Chapter 7
From her left a guard swung his sword in a downward arc towards Tigerclaw. Sensing the attack through her honed skills in combat, the General easily sidestepped the blade. As the Xaos-loyal soldier tried to redirect his weapon Tigerclaw quickly moved her foot to slam down on the man's sword hand. Just as she expected, the guard tried to hold onto his sword and, using that tension as leverage, she pushed off the guard's hand, bringing her other foot strike his head. As the guard recoiled so did Tigerclaw, only his fall wasn't nearly as graceful as hers. Landing after her mid-air flip, she heard the body of the guard drop noisily to the floor. Her eyes darted around her to check on both her allies and her opponents.
Behind her DeFrain was holding his own against a number of castle guards, their blows being interrupted and redirected by his epee. Like he usually did, the pirate was taking his time to wear down his opponents and look for weaknesses in their defense. The three guards that had ganged up on him were all becoming frustrated that this one man was keeping in time with all of them. DeFrain, seeing a shift in one guard's aura, DeFrain watched closely to see how he would attack. As the guard reared his sword back DeFrain quickly thrust his sword into the gap in the soldier's armor near his shoulder, causing him to drop his sword. Taking full advantage, DeFrain continued his attack by arcing the epee out to slice into the neck of another soldier who had just turned his head to look at his injured comrade. After this, the third guard came at DeFrain from behind, but he deftly rolled under the attack, losing his hat in the process. Noticing this, he went on the offensive, quick "ha"s noting each of his attacks against the guard. As he neared where his hat lay on the ground his foot reached out and went into the bowl of his tri-corner. With a flick of his ankle the hat jumped up in-between the two combatants, and as the confused guard looked at the airborne hat he was quickly dealt with by a stab to the midsection. The seafarer caught his hat in his left hand, quickly donning it before he was again confronted by the castle's defenses.
Ehud didn't have DeFrain's flair, but he was also fending off multiple attackers at the group's opposite flank. Swinging his broadsword in wide arcs he kept the majority of the guards around him at bay. One tried to attack him from the side, but the round shield strapped to Ehud's forearm blocked his sword. Shoving the enemy weapon away, Ehud followed through with a mighty slash of his broadsword, the great weapon crashing into the torso armor of the guard. Others tried to flank Ehud while the now incapacitated guard was attacking, but Ehud followed through, using both hands to swing the sword sideways. It not only cut into one guard but also drove him into a few others, sending them sprawling across the floor while Ehud's yell reverberated in the dark chamber.
Meanwhile, Ted had his hands full with the castle guard that he was facing. Compared to Ted, this guard was particularly imposing, and Ted couldn't hope to match him in raw strength. Luckily his shorter stature made him a smaller target. The guard's slashes were threatening, to say the least, and Ted was having a hard time dodging. At one point, thinking he could get an attack in, swung the Clawed Staff around to strike at the guard, but after being hit in the head the guard simply let out a small chuckle. The menacing castle guard raised his sword and swung down at Ted, and the apprentice mage just had enough time to move the Clawed Staff to block the attack. As he began to buckle under the pressure of the guards attack Ted's armored foe once again laughed. Strangely enough, Ted laughed too. Gripping the Clawed Staff firmly Ted let out a yell and suddenly a blast of energy shot forth at point-blank range against his opponent. The guard flew backwards into a pair of other soldiers, toppling them over.
Suddenly, another guard tried to flank Ted, but Tigerclaw was there to intercept. Her fists glowed with a fiery energy and as the guard moved his blade against Ted her left hand stretched forward. The power of her palm easily deflected the blade, and as the guard stumbled back her right hand swung at him in a fist. Burning with ethereal fire, her punch landed on the guard's torso, and after he fell back onto the ground he yelled while trying to undo his breastplate, as the area near where Tigerclaw had hit him was quickly melting. Tigerclaw moved back, and the Resistance members all tightened their circle as more guards moved into position.
"Kill Tigerclaw, you fools!" Kohain shouted. "Rid them of their precious leader!"
Acting on Kohain's order a number of guards started in towards the Resistance members, their target General Tigerclaw. Ehud, Ted, and DeFrain surrounded their General and began to block and ward off the castle guards from reaching Tigerclaw. However, one zealous guard charged forward and thrust his sword at Tigerclaw's midsection. Tigerclaw yelled out in pain, and almost instantly the guard's thrust was met by DeFrain's own thrust, quickly ending the guard's life. DeFrain turned to Tigerclaw and took hold of her. "…General!" he said, and in an instant both were gone in a puff of smoke. Across the room Kohain laughed maniacally. Ehud growled in anger, while Theodore shouted, "You'll pay for that, Kohain!"
"Really?" laughed Kohain. "Then come over here and get me," he proposed from behind a veritable wall of guards. With a determined look, Ehud and Ted began to do just that.
Outside the castle gate, DeFrain and Tigerclaw reappeared. Smiling to himself, DeFrain took a moment to comment, "You know, General, we'll have to thank Kohain for giving us the perfect opening we needed."
"Later," Tigerclaw said. "Much later." She began to run at a good clip towards the edge of the forest. With a casual wave to his General, DeFrain once again disappeared in a puff of smoke.
What had once been hissing had turned into a growl deep in Elise's throat that was distinctly her own voice. All her anger was now focused on one thing: Mellek Xaos. Her desire to finally rid the world of him soon could not contain itself and boiled over as she took a running leap at him, her claws poised to attack. As she flew towards him, Xaos swung his sword back and raised his left hand, his palm facing Elise. Almost casually he uttered the words, "Gravatae griosso," after which Elise suddenly wasn't leaping towards the Dark Lord anymore. His spell had brought her suddenly to the throne room floor, crashing with a thud. As she tried to resume her attack she found that it was at once extremely difficult to raise herself off the floor. Trying to fight back against this unseen force, Elise realized that her efforts to stand were in vain, so she quickly changed tactics. Shifting her weight more towards her right arm, Elise pushed against the floor with her legs, sending her into a roll which, with aid from momentum and carefully timed movements, brought her back on course at Xaos.
Silently noting Elise's ingenuity, Xaos readied the Sword of Shadows to attack Elise as she came rapidly towards him. Bringing it around with his right arm, he took the cursed blade in both hands as he performed a vertical chop at Elise. However, rather than cut into flesh, Xaos discovered that his sword was cutting into the stone floor of the throne room. Moments before, Elise had caught Xaos's movement and leapt out of her roll, no longer affected by Xaos's prior spell. Latching onto a nearby pillar momentarily, she leaped back at the Dark Lord, using her claws to carve a number grooves into the front of his breastplate. Xaos responded by bringing up his left hand in a fist to swing at Elise's midsection. However, the metal claws on his gauntlet only managed to cut into Elise's right arm as she quickly leapt away from him. Elise yelled in pain as she backed off momentarily.
Up ahead Tigerclaw could see Skythropos standing silently as he usually did, looking to Xaos's castle, which was separated from them by a deep ravine. Skythropos turned his head to look as Tigerclaw arrived like a mighty gust of wind. "I take it that events are playing out according to the plan," the Kalimundi asked.
"As well as they can be," Tigerclaw replied. "Are you ready?"
"Yes," Skythropos simply stated. He lifted his hands towards the wall of Xaos's castle. Energy seemed to flow off of his six fingers like waves in a body of water. Tigerclaw followed suit, but in a much more dramatic manner. Summoning her inner strength, the General yelled while her two fists were suddenly surrounded by bluish fire. That yell seemed to turn into a primal roar as the fire grew and danced about her hands. After both had gathered the energy they needed, Tigerclaw's fists punched towards the castle wall where Skythropos's hands were also aimed. Surreal flames lanced out at the castle wall at the same time a red blast of energy shot forth from Skythropos. Impacting the castle wall at the same time, the two blasts created an explosion of rock and dust. The two Resistance members continued their assault, and eventually broke through the outer wall of the castle. Continuing, their energy began to burst through interior walls and floors of the castle, seeking out a certain particular room.
After DeFrain had reappeared to rejoin the battle he, Ehud, and Theodore had kept their group tight as they fought against the castle guards that continued to surround them. As they fought back, they carefully made their way to the side of the room. Hugging the wall, they took great care to avoid the blows of their enemies. Soon, the three found themselves surrounding a wooden door.
"Isn't this where we part ways?" DeFrain asked, parrying a guard's sword with his epee.
"You're the one with the weird eye!" Ehud shot back as he swung his round shield to strike at the head of another castle guard. "You tell me!" The pirate took a moment to glance upwards while holding back the enemy sword then, without looking, counterattacked by stabbing they guard.
"No doubt about it, Ehud," DeFrain responded. "Theodore, if you would…"
"Right!" Ted shouted as he quickly erected a magical barrier that none of the guards' weapons could penetrate. While their swords bounced off the invisible wall, Ehud turned and swung the door wide open to reveal a spiraling staircase leading upwards.
"Good luck," Ehud said as he quickly began to climb the stairs.
"Same to you," DeFrain said as he shut the door.
Meanwhile, Kohain had noticed that his troops had suddenly stopped attacking. Reaching out, he could sense that magic was being used. Taking angry steps forward he shouted to his soldiers, "Move!" Turning to look back, the castle guards quickly created an open pathway that led in a straight line to where DeFrain and Ted were. Pointing his staff in their direction, a powerful orb of magic shot towards the two Resistance members. Falling prone to the floor, DeFrain and Ted escaped the full effect of the blast as is impacted the wall behind them. Dust and debris were sent flying every which way, resulting in the awkward situation where the castle guards could barely see each other, not to mention their targets. Looking to see how his attack had fared, a figure burst forth from the dust cloud. Suddenly, Kohain went on the defensive as Ted swung his staff at the wizard. Blocking the blow with his own staff, Kohain smirked. "So, the little fool wants revenge," he posed.
"Not right now, Kohain," Ted explained as he continued to attack.
"Glacius convergium," Xaos said, and almost immediately sharp pillars of ice seemed to erupt from the throne room floor to attack Elise. Even her nimble body had trouble dodging the chilly stalagmites as they lanced out at her. Seeing no other recourse, Elise decided to once again attack Xaos at close range, as that was really all she could do in this form. Taking a curved route as the ice pillars continued to erupt, she again leapt at Xaos's massive form. In response, the Dark Lord shifted both his hands to grip the Sword of Shadows as it moved to parry Elise's attack. Her clawed hands ran into the blade, and the momentum of the rest of her body brought her feet around to slash at Xaos's arms. Xaos responded by swinging the Sword of Shadows to the side with Elise still riding on it. Startled, Elise hung on to the huge sword while Xaos moved to swing it downwards in an attempt to smash Elise into the floor, rending her in two. As she felt the sword begin to swing down Elise jumped off of it, landing face-up on the floor. Rolling quickly to the side she barely avoided the impact of the sword. Noting his miss, Xaos maneuvered the Sword of Shadows into a sideways position and sliced across the floor in an upward curve. Elise was one step ahead of his attack though, and stopped her roll to lay as flat on the floor as possible, the blade barely passing above her back. She scrambled to her feet again to avoid another downward stab of Xaos's sword.
Putting more energy into his swordplay, Xaos continued to come at Elise, his strikes always avoided at a narrow margin by Elise. Their battle moved quickly around the room, eventually bringing them back to the forward part of the room where Elise had previously laid asleep. After a quick series of near misses, both Elise and Xaos took a pause. Elise's breathing was heavy from the strenuous battle, and as she looked on she noticed that Xaos was also feeling the effects of combat. His figure, usually statuesque and near motionless, was slightly bent over. She could hear the reverberation of his breathing within his armored helmet. Wanting to secure her position, she took a step back, but suddenly noticed something. Her foot had hit something wet. Elise's realization came a moment too late, as the melted ice from Xaos's prior attack re-froze up around her legs. Before she could attempt to break free from the trap Xaos rushed forward, swinging the Sword of Shadows in a downward chop. Elise raised her hands just in time, and her claws interrupted Xaos's strike, holding back the massive sword from slashing into her. Xaos pressed his attack, and Elise could barely summon the strength to hold on.
DeFrain took down yet another guard and began to retreat from the rest. Numerous cuts showed on his limbs where various guards' swords had struck him. In his mind, he didn't know how much longer he could hold off these guards by himself. 'I must be getting soft,' he thought. 'I'm too used to having Blackbeak watch my back.'
Meanwhile Kohain and Theodore were still fighting each other, the guards nearby unsure of whether they should join in or not without order from Kohain. Ted was still engaging Kohain with physical attacks from the Clawed Staff while Kohain countered with his own magical weapon. The wizard found that he was beginning to fatigue from Ted's continual strikes so, when he saw his opportunity, quickly stepped back out of the way of one of Ted's strikes. Ted stepped forward to take another swing at the evil sorcerer, but suddenly he ran into something that sent a shock through his body. Kohain had erected a magical barrier charged with lightning in the moments before Ted's attempted attack, and now he looked on the youth with a wry grin. Pointing his staff at Theodore, Kohain made a small circular motion with it just before flames erupted around the apprentice mage. Ted pulled his cloak up near his face to shield himself from the sudden onslaught. Laughing, Kohain said, "Admit it, boy. Your mastery of magic is nowhere near mine!"
From inside his fiery prison Ted replied, "I hate to admit it, but for once you are right, Kohain Ravime." At this Kohain's grin widened, but he soon noticed strange movement from inside the wall of flame. Something leapt out of the fire spell, which Kohain belatedly realized was Ted's long black cloak. Looking to the side, he almost didn't notice another something leap out of the spell. This time it was Theodore himself, seemingly unfazed, and holding something other than the Clawed Staff in his hands. Fear suddenly struck Kohain's being as Theodore swung the Phoenix Blade down. As it came into contact with Kohain's magic barrier a line of fire appeared at its edge that quickly spread and burnt down the unseen shield. "But, Kohain," Ted continued, standing in a dark outfit with light battle gear and a scabbard, "your prowess in battle is nowhere near mine!"
Elise struggled to keep her grip on the Sword of Shadows steady. If she let the sword mortally wound her again she could die, or its spell could take control of her again, making all of this for naught. As she stared down the edge of the sword she suddenly felt a strange sensation course through her body. Moments later a great pain struck her hands, and she yelled out in pain as her grip on the sword tightened. Her head bent low as she screamed out, so she didn't see how the claws on her hands split into her familiar five fingers. Xaos was startled by this gruesome change, and so lifted his sword away from Elise. She meanwhile grabbed at her body as she could feel the pain spreading slowly to it. In this state she could no longer put op a fight against the Dark Lord.
"What a pity, Elise Redd," Xaos began, "to see your end coming with not a yell, but a whimper. I will put you out of your misery!" Xaos again readied his sword with a mighty yell, and swung down at the vulnerable Elise. However, before his sword could cut down the vulnerable Elise, it was interrupted by another blade. Standing beside Xaos was the determined Ehud, using all his strength to hold back the Sword of Shadows with his broadsword. Moments earlier, he had burst into the room via the door behind Xaos and instantly moved to protect Elise who, strangely enough, had come under attack by the Dark Lord.
"I won't let you, Xaos!" Ehud shouted.
"E-Ehud…" Elise muttered in-between her groans of agony.
"More obstinate resistance," Xaos commented as shifted his weight to compete against Ehud. "Perhaps it was a mistake to leave command of the guard to Kohain."
"You'll find you've got quite a few vulnerabilities yourself, Xaos," Ehud said as he swiftly backed off from Xaos, leaving the Dark Lord in-between himself and Elise. Mellek Xaos pondered Ehud's words for a critical moment just before he heard a strange rumble approaching. With a bang the wall Xaos was standing near exploded, forcing him back until Tigerclaw's and Skythropos's energy attacks struck him, sending him sprawling across the throne room floor. Before the Dark Lord could recover, Ehud quickly ran to Elise and began to break up the ice surrounding her.
Outside, Tigerclaw fell to one knee, extremely fatigued from her continual use of her special ability. Looking to Skythropos, she heaved, "They… are… all… yours." She lowered her head and breathed heavily, attempting to recover what energy she could. Skythropos raised his hands to his sides and began waving them in intense yet controlled motions not unlike the flair of a symphonic conductor. He reached towards the castle and closed his grip. In that instant Ehud and Elise could feel themselves lifted off the ground by a supernatural force and were quickly whisked out of the castle by the route Skythropos and Tigerclaw had blasted open. Ehud returned his broadsword to the straps on the back of his torso armor and cradled Elise in his arms. He could faintly hear her mutter something as they moved through the air. "I am… I am…" she repeated again and again.
Meanwhile, Kohain was running from Ted as he swung his sword at the craven sorcerer. DeFrain was holding off other guards, but for a moment took the time to gaze upwards. Smiling to himself, he announced to his attackers, "So sorry, but I really must go." With that he disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving the guards near him in a muddle. He reappeared in the air just above Kohain, landing on the bewildered magician. "Time to go, Ted," he called out to his ally, and after taking a hold of him teleported the two of them outside to the bridge of the castle.
Sheathing the Phoenix Blade, Ted ran with the pirate swiftly away from the castle towards the woods. Nearby, Tigerclaw stood back up as she saw Ehud and Elise quickly arriving from across the Ravine. "Split up!" she ordered. "Meet back at the rendezvous! DeFrain and Ted, remember that special order I gave you!" Both Ted and DeFrain looked at the General while trying to see if they could catch a glimpse of the rescued Elise. DeFrain, with his supernatural sight, was naturally the first to do so. Immediately after that, he tugged Ted away in the opposite direction.
"DeFrain?" Ted asked. "Why couldn't I at least call out to her?"
"Let's just say that someone your age should save their welcomes for later," DeFrain explained with a smirk.
"Huh?" Ted muttered, a bit bewildered.
The Resistance members each escaped back into the forest before any of Xaos's forces could even exit the castle.
…
Teleporting himself into the throne room of his master, Kohain Ravine made a quick bow and began, "My lord, the enemy force has been repelled from…" The sorcerer couldn't finish his overoptimistic report as he began to survey his battered surroundings. A gigantic hole had been torn in the forward wall of the room, and the aftereffects of what must have been ice spells created an eerie chill in the air. Numerous grooves had been cut into the floor and ceiling. As he looked on in awe, he noticed his master, Mellek Xaos, kneeling nearby, the Sword of Shadows in his right hand. Kohain slowly approached the Dark Lord. "M-my lord?"
After a moment Xaos raised himself to his feet, regaining his imposing stature over Kohain. Still looking away from the sorcerer he said, "Elise Redd has escaped."
"Oh," Kohain muttered. "So, that's what that scheming Tigerclaw was after. Well, I see no real issue in that. The guards that were injured can easily be replaced, and the loss of a single Fallen is certainly nothing to worry about." As soon as Kohain finished his statement Xaos turned slightly and reached out his left hand to grab the neck of his minion. Lifting Kohain into the air, Xaos, swung him at a nearby pillar, pinning him there.
"No," Xaos began, "but the Resistance regaining a vital member to their cause is! You failed to anticipate their plot and let yourself be woven into their deception! The castle is nearly in ruins and our guard complement has dropped sharply due to your incompetence in command!" While Kohain struggled to breathe, Xaos lifted the Sword of Shadows to point towards Kohain's midsection. "Are you prepared to face the consequences of such a miserable failu" Mellek Xaos stopped mid-sentence, and the frightened Kohain looked to his master. Suddenly he could hear the Dark Lord cough in a sickly manner, and after a heave one cough resulted in blood spraying out of the small opening in his helmet. Xaos quickly dropped Kohain, after which he reached out into the air. In an instant, the Pearl of Da'Cothra was in his hand, and he clutched the jewel close to him as his fit of coughing continued.
Kohain looked on in bewildered silence, his head swimming.