Well, we are finally beginning to wind down to the end of my little tale. This chapter deals with the aftermath of the encounter with Natalya the assassin, and the battle against the High Council. Enjoy!

XVI

Natalya's lifeless body lied splayed several feet behind Frost, launched there by the force of Luther's blows. Despair settled over Luther once he realized what he had done. He had defended a murderer, and even worse had taken a life that did not deserve death. Natalya had only been acting on the behalf of justice, like he had done so many times himself, and therefore could be considered innocent.

Luther held his head, his mind reeling.

"Thanks, I thought I was a goner for sure!" Frost said, walking up to Luther.

"How can you be so calm at a time like this?" Luther demanded.

"What? What is your problem? Hey, she attacked me, and you saved me. Simple as that."

"No, it's not and you know it! She was coming for you because you committed murder. And now I've killed her for it, now I'm an accessory to what you did" Luther said angrily. "Now there is a great deal of blood on my hands as well."

"Oh, cmon, get over yourself!" Frost scolded. "Let's get out of here before her friends arrive" Frost said, nodding towards the dead assassin, "and maybe you can grow a backbone on the way."

Luther bristled. Apparently even loved ones were not safe from Frost's sharp tongue. "Fine, let's go."

Though Luther had committed murder to protect Frost, word of his deed had not yet reached Kurast, so he quickly entered town and retrieved the Cube, and Khalim's body parts. Since he was a paladin, the townsfolk believed him to be beyond reproach. He quickly fed Cain a line about not having time to wait for Frost, and that he was going to continue in the quest against evil. Cain seemed suspicious, but did not hold him.

Retrieving the Brain was not all that difficult for the pair, it was located under the decaying city ruins, on the second floor of the sewer system. A few mummies with their standard compliment of skeletons, and a few shocking bats were the only foes that stood in the warriors' way. They quickly fell these foes, entered the second basement floor, and retrieved the body part the sought.

Soon after, they were back on the surface, working towards the temple in the center of the jungle ruins. The temple loomed large in the sky, cold white stone piercing upwards with all its might. Two large moats served as a barrier in front of the temple, with only a walkway in between. Luther knew this place well, it was where he had spent most of his childhood. It looked the same as he remembered it, but something was definitely wrong. An aura of evil and perversion hung in the air like a heavy black cloud.

"There are demons here, powerful ones." Luther whispered to Frost.

A smile spread across the sorceress' face. "Great, I was hoping to get a workout on this trip."

"Don't be careless now, Frost" Luther scolded.

Frost rolled her eyes. "Okay, fine, whatever. Let's go whip some ass" Frost said eagerly.

The pair prepared for battle. Luther blessed his shield, and activated his fanaticism aura. Frost renewed her energy shield and shiver armor. She also called a thunderstorm to the area, to strike down at their foes. Confident they were prepared, they moved quickly to the temple entrance.

As they approached the entranceway, six deformed, vile creatures charged out of the interior at the pair. They were once human, that much was sure from their appearance, but they had been turned into something else, something unholy. Large growths protruded from their bodies, like cancerous lumps. They had grown horns in their heads and shoulders. Tatters of red clothes hung from their bodies, concealing their putrid, twisted flesh. With a snort similar to a crazed boar, they sprang into battle.

Luther rushed forward to engage the demons, hoping to keep them pinned in the doorway. The demons struck back hard, pushing around him. They then poured out of the doorway and around the paladin. Luther quickly found himself surrounded. Heavy blows from deformed, scaly arms rained down on him. One of the monsters was enchanted with ice, and another with lightning. Thankfully Luther had his salvation aura, reducing the damage. He did not have an aura to reduce the demons' considerable might.

The paladin began his hail of blows, desperately trying to push back the creatures. The demons let loose wild animalistic screams with each strike, but did not relent in their attack. The few creatures that did not have direct contact with Luther began shooting bolts of lightning. The crimson colored charges bit through Luther's defenses and delivered a considerable shock. The bolt did not seem to damage the monsters, but instead rejuvenate their strength. Luther saw that he was fighting a losing battle, and could only continue his attack, and pray that Frost was able to aid him soon.

Frost was tied up as well, though not as direly as Luther. A few vampires had appeared from the shadows and advanced on her. The vampires were gangly, vile creatures. It appeared it had been some time since they had fed, their appearance more like a corpse than the beautiful humans they were purported to be. Tattered clothes hung off their grisly frames, and they carried gnarled wooden staffs as weapons. They attacked by raking their razor sharp claws over their victims, stealing their life force, but they also possessed a skill that truly surprised Frost. With a single motion, the vampires could call down a meteor same as she could.

Frost attacked the vampires, and they responded by calling down meteors on her. She quickly teleported to and fro, avoiding the fiery circles on the ground that was a giveaway of an incoming meteor. She threw frozen orbs at the beasts as soon as she landed from a teleport, only pausing enough to scope out her next target before teleporting once again.

The vampires connected a claw swipes on the sorceress, but all their meteors failed to strike her. They were intent to use the spell as their main offense, allowing her time to throw orbs at them while they were in the incantations. After they fell, Frost turned her attention to the main battle, and Luther.

The demons had surrounded him, and were attacking viciously. Luther did not have much time left if Frost did not intervene. She took a second to assess the situation, and as she did so, a clap of thunder rang out. She instinctively jumped and searched for the cause of the sound. This time the sound turned out to be natural, not produced by a spell. A jungle storm had brewed up, and torrents of rain bathed the battlefield. The rain did not hamper the demons any, and Luther was still in a dire predicament.

Frost needed something to eliminate the beasts around Luther as quickly as possible. A frozen orb would not have sufficient power to be any help. A meteor could not get close enough without endangering the paladin. Nothing else could even get close to the power needed.

Inspiration struck Frost suddenly. The answer was the rain. She could use it to her advantage. She formed a frozen orb in her hand, focusing all her power into it. She made the orb as cold and large as she possibly could. She then turned her eyes skyward, and threw the ball of ice as hard as she could. The orb flew upwards into the clouds. Her idea was justified as the clouds turned a dark black, and the rain was replaced by frozen shards of ice.

The icy blades of death rained down with tremendous force. Luther was well protected by his salvation aura, but the demons had no such protection. Frost teleported beyond the range of the blizzard she had created and began casting chain lightning spells.

Between the blizzard, chain lightning, and Luther's raging attacks, it was enough to fell the demons. As the final demon fell, it released a chilling nova, spreading out from it in a circular pattern. The attack did negligible damage to the heroes, but did serve to stop Luther dead in his tracks.

A pained look spread across Luther's face, and he quickly began to study the corpse of the demon. He tore at its body like a crazed beast.

"What's wrong?" Frost queried.

"These are my friends, my comrades" Luther answered, pain in his voice. "Geleb, Tooric, these demons were my closest friends when I was a squire here."

"How do you know that these things were once your friends?"

Luther pulled a golden medallion from one of the corpses. "Because of this" he said, tossing the medal to Frost.

Frost turned the medallion over, examining it. On the front side was a cross with beams of light filtering down from parting clouds, and on the reverse was an engraving of the bearer's name. Tooric Icefist was written prominently on the medal.

"That medal is granted to those paladins that are appointed to be guardians of the temple" Luther explained. "I was offered an appointment as well, but turned it down to travel. But my friends did not, and they stayed here." Luther said, slowly removing each medallion from each corpse.

Frost sighed sadly. "I'm sorry for your loss, Luther. But if you would have been here, you would have fallen too. Besides, you've released them from the pain they surely must have been suffering. I bet they are most gracious for your actions here."

Luther stared up hard, apparently caught off guard by Frost's uncharacteristic kindness. He nodded and slowly stood, tucking the medals into his belt. "You are right. I will honor them properly later. For now, I must destroy the evil bastard that did this to them."

Luther took Khalim's Flail from one of the fallen demons and restored it to its former glory with the Cube. He then smashed the Compelling Orb, and the pair entered the Durance of Hate.

The Durance was filled with all sorts of twisted creatures to impede the warriors' path. Putrid mummies roamed the halls, along with vampires. The worst of the lot was surely the Stygian Dolls. The dolls were small fetish skeletons reanimated by Mephisto's dark magics. They were armed the same as their living kin, with enormous knives. Where they truly became formidable was when they died. When the magic that held them together was destroyed, the creatures exploded, sending shards of bone in all directions, causing grievous wounds.

Because of the dolls, the going was quite slow for the pair. After each encounter with the dolls, Luther would have to take some time to let his healing aura rejuvenate them. The guards in Kurast surely knew by now of Natalya's death, and they had not forgotten Frost either, so returning to town for supplies was out of the question.

After quite a long time, the duo found the entrance to the lower level of the Durance. Mephisto himself surely waited therein.

"We're not going to just charge in. We need to assess the situation first. This is the real deal, one of the

Greater Evils so no crap, got it?" Luther instructed Frost.

"Yeah, whatever. A Prime Evil does not scare me in the least, but I'll go along with you, for your sake." Frost was glad that Luther had recommended caution, since it saved her the embarrassment of admitting her own fear.

Luther knew of Frost's feelings, no matter what her words were, so he did not look at her with scorn, but instead with a look that would hopefully bolster her courage, and hide his own fear at the same time. The pair silently descended the stairs to the horrors below.