The Chaos Blade - Chapter 22

Chapter 22

"Guard duty?" Eric muttered for the hundredth time, clearly irritated.

All four of them stood as rear guard for the retreating inhabitants of Sanctuary. Akynson, the cities most powerful wizard, had created a magical portal that the refugees filed through one at a time. Old women and children mostly, though a few others as well. Elvanshalee, refusing to let Laryn send her from the city, stood with the companions.

"I don't get it," Bill said, talking to the tall elven woman. "Is Kelnozz your father or something?"

Elvanshalee cast a withering glare at him. Her continuing presence in the company of humans was trying her patience. "No, boy, he is not. He knew my mother before my father captured and corrupted her mind with his magic. Enough of her mind stayed alive through the birth of my brother and many years later my own birth that she passed her hidden knowledge and spirit on to me. She died giving me birth, but she lives on in me."

Bill grunted, quite sure what she said was impossible, but then again he had lost count of the impossibilities he had seen since he had thrown his lot in with Eric and Yamara. "So this Darakor guy, he's your brother and he used to be Kelnozz's student?"

Elvanshalee sighed. "Yes, he is and yes, he did. I lost contact with him centuries ago when I fled Mezarbolle, but he had already abandoned us and thrown in his lot with Kelnozz by then. I searched and studied for many years, learning and growing in power so that I could find him and join with him. News of Kelnozz and Darakor was sketchy, at best over the years. Now I find out that 20 years ago my brother turned traitor yet again and returned to my father."

"And your father is a badass, eh?"

Elvanshalee turned on Bill and glared at him. "Yes, he is! He is older then anyone still living on Viconia. He was one of the leaders of the light elves in the war that sundered the elven nations! It was he who slew..."

All of their eyes went to Elvanshalee as her voice trailed off. In the distance the sounds of battle could be heard. Above the city to the northwest they could see dragons flitting about in the sky. Most of them chromatic in color. Blues, blacks, reds, and green dragons. A few others had fought against them, the goodly aligned metallic dragons that had been near enough to Sanctuary to hear the call to war and were able to answer it.

"What?" Alesha asked Elvanshalee frostily, walking over to stand beside her. "What were you going to say?"

Elvanshalee's voice was soft as she realized what she had suddenly discovered. "In the Kinslayer Wars, my father slew Myragordamar Risingmoon, the general of the elven nations."

"Risingmoon..." Alesha echoed snidely, making the connection almost as quickly as the light elf had. "Your father slew Kelnozz's father."

"Ouch," Eric muttered, paying attention to the conversation but watching the streets and the nearby buildings for enemy activity. Bill just shook his head and had to admit that would put a powerful hate in him too.

---

Above the battlefield Garrick rode on the back of Luingirth, striking with his hammer from afar whenever opportunity presented itself. He stayed onto the dragon's back as though grafted to it through the various acrobatic maneuvers the dragon went through while fighting against his chromatic cousins. Each of Garrick's hammer throws struck with a mighty crashing of thunder, grievously wounding whatever it hit.

Below a different battle raged. Sir Laryn's forces met a great force of orcs, striking three down for every defender that fell but still being slowly overwhelmed. Then came Darakor's special contingent, demons summoned from unimaginable depths in the world and other planes of existence. They easily waded through the ranks of the defenders, striking fear in their hearts. Sir Laryn charged about, trying to rally his troops. He struck repeatedly at the demons, his shining silver sword slicing gaping wound after gaping wound in their ranks.

Then a greater demon pushed through the lesser ones, smoke rising from the heat generated by its hellish skin. It stood almost 20 feet tall and walked upright like a man, but with widely spread cloven hoofs on each foot that caused small flames to erupt with every step. A long tail, covered in the same course black fur the rest of it's lower body was, ended in twin spikes and coiled to the ground behind it. Occasionally the tale would lash out and deeply pierce somebody, striking with the force of a ballista bolt. It possessed long arms that nearly dragged on the ground. In one taloned fist it carried a massive mace big enough to fell a large tree in a single swing, the other was empty and it used it to pick up the defenders and toss them about as though they were made of paper. The demons upper torso was red in hue and covered in armored scales that extended to its arms. It's head resembled a cross between a man and a spider, with four eyes and mandibles with sharp and wicked looking teeth on the end of them.

Seeing the demon king, Sir Laryn reigned in his faithful stallion and sheathed his sword. He lowered his lance and charged towards it, calling out a chant to Karthor, his chosen patron. Laryn's holy symbol that hung from a silver chain about his neck glowed with an unearthly light, lending credence to his faith and his strength. As he neared the demon it brought back its mace and reached forward with its unnaturally long arms. It grabbed Sir Laryn's lance in its hand and twisted it out of his grip before he could try to fight back. He reached for his sword on his back but before he could draw it the mace crashed into him and his steed, sending them flying bodily into a nearby building. Neither rose from where they crashed.

With that overwhelming defeat the defenders began to waver. Comprised of men and women of all ages old enough to fight, they had seen their leader discarded like he was little more then a twigs being caught up in a forest fire. In the few minutes that followed several hundred defenders were slain or routed.

---

"Party time!" Bill called out, pointing down a road to the north.

Eric followed his gaze and saw that the defenders had been pushed back and were now less then half a mile away from them. The first ranks of the orcs and demons came into view. An occasional chromatic dragon flew nearby as well, but blasts from Alesha's hands kept them at bay, as well as the few remaining metallic dragons that struggled to protect the refugees.

Eric grunted and flipped the safety off his pistol. Bill readied his M-4. The giant demon rounded the corner then and started wading through the defenders. Both men's jaws dropped as they saw the demon. Eric felt a presence behind him then. Turning around he saw a very pale looking Yamara.

"We must flee," she said to him, her voice hushed but serious.

"We will, but these refugees have to get away," Eric reassured her. A glance over his shoulder showed that the gate was not big enough, only one person could go through at a time and it was taking far too long to shuffle the remaining two hundred or so people through. The invaders looked about to rout the defenders, if that happened they would be on them before the refugees had fled.

Yamara's jaw tightened and she looked at the line, judging it and obviously trying to make a decision. "We will die here," she said, coming to a decision at the last.

Eric nodded solemnly. "That may be."

"You would die for these people you do not know?" She asked, surprised.

"Somebody has to," he replied casually. He saw the seriousness of her look and softened a little. "Yamara, we had this talk before, back on Earth, remember? I defend those who cannot defend themselves. It is thankless and without reward, but if I am not willing to defend them, who will? There are greater things that must survive even if I can not."

"I just say it's a shitty job, but somebody's gotta do it!" Bill called over to them. Both of them ignored him.

Yamara nodded after a minute and looked away. "You remind me of someone I once knew," she admitted sadly. With that said, she turned and walked back toward Alesha and Elvanshalee.

"Damn him," she muttered, standing next to the dark haired woman.

"Some things are worth dying for, eh?" Alesha asked her with a bitter smile as she scanned the skies for another target. Alesha was replacing her lost energy as quickly as she spent it by tapping into the anxiety and fear of the refugees.

"He reminds me of somebody I once knew on another world. Noble son-of-a-bitch that would not do the smart thing."

Alesha glanced at her and saw tears threatening to fall from Yamara's eyes. "You upset because he reminds you of this person?"

Yamara sighed. "No."

"Then why?"

"Because I'm going to do something stupid because of Evart," Yamara snapped at her. Quietly she said, "I owe him that much."

The women eyed the approaching storm of invaders. They were perhaps a quarter a mile away now. Less then one hundred refugees remained, and amazingly the defenders were holding. Well, not holding, but performing a fighting retreat.

"You could leave if you wanted, I've been there, there's no shame in living to fight again," Alesha offered her. Yamara looked at her, half torn, half confused. She was on the verge of a major decision. A decision with far reaching effects for her on many levels.

"But would living be worth the cost of dying?"

Yamara understood her. She hated her at that moment, but she understood her. "Damn you too," Yamara said to her. Alesha smiled thinly, then whipped her arm forward in a throwing motion suddenly. A small red ball rocketed forth from her palm, streaking towards a black dragon that was streaking low across the tops of the buildings and coming up on the defenders from the side. Alesha's spell struck it in the side and exploded violently, sending the dragon off course and crashing it into a house. Between the fireball and the crash landing, it struggled a few times to rise from the wreckage, knocking another wall down on top of it. The dragon lay still then.

A few moments later Eric again sensed Yamara was near him. He turned and looked at her, offering a smile of welcome. She returned his smile weakly. "I'm staying," she said.

Eric looked at her, not understanding what she meant by her words. He nodded, knowing that there was something deeper was going on within her. "That's good to hear. We'll make them pay, if nothing else."

She nodded, knowing he did not fully understand what was going on within her. She did not even understand why she bothered telling him. He was only a reflection of the man she had respected and admired. She did not need his approval. Yamara shook her head and walked back to her own position, caught up in a maze of old memories and new ones.

---

Having thoroughly scouted the invaders, Kelnozz had still seen no sign of Darakor. For that matter, the closest thing he had seen to a leader was the demon lord that was destroying everything in his path as he pursued the defenders. With every block of ground that they gained a group of orcs would break off and conduct a thorough search, looking for that which was Ancaruin. Kelnozz had no idea what it would look like or where it might be, none of the residents of Sanctuary did. Still the search continued.

Kelnozz knew that his time to act had come. With nearly a hundred people still to evacuate and the doomed defenders growing to small to be effective, the end was near. In the air Garrick and Luingirth had taken a serious toll on the invading dragons, but they could not do enough damage quickly enough to make a difference. The distance was to great for him to get their in time, however, save for his special means of transportation.

---

Alesha gasped as Kelnozz appeared suddenly in front of the advancing host. A pocket had formed as the defenders withdrew to marshal what little remained of their forces against the unstoppable onslaught. She saw him tuck the glowing white pendant under his chain shirt and realized what everyone else had missed.

"That is my necklace he wears!" She hissed.

"So?" Bill asked, amazed that at a time like this she was concerned about accessorizing.

"Ancaruin himself gave me that necklace! It possesses great powers. Powers so great I could never figure out where they came from."

Eric spoke up then, "Then it looks like it's in good hands."

"No!" Alesha said, exasperated. "That pendant must be the last reservoir for Ancaruin's spirit! That is why he entrusted it to me, because no one would think to look for it there. And with it in Kelnozz's hands now, he would be the last possible place to look for it!"

Having little to no experience in such affairs, the others took Alesha at her word. While their understanding of magical affairs was limited, the consequences of what was about to take place seemed obvious. "We've got to get him away from them!" Eric said, advancing forward. Bill followed him automatically, setting up an overlapping field of fire.

Yamara cursed but followed with only a moment of hesitation, staying near to them and clutching her short sword and dagger in fists tight with anxiety. Alesha and Elvanshalee moved forward as well, abandoning their posts for what they perceived to be a more important matter.

At the forefront of the battle the demon lord looked at Kelnozz and howled in rage. "Four thousand years I have waited for this moment, elf! I will feast on your heart!"

Kelnozz acknowledged the demon by drawing his swords and crouching slightly. "This time banishing you will not be nearly enough penalty, Helanduril!"

The two beings crashed together in a mighty display, steel and fire swirling about one another. Even the charging demons behind Helanduril gave pause to watch the mighty spectacle, for never had they seen their general defeated, though history claimed that this one he fought had done it once long after the Kinslayer Wars had officially ended.

They separated once as Kelnozz was thrown into the wall of a nearby building. He bounced off it and rolled to his feet from the ground. Helanduril screamed in rage at Kelnozz's refusal to die, and charged after him. Kelnozz threw one of his blades into the air and with an inhuman leap caught the edge of the roof of the building he had recently been forced to meet. He swung himself smoothly up onto the roof and caught his descending sword.

Helanduril snapped his arm forward attempt to smash Kelnozz from the roof of the building with his mace. Kelnozz leapt forth from the roof and cleanly evaded the weapon. He swung one sword across as he reached the apogee of his flip over Helanduril's head and seemingly missed entirely.

Kelnozz landed behind Helanduril and was forced to dive to the ground and roll because of his momentum. He turned and saw Helanduril spin about to face him, his open handed arm falling free as he turned, severed cleanly at the shoulder.

Helanduril roared in agony and the humans fleeing were forced to their knees by the sound of the demons wailing. He advanced on Kelnozz and quickly found his mace wielding arm a stump at the wrist. Helanduril then summoned up his powers in an attempt to incinerate Kelnozz with a mighty fireball, but ere he was able to do that Kelnozz once again leapt into the air and both swords swung cleanly through Helanduril's neck, severing it so that the head fell free to the ground.

The demon's body fell to the ground and lay there, then began to slowly dissipate into mist as it was banished to the Nine Hells from which it was spawned. Not content with that, Kelnozz slashed into its disappearing chest and reached into the monstrous cavity, ignoring the burning ichor that clung to his gloved hand.

"Luingirth!" Kelnozz cried out loudly as he wrenched his arm free of the demons chest, holding the immense heart in his hand. He lofted it high into the air, rivaling all but the best giant thrown boulder.

Luingirth ignored Garrick's cry of distress and swooped down from the titanic sky battle and spotted the heart as it neared the peak of its ascent. He inhaled deeply then spat out a stream of lightning that pierced the heart and made it explode it nothingness, completely destroying the demon. The great dragon then turned about in mid air to deal with his pursuers that were close on his heels. Garrick scowled at the elf for trying to show off, then looked for a new target to swat with his hammer.

Kelnozz held both his swords and looked at the refugees and the four, now five, companions standing there with mouths open in amazement. The demons also stood passively for a few moments, contemplating what it meant if the mightiest of their numbers could be slain by this solitary elf. Then they charged forth, content to overwhelm him with numbers.

They all saw the look in Kelnozz's eyes before he was overrun. Alesha screamed out to him in a wordless cry. She threw out her arms and sweeping lances of flames shot forth, crashing into the demons and sending them stumbling away from Kelnozz. Kelnozz looked at her in amazement, stunned by the display of power she had generated. He prepared to run and join them when a pair of dragons arced down from the sky towards him. Now that Kelnozz was on the field of battle, all eyes were upon him.

Flames from the mouth of a red dragon slammed into the ground behind him as he ran. He leapt to the side as they washed over where he would have been, narrowly missing him. The other dragon, a blue one, spat out a jagged bolt of lightning from its mouth that slammed into him and lifted him from the ground with the power of its energy, dashing him into a nearby building. He slumped to the ground, stunned momentarily.

Eric and Bill opened fire with their guns, taking out rushing orcs with amazing efficiency. Bill had been the squads backup sniper back in their glory days, so he was putting each bullet fired from his M-4 into a vital area of an orc. A few times they fired on the demons, but the bullets did not faze them at all, so they concentrated on what they could kill. All too quickly, as it always seemed to happen in a firefight, they ran low on ammo. Eric stuffed his pistol back in his holster while Bill dropped his now useless gun on the ground, they drew their melee weapons.

Alesha continued to send bolt after bolt of magic into the seething mass, slowing them down but unable to stop them. In a few minutes Kelnozz was surrounded. He had regained his feet and stood with the building to his back, facing the hoard that advanced on him. He was hurt badly but far from out of the fight. They rushed in at him and he met them with his swords singing.

---

"No!" Alesha growled when the demons crashed into where Kelnozz stood. The defenders numbered less then a handful by that time, and they rushed towards the portal behind her. Eric, Yamara, and Bill stood still, watching in horror at what was surely happening to the elf through the thick crowd of bodies.

Bill snapped out of it first. "Dude, we've got to get the fuck out of here!" He said, slapping Eric on the shoulder. Eric started and realized Bill was right. He grabbed Yamara's hand and pulled her with them as they followed the last of the defenders towards the escape portal. Bill grabbed Alesha and tried to pull her with them. She refused to move, easily pulling her arm out of the larger man's grip.

"Alesha, there's nothing we can do for him now!" Bill screamed at her. "We've got to go!"

She shook her head. She looked at him and he recoiled, seeing a look that inspired terror in him. Alesha looked every bit as deadly as she had at the height of her power right then. With a look alone she could have melted Bill where he stood. "Go!" she said to him, her voice strangled. "I will stay to teach them a lesson! Nothing else remains for me."

They were buffeted by a blast of wind then. Luingirth landed heavily, bleeding from several wounds. Garrick leapt from the back of the dragon, falling over twenty feet but landing lightly with only a flexing of his knees. He ran over to them then.

"I saw from above," He said to her, blood running from a few open wounds on his chest and arms. As they watched the blood flow lessened and the wounds began to slowly close. Bill's mouth dropped open in amazement.

"You must flee, you can do nothing for him here. Go with the refugees to Helmsmasher Isle, I will meet you there. This is not over, only more complicated."

"I will not leave him!" Alesha said fiercely. Garrick slapped her across the face, sending her stumbling with his action. He had put very little of his titanic strength into the blow.

"For once in your life listen to me, petulant child!" He yelled at her. Bill wanted to step forward and protect her but a hard glance from Garrick kept him in his place. "Do the right thing for once! Get out of here with your people and live to fight again! If you die here you only weaken our cause. Think beyond yourself!"

Alesha looked at him in shock. That he had touched her violently had amazed her. Not that he had tried to do it so much as that he had moved so quickly and powerfully that she had been unable to stop him. She knew then that Garrick still possessed most of his former might. She nodded, letting Bill pull her back towards the portal, which was now free of any stragglers.

Garrick turned and ran towards the demonic host, yelling loudly to draw their attention. His hammer was held above his head, brandished in a war cry. Luingirth leapt to the air and followed after him, offering air support.

Elvanshalee was waiting at the gate for them. She stood beside Akynson, who was maintaining the portal through his concentration and nearly depleted endurance. He nodded to them and motioned for them to hurry through. When the rest arrived, Elvanshalee slipped through first. Eric and Yamara followed, then Alesha. She cast one last longing glance towards the battle that was still going on centered around Kelnozz, then stepped through. Bill hurried after her.

Continued in Chapter 23

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