THE SERPENT'S TOOTH, Part 20
The Sanctum Sanctorum is sheathed in layers of defensive spells that were cast, century after century, by one of the most powerful magic-users to have ever lived. If anything, the Sanctum's study - where we were located - is even more heavily protected. Hostile magics were difficult, if not impossible, to cast within the Sanctum. Even Dormammu couldn't bring his mindless demons, or any other creature from an alien dimension, into the Sanctum.
So instead he'd found a weapon that already existed on Earth.
The Wendigo are creatures of the vast northern woods and would normally never be found as far south as Nyack. They were once men, but the act of eating human flesh had left them blighted and accursed; a twisted parody of man and animal. Dormammu was grasping for whatever weapon he could find, and he had discovered a formidable one. Some of the earliest tales of the Traditions say the Old One once simultaneously fought a King Wendigo and the first and greatest of the Green Bastards.
It was a battle without a victor. Only the Old One knew how the blazes Dormammu could possibly be controlling a Wendigo pack.
"WEN-DI-GO!" the King Wendigo called again. The hunting cry of its kind had long ago become a name that the people of the north only spoke in whispers.
"WEN-DI-GO!" came the return calls. The beasts were scattered throughout the Sanctum.
In the study, we had all fallen silent. For many of us, the idea that we were being hunted was a strange and alien concept. We were more used to being predators, rather than prey.
The beasts sounded closer this time, but by then I had their number.
"Six of them," I quietly told the others, breaking the silence. "Three on the roof and three in the building - they're all heading for us."
"I see one!" Jessica said tensely, "It's using the peak of the roof for cover!"
She was still on the ceiling, bent over in a gravity-defying, upside-down, crouch. The huge broad-axe she'd taken from the study wall was in her hands and she was shifting it uneasily. The weapon looked far too big for her, but Jessica hefted it easily. The Spider Folk are much stronger than they appear.
Still hovering above the floor, in the center of the study, Cyrus was softly chanting. With one hand, he reached out and touched the top of Sigmund's head. I was holding Sigmund and I could feel the wave of mystic energy that suddenly began flowing through his small body. Sigmund's face was buried in my shoulder. He was trying to be brave, but far, far, too much was happening.
I whispered something soothing to him.
Benjamin and Blaze were adjacent to Cyrus and I. They both obviously intended to defend their respective lords. Benjamin had his twin short-swords drawn and ready. Blaze had unwrapped the long chain that he usually carried around his shoulders and was slowly swinging one end in a vertical circle. The temperature in the study rose as the chain began glowing hot-iron red.
Samantha and Sophie were clustered near me. They had their knives out, but they looked terrified.
"Go hide," I told them as I gestured towards a cluster of furniture in a corner of the room. The two of them immediately scampered behind an oaken desk.
Illyana had summoned her giant sword and was silently mouthing some words. I guessed that she was trying to cast some sort of spell, but judging from the look on her face, she wasn't having much luck. The defenses of the Sanctum Sanctorum were frustrating her.
Gant, still next to the door, suddenly leaned forward and sniffed. A savage grin lit up his face. "Two behind the door!" he called to me.
I felt a savage grin of my own creep over my face. "Greet them," I ordered.
This was going to be an ugly fight. We might not win. But I felt we should greet what was coming with a certain style.
Gant howled as he swung his giant club. It impacted into the midst of the door and smashed it to splinters. The two Wendigo who had been sniffing at the door were taken by surprise. Most people vainly try to hide behind closed doors when the Wendigo are on the hunt. Aggressively shattering a door wide open in order to bring the fight to the Wendigo was a new experience for the beasts.
I silently welcomed the Wendigo to Gant's acquaintance.
A Wendigo behind the door took the brunt of the blow and was smashed back down the hallway. The other hesitated in what seemed to be complete astonishment. Then Blaze's chain lashed out at him. The end of the chain whip-lashed into its face and knocked the Wendigo flat. A wild spray of half-burned blood splattered across the hallway walls and ceiling.
Gant's club whirled as he began pounding the downed Wendigo. It howled in agony as its bones shattered.
Meanwhile, down the hall, the Wendigo who'd been thrown backward scrambled into an all-fours crouch. Another Wendigo joined him from around the corner. For the first time, we could see them clearly. They were bipedal, covered with a thick coat of white fur, and so large that they had to crouch on all-fours to move through the halls of the Sanctum. Their wide mouths hung wide-open and were edged with huge, yellowed, fangs. Their thick fingers were tipped with massive claws.
Roaring, the beasts bounded towards Gant. Gant smashed another blow into the deformed skull of the Wendigo he'd been beating and roared a challenge of his own at the approaching creatures.
Then two additional Wendigo crashed through the ceiling window.
Amid a rain of broken glass, Jessica lashed out with her broad-axe and caught one of the descending Wendigo across the mid-section. It was a blow of awesome power. One of the creature's arms came loose and the axe buried itself so deep into the Wendigo's upper-torso that the creature was almost bisected. As corrupt-smelling Wendigo blood sprayed across the study, the Wendigo was pitched across the room by the force of Jessica's blow. However, Jessica wasn't able to extract her axe - it remained jammed in the Wendigo's body and was torn from her grasp as the Wendigo sailed across the room.
The other Wendigo was coming for Sigmund and I. His blades flashing, Benjamin leaped upwards and intercepted the beast in mid-air. The two of them crashed to the floor of the study in a wild tangle of limbs. Benjamin's swords were moving so fast that they became a metallic gray-red blur. Blood - both Benjamin's and the beast's - began streaking the floor around their struggling forms.
Keeping Sigmund between Cyrus and myself, I slashed at one of the Wendigo's wildly gyrating arms. I didn't dare crouch down since I had to keep Sigmund in contact with Cyrus, so my claws didn't connect as cleanly as I would have liked. However, I did manage to split the creature's bicep in half. The drag I felt on the tips of my claws indicated the I'd also scored a set of triple furrows into the bone of its arm.
Incredibly, the Wendigo that Jessica had almost cut in two had managed to pull loose the axe embedded in its body. Then it fumblingly tried to use its one remaining arm to stuff its spilled organs back inside its body. As it did so, the massive gaping hole splitting its body began closing.
The injured Wendigos were regenerating. The quickest living regenerator that I knew of was my daughter Rahne - and these creatures were healing even faster than even she could.
"Cut off their heads!" Illyana roared as she raced across the room and did just that to the one that I was watching heal. Her great sword descended and bit through the fallen Wendigo and deep into the floor. The Wendigo's head rolled loose - the jaws still slavering and working. Illyana then ferociously kicked the head across the room. The head rebounded off a wall and skittered underneath a nearby leather-bound chair.
Gant was ferociously battling the two Wendigo at the door. He was barely managing to stand them off, and the Wendigo laying in the study's doorway was staggering to its feet. Gant was seconds away from losing his life. Blaze howled something in a language only spoken in hell and crashed into that battle. Illyana also raced toward the door. By then she was in her demonic form and her hooves clattered against the floor as she ran.
Jessica came down from the ceiling, landing gracefully next to the axe she'd lost. Then she reclaimed it.
Benjamin was picked up by the Wendigo he was fighting, and then dashed so hard to the floor that the floorboards underneath him broke. The Wendigo fighting him tried to get its legs under himself and rise... and then a knife precisely thrown by Samantha impacted into one of its eyes. The creature howled and clawed at the hilt protruding from its eye-socket.
Cyrus pulled Sigmund from my grasp.
"Go! Help them!" Cyrus yelled, gesturing broadly towards the others. His eyes were pure white and the energies around he and Sigmund were spinning faster and faster. Sigmund was now just an awkwardly-shaped bundle of red-gold energy in Cyrus' arms.
There was the barest flicker of motion, sound, and scent above us. Blaze glanced in our direction and immediately back-whipped his chain, arcing it over my head. The chain wrapped itself around a massive white form, and then yanked the descending monster off course. The King Wendigo had been on a mid-air trajectory straight towards Cyrus and Sigmund.
The King Wendigo landed on me just as I thrust upward with my claws. I caught him just underneath his ribs, deep in his midsection. The King's fingertip claws dug deep into my back as his teeth lunged for my throat. I blocked his bite with my shoulder as I ripped outwards with my claws. The King's blood and some of his internal organs spilled over me in a wash of wet heat. His jaws released their grip on my shoulder as he screamed in what seemed more like outrage than pain.
The King and I were howling at each other in millennia-old hate and rage as we spun across the room in a furious, brawling, tangle. Our ancestors were with us and they were demanding death.
Jessica came up behind the King and pulled back her axe...
And then the Sanctum Sanctorum suddenly shuddered - as if the building itself had been dealt a massive blow. Everyone in the room staggered as furniture scattered, and books and artifacts fell from walls and shelves. Jessica was knocked off-balance and almost fell.
The King Wendigo and I didn't even pause as we continued to tear at each other.
Benjamin used that disturbance to somehow wiggle his way clear from the Wendigo with whom he was entangled. His chain-shirt was shredded, blood was running from his arms and torso, and yet his face was fixed with deadly, expressionless, concentration. Despite all he had suffered, he executed a precisely timed cross-sword sweep at his Wendigo. Only the incredible speed of the Wendigo prevented the creature from being decapitated. However, the beast did lose its lower jaw. The Wendigo's tongue lolled down from his maimed lower face as the white fur on its chest suddenly turned red, but it didn't even hesitate as it simply slammed once again into Benjamin.
"Dammit!" Cyrus gasped aloud. Then he dropped Sigmund - who was still wrapped in a cocoon of mystical energy - at his feet. Cyrus stretched out his arms, his hands twisting into strange patterns as he began speaking a spell that I recognized. I'd last heard it in the courtyard of the Alban temple. It was a spell of forbiddance, intended to prevent creatures from other planes from entering our realm of existence.
I knew what that meant. Dormammu was attacking the Sanctum. That was source of the structure-rocking blow that we'd all just felt. The Dread Lord was hoping that his Wendigo servants had wrecked enough havoc inside the Sanctum that he could break through to our world.
I executed a trick maneuver that had been specifically created to fight much taller opponents. It involved dropping to your knees and slashing open the thighs of your enemy. It was a difficult attack to avoid, and could result in crippling injuries to your foe, but it left you in a vulnerable position.
My attack partially worked and the King roared as blood began flowing down his legs like twin waterfalls. But he managed a slash that hit me on the side of the head and ripped open my scalp. As I scrambled to one side, I shook my head wildly in an effort to avoid getting blood in my eyes.
Meanwhile, the brawl at the doorway continued. Blaze, Gant, and Illyana looked like they were gaining the upper hand, but Gant was barely on his feet, and was taking more damage than he was dealing. If he fell too quickly, the tide of that fight could easily shift back in the favor of the three Wendigo.
Seeing the Jessica was still behind the King Wendigo, I made the risky decision to allow him a direct and undodged attack at me. If he came at me directly, Jessica would have a clean strike at him.
Just as the King's claws dug into me once again, Jessica regained her footing and finally swung her axe. I barely ducked in time as the King's head came loose and flew across the room. The blade of the axe sailed just a finger's breadth over my head. Jessica obviously didn't understand the power of her weapon - she'd almost taken off the top of my skull.
Still caught in the claws of the now-dead King, I began brutally cutting my way loose from the beast's death-clutch. Jessica helped by lopping off one the King's arms at the elbow. I winced as the blade of her axe whispered so close to me.
I knew what weapon Jessica was wielding. How the hell had Stephen - or Cyrus - acquired it?
The building shook once again. It was worse than before.
Gasping out the last words of his spell, Cyrus collapsed to the floor. For a split-second, before I saw the dagger jutting out of his back, I thought he'd fallen from exhaustion.
However, that wasn't the case. Out of nowhere, Loki had appeared behind Cyrus. His eyes bright with joy, Loki bent down and picked up Sigmund's limp form. He cradled the boy in his arm.
The thrown dagger that impacted into Loki's neck was probably intended for one of his eyes. Samantha had ducked out from behind a knocked-over chair and thrown the knife. She was actually very good at that sort of thing.
Loki hissed out something that was as much blood as breath as picked up Sigmund and then half-pivoted to use his body to protect Sigmund from another thrown dagger.
Jessica lunged for the god of mischief. Loki's eyes went wide. I think it was only then that he realized what weapon Jessica was carrying.
I shoved the dead King's spasming and blood-spurting corpse away from me and took a stumbling, slippery, step towards Loki. My body was trying to regenerate an incredible amount of damage, and keeping my footing amidst the King's spilled viscera was not easy.
But someone else got to Loki first.
"Let him go!" Sophie shouted as she came up from behind Loki and drove her left-hand dagger into one his kidneys.
Loki looked utterly shocked. Then he ducked underneath a wild swing that Jessica had launched at him. He was still holding Sigmund and Jessica had been forced to swing high in order to avoid killing the boy. That gave Loki all of the margin he needed to avoid her attack.
Little Sophie - her yellow-orange eyes alight with Creed fury and blood-lust - leaped onto Loki's back and tried to drive her knife through Loki's back and into his heart. Unfortunately, her blow glanced off his ribs. However, in a deadly and vicious move, she kicked the hilt of the dagger that was jutting out of Loki's lower back. The hilt suddenly shifted into a very acute angle. The internal damage that inflicted must have been severe.
"LET HIM GO!" Sophie's shouted again. Her words had turned into a war-cry that she was screaming over and over.
Loki tried to howl, but the dagger in his throat prevented that - he could only make a choking noise. Jessica tried for him again but, even with Sophie still on his back, he managed to dodge out of the way. Then he converted his dodge into an almost dance-like spin that ended when he slammed Sophie against a support pillar. Sophie simply didn't have the strength to hold on and was knocked away.
Samantha ran towards her sister. She had thrown her only two daggers - one into Loki's neck and the other into the eye of a Wendigo - and was reduced to waving her arms and screaming wildly as she tried to distract a god.
However, Loki wasn't interested in finishing Sophie. Instead, still carrying Sigmund, he staggered into the pool of light that was dappling the floor of the study. It was coming from the shattered ceiling window. Broken glass crunched underneath the god's boots.
From where he lay on top of a shredded Wendigo, Benjamin pitched one of his swords at Loki. It passed through Loki's right thigh as he blended into the beam of light and became insubstantial. Then the last vestige of Loki and Sigmund seemed to blur up and out of the broken window.
There was a sudden, shocked, silence. The fight was over. The battle had taken less than a minute.
The Wendigo were all dead or incapacitated. Illyana was going from body to body, making sure that the monsters who were merely injured would never rise again.
Samantha helped Sophie to her feet.
Gant collapsed to his knees, his club clattering to the floor and rolling away. Then he fell flat on his face. He looked like the floor of butcher shop. Nobody had fought longer or harder against the Wendigo than he.
Benjamin was trying to get to his feet, but couldn't seem to do it.
Jessica - axe still in her hands - crouched beside Benjamin, encouraging him to stay still. Then she glanced in my direction, looking for orders. For the moment, I had none to give.
Blaze was cradling Cyrus in his arms. As incredible as it sounds, the demon seemed overwrought.
I stared up at the shattered ceiling window and cursed softly. Then I began limping towards Gant.
Sophie ran to where Loki and Sigmund had vanished and looked upward, into the light of the outdoors.
"Let him go," she whispered once again. There were tears running down her face.
