Chapter 12 – Dancing with Corpses
"We've got company, Lucia." Naga said, the words sending a chill down the blonde swordswoman's back as she heard a faint, scuffling sound. Her disabled eyes couldn't make anything out in the blurred shadows of the dank tunnel, but it sounded like more of what they'd already faced.
"What is it, Naga?" Lucia replied, holding her sword before her and gripping its hilt nervously. She thought back to her training under her former martial instructor. He had taught her how to fight while blindfolded, explaining that there were times when a true warrior had to ignore what their eyes told them and trust their instincts. A subtle shuffle of feet, a sharp intake of breath, or even a sudden change in the air. All were signs of potential attack, and a true warrior learned how to filter these subtle signals out and make sense of their surroundings. Lucia could still remember the multitude of bruises such lessons had left her with at the end of the day, but she had taken to them well, and she still fondly recalled the day she had defeated her instructor while the two of them battled blindfolded in her old training hall. Still, she'd never imagined she'd actually need these skills.
"More zombies." Naga replied, and Lucia heard the rasp of steel as the sorceress drew her sword. She could hear the shuffling footsteps moving closer, and as the creatures moved into the light she could just vaguely make out their forms. Despite her severely hindered eyesight, the swordswoman found herself blessing the fact that she could at least make out varying levels of light. As the zombies moved in, she was the first to attack. Lunging forward, she brought her sword upwards in a powerful arc, one of her favorite attacks that resembled a golf swing. The attack cleaved clear through the front zombie, cutting him in half from groin to shoulder. She pulled sideways and down after that, the zombie right behind the first decapitated by a powerful backstroke. Beside her, Lucia heard a wet 'crunch' as Naga hacked through a third zombie, dropping it to the stone floor. Lucia remained at the ready.
"Is that it?" She asked. She couldn't hear anything else, but without her eyesight, she couldn't be certain. Naga moved closer and placed a hand on the girl's shoulder.
"That's all for now. Come on." Naga said dully. The sorceress inwardly cursed at her inability to use magic to fight with. This felt…wrong, somehow. She had never felt this vulnerable. Even though Lucia was a lot better without magic than she was, the swordswoman's state seriously hindered her. With Lina, she'd been lucky that their own cycles had been staggered, so neither of them were without their powers at the same time. For the first time in quite a while, the sorceress began to seriously doubt her chances of survival. "We're going to die down here." She said sullenly.
"Don't be ridiculous." Lucia replied, and she actually giggled! Here they were, a blind swordswoman and a magic-less sorceress, and she was still being optimistic! Naga couldn't believe it. "We'll make it out of here, and then we'll find a healer and get my eyesight back, and then we're going to relax somewhere for a while."
"How can you be so optimistic, Lucia? How can you honestly be so sure that everything will turn out right in our situation?" Naga replied, her voice on the edge of panic. Lucia shrugged a little bit as the two kept walking.
"What's the point of worrying about it? What good would come from anticipating our own deaths?" She replied. "We will make it out of here! We will survive, and if we find the jerk that's controlling all of these undead, we will kill him!"
Naga blinked a few times, then sighed. "One of these days, you'll have to teach me how you manage to be so cheerful and full of denial when you're stone sober." Lucia just smirked as they continued onward. The tunnel ran on for another hundred yards or so, thankfully without any further encounters with the previously deceased. The tunnel eventually opened up into a larger chamber. The walls were lined with cells, each one blocked off by rusted steel bars. The room ran on for about one hundred feet before turning in both directions, and it was clearly apparent that they'd reached the cell blocks.
"The room is bigger here." Lucia said, noting that the shadows had seemed to recede somewhat and the sound of their footsteps sounded less confined. The walls were lined with cells, each one blocked off by rusted steel bars. The room ran on for about one hundred feet before turning in both directions, and it was clearly apparent that they'd reached the cell blocks.
"Cells. I guess this is the dungeon." Naga said, looking around curiously. "Probably haven't seen any prisoners in a really long time, though." The sorceress added. There were still stray piles of straw tossed about the floor, mixed in with the old remains of broken bowls and other bits of crushed feasting ware. A strong dank smell permeated the air, giving off a strong stench of mold mixed in with the unmistakable odor of rotting flesh that commonly followed zombies.
"I just hope there's another way out in this direction." Lucia said softly as the two women moved through the cell block. Both of them kept an active lookout for any more undead adversaries, and the swordswoman focused intently on the only other useful sense she had in this situation, her hearing. Fortunately, neither of the companions heard any intrusions as they made their way through the cell block, and before long they were once more traversing a long stone corridor, though this one was lined on the sides by arched doors. Naga leaned over and opened one slowly, peering inside with her light spell over her hand.
"Bedrooms?" The sorceress said quizzically. "Why would there be bedrooms in the basement? And why so many?" Naga continued to check one door after another, each one revealing the same scene. The bedrooms were all sparsely furnished, each one containing a dresser, armoire, and a bed, and in each case the condition of said furniture sat in more or less the same state of disrepair, the beds covered in rotting, faded linens of varying colors, the wooden furnishings dried and cracked, all victim to the ravages of time.
"It seems like an unusual place to keep guests." Lucia stated, even her near-total blindness not quenching the natural curiosity that burned within her, often the driving force behind her desire to explore old, lost ruins. Despite the possibility of gaining treasure or earning fame and riches, this was the true reason she loved exploration. She loved finding hidden things and digging up long-forgotten secrets.
"Maybe we'll come back later and do some more exploring, but right now we really need to find a way out of this place." Naga replied, her voice on edge. It was obvious to the swordswoman that the sorceress felt very vulnerable without her magic at full strength. Fortune smiled on the women once again as they made their way through the unusual underground living quarters without incident, and once again the passage opened up, this time to a large spiraling staircase. Both women felt their spirits lift somewhat. At least they were finally traveling in the right direction: Up.
"This is making me dizzy." Lucia commented as the two women ventured up the spiraling staircase. After several minutes of traversing the stairs, the two finally came to a door at the top of the staircase. The staircase came to an abrupt end in a small room about ten square feet with a seven foot ceiling. Unlike the other rooms, this room's walls and ceiling were made of mortared stone rather than being carved from rock.
"I think we're above ground level now." Naga said. "The walls aren't solid stone anymore."
"That means we're almost out of here!" Lucia replied optimistically, feeling along the walls to confirm Naga's statement before she fell in line behind the sorceress. Naga carefully opened the door, peering down the hallway it revealed before slowly stepping into it. The air in the passageway felt drier and fresher than that in the lower tunnels, and both women were able to pick up a faint musty smell, like what you'd expect to encounter in an old library. Despite being closer to the surface, the claustrophobic sensation caused by the close walls of the passage was oppressive. As the two adventurers moved further down the passageway, the room suddenly opened into a large stone room. Pillars supported the high ceiling, each connected to the next with a series of decorative arches. The room's outer walls were lined with packed, towering bookshelves a dozen feet high, and several large wooden reading tables dotted the vast floor. In several places, the tables seemed to be built directly into the stonework of the palace, connecting one pillar to another.
"At least we found the library." Naga commented sarcastically. "This place doesn't make any sense! A single spiral staircase leading to a library? An underground arena?" The sorceress said angrily. "I cannot imagine any real member of royalty wasting their time in a place like this. I certainly wouldn't! ? And why would you have bedrooms underground?"
"Because it's the best place to go when one wishes to avoid sunlight." A voice replied from across the library. Both women turned quickly to face the voice, though Lucia found herself squinting helplessly as she tried to make out the source. Across the room, a sharply-dressed man hovered leisurely as if standing on an invisible platform. His clothing resembled formal wear, all black save for a well-kept bow-tie and the inner lining of a black ankle-length cape, both of which were dyed blood red. The man's pale blond hair was slicked back smoothly over his scalp, and his crimson eyes were in stark contrast to the pallor of his near-white skin. He wore a confident smirk that exposed a pair of unusually long canine teeth.
"A vampire?" Naga said, then unleashed one of her usual laughs, sounding quite amused. "And here I was afraid we were going to face a real challenge!" The sorceress boasted, placing her hands on her hips. Lucia blinked a few more times, able to faintly make out the hovering vampire from across the room, though to her he appeared as little more than a faded shadow.
"You wound me, my dear woman." The vampire replied, placing a hand to his chest in mock despair. "Such clear disregard, and in my own home as well."
"I, Naga the White Serpent, have dealt with your kind before, my dear vampire." Naga replied with more than a hint of sarcasm in her tone.
"Ah, you're referring to Steindorf!" The vampire replied, laughing darkly. "Yes, I've heard of his encounter with yourself and the infamous Bandit Killer, Lina Inverse." He said. "Steindorf is an idiot. I can assure you he does not represent a fraction of the power of a true vampire."
Lucia swallowed and glanced at Naga. What the hell is she doing? She thought to herself. Did she forget that she can't use most of her powers? Lucia hoped that wasn't the case, but at the same time she had no experience with vampires beyond the stories and legends she'd heard, so perhaps Naga had a better idea of what she was doing than she thought.
"Well, I certainly hope not." Naga said in response to the vampire's statement. "If he did, I doubt your kind would still be alive." The sorceress said with a smirk. "Perhaps you could tell us your name, since you already know mine."
"My name is Keldrin." The vampire said, lowering himself to the floor. "Though it makes little difference. Neither of you will survive to utter it to another soul." He said, then suddenly rushed forward towards Naga. Lucia sensed the movement and rushed in, but at the last second the vampire seemed to vanish. Naga twisted out of the way just as the vampire's claws tore through her cape, narrowly avoiding his attack. Lucia spun quickly, snapping her sword from its scabbard.
"Damn." Naga muttered, stepping back away from Keldrin as Lucia moved up beside her. Without her powers, she knew she had little chance of damaging a vampire. Such supernatural creatures were immune to damage from normal weapons such as her sword, and with Lucia's blindness, the two of them were in quite a bind.
"Impressive!" Keldrin said, once more hovering above the floor twenty yards away from the two women. "I'm surprised you were able to dodge my attack. I wonder how long your luck will last." He said, laughing as he suddenly dashed forward again. Naga once more dodged to the side as his form seemed to flicker, but as he did, Lucia lunged forward, swinging her sword in a flat arc. The blade whistled through the air a split second after the vampire's form vanished, then the swordswoman yelped in pain as she felt a sharp, stinging pain shoot through her side. She stumbled forward from the impact and spun around, once more facing Keldrin's blurred image as blood leaked from the claw marks in her side.
"Lucia!" Naga cried, looking at the swordswoman and seeing that the vampire's claws had torn clear through the leather padding of her armor, rending a shallow but painful series of cuts in the side of her abdomen. The sorceress turned to face Keldrin now, lifting a hand and pointing it at him. "Elmekia Lance!" She cried. There was a brief flicker of energy in her palm, but then the spell fizzled out.
"Hah! That's it?" Keldrin chortled, sniffing at the air as his grin widened. "Hmm. I smell blood from both of you, yet only one is wounded." He said, his eyes narrowing for a brief moment before he let out a loud, taunting laugh. Naga's cheeks burned as she caught on to his meaning. "You're even more foolish than I thought if you'd have the nerve to invade my domain in your condition! A blind swordswoman and a menstruating sorceress! This won't even be a challenge!"
Keldrin rushed forward again. He would toy with these two for a while, he decided. They didn't deserve to see his full power. No, he would toy with them, slowly whittling them down before ending their pathetic lives and drinking their blood. He once more targeted Naga, feinting to draw her off balance before he quickly delivered a low, sweeping attack that caught the sorceress' legs and flipped her effortlessly into the air, dropping her flat on her back. Before either of them could react, he turned and went for Lucia, striking her with a closed fist in the midsection, his supernatural strength lending enough power to the blow to send her flying into a nearby bookshelf, scattering books and splintering the aged wood as the woman fell to her hands and knees on the floor, her sword clattering across the stone. Frantically, Naga drew her sword from its scabbard as she scrambled to her feet and rushed at the vampire, bringing the blade down with both hands in a high arc. Her attack grazed Keldrin's shoulder, but the non-magical blade left a wound that almost instantly sealed itself. The vampire laughed and kicked backwards, the blow catching the sorceress in the stomach and pitching her back onto the floor once again. A growl from Lucia's direction drew his attention once more.
"Stop it." The swordswoman spat, gritting her teeth. She stood up, her blind eyes searing with anger despite their lack of vision. She circled Keldrin slowly, moving closer to Naga as the sorceress got to her feet, limping slightly. Lucia reached out and took Naga's sword from her, holding it in front of herself as she spoke in a low, grating voice. "Astral Vine."
"Still got some fight left in you? Good, I haven't been this entertained in decades!" The vampire said as the blade of Naga's sword began to glow with a dull red aura. Keldrin continued to wear an amused expression. He knew the spell Lucia had cast on the sword, and knew that the blade could now harm him, but also knew that the swordswoman was blind, and all the enchantment meant was that he would have to pay just a little more attention to her. He rushed at both of them, bounding from one spot to another as he once more called upon his shadow magic to create a flickering illusion that would make his movements difficult to track. Both of his opponents were injured and he knew this fight would last only as long as he wanted it to. With a taunting laugh, he lunged in, dodging back as Lucia skillfully lashed out, forcing him to abort his attack and circle back around. This served as little more than a distraction, however, as his return trip provided him with an opening as he delivered a powerful swipe to Lucia's shoulder, tearing through her leather armor and once more drawing blood. The swordswoman cried out and swung her sword wildly, narrowly missing the retreating vampire.
"Ungh! Stand still and fight!" Lucia said with a growl. She faced two opponents; The vampire that was slowly tearing her apart, and her own rage that threatened to consume her. She knew that if she lost control of her anger, she would be completely unable to plan a strategy, and that without the ability to see, she would quite literally fall into a blind rage. Keldrin merely laughed, slipping around behind the swordswoman and delivering a powerful punch to her kidney area before grabbing her arm and hurling her against a nearby pillar. She grunted from the impact and fell to the floor motionless.
"Hah! I knew this was going to be a waste of my time!" Keldrin shouted, laughing as he approached the downed swordswoman. "You couldn't even give me a decent challenge!" He said, standing over Lucia's motionless form. He knelt down, grabbing a handful of blonde hair in a tight grip.
Suddenly, the prone swordswoman's hand snapped up, thrusting with the glowing red blade of Naga's sword. As her hand flew forward, she felt it stop abruptly as a tight grasp enveloped her wrist, squeezing firmly. Keldrin held the blade aside, the thrust having narrowly missed impaling his chest. The swordswoman let out a yelp of pain as he tightened his grip.
As he prepared to crush Lucia's wrist, the vampire glared down at her. "Foolish woman! Did you really expect me to fall for such a predictable ploy?" Keldrin shouted.
"What about this one?" Naga's voice echoed from behind the vampire. He turned his head in time to see the sorceress bringing a sword around in a wide, flat arc. Quickly, he snapped his arm up to block the attack, expecting the mundane weapon to stop short when it impacted the unnaturally durable bones in his forearm. What he didn't expect was for the sorceress to be wielding Lucia's sword.
As the blade met his arm, it cleaved clean through the flesh, continuing onward to shear a deep gash in the vampire's chest before continuing down into the stone floor of the library. Keldrin's expression changed from one of minor distraction to one of complete shock. He let forth a gurgling gasp as blackened blood poured from his severed stump of an arm and the deep wound on his chest. Seizing the chance, Lucia yanked her arm from the vampire's weakened grasp and quickly leapt to her feet. Keldrin watched as Naga's eyes widened, taking in the grizzly scene before they rolled back in her head and she collapsed.
"Im…possible!" The vampire choked out. How could this happen? How was he unable to detect the magic in Lucia's sword? How could a blind swordswoman and a powerless sorceress defeat him? Him! A greater vampire lord! He uttered a growl of anger. No, he would kill one of them! The sorceress had fainted, but he would kill the swordswoman! He would destroy her with his last vestages of strength! He turned towards Lucia, hate burning in his eyes. He had just enough time to register that she'd regained her feet before he saw her deliver a viscious backhanded stroke with the still-enchanted sorceress' sword.
A stroke that quite neatly removed his head from his shoulders.
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"Naga, are you okay?" Lucia's voice said. It sounded far away, but it was getting closer. Naga's eyes opened slowly, treated to the view of a large, domed ceiling accented by arched pillars. She sat up quickly as the memory of their battle with Keldrin came rushing back to her. The library looked different now, fully lit in what almost looked like daylight. The library looked different in the light. She hadn't noticed before just how much dust and cobwebs had collected on the bookshelves. It took her a moment to realize that Lucia must have used her Continual Lighting spell to illuminate the room. Lucia was kneeling next to her, a worried look on her face that softened as she realized the sorceress was alright.
"Did we get him?" Naga asked, afraid to look over at where Keldrin had been kneeling for fear of the gory sight that would greet her. She risked a glance, and was shocked to see nothing but a pile of dust where the vampire's corpse had been.
"You got him!" Lucia said cheerfully, her smile back in full force. "That couldn't have gone better if we'd planned it that way! You're incredible!" The swordswoman said, giggling. Naga stood up and put her hands on her hips, laughing.
"Ohhhhhh ho-ho-ho-ho! I warned him what would happen if he tangled with Naga the Serpent!" The sorceress boasted as Lucia stood up. "Never underestimate the power of Naga!" She said, then looked down at Lucia. "And her sidekick, Lucia Moore!" She added. Lucia smiled widely as she sheathed her sword. Naga's smile quickly faded as she remembered the urgency of the situation. "Come on, Lucia. We need to find a way out of here so we can get you to a healer."
Lucia nodded. "Lead the way." She said happily. Even though her eyesight was continuing to deteriorate, the swordswoman felt satisfied that their first real adventure together had been a success. Even if they hadn't found any artifacts, they had defeated a powerful evil even with significant handicaps. It would make for a very entertaining story down the road. Her wounds stung and ached, but they were relatively minor and would heal on their own even if they couldn't find a healer.
Two hours later, both women, bruised and battered but alive, emerged from the dank recesses of the vampire's castle and into the cool night air. Following the death of Keldrin, the undead under his command lost any semblance of purpose and simply began to wander aimlessly. Several times, they had found themselves rounding a corner or opening a door and running headlong into a crowd of zombies or a group of skeletons only to have the creatures completely ignore them, meandering aimlessly about the castle's interior. Refreshed by the fresh springtime air and the crisp scent of blooming flowers, the sorceress and her swordswoman companion made their way hastily down the road towards Willowgate. Despite their brightened moods, both women were harboring the same worried thoughts. The same desperate hope.
The hope that the healer in Willowgate could do something for the ailing swordswoman.
Endnotes: This chapter was a bit more gruesome than the others. I felt it would fit in well with the tension of the battle with Keldrin the vampire lord. Of course, it was also fun to bring up Steindorf and his incompetence. The story only has two chapters left including the epilogue, but fear not! There will be another book to the Slayers Ultimate series! In fact, I have at least two more whole books planned in this series, so keep an eye out!
