Spirit Blade: Book III of the Dragon Mage Trilogy (36 page)

“That’s our Tyris!” said Kazin happily. “We may yet have a chance!”

“I don’t like her,” said Amelia. Kazin looked at her. “She seems - evil,” said the red-haired mage.

Kazin realized Amelia was jealous so he touched her arm. “She’s not nearly as pretty as you, Amelia. There’s no replacement for real flesh and bones.”

Amelia blushed.

“Enough of this mushiness!” growled Zylor. “We should go after those evil spirits.”

“Good point,” said Kazin. He transformed Harran into an orc and then did the same for Sherman, Amelia and himself. “Let’s go!”

The companions exited the tent and watched a few straggling groups of orcs and cyclops wander past in the direction of the battle.

Zylor pointed. “There they are!”

Ahead of them was Galado and his entourage. They brought up the rear of the enemy forces. Galado strode confidently, leading his crew at a brisk pace.

As the companions neared, Sherman and Kazin stopped and looked at one another in astonishment.

“Galado?” they said simultaneously.

Chapter 34

“H
ow- how can that be?” asked Sherman. “How did Sir Galado get into the past? And why?”

“I don’t know,” said Kazin, “but obviously it was he who has changed history.”

The companions confronted Galado’s group and they stopped and faced one another. Some nearby torches flickered on the ominous faces of both parties.

“Get out there and attack!” commanded Galado to the approaching orcs, pointing to the battlefield.

“You won’t get a chance to cause any more interference,” said Kazin, slobbering down the side of his orc face.

Galado’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?” he intoned. “Who gave you the authority to give orders?”

“What’s wrong with you, Wilfred?” asked Sherman.

Galado looked at the orc who had just spoken. “What did you call me?”

“He’s not in his right mind,” said another orc. It was Amelia.

“Let’s just kill them and be done with it,” said an orc next to Galado.

“Well said!” exclaimed Zylor, fingering his axe. “The odds are in our favour!”

“Eleven against six?” asked Harran.

Zylor looked at the dwarf turned orc with a frown. “I know. That means one of us will only get to kill one of them.”

“I’d say the odds are a little more substantial than that,” said Olag. He pointed beyond them. A group of orcs a short distance away had witnessed the stand-off, and were watching the encounter with interest.

“That’s more like it!” said Zylor, grinning.

“Enough of this!” snarled Galado. He pointed to the companions. “Get them!”

“Let’s rumble!” growled Harran. He withdrew his ice axe and appeared as himself.

Kazin removed the spell on himself and the others and shot the nearest enemy orc with an ice bolt. The orc fell down, and then rose to its feet again, with a smoking hole through its chest.

At the same time, the two groups clashed as one.

Sherman tried to attack Galado, but one of his orcs intervened, so he had to battle the drooling creature first. He parried twice and then went on the offensive. The orc was no match for the seasoned warrior. One good thrust into the orc’s chest was sufficient. Unable to escape the Sword of Dead, the evil spirit screamed as it was sent back to the place it had come from. Galado watched in fascination as his defender fell, never to rise again. His sword tingled in his hand and he looked down at it. He had come across someone with a spirit blade who was able to kill his followers.

Harran swung his ice axe and froze two enemies on the spot. Then he sliced the arm off another. Without stopping, the one-armed orc stepped forward and brought its remaining arm around the dwarf’s neck. Harran struggled for a bit and almost lost his grip on his weapon when a lightning bolt from Kazin flew into the orc’s shoulder, severing the arm from its body. Completely armless, the orc staggered back. Harran dislodged the arm from around his neck. Then, in a single smooth motion, he spun around and swung his axe clean through its neck. As the orc body fell to the ground, its head tumbling through the air, a wisp of white smoke emerged from the neck. It spiraled around, looking for a new body to inhabit. It didn’t find one in time. A strange, ancient chant could be heard nearby. Hearing this, the evil spirit shrieked in agony and dispersed, sizzling as it was torn apart.

Kazin looked at Amelia in amazement. She had cast an ‘eradication’ spell and had succeeded in eradicating the evil spirit!

Meanwhile, Olag had fired arrows into the limping minotaur who opposed him, but the great beast wasn’t even slowed down. The minotaur raised its axe to end the skink warrior’s existence and brought it down with all its might. The axe would have succeeded if it wasn’t for the intervention of another similarly sized axe coming out of nowhere to stop it. The axes clanged together loudly, loudly enough to be heard above the din of battle in the distance.

“You should pick on someone your own size,” snarled Zylor. He gave a great shove to the opposing minotaur and sent him tumbling to the ground.

In the meantime, Olag was already in motion, his ears still ringing. The orcs who had been watching the exchange were now within striking distance and he was felling them rapidly with arrows. His job was made easier with the ‘slow’ spell Amelia had cast on them. They looked like they were trying to push against a heavy resistance, not unlike what Olag and Zylor had experienced when they had first encountered Amelia themselves.

Kazin was firing ice bolts into Galado’s men but could only slow their advance, as they could not be killed.

Sherman pulled his sword free of the orc and turned to meet his next adversary. He didn’t get far because he made the mistake of looking into its eye. Olag paused from his assault of the orcs behind them to fire an arrow into the cyclops’ eye. The eye exploded in a spray of gore. With a howl, the cyclops staggered backwards, holding the place where its eye had been.

Harran used his axe to freeze a few more orcs who had come up from behind and then turned to attack the cyclops. He hacked through one of its arms and deep into its chest. The evil spirit within emerged, but was no match for Amelia’s spell. It sizzled like the previous one and vanished. The cyclops fell to the ground, completely lifeless.

Kazin used a spell to remove the paralysis on Sherman, and the big warrior turned to look for Galado, who was retreating from the fight. He charged forward, slashing the two orcs Harran had frozen moments earlier. Two more evil spirits screamed into oblivion.

Zylor was having a tough time with the other minotaur. He had chopped a lizardmage in half on his way to finishing off the minotaur. He didn’t notice the evil spirit depart the dead body of the lizardmage and fly into one of the orcs Olag had shot down earlier. The orc rose up and crept up to Zylor, who was concentrating on his other enemy.

Olag shot more arrows into the orcs but they had no effect. “Zylor, behind you!” cried the skink warrior.

Zylor turned just in time to give the orc a kick, sending it flying. Olag pounced on it and used his dagger to slit its throat. But the orc refused to give up. It tried to put its arm around Olag’s neck. Olag managed to squirm free and kicked himself free of the green creature. At that instant, a spell from Kazin incinerated the orc’s body. As the spirit rose from the charred corpse, Amelia did her magic and eradicated it like the others.

Zylor’s opponent was by now so severely hacked up it was impossible for it to move around any longer. The evil spirit rose from the mangled minotaur body and surged toward the cyclops body, entering it instead. The cyclops clumsily staggered back to its feet. Harran swung his axe past the cyclops’ body and froze it in place.

Kazin nodded at Amelia and she nodded back. Kazin cast a lightning bolt through the cyclops’ body and Amelia waited for the spirit to emerge. As soon as it did, she cast her spell and eradicated it. The cyclops fell to the ground a second time and lay still.

By now the remaining orcs formerly under the ‘slow’ spell had come up behind the spell casters. With Amelia casting her ‘eradication’ spell, her ‘slow’ spell had been negated. Harran barged through their ranks, freezing them where they stood while Olag sat on the ground pelting them with arrows. Kazin and Amelia cast a ‘shield’ spell to surround themselves with an invisible barrier and used the reprieve to determine if there were any more evil spirits to eradicate.

Zylor assisted Harran with the remaining orcs, and that’s when Kazin spotted the existence of another evil spirit. It was elusive, jumping from one orc body to the next. No sooner did it feel it was in danger before jumping into another body.

The orcs near the spell casters were dispatched, so Kazin and Amelia dropped the magical barrier. Then Kazin anticipated which body the spirit was going to take over next. Amelia nodded that she was ready for her spell.

“Cast your spell at the body over there,” said Kazin, pointing to an orc killed by arrows. “I’m going to blast the body the spirit’s using now so it will have to jump into that one. We have to catch it just right, before it enters that body.”

“Got it,” said Amelia.

As the orc moved closer to the orc body Kazin had indicated, Kazin blasted it with a bolt of lightning. Just before it struck, the evil spirit left its host and moved through the air toward the one Kazin had pointed out. At the same time, Amelia cast her spell. The timing was just right. With a scream and a sizzle, the spirit vanished.

Kazin looked over to where Sherman was battling with more of the evil spirits. He told Amelia to check the orb but it hadn’t changed. It was still vibrating and glowing with a bright red light. She could not determine the outcome of Sherman’s battle.

“Let’s go and help him,” said Kazin.

By now the last of the orcs were dispatched and the others were ready to follow.

Meanwhile, Sherman was very busy. He had caught up to Galado but had his last two guards to face. One was an ogre, and the other was a female human mercenary. Sweat trickled down the warrior’s face as he battled the two opponents at once. The ogre was strong, and drove the big warrior back step by step with his giant club. The mercenary was agile, darting around the two combatants and jabbing her sword at Sherman with every opportunity. Already Sherman was bleeding from several places.

Finally Sherman seized an opening. He feinted toward the ogre, making it move to protect itself from Sherman’s deadly sword. Then the warrior swiveled around the ogre, who was in the process of swinging his club. Ignoring the ogre, Sherman made a thrust at the mercenary. Instinctively, she jumped back out of the way, only to be hit with the ogre’s club. This prevented her from dodging as Sherman’s sword repeated the thrust, jamming deep into her chest. She let out a blood curdling scream as her spirit was removed from this plane of existence. Her body sagged slowly to the ground as Sherman felt the momentary pain of taking a woman’s life.

By now, the ogre had recovered from this trick and swung at Sherman’s exposed side. The sharp spikes from the ogre’s club bit into the warrior’s flesh and he went down with a grunt. Then the ogre raised its club to finish the job, but Sherman had the presence of mind to raise his sword. At the last possible second, he rolled out of the way just as the ogre’s club crashed down. The lack of an object to strike caused the ogre to overextend itself, and it fell headlong onto Sherman’s upturned sword. It convulsed as the evil spirit within was removed from existence. Then it lay still.

Sherman rolled back to retrieve his sword and gingerly rose to his feet. His side was sore and soaked in blood but he ignored it. There was one more battle to fight.

Standing there facing him was Galado.

“You have done well,” snarled Galado, “but you will now die. You are in no condition to defeat me.” He twirled his sword deftly, showing his expertise with a sword was no joke. Sherman noted that the sword he held was identical to his own. The swords in both men’s hands vibrated with magic.

“Why are you doing this?” asked Sherman.

Galado laughed. “You cannot understand, mortal.”

“How did you obtain Galado’s body?” asked Sherman.

“Are you referring to this body?” asked Galado, indicating himself.

“Yes,” said Sherman.

“He was in a place where he did not belong,” said Galado. “I simply used his body to prevent my own untimely demise.” Galado’s face darkened. “It didn’t work out as planned.” Then his face brightened. “But things are generally happening as I had hoped. The human race will be wiped off the face of this continent!”

“I think you’ll be disappointed,” said Sherman. “There are things happening that you hadn’t counted on.”

Galado laughed. “Even you and your friends will not stop what is happening right now!”

Sherman looked to see his companions running up to where they were. Amelia stood out with her glowing orb in her hand.

That momentary glimpse gave Galado the opening that he needed. He brought his sword down on Sherman, who parried at the last instant.

The clang of the two swords pierced the entire region. The magic of the two swords, which shouldn’t have been in the same place at the same time, collided. The magical connection of the spirit blades was so powerful it was felt far and wide. Spell casters everywhere lost their concentration. The spells they were casting malfunctioned, with erroneous effects. All low level magic was momentarily disrupted. Only stronger magic was still working.

The colliding of the swords caused the dragons to go into a frenzy. More dragons appeared, drawn to this mysterious event.

An earthquake occurred, creating mountains where there were previously none, and valleys and lakes were formed in places where they previously weren’t. The wasteland east of the human realm suddenly rose up out of the ground. It rose to majestic heights, killing a vast army of approaching minotaurs in the process. Those minotaurs would not have the opportunity to reach the battlefield. Other areas of the world changed as well. Some entire continents sank beneath the sea, while other tracts of land broke to the surface. Massive tidal waves were created, their force building up to wash over other continents. This force of water would wreak its havoc on the world for days to come.

For long seconds, the two swords were fused together by their magic. The two combatants glowed with the aura of two brilliant suns. Then they were thrown apart and the clash of the magic was severed.

At the same time, the orb Amelia had used so faithfully suddenly reached its climax. It engulfed the mage’s body with a brilliant red hue and flooded the entire battlefield in the distance with red light. When it receded, the mage was lying on the ground, motionless.

“Amelia!” cried Kazin, who had lowered his arm after shielding his eyes from the bright light. He ran to the dormant mage and shook her wildly. “Amelia! Wake up!” There was no response. Tears welled up in his eyes as he looked at the beautiful mage who had helped them so much on this quest. He had always feared he would lose one of his companions, but he knew they knew the risks. Amelia was different. She was a new member of their group and probably didn’t have a full understanding of the danger they were in. In addition, he had grown attached to her more closely than he had expected. “I didn’t know!” he wailed. “If I had known this was going to happen, I would have done it differently! I - I wouldn’t have even attempted it! History be damned!” Still crying, he bent to kiss her on the lips. He felt a hand rest on his shoulder to pull him away from the red-haired mage.