Chapter 27
Azarielle lay on her back, gazing up at the blood-tinged sky that spun in lazy circles. When the ring Red, or rather, Cyderiel, had given her exploded in a world-shattering explosion, she thought for certain that they were all going to die. Instead, when she had come to, she was in her current state, all limbs and digits still attached and seemingly uninjured. Her ears were ringing quite horribly though and the world tossed and lurched in a rather sickening manner, preventing her from getting up.
“I can never be certain if you are trying to save us or kill us, mage.”
Breaker stood over her, moving with more stiffness than she had ever seen him and sporting a large bruise on the right side of his face. But he was otherwise uninjured, and despite the not entirely cordial look he was giving her, it seemed unlikely he intended to strangle her immediately.
“That wasn’t exactly what I had planned,” Azarielle replied. “Are the knight and the elves still intact breathing?”
“For the most part,” Luthien responded on the other side. “What was that?”
“The mysteries of the Arcane Arts are like the stars in the heavens.”
“In other words, you have no idea.” This time, it was Gubriel who spoke. He and his companions were all up and about though he seemed to be favoring an injured leg and one of the other elves had an injured arm.
The corners of Azarielle’s lips turned up in a wide smile, “Not a clue.”
Luthien sighed, a sound that seemed to bemoan the fate of the entire world, “Do I want to know where that ring came from?”
Azarielle briefly entertained the notion of telling him that their benefactor was the previous Avatar of Acedia but decided that it would not be to their advantage if he dropped dead from a heart attack.
“The old elf woman from Everstar Spire.”
Luthien’s locked gazes with her, “I might not be a mage, Azarielle, but I too have the Arcane Gift. The power that swept over us was nothing like the Old One’s.”
“She handed it to me with her own hands,” Azarielle replied. It was the truth, the hands that gave her the ring did belong the Arielle. It just so happened that the will behind the action had been Cyderiel’s.
The knight gave her a look that said he knew she was withholding information, but did not pursue the subject further. Instead, he extended a hand toward her and helped her to her feet.
“Now, a better question would be – where are we?”
“Half a day’s walk, perhaps less, from Shiftingstar Spire,” Gubriel replied with a wince. He gestured with his head toward the hazy outline of a tall spire peaking above what appeared to be the wall of a city.
“The third and final seal before Acedia’s power is truly awakened. If Shiftingstar Spire crumbles, Acedia will have returned to the world,” Azarielle’s eyes narrowed. “I suppose this is as close as…the ring could transport us. I can sense a shield around the city, not as powerful as the one that had been around Everstar Spire but very close.”
Luthien looked at her in surprise, “You speak as though there are still people inside the city.”
“The Old One says there are,” it was Gubriel who answered this time. “But she said the protection of Everstar did not extend all the way to Shiftingstar City so none have ever ventured in that direction.”
“Blessed Abihayil, an entire city of people still alive here!” the knight exclaimed. “And we never knew!”
“And I am going to guess that they are not going to be overly thrilled when they see us,” Azarielle replied wryly. “They probably thought that we left them for ghoul food.”
Before Luthien could reply, Breaker shouted a warning, “Ghouls!”
Luthien drew his sword, “How many?”
“Two dozen,” it was Gubriel who answered this time. “And there are two patchwork horrors with them!”
“What is a patchwork horror?”
“It is that large monstrous creature the mage fought in the Sentinel Grove, the one that seemed to be made up of many different pieces of corpses.”
Luthien gritted his teeth, “Azarielle, can you take care of one of those creatures on your own without…losing control of your powers? Is there anything safer you can do with that ring?”
In response, Azarielle held out the ring and displayed the shattered jewel, “I think we’ve gotten all the help we are wont to get from this. I’ll try my best not to turn us to crisps.”
It was not exactly the most reassuring answer, but they had little choice in the matter. With Gubriel and one of his men injured, running was not an option. Could he and the high elves hold off one of the horrors and the ghouls while Breaker and Azarielle dealt with the other one? Did he have enough energy left to call upon the holy fire?
“I’ll not be the one to slow us down,” Gubriel said, as if reading his thoughts. “Those of you who can move should head to Shiftingstar with haste. I will hold them off as long as I can…”
“Which is probably about a few blinks of the eye, just long enough for the patchwork whatever to step on you,” Azarielle replied. “Eventually, I don’t think any of us can run the entire way to Shiftingstar, which means those ghouls are going to get us at some point. If we plan to fight them, we will stand a better chance of not ending up ghoul food. Speaking of which, let me see your arrows.”
Without waiting for a response, Azarielle reached out and pulled a handful of arrows from Gubriel’s quiver. Then, one by one, she ran her hands over them, murmuring soft words as she did so.
“What are you doing?”
“Enchanting them,” Azarielle replied. “It would be better if I enchanted your bows, but unfortunately, that takes a lot more time, more than what we have now. Luthien’s weapon is blessed by a patron and Breaker’s weapons are nicely nasty on their own. This will help you do a lot more damage. The rest of you hand me some of your arrows too.”
“And what exactly is it that these arrows will do?” Gubriel asked as he picked up one of his weapons warily.
“Explode,” Azarielle grinned widely. “But don’t worry, that will only happen if it touches undead flesh. In theory anyway, I don’t do a lot of enchanting so it’s not one of my strengths. Anyhow, it probably won’t explode in your quiver. Probably.”
Gubriel nearly dropped the arrow he was holding while Luthien let out an exasperated sigh, “And what exactly is your expertise?”
“Killing things,” Azarielle made a face. “Azariel is a master at killing things so that’s all he really bothered to teach me. Well, that and how to distinguish between various elven wines. It’s probably not the best of combinations, but I can’t really complain. We mages are a long-living lot so maybe I can learn something else later, if I don’t get eaten by ghouls and whatnot first. Anyhow, they should be close enough for your elven bows to hit now, why don’t you try one and see what it can do?”
Picking up the arrow as if he were picking up a venomous snake, Gubriel nevertheless pulled his bow taunt, took aim and fired. The arrow buried itself into a ghoul’s eye and promptly exploded with a brilliant flash, blowing the creature to bits and taking out half of the creature beside it.
“Those will work a lot better on the patchwork horrors,” Azarielle replied. “Try not to shoot anywhere too close to Luthien and Breaker though. Luthien can at least shield himself, I don’t think Breaker’s going to do to well if he was missing half his body.”
Breaker’s lips peeled back in a feral smile, “Do you really think your new toys will hit me, mage?”
Azarielle sighed, “Probably not. You Brotherhood are quite a tricky lot. Oh well, I guess I should pray that you don’t get horribly dismembered right now.”
The gray elf chuckled and drew his weapon, “I will enjoy crossing blades with you one day, mage. Stay alive until then.”
And then he was gone, a streak of darkness flying towards the approaching monsters.
“Azarielle… if…” Luthien hesitated.
“I’ll scream for help if I think I am about to lose control,” she replied. “Their biggest weakness is their head. I am not sure if it’s enough just to cut it off – maybe let gray elf hack it to pieces or something. But remember, those creepy gray things will come out of their bodies if you kill the body. You have to take care of that. I don’t think Breaker’s arcane blades will have any effect. You have to knock it out with whatever holy powers you have.”
Luthien nodded and turned to follow Breaker into the fray.
The gray elf was already putting his deadly blades to work. He barely broke stride as he dispatched the ghouls that stood between him and one of the patchwork horrors. And then, with the high elves’ arrows clearing a path for him, he made straight way for the first of the two monsters.
This one did not have a mouth on what passed for its face, but did possess several arms, all of which ended in cleavers and axe blades instead of hands. It swung its weapons at him in quick succession, forcing him to roll and duck between the swinging blades. He caught hold of the blunt edge of one of the cleavers and pulled himself onto the creature’s arm, running up it as it were a thick branch. However, before he could make his way to the creature’s head, the monster’s flesh suddenly pulled apart, revealing a misshapen mouth filled with sharp teeth.
Breaker sprang back and then flattened himself when something swept past the spot where he had been standing. A long, green tongue had emerged from within the horrible mouth and darted towards him again. This time, instead of dodging, Breaker swung his blade and cut the abominable appendage in half.
Black liquid oozed from the broken tongue and the mouth that had opened up the arm let out a very human sounding scream. The tongue slithered back into the mouth, which promptly disappeared. Breaker had only a moment of warning, the sensation of the flesh shifting beneath him. He leaped away desperately just as the mouth opened up beneath the spot where he had been standing.
He half expected to have to fend off another attack from the tongue again but the mouth let out another scream. Glancing down, Breaker saw Luthien’s sword slice through one of the creature’s many arms. Taking advantage of the creature’s distraction, the gray elf thrust one of his breaker’s right into the monster’s still open mouth.
A shudder seemed to pass through the arm he was clinging to, and it promptly dropped uselessly to the creature’s side. Breaker hopped deftly onto the next limb and charged towards the creature’s head. No more mouths opened up beneath his feet, but he suspected that was because Luthien was keeping the creature busy, mercilessly slashing and striking at the monster’s many arms.
Just as he prepared to sink his blade into the creature’s eyes, he saw a dark shadow looming over him. The second patchwork horror had reached is massive hand toward him as if intending to squash. But even as he scrambled backward, the hand was jerked abruptly back. A shiny red-cold chord made of light was wrapped around the creature wrist and held it at bay.
Azarielle, who stood only a few feet away, smiled tightly at him, her focus clearly on keeping the creature from smashing him. Then, something whizzed past him, and moving purely on instinct, he threw himself backwards. He saw an arrow bury itself in the creature’s hand, which promptly exploded in a gush of sickly black liquid.
“Explosions,” he shook his head. “Can’t you think of something else?”
“They do the job though, don’t they?” Azarielle replied.
She had drawn her short sword and stood her ground when the patchwork horror she was battling swung its uninjured hand at her. Instead of surrounding herself with a shield, she met the creature’s attack with one of her own. Thinking that she would surely be crushed by the monster’s far greater force, Breaker threw himself toward her, hoping that he’d be able to knock her out of harm’s way before she was crushed.
To his surprise, Azarielle moved with blinding speed, swinging her sword in one swift arc and severing the creature’s arm at the wrist. Then, she leaped up, impossibly high, and swung her weapon once more, this time at the creature’s neck.
With a strength that her slim arms could not possibly possess, she somehow managed to push the blade through the monster’s thick neck, severing flesh, tendon and bone. The creature’s head rolled to the ground before its mammoth body followed suit, crashing to the ground.
Shaking his head in disbelief, Breaker turned his attention back to the monster he faced. He did not have the mage’s freakish strength and made up for it with a flurry of blindingly fast strikes, wearing away at the creature’s neck until its head also fell.
Luthien’s power encompassed the creature’s body even as Azarielle surrounded her monster with red-gold light. The shadow beings that emerged from the bodies were evaporated before they could do anything.
