Nocturne in Green and Yellow
Chapter 9 of Children of Luzistor
A vast maze jutted from Luzistor's western side, lower down than the upper structures. It too defied gravity: bridges connected complexes that branched into others by at least two corridors. Navigating it would be a fool's errand without a map.
Jili and Platina charged out of the first small complex, where they faced a daunting run across the first bridge. The dragon lord stumped along, not his usual self after Jili had made him undead. The two shamans he pulled along in chains were out of breath. To their left lay a sheer drop into dark blue twilight; straight ahead loomed the space where Picard had chosen to spring his ambush. Two sides were open to the void, the structure having been carved out of the rock that towered above.
Picard, Moast and Vixia dropped down from ornate struts as Jili's group entered. From the far end of the bridge came a horde of pursuers: trolls, ogres, apish soldiers, even a giant. "Light them up!" Picard yelled. The night became a series of flashes: yellow, green, the white of Moast's plasma blaster. Some of the enemy fell. When they'd reached the halfway mark, Vixia pressed a button on her wrist remote. A huge blast sent numbers of them over the edge.
"What's this?" she griped. "The bridge should have been dropped."
"Tekniker stone," Dan reminded from the corner his group held. "Indestructible." His task was to divert part of the enemy force down a diverging corridor, whittling away at them all the while. He would link up with Picard's team, who'd take a different hallway to the same space. That was plan B in case they couldn't stop the enemy here.
Suddenly, arrows rained into the opposing force from atop Picard's complex. Two black dragons arose from underneath the bridge to sweep it with blue fire. Despite immense casualties, the foe came on with seemingly endless reserves.
Two more dragons swooped in to touch down. The Red Claw rider behind the pilot of each reached down to haul the terrified shamans on board and strap them in. Then they sprang skyward. Picard barely had time to think.
Moast fired another volley. "That were supposed to do that at the ghost dock. What happened?"
"Opportunity," Vixia said. For some reason, she looked displeased with the results. She fired off a few green spears of disruptor fire. "I don't think we'll hold them here." She dodged a boulder thrown by the giant. It rolled to smash into the far wall.
"Fall back to area two," Picard ordered. As they did so, Ardra, Queenie, and Cambris, in gargoyle form, prepared a welcome before joining them. Ardra cast a confusion spell that briefly had some of the soldiers attacking each other. A hulking troll swept them over the side as he came on. Cambris breathed fire on him. As he struggled with that, other soldiers came around him. Cambris swung Queenie by her hands as an effective battering ram. Then they too deserted the field. Jili's dragon lord had fallen after taking a good toll.
Area two lay at the end of a corridor that bypassed a skeleton-infested room full of empty holding cells. Picard's group emerged and took up position. Dan's team entered from the other side.
"You're late, Dan," Picard said. "Trouble?"
Zena sheathed her back sword. "Like we ran into a gang of Jolly Rogers. Creeeeepy!"
"That's code for skeleton," Moast offered.
Picard had noticed a few of them, armed with wicked pikes and halberds. At least they didn't react unless you got too close. They had a way of spontaneously appearing from certain regeneration wells. A thunder of footfalls heralded the approach of their antagonists. "What happened to that giant?"
Ardra made ready for another spell. "He couldn't get past the piled bodies."
Behind them was a narrow way to the ghost dock. Out of it sprinted a squad of Red Claw amazons, shields up and ready, archers directly behind them.
"Glad to see you ladies," Picard said with a grin. But the big girls weren't the chatty type. His team parted to give them a clear field of view, and the first ogres and dwarf fighters met a hail of arrow fire. Then the amazons waded in with sword and daggers. Once they'd piled up enough corpses, they withdrew back the way they'd come.
At first Picard thought the blockage would suffice. But another troll bashed his way through. Zena fried him with a meteor spell, but others simply leapt over him. A robed mage appeared, who cast undulating black filaments that drained Picard's life force. As he went down, Jonturi came from nowhere to dispel the dark magic. Picard struggled to stand. "That's twice you've saved my life. Eh? Where'd she go?"
"I think she's keeping out of Jili's way," Bonnie said. "After what happened last time."
Picard's last surprise was sprung when Jili and Platina came from behind the foe, where they'd been hiding in the holding cell room. Soldiers flew over the pile of bodies as Platina swatted them, including the mage. Others fell to Jili's explosive homing stars. White flashes whumped from the corridor. Suddenly it was over. The group took stock of injuries, applied healing magic where needed. Ed had taken a glancing blow to the shoulder, losing a little blood.
"Well, Moast." Picard clapped him on the shoulder. "I suppose that's that."
"Not so," said Cambris. "Follow me, Star Men." She floated along in her queenly way, taking corner after corner until passing through another large room beset with skeleton sentries. The group hurried past before causing them to react. Another left into a short corridor brought them to an L junction, where a solitary skeleton stood guard outside a cell. Picard's phaser took him apart at the waist, but the upper half still crawled after them. Moast kicked it aside. They took another left in a space that was open to the night sky at one end. This path led to an ornate door carved into the rock. Cambris opened it, and cast a mage light into the dark.
This huge cavern was hewn out of the mountain as well, but what it held was jaw-dropping: row after row of armor in every conceivable style. It was as if someone had scoured all corners of the base, as well as the countryside, to retrieve them.
Picard didn't dare go inside. "You said 'not quite', Cambris. What does this mean?"
The vampire wafted down one row of them before turning around, her light globe staying overhead to glint on the polished metal. "It means the shamans are now superfluous. The demon lord who rules here has taken the knowledge from their minds. He has but to gather enough sacrifices to animate all of these. Then he will task his forges with making more armor. Thousands will die bringing them to a semblance of life. They will overwhelm your Archonage and invade your worlds."
Picard estimated something like ten thousand here alone. He was tempted to start blasting them, but didn't like the sound of a demon lord on the premises. "This demon lord—what can you tell me about him, Moast?"
"That he's a tier fourteen spell caster. That makes him thousands of times more powerful that Zena and Bonnie combined—even if they unleash a hybrid spell."
Cambris returned to fix them with her scary grackle eyes. "He must of course be destroyed."
"Any idea how to do that?" Picard asked Moast.
"I only know of one who fell in battle. That was to Eiridne, the Red Claw leader accidentally poisoned by the young Jili. In her last moments of life, Eiridne pulled the demon lord with her over the side of the airship dock."
"So then," Picard mused. "They aren't invincible. I doubt any of us will get that close, even if anyone is feeling suicidal." Cambris favored him with a look that suggested he was a child. "Something I've forgotten, Cambris?"
"The prophecy, Star Man. Does it not say that Jili and Jonturi will be its solution?"
Moast was bold enough to tap the hollow chest of the nearest knight suit. "It could be that, like Zena and Bonnie, they're somehow special together."
"If we can get them together," Picard said. He listened to the clack of skeletal footsteps outside as the sentries mindlessly made their rounds. "We aren't far from the peripheral trail that leads to the lair. I can't understand how the overlords can't be aware of it."
"Of course they are aware," Cambris said with her faraway prophetic look. "They tolerate them for a reason. No one would try to destroy the station as long as they are here."
Moast traded dread looks with Picard. "If we must fight this demon, it's easier to lure him here by knocking off some of his artworks. Agreed?"
"With a little adjustment," Picard added. "We'll need plenty of room. I suggest an opening attack here, followed by a quick relocation to the same lower castellum we last fought in."
Cambris showed the tips of fangs. "Do so at night. I wish to test myself on this creature. Perhaps I will even invite my three sisters."
"It's a plan," Picard agreed. "I like the odds of having four Dracula brides. May the gods of this world favor us."