The Exodus Sagas: Book IV - Of Moons and Myth (72 page)

Her wings flapped hard as she turned toward Shinayne, her mouth opened, and shadows
from within her
whipped into the elf. Before her enemy knew what had happened, Arabashiel grabbed the blinded
elf
woman and threw her into the cavern. She turned on the knight, and glared at his holy blade. The wounds of the arcane spells, the warhammer, and the minotaur
’s axes
were healing as if they never were.

“
Aaahhhhhh!”

Shinayne saw only black, her eyesight gone, smothered in darkness, yet she knew she was falling. She dropped her blades in the
air, and covered her head
as she fell, and then
landed on the stone floor, fifty feet away. Her shoulder throbbed, her hip ached, her head was bleeding from impact, and still she could not see.
The highborne elf wiped her eyes, nothing, all black.

Saberrak dropped his weapons, grabbed Arabashiels arm holding the massive scimitar, and began slamming his horns into her shoulder.
She ignored him it seemed, laughing wildly, and grabbed
James Andellis with her free hand
.

“
Mortal fools, suffer my wrath
!”

James stabbed down through her forearm, his blade cut all the way out the other
side, and then he saw but darkness as she opened her mouth
. Shadows c
l
ouded his vision, he was flying, through the air
at a terrible speed
. His sw
ord was likely still in her arm, as he felt it not in his grasp, and then he swung his shield arm out. Th
e knight hit something steel, one of the furnaces over the forges in the cavern, and his head snapped back. Slowly, his head bleeding profusely now from a two cuts, he floated to the ground as the enchantments on his shield too
k hold. He settled to the cavern floor
, blinded with swirling shadows across his face, and then he collapsed.

Arabashiel smashed her fist into Saberrak, still he held on to her arm. Another blow to his head
and the minotaur held
, as the dwarf slammed her legs with his hammer and acidic rays of power ripped into her chest. She had forgotten how truly powerful she was, and her wounds were healing as fast as the injuries came. The Gimmorian mistress
slammed the
gray
minotaur into the ceiling, her demons flooding the air around them
now
. He roared and kicked, his eyes glowing blue with flames and rage. He would not let go. She drew the broadsword from her forearm, it burned her hand, yet she whipped it end over end at the dwarven priest at her feet.

Zen blocked the blade with his shield, then felt a mighty kick to the same spot. He flew back, rolled over and over, and land
ed on his face, next to the anvils by Vundren’s Forge
. He looked for his glowing hammer, it was thirty feet ahead, under a swarm of winged demons that were beginning to land. The dwarf heaved himself up, then fell back down. He gritted his teeth and looked at his leg, it was broken and laying to the side in a horrid angle.

“
I cannot see.
James, where are you, who is there?”
Shinayne heard something and felt around, she found Elicras, but not Carice.
She was trembling, hurt, and bleeding all over.

“
I am…here…cannot see..either…help…me…”
James tried to stand, he stumbled, his head was throbbing with sparks of pain as blood ran down his face.

Saberrak felt the heat of Gwenneth’s barrage, felt his body grinding into the stone cei
ling, yet he was healing also
as the blue from his eyes intensified. She had him under the throat with one hand now, yet he held her swordarm, and his horns had bloodied her face and shoulder as her marble flesh was torn and showing the white bone underneath. He turned his head to Gwenneth, seeing the demons surround them,
and not seeing anyone else. H
e
forced words out from his strangled throat.

“
Gwenne, run…get them out of here…go!”
He looked to his axes on the ground, to his broken, blinded and bloody friends, and then to her purple eyes. Her wounds were healing, it was useless.
He roared again, smashed his fists and horns into her arm and hand
and face,
she would not let go.

“
You can run, but they will find you. Your souls are mine!”
Arabashiel slammed Saberrak down to the ground, then into a wall, and then grabbed him by the horns and threw him off. He landed seconds later, covered in her blood, and scraped across the stone floor.

Gwenneth was exhausted, her fingers and hands burned, yet she hovered forward in front of her friends
to protect them
. She ignored the demons, her staff was aglow with green force, and she glared at Arabashiel.

“
Vulthes variem nuath dinoor de!”
Flames erupted from her palm, blinding the demons and burning the air, showering the twelve foot winged Gimmorian woman
with a wave half as tall as the cavern
.

“
Hathis duras Imoches dast!”
Gwenneth combined the might of the fourth rune of the staff, forcing her powers to blend with it. The flames turned blue, the force intensified, and the cavern shook.
The air rippled with force, arcane powers she had never unleashed.

Arabashiel put her hand out, dropped her infernal scimitar, put her o
ther hand forward
, blocking
the blast that continued to melt the arriving demons and her own flesh. Slowly, she held it at bay and began to walk forward agains
t
the might of the hovering wizard.
Never had she seen such power, especially from a mortal. Her hands burned, her shadows wavered, yet she fought with her dark magicks against the mighty flames.

Gwenneth was shaking, the ceiling was cracking, but she summoned more. “
Jistrix aglothes, umdre anaste tierex!”

Calling upon old draconic magicks, she infused the flaming incantation with both force and heat, and now with corrosive bile that would be attracted to her enemies. The shower of arcane majesty turned from blue to purple, spreading over the stairs and half the cavern.
The noise was that of one hundred furnaces streaming from her hands.
It melted demons by the dozens, Arabashiels blocking hands looked as but bones
even past the wrists
, and splinters of rock began to spike through the ground. Gwenneth shook, violently, trying to maintain the magicks she was unleashing. Her eyes watered, her nose began to drip blood from each nostril, and then the cavern erupted between her and the Gimmorian immortal.
Nothing but a storm of blue and purple fires colliding with a shield of immortal shadows could be seen.

The mistress of curses foced all her power back toward Gwenneth
with an immortal scream
, the collision of force drowned out all sound for a mere second. Then the dark cavern went bright orange, then blue, and flames exploded in every direction. Arabashiel fell back to the stairs, the flesh on
her arms was gone up to the shoulder
. Gwenneth was hurled through the air, into James, and
the two slid
back by the stairs to the mines
, into darkness
. Saberrak grabbed Shinayne just before a giant stalacmite fell from the ceiling, and ran toward the forges
with her over his shoulder
. Demons poured into the chaos as arcane winds whipped them from the air and smashed them every direction.
Zen covered his ears in the explosive debris, trying to fo
cus and heal his broken leg, hidden
behind a row of anvils.
Stone shattered, the ground cracked as the ceiling
fell in massive pieces. The darkness, the dust, and the destruction was a
tangible force that blocked all
sight and sound.
Then, there was but dust.

“
Feast, my children, bring me their heads
!” Arabashiel stood, the bones of her arms now had tendons and sinew
starting to regrow
, but she was weak. Her body trembled, she was smoldering still
from the arcane forces that had nearly destroyed her body
, and her blood was in puddles across the stone stairs and floor. Her blade vanished back to the netherworld, she had not the strength to keep it here. The Gimmorian being stumbled tow
ard the throne, glaring at Mudre
n Sheldathain.
He moved from the throne quickly, in awe at what the mortals had done to her.

“
Bring me the dwarf
, your heir that has sought you out
, yo
u will
kill him for his blasphemies, I command it.”
Her words drifted as s
he slumped in the throne. Her eyes closed, her powers drained from battle and healing, and she rested as her eternal body rejuvenated. Arabashiel had not the strength to stand, yet her foes were broken and beaten, so she smiled.

“Yes, my mi
stress, it shall be done.” Mudre
n turned after his kn
eeling was dismissed with a
wave of a
bony
finger. The demons screeched into the air, those
hundred
or so
that had survived, and the dust began to settle. He stomped down the stairs
into the sacred forge
, cross crescent shield sharp and tight on his arm, and his red soulless eyes searched for Azenairk Thalanaxe.
The once dwarven king, cursed eternally for saving his family, felt that he had a spark of will in his chest. She was weak, for the first time ever, and he marched harder to find this dwarf with his iron box.
The ceiling in the forge had fallen in places, making walls of impassable rubble, yet the cursed dwarf searched for
Azenairk Thalanaxe in the wake of dark catastrophe
nonetheless
.

LCMVXILCMVXILCMVXILCMVXIL

“I do.”
Katrina smiled, her eyes fluttering open, her hands were resting on something stone to keep her from falling over. Her head swooned in an ocean of wine, yet her strength was fast returning. She saw a man in black robes before her, a stone altar, and felt a hand on hers.

“And do you, Lord Valistor of the noble house of Waylen, swear to honor this union as a husband, to protect the sanctity of the great kingdom of Willborne as king, and rule with honor under the ancient worships decreed here this morning?”

Katrina looked to her right, Valistor Waylen was dressed in black robes, adorned with sashes of old words in the draconic tongue, and had his hand on hers. His eyes were glowing red, his pupils were slivers, and the room was not familiar to her. It was cold, damp, and filled with torches of greens and blues. She saw statues of dragons, some small, some enormous, everything wobbled in her vision as she came to. The queen felt her heart quicken, her breath come faster, she realized she was underground, in a cavern.

“I do.” Valistor smiled to her and whispered. “
You look radiant, my queen.”

Katrina went to pull her hand away, then she looked down. She was in white robes, sashes of her kingdom across her shoulders, and her skin was decorated with draconic markings and symbols, in blood.

“
No, no, no….where are we…
no..how did she…she is dead…no,
…
No!”
She jerked her hand free, but men from behind held her still. She turned her head, there were hundreds of men, noble men of the kingdom,
all kneeling behind them. She saw the flags of Willborne, her sword and another were hovering over a fountain of blood, and the statues seemed to move. There were bodies, many dead around the fountain, and her stomach turned. Katrina tried to fall to her knees, but the men held her up. She sobbed, as she wiped her face, the tears were as blood.

“Noooooo!”

Yes

Katrina shuddered, she knew that voice, her eyes burned, and she stood against her will. Her hands trembled against the stone altar, her body shook, and then she saw the eyes. At first the statues, the ones that had been so still, their eyes gleamed red. Dozens of dragons moved from ledges, alcoves, and bared their fanged smiles.

“By the powers given to me, by her majestic and divine graces….”

“
Do…not…do…this…Valistor…”
Katrina’s jaw was tightening, against her will, yet she spoke through her gritted teeth.

“…I seal this marriage, in old custom, with the blood of the eldest dragon…”

“
It is already done, Katrina. Willborne will rise again, in glory, with you and I on the thrones.”
He smiled, then took a knee before the altar as it illuminated with a gigantic red glow from behind the priest.

“No, no..stop…this…No, no…”
Katrina knelt, she did not want to, but something in her veins, in the wine, she had to kneel.

The priest turned, his body surrounded by red light from a single eye, a draconic eye that was taller than him. He drew a kris dagger, and laid out his palm. A black forked tongue, badly burned, flicked out. He cut it, gently, and filled a goblet with the blood that poured forth.