“Try me,” taunted the black-cloak.
“Fine,” glared Lady Mystic as she dropped her shield, “but I warn you. You had better kill me with your first cast, or it is you who will die.”
The black-cloak grinned victoriously as he summoned his power. He sent a tiny projectile out and verified that the Emperor’s daughter had indeed dropped her shield. As Lady Mystic stood unprotected and seemingly uncaring, the black-cloak inhaled deeply as he felt the power build within him. As he extended his arm towards Lady Mystic, the air around him blossomed with light. He turned swiftly towards the light. His mouth opened in surprise as the blades of light sliced through his neck and his body crumbled to the ground.
“You take too many chances,” Xavo scowled at Lady Mystic. “He could have struck you when he tested for your shields.”
“I read him correctly,” shrugged Lady Mystic. “He always was a proud, pompous fool. He probably really thought he could beat me in a fair fight.”
“We will never know,” chuckled Xavo. “Fair fights are not on the agenda today. How did you know that he would drop his shields before he attacked you?”
“I gave him one free shot at me,” smiled Lady Mystic. “He had to make it his best, and that meant abandoning his shields to harvest their power. Let’s go find another one.”
“There are not many left,” replied Xavo. “My daughter just sent one tumbling down from the top level.”
“How did we miss him?” frowned Lady Mystic.
The sound of an explosion interrupted the conversation before Xavo could answer. He quickly erected a shield around himself and signaled for Lady Mystic to do the same. Together they rushed toward the center of the temple where the atrium rose up through the levels. As they slid to a halt near the atrium, a shower of rock debris drifted downward. Xavo peered through the cloud of particles at the hole in the side of the temple far above him. While he was trying to make sense out of what he was seeing, another explosion rocked the building. Xavo grabbed Lady Mystic and shoved her into the corridor just before more rock debris fell from above.”
“What is going on?” questioned the Emperor’s daughter.
“Lyra just destroyed the stairs to the top level,” answered Xavo.
“The fool,” protested Lady Mystic. “Doesn’t she know that Vand derives his power from Dobuk? If we are not there to battle the Great Demon, my father will destroy the Three with ease. How are we going to get back up there?”
“I don’t know,” sighed Xavo, “but we must find a way. We have not come this far to let your father kill my daughter. We must get to Dobuk, and quickly.”
Chapter 49
Tea with a God
The elves and Chula scrambled up the strong vines leading to the second-level balcony. King Avalar stood inside the library and directed everyone to an appropriate part of the temple as they entered. With nearly three thousand warriors and mages inside the temple, the elven king felt sure that they would find all of the hidden Motangans and vanquish them. One of the last to climb the vine was Bakhai, the Astor’s brother.
“How is the war outside going?” asked the elven king.
“It goes well,” answered Bakhai. “The remaining hellsouls are being crushed between the Khadorans and the Fakarans not far to the west. It should be over in a few hours. The area around the temple is now solidly in our hands.”
“And soon the inside of the temple will be as well,” nodded King Avalar.
“Unless Vand has more surprises in store for us,” agreed Bakhai. “The skeletons continue to try to get out of the tyrik-web pens that they are trapped in. It will be dangerous when we finally turn our attention to them.”
“Is there a danger of them escaping?” the elven king asked with concern.
“Not in the immediate future,” Bakhai shook his head. “They are trying to climb over the bones of their comrades without coming into contact with the web, but I think it is impossible for them to get free. I have ordered our few remaining tyriks to keep watch on them. They will spin higher webs if it looks like the skeletons might escape.”
“Then what is your concern?” asked King Avalar.
“Sooner or later we must destroy the creatures,” explained the Qubari shaman. “It is not likely that such creatures can be starved to death, so that means that our warriors will have to enter the pens to separate their heads from their bodies. I would not volunteer to be one of those chosen warriors.”
“I understand,” the elven king nodded thoughtfully. “We will discuss how to accomplish that task after the hellsouls are defeated. Our main concern now is making sure the temple is safe. We have three thousand elves and Chula searching every section of the building.”
Several levels above the library, Princess Alastasia led a group of elves in search of Motangan hellsouls. As her small group emerged from a corridor she saw a black-cloak moving stealthily in her direction. The Motangan mage recognized the danger of the chance encounter and turned to flee, but two other black-cloaks suddenly appeared and blocked his path of retreat.
“You are all that is left, Pakar,” scowled Lady Mystic. “Drop your shield, and you will enjoy a swift death; resist and you will be crushed brutally.”
While Lady Mystic threatened Pakar, Xavo’s eyes locked onto Princess Alastasia’s face. He quickly pulled back his hood to show his face, even though he realized that she might not recognize him.
“MistyTrail,” Xavo shouted, “You know me as Malafar. Stand clear while we deal with Vand’s head mage.”
Princess Alastasia smiled and nodded. “We met in Vandamar,” replied the elven princess. “We will stay and watch this duel of magicians.”
Pakar was confused about the relationship between the elf and Xavo, but he harbored no puzzlement regarding his course of action. He had to destroy Lady Mystic and Xavo and flee the temple. Both arms rose instantly, one pointing at Lady Mystic and the other at Xavo. Flames flew from his fingertips, but both of the other mages were shielded, and all the flames did was to illuminate the outline of those shields. Pakar sneered at the Emperor’s daughter, knowing that her energy was almost spent. He could see in the outline of her shield that her power was running out.
“You have taken on too much, too quickly,” he snarled at Lady Mystic. “You shall be the first to fall to my powers.”
Without letting Xavo move outside his field of vision, Pakar concentrated on the Emperor’s daughter. His spells flew from his fingertips in an almost steady stream designed to destroy her shield and strike her down. Lady Mystic did not retaliate as she urged all of her power into strengthening her shields. She knew that Pakar was the strongest mage on the Island of Darkness besides Vand himself, and she was not about to leave herself defenseless.
Xavo stood next to Lady Mystic, seemingly doing nothing to interfere, but a strong cold wind began to whip around the atrium behind Pakar. Princess Alastasia felt the chill immediately as her body shivered involuntarily. At first she wondered where the chill breeze had come from, but then she remembered the stories told in Star City. She remembered how Master Malafar had overcome the Katana’s strong shields. He had used lightning to outline the shields and make them visible. He had then used sound to shrink the shields and cold wind to cause the shields to turn brittle. The princess stared past Pakar and made eye contact with Lyra’s father.
“Let me help,” the princess mouthed silently when Xavo finally acknowledged her with his eyes.
Xavo merely smiled with an almost imperceptible nod of his head. Princess Alastasia knew that Xavo was building his ice storm to attack Pakar’s shields, so she had to do something to make them visible and constrict them. She smiled broadly as she took a seed from her pouch and unobtrusively tossed it near Pakar’s feet.