CHAPTER 25 – A TASTE OF POWER
‘Where is my crystal man, what the hell is the delay now?’ demanded Bellack, shaking the acolyte about like a rag doll as he seethed with rage. The ringing alarm bells of the garrison filled the corridors and were followed by the clamour of activity as the guards began to flood through the passageways of the Wyvern’s Nest.
A magical white fire suddenly encircled the room pouring out from the multitude of diamonds on the floor, yet the men remained unharmed from its licking flames. The fire snaked out from the small stones like a living form, moving in great circles around the room, then, with a blinding flash of light and a deafening thunderclap a savage blast of wind ripped through the room and forced the men back to the walls fighting for their footing, the portal opened and closed within a split second. Turning back to where the blinding light had been their eyes once again adjusted to focus on a new feature within the room. All stared in wonder at the awesome sight of the huge crystal that now filled the chamber. The changing colours that flickered within its smooth surface were mesmerising. Bellack found himself just wanting to stare into the depths of the crystal for a moment, he snapped himself back to the present and the danger that now was loose within his halls.
‘Gentlemen, we are back in business, let us end these fools and live out our dreams,’ he patted a nearby acolyte’s back with a broad smile developing on his face. ‘Excellent work, now with this untapped power we shall give our guests a welcome that they will not forget.’
Titus led Athene through the passageways seeking a way out or at least a defendable position, he cared nothing about perusing Bellack, he just wanted to get out of this place and wondered if they really were thousands of feet up in the mountains. ‘Let’s head upwards and find a way out Athene, it would be nice to have some fresh air again.’
Titus had stuffed the bags of coins into his pouches and flung the iron chest to the floor, he also retrieved Marcus’s unused blade to replace his own Sword Breaker.
‘You won’t need that any more,’ he said to the corpse. ‘Athene retrieve the sabre for me, we can’t leave that behind.’ He cut free Athene’s bound hands and she retrieved the sabre, re-wrapping it and handing it back over to Titus out of habit. ‘Good, now let’s get moving.’
‘Wait, we can’t leave yet, I need to find my mother, please Titus help me find her?’ pleaded Athene clinging to him like a school girl. Titus’ expression softened for a moment and he dropped a brief kiss on her upturned face.
‘How could a man refuse you, we will first look for her upstairs, we can then work our way down if we can’t find her.’ As she clung close to him her smell instinctively reminded him of the magic of their night together, the memory overwhelming his senses. ‘Had this hunger been forced into him or had it always been there,’ he questioned, as the distant memory of his long dead wife seemed to push her way through their shared warmth, making it easier to part from Athene’s touch. They moved out and along the corridor choosing a direction randomly, different from the way that they had initially been led in.
Behind them in the reception room from which they had just departed, the ground around Marcus’s body glowed with the fires of hell, the wooden floorboards covering the stone slabs ignited around the fallen Guard Commander’s body. His spilt blood began to bubble and fizz as it boiled on the floor - slowly it began to move, irregularly at first, then with a more decisive movement towards Marcus’s body. The blood moved with a new unholy life, it oozed back up into the wounds from where it had originally sprung and the gaping flaps of skin on the wounds resealed themselves as the blood re-entered his body. Marcus twitched once, twice then with a series of uncontrollable spasms and an unsavoury gurgle the corpse wheeled about on the floor. With a sudden inhuman jolt it sprang to its feet bolt upright – as if to attention. Large talons pushed their way out through Marcus’s fleshy fingertips and the demon that had formed inside him continued to grow, the human flesh contorted grotesquely as the demon slid out of the body like a snake shedding its skin. Its dark inhuman eyes took in the new surroundings and its black forked tongue tasted the air through its large fangs. It shook its scaled back and tail like a dog, shedding the remainder of Marcus’s flesh and throwing particles of skin in all directions, then with a blood chilling roar and its master’s desires driving it onwards it moved off to find its prey.
‘What the hell was that?’ asked Athene nervously.
‘I think it more like, what from hell was that?’ replied Titus holding out Tress’s sabre to her.
‘I think that it would be better if you were armed and it will be a lot better for both of us if you keep the sabre for now, besides your fear may actually work better for us. You have already shown me that you have a firm understanding of how the sword works, just use it as best you can. Come on now let’s get out of here, follow me,’ he told her.
‘You have to be joking, the roar from that thing came from behind us, I don’t want to be eaten first,’ and she shoved her way past him and they ran up a series of stairs through a large wooden door which they bolted shut behind them. Catching their breath they looked about the new room that they had burst into, which appeared to be a feasting hall. Obviously by the clay flagons and tin cutlery this was not the masters’ feasting hall, but perhaps that of the acolytes or guards. Food was still on the table and two kitchen slaves stood gawping at the newcomers but with one swirl of Titus’s swords they bolted for the far door almost falling over each other. Athene touched Titus’s arm softly.
‘Don’t worry, you should know by now that I would not kill lowly slaves, at least not unless they had a good price on their heads.’
The sound of shattering wood could be heard in the distance as the reception room door was smashed from its hinges.
‘Hmm, that’s not good,’ grinned Titus sarcastically, seeming to enjoy their danger. She rolled her eyes at him, not filled with his vivacious optimism of the situation.
‘All of the doors in this place are strong enough to stop a charging bull smashing through them, I think we had better get moving again.’ They quickly dashed in the direction the slaves had ran, ignoring the corridor and rooms that stretched out ahead of them and instead, they continued up a nearby white marble staircase. They ran through the door and the freshness of the night air hit their faces. High walls enclosed the courtyard in which they stood, illuminated by the large yellow crystals embedded in the front of each of the three towers that dwarfed the lodgings below.
The detachment of guards looked just as surprised to see the couple as they were themselves. For a second nobody moved, then all hell let loose as Titus seized the initiative and with a loud battle cry that made Athene jump, he stormed amongst them all. He gutted the first guard that had rushed off to the alarm with such haste that he had forgotten to don his armour, while at the same time he deflected a well-aimed lunge, sending a vicious riposte across the second guard’s throat. The group of men jumped for space as this madman darted amongst them, his two blades clanging against steel as one of the guards sent a series of blows and counterblows against Titus. After two rounds of exchanging blows Titus killed one guard who had tried to move around behind him towards Athene at his rear. The current opponent with whom Titus exchanged blows had some skill, the wizards had spent their coin well, but against this Su-Katii he was easily tricked into a premature assault, when Titus feigned a slip on the blood going down on one knee he pushed aside the hammer blow and thrust upwards sending his sword through the guard’s chainmail vest and into his stomach.
‘How sloppy of me,’ he thought. He had been aiming for the man’s diaphragm, ‘Two inches too low.’ he muttered and also instantly knew that the blade had not gone in deep enough to finish the man quickly, his foe was doubled up in agony, his face so close he could smell the last meal on his stale breath as he swung around and decapitated the man. Spinning his blades to clear off the blood he turned to the remaining three men and took up a new offensive posture towards them. The men backed away and Titus advanced like a hound hunting down its prey. He covered the ground with remarkable speed to the first man, who barely had time to bring up his blade in time to parry. He was not so fortunate with his second blade that came in low and cut through the guard’s leg below the knee, dropping the man to his back clutching at the stump. The other two turned and attacked together, one was swiftly disarmed and his sword clattered across the yard with his hand still tightly holding its grip. The second guard struck the floor with his longsword as Titus evaded the wild overhead blow and the man’s second swing was swiftly met and Titus returned with two stabs to his side and ribs. He too fell dead.
Without a second thought, or a glance backwards, Titus moved back towards Athene skewering the injured men on the ground casually as he passed. Athene had this time noted the grace with which he moved in battle, almost like a dance she thought, ignoring the horror and horrendously bloody wounds that his sword dance had inflicted. She rewarded his bravery and valour with the warmth of her lips.
‘With this kind of encouragement I would wish for more men to fight.’ he declared. As he spoke, another door smashed behind them, this time a lot louder and closer, Titus shouted up to the sky as if talking to his Gods. ‘I said more men to fight, not more monsters.’
They ran to the battlements on the walls seeking a way out, but the magician had been true to his words, several hundred feet of near vertical rock separated them from the valley below. Athene’s head spun and her knees wobbled as she caught a glimpse of the massive drop down. Holding tightly to a rail, she slowly edged backwards to the safety of the courtyard. Their next option was to try the towers as a steep internal spiral staircase would provide the best defensive position available. They ran towards one of the tall towers to try the door, but there was no handle, just some strange runes and markings around the ivory-coloured door. It felt totally solid to the shoulder and Titus knew instinctively that he would be wasting his time trying to break it down.
A voice boomed through the courtyard as Bellack watched the scene through the Moomran crystal, which, thanks to a simple spell, was also projecting his voice.
‘There are no paths out of my home, apart from to the underworld - so there will be no escape for you now. Perhaps you should create a portal and leave… oh, I forgot you can’t … didn’t they teach you that at the Su-Katii Temple? They did at mine. Such a shame, because I would not want to be in your boots right now, can you hear what’s coming for you?’
The courtyard door crashed off its hinges to the floor and the large dark-scaled demon squeezed itself through the doorway. Bellack’s laughter was hysterical at the distress in Athene’s face. The evil beast stood close to nine feet tall, obsidian black, with its body a mass of overlapping scales and talons as long as short swords protruding from its hands. Athene’s heart pounded in fear at the sheer size of demon as it stood upright and she went to run but a strong hand caught a firm hold of her.
‘It would run you down before you could get to the next tower,’ said Titus calmly.
‘We’ll kill it here,’ he said optimistically, limbering up for the forthcoming battle, which he knew would be the toughest contest he had ever had to undertake.
The demon did not waste any further time and charged towards them, Titus sprinted forwards to meet its advance. The demon thought it unusual that a man would counter charge it – normally its prey just turned and ran at its mere appearance. ‘This would be simple,’ it thought.
It would swiftly take him down and consume his entrails. But Titus’s timing was impeccable; the demon had not practiced its attacks for several hundred years perfecting its form as its current opponent had. As their bodies were about to collide, Titus broke into a backwards slide, it was extremely awkward in his armour, but he managed to carry it off. Sliding between the demon’s legs he sliced into its inner thighs with both blades as he passed, the wounds were nowhere as deep as he had intended and he discovered that the thick scaled tegument of the beast was much tougher than expected. The same strikes would have chopped any normal man’s legs clean to the bone in passing. Titus had allowed his slide to carry him further to avoid the long talons that scraped the ground as his foe twisted around after him. He had judged, correctly, that the demon had far too much forward momentum to effectively strike at a target now behind it. They both recovered their footing, quickly turning back on each other instantly sizing each other up again with new-found respect. The two began to circle each other seeking any advantage as the blood oozed down the inside of the demon’s legs.
Titus instinctively knew that the black pupil-less eyes that assessed him held a cunning intelligence. They were not feral like a beast’s, but instead were cold and calculating and reminded him of the way his old sword-master used to size him up before a bout.
Corvus slammed hard into the two guards who had been left behind to watch the portal until it closed, as was their standard practice. All three men rapidly scrabbled to get back to their feet and the first guard to rise bolted down the dank corridor for help. Corvus knew that if he made it around the corner to raise the alarm he would be a dead man and so he threw his huge axe after him. It struck the man square in the back and he went down hard. The second guard picked up his dropped sword, seeing the threat that had ploughed into them for the first time. Corvus immediately threw himself on top of the man, his bulk easily smothering the smaller man. The guard quickly realized he was too close to use his sword and punched Corvus in the face. The blow did little else other than knock the thick matted snow from Corvus’s beard. The two men fell back to the ground in a desperate struggle and after a swift elbow to the guard’s throat followed with a head-butt, the guard was much easier to handle. Corvus’s muscular arms stretched around the struggling man’s neck and with one flex of his thick arms the neck snapped with a sickening crack. The lifeless body was unceremoniously dumped back to the ground and after retrieving his weapons Corvus cautiously moved out.
Following Tamar’s instructions he walked the perimeter of the structure that he had entered, always moving left. Several times he backtracked to avoid contact with the busy inhabitants. Eventually he came across the first chamber that he had been seeking, a plain room illuminated with a crimson light which was totally empty apart from a small platform on which sat a red crystal the size of a man’s head, its magic radiated a presence of power that Corvus instantly disliked. He raised his axe and struck it with an immense blow, but to his surprise nothing happened. His mission was to destroy the four different-coloured crystals that held Bellack’s spell of protection, producing an impetrative shield of magic around his lair. Corvus gave the crystal another heavy blow and a few cracks appeared on the crystalline exterior. With the third blow the crystal shattered sending a shower of microscopic shards into his exposed face and hands. He cursed the pain as numerous minute beads of blood appeared on his skin. It reminded him of the day he had fallen into the thorn bush drunk, only then the ale had soon made him forget the pain and cackles of laughter from his amused wife. With one crystal down he moved out again in search of the next one. He yearned to accidentally bump into one of the magicians en route, he would make them pay for what they had done to his people.
After finding several storerooms and a well, Corvus rounded a corner to face two armed men sat on stools in front of a door, they were surprised to see the large armed man approach, their hands reached to their swords on seeing the blood running down the thick-set face of the man. Although they hesitated, as this villa was only accessible to those invited.
‘Easy men, he wants you upstairs, he is cross and impatient,’ Corvus said with a tone of authority as he continued his casual approach.
‘What… Who wants us? …Marcus?’ stuttered the first man.
‘No you fool, your God.’ Corvus swung the great axe, cleaving through both men’s throats with a single arcing swing. Opening the door he found another simple chamber the same as the last in which sat a large green crystal on its plinth. This time Corvus tuned his head as he smashed down with his axe but, completely missed it with his first blow, sparks flew into the air as his axe head struck the ground. Taking a better aim the second time, the blow still did little but scratch the surface. As with the previous crystal it took a third blow of the axe before it shattered violently - again, his hands were covered in what appeared to be shaving nicks from the tiny green slivers that had been scattered by its destruction. Gritting his teeth in determination he moved out again hoping that he did not run into a squad of men on the next room.
The stand-off finished after Titus had slowly backed away to the stairway which led up into the battlements. He expertly kicked a small pot that had lined the path up into the creature’s face, instantly following the move with a stunning sequence of powerful blows. As the beast raised its arms he slashed down at its belly then avoided the raking talons that tried to rip at his face. Striking the demon several times during the sword play, Titus noticed that his strikes, which would have killed any normal man several times over were only leaving shallow cuts against the armoured scales of the beast. In his many years of training to become a Su-Katii knight he had spent much time learning how to fight a huge variety of animals – mostly bears, lions and wolves which had been transported into the temple for the more practical aspects of finishing the fight. Having your face ripped off by a marauding bear in the temple certainly always inspired the correct posture and movement on a second attempt. As there had been no demons to fight for practice in the temple, the tactics that he now applied to this battle were a cross between fighting a bear and a dual-sword wielding giant. Strangely he was enjoying the challenge.
Titus sidestepped the lunging claws and sliced the beast’s wrist as he passed, he would take this thing apart one piece at a time if he had to. The demon’s tail whipped around at him as it spun, crashing a heavy blow into Titus’s helmet, making bells ring in his ears. He had forgotten about the tail, but it was a mistake that he would not repeat, through pure warrior’s instinct he avoided the next series of strikes from the demon. Throwing up his blade, the beast impaled one of its clawed hands on its point with its final strike. Its hand slid down the steel towards the hilt and closer toward Titus’ throat, he had to release the blade to avoid its advance, he ducked down and pulling out a dagger, he plunged his short blade into the beast’s ankle in passing. With a growl the demon kicked out and sent the warrior flying, but he rolled with the blow and came back up to his feet, ruffled and winded but determined not to show it. The demon withdrew the blade from its hand and threw it to the ground giving out a deafening roar. Shouting over to Athene, Titus called out. ‘Don’t worry, I have it exactly where I want it now – you can tell, its getting mad.’ She understood the demons frustrations with the man as he jumped once more back into the fray. Titus did not understand the theory of defeat, but then he had never experienced it before. Managing to avoid the talons, he struck the demon with several more blows and its black blood oozed out from the cross-hatched cuts of the numerous wounds that now scarred its body. The beast now felt weakened from the myriad of wounds and changed its tactics, heading instead for Athene and at the same time, Bellack’s voice once again echoed about the grounds.
‘Quite a show you are putting on for me, but you will be dead soon, you know even if you slay this one I now have the power to summon hundreds more like it. You will eventually crumble and I will enjoy watching it.’ Bellack continued to laugh at the desperate pair. ‘Fight well, Titus the betrayer.’
Staying low, Titus intercepted its move but the beast turned his blade aside with its forearm, closing the distance to Athene. She raised the glowing sword and backed away in panic. The demon stopped its advance. trying to comprehend the new emotions that flooded into its head. It had no receptors to comprehend this emotion that bombarded it and simply stood there confused for a second. Then it reeled in pain as Titus had reversed his blade, gripping his sword two-handed for added penetration and leaping onto the demon’s back, this time he drove it deep through the scales into the beast. The demon swung around, attempting to shake the warrior free, its teeth raked through his armoured shoulder and into his flesh. Blood-smothered chain-links from his armour flew into the air, but Titus, was no stranger to pain or death, he showed little reaction to the vicious wound, but he knew that he needed to be free of its grasp quickly or else he would soon be overpowered.
With a tremendous twist of its head, the demon hurled Titus back against the wall of the battlement and opened its large fanged-mouth in a jagged smile, delighted at tasting his flesh, its foul breath whistled through its teeth as it stumbled forwards to bite its prey again. The iron helmet smashed into the demon’s face, Titus’s head butt had initially smashed into its face, but now its mouth worked its way down chewing at his head. He released the helmet strap and pulled his head free, seconds later, the helm was a mangled mess, crushed in the demon’s fangs and spat out. The demon arched in pain as the sabre of Sum slashed deeply along its back, Athene’s blow had carved through its dark scales like butter. Titus moved quickly, pulling his dagger back out of his belt he plunged it to the hilt into the demon’s eye. The beast dropped to one knee in agony and its high-pitched screams reverberating about the court yard with a spine-shuddering sound.
‘Here, finish it off,’ cried Athene over its screams. She threw the sabre to Titus.
His catch was perfect and he swept the blade immediately through the demon’s neck before any detrimental effects of the sabre’s magic could take hold. The beast’s grotesque head toppled to the ground with its dark eyes staring up to the moonlit sky. Titus and Athene fell into each other’s arms, exhausted and relieved.
‘Why do these things always have to smell so bad?’ questioned Athene fighting her nausea and urge to retch at the smell of the body.
‘Just forget that thing,’ said Titus, painfully. ‘There’s a hero bleeding to death here.’