Chapter 8

"What are we supposed to do now?" Godric sobbed hysterically. Vivificus had saved her live just hours before; his betrayal was weighing heavily on Godric. The poor druid went from destroying waves of mindless zombies by her mother's side to kneeling on the ground comatose, at a loss for what to do next.

"We do what we agreed to do, Godric." Lafayette responded curtly. "We need to keep these zombies away from Orion and Treks. We need to stop Azara." And Vivificus, the sorceress added silently. She couldn't bring herself to say those words aloud to her daughter. Godric trusted so easily, it would break her heart even further, something Lafayette would do anything to avoid.

***

Orion looked up at Vivificus, who was chanting the same spell as Azara, striking in unison with his blade. With their combined strength, the deva feared it would not be long before the last wards were destroyed. Azara was going to get what she came for, all because of Vivificus treachery. Orion turned to see Treks, who was rolling over slightly, fighting to stay conscious after Vivificus' surprise attacks. He needed to rally the Dragonborn once more, Orion needed Treks' strength.

"Why, Vivificus?" Orion asked, turning his attention back to the swordmage, struggling to stand. He knew that he had the necessary materials in his pack to mend his wounds, but he couldn't find the strength to dig them out. His spirit felt broken.

"Why not?" was all Vivificus gave for a reply, without even bothering to turn to address the deva properly. The traitor could not even deign to look the deva in the eyes, such cowardice must be stopped, Orion vowed.

***

Lafayette saw a couple of zombies swarm in Godric's direction. This would not do, at least for now, her daughter was mentally out of the fight. The stupid rotten undead clambered on knuckles and broken cubicle's towards the kneeling druid. Poor choice. It fell to her to keep the zombies away from her precious Godric. The sorceress knew that she needed a spell that would take care of multiple zombies at once, but she would never risk hitting Godric. Unfortunately, most of her favored abilities focused on destruction, not discretion. She raised her arms, recalling a spell that she had seen flipping through a spellbook earlier in the day. The library in this tomb may just provide the solution to such a problem. Although she did not learn from a book as most wizards did, she had to trust her innate abilities to conjure this spell for her.

She waved her arms, praying to any god who would listen to her plea. Flames shot out from her palms, spiraling around Lafayette's body. Any who looked at the eladrin simply saw a swirling inferno. The flames flew from her, striking the nearest zombie. Lafayette waved her palms, directing the arcane fire. It flew over Godric, who was oblivious to what was occurring around her, striking the undead creeping up behind her. A flick of Lafayette's wrist caused her attack to spiral once more, changing direction and protecting the druid once more. It was as if Godric was surrounded by a brilliant whirlpool of molten heat. Lafayette breathed a sigh of relief. The flames were becoming easier for her to direct the longer the spell went on. She just had to hope it was enough for Godric. Another zombie lunged, looking to feast on her daughter, but another wave of fire scorched it to ash. Thank you Corellon, Lafayette exhaled for the first time since the undead appeared.

Godric felt no heat, even surrounded by her mother's barrier. Her mother had saved her, nos she needed to save Orion. Godric noticed the deva lift himself up and collapse back on the ground again. The druid was at such a loss of how to help, there was no way through the horde of zombies. She placed the palm of her hands against the earth, whispering words that leaped to her mind, not sure what she was saying. Her hands glowed green with life energy and the light traveled into the ground. It moved across the floor, avoiding the zombies that stood in its path. As the light travelled, patches of grass and moss started springing to life in its wake, covering the stone tiles. Another piece of the marble cracked open as another lost soul started clawing its way up from the ground. Godric's spell traveled straight through the zombie, who moaned in pain at the unbridled life energy that this light held. It fell back, not moving, and the green glow kept traveling to its goal – Orion.

The grass patch reached Orion. The primal spirits that inhabit all things sprung from the earth causing vines spurt out of the stone, engulfing Orion's body. Orion looked up at the vines, and felt their life energy seeping into his body, reenergizing him. As a man of faith he had never put much stock in nature spirits, but he knew one young girl who was willing to lend this broken down fool some help.

Time to deal with Azara, Orion thought, as the vines separated front of him. He leaped forward, mace raised and ready to strike. He swung at the back of Azara's head, knowing that the Blackguard was too distracted, not ready for a sneak attack. A smile started spreading on Orion's face…

…and his mace struck Vivificus' sword. His arm shook and went numb from the strength of the parry; Vivificus must have enacted a strength spell. Orion cursed under his breath, the curses were so colorful, even Bloody Jackie would have blushed.

"Not today, deva." Vivificus taunted, kicking Orion in the chest and knocking him back down the steps. Godric cringed, but knew that she had played her role. She reluctantly tore her eyes away from Orion to assist her mother in fighting the zombies. As she stood the fiery maelstrom began to fade. That won't do, Godric thought. She smiled the same confident way her mother was fond of and began a fire spell of her own. She tossed some ashes at the nearest pack of undead and shouted, "Bellas!" A raging wildfire began and ate through a dozen zombies like kindling. Even her mother couldn't scoff at such destructive display.

Vivificus turned to Azara, looking for direction. "Go. Don't show them any mercy." She told her new recruit. Vivificus hurled himself down the stairs, lunging at Orion who was quick in jumping back to his feet. Orion struck out at the first chance, but it was child's play for Vivificus to parry the attack. The swordmage blocked the attack and slashed weakly towards Orion, which the warlord pushed aside with his shield.

Vivificus flourished in duels. It is how swordmages are trained in Cormanthyr. He fought better and Orion knew it. The deva wasn't sure how he would pull this off.

"Was this a set up from the beginning or did you just decide to betray us?" Orion yelled, swinging wildly. His mace crackled off a barrier of silver life, the elven magic that served Vivificus as a shield.

Vivificus stepped to the side and the attack swung by him. Vivificus eyes flickered towards' Orion's unprotected flesh, but he let the opportunity to attack pass him by. "I'm simply getting myself in the best position possible," was Vivificus reply. The swordmage ducked underneath Orion's next swing, "Nothing personal." Then there was no more time for words.

***

Treks lifted his head, seeing stars and trying to figure out what was going on. He saw his friends fighting, and his heart sunk. He had dreamed that this group was going to last, that he found himself a family, but it appeared that he had fooled himself once more. Just from his quick glance, he knew the eladrin had the advantage. Orion was going to lose if Treks did not get up!

He glanced to Lafayette and her daughter. They were fighting valiantly and had destroyed or contained most of Azara's undead minions. They were still by the door, and Treks knew that if thing went awry they at least would be able to escape. Treks could probably make his way back there and have an escape route as well, but he wasn't thinking of himself. All he could do was stare at Azara, and the longer he looked at her, casting her spell, caring not what was happening behind her, the more he convinced himself that she was to blame for everything that was happening.

He stood to his feet, hesitantly, regaining his balance. He lifted her greatsword, enacting the magic in it, and charged at Azara.

Once in his childhood, he had been hunting with the rest of the young ones from his tribe. No one liked him, but he was the strongest so they brought him along to carry home the kills. They were on their way back to camp when the scent of a dead deer had brought a hunting Drake upon their team. The way the great lizard had raged and killed five warriors in the matter of moments fueled Treks' attack.

This time, she heard the attack coming. She turned, parrying Treks' blow. The strength of the attack caused her to slide backward, but she kept her footing. "Fool!" She screamed as she started to chant the words to a different spell.

Treks felt his body start to stiffen, but the barbarian screamed, pushing the intrusion out of his body. He swung forward again, and Azara looked scared. She had not expected her magics to fail, but she still managed to bring her Morningstar into a defensive position. Treks did not relent, and struck forward again. Each blow either knocked the Blackguard back or put a crease in her fine armor. Treks' could practically smell her blood. The kill was getting closer and closer. This woman, source of all his anguish in his life, would pay.

He would kill her. Of that, he was sure.

***

Orion's arms ached as much as his heart did. Everything was going wrong. He just hoped that Lafayette and Godric could make it out of here, even if he perished down here with Treks.

As that thought crossed his mind, Vivificus' sword expulsed arcane energy. Orion was parrying attacks best he could, but he had no defenses for this attack. He should have recalled that the swordmage could use magic as a weapon as well as a shield. The energy struck him square in his chest, causing the warlord to stumble, shield clattering to his side, leaving Orion looking up at Vivificus. Over his shoulder, he heard Azara and Treks battling for their lives. Hopefully, Azara would die before Vivificus got there to help his new master.

"You win swordmage." Orion said, defeated. "Finish it."

Vivificus looked down at the deva with a look of pure disgust as he raised his arm. His arm flung forward, throwing his sword out of his hand like a javelin. Orion closed his eyes, knowing he was at peace with Lathander, and waited for death to come. He wondered if Lathander would be surprised to see him again so soon.

***

Azara knew that this Dragonborn had the upper hand in the battle. She did not fear him, she had bested him before, but the fury in his eyes told her that something had changed. She could barely keep up defensively, let alone find an opening to make an attack of her own.

He fought with strength like nothing she had faced before, but he did not take in account her cold calculations. Treks was putting all of his energy into these attacks, and he was quickly losing steam. He over swung his next attack, and Azara saw her opening. She swung, her Morningstar going in, and Treks didn't think he would be able to defend himself quickly enough.

But as sudden as her attack started, it stopped. Treks looked at her confused face, a trickle of blood dripping from the side of her mouth. Her head lowered, and Azara saw the sword that had protruded through her chest. The barbarian looked over her shoulder at Vivificus' empty hand and Orion's look of shock. Vivificus smiled as he enacted the magic in his sword. It pulled free from the gory wound in Azara's chest with a gross pop, returning like a dog to Vivificus' hand.

"Go ahead Treks. Finish her." He told his companion.

Treks looked at Azara, who had stumbled down to her knees. She was looking up at him, fear in her eyes, but being the warrior she was she didn't beg for her life. Treks struck down quickly, and the cold of his sword was the last thing that Azara felt, the cold and the fear that her failure would lead her to an even darker Hell than Bane's.

***

With Azara's dark magic gone, the zombies stopped clawing their way from the ground. It took little effort for Lafayette and Godric to finish off the remaining pitiful creatures. Each enacted blasts of fire to clear the room. As the last spell left Lafayette's lips, she turned and marched down the hallway, arcane energy still tingling down her arm. Godric hurried, running after her mother.

"We might not see eye to eye…" Vivificus said, as he sheathed his sword. "…but give me some credit." With those words, he held out his open hand out to Orion.

The deva hesitated slightly before reaching out and grasping Vivificus. The eladrin pulled Orion up to his feet as Lafayette reached them. Vivificus turned to regarding the women, and Lafayette struck out, slapping Vivificus across the face. She released a spark of lightning that caused a few of Vivificus' hair to stand on end.

Godric screamed. "What are you doing?" as Orion stepped in between them.

"Lafayette, it was a ruse. He helped us kill Azara." The warlord explained, thinking that Lafayette did not see what had happened.

"If I hadn't known that," Lafayette explained calmly, "I would have killed him before I approached. That was for making Godric cry. Don't ever think about doing that again." She said to Vivificus.

Vivificus couldn't hold back his chuckle, as he turned his back to Lafayette. He walked away from the group, keeping his back to them, but the smile on his face was genuine.

Godric approached Azara, shuddering slightly as she passed the dead body. Orion placed a consoling hand on her shoulder. "It had to be done." The deva explained. Godric nodded, knowing his words to be true.

"I wish we could have at least gotten nearer to the tomb." The druid said, looking longingly up the stairs. The mystery was too much for her. She absently took a step forward…

…and walked right through the area where Azara had been stopped. She turned back to Orion, looked for answers, but Orion looked as confused as she was. He stepped forward as well, easily walking to Godric's side. There was a faint buzz of powerful magics but then the very air on the other side tasted fresh and the light was pure and bright.

"Mother, look!" Godric yelled, ecstatic. The other three companions turned to regard the duo, and Treks excitedly ran up the steps, only to crash headfirst into the same barrier that prevented Azara entry. He stumbled back down the stairs, crashing onto his back. Lafayette shook her head at the dragonborn's restlessness, and calmly walked forward with her hand in front of her. She made contact against the wall that had allowed her daughter entry.

"Apparently, dearheart, Lathander judges you worthy of approaching his tomb." She smiled at her daughter, knowing in her heart that Godric was more pure than she was. She had to make some tough choice in her hundreds of years of life, but she had few regrets, especially looking at her smiling daughter. Everything I do is for you, my cherished one, Lafayette thought.

Godric hesitated for a second, holding eye contact with her mother, before ultimately deciding to approach the tomb with Orion. Everyone was so focused on Orion and Godric that they missed Vivificus, silently clutching his shoulder grimacing in pain.

Orion and Godric reached the top of the stairs, and looked into the tomb at the peaceful face of an elderly woman. She was dressed in a glorious white robe, her tomb decorated with blooming roses. The spell which caused the sunlight to fill the room seemed focused on her body, the light made her look as if she was glowing. She had a small smile on her face. Godric knew that she died with that smile on, but to her, it looked as if the smile was her gratitude of expelling Azara from this holy place.

"Who do you think she was?" Godric asked Orion quietly.

"I know not." Orion responded simply. "I wonder what Azara wanted with her."

Godric wondered the same thing. She had half expected the tomb to contain riches beyond their wildest dreams, but it was just this woman in… "wait!" Godric exclaimed. She reached into the tomb, hesitantly, and pulled out a rolled parchment that was hiding among one of the folds in the priestess' robes. Godric unrolled it, and Orion and she were staring at a scroll similar to the one that they had found earlier in the temple.

"Abyssal." Orion said, disapprovingly. "It's a different page than the one we found before."

"What do we do with it?" Godric asked. "Do we… keep it?"

Orion hesitated. Stealing from a priestess of his religion was blasphemy. However, "Do you think the church of Bane will leave her in peace?" The deva asked. "I want this priestess to get the eternal rest she deserves." A slight pause, "I think Lathander allowed us to pass for a reason. I think he wants us to protect this scroll for him."

Godric nodded her approval, and turned back to face her mother. Lafayette looked up at her beaming face, the sorceress' heart full of love, but grew concerned when Godric's smile turned to a open mouth of shock. She screamed, pointing behind them. Lafayette turned, ready to attack whatever thought it could sneak up on them with the last powerful spell she had, but felt like screaming herself when she saw Vivificus lying on the ground. His pack, the one that he stuck the accursed Rattles in was shaking wildly next to his body. The eladrin was staring at the ceiling unblinkingly, and there was a giant purple welt on his arm where the spirit had bit him.

Lafayette hurried to his side, but Treks made it there first. The Dragonborn knelt over, cradling Vivificus. "Vee!" Treks yelled, causing Vivificus to flinch and blink. "You no die, cuz then you dead and Treks miss you. And O would miss yelling at you."

"Wha-what's happening?" Vivificus asked, painfully, curse that foolish Dragonborn, if that was the last thing he heard he would haunt him forever.

"We need to destroy this spirit! Its existence is harming you!" Lafayette said, grabbing Vivificus bag. She nearly reached her hand in when she hesitated, not wanting to get bitten herself. She turned the bag over, dumping its contents on the ground. The shaman staff shook across the floor, mouth snapping, looking for something to dig its teeth into.

Vivificus looked at the staff, thinking about how if he had never stolen it, this may have never happened. He turned back at the tomb, watching Orion and Godric walking through the invisible barrier that stopped him, and a crazy idea came into his mind. This last act may save or kill him.

He reached out with his good arm, carefully grabbing Rattles by the base of the staff. Lafayette tried to smack his hand away, screaming about how irresponsible he was being, but he tuned her out. He faced towards the tomb, and threw with all of his remaining might. The staff spun around, mouth still clattering, hitting the barrier right beyond Azara's body. The staff fell to the ground, but the spirit kept going, itself hitting a second barrier causing it to stop a few feet before the tomb. The spirit shrieked, bouncing between the two barriers, unable to escape. The staff's inherit "goodness" had allowed the spirit to enter, but now it was trapped.

Vivificius leaned back, closing his eyes and sighing in relief. The pain didn't stop, but it was no longer getting worse. He glanced at his arm. The bruise was still there, it looked as if it was throbbing, but he swore that he saw it shrinking before his eyes. With any luck, it would be better within a couple of hours, maybe less if the deva could get around to looking at it.

Godric walked up the staff that had once housed Rattles, and picked it up. She turned back to face Vivificus, opening her mouth, but snapping it closed right away. Luckily for her, Vivificus picked up on her unasked question.

"Keep it Godric. It caused me more trouble than it was worth."

Godric smiled brightly, inspecting every inch of her new weapon. "Did you find out the word to cause it to start billowing smoke?" She asked excitedly. Vivificus shook his head and Lafayette knelt by her daughters side, trying a few commonly used words of power.

"Orion?" Vivificus said to the deva. "I think you should take Azara's Morningstar."

Orion hesitated, turning to face the weapon by Azara's side. The light was hitting it at the right angle to cause it to glint. Orion had to admit it was a wondrous weapon. But could he really loot the dead?

"Trust me, it's better to use it than to let it rot down here." Vivificus said, sensing the deva's concerns.

Orion thought about the swordmage's words and found himself, oddly enough, agreeing. He grabbed the weapon, and turned back to his companions. As he picked up the cold iron weapon, he felt a feeling of righteousness flash through his arm.

"We did well here. We overcame major obstacles and defeated our foe. Let us head back to the town, Lady Kara needs to hear about our deeds in this place and what we have learned. I know not what these scrolls say, or why Bane would be interested in them. Come, my friends."

With those words, Orion left the room, Treks and Godric quick to follow. Lafayette chuckled, some things never change, she thought to herself. She started to leave, glancing over her shoulder at the doorway to see Vivificus pull a gemstone out of Azara's bag. He held it up to the light, smiled, and slipped it in his pocket. As he turned to leave the room, he saw Lafayette watching him, which caused him to stop in his tracks; he smiled at her and showered an empty palm, using some sleight of hand to try to hide his larceny.

No, some things will never change, Lafayette thought with a smile, departing the room, with Vivificus close behind her. As they exited, Godric whispered "lakilea", the elven word for victory. The staff released its blinding magic, causing everyone to laugh. Their hearts were at ease, the fight was won.

***

Hours after the companions departed, a pale woman entered tomb. The woman was wearing a long flowing robe, pure black, hood up over her head. She took care of her steps, staying in the shadows as best she could, avoiding Lathander's light. She approached Azara's body, shaking her head in disgust.

"The Banite failed us, mistress." A man's voice said from behind her.

The woman nodded absently, she expected little more from a follower of Bane. She clutched the black disk that hung around her neck. The disk was chased with a purple amethyst, holding it made the woman relax. As her knuckles turned white from her grip, she watched Rattles bouncing around, shrieking and trying desperately to leave.

She waved her arm, speaking divine words so vile that the closet barrier vanished. Rattles flew around the room, excited to leave, but the woman's voice stopped the spirit in its tracks.

"The goddess has no further use for you, spirit. Return to your own plane." With that, she spoke the spirit's true name and with a pitiful whine, the spirit diminished, vanishing from the room. The woman continued her journey, marching up the stairs and staring into the ancient tomb. She grit her teeth in anger as she stared at the woman.

"It's gone." She said simply, turning her back and marching down the stairs. "We must return to our temple and make further preparations. Prepare a scrying spell." She ordered as the passed her servant in the room. "I want to know who has my scroll."

End of part I.

Coming soon: Part II: The Dragon Queen