Red Magic - Jean Rabe [110]
"Stop!" Galvin demanded, running up toward the gnolls and disappearing in the cloud of undead.
Brenna screamed, fearing the druid was doomed. Tears welled in her eyes and her hands shook. Although she could hear Galvin's commanding voice through the undead, she feared for his safety.
"Back away!" the druid yelled as he slashed upward with his enchanted blade, slicing a black limb from a hovering wraith. The undead being emitted a piercing shriek and fell backward behind its undead brethren.
"I said stop!" Galvin shouted once more. "Back off, or you'll have to fight me, too!"
"We could steal your lowly life, human," growled a wraith that moved to hover inches from Galvin's face. Its hot white eyes bore into the druid. "We could bring you death with one touch."
"Then try it!" Galvin shouted, thrusting upward and driving his blade between the wraith's glowing eyes. The creature screamed and dissipated like thinning fog, but several others quickly moved to take its place, chilling the air about the druid. "Szass Tam gave me this sword. You know it can kill you."
"Mortal fool!" another wraith howled, its haunting tone drifted toward Brenna and Wynter. "You could never kill all of us. We would suck the marrow from your brittle bones. Then you would be one of us."
"Never!" The druid refused to cower before Szass Tam's minions. He realized that backing down meant giving in to the undead, inviting them to overwhelm him, Brenna, and Wynter. "Now get back to the road, all of you. This is my fight."
The wraiths laughed mockingly, their hollow voices reverberating off the tower wall, but they retreated nevertheless.
Brenna rushed to Galvin's side, threw her arms around him in relief, then quickly composed herself and stood facing the gnolls.
Galvin pointed the tip of his longsword at the dog-men, then swept it to the side, pointing west, toward the escarpment. "Move!" he barked. "Move or I'll kill you!"
The gnolls didn't comprehend the words, but they understood the druid's meaning. They fled the tower, running hard without glancing back.
The druid took a deep breath, sheathed his sword, and watched their retreating forms to make sure the wraiths didn't give chase. Galvin hadn't wanted to kill the gnolls, and he wanted to keep the undead from doing so even more. No being deserved to be turned into a wraith.
With half a dozen long steps, he reached the large tower doors and yanked on the handles. The iron-bound wood remained unyielding, even after he rammed his shoulder against it several times. Frustrated, Galvin shoved the enchanted blade between the two doors and pushed.
"That won't work either," Brenna observed, laying a soft hand on his mailed shoulder. "I'm pretty sure it's magically held. If Maligor's as powerful as we're led to believe, he'd certainly have magic in the walls and doors to keep intruders out."
"Wonderful." The druid slumped against the door.
Brenna smiled, and her eyes twinkled in the moonlight. "I think I can get in," she said. "I told you a sorceress would come in handy. Now aren't you glad you brought me along?" She gestured, and Galvin moved away from the door, watching intently as she cast a simple spell that ended in a thumping sound, like a small door knocker being rapped against wood.
"Success!" she said, beaming. The doors swung slowly inward, moving silently on ancient hinges. In front of them lay a hallway bathed in the light of dozens of thick candles. Suddenly guards, both humans and gnolls, began to pour from rooms off the hall and moved to attack. All were armored, and their plates of metal clanged noisily as they swarmed forward in a wave.
Galvin leapt in front of the sorceress and deftly parried the swing of one burly guard. The massive man wielded a claymoor, a great sword that took two hands to heft. When the guard lifted the sword above his head for another attack, the druid quickly thrust his own enchanted sword forward. The blade sliced through the man's abdomen, sinking