Chapter 6

Nightal 16 1372 DR, Year of Wild Magic

The walls inside the chamber were dark grey. Images of serpents were painted all over the walls, and the light was provided by a glowing orb that hung from the top of the ceiling. In the center of the room, Catti-brie slept sound fully, holding the black book in her arms.

Shadimir and Elros walked in slowly while Regis sped over to the sleeping Catti-brie and gently nudged her. "Catti-brie, please wake up."

Behind Regis, Shadimir stared at the sleeping woman. He hoped that her blue eyes would flutter open, and that she would greet her halfling fried. Yet she continued to sleep, despite any off the halfling's efforts to wake her.

"We'll have to carry her away before the chimera comes," Shadimir told Regis.

"It won't come," a cold feminine voice said from the shadows," not until it's called." The silver haired hunter looked into the direction where he heard the voice. A lich floated in the air, wearing white silk robes over her skeletal body. A silver tiara sat on her forehead, and a pair of silver bracelets covered each arm.

Regis winced when he saw the lich, his stomach turning in knots as the strips of her dried up skin dangled from her bony hands.

"She won't wake, not while I'm floating here," the lich said in a calm manner.

Shadimir stared at the lich. "I take it you're the one who has been sending the chimera to attack the dwarves."

"As much as I would like to take credit for that," the lich answered, shaking her head," it was Catti-brie who ordered the chimera to attack the dwarves. It was her that summoned the skeletons, and that rider you encountered earlier today."

Regis shook his head, anger in his eyes. "I don't believe you. Catti-brie wouldn't harm anyone who lived in Mithral Hall."

"She really didn't know she was doing it," explained the lich. "You could say that she was in a trance. You see gentlemen, when Catti-brie discovered the book in her room and learned that there was someone who would listen to her problems, she began pouring her heart out to me. She told me that the man she loved ran off with some trollop. She told me that some gnome made an abomination that looked like her father." The lich floated close to Shadimir. "She told me about this man named Shadimir, ruined her life."

Regis and Elros stood close to Catti-brie while the lich circled Shadimir.

"I was getting tired of listening to her whining, but it was all worth it to gain control of her mind," the lich continued," but then the power of the book began to scare her. So she threw the book into a room, and who should find it, but you Shadimir. A person I was most anxious to meet."

Shadimir stared at the lich, Gabriel vibrating violently in its sheath. "Why did you want to meet me?"

"I had to see if what Catti-brie said was true," the lich responded. "She told me how you hunt the walking undead. I imagine that killing an undead dragon is challenging enough, but two? That's quite an accomplishment."

"I had help," Shadimir commented, drawing his weapons.

The lich's bony jaw turned up in a smile. "Then I devised a plan to lure you down here. Making you hear the chimera in your mind when you were near Catti-brie. Talking to you through the diary. Turning your friend Jepetto and that construct into stone. Even bringing Catti-brie down here, though she walked in on her own two feet. At first it was all about frightening dwarves, and driving them out of their kingdom but as of late, my new target has been you."

"To finish the story, the monster must be destroyed," the lich sang. "The Half-Blood sorcerer couldn't defeat me, so let's see how you fare. Let's match the power of Umbria, lost sage of Palarona, against the famous Shadimir Deachron."

Shadimir heard a loud hiss coming from the other end of the chamber. Then his eyes spotted the monster.

The chimera stood as tall as a giant. Its lower body was a white colored serpent's torso. The three heads were exactly as the lich had written in the book to him. One head was a white goat's head, the middle was a white dragon's head, and the third head was a white lion's head.

The chimera slithered quickly over to Shadimir, all three heads biting at him. Shadimir quickly blocked all three of the heads, then stabbed Gabriel into the chimera's body.

All three heads let out a terrible shriek. Shadimir noticed the goat's eyes. They reminded him of the eyes on a basilisk.

"Elros, attack the goat!" Shadimir cried as the lion's head struck at him with lightning speed. The hunter thrust Gabriel through the lion's head as the fangs bit deeply through his left arm. He then felt the numbness going through his body.

At the same time, the lion's head let go and slumped down, Shadimir dropped his weapons as his body fell to the floor. "Pink potion," were Shadimir's last words before the paralysis took over.

Elros ran and jumped onto the chimera's back, digging his claws into the monster's skin. The snow tiger found his way up to the goat's head and raked his claws across both eyes, blinding the goat.

The chimera moved back and forth, trying to throw the tiger off of its body. This bought Regis time, as the halfling reached onto his belt and pulled out a pink colored potion. He ran over to Shadimir and fed the potion down his throat. The hunter felt strength returning to his limps, but his eyes watched as the white dragonhead shot a blast of ice, covering the halfling.

On the chimera, Elros dug his claws through the goat head's skull and bit deeply, until the goat head stopped moving, and then he jumped into the air and landed on his feet.

A few feet away from the snow tiger, Shadimir slowly rose to his feet. With the exception of his left arm, Shadimir had freedom of movement. He drew a dark red potion from his belt-drank it-then picked up his sword and rolled left to avoid a blast of ice.

Another blast of ice came Shadimir's way, but thanks to the red potion, the undead hunter blew a blast of fire that engulfed the ice.

Elros raced next to his master as more ice rained from the dragonhead's mouth and fell on him. Being used to intense colds, Elros was immune to the effects of the dragon's breath. The snow tiger quickly shook off the ice and licked his lips.

Shadimir used this moment of opportunity to move in front of the chimera and stab it twice. He then finished the chimera with one final stab through its heart.

The lich let out a scream, as the chimera fell to the floor. "How could have this happened?" she whispered. "It's over."

Shadimir walked over to Catti-brie, his left arm, bleeding and dangling. He then looked over at the frozen Regis, then at the lich. With a smile on his face, he took the black book from Catti-brie's arm.

"What are you doing?" the lich asked.

Shadimir dropped the book at his feet, then stabbed it with Gabriel's sharp tip.

"No!" Umbria the lich screamed as a beam of lighter broke through her body. The undead hunter continued to stab the book with his bastard sword into the book several more times until the lich's body exploded.

Once the lich was gone, Catti-brie's eyes fluttered opened. Once she saw Shadimir, and the dead body of the chimera, the young woman spoke. "Shadimir...it was Umbria...she was controlling me...she was from the book...it was all from the book."

Shadimir smiled and stroked Catti-brie's cheek. "It's all right Catti-brie. It's all over. Let's get Regis to the clerics, and then let's get you back to your father.