© Diablo is copyrighted by Blizzard. All rights reserved. All I own are the plot and these names: Kail, Moranah, Ollan, Thorn, and Nikan.
Took be long to update this chapter? I agree ;) It's mainly because of school, but I promise I'll be on schedule soon. And the promised website…is almost ready. For now, I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas with this Diablo II Card. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Chapter Ten: Horazon's Wish
Her pillow was all gritty and it was scratching her face like crazy. Moran moaned.
"Time to wash the pillows," she moaned. "Hey mom – "
She opened her eyes and immediately felt her throat dry and parched. She wasn't on a bed at home, and the thing on her head definitely was not a gritty pillow. It was Thorn's massive giant of a leg.
"Ugh!" She moaned as she pushed her tired body from the sand and winced as she saw her arms. They were burnt badly, and no wonder they did. Someone had stripped her armor down, and all she was wearing were her suede leather pants and the frayed long sleeve shirt. They even removed the protective quilts that protected her body from being chaffed by the armor.
She looked at her surroundings. They were in some sort of hole – no, a basin, and was surrounded by walls of sand that rose almost twenty feet. Climbing one looked just about impossible.
"Damn!" She cursed and ran on the padded sand of the hole to Nikan who was lying face down. "Nikan," she dropped down next to the lying Amazon and gently turned her over. Nikan stirred gently and opened her eyes.
"Moran?"
"Look, we're in deep shit right now," Moran bit her lip. "Can you wake up Thorn? I'm going to see how far I can manage to climb up the wall."
She left Nikan and ran full speed to the wall in front of her. Jumping, she dug her heels into the fine sand and felt herself immediately slide down. Gritting her teeth, she threw all of her weight in front of her and moved up inch by inch.
"Come on, Moran. You can do better than that."
She yelped as she felt Thorn grab her ankles and shoved her up. She gasped as her hands frantically tried to find something to hang on. Thorn had done a good job. She was over halfway up...and slid down to the very bottom.
"I have to get to the top," she said. "Can you two like super-boost me?"
"Super-boost?" Thorn asked, rubbing his eyes.
"Just give me a hard enough shove that I can get to the top," she said.
Nikan and Thorn looked at each other and shrugged. "Full strength?"
"Yeah," Moran said.
Without another word, Nikan and Thorn went down on one knee, placing their hands on top of each other. Moran place one booted foot on them and crouched, ready to spring up. She took a deep breath.
"One three all right?" She said. "One two…three!"
She flew in the air, higher than she ever thought Nikan and Thorn could manage to throw her. She landed hard and slid down several feet on the sand before she managed to get a good grip. The top was only a few feet above her…
Panting and grunting, she finally made it up and she pulled herself up on top. She waved down to the others with a victorious grin and turned around.
Saber cats and Huntresses stared at her with menacing eyes.
With a scream as a javelin ripped through the side of her shirt, she tumbled down the hole.
"Finally!"
Kail broke free from Ollan and gave off a groan as he touched his raw, bleeding wrists. He stretched his muscles and looked at Ollan who was rubbing his arms.
"Is there a way out?" Kail whispered.
"Last time there wasn't a way out," Ollan said, his voice sounding like a frayed rope that was stretched to breaking limit. "There isn't a way out Kail!"
"Well then, we'll just HAVE TO MAKE A WAY THEN!" He screamed, shoving Ollan to the opposite wall. "WE DON'T HAVE ANY WEAPONS WITH US AND WE'RE GOING TO DIE!"
Adrenaline poured through his veins and mixed with the angry chemical that was pounding through his brain to his heart. His chest pressed against Ollan's, his hands shoved hard against the paladin's throat, and his face inches away from his. His spider veins bulged on his arms as he wondered how many minutes it would take to kill Ollan with a single look.
"Sssshkkkk…"
"What the?" The veins on his arms sank back to their normal size the moment he heard the hiss. He released Ollan and leapt back. Duriel…Duriel…Duriel…
"Calm down…" Ollan said, his body turning gold as he released his strength aura. He looked at Kail. "You want it?"
He hesitated. "Well…"
"You want it or not?!"
"I'll take it, but I don't want to be in debt," Kail shot back. But deep inside, he knew that he needed the aura.
He felt warmth spread over his body and looked down, amazed to see his limbs bathed in a golden light. He hated to mention it, but Ollan's strength aura felt pretty good, both to his limbs that felt as weak as an amateur's javelin and what was left of his sacred body heat.
"You know, you could ask for it when you want it," Ollan said, as if reading his thoughts.
"I told you, I don't want to be in dept."
"Suit yourself."
A stench of rotting meat that smelled like maggots have been eating away at it for several days filled the cave and he gagged, covering his mouth and ended up gagging more when he noticed his gauntlets were covered with filth.
"Duriel's stench," he heard Ollan swallow. "Duriel's damned stench."
Kail bent his knees and crouched, ready to spring. Sparks flew from his fingers, and he saw his reflection on one of the slimy pools of demon saliva upon the filthy ground. His eyes glowed an unearthly greenish yellow, as it always did when he was ready to curse.
One long claw slipped from the shadows and into the sanctuary of the little light Duriel's Chamber held.
The creature has come.
He gave a shout and the dance of death began.
Moran cried out as a spear rammed for her unprotected stomach. Reflexively, she released an Ice Bolt and scrambled back on her feet. Several cats froze in blocks of ice, but not enough. Javelins flew at her at an alarming speed.
Crying out, she covered her face with her arms.
An orange flash blinded her for a split second and she looked up to see the javelins slow down. Not enough to comfort her, but enough to give her time to dodge.
Thank you, Nikan, she thought as she scrambled to the left. The javelins gently swerved past her and landed inside the pit.
Perfect…weapons for our Amazon to use.
"Moran! Get out of the way! Now!" She heard Nikan yell.
She fell flat on her stomach and heard the whiz whiz of spears that flew over her head. Cats screamed and shouted in fury as they were knocked down into the grainy sand.
Looking around, she noticed a length of thick rope lying next to a moaning cat. Grabbing the frayed end, she tied it securely around a pike that was jammed deep into the sand. Deep enough, she silently hoped as she threw down the rest of the rope into the pit. "Climb up!" She shouted.
She heard a screech and she whirled around to face the eyes of an angry saber cat. With a snarl, it snapped its whip and Moran cried out as the cruel piece of leather snapped around her neck. Choking and wheezing, she grabbed the whip and tried to pull herself free.
Get a grip, Moran.
She tried to free her hands and use her magic, but her limbs felt weak. Spots danced in front of her head and she suddenly felt too tired to even choke.
"Moran!"
She saw Thorn at the corner of her eye and he smashed his fist into the cat's head. With a lurch, the beast fell to her knees and let go of the whip. Moran swallowed in a breath and tore the leather from her neck.
"DAMN!" She cried, massaging her neck.
"You all right there?" Thorn grabbed her arm. She stumbled. "I-I think so."
"Give her this," Nikan handed the barbarian a bottle filled with red healing liquid. "We should go back before they come with even more cats."
"Where's our stuff?" Thorn opened the cork stopper with a pop and handed the bottle to Moran. "Drink it."
She swallowed the bittersweet potion in one gulp and wiped her mouth. "Where to next?"
"Are you up to traveling?"
"I am," she said with more confidence than she felt.
"I want you two to go and get the Horadric cube. I'll manage the staff and the amulet," Thorn looked at them. "Both of you ahead and kill Horazon's impersonator. I'll meet you in the Magi Canyon."
Nikan nodded. "Take care of yourself. It's bad enough we don't have Kail and Ollan."
Canyon of the Magic? Horazon? Horadric Cube?
"I'm in trouble," she whispered. "Now I'm really in trouble."
"Hello."
The tension left his stressed muscles so quickly he nearly collapsed. Kail staggered backwards and bumped into Ollan who roughly shoved him back. It was a human voice…not Duriel's
The giant talon they took to be one of Duriel's turned out to be a large severed leg belonging to a giant spider. A man wearing a heavy cloak stepped from the shadows and brushed off his heavy cloaks that were covered with cracked spider slime. He raised his head.
He was a small man, so short that the tip of his head only reached the top of Kail's stomach. His shiny baldhead was covered with dust and small dark eyes twinkled shrewdly. He grasped an aged staff in his hand.
"You two look like a pair of dead fish," the man said. "Don't gape at me like that."
Instead, Kail asked, "Who are you?"
"Me?" The man placed his staff on the ground and patted his hands on his robes. "I'm known as Horazon."
"What the – "
"You can't be Horazon…I mean…"
"Don't expect Horazon to look like this small man do you?" Horazon sat down on a rock. "My you do judge things badly."
"What are you doing here?" Ollan asked.
"Waiting until someone wakes Duriel up," Horazon shrugged. "Duriel is asleep, and he will not wake until the Horadric Staff opens the door of his chamber."
Kail felt anger surge through him, and with a cry, he leapt from his rock and whirled an arm around the old man's neck. "Why don't we finish you off right now, Horazon!? You shed the blood of too many people – too many innocent people. It's now time for your blood to mingle with theirs!"
"Kail! Stop it!" Ollan shouted.
"Kill me then, there's no difference…" Horazon wheezed, trying to speak through the arm that pressed on his throat. "Spare my suffering…I am old, and those demons betrayed me…" He laughed. "Take my advice…never trust a demon, or even use them for slaves as I did. They will betray you, no matter what."
"If you had so much the wisdom you did as you do now, then why enslaved those creatures?" Kail asked.
"I know they will betray me…" Horazon sounded smug. "The price I paid for dark power. Kill me."
"How did we end up here? I want to know," Kail whispered dangerously. "How did Ollan and I get here? Didn't we have to go through the Arcane Sanctuary from Jerhyn's palace? And the seven tombs of Tal Rasha! Six of them are false – how did we get here?"
"I still have some powers within me," Horazon said. "And many dark demons have teleporting skills, or bodies that may pass through matter and time. The many species of the Wraith for example. I ordered them to bring a few of the Five to Tal Rasha's chamber."
"You brought us here? Why?"
"Because I want to die," Horazon answered. "I'm tired and I want to meet my Lords in Hell. Only warriors like you have the ability to truly kill me. Only Heroes like you can truly send me to Hell."
Kail released the man and shoved him back. "Sit on your rock, Horazon. If luck is with you, you may die when our friends opens this unholy chamber and one of these stones fall on your thick skull."
Horazon stared at him. "KILL ME NOW!" The great Vizjerei Summoner, Horazon, pleaded.
"No."
Kail stepped back.
"Why didn't you kill him?" Ollan looked at Horazon who was moaning madly.
"Because that's what he wants me to do."