• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 1194 0

whereabouts. Safe from the din of the battle and tense with the thrill of his impending vengeance, Alexei dwelled upon images of his former master writhing under the torturous impact of his spells. When would Cyndre appear? For the hundredth time, his eyes searched the battlefield, looking for an explosion of flame or rolling cloud of gas that would give his former master away. Nervousness seized him. Now that the hour of his vengeance was almost at hand, he feared he lacked the power to challenge the mighty sorcerer. He thought briefly about teleporting to someplace far away – but then he remembered his days of torment, his hands crushed and his spirit broken, in the cell. And he vowed to claim his vengeance no matter what.

Suddenly he felt that same menacing presence that had awakened him – and this time it was very close. He knew that his former master was about to act. But where?

Alexei whirled, in time to see Cyndre materialize a scant twenty feet away. The master of the council drew back his hood enough for Alexei to see those pale blue eyes, icy as death. Alexei unconsciously stumbled backward. Face to face with Cyndre, he suddenly felt grave doubts as to his own powers. Desperately, he groped for a spell, an act, with which he might stave off his doom.

"Stupakh!" sneered Cyndre, and in that one word Alexei saw disaster.

A stunning shockwave of magic slammed into him, knocking the wind from his lungs and smashing him to the ground. He lay, flat on his back, unable to move a muscle – but his eyes and ears functioned perfectly, and he could do nothing but stare at Cyndre's slow approach.

Alexei understood what had happened. His mentor had used one of the words of power – a word that stunned its listener into paralysis. Completely helpless, he wondered why Cyndre had not used the power word that would have killed him on the spot. But the black wizard answered his unspoken question as he stopped above Alexei's motionless body, looking down to gloat.

"Well, my pupil, I see you have studied your lessons well." Cyndre absently prodded Alexei's side with a soft-toed boot. "You have caused me much trouble in the past days – and you have slain people who were close to me, who counted upon my protection.

"For this you will inevitably die. But your death, in itself, will not atone for these crimes. It is fitting that you should first witness the elimination of the rebel army – these pathetic fools whom you sought to aid against me! Then, you will be taken, alive, to Callidyrr. Only when the altar of Bhaal is ready to receive you will the life’s blood be drawn ever so slowly from your heart.

"Until that time, you will be secured – this time, with no hope of escape." Cyndre smiled coolly. Alexei could look into his eyes from his position on the ground, but he could do little else.

The black wizard began to cast a spell of doom. Each word struck Alexei like a physical attack. It was made more horrible by the fact that he recognized the spell – he knew what would happen.

When Cyndre uttered the last word to the spell, his soul would be torn brutally from his body, condemned to an imprisonment of infinite suffering, until the sorcerer decided to release him by granting him his death.

* * * * *

Robyn held tightly to the runestick. She had used three of its elements – wind, fire, and earth – the three she understood. The fourth, water, remained, but the young druid did not know what would happen when she called upon it, and so she held the stick as a talisman and little else.

Unafraid but practical, she stayed back from the melee with the ogres – her club would be little threat to the brutes, while one solid hit from an ogre could kill her.

She held Fiona's arm to prevent the lass from charging into the melee. "That sword will only make an ogre mad," she pointed out. She was surprised when Fiona listened to her and paused in her headlong charge.

"If you want to fight," suggested Robyn, "take that blade and stand with those who will meet the sahuagin – we are thin there, and could use you."

"I will!" declared the red-haired