8: Eye of the Storm

Fifth watched as Piramay wove her special brand of destruction and as the five balls of fire erupted from the wall he cast his own spell, massive orbs of shadow rose from the ground, the very shadows that the fireballs were casting and “pushed” the fire at a blinding speed. The fice orbs of flame exploded in front of the advancing army and the shadow engulfed the area, spreading like a virus and blinding the remaining soldiers that were outside the blast radius. The look on the faces of the commanders on the hill turned to instant concern, almost half their troops were already dead and they hadn’t even broken the perimeter yet. They withdrew backwards and out of sight. Fifth turned to Piramay with a sick smile and spoke, “It appears as though they don’t want to play with fire anymore little phoenix.”

He turned his head back towards the hill top and spoke again, “I say that in jest of course, these Knights are too stupid to know when they are beaten.” As if on queue several dozen wizards suddenly appeared on the hill top, about half in white and the rest in grey robes, “Well, well, well, battle mages with a hedge of protection to keep them on task, one would think that after hundreds of years they would make an ATTEMPT to change the tactics.” With a sigh that almost sounded like the frustration one gets when a gnat won’t stop buzzing around your ear Fifth reached into his robes and removed a handful of black stones. “Blow on these for luck will you darling?” He held the stones up towards Piramay who waved her hand over them, infusing them with fire, and then tossed the stones into the air as he hissed words of dark magic, the stones exploded before them in a cone shape, engulfing the entire hillside with pulsing waves of power. Many of the white robe mages who had not even begun casting yet were knocked to the ground and wailed in pain when the rest of the mages scattered to avoid the destruction coming at them. Fifth turned to Piramay again, “Like scattering the sheep, now we get to pick off the strays…” He raised his hands and began to hiss words of magic again, his palms firing off shadow skull’s of energy that struck solo individuals, killing them instantly and harvesting their souls into the soul well.

Morning came quickly and Bad Rock awoke, finding a pile of fresh meat in the common room between his bed chamber and Pela’s, her door was still closed but he assumed she was up. The sun was only about 30 minutes from rising and Bad Rock grabbed some of the meat as he walked around the room gathering the few things he needed. Her door opened and he turned to look at her with a face that expressed his concentration of the day to come. He spoke in his normal, gravelly voice, “Did you sleep well Pela? I hope so, today will be a trial that is certain, but I am confident we will be successful.”

She could tell he had no clue that she had left the room last night, and he sat patiently as she ate. When she had finished he walked to the door that lead to the hallway and opened it, “The Sanctum of Shadows is on the ground level, it is a place of concentrated magic that will allow us to travel to Glen Durel. I am assuming Rorie is taking care of that small detail.” He watched as she came along side him and he spoke again, “Be careful today, remember we are only to distract and aid, not capture the target, but should you feel the need do not hesitate to blast anyone in our way to hell.” She could see it in his black eyes, his primary concern was getting in and out, not necessarily killing anyone in the castle, though he would at the drop of a hat should it be necessary. “If Rorie fails at his task we are to kill him, nothing was mentioned of grabbing the child ourselves, though it might show initiative if we were to do so, and subsequently the payment would be increased.” Bad Rock, always the Mercenary. He never hid the fact that he did what he did for the money, his loyalty was to the highest paying bidder, as usual, and it was on very rare occasion that he didn’t achieve the goal.

He stomped out into the hallway and led them to the lowest level. Pela would feel the magic field increase as they approached a set of black double doors. They were not like the typical wooden door all over the castle, these were shiny, like black mirrors the reflected everything back upon itself with an eerie clarity. The doors opened and Rorie looked at both of them, he was in his battle robes. Iridescent sleeves adorned the inky black fabric that flowed off his shoulders like liquid shadows and he spoke with a warm yet serious tone, “Good to see you are on time, come in, we leave in five minutes.”


The two entered and Rorie could not help but sneak a glance at Pela as she passed, truly she was a delicious specimen of a woman. He walked to the center of the room and turned to face them. “I will open the portal, and we will be brought instantly to the place in the hall I showed you on the map. Rayann will detect the magic instantly and I can almost guarantee she will blink to the location so be on your guard the second you hit the floor. I cannot stress to you enough that she will protect the child with everything she has, as will Myth, so be prepared to cast protection spells as well as offensive spells, if we work in tandem we stand a good chance to overwhelm them and acquire the target. The exits are as I mentioned and use these to return to this room. I will be closing the portal to prevent anyone from coming through and doing any mischief here, that’s just the sort of thing Myth might attempt.” He handed them each a runed stone, “Hiss the magic word inscribed on the back and you will be brought to this very spot.”

He could see that they understood him and he nodded with satisfaction, “Very well, prepare yourselves.” He hissed the spidery words of magic and a portal opened revealing the hallway he had described and leapt through, disappearing from sight.