Disclaimer--I do not own the forgotten realms setting, but I do own the characters used within the story. In other words, DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT TOUCHING THEM! I SWEAR I'LL SIT ON YOU!
AIDEN'S FLAME
A.N.--Please realize this is not my fault, but Dr. Evil's. Any complaints should be directed at him, but compliments at me, please. TY! R&R!
Chapter 10
Aiden led the men to the sixth floor without incident, but as he stepped off the platform, he felt Zul's presence. Necromancer's left such huge holes in the weave that elves could feel them, most of the time.
They walked in silence toward the doorway to his chambers. Aiden swung open the doors, but saw nothing save an empty room on the other side.
He turned back to his troop, and his jaw dropped as he saw it: a silent, ten-score company of drow stalking them. Every one of the humans turned and gawked as the drow approached.
"In, now!" Aiden called, regaining his sense enough to issue the order.
The men quickly filed into the room as the drow drew closer. Aiden pushed at the massive doors, trying to shut them. The rest of his troop immediately helped him, but they were too slow.
The drow spilled in through the gap in the doors by twos. Aiden rushed to meet them, Hammer at his side. They beat the drow down as they came through, furious slashes from his sword and flame coupled with the blows from Hammer.
The others continued to try to force against their drow counterparts to shut the doors, but they were nearly even matched. Smith, one of the wizard's, came up next to Aiden to help the fighting.
"Smith, can you teleport us from one side of the door to the other?" he asked.
"Yes, it's a simple spell!" he responded, indignantly.
Aiden nodded and said, "Stick close behind us and be prepared. Hammer, Faridim, Flamecaller, with me! The rest of you, close the doors and bar them when we're through!"
Instead of only smiting the drow that pushed through, the small group pushed back, fighting through the small opening. Aiden was the first through, and was smite by the strength of all the drow. He blocked as many blades as he could, but more than a couple of swords pierced his defenses.
Ignoring the pain, he continued to push at them, slashing and blocking as fast as he could. Hammer and the two captains came through the opening and together they formed a box shaped defense around the wizard. They smashed through the drow who were holding the gates open quickly and held them while they were barred on the other side.
"Now!" Aiden screamed.
Smith cast his spell without hesitation as Aiden parried one blade and kicked the drow in the face. They back toward the wizard as Aiden riposted another drow and burned his final victim with the flames.
As the drow closed around them and swung, Smith finished his spell, and they disappeared as over a score spells smite the blades of their comrades.
As he reappeared, Aiden clasped the wizard's shoulder and scanned the room, seeing bookshelves on both walls, the middle of the room filled with tables and chairs covered in books piled to his chest. He dismissed all of this without a second thought, for he'd just found what he was looking for. At the other end of the room, he saw another door.
"Flamecaller, Faridim," he called. "Good work. Now search for a way out. Zen, let's go." All three obeyed without question as Aiden and Zenalic walked together toward the door.
Aiden sensed the blight upon the weave ever clearer through his elven heritage as he walked toward the door. "He is there," he said, pointing at the door. "Are you ready, Zenalic?"
She nodded once and Aiden smiled, invigorated by her courage. "If I never see you again, my lady, I want you to know that I love you, and that will not change, no matter what happens." He kissed her, stealing away her response. Without another word, Aiden turned and kicked in the door.
Without bothering to call forth his sword, Aiden charged over the broken door, spotting at once the necromancer who had tortured his love so and would now again have a chance to kill her. Clad in a black robe, the drow wizard stood, possessing the typical shoulder-length white hair. The dark elf was old, 600 or 700 hundred years to his name, no doubt. As Zenalic scrambled through the door, the necromancer turned and raised a wand with incredible agility, triggering it carelessly. Aiden felt his mouth freeze as he tried to call out; he felt the air around him press against him, rendering him helpless and motionless.
Zenalic reached for him in reaction, but pulled her hand away and winced as though she'd been burned by some invisible fire.
She turned to Zul, who laughed eerily as he caught sight of her face in the dim lighting of his lair.
"So, you freed yourself only to come and die by my hand a tenday later?" he asked. "Your stupidity amazes me greatly, human."
"You assume I will die," she said. "But you are wrong, doomed drow. I am not as weak as you think, and there will be no warriors to hold me off while you cast your spells this time. I will kill you."
"I must admit that I admire your courage in coming and facing me. Perhaps, after I've killed you, I shall reanimate you, so that your body might serve me in your memory, as it is such a tragedy to let a pretty little thing like that go to waste," Zul replied.
Zenalic grabbed a wand and triggered it, sending a bolt of azure lightning at the drow. He laughed even as it hit him, dispersing in his piwafi and serving only to singe what hair hung that low on his visage.
His face was old. Drow didn't age like humans, but 700 years was a long time, even for a drow. His eyes were drawn back in his head, and his face was highlighted by wrinkles. Even his lips were thin after living so long.
"You do not truly hope to kill me, do you, human?" Zul demanded, laughing all the harder. "Our piwafis and darts are weakened by the sun, yes, but a blast that weak would not even crisp a fly! How can you be so naïve, even after you have faced me in battle!"
The sound of Zul's laughter sent a chill down Zenalic's spine. "I am just getting started," she spat back, firing off a round of ten magic darts that all hit the piwafi and left no sign of having existed.
She began to feel fear as she realized just how powerful this drow was.
"No spell you throw can harm me, child," he said. "I have lived 700 years, and I did not do that by being weak! Give up, and I might make your death painless!"
"Never!" she screamed as she looked upon Aiden's trapped form. She pulled out the wand again and triggered it, over and over, until it fell into dust. Without missing a beat, she pulled another, this one firing balls of fire. When it fell to ashes, she pulled another, then another, and another, exhausting every magical item Aiden had given her. She stood, panting, watching the smoke clear and starting a spell of her own.
Aiden watched, helpless, as she threw multiple weapons and spells into the smoke-covered area where Zul had been.
As the smoke cleared, Aiden and Zenalic both saw Zul. He was standing in the exact same spot, the only signs of the attacks a bloody nose and a single wound on his left arm.
Even as the drow laughed his deep, terrible laugh, Zenalic cast the only spell that came to mind. As she finished it, a brilliant flash of light momentarily lit the room and at its center stood the form of Zenalic. Or more, forms, for now there stood not one, but seven of her, all dressed in hunting leathers and mail.
There must be something I can do! Aiden thought. But he was a warrior, not a wizard. The spell made him totally useless, at the mercy of the drow's dark will.
The drow laughed even harder at her illusion as he raised his hand and sent a dozen fireballs toward them. All of the Zenalics raised their hands in unison and chanted a spell of protection. But only one real spell was formed, and the illusions all shattered as they were struck by the balls of fire.
"I will show you the meaning of pain, child!" Zul screamed as he again raised his hand and chanted a single word.
Zenalic cast a rebound spell as quickly as she could. His death spell bounced off of her invisible shield and shot back at the necromancer.
"Well, well," Zul began, "you can defend yourself, can't you? It is so sad that I must now kill you. You could have been a great wizard if you'd have stood at my side. But no…" He lifted his and chanted a quick spell.
Immediately, Zenalic was lifted off the ground and she screamed, over and over.
Aiden felt his heart cry out for him to do something, to guard her, to help her, but he could do nothing but watch as she crumpled when the drow let the spell pass.
Twice more the necromancer called out spells of terrible pain before he had had enough. He pointed one finger at her whimpering form and pronounced a single syllable. She stopped crying as he spoke it, and Aiden realized on some level what had happened: She was dead.
A.N.--I really didn't wanna do that weeps . NO ONE KILL ME! Please? Keep reading to see if Aiden avenges her, or falls to the necromancer! R&R!