Deliverance (37 page)

“I promised my mother that I would carry out
something she couldn’t do before she died, remember?” Blaze asked
Bogdan.

“Yes, of course. Your dead whore of a mother
gave you some important task,” Bogdan muttered.

“What are you talking about . . .? You . . .
met your mother?” Gavril stammered in disbelief.

“Yes. She is in the Lost Realm and she told
me everything that happened . . . or rather, showed me. There is
something she asked me to tell you so that her burden is lifted,”
Blaze said to Gavril. He never took his eyes off of Bogdan.

“Fine, Blaze.” Bogdan interrupted, “Let’s
all hear what great and important task your mother wanted you to
do.”

Blaze smirked and while still staring Bogdan
down, he said, “She wanted me to tell Gavril that he is my
father.”

CHAPTER 23

The entire throne room was so silent that
the sound of the wind outside was all that could be heard. The
cold, cruel irony drifted in the air and completely drained the
color from Gavril’s face. Crystal’s whole body trembled with shock
while the other rebels looked around, absolutely confused and
lost.

Blaze however, stood proud and confident as
he continued to glare at Bogdan and asked, “How does it feel,
Bogdan? How does it feel to know that you’ve raised a son that
wasn’t yours? After mercilessly killing my mother and trying to
kill my father, my real father, how do you feel now that their son
is here to destroy you?”

Bogdan shook with anger, unable to respond.
His face grew red hot and a vein grew on his forehead like a
ticking time bomb.

“Blaze . . .” Gavril muttered from behind
him.

Blaze turned around to see Gavril staring
back at him. He was still quite pale and seemed to be growing
faint. Blaze reached for Gavril as he saw his legs threaten to
collapse and held him up by his good arm.

“Don’t worry; now that you know her secret,
my mother’s soul is no longer trapped in the Lost Realm. I have
lifted her burden,” Blaze whispered. Gavril bowed his head, trying
to fight back tears, and Blaze put a hand on his shoulder to
comfort him.

“And just how does your mother assume that
this wretch is you father, Blaze?” Bogdan blurted out.

Blaze faced him and said, “Actually, she
knew for a fact that Gavril is my father as soon as she realized
she was pregnant. You had been gone for about six months at one
point in time and she estimated that the time she got pregnant was
within that time period, so you couldn’t possibly have conceived
me. Considering the only one other man that she had been with was
Gavril, she knew he was the father. To protect him, Mother paid her
midwife to lie to you about how far along she was. When she went
into labor, she also told the midwife to tell you that I was born
early so you wouldn’t suspect a thing.”

Bogdan remained silent for quite a while. He
trembled with rage, and every guard in the room began to step
backwards as if to avoid the effects of an explosion.

“Why didn’t she tell me . . .?” Gavril
muttered.

“She was going to after the three of us were
safe across the border in Cierith. Unfortunately, your plan got a
little sidetracked and she was killed before she could tell you the
truth,” Blaze replied. He then glared back at Bogdan when he was
done speaking.

Finally, Bogdan took a long, deep breath and
began speaking again.

“No matter.” he calmly muttered, “As a
matter of fact, Blaze, this will make killing you much easier on
me. Before, when I thought you were my son, I felt disappointed
that you were no longer the fierce and merciless warrior I was once
so proud of. Now, I will have no trouble destroying you. In fact, I
think I will enjoy it.”

“I don’t need you to be proud of me
anymore.” Blaze retorted, “I’m no longer the puppet that does your
dirty work.”

Bogdan chuckled. “That’s a shame. Before I
planned to take the Eye of Gaull, I was looking forward to having
you rule under me.”

“Save your breath. There are more important
things to me now,” Blaze remarked.

Bogdan laughed and said, “You are truly a
pathetic fool for letting yourself be seduced by that girl. Now
move.”

“Eat shit,” Blaze barked.

“Don’t make me slice you in half,” Bogdan
growled.

“Don’t make me laugh,” Blaze retorted.

“Get out of my way!” Bogdan raised his
voice.

“We will not move,” Gavril suddenly said. He
was able to grab his sword during the argument between Blaze and
Bogdan, and he now held it out in front of him and stood by Blaze’s
side.

“I am done with the both of you! You WILL
step away or you will die!” Bogdan yelled.

“Then you will have to kill us!” Blaze
yelled.

Suddenly, Blaze heard Crystal yell, “Watch
out, Blaze!”

However, it was too late. An enormous gust
of wind knocked both Blaze and Gavril off of their feet away from
the pillar. Both of them landed several feet away onto the ground.
Blaze stumbled around and looked in the direction of the gust and
saw Saitar readying another spell. Before he could attack them
again, however, Thaddeus yelled and shot an energy beam from his
staff at the traitor elder.

“I have had enough of your cheap trickery,
Saitar!” the old mage yelled. Saitar sent an enormous energy beam
back at him and the two forces met with so much intensity that all
of the soldiers in the room ran for their lives and the rebels had
to cover their faces to shield their eyes from the light.

Even Bogdan found himself disoriented by the
light, and Blaze desperately tried to find Crystal to shield her
from a possible explosion. He spotted her crouched down a few yards
away and after Gavril assured him that he was all right, Blaze
rushed to her side. Once she realized he was there, Crystal grabbed
his arm and held it while he crouched in front of her with his back
facing her.

Both Thaddeus and Saitar continued to
release more energy to outmatch each other, and each time they did
so, an enormous ball of energy moved back and forth between the two
of them. The situation was becoming quite dangerous, and Blaze felt
he was forced to turn around and shield Crystal. He wrapped his
arms around her and tried to block every inch of her body from a
possible blast.

“We will level this whole castle if we
continue this, Thaddeus!” Saitar yelled.

“I’m afraid that if we release this much
energy at once, Saitar, we will destroy this place as well!”
Thaddeus yelled back.

“Thaddeus!” Crystal cried, looking over
Blaze’s shoulder. Blaze turned around to see the two struggling to
keep control over the massive amount of energy.

The old mage glanced at Crystal momentarily,
and even though it was for a brief second, Blaze saw what looked
like a glint of sadness and sorrow in his eyes. He suddenly
realized that it was an apologetic look when Thaddeus spoke to
her.

“Crystal, this is the only way to save
everyone!” the old mage cried. He then grinned back at his opponent
as the two of them suddenly began to hover above the floor.

“W—what are you doing?!” Saitar
screamed.

Suddenly, Thaddeus began to glow just as
Malcolm had in the City of Magi, and the horrible realization of
what he was doing hit Blaze like a brick wall. Apparently, Crystal
realized it as well, because she then cried out, “No Thaddeus!
Don’t!”

“You fool! You’ll kill us both!” Saitar
screamed.

“Then so be it!” Thaddeus yelled back.

“No!” Crystal cried again.

She then tried to rise and run after her
magic mentor, but she had to struggle to break free as Blaze used
all his might to hold her back. He had one arm around the front on
her shoulders and the other around her waist and she tried in vain
to move them.

“Goodbye, Amelia. I am so proud of you!”
Thaddeus cried.

The old mage then shot a brief glance at
Blaze that silently said, take good care of her before he and
Saitar along with the built up energy between them shot through the
door to the throne room, went outside, and flew a hundred feet into
the air.

Blaze continued to hold his grip on Crystal
as she tried to run forward. A large blast of light flooded the
room and the explosion was so fierce that despite being as high as
they were above the castle, the throne room still trembled
violently causing the people who were standing to lose their
balance.

Blaze held Crystal as she sobbed
hysterically. He hated the sound of her tears and his arms
tightened around her as she cried into his shirt. He couldn’t get
the image of Thaddeus’s sorrowful face out of his mind, and he even
though he had always considered the old mage to be a senile old
man, he still had come to respect him for his eccentric, but
cheerful ways. Blaze could honestly say that he shared Crystal’s
grief.

Everyone else was so focused on what had
just happened that before anyone could stop him, Bogdan suddenly
rushed to the pillar with the Eye of Gaull held out in front of
him.

“No!” Gavril yelled, but it was too
late.

Bogdan shoved the Eye of Gaull into the
stone pillar and in less than a second, a red and black aura
surrounded him.

“Yes . . . I feel Gaull’s power surging
through my veins! I feel my body changing! I feel like a god!”
Bogdan yelled. He cackled maniacally as his body shifted into a
monstrous form. The clothing covering his torso was ripped apart as
his arms and chest grew bigger. Horns and scales began to form on
his back, shoulders, and head. His skin became a grayish brown
color and his right eye turned red while his blind eye glowed
yellow. Bogdan roared with laughter as the transformation halted
momentarily.

“This feeling is amazing! I feel like there
isn’t a single soul that could stop me now, and I can still feel
power building up! Now I can crush all of the rebels once and for
all!” Bogdan yelled with a distorted, bellowing voice. Bogdan then
looked back at Gavril, who was now standing and had his sword drawn
again. Bogdan laughed again before saying, “And I will start with
you! This time, however, I will watch the life leave your body
instead of throwing you out to die in the cold!”

Bogdan summoned a large dark aura in his
hands and then shot it at Gavril. Though he tried to block with his
sword, it was no use; Gavril was hit by the dark blast and fell to
the ground, still encaged by the darkness. Bogdan then held out his
hand, which now had claws instead of fingers, with the palm facing
up and slowly clench it into a fist. As he did, the dark aura
surrounding Gavril tightened and crushed against his already weak
body. He cried out in pain and before Blaze could stop her, Crystal
fearlessly charged head on at Bogdan.

“Crystal, NO!” Blaze called after her, but
she didn’t listen.

Instead, the enraged Crystal summoned a
swarming, electric tornado and sent it flying Bogdan’s way. The
destructive twister hurled towards the monstrous Bogdan, pulling
everything in its path into its core. Once it hit Bogdan, however,
it did not do much damage, but it distracted him enough to break
his spell over Gavril, who then quickly rose to his feet to assist
Crystal.

Bogdan howled with rage as he shot the same
spell at Crystal, but she blocked it with an energy shield, causing
the dark aura to disperse, and she continued to charge at Bogdan.
She leapt into the air with her sword drawn and drove it down onto
him, but he blocked the blade with his arm. In a split second, he
then swung the same arm after blocking her attack and struck
Crystal in her side in midair. Crystal was flung several feet away
and rolled onto the floor.

“Crystal!” Blaze cried. He desperately ran
into Crystal’s direction, but Bogdan hit him with another blast of
darkness and sent him flying backwards onto his back. Gavril and
Sigurd tried to run to her aid too, but Bogdan flung them both to
the side with a gust of shadows that he cast with his hands. Kerali
stayed a little ways away and tried shooting arrows at Bogdan’s
face. They annoyed him, but did no damage, and so with another wave
of his arm, the elf was thrown off his feet by another gust.

As Bogdan stomped closer to his intended
victim, Maryn and Taryn made a last resort effort to protect her.
The twins stepped in front of her with their arms held out in front
of Crystal, which got another roaring laugh out of Bogdan.

“Foolish little halflings! Your larger
friends couldn’t stop me, and yet you mock me by standing in my
way?” he taunted.

He then shot another gust of shadows
directly at them, sending the small twins flying and hitting the
wall several behind them. They hit the wall hard and fell to the
floor with all of the energy knocked out of them.

Bogdan hovered over Crystal and laughed as
he watched her struggle to get up and cast a spell. Before she
could finish her incantation, Bogdan reached down and wrapped his
enormous hand around Crystal’s neck and lifted her into the air. He
then squeezed so hard that she couldn’t even cry out, and Blaze
felt rage pulsing inside him as he watched Crystal desperately try
to pull his hand off with her own hands. Blaze screamed as he
charged at Bogdan again like a bull seeing red, but Bogdan
continued to knock anyone out of the way who tried to attack him,
and most attacks did nothing to him anyway.

Suddenly, Blaze saw Valamar run up to Bogdan
and yell, “What are you doing?! We had a deal!”

Valamar had been hiding on the side of the
room somewhere, so when he suddenly appeared, everyone had almost
forgotten about him.

“I have had enough of this impudent whore!”
Bogdan roared, “I’ve decided to kill her and be done with her
forever!”

“I held my end of the bargain! Release her!”
Valamar screamed.

“Fool! All you did was lure the rebels into
the temple; I could have done that on my own! I only wanted you to
keep your mouth shut about the Gaull shard!” Bogdan retorted.