised, the front rank of the besieging demons fell quickly as the Blessed formed their own ranks and attacked. Evelyn and Cadell took the lead as they tried to cut their way to Blackwell and Azazel. With Uriel’s power surging though them, they forced a gap in the circle of greater demons. Still badly outnumbered, the Selkirks fought through their enemies with fatalistic resolve.
“Christian, Colm, watch our backs!” Cai ordered, withdrawing his gore-covered sword from a demon’s eye socket. “Josh, get the vessel! The rest of us will go after the ring!”
“These demons are still weak after being in the vessel,” Colm advised, ramming his blade into the belly
of another demon. “But they’ll feed off the bad mojo of the swamp. We have to get this done fast!”
Cadell and Evelyn progressed more quickly toward Blackwell and Azazel. They watched as Azazel took Solomon’s ring from Blackwell and took flight. The winged demon swooped over the trees and circled above the battlefield several times before diving through the trees and raking Christian and Colm with its clawed hands, leaving both men sprawled on the ground with deep, wide wounds on their shoulders and backs. The other demons closed in on them, forcing Cai to abandon his fight forward and come to their defense.
“Azazel has the ring!” Cadell informed his brothers.
“He’s airborne!”
Cadell and Evelyn pressed in on Blackwell. With his Tainteds dead and the vessel’s demons fixated on Josh and the three Selkirk brothers, he was forced to confront the two Sevenths alone. He reverted to his true, horrible form. “No matter what happens, Blackwell dies,” Cadell ordered.
“Right,” Evelyn relied.
Cadell and Evelyn attacked at the same instant. Cadell rushed for a frontal assault while Evelyn flanked to the left. With his speed and strength augmented by Uriel’s power, Cadell batted away the Blackwell thing’s sword as it tried to defend itself. Cadell’s broadsword slashed Blackwell twice across the belly, nearly finding the spinal cord. Evelyn rushed in from the left side and pushed her rune-engraved longsword into the demon’s torso underneath the right arm. The sword’s point pierced almost effortlessly through Blackwell’s body until it appeared in the left armpit. Cadell severed the tendons behind both of Blackwell’s knees, forcing him to kneel even as Evelyn twisted her blade to widen the already-massive wound it had made.
“Azazel!” Cadell screamed, “Come get your kid!” Cadell rammed his blade through the back of Blackwell’s skull until its tip protruded from an eye-socket.
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