XVII
"What do we do now?"
"Perhaps we could parley," Wyszemir suggested with a smirk, glancing over to Tara. The sorceress' eyes were already shining with fear, but the necromancer had no time or initiative to calm the young woman's nerves before the Plague Bearers reached them. Only a yard or so past the sorceress, Xaviar held his shield and scepter at the ready, waiting for the imminent attack as he gauged his party's chances of winning against the Dark Elder and its minions.
"Whatever we're going to do, I think we'd better do it soon," Stasya pointed out, gesturing with her kris blade to the shapes moving in from the road. "The Marauders and Night Tigers are catching up to us!"
"This is going to get messy," Snowhammer remarked, hefting his maul as the counted the ever increasing number of Plague Bearers pulling themselves out of the sand.
"Stasya, try to slow the Marauders down," Xaviar ordered, gesturing with his scepter to the oncoming demons. Stasya turned a blank expression on the paladin, amazed that he would suggest she try to tackle the mass of Marauders and Night Tigers on her own. "No heroics, just hold them off for a few minutes before falling back to us."
"Are you out of your mind?" Stasya demanded. Xaviar shook his head.
"No, I'm ridiculously outnumbered," the paladin replied. "Just do what you can."
"What does he think I am, a miracle worker?" the assassin complained, looking to Wyszemir as Xaviar turned to meet the tide of undead.. The necromancer shrugged.
"Just do what you can, dear," Wyszemir said, barely paying attention to his companion. The necromancer's eyes were already focused on the Dark Elder and the twisted wand in its hand. Predictably, Xaviar and Snowhammer were both ready to meet the Plague Bearers head on, while Tara was preparing her ice spells to cover them. That left only Wyszemir and Stasya to cover the flank. "I'll lend you some skeletons, if you need them."
"Gee, thanks," Stasya muttered, turning back to her battle. Wyszemir absently nodded in assent, and started into his spells.
Without anyone to help her, Stasya would be in serious trouble. The necromancer watched as she drew and hurled two of her throwing knives, spitting out an amplify damage curse on the intended target even as the spinning blades burst into flames. The enchanted weapons struck their target just as the curse took effect, and the Night Tiger fell dead to the ground. Stasya was already throwing at her next target as Wyszemir pointed his wand to the corpse, drawing the bones from the fallen demon to create the first of his skeletal mages. A second Night Tiger fell to Stasya's throwing knives as Wyszemir's construct joined the fray, throwing off crackling balls of electricity at its former comrades. Stasya darted forward, into the shadows to take on the Night Tigers sneaking through the ruins and leaving a hole for the Marauders to exploit, but Wyszemir's blood golem rose from the ground before the four armed demons could exploit the breach. Wyszemir threw off one more amplify damage curse as the Marauders met up with his construct, then turned to the Plague Bearers attacking his other allies.
The Dark Elder was barely visible lurking at the edge of a ruined building, but Wyszemir found his target almost instantly despite the gloom. The necromancer began stalking forward intently, pausing only to bring a second skeleton mage to life to join him. Sensing the new threat, the Dark Elder turned to the death mage, its hollow eye sockets almost aglow with a sullen, sickly green light as it summoned more Plague Bearers to its side.
"Take him," the Dark Elder rasped, its harsh whisper carrying over the sounds of battle around them. Wyszemir smiled grimly as the Plague Bearers started forward to obey their liege's command.
The Plague Bearers moved with deceptive speed, but Wyszemir was still the faster. Yet another amplify damage curse fell on his enemies as they closed the distance, guiding the skeleton mage's fireballs in on their targets with devastating accuracy. Wyszemir followed the curse with his own bone spears, the ghostly lances tearing through three or four opponents at a time. Two Plague Bearers fell almost instantly under the onslaught, but Wyszemir was quick to add them to his own ranks as skeletal warriors armed with maces and round shields. Within moments half of the Dark Elder's entourage had been destroyed, and Wyszemir was swiftly strengthening his own small force of skeletons with the crumbling corpses of the Plague Bearers.
The Dark Elder took action then, jabbing forward with the wand in its hand at Wyszemir's lead skeletons. More bone spears tore through the ranks, but this time it was the Dark Elder's spells smashing Wyszemir's constructs. The necromancer worked quickly to raise more skeletons from the remains of the Plague Bearers, but the Dark Elder matched him bone spear for summoning. Within seconds the ground between the two was littered with the shattered, useless bones of the destroyed skeletons and Plague Bearers as the last of the constructs fell to the two necromancers' spells.
"Join me," the Dark Elder hissed out, its eyes locked onto the death mage. Slowly it pointed to Xaviar, locked in battle with a half dozen determined Plague Bearers. "They will destroy you as a heretic, as my people once did to me. Join me, necromancer. It is your only hope."
"You brought your curse upon yourself," Wyszemir pointed out, taking a step forward. The necromancer raised his bone shield slightly, poised for a renewed attack.
"You want to acquire the knowledge of the Plague Bearers," the Dark Elder continued.
"Join me, and destroy the humans. In return, I will teach you the lore you desire."
"I can simply destroy you, and pry the knowledge from your spirit," Wyszemir countered, a faint smirk coming to his face. The Dark Elder's rotting face twisted into a horrid sneer.
"Then you shall die!" the undead lord spat, its harsh voice cutting through Wyszemir's mind with a curse of terror. The necromancer struggled to keep his fear in check under the weight of the spell, but the moment of hesitation was all the time the Dark Elder needed. Wyszemir threw off the terror curse just as the ruins around the elder disappeared into an inky, unnatural darkness from a dim vision curse, but the death mage could not take time to try and reverse the spell as the first ghostly bone spear shot through the gloom. Wyszemir managed to turn his shield into the blast before it hit him, deflecting the worst of the magical missile, but within moments the Dark Elder had launched a full barrage against his foe. Wyszemir stumbled to one knee as his bone shield began to splinter under the onslaught, wincing in pain as the bone spears tore across the shoulders of his chain mail or ripped lines of blood across his legs. With a final effort the necromancer shoved himself back to his feet and cast a volley of teeth to buy himself some time, but as the unnatural darkness ended the necromancer found the Dark Elder bearing down on him, its clawed hands ready to tear him limb from limb.
Wyszemir twisted out of the way at the last moment, giving up his battered shield to the Dark Elder's grasp as he tumbled wide of the Plague Bearer's claws. The necromancer rolled up to one knee, ignoring the pain of his injuries, just in time to launch a bone spear into the Dark Elder's chest at point blank range. The Dark Elder stumbled backwards as the ethereal bolt tore through him, giving Wyszemir the moment he needed to regain his footing and cast another amplify damage curse on his foe. The Dark Elder righted itself just in time to receive two more bone spears from the necromancer, driving it back to the crumbling wall of the ruins behind it. As the undead lord struggled to regain its balance against the wall, Wyszemir rushed forward, pinning the Plague Bearer to the wall with his broken shield. The two necromancers locked stern gazes with each other as Wyszemir drew his wand back, ready to summon another bone spear to finish the job.
"Who is the better death mage now?" Wyszemir inquired, glaring into the glowing eye sockets of the trapped demon. The Dark Elder spat out a curse in its long forgotten native tongue, but it could do little more as Wyszemir loosed his next bone spear down the undead monster's throat. As the bone spear tore through the Dark Elder, its body crumbled to dust, leaving nothing other than the wand it had used to defend itself. Slowly the necromancer knelt to pick up the weapon, running one hand gingerly along the smooth yew shaft. "Dust to dust, Dark Elder."
________________________________________________________________
If there had been time to complain, or someone to complain to, she would have done so with extremely colorful language.
Stasya hurried through the long gutted shell of another ruined house, dodging through the shadows in a lethal game of cat and mouse with the Night Tigers that pursued her. Wyszemir and the other had long since disappeared into the darkness, but the assassin had no time to worry about the fate of her companions as she eluded her nearly silent pursuers through the maze of ruins and the near total darkness. Wsyzemir's blood golem had stolen the Marauders' attention for only so long, but the spindly, four armed demons were already joining their feline allies in the hunt for the assassin as they stormed the ruins in loud contrast to the Night Tigers. With the sounds of a group of Marauders off to her left, Stasya moved quickly to her right as she tried to avoid the larger groups of demons.
Three Night Tigers met the assassin as she rounded the corner of the building. Both Stasya and the Night Tigers froze as they met, each one surprised to find the other there, but the shock lasted for only a moment before the four combatants exploded into action.
The Night Tigers drew their globes of choking gas and hurled them as quickly as they could, but Stasya was already moving. The assassin ducked under the volley and came up slashing, her poisonous kris blade tearing through the throat of the first cat warrior before it could react to the speedy fighter. Stasya never even waited for her first victim to hit the ground before she was on the move again, using the falling corpse as a ramp to leap over the second Night Tiger and attack the third. The last feline tried to draw the saber belted to its waist, but the second it needed to pull the blade from its sheath was more time than Stasya required to drive her kris through the bottom of the cat warrior's throat until the tip of the knife exploded through the top of the skull. The second Night Tiger turned on the assassin just as Stasya whirled back on it, driving the feline back and shattering its ribs with an explosive dragon tail kick.
The battle had taken only a few seconds, but the dying screams of the Night Tigers and the acrid smoke of the choking gas immediately notified the other demons of her presence. Stasya sprinted back into the ruins in search of a new place to hide, racing into the remains of what might have been a large temple at one time. The assassin hurried past the pillars and through the ruined, arched doorway, stopping just inside a huge, roofless chamber. At the other end of the flagstone floor were more than a dozen Marauders, their fanged mouths stretched into twisted grins as they raised their scimitars. Stasya turned back to the door just in time to see a pack of Night Tigers appear from the darkness, growling in anticipation of the kill. Stasya glanced around the hall quickly, searching for another route of escape, but her last option was to try climbing over the walls.
"So you are one of the children who defeated Steeltooth," one of the Marauders said, a amused tone in its almost noble voice. Stasya turned back to the four armed demons as a particularly tall Marauder stepped forward, carrying a beautiful silver scimitar in one of its hands. "How is it that he was you defeated him? You hardly seem threatening, little one."
"I'm full of surprises," Stasya answered, putting on a brave show in the face of the Marauder chieftain. The demon smiled at the bravado, displaying its huge canines.
"You may be, but you have not yet faced Icewight the Hunter," the Marauder said, still amused with the situation. The Marauder gestured casually to the assassin with its scimitar, signaling the end of the conversation. "Kill her."
The Night Tigers and Marauders both leapt to obey their liege's command, but before a single gas bomb could land Stasya had already acted. The dark hall was suddenly filled with flashes of brilliant light as the assassin dodged out of the way of the felines' bombs, leaving a trio of charged bolt traps in her place. The Night Tigers dropped back, recoiling from the electrical strikes, but the Marauders were already coming within striking distance as Stasya dropped back to one wall. With the Night Tigers still blocking the entrance and the Marauders so close to her, Stasya forgot about her ideas of escape and instead focused on her enemies.
The first Marauder lunged in almost carelessly, leaving its side exposed as it tried to finish the assassin with a single heavy chop. Stasya ducked low under the attack, driving forward with all her momentum and tearing a deep gash along the demon's exposed chest. As that Marauder tumbled forward, the assassin threw out a blade sentinel to her right, blocking off one flank as she turned to the demons on her left. The demons tried to circle her and pin her against the wall, but Stasya saw the ploy immediately and ducked between two of the Marauders, accepting a glancing slash to her shoulder to escape the ring.
Icewight was on her suddenly, moving with unnerving speed as he brought his scimitar down on her. Stasya threw up her buckler quickly to deflect the blow, but the Marauder chieftain's scimitar slammed into her shield with enough force to fold it along the edge of impact. The assassin scrambled away quickly as the demon rushed forward, trying to buy time with another trio of charged bolt traps. The devices sparked to life as the Marauders closed on her again, forcing Icewight's minions to take cover behind the fallen pillars and heaps of broken stone to avoid the arcs of electricity. Three of the charged bolts slammed into Icewight as it stalked forward, but the demon chief's only reaction was a cruel smile as the electricity crackled harmlessly along his body.
With the other demons distracted, Stasya took the moment of opportunity and lunged forward, her kris blade leading the way. Still gloating over her traps' ineffectiveness against it, Icewight was almost take off guard by the sudden, furious assault. The demon chieftain fell back as Stasya pounded furiously against the Marauder's defenses, praying that she would be able to end the battle before her charged bolt traps fizzled and died. The assassin drove low first, forcing Icewight to parry a number of attacks against its legs and lower chest, then used one of the broken pillars across the floor to spring up for an attack at the Marauder's face. Unprepared for the assassin's acrobatic fighting style, Icewight could not bring his scimitar in line in time, and the assassin rolled off the demon's side after scoring a long slash to its shoulder and chest. Icewight roared in pain as the poison from Stasya's kris penetrated its skin, but the Marauder became nothing if not more brutal. Almost as quickly as she had gained the upper hand, Stasya was again on the defensive, trying to use what was left of her buckler to fend off Icewight's scimitar. With every blow the Marauder's blade threw off a shower of ice and frost, chilling the assassin to the bone as she tried to sneak in the killing blow. Already two of her charged bolt traps had broken down, and within seconds the Night Tigers and Marauders would both rejoin the battle.
Stasya dove forward with no time to lose, forcing her way under the Marauder's defenses before he could launch an effective counter. Icewight's blade tore through the back of her ring mail and carved into her back, but the assassin's kris sank into the demon's chest to the hilt. Icewight roared in pain as Stasya hit home, stumbling backward and slashing wildly at the young woman to hold her back. Stasya lost her kris as her opponent backed away with it still lodged in his chest, but it mattered little to the assassin as she turned on the remaining Night Tigers and Marauders. Once again she threw her charged bolt traps into the middle of the already injured demons, killing them or sending them scrambling for cover. With the lesser monsters taken care of by her traps, Stasya turned back on Icewight as the chieftain yanked her blade free of his stomach with a cry of pain.
"Now I have faced Icewight the Hunter," Stasya commented, taking a step towards the demon as her charged bolt traps lit up the ruins. "And I must say, I'm not impressed. Steeltooth was more of a challenge than you."
"Then let us finish the dance," Icewight challenged, holding his scimitar in front of him as he dropped back into a defensive stance. Despite the inky blood flowing from the deep gash in his chest, the Marauder chieftain took a bold step forward. Stasya glanced past him, searching for a route to her discarded kris, but the demon was directly in her path. "Come get me, little girl. Or perhaps your bold words merely mask your fear?"
"You're in a hurry to die," Stasya said, trying to get the chieftain to circle with her. The demon seemed to sense her ploy, however, and instead of circling out of the path of her kris, Icewight merely turned in place.
"I think you overestimate your chances," Icewight taunted, raising his blade. With supernatural speed, the demon rushed forward, his scimitar tearing through the air in an icy arc.
Stasya abandoned any hope of retrieving her blade as the demon hurtled forward, instead relying on her martial training to finish the job. The assassin darted forward to meet Icewight, dropping low at the last moment to avoid the demon's sweeping blade. The frost covered blade froze the very tips of her hair as it whistled over her, but the assassin paid the sudden cold on her scalp as she blasted forward with a devastating dragon kick to the chieftain's already wounded gut.
Icewight the Hunter fell back with a final howl, but the scream lasted for only a second before the chieftain's body exploded into a fierce frost nova. Caught off guard by the demon's icy demise, Stasya was hurled backward, falling flat on her back and blasting the wind from her lungs. Numbed to the bone by the explosion, the assassin nonetheless scrambled to her feet on the icy flagstones, fumbling for her throwing knives as she noted movement near the door. Stasya dropped back into a crouch, ready to hurl another of her flaming knives, when she saw Snowhammer burst through the doorway with his maul in hand.
"Need help?" the barbarian asked, appraising the ice covered assassin.
"I think I got it," Stasya replied simply.
"Great," Snowhammer said. "We're just finishing up outside. See you out there."
Stasya watched Snowhammer disappear back through the doorway, then turned back to the frozen, tattered remnants of Icewight's body. Taking a few careful steps across the rime of ice covering the floor, the assassin knelt carefully next to the demon's remains and pulled the beautiful, untouched scimitar from one petrified hand.
"I don't think you'll be needing this any more," Stasya said as she tucked the silvery blade into her belt. The young woman scanned the slain demons quickly for any other treasure, then swiftly made her way back to the rest of her companions outside.
XVIII
"I think we're lost."
"I thought we were already lost," Snowhammer said, looking back to Stasya as Xaviar stopped on top of a low dune to appraise their course. The pair had rested for only a few hours where the Dark Elder had fallen before resuming their journey, but the road that they had followed with the wagon soon disappeared beneath the sands. Without the road to follow, the party could only hope that they maintained their eastward course in the darkness. "It would help if the sun would finally come out. How long are eclipses supposed to last?"
"A day, or so," Tara answered quietly. The sorceress hesitated for a moment as she looked up to the dark sky. "At least, that was what I thought."
"It would appear to be day again, if that dull glow in the sky is any indication," Wyszemir observed, gesturing to a sullen red patch in the otherwise ebon sky. "It may be possible that this eclipse is not natural."
"So what do we do?" Snowhammer asked, looking to Xaviar as the paladin turned to his companions. "Do we wait for the eclipse to end, or do we hope that we're walking in the right direction?"
"We can't just sit here and wait for whatever else is lurking in these ruins to find us," Xaviar surmised. "We keep moving, using that glow as our reference point. If it is the sun, then that's east, and we should find the coast if not Lut Gholein itself."
"And what if it isn't?" Stasya inquired. Xaviar scowled at the assassin.
"If you have a better idea, I'm open to it," the paladin said simply.
"Now now," Wyszemir said, placing a hand on Stasya's shoulder to calm the young woman. "For once, I must agree with the crusader. Although, if we do not find our way out of this city, I have noticed a number of cozy homes along our journey."
"Let's hope it doesn't come to that," Snowhammer said, trying unsuccessfully to hold down a smirk. "Between you and the Plague Bearers, the neighborhood would be rather dead."
"Ah, camaraderie," Wyszemir noted, turning to Xaviar with a broad grin. "Perhaps I will corrupt the boy, after all."
Xaviar glared at the necromancer for a moment, but turned and started again on the trail without another word. Tara turned to Snowhammer, almost stunned by his comment.
"What?" the barbarian asked, returning Tara's gaze with a confused expression. "It was a joke."
"Oh," Tara said. Without another word she started after the paladin, casting one last, unreadable glance over her shoulder at the north man. As Snowhammer watched her start off, Stasya came to his side with a faint giggle.
"You're one of us now," the assassin said with an impish grin. "Now she'll never speak to you, either."
"You stay out of it," Snowhammer snapped, barely looking to Stasya as he hurried after the sorceress. Coming to her side, Wyszemir chuckled slightly as he watched the barbarian go.
"I think you may have hurt his feelings, dear," the necromancer remarked. Stasya turned back to him, ready to vent about the rest of the party to her only true ally, but something in the distance stopped her. The assassin stared intently into the darkness for a long moment, straining her eyes to see through the unnatural night. Seeing her concern, Wyszemir also turned to look behind, but the necromancer could make out nothing unusual. "Is something wrong?" the death mage inquired.
"Quiet," Stasya said curtly, waving one hand impatiently at the necromancer. In the distance, a low, constant rumble seemed to come to her ears, while the darkness seemed to grow even more opaque.
"Are you two coming, or what?" Snowhammer called out, standing on top of a low dune ahead of them. Stasya ignored the barbarian as she took a step towards the distant rumbling.
"You hear that?" the assassin asked Wyszemir, her eyes glued to the horizon.
"Yes," the necromancer replied, narrowing his eyes slightly. "Like distant thunder."
"What's wrong?" Xaviar called, joining Snowhammer on the dune. Stasya's eyes narrowed to slits as she studied what seemed to be a cloud moving extremely close to the ground…
"Sandstorm!" the assassin suddenly exclaimed, turning and rushing away from the incoming storm. Wyszemir raced along behind her, struggling to keep up through the sand. Xaviar's eyes widened for a moment in shock, but then he grabbed Snowhammer by the collar of his scale mail and dragged the barbarian along behind him.
"It's only a storm," Snowhammer complained, trying to keep up with the fleeing group as they reached Tara. Already catching up to the barbarian, Wyszemir turned a cold grin on him.
"It's only a storm that can flay the skin from your bones, boy!" the necromancer corrected. He barely waited for Snowhammer's reaction as he turned to Xaviar. "We'll need cover, quickly!"
"There!" Stasya exclaimed, pointing to a stone portal that lay partially buried in the sand. In front of the entrance, a small stone tower stood silent vigil over the site, already growing lost in the dunes. "We can hide there until the storm passes!"
"Xaviar, I don't think-" Tara started.
"It's that or die in the storm," Xaviar cut in, taking the mage's hand. The small band hurried across the rocky dunes in the direction of the stone portal, already feeling a steady wind growing at their backs.
The top half of the tower suddenly rotated, pointing an odd, ebon cylinder at the group. Stasya's eyes went wide as she saw the contraption, but the assassin had no time to warn her companions before a brilliant ball of fire exploded from the cylinder. Xaviar shoved Tara out of the way as the fireball raced toward them, but the paladin was only a heartbeat too slow to avoid the projectile himself. The flames smashed into Xaviar's crown shield with a deafening roar, throwing the crusader back into the sand in the fiery explosion.
"Xaviar!" Tara exclaimed, seeing the paladin staggering back to one knee. The tower began to rotate again as the sorceress took a step toward her fallen companion, launching another shot at the young woman. Tara dropped into the sand, desperate to avoid the flames, but the incendiary projectile tore along her back and burned her even through her breastplate.
"I'm going for it!" Snowhammer shouted, charging forward through the sand. The barbarian rushed headlong at the tower as it turned to fire at him, but Snowhammer was ready for the shot. As the gout of flames left the cylinder, the barbarian leapt into the air with a mighty shout, vaulting the flames and raising his maul over his head for a powerful strike of his own. The north man slammed down into the tower with all his might, snapping the ebon cylinder from the structure and gouging a chunk of rock from the rotating top. Snowhammer landed on the ground with a short roll, trying to get out of the way in case the construct exploded into flames. As he dropped back, the barbarian noted to his dismay that there were more cylinders attached to the tower, and one was pointing directly at him.
Snowhammer fell backwards as a fireball hit him square in the chest, but the barbarian had barely hit the ground before Wyszemir's bone spears and Tara's ice blasts were tearing through the tower. Back on his feet, Xaviar charged in on the structure as well, focusing his zeal into a brutal series of strikes against the base of the tower. Unable to bear the combined assault, the top half of the tower broke in two and fell from its perch, disabling the ancient trap.
"Snowhammer?" Xaviar called, rushing to the barbarian's side. Snowhammer pushed himself to a sitting position, staring for a moment at the scorched front of his once pristine scale mail.
"Now it looks used," the barbarian said with a weak smile. Xaviar could not help but grin at the barbarian's remark.
"Come on," the paladin said, helping the north man to his feet. Already the others were hurrying inside the stone entranceway, Tara stopping in the doorway as she turned to her two friends.
"Hurry up!" the sorceress exclaimed, her hair already whipping about her in the stiff winds. Xaviar got Snowhammer to his feet, but the north man needed no further prompting to hurry into the cover of the old portal. The two stumbled down a few worn steps and into an ancient, underground foyer of some kind, joining the others in the feeble light of Stasya's shining gem and a simple electricity spell arcing on the tip of Tara's staff.
"Where are we?" Stasya asked as Xaviar and Snowhammer rejoined their allies.
"It looks like… a tomb, maybe," Tara said quietly, gazing intently at the ancient symbols carved into the walls. Outside the sandstorm rapidly descended on the ancient burial site, forcing the group even further into the inky darkness of the subterranean chambers. "Maybe… maybe this was the Dark Elder's tomb."
"Let's stay as close to the surface as possible," Xaviar decided, watching the dark passages uneasily. "With all that's happened and where we are, we might not be the only things down here."
"How long do you think we'll have to stay down here?" Stasya asked, one eye on Wyszemir as the necromancer began to pore over the ancient glyphs carved into the walls.
"Perhaps a day, perhaps more," Wyszemir answered, turning away from an ornate relief of a serpentine creature. "I suspect, however, that the sooner we leave here, the better."
"Yeah, so we can stumble around in the desert again," Snowhammer grumbled. "If I never see sand again, it'll be too soon."
"With any luck, the eclipse will be over by the time the storm ends," Xaviar said, dropping down against one of the walls and resting his shield on the ground next to him. "In the meantime, we might as well rest while we can."
"Claw Vipers," Wyszemir said abruptly, studying a section of the wall at the very edge of the group's light. As the others turned to him, Wyszemir smiled faintly. "Your assumption that this is a tomb is only partially correct," then necromancer explained. "At one time, this was used as a burial chamber, but these snake reliefs are a clear sign of newer habitation. We have just stumbled into a nest of Claw Vipers."