Chapter XV

But as with everything they had come across the Cathedral was well guarded. Right at the door stood a group of corrupt rogues; all were a deep red colour and were carrying spears. Their leader looked near to insanity but she held her ground with a fearsome fanaticism.

"Get the minions," Talina told Geldar. "But the leader is mine."

There was the rush of running feet and the slash of steel as they fought. Geldar managed to cut a few down but Talina was pressing towards the leader. He knew enough by now not to argue with her and instead killed the rogues that were intent on attacking her. When they were done he stepped back and wiped the blood of his sword, but he still kept it out in case.

Talina and her opponent circled, slashing, fending but neither of them managed to land a hit on the other. Talina let out a great cry and violently stabbed the rogue, her javelin shattering in the process. She went to her pack for another while slamming the rogue in the face with her shield. Then she attacked again, holding the javelin in both hands and knocking the rogue to the ground, a quick stab and it was over.

"Well done," Geldar said as he stepped forward.

"I thought I lost for a moment," Talina said. "When my impale move didn't work."

"Just a minute," he looked over the rogue's body and he picked up her spear, on the side of it was inscribed: Redbane. "Curious," Geldar said and he dropped the spear.

"Let's keep on," Talina said and she crossed the courtyard to the huge double doors of the Cathedral. "Get ready to run," she said and she opened them slowly.

Their action caused the building to be flooded with moonlight, and this was enough to entice a group of skeletons to advance upon them. At the rear one of them, slightly green in colour, shot of green balls of energy.

"Poison," Talina said. "But Andariel should be worse than this."

"Fall back," Geldar said. "Let them come out."

Talina threw several lightning bolts as she withdrew and Geldar cast Holy Bolt. This brought several of the skeletons down but it couldn't deter their leader. Geldar charged straight at him and bashed him with his shield, while he was stunned Geldar swapped his sword for his flail and attacked the skeleton's midsection.

He was about to attack again when there was a cloud of green smoke around him, at first he thought it was just Talina's javelin but she was on the other side engaging another skeleton. Geldar found it hard to breath but he ignored that feeling, attacking again and again before the skeleton fell in a heap of bones.

"You look a bit pale," Talina said and she pressed a small bottle of black liquid into his hand. "I got this from Akara as she thought we might need it. It's for poison."

Geldar willingly drank the antidote, even though the liquid was thick and tasted foul, and haded the empty bottle back to Talina. She put it back in her pack and smiled as she saw Geldar's colour returning.

"Keep on," Geldar said and he walked into the Cathedral.

As they fought their way through Talina found it hard to keep from crying out from all the desecration she saw. The pews were askew and the tapestries were torn and bloodied. In the centre of the Cathedral stood giant cauldrons filled with blood. In one anteroom was the corpse of a beautiful woman, despite her demonic features as a result of corruption.

"This must be Galena, Akara's daughter," Talina said as she looked around the room. "Kashya said they were like sisters and she was forced to kill her."

"Such times make a man wont to slay his brother," Geldar said rather sadly. "Lets leave this room; it's full of bad energy."

"This whole place is," Talina said but she followed Geldar out the door.

They walked across the floor to see a small staircase set in the wall, it led down.

"That must be it," Talina said and she looked down cautiously. "It smells of brimstone down there."

"But down there we must go," Geldar said. "You tired? It must be nearly midnight."

"Not at all," Talina said.

"Good," Geldar replied and they descended the stairs.

The catacombs were dark and stank of decay, they were also quite warm. But Talina and Geldar weren't given anytime to relax. On them immediately were several large spiders, they threatened Geldar with their large fangs while Talina was fighting one of the webs that threatened to strangle her.

"You ready to go on," Geldar asked when the encounter had finished.

Talina nodded, she didn't want to admit it to Geldar but she was a bit tired. They cautiously advanced, sliding along the wall and retreating back when they encountered enemies. More spiders, vampires now and again as well as the usual skeletons and shamans with their minions as well as tiny bats with sharp knives. All the stuff of Talina's nightmares.

There really was no means of discerning the time and even Geldar was beginning to feel tired. Still they pressed on, resting whenever they had the chance. Each of the levels were quite large and there was danger around every corner but when it was done they went down, the air getting fouler and warmer as they descended.

At long last they arrived at the stairs that led down to the fourth level and Geldar called to a halt.

"We can't kill Andariel like this," he said. "You have a few hours sleep and I'll watch, then we'll swap and be refreshed for the battle."

Normally Talina would have fought this, even with words. But she felt relieved and curled up in her cloak and was asleep in a moment. For a few minutes Geldar watched her and then walked around the room to keep himself awake.

It was strange but this reminded him of his hunt in the jungles around Kurast with Lemnar before they had been made Paladins. They got lost on the return journey and it was unthinkable to stop and rest. In their wanderings they had stumbled across a village hidden deep in the jungle where women were practising spells. Curiosity had led them to enter the village and immediately be apprehended by the sentries. They had stumbled across a Zann Esu encampment.

They had only escaped by swearing an oath on each others lives that they would never betray the location, not that either of them knew the way to begin with. One of the sorceresses had guided them to the edge of the jungle and reminded them before leaving of their vow. Such things were very important to the sorceresses as was secrecy. He and Lemnar had never even spoken of it and returned to the Temple City without their kill.

"Time to get up now," Geldar said gently and Talina stirred to life. "Nothing to report," the Paladin said as he pulled his cloak close around him and went to sleep.