Deliverance (36 page)

Crystal responded by emitting flames from
her hands and startling Valamar. She grinned when his eyes widened
and he took several steps back.

“Do you like being knocked out that much,
Valamar? You must, because every time we are forced to interact
with you, you end up on the floor somehow,” Blaze countered.

“Shut your mouth! This will most likely
leave a scar!” Valamar bellowed, pointing to the spot on his chin
where Blaze kicked him. It was then that Crystal noticed the bruise
under Valamar’s chin.

Bogdan stepped forward with the Eye in hand
and said, “Enough!” He looked at Blaze and Crystal, laughed again,
and said, “I must say, you two made this easier than I thought it
would ever be! Here I was, trying to drag out information about the
shard from that rebel you call Gavril, and not only do you bring it
to me personally, but you were also thoughtful enough to fuse the
shards together for me!”

“We will not allow you to hurt Gavril
anymore!” Crystal yelled. The flames around her hands then grew
brighter.

“Oh, don’t worry, I’ve kept him alive all
this time for a reason. You see, he and I had a little unfinished
business to attend to, and now that I’ve got what I want, I will
use the power of Gaull to fry him to a crisp!” Bogdan gloated.

“We know all about your unfinished
business,” Blaze remarked.

“Is that so?” Bogdan replied.

“Yeah.” Blaze replied, “You see, we just
came from a little place called the Lost Realm, and I happened to
be greeted by my mother there.”

Bogdan stopped smiling and stared Blaze
down. He did not speak for some time, and then he finally managed
to mutter, “Did you, now?”

“Oh yes, and she told me some interesting
things, one of which was how Gavril had an affair with her.” Blaze
blurted out, “Oh and I also heard about how you murdered her.”

Bogdan rolled his eyes and responded,
“Congratulations, Blaze. You know the truth now! It does not matter
anymore; the bitch is dead and the bastard who slept with her will
join her soon. There is nothing you can do about it!”

“Oh it does matter,” Blaze muttered, “and I
have a little unfinished business of hers to see too, so you won’t
be doing anything with that gem until I do.”

“We’ll see about that,” Bogdan replied. He
then exchanged glances with both Saitar and Valamar and muttered,
“Get them.”

Thaddeus and Sigurd climbed the spiral steps
up the old tower. Both of them had trouble keeping the pace,
Thaddeus because of his weak old bones and Sigurd because of his
short, stubby legs. They eventually stopped when they saw two
guards outside the door and cursing themselves for not getting
their weapons first, but Thaddeus had an idea. He was a very
experienced mage, and even though he did not have his staff, he
could still cast small spells without a problem.

“Wait here,” Thaddeus whispered. Even though
it was barely audible, Sigurd read the old mage’s lips and
nodded.

Thaddeus crept up the steps and found a hole
in the floor boards under where the guards were standing, so he
lifted his hand to the hole and shot two energy darts at the
guards’ necks. The guards became instantly electrocuted and fell to
the floor with a THUD! Sigurd then came running up the steps and
they both approached the guards’ unconscious bodies.

“Brilliant! How can such a small spell do so
much damage?” Sigurd praised.

“Actually, it’s where I hit them that
mattered. That spell alone is only strong enough to startle someone
and doesn’t actually do harm unless it hits a sensitive spot like
the jugular. It seeped through their skin and sent a nasty shock
through their bloodstream, but it was still only strong enough to
knock them out for an hour or so,” Thaddeus explained.

“Well, that’s still a job well done. Now
let’s get Gavril out of there,” Sigurd replied.

“Of course. Oh look, this guard has a key!”
Thaddeus said. He then grabbed the key from the guard’s belt and
unlocked the door.

What Thaddeus and Sigurd saw next absolutely
stunned them both. Even though they knew what had happened to
Gavril, nothing could have prepared them for the site of his broken
body lying almost lifelessly on the floor. Gavril opened his eyes
and when he saw them, he smiled slightly and gave a sigh of
relief

“By the grace of Caris . . . are you mad,
Gavril?” Sigurd muttered.

“Are the others . . . free as . . . well?”
Gavril asked weakly, taking a breath in between words.

“Yes, my friend,” Thaddeus replied. He bent
down beside Gavril and examined his wounds.

“They were not harmed either, thanks to
you,” Sigurd said.

“Thank . . . goodness,” Gavril
stammered.

“Shh! Conserve your energy. The others are
going to get our equipment and a bag of potions I had when we were
captured, so I will give you one before we go to find Blaze and
Crystal,” Thaddeus explained.

“Th—they’re here?” Gavril stammered
loudly.

“Yes they are! They have the last shard and
they know how to destroy the Eye as well, so we need to go and meet
them after you’ve had a chance to recover,” Thaddeus replied.

“No! I have broken ribs and a broken arm,
but I can still walk! Let’s go find them!” Gavril pleaded. He tried
to sit up, but he cried out with pain and fell back down.

“Stop pushing yourself, you fool! You will
only make your condition worse!” Sigurd growled.

“Have to . . . find them . . . before . . .
Bogdan!” Gavril weakly breathed out.

Just then, they all heard someone say,
“Gavril . . .”

They turned to see Kerali holding a bag and
Thaddeus’s staff in one hand and another bag as well as Sigurd’s
axe and Gavril’s sword in the other. The elf had already equipped
his bow and quiver. When he saw Gavril lying on the floor, he
dropped everything except one of the bags, reached into the bag,
and pulled out a small bottle of green liquid. He rushed over to
Gavril’s side and picked his head up enough for him to swallow the
contents of the bottle.

“Where are the twins?” Thaddeus asked.

“At the bottom of the stairs, waiting to
flank anyone who tries to come up,” Kerali replied, still looking
at Gavril. He had just finished swallowing the whole bottle of
tonic and Kerali lie his head back onto the ground and waited for
several minutes. Thaddeus and Sigurd then got their equipment
together and continued to wait.

“The color of his skin is returning to
normal.” Thaddeus replied, “Which arm did they break, Gavril?”

“Left . . .” Gavril whispered.

Thaddeus gently pressed on Gavril’s left arm
and asked, “Does that feel any better?”

Gavril winced, but said, “Actually, yes. I
think the bones fused back together already.”

“Excellent! This potion works much faster
than the one I gave Blaze, so I estimate that within an hour or
two, you will be back to normal,” Thaddeus said.

All of a sudden, they heard an explosion
somewhere in the castle on a lower floor. They all exchanged
worried glances.

“Crystal . . .!” Gavril cried.

“Gavril, keep calm,” Thaddeus replied.

“It’s all right; I think I can walk now!”
Gavril said.

“Okay then, help him get his shirt and vest
on,” Thaddeus told Kerali.

“And my sword,” Gavril added.

“You can’t possibly hope to carry a sword in
your condition!” Sigurd exclaimed.

“My sword!” Gavril repeated.

“Very well, Gavril. Let’s make haste; by the
sound of it, Crystal and Blaze most likely require our help,”
Thaddeus stated.

****

Crystal soon found herself fighting Saitar,
a much more advanced mage than herself, while Blaze fought Bogdan
and pushed him away from the stone pillar. Crystal also had to keep
an eye on Valamar, who she saw sneaking around the sides of the
room. Saitar’s magic was proving to be more powerful, however, so
she charged for him with her blade drawn and blocked spells that he
sent her way.

She finally put him on the defensive as she
struck from different directions with her short sword. He blocked
her attacks with a magic energy shield, but she proved herself to
be too quick for the old elder and cut his arm. Saitar dropped to
the floor from the impact but before Crystal could strike again to
disarm him, someone grabbed her from behind with a knife held to
her throat and she sprung into defense mode again.

It was Valamar who had grabbed her, as she
soon discovered after she grabbed his hand that held the knife,
twisted it, and turned around to knock it out of his and with her
own blade. However, just as she was about to deliver a kick to
knock him to the floor, Crystal was suddenly surrounded by the same
magic binding that had trapped her in the City of Magi.

Crystal cursed Valamar for distracting her
before she could disarm Saitar as she struggled to break free. She
heard Blaze cry out her name, but when she looked in his direction,
Saitar cast the same binding spell on him. Blaze fell to the ground
and lost his grip on his sword. Valamar grabbed Crystal’s arms and
held them behind her with one hand and wrapped his other arm around
her neck. Bogdan then roared with laughter.

“You have become soft, Blaze! Before you
joined the rebels, you would never have been distracted by someone
else in danger; you would have kept fighting and destroying just
like I taught you to. She has become a weakness for you,” Bogdan
bellowed.

“Shut your mouth! If it wasn’t for Crystal,
I never would have had the strength to keep moving forward! Don’t
forget, I managed to get away from the soldiers you sent after me
and sneak into and out of the castle! It was all because of her,
and that is a strength you will never be able to acquire!” Blaze
yelled at Bogdan.

“And yet there you lie defeated on the
floor! Don’t lecture me about your inner strength nonsense when it
still failed you!” Bogdan yelled. He then lifted the Eye of Gaull,
began to approach the pillar, and said, “Now then, I have the power
of a god to acquire.”

Just as he came close to the pillar,
however, a force field appeared around it that zapped Bogdan when
he got closer.

“Not another step closer, Bogdan!” Thaddeus
yelled.

Crystal turned to see her magic mentor
holding up his staff and Sigurd, Maryn, and Taryn at his sides. She
then heard Gavril yell, “Crystal!”

Crystal then saw a beat-up Gavril being held
up by Kerali from one of the side doors and her heart leapt.

“You’re all right!” she cried.

“Well, mostly!” Kerali shouted back. He then
gently sat Gavril down and pulled out his bow and an arrow,
readying them into the shooting position.

“Dammit! Where are all these rebels coming
from?” Bogdan yelled.

Kerali then shot an arrow at Saitar, who
managed to dodge it, but it broke his concentration on the binding
spell. Once freed, Blaze quickly grabbed his sword and charged for
Crystal and Valamar but before he could save her, she elbowed
Valamar in the ribs, swung her leg along the floor and tripped him,
and when he was on his back, she gave him a swift kick to the
groin. Valamar whimpered and howled with pain as he writhed across
the floor in the fetal position; all Blaze could say to Crystal in
response was, “Remind me not to piss you off.”

Crystal smirked back at him.

Suddenly, a bunch of guards showed up to
investigate the commotion. They looked at the rebels and drew their
blades.

“Get the rebels!” Bogdan commanded.

The guards obeyed and charged at the rebels.
Kerali stayed behind near Gavril shooting arrows from afar and
making sure that Gavril was protected while he waited for his body
to recover more. Sigurd roared and charged head-on into a group of
guards, swinging his axe furiously and incapacitating them one by
one. The twins ran quickly through the crowd with their blades
drawn. While Maryn shot poison darts and throwing knifes, Taryn
sliced through several guards’ legs and knocked them onto their
backs.

Saitar then threw an energy orb at Thaddeus,
which made him lose his focus on the force field around the
pillars. Thaddeus then sent ice daggers after Saitar, and the two
quickly became interlocked in an intense battle. Crystal fought off
several guards with her short sword and cast several spells as more
and more showed up. Blaze incapacitated a couple of guards when he
saw Bogdan sneaking his way to the pillar.

“Stop! Don’t you dare!” Blaze yelled at
him.

Bogdan turned around and said, “Try and stop
me!”

When Bogdan turned around, however, standing
in front of the pillar was none other than Gavril. He was still
weak, but had recovered enough to hold out his sword and block
Bogdan’s path.

“How many of your bones do I have to break
to get you to back down?” Bogdan yelled at him, but Gavril simply
glared back without a single word. He swung his mighty sword at
Gavril, but even though his body was still weak, Gavril stood and
blocked the blows with his sword. However, with each swing, it
became more and more difficult to hold on, and so with one final
blow from Bogdan’s sword, Gavril was disarmed.

“Fool! Now I’m going to make sure you are
dead once and for all!” Bogdan yelled. He swung his sword again,
but this time, Blaze stepped in the way and blocked it with his own
sword.

“Get out of my way!” Bogdan yelled.

“Never,” Blaze growled.

“I said move!” Bogdan screamed. Everyone in
the room stopped what they were doing to watch as Bogdan swung his
sword again. Blaze blocked it with his own sword again and glared
at Bogdan.

“I will not let you hurt him anymore!” Blaze
said.

“Don’t tell me you feel sorry for him now
that you know he slept with your mother?” Bogdan joked.

“What? How . . . did . . .?” Gavril
stuttered. Blaze turned to him and gave him a reassuring look, then
turned back to Bogdan.