Deliverance (8 page)

Bogdan himself then stepped into the room
with who she could only assume was the infamous Prince Blaze
Dracnov. Crystal had never seen the prince in person but had heard
plenty of stories about all the times he destroyed villages and
murdered hundreds of people throughout Cierith. Crystal’s pounding
heartbeat made in nearly impossible for her to hear Bogdan’s words
of praise to the traitor elder. Her hand that brandished the hilt
of her sword trembled with rage and she had to pray to Caris to
control it.

Bogdan stepped forward and gazed at the Eye
lustfully. “Amazing . . . all that power, and it is only feet away
from me!”

Crystal, without revealing her hiding place,
then said in a strong, booming voice, “You will step no further,
Your Majesty.”

The three men stopped in their tracks and
Bogdan looked right and left for the source of her voice. “Who’s
there? How DARE you speak to me in such a way!”

“HA! You are not worth such honorable words!
I would sooner hang in the gallows than to show you ANY respect,”
she countered.

“I assure you that can and will be arranged!
No man dares to speak to me that way, so you, woman, were dead the
moment you did!” he shouted.

“You are nothing but a murderer, unfit to
rule anyone! Your cowardly ways shall now be your downfall!” she
continued.

“I DEMAND YOU SHOW YOURSELF! I will NOT
tolerate a bitch who does not know her place!” boomed the king, his
face turning red.

“Try looking up,” replied Crystal.

Bogdan spotted her and yelled, “Get
her!”

Saitar shot a fire ball at her, but she
dropped onto the floor directly in front of the Eye before it hit
her. She landed crouched down, her hair dangling over her head. She
slowly rose to her feet and revealed her face. Bogdan stood a few
feet away from her and stared at her a moment.

“It’s her, my lord. She’s the rebel leader,”
Saitar whispered.

“Is she now?” said Bogdan with a smug little
grin.

“You are just as pathetic as he is, Saitar.”
Crystal shouted angrily, “You brother and sister mages trusted you
to help lead them! How could you betray those who depended on you
to protect them?”

“That won’t matter now, sweetheart,”
retorted Bogdan. The sweetheart comment made Crystal cringe. Bogdan
then continued, “We are here now, and you will be destroyed. You’ve
caused me too much trouble. Of course, unless my son wants a bride
. . .” Bogdan turned around to face Blaze, waiting for his
reaction.

“I don’t know, Father.” said Blaze, who
stepped forward, “She’s quite a beauty, but she’s got too much of a
mouth on her for me to want to deal with.”

“You could always train her mouth to go to
better use,” Bogdan suggested with a leering smile.

Crystal, utterly disgusted, spit on Bogdan’s
boots. She then glared at Blaze, who just stared back.

“You will pay for that you bitch—” Bogdan
said, but as he stepped forward, he was interrupted by an arrow
that flew across his path from his left side, missing his nose by
inches. The arrow struck to the pillar on Bogdan’s right and stayed
in place.

“That was a warning.” said Kerali, stepping
out of the dark with his bow drawn with another arrow, “I never
miss on accident.”

Bogdan looked at the elf and laughed.
“You’ve brought a friend with you? How fun! Two rebels in one
killing spree!”

“Three!” said Gavril, stepping out from
behind the pillar where the arrow shot. His sword was drawn and
pointed directly at Bogdan.

“Four!” shouted Sigurd, from behind another
pillar, axe drawn.

“Five!” shouted Maryn.

“Six!” shouted Taryn. Both twins were hiding
in the back corners of the room on either side of the entrance.

“So it is now six against three.” replied
Crystal, “Did you honestly think we were stupid enough to come
unprepared? Or that we would fall for an obviously fake plan?
Really, Bogdan, you should know to give us more credit by now!”

“Regardless of how many of you there are,
you are greatly outmatched by our skill!” replied Bogdan.

“I haven’t spent ten years lazing around and
spitting orders at people.” said Crystal, “I have trained hard!
Size is nothing in battle. I challenge you, Bogdan, to a one-on-one
fight.”

Bogdan burst into laughter.

“You cannot be serious!” he watched her face
for a while, and when it did not budge from the stern look she gave
him, he continued, “Very well then, little girl, if you want a
fight, you’ve got a fight.”

Crystal lifted her hands and sparks emitted
from them. She shot an energy blast at Bogdan with both hands,
which he blocked by quickly removing his two-handed sword from his
belt and blocking it with the blade. He then counterattacked by
charging at her with the enormous blade. She quickly jumped
sideways and shot icicles at Bogdan. He blocked most of them with
his gauntlet, but one icicle hit him in the face, catching him off
guard.

Crystal then lunged at him with her fist
ready to strike. Fire surrounded her fist and she aimed straight
for Bogdan’s face. He managed to bring his own hand in time to
catch her fist, but the fire burned through his glove and singed
his hand. He released his grip and Crystal threw a punch with her
other fist, also aflame, but Bogdan was able to block it with his
sword.

Crystal jabbed with each hand, leaving burn
marks on Bogdan’s sword. He finally brought another, small knife
out of his armor and attempted to strike Crystal from the side. She
easily jumped away in time, and then Bogdan charged at her again,
this time, bringing his sword down on her from above. Crystal once
again dodged and the enormous sword crashed to the floor loudly.
The nimble mage bounced onto the pillar behind her and to Bogdan’s
amazement, stuck onto the pillar for a split second, and then with
a small burst of energy, she bounced off and landed on the other
side of him.

“How the hell did you do that? That’s
impossible!” he shouted.

“Well I just did it, didn’t I?” she answered
sarcastically.

Enraged, Bogdan charged at her again. She
flipped backwards again and returned fire with a lightning bolt,
striking Bogdan’s armor. It gave him a nasty shock, and while he
was disoriented, Crystal struck him in the chest with her fist
aflame again, knocking him to the floor.

As Bogdan lay on the ground, Blaze brought
his sword out and attempted to strike Crystal from behind. Gavril
ran straight for the path with his sword drawn, but before anyone
could say, “look out!” Crystal had drawn her blade, turned to face
Blaze, and blocked his enormous sword with hers. Both father and
son watched in shock as she held back the prince’s enormous sword
with her small one. All the while, not once did her arms tremble
under the weight.

“How . . . the hell . . . did you do that?”
the prince stuttered.

“Brute strength isn’t everything! With the
right skill, a doe can defeat a lion!” replied Crystal, who then,
with quick movements, released her grip and knocked the prince’s
sword sideways. She then turned back to the king just in time to
block an attack from him. When Blaze attempted to attack her again,
Gavril blocked his path.

“It is cowardly to attack an opponent from
behind!” he said to the prince, “However, she is not your opponent;
you may fight me if you wish!”

Blaze grinned smugly. “Very well.”

“I will be your opponent as well!” Sigurd
said, proudly jumping in beside Gavril.

“No Sigurd.” replied Gavril, “I appreciate
your help, but I would like to fight the prince alone.”

Just then, they turned their attention to
the back of the room, where Kerali was shooting arrows at Saitar,
who was knocking them aside with force fields. The rogue elder
began shooting energy blasts at the elf, putting him on the
defensive. The twin halflings attempted to help by throwing knifes
at the elder, but he blocked those as well.

“Help the others keep the elder busy,
Sigurd,” said Gavril.

The dwarf tapped the bottom of his huge axe
on the ground and shouted, “Dirty traitor! Let’s see how you like
my axe in your skull!”

As Sigurd ran off to fight, Blaze laughed
and said, “You should have accepted his help, old man; you’re the
one who is going to need it.”

The two exchanged blows between swords as
Crystal continued to fight Bogdan. More ice strikes, fire punches,
and energy blasts did not fell the wicked king, but Crystal refused
to give up. She bounded back and forth across the room, avoiding
attacks and blocking others, striking back when she had a chance
to.

Gavril fought gallantly against the prince,
but he could not deny that his opponent was strong. Of course, as
Crystal had stated, strength is only part of a warrior’s power. She
should know it, after all, because he taught her that.

“I must admit, you are more skilled than you
look,” stated Blaze, while their swords forced against each other.
They both pushed their swords towards the other, but they were
evenly matched.

“I was about to say the same about you.”
Gavril countered, “Daddy taught you well, didn’t he?”

Just then, there was a flash of light,
catching them both off guard. Everyone looked in time to see
another flash that knocked Maryn and Taryn against the wall, the
first flash having knocked out Sigurd. Saitar then shot a beam at
Kerali, which acted as a rope and latched around him. The elf then
fell helpless to the ground. Without fail, the rogue elder then
shot the same binding spell at Crystal. She dropped to her knees
and struggled to break free. Then, just as Gavril ran to help her,
Blaze disarmed him, knocked him down with a kick to his abdomen,
and pointed his sword to his throat.

After a brief moment, Bogdan laughed with
triumph.

“Well, my dear,” he told Crystal, “It seems
that six against three is no guarantee of a victory. I suppose you
are out of luck.”

“Luck?!” asked Crystal, still struggling,
“Luck had nothing to do with it! You don’t know how to fight a fair
fight! All you know how to do is cheat your way through everything!
How can you live with yourself?”

“Hold your tongue, woman! I shall now make
an example of you and anyone else who dares to raise a blade to
me,” replied Bogdan. He brandished his sword over Crystal’s neck
when another sudden flash of light nearly blinded everyone. Crystal
then realized that the binding spell has gone and she could move
again.

She looked in time to see the Malcolm and
Thaddeus enter the room. Thaddeus had disarmed Saitar and was
holding his own staff pointed at the rogue elder. The binds on
Kerali had disappeared as well, and Malcolm struck Blaze, which
made him lose his sword and gave Gavril time to grab his own.
Sigurd had come to and groggily stumbled over to the High
Elder.

“About BLOODY time!” the dwarf barked.

“I am sorry, my friends.” replied Malcolm,
“I finally realized that Saitar had betrayed us when Thaddeus had
pointed out that Bogdan wouldn’t have known about the Eye unless an
elder told him. I figured the king would just threaten us into
opening the entrance to the chamber, but then I saw that Saitar was
missing, and I realized that he had betrayed us.”

“Wretched traitor!” shouted Thaddeus,
shoving his staff into Saitar chest.

It was then that Bogdan took advantage of
everyone’s confusion and hurriedly grabbed the Eye of Gaull.

“Stop!” cried Crystal. She rushed toward him
with her blade drawn, but he just inched closer to the pillar.

“Yes. . . .” he muttered lustfully, “I can
feel its power. Give me the power to destroy these fools!”

“Bogdan! Stop! You do not know what you are
doing!” shouted Malcolm.

“I do not need to know anything except
power! I want the power to make nations bow before me! The power to
make mountains fall in seconds! The power to be a god!” shouted
Bogdan, who then laughed maniacally.

“Bogdan, I warn you! Turn away from the
pillar, or else . . .” Malcolm trailed off and then saw Blaze lying
on the ground. Malcolm felt he had no choice, so he pointed his
staff at the prince, emitted an orb of energy from the end of the
staff, and said, “or else he dies!”

To everyone’s shock, Bogdan did not yell or
plead with the high elder; he burst into laughter.

“I am about to become a god.” replied
Bogdan, “Do you really think I need an heir anymore?”

Blaze sat motionless on the ground. All of
the color had drained from his face as he stared at the man who
once called him “son.” Gavril looked at Bogdan angrily.

“He is your son!” Gavril shouted.

“He is useless!” replied Bogdan, “I have
what I want now. I don’t need that brat slowing me down
anymore.”

“You heartless bastard!” screamed Crystal.
Bogdan laughed again.

“Hearts are for the weak. I have never felt
the need to carry such a burden! Now then, I believe I have a world
to conquer,” replied Bogdan, who then turned to the pillar.

“You will not!” yelled Malcolm, who suddenly
shot a beam of blue light toward Bogdan. The beam hit the gem and
pulled it away from the greedy king. For several minutes, Malcolm
fought with Bogdan for the gem. The beam struggled against Bogdan’s
grip, trying to retrieve the Eye and give it to Malcolm. No one
could believe how well Bogdan resisted.

“It is MINE! You will not take it!” yelled
Bogdan.

“Then I fear I have no choice!” replied
Malcolm. Suddenly, the high elder’s body glowed and he seemed to
grow weaker. The light was so intense that everyone had to shield
their eyes.

“Brother! Your spirit is fading! What are
you doing?!” screamed Thaddeus.

“I am sorry, Thaddeus, but I can see no
other option. I must use my life energy to get it away from him,”
replied Malcolm.

“NO! I will not let you!” yelled
Thaddeus.