Eluding the Golems
He could smell them, running to and fro, he could virtually taste the
life in there bodies. Some part of him that despised what he had become
flared in envy that they should be possessed of life and breath, while he was
not. Consciously he was only incensed that they should think to challenge
him. He had defeated death itself what could they think to do that would
stop him. He would destroy them all, except for one. He didn't particularly
care which one, just so that it was a fresh body that he could acclimate to
his power. This dwarf skeleton wasn't going to last him much longer.
He paused, scanning the ruins further. There was another battle
somewhere in this hideaway, one that wasn't quite moving as fast. He reeled
in surprise as he determined the identity of the other intruder.
"A mazoku," the dwarf skull tried to smile, but of course it couldn't.
"This is the perfect way to test my new power, assuming that this lump of
bones survives that long." He mentally commanded his column of skeletons to
stop as he sensed the approach of his primary targets. The young slayers
rushed past the cooridor he lurked in with just the barest glance.
At his command the dwarf skeletons shambled into the cooridor to follow,
after all, the golems wouldn't even see his minions. They were interested in
the living, not the undead. It was one of the few things that dwarven
creators had neglected. As the first rank of skeletons began shambling
along, Roquen discovered something that he had overlooked.
He commanded his undead stop again as the golems non-chalantly trampled
his first rank, completely unaware that they were even there. Grumbling the
lich and his undead followed behind the metal monstrosities.
"Okay there has to be some sort of way to beat these things, or turn them
off or something!"
"Umm...Hey, Xalan!" the kage-kitsune turned to his sister. "Follow my
lead!"
"What are...hey!" Val protested as Xina grabbed him and Tinuviel and
dived into a shadow. On the otherside of the cooridor Xalan, Jol and
Amethyst followed suite. Outside the small dimensional pockets the golems
stopped as their prey apparently vanished from the world. Xina and Xalan,
the only ones capable of seeing in the pure darkness of the shadow meld,
watched as the golems stopped stood still and then tramped off in various
directions back to where they had stood when the slayers' passage had
awakened them.
"Well that looks...." Xalan paused as he detected another approaching
scent. "Hey, don't leave the shadow yet!" he shouted across to the other
shadow.
"What do..." then Xina picked up the smell of mouldering bones.
"Oh...here he is."
"Oh Val-kun what do we do?" Xina contemplated tossing Tinuviel out of the
shadow.
"What he's out there!" Xina's eyes widened as she looked across to the
other shadow meld gate. Xalan must have told Amethyst what was happening.
Knowing the chimera....
Sure enough Amethyst came charging out of the shadow and stopped in the
path of undead dwarves.
"Vile enslaver of souls! I am here to bring you justice!!" And Xina
winced as the flash of a Megido Flare became obvious.
"Didn't her father teach her strategy?" Val asked.
"Actually..." Xina stepped out next to Amethyst, her exit forcing
Tinuviel and Val out of the collapsing gate. "Hey jerk!!"
Sherra had "killed" the golem for the fifth time. This time she spent an
additional fifteen minutes tracing each individual piece of the golem and
reducing them to ashes.
"I think that did it finally," she said catching her breath. "Now to
find Xalan and..." there was a loud metallic clanging sound. This was
followed by another, and another. Sherra sighed frustratedly and turned to
face three statues on their way to their proper places after losing their
original prey. "This is just going to be one of those days.....isn't it."
~So are you going to fight these too?~
"Of course I am, what else can I do?" she asked as she dodged the first
attack.
~Oh I don't know, move to the astral plane perhaps.~ Sherra paused long
enough for a golem to strike and send her flying through a wall into another
room. She lefted the sword up and glared at the run emblazoned weapon.
"Sometimes I really hate you," she said. Then she shifted into the gray
astral that lay between the living world and the outer realms. The
unthinking golems quietly took up there podiums not noticing the absence of
one of their number.
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