Chapter 7
Silver fire shot from Alustriel's fingers, engulfing two zombies and two ghouls in magical flames. She quickly looked to her left, seeing Jepetto and Elros both fighting skeletons. All around them, the ghosts of Qualinesti elves continued their successful fight against the undead.
The High Lady of Silverymoon was ready to destroy more Malice's walking corpses, when in the back, she saw Aliyah and Deidra fighting two ghouls. Behind them was Ophila, who released a barrage of thorns on a large zombie.
The sounds of arrows zipping through the air filled Alustriel's ears. She looked over her shoulder and saw four ghouls and two zombies fall to the ground.
"The archers are way n the back," Aliyah yelled once her eyes spotted Alustriel. "Don't worry Alustriel. Ophila told me that they rarely miss."
Alustriel was just about to make a comment, when a ghostly voice called out," Lady Alustriel. Shadimir and Stephanie went down. We have to help them." The High Lady of Silverymoon watched as Laurana and some of her elven warriors charge towards the dracolich.
Looking in the direction where the Golden General and her soldiers ran, Alustriel saw Stephanie carrying Tara's injured human body to Shadimir, who was pouring a potion down the wyvern's throat. Alustriel raised her staff high and raced to help her friends.
When he finished giving Giogi the healing potion, Shadimir pulled another potion from his pocket and drank it. His body and chain armor had been burned by the dracolich's green fire. He quickly looked over at Stephanie, who was holding Tara. "Will she be all right?" he asked.
"Other than my broken leg, I'll be fine," Tara replied in a raspy voice as Stephanie set her down on the ground. The blue dragon whispered an apology in draconic as she vanished from the battle. Shadimir sighed, knowing that Tara wouldn't have left unless she absolutely had to.
"Now time to finish you off," Beryl growled as she slowly landed on the ground. Stephanie and Shadimir turned, seeing the dracolich's glowing eyes staring at them.
Both husband and wife stood over Giogi, ready to defend him with their lives.
With her feet on the ground, Beryl was ready to incinerate her enemies, but then she noticed five of the ghostly elven warriors charging her. The dracolich cursed in draconic and swept her tail forward, knocking all five of the elves away.
The elves quickly stood back up and once again charged Beryl. They were then joined by five more elves. The dracolich slashed her claws at the ghosts, but she only managed to knock two of them away.
More and more of the Qualinesti ghosts, including Laurana, charged Beryl. They quickly covered the dracolich's body, attacking her with their ghostly weapons.
Shadimir looked up, seeing Alustriel running towards them. "Some of the elves are attacking Beryl."
"The others are helping Aliyah, Deidra, and Ophila, who have just arrived. They brought some Emerald Enclave members with them," Alustriel responded. A loud explosion came from the distance, followed by a feral roar," and it looks like Jepetto and Elros are handling themselves well."
The undead hunter nodded, watching as twenty more elves climbed onto the dracolich. He then looked over to one of the walls, seeing a shape moving past the undead. It was Malice.
Malice stared back at Shadimir. She held up a tear dropped shaped gem, then pressed a spot on the wall. A small door opened and the drow priestess quickly slipped through it.
"Go after her Shadimir," Stephanie whispered into his ear. "Alustriel and I can handle it here."
Knowing the drow priestess was luring him into some sort of trap, the hunter turned to his wife and kissed her lips. "I love you darling," he said softly.
The doomguide smiled back. "I love you too." She then watched as Shadimir ran past the dracolich and the ghosts, and into the wall.
Stephanie drew her bastard sword Azrael and shouted the word," Lyonsbane." Blue fire shot from the hilt of the sword, and engulfed the blade in flames.
Stephanie charged Beryl, waving her fiery sword. She moved to an exposed spot and slashed the dracolich hard. Holding a dragonlance, Alustriel stepped next to Stephanie and drove the weapon hard into Beryl's side.
The dracolich let out a mighty wail that threw off all of the elves that were covering her body. Her bony head moved towards the doomguide and the High Lady of Silverymoon. She opened her massive jaw and blew her green fire at them. Stephanie was ready to be consumed by the flames, but Alustriel knocked the cleric out of the way.
From the ground, Stephanie's eyes widened in horror as the green flames wrapped around Alustriel's body. Standing up, The doomguide shook her head, praying to Kelemvor that Alustriel's wasn't dead. She then began to channel her energy, glowing with the grace of Kelemvor. Like she did before with the dragonlance, Stephanie was bonding the power of Kelemvor's weapon Fatal Touch with Azrael.
Beryl's eyes turned to see Stephanie waving her bastard sword. Stephanie leapt at the dracolich and swung Azrael hard, striking the undead dragon's jaw. She managed to avoided the dracolich's large body claws, then stepped left and made one last hard slash across her left claw.
The power from Stephanie's sword burned through the dracolich's body. "This wasn't meant to happen," Beryl screeched in a low voice her skeletal body fell to pieces. The dracolich's soul flew from her body and began to look for Malice, who held the item that her soul could fly into.
Watching Beryl's spirit hover in the air, Stephanie reached into her pocket and pulled out a black sapphire gem. She quickly began to cast a Soul Bind spell.
Beryl's spirit flew to one of the walls, continuing her search for Malice. She then began to feel her spirit being pulled towards the black sapphire the doomguide held in her hand. Beryllthranox gave one last scream as her soul flew into the gem.
Once Beryl's soul was trapped in the gem, Stephanie looked around, seeing Aliyah and the others finishing off the last of the undead.
"Well that was fun," Alustriel remarked as she brushed the soot off of her tattered dress, which had turned from a dark blue color to a dark grey. She noticed the gem in Stephanie's hand and smiled. "We best get this to Laurana."
Stephanie handed Alustriel the sapphire gem that now held Beryl's spirit. The doomguide then turned to the bones of the dracolich, and began to destroy them.
Shadimir followed Malice to a dark, square room. All over the walls were paintings and woven tapestries of spiders feeding on their prey. In the middle was a stone pedestal. Sitting on the top of the pedestal, was a small statue of a female drider.
"I've been here before," Shadimir whispered as he walked over to the statue.
"Yes, and now you'll die here," Malice declared, raising her left hand. The silver rings she wore on her fingers began to glow.
Shadimir placed his hands on his belt, ready to drawn them. Just as his fingers grazed the handles, he felt his bones beginning to stretch from inside of his body.
Intense pain shot through the undead hunter's body. It felt as if his skeleton was being pulled out of his body. Shadimir turned his head and let out a scream.
"Don't you dare turn away from me Shadimir Deachron," Malice yelled. "I want you to look at me when I kill you. I want to see the look in your eyes."
Shadimir struggled to regain control of his body. Using all of his willpower, Shadimir gained some control over his right hand. He slowly reached in his right hand onto his belt and pulled out a grey capsule.
Malice had eased her control on Shadimir's body, wondering what the hunter would do. She watched as Shadimir pulled out a small capsule, then make a rude gesture with his right hand. Before she could regain total control of his body, he threw the capsule on the ground.
The moment the capsule hit the ground, bright light engulfed the room. Blinded from the light, Malice lost control of the spell. The pain in Shadimir's body now stopped.
Free from Malice's powerful spell, Shadimir dashed forward and drew his sword Gabriel. In one fast moment, he drove his sword deeply into Malice's stomach, then pulled it out. Malice let out a painful cry, then drew her dagger from her belt. She opened her eyes and stabbed her blade forward at Shadimir's heart. The undead hunter dipped low just in time, causing the dagger to go deeply into his shoulder. He let out a growl as the blade pinched his nerves.
Malice withdrew her dagger from the hunter's shoulder. She stabbed forward once more, but missed.
With the pain in his shoulder, Shadimir dropped Gabriel on the ground. His left hand drew his light mace. He quickly slapped with his weapon hard across the drow's chest. Malice stabbed her dagger forward once more, but the undead hunter parried the dagger, then bashed his light mace across her face, knocking her to the floor.
Malice impacted with the floor hard. Her own dagger had been lodged into the lower left part of her stomach. Breathing hard, she looked up at Shadimir. "Go ahead Shadimir. Send me to my goddess."
Shadimir dropped his mace, and picked up Gabriel with his left hand. He stood over Malice, looking into her eyes. The blood from her wound slowly flowed onto the floor. His first impulse was to finish her.
Just kill her, his voice echoed in his mind. She had threatened to kill you. She zombies to attack Dalla. She even attacked her own son. She deserves to die.
But maybe she doesn't, he thought. If he killed Malice, would he be just like her. Would he then go after everyone who had threatened him in the past. Of course not, you're a man who forgives, Shadimir told himself.
"Maybe its time to forgive. Maybe it was time to show mercy," the undead hunter whispered under his breath.
Shadimir grabbed the King Tear's gem from Malice's pocket, then dropped the jewel on the ground and crushed it with his boot. He then looked up at the ceiling, seeing three large driders slowly descending towards him and Malice. "No Malice, I'm going to let these driders take care of you. Maybe they'll take you back to Menzoberranzen." Shadimir walked over to the statue of the female drider and picked it up. He then grabbed his light mace, and watched as the driders landed on the floor and begin to tie Malice in a sticky web.
The undead hunter then turned away and walked out of the room.