Reaper's Dues

Chapter 11 of Children of Luzistor

The climactic battle was not shaping up as they expected. The carnage of their last fight on the lower castellum had been cleared away; otherwise it was deserted. Hellish sounds came from the next level, however, as if casters were practicing their trade. Picard, Moast, and Dan consulted their map. The upper castellum was the main business area of the base, just below the dragon pens, and home to its teleport.

Picard pointed. "We'll have to take out that teleport. They can bring in reinforcements at will."

"It's Tekniker work," Dan said, "but it does have safety protocols. I think we can shut it down for a few minutes."

Moast wore a grim expression. "That should do. The fight's over by then."

The force warily went up to the balcony level and prepared to ascend. Still there was no opposition or traps as they passed column after column, drawn forward by light spilling down an ornate set of stone stairs. They had split into two groups, one to a side, and now converged at the stair base. Most of them were apprehensive of the cacophony above.

"Psychology," Picard said. "Spread out along the near wall and take stock." They went up. The upper castellum was indeed huge, having the same balcony surrounds as the smaller version. An army of ghoulish defenders awaited, arrayed according to type. The fact that they waited was testament to the effectiveness of Picard's force. There was as yet no sign of the demonic station master. Behind the enemy force rose a steep, unrailed staircase to the teleport ring high above. Dan's group maneuvered carefully to that side, it being his job to neutralize that avenue of reinforcement.

Finally the enemy opened their gambit with a gaggle of vampires. They were drawn to the Dracula brides, sensing easy prey. But Cambris grew to great gargoyle height and hefted one aloft. "You are a disgrace!" She hurled him away. Sensing the presence of vampire royalty, the others changed into bats and fled. Almost at once, Bonnie ran forth to be lifted skyward by Cambris, whose sisters, in gargoyle form, swept the foe with fire. Above the sender ring, Bonnie conjured a stream of sticky webs to put it out of action. Cambris breathed fire on some misshapen soldiers who tried to come up and clear it. She set Bonnie down and joined the others in flaming the ranks, sowing confusion, but taking arrow and spell hits. They were forced to withdraw and recuperate.

A battle lord raised his wide sword to signal the balcony, but his archers had been converted by Jili. They promptly began shooting at him and his nearby cohort. Jili's cord wrapped around his neck and hauled him up, which gave the bowmen more target practice. Unseen, she replaced the magic cord with ordinary rope and left the dead battle lord swinging. It had a depressing effect on the others, but that soon turned to rage.

A squad of metal men came under phaser fire from Picard's trio, merely an inconvenience to the enemy. Then Platina transformed into a passable rendition of the nine-foot goddess Ginmaya. Her arms stretched forth to hurl the armored entities down the stairs behind her.

Ardra enabled Queenie to shoot a dart into the nearest dragon lord, instantly causing him to bash another one. As he himself was chopped down, he managed to inject his nanites into another. Soon the tactic ran its course as the enemy figured out the ploy. Queenie and Ardra were forced back under a withering barrage of force-ring spells.

Undead shamans floated forth, catching Moast in their sights with a death spell, which encased him in a vortex that threatened to spiral his life force up and away. But Jonturi appeared close by, dispelling the magic. Since the undead shamans were dark magic, she was able to dispel them as well. They drifted away on the breeze like ash.

Bonnie couldn't safely conjure Medusa here, so she used the serpent attack. They boiled forth from the mace to savage a dragon lord who had launched a spell at Jonturi, but missed.

"Zena!" Dan called, pointing to the teleport. A squad of soldiers was rushing up to unclog the sender ring. Zena conjured a storm cloud that rained lightning down on them, pursuing them as they retreated back down. Ed and Pete jumped at an ogre who menaced Zena, teaming up to take him down.

Suddenly the defenders departed. In their place appeared a hulking demon lord. Even without magic, this armored brute looked to be invincible. Curved ram's horns topped his helm. His eyes flashed red fire. He swatted the swinging battle lord to the floor. He pointed at Platina. "You are not the goddess." His modified rocket arm came up and fired. Though Platina shifted to a knife edge to deflect most of the blast, she was knocked down, out of the fight.

Zena and Bonnie needed no reminder to go for broke. They joined hands for a combined hybrid spell. Zena's input was lightning; Bonnie's was webs. A tall, painfully bright column of plasma energy danced into being, throwing off static bolts that incinerated all that they touched. The demon covered himself with his arms, taking painful hits. Picard's force had been warned what happened next. They flattened themselves as the construct flew apart like a small nuke. The demon was knocked off his hooves. Incredibly, he got up again, singed but intact.

"Puny magic from puny humans," he rumbled. "Who else will face me before I make you all my servants?"

Jili wavered into view. "How about me, horn boy?" Nearby, Jonturi also appeared.

The demon laughed. "I await your pleasure, girl." He folded massive arms, one of which was the rocket launcher.

Jili waved Jonturi over, speaking low. "Make a hole in his shielding. All I need is the size of a fist. Can you do that?" Jonturi nodded uncertainly. She made hand motions that produced no visible results. Except to Jili. Jili worked a flash of black light.

To the surprise of all, the demon writhed in agony, jerked violently, grabbed his head as pulses of static energy zapped out of him. He pitched forward onto his face. Out of his back erupted the skeletal familiar, wielding a lightning sword, adrip with gore.

Moast was first to find voice. "I don't believe it. She conjured the familiar inside him."

It was over. General congrats broke out among the force, with Jili getting plenty of unwanted pats on the back. Jonturi stood off to one side; this was Jili's show, even though she made it possible. She had hands clasped in front of her wearing a pleased look.

The demon wasn't done. This supreme outrage could not go unavenged. He sighted on the one who'd acted first. Raising a clawed hand, he loosed a plasma spell of obscene power.

Jonturi took the full force. It threw her into the air, legs akimbo, to land hard and skate along the floor. The enraged familiar's sword became a blur as it smashed the demon's skull. Brains flew, and a horn came off. Jili was at yet unaware, as she was collecting vials of demon blood for her lethal recipes. These would find their way into glass vials for use in combat.

Picard led the charge to where Jonturi lay. He scanned quickly with his tricorder. "Massive internal injuries. She needs to be aboard a starship. But those are in short supply this side of the dimensional barrier." He put the instrument away with a sad shake of the head.

Bonnie slid beside the fallen girl and tried to apply healing. She nearly fainted from the sudden drain. "Oh . . . it's like all my magic just got drained." She looked up at Picard, who only shook his head. She covered her nose and mouth with her hands, eyes wide. Zena knelt beside her, close to tears.

Then Jili saw. "Shite!" She came at the run. "Stand aside!" Hauling Jonturi onto a shoulder, she cast the magic cord at the ceiling outside, let it pull the two of them rapidly out of sight.

The others gathered solemnly together. Dan embraced his two tearful spell casters. No one spoke. Even the Borg queen for the moment lost her smirk.

Ardra broke the silence, moving beside Dan, who knew Jili best. "Where is she taking her?"

"I don't know," Dan said. "It could be a private ritual. Maybe she'll try to summon the goddess."

"Perhaps," Vixia said, "she regrets having treated the girl so shabbily."

Ardra had moved to the fallen Platina, who made an occasional jerk like a glitching computer. "I can't heal humans here, but perhaps I can fix her." She moved her hands across the android's face. Platina stabilized and focused her eyes.

"It is over?" Platina asked.

"We have prevailed," Picard said, "but at a horrible price."

Still lurking in the wreckage of the demon, the familiar seemed at a loss for what to do. Jili had forgotten to dispel him.