Chapter Fourteen: Loviatar's Agent
Southern de'Arnise lands, 7 Hammer, 1370 DR
The air was musty and thick with the scent of cloying death, which grew stronger with every step they took. Occasionally, Nalia would look at the floor, and see a half-decayed corpse lying in positions that spoke of complete agony. Most of their faces were missing, and sewn to their stomach…
Nausea rose in her stomach with every step.
Such casual cruelty was worthy of only the worst evil. It matched the blood and slaughter that had occurred within the keep. Nalia whispered a prayer to Kathryn and Mystra, praying that she would have the strength to stand against whatever evil lurked in this dank, forsaken hole.
The walls were splashed with blood, hundreds of tiny droplets scattered everywhere. Nalia shuddered- this place was not a new place… from the amount of dust it looked ancient…
She smiled slightly.
The evil in this place probably did not want her to see so much, but an advanced infravision spell cast on Cernick, Andrew and herself allowed them to see as if it were midday.
The priest of Chauntea was pale, and whenever they passed a corpse, he would tug the children close to him, and launch a keening litany for their departed souls, praying that they reside in peace eternal.
Strangely, the children did not seem to be affected by the slaughter around them. Nalia looked into their strange eyes that were flecked with touches of red, and saw nothing in them… no reaction at all, to anything.
How terrible it was to have these things happen to children, once so innocent and pure, now cursed enough to have to traverse these passages of evil, these marble corridors of ignobility.
They passed another body, this one more fresh than the others, for occasionally a drop of blood would leak from the slashed wrists of the poor victim. As they were about to walk past the most recent of the faceless victims, Nalia heard a gurgling rasp leave its throat.
Her skin itched with horror.
The body was still alive. The person still breathed, with his face sewn into his stomach! Nalia couldn't stop herself this time- she vomited, gagging with a white face. Cernick supported her as he did so, his face bleak.
"Such horror…"
Nalia wiped the vomit from her chin, and turned groggily back to the corpse that shivered slightly- breathing. Steadying her staff in her two hands, she approached the person, and raised the staff above her head, bringing it crashing down. A jerk and the faceless victim fell still, breathing out in relief.
Father Andrew murmured, "Chauntea bless and keep his soul…"
They turned to move forward, but a strange feeling ran around them. Nalia closed her eyes. There was a sense of menace, a sense of power, shivering and quivering gently. Opening her eyes, she cursed herself for a fool. There had been a contingency placed on the dying person, so that if the final mercy was delivered, a spell would be activated. What a fool…
Her thoughts were lost as she saw the affects of the unleashed spell. All around them, along the endless corridor that they had walked down, the faceless corpses started to raise, eyes shining yellow with desire for flesh… and blood.
Nalia looked at the parody of life that these corpses possessed, and with a dark fury setting within her eyes, she advanced with her staff held before her. The staff of the magi was her most prized possession, for it gave her more power than most mages ever had. Combined with the numerous rings and amulets from the vault Nalia made a more than formidable opponent.
She rattled off a series of chants- the first opened up a telepathic link with the undead. The second sent a number of barely visible red sparks zooming through those links, searching for the mind that controlled the skeletons. The third and final chant started a mental duel with the controller of the skeletons…
Nalia shrieked!
Little girl… you wish to set your mind against mine, do you? Silly… silly girl… let me show you how easy it would be for me to shatter your mind without sparing more than perfunctory effort…
She stumbled, beset by this strangely seductive voice, a voice that thrilled as if dripping in honey. But there was something sinister about it, something that courted the darkness. Nalia found her mental resistance crumbling as this voce delicately moved through her mind, working past her defences like a mist.
"Stop!"
Her gasp echoed throughout the corridor.
In her mind, Nalia heard a low snigger. Stop,
my pretty? Why, when I am having so much fun? Let me search through your
memories… hold tightly, little one, this will hurt badly…
Nalia sobbed, and thrashed wildly as thousands of invisible shards of magic entered her skull, seeking out what lay within her mind. Humiliation flared, along with fear and a touch of self-loathing. How over-confident! How easily she had fallen for the trap, and then played right into the hands of this evil force.
Light flared.
She stood over the body of her father, watching as the massive Tor'Gal bore down on her, his bulk sending shivers of fear through her skin. She screamed.
And fire giants surrounded her, about to beat her to death with their spiked clubs. Again, she screamed.
And this time she was covered in thousands of poisonous spiders, all itching to devour her warm corpse.
Nice, isn't it, my little one…
Gripped by nightmares, Nalia shrieked endlessly.
* * *
Surprisingly, it was Father Andrew who reacted first. He tore the symbol of Chauntea from around his neck, and pressed it to Nalia's forehead, yelling with a booming voice, "Be gone vile spirit, from the mind of this woman! By the grace of Chauntea, I command thee!"
There was a cry of rage, and something black was flung out of Nalia's eyes, fading into the wall before anyone could hinder it. Nalia collapsed to the floor, her eyes watering and her breath coming in short, sharp bursts.
"Get up, Nalia! We need your magic to fight
these things!"
Father Andrew straightened, and faced
the advancing corpses determinedly, and then shouted, "You may need the wizard,
Cernick, but I do not. I am the power of Chauntea! Back, back agents of death!
Back, by the divine grace of Chauntea!"
Three corpses were thrown away from Andrew with great force, and when they fell to the floor, they did not move again. Taking a belligerent step forward, Andrew shouted again, "Back, by the grace of Chauntea!"
Again, corpses wilted when faced by Andrew's power. Cernick left Nalia's side, and looked around for the children. They were huddled behind Nalia. For now at least, they were safe. Levelling his sword, Cernick shouted, "De'Arnise! De'Arnise!"
He leapt into the fray, chopping and hacking this way and that with his sword. Magical light flowed along the blade as it absorbed the magical energies sustaining the undead corpses.
For a moment it seemed that Cernick and Andrew in unison could defeat the corpses and save the day, but it soon became apparent that the numbers were far too great. Cernick stumbled as a corpse sliced him across the face with sharp claws. Luckily, Andrew was there to gesture with his symbol and send the corpse back to death, but it was clear that they could not stand against the corpses.
Cernick yelled, panicked, "Nalia! Get up, for the god's sake!"
The wizard stirred slightly, still shivering.
Whatever had harmed her mind had managed to cause her real pain. Andrew roared,
and flung himself onto a press of corpses, shouting, "Chauntea!"
Most of the corpses were thrown away
from him, but a few did not, and fell underneath his bulk- not dead though.
Their claws started tearing at his robes. Grunting and praying, Andrew punched
and hit the faces of the corpses, though he could do little harm to them. One
of the corpses tore away the symbol from his hand, and he cursed. The symbol
was the source of most of his power.
Ignoring Nalia for now, Cernick rushed to Andrew's rescue, shouting his battle cry, and stabbing this way and that in a blind effort to rescue the priest. It succeeded, but by then he was so far away from Nalia that he could only watch helplessly as a press of corpses lumbered over to the barely conscious wizard.
* * *
Nalia heard the sounds of battle, and struggled to regain her senses. She could feel the evil all around her- a cloying press… or was it the dead bodies that had risen again to kill them all? She groaned.
Above her, she saw bright yellow eyes, and she suddenly felt a sharp pain rip across her face. Blood leaked into her mouth as her cheek was lacerated by the nails of the corpses. Frowning, she struggled against the press, trying desperately to cram some air into her failing lungs.
Desperation gave her strength, and with quickly utter words and a sharp punching gesture, she unleashed a sunburst contingency. The corpses scattered, and flames started to catch. Leaning heavily on her staff, Nalia stood, and took stock.
Cernick and Andrew were pressed against the wall by about thirteen of the undead beasts. They would not last long. With a screamed incantation, Nalia sent a death spell humming through the air. It hit the floor in the centre of the group of corpses, and, silently, they crumpled to the ground, finally dead.
Nalia breathed again, as all around them, the corpses wilted. There was a whispered curse of annoyance, and then she sensed energy build up around them. Urgently, Andrew said, "The evil comes for us! It is here! I can feel it!"
But nobody came.
She smiled. "Andrew, maybe we have beaten it."
He shook his head. "It is closer than ever… I can feel it beside us… Chauntea grant me mercy, but I know it is with us. Is it invisible?"
Nalia frowned, and warily, chanted a detect invisibility
spell. Nothing happened. She attempted a half-hearted laugh. "See, Andrew… we
must have defeated it…"
But she knew she was fooling herself.
Now, she herself could feel the evil. The nauseating feel of it rising in her throat… it was awful… there were eddying
movements in the shadows as the darkness responded to the arrival of the source
of the undead… Nalia gripped her staff more tightly, "Andrew, where is it?"
The priest shook his head, pale. His robes, torn, and his messed hair made him appear defeated, and his voice shook and quivered. This was affecting him badly. "I don't know, Nalia! I just don't…"
He stopped suddenly, and however pale his face had been before, it grew far paler. Andrew bent down and picked up the rose symbol of Chauntea, which he held up to his lips. Tears sped down his face, and Nalia saw with embarrassment, a wetness run down the front of his robes. He had wet himself.
"Oh, Chauntea, no!
Nalia… we… we are doomed!"
Nalia took a step back, and Andrew flung
out of his hand. "Move no further! Stop, Nalia, go no closer to those children!
For the gods' mercy, make no more move…"
Eyebrow raised, Nalia said, "Andrew, I think this place has worried you badly. What is wrong with the children?"
In a hushed voice, Andrew choked, "What if the evil is not down here… what if the evil has been with us since we arrived at the farmhouse… what if the evil, is those children there!"
Fear!
Nalia whirled, and turned to face the two
children, who giggled sillily. The girl turned to
face the boy, and whispered to him, "I think they know, brother… I think they
know about us…"
The boy laughed, and Nalia cringed when
she sensed the dark undertones within his voice, "I think they know too,
sister… what shall we do?"
The girl sniggered, "The mistress wants them… alive… will we obey? They do look succulent… very… tasty…"
Another cruel laugh. "Yes, mother didn't have enough blood, did she?"
"No, brother… mother did not…"
Nalia screamed in abject terror, as the children leapt for them, eyes blazing red, and fangs slicing through their gums. Vampires! The children were vampires! Nalia moved her staff urgently, and knocked one of the children with all her strength, but the girl only flinched slightly, before tearing the staff from her hand.
The boy leapt on her back, and laughed, insane. His icy cold fingers clutched at Nalia's hands, and hot agony coursed through them when he squeezed with the strength of a vice. Nalia felt her fingers break.
The girl gripped her other hand, and pulled. That hand broke too.
Nalia took a step back. Her hands were broken!
They hung, uselessly and painfully. Without her hands, she could not cast!
Andrew was shouting something, but he was thrown against the wall. He slumped, and when he tried to stand, the girl was in front of him, staring at him with her deep red eyes. Nalia watched helplessly as Andrew's face became slack, and then he started to sway slowly… completely under the control of the vampire. The same had happened to Cernick, who dropped his sword easily as the boy held his hands around his neck, eyes glittering with malevolent power.
Nalia shivered, and the girl crooned. "Don't worry, lady… the mistress comes… soon, we will enjoy ourselves…"
The wizard de'Arnise tried to move her hands to cast a spell, but the pain was unbearable. The sudden laughter of the children made Nalia flinch. Turning to face the darker end of the corridor, she paled.
A dark mass of shadow was speeding towards them.
The agent of evil had come.