Angels in the Chaos

In Flux, Sophia becomes aware of the invasion of Northmarch, while Aurei and her parents arrive at Soric's palace to destroy him.

10.

Angels in the Chaos

 

In her very cramped office in one of Archmage Drake’s large office buildings in Flux, Sophia sat in the floor, surrounded by scrolls and beakers of potions that she was indexing.  

She typed descriptions of the artifacts into a laptop computer, and then printed off an index number on the wireless laser printer by her desk.  

The air hung heavy with Dart’loxinchu smoke from an entire day of nervous smoking, but though the Archmage disapproved of her smoking around the museum artifacts, she was much too wound up the past few days to even care.   

 

She glanced up over the top of her desk at the digital clock, and sighed when she saw that two hours had passed since Khord had left for the meeting.   Sophia got to her feet, shaking them to get the blood flowing to her toes again.   

Dodging the stuff in her path, she leaned over her desk, snubbing out another cigarette butt into a large overflowing ashtray and immediately slipping another tube of Dart’loxinchu from the duplicating case that she had paid a ridiculous price to have constructed, since she could certainly not get access to her mother’s magic case anymore.  

She lit the cigarette with a flame cantrip and dangled the Dart’loxinchu from her lips as she leaned over a second laptop on her cluttered desk that she used as her scrying device.  

She smiled upon reflecting how bewildered most wizards would be to see her ‘crystal ball’.   Instead of waving her hands around and mumbling arcane words as she peered into a cloudy piece of quartz, she simply typed a few words into the hybrid technological/arcane computer and immediately the scene she wished to see came upon the screen.

 

What she saw made her cry out in alarm, sending hot ash down on the keyboard from the Dart’loxinchu.   She had searched for Aurei, to see what was going on with them in King’s Reach on the eve of the big council of war.  

 

But instead of a wedding reception, she was stunned to see an image of her cousin wearing Drow armor and escorted by a Drow couple that, from their attire, did not seem to be some of those invited to the conference.  

Worse was the setting, for it certainly wasn’t King’s Reach but somewhere far darker and much more evil.    Though she had never seen it before, it didn’t take her long to realize that Aurei was being led by the Drow couple into the castle of Soric Potollis.

 

“What has happened?” She gasped, quickly typing the name of her mother into the search box and eagerly peering into the screen.  

A moment later an image appeared of her mother and a large group of people running through a city street with buildings on fire around them. 

Sophia shrieked at the sight, watching in horror for a moment as the image showed Zeatt and the others looking up over their shoulders into the sky.  

Something was behind them.   But what?  

Her mind racing, she typed in Eleazar’s name.   A moment later she saw him, in the same setting as her mother, also running as he looked over his shoulder.  

 

She typed in King Haroldris and this time the image changed slightly to show the King, holding his pregnant queen as she wept, while they and many others stood at the mouth of a cave by a lake.  

She recognized the lake from trips to King’s Reach and she followed their gaze eastward back toward the capital city.

The skyline was lit by fire, as buildings burned all across the metropolis.  

 

From the intensity of the flames, Sophia knew it had to be Dragon fire, which would burn for at least a little while on just about any surface.   In the air above the city were the shapes of airships; a great number of them, all from the Necromancer’s Guild from their appearance.  

 

Never had she seen so many of the Guild ships in one place before and she counted ten of them from the image on the screen.   Huge bat-winged forms swooped around the skyline, and they had to be wyverns and most likely Dragons.

  

“Yesh, have Mercy!” She said aloud, and then quickly typed in Aurei’s name again, to see her cousin, still led by the Drow man and woman, slowly and carefully creeping through the seemingly deserted castle of the horrid Soric.  

 

“What madness is this?   What are you doing?” She asked the screen as she tried to figure out what she could do to help.

As she watched, entranced at the unbelievable images before her, Khord returned, opening the door with a long sigh indicating his weariness.  

 

“Good grief, Sophie, it is so smoky in here you can’t even see!   Take a break and open a window for Yesh’s sake and get some fresh air; this is ridiculous!   No-one needs to smoke this much.”  

He waited for her usual snappy reply at his complaints about her habit, but to his surprise she didn’t even seem to hear him, but leaned over the desk staring wide-eyed into the computer screen with a cigarette that was about half ash, hanging unattended from her lips.

 

“Sophie?” He approached, wondering what could possibly have engrossed her so deeply.   Walking around the desk, he saw what he first thought must be one of Archmage Walish’s famous reenactments of events in history which he directed and produced himself and would e-mail to all of the facility of all the Watchers at least once a week.

 

“Sophie?   What are you watching, anyway?   Hey, you were right; they wanted to see me to ask me about a thousand questions about our little trip to Westmark last winter.”   “Actually, it wasn’t the trip they were interested in, but your trip with Aurei back here.   I didn’t ever think they’d finish with me, but I think you might just get lucky again and… hey- isn’t that Aurei Bugley on the screen?”

 

Sophia nodded, “It’s not a history video, Khord; I’m using the scrying program - this is live.”

“Where is she at?   Those two with her are Drow!”

“But who are they?” She asked, “They are in Soric’s palace!”

“Soric’s palace?!   Good heavens!”

Sophia nodded, “Yeah, but look at what else is going on at King’s Reach.” 

 

She typed their mother’s name and the image returned to that of Zeatt and the others running across a well groomed lawn to a series of shallow caves on the shore of the royal lake in King’s Reach.

“What has happened?”   Khord asked.

“They’ve been attacked by a fleet of Guild airships, along with Dragons and wyverns.   Apparently Soric tried a surprise invasion.   That makes me wonder; what about the Emperor?”  

She typed the name of Emperor Fendoris and the image shifted to show the man who now was clearly undead, leading a long column of Imperial legions at night in a mountainous region.
“That’s Orc Pass!” Khord exclaimed, recognizing the form of Southgate in the distance on the screen, “Sophie, he’s leading an Imperial invasion force!”

 

She looked at Khord with a terrified look in her pretty eyes, “Khord, this is bad; very bad!   They’ll be overwhelmed.    It looks like Aurei and those two Drow are either attempting to negotiate with Soric or else are on a suicide mission to try to kill him.”

“That’s crazy, Sophie; she’ll be killed, or worse!”

“We’ve got to help them, Khord; especially Aurei!”

“How, Sophie?   Your butt is on the line with the Watchers right now as is; if you try anything unauthorized, they’ll probably lock us both up for the rest of our lives.”

 

“She’ll die, Khord, if we don’t do something!   She has no idea what she’s getting into!   If we could at least get Eleazar to her, to help her.”

“He’s got his hands full with the others in King’s Reach.”

“The city is full of people, as well as those going to the council of war conference that was supposed to be tomorrow.   Now instead of a conference, they actually have a war to discuss.    They have enough heroes there; Aurei needs help.   We’ve got to help her.”

“Sophie, if we do-“

“I know, but I’m not going to let her be made into a Death Knight, Khord.   Or his slave.     I had orders not to interfere, but they didn’t give those orders to you.”

“Sophie-“

 

But she wasn’t listening; instead she ran out of the cramped office, leaving a trail of smoke behind her.   He followed and was not surprised when she went next door to the archive depository, where new items were put until they were indexed.   

“Sophie, you better not-“ He warned, but she was still unheeding, and instead was pulling out drawers holding pieces of armor.   For a frantic minute she looked in desperation, but then with a shout she apparently found what she was looking for and pulled out a rather battered war helm.

She held it up in triumph, “Do you know what this is?”

“A helmet?”

“A helm of teleportation!” She explained, “It still functions.”

“But you can cast a teleportation spell.”

“It’s not for me.    Here take it, I’m going to teleport you to Eleazar’s location; find him, tell him where she’s at and give him the helm, then I’ll bring you back here.”

“But-“

“And don’t let mother see you if you can help it.   Maybe I can figure out some way we can help Mom and the others from afar, by the time you get back.   Now come on, Khord, I’ll be watching, make it quick; Aurei is in trouble.”

 

“Sophie, I don’t think this is such a good idea.” He protested, but she was already chanting the teleportation spell and a moment later he vanished to do her bidding.    

 

***

 

The castle of Soric Potollis was dark, cold and radiated more evil then anything Aurei had ever encountered in her life.   Chal and Alleania led her through a dark and twisted path of gothic architecture that seemed itself to leer and mock at her as they crept through the enormous structure to its heart, where, she was told, the evil Arch Lich sat gazing into his crystal ball at his minions as they attacked King’s Reach.

 

Aurei was hopeless, lost in utter despair at her situation and grieving for what she felt in her heart would be total failure.   She would certainly try to kill the undead Lord of the Necromancer’s Guild, but a grim awareness of her pending failure hung over her like a grey sky as she followed her birth parents (at a distance, for she radiated goodness that bit at them at close range)into a dark fate.  

 

She did not trust them, and despite the telepathic images given to her by Alleania, she was far from certain they really were her parents.  

 

She had often wondered how she would have felt if she’d ever met them, but now all she felt was cold and empty, longing for her friends and especially Eleazar’s reassuring smile.   She would never see them again.   Any of them.   The thought came to her, a dark shadow on her blackened soul as they crept ever nearer to the source of the consuming evil that permeated the place.  

 

“Not far.”  Alleania turned and whispered to her, attempting to give her a reassuring smile that did nothing but make her feel more apprehensive.   She wondered if anyone would ever know what had happened to her.  

 

Would they grieve long for her, or would the memories of the times they shared in happiness together help them not miss her?   She was wondering these things when suddenly Chal and Alleania stopped abruptly in front of her.  

 

Ahead, through the shadows, was a pair of iron doors, tall, cold and engraved in scenes of people being tortured by fiends.   The very gates of Hell, she thought.

 

Chal, his red eyes gleaming, came back to her, along with Alleania.

“Behind those doors is his throne room.   All his minions are gone on the invasion.   Inside he is alone, except for six iron statues -golems- which will animate if anyone living goes in there with arms drawn.”

 

“I fully intend to go in there with my weapons drawn.”  Aurei replied, matching her father’s gaze with her own.

He nodded, “You will be killed quickly unless we prepare first.”

“What do you have in mind?”  She whispered, sensing that Chal had not really thought out his plan very well.

 

“I have a spell; it is called ‘Mantle of Undeath’ and I shall cast it upon you.   It will make you seem to Soric that you are one of the undead.   He is prepared for an assault by the living upon him, and he is the master of the undead, so his spells and defenses are set to destroy the living.   While this spell lasts, you will be immune to the effects of the undead and will share in their immunity from specific attacks.”

 

“Won’t he then have control of me, as I will be for a time, undead?”

“No, it is not actual undeath, only a spell, but it will give you protection that he will not expect.   It will last over two hours."

"However, you will not be able to use your Holy Sword while under this spell.   You carry Tholmi’s fine blade, I see, as well as wearing her armor, you should use her sword to strike him.”

“And what will you both be doing as I fight him?”   She asked suspiciously.

“Attacking him just as you will.   We have magic that will aid you.  Trust us!   If we fail, we too will be destroyed, so we can be trusted for no other reason then that.”

 

“We are all going to die… or in your case, be destroyed.   Is it worth the risk to your existence?”

 

Alleania answered, “Aurei, you have no idea of the horror of undeath.   Even for a Drow, it is a nightmare.  But what is worse is undeath where you are forced to serve a master such as Soric.   If we openly rebelled, he would send his minions against us.”

“This is our only chance, and it will end the power of the Guild and help your people.   Once he is killed, we will be free to return to the Underdark and you will be free from fear as well.”  

“Never before has Soric sent his forces completely on a mission, leaving him as vulnerable as he is right now.   This is our only chance!  Be brave and seize this opportunity while it is briefly presented to you.”

 

In spite of her mother’s moving words, Aurei did not feel inspired or encouraged.   Instead, the heaviness of the evil place pressed down upon her as if it were a huge stone.   “Cast your spell, Chal, and let us make our attempt; I am weary of waiting.”

 

He nodded, and pulled her into a recess in the wall near the door to the throne room.   As Alleania kept watch just in case there was someone left in the horrid castle, Chal began chanting the spell, his words were spoken in the Drow tongue that made her skin crawl when heard in the evil place.

A few moments later she felt herself grow terribly cold, as if all the warmth of her body had left her.    At her side, she became aware of Egregie glowing very hot, even through its scabbard and her leg armor.   She started to reach for it, but Chal grabbed her arm.

 

“Don’t, Aurei, for it will wound you if you as much as touch the hilt.   You have the mantle of undeath over you right now.  Use Tholmi’s sword instead.”

She drew her Drow sword, while Alleania pulled a ring out from her belt pouch and slipped it on, disappearing at once.

“It is a simple invisibility ring.” Her voice said from thin air, “I will use it to attack Soric, while he focuses on you.”

“With what?   Your hands?”  Aurei asked.

Alleania reappeared, having removed the ring, and she was smiling, “You will be surprised, I have other magic, but rest assured, I will be formidable.”

 

Aurei turned to Chal, “What about you?”

He pulled a wand from within the folds of his robe, “I have this, Aurei.   I have saved this wand for this very day.”

“What does it do?”

“I will show you.   Are we ready to proceed?”

“No.” Aurei said with a sigh, “But let’s get it over with.”

“Good, I will demonstrate this wand’s effects now.”  He pointed the wand at Alleania and said a word unknown to Aurei.   A moment later two exact duplicates of Alleania stood next to her, both acting as if they were mirror images of the Vampire lady, moving as she moved.

 

“Illusions?”  Aurei asked.

“Duplicates; they are as real as Alleania is, but they only move as she moves and will do as she does.   Stand still and I will duplicate you.”

Chal again waved his wand, and to Aurei’s amazement, two duplicates of her stood beside her.   She reached out to touch one, and the both duplicates mimicked her.   They were indeed real.

“How long will they last?”  She asked, and the other two also asked with her, giving her question a chorus.

 

“Not nearly as long as the Undeath mantle, we have to move quickly.   Attack Soric and they will also attack him.   Do not speak to him; perhaps he will not know which of you is real and which are the duplicates.   The wand has one last charge; I will use it now on myself.”

 

Chal pointed the wand at himself and suddenly there were three Vampires standing there.

“We need to strike while the duplicates are with us.   Let us go!”  Without further comment, he (and his duplicates) turned and ran to the double door, as Alleania slipped the ring of invisibility back on her finger, which caused her and her duplicates to disappear.  

 

“Come on girls.”  Aurei said to her duplicates, and with a deep breath of dread, she raced after Chal, with her sword drawn.

 

 

 

“Stay behind me.” Chal told her, “But first open that door, then quickly get behind me.”

Aurei nodded, pushing the huge double doors open with a loud creaking sound that revealed a cavernous room beyond, which seemed empty except for a dim arcane blue light that shined at the opposite end of the room. 

Aurei didn’t waste time looking at it, but rushed behind Chal, her two duplicates running with her, on either side.  

 

Chal was chanting a spell and by the time she and her duplicates were past him, he reared back and threw a glowing fireball into the room, his two duplicates doing the same thing as they zeroed in on the same target.  

 

The three balls of fire roared across the room and Aurei heard someone or something stir in surprise.   There came an ear piercing roar and suddenly the whole room seemed totally engulfed in flames, knocking both Aurei and Chal backwards from the force of the inferno.  

 

For a few moments, all they could see was the raging fury of the magical fire, but they both rushed forward as soon as the flames began to die down.  

Across the room, lit by the burning of the tapestries on the wall stood a tall, gaunt and clearly undead man.   Cold blue light flickered in his hollow eyes as he held the shattered remains of what had apparently been a crystal ball which he had been using moments before the fireballs destroyed it.  

At his feet lay a carved oak staff that burned intensely from the fire.  “Treachery!” He hissed as he saw Chal and Aurei, along with their duplicates, come running into the room, “You have destroyed my scrying ball and my Staff of Death, but I now shall return the favor.”

 

He threw down the remains of the crystal ball, pointed his hands at Chal and one of his duplicates, and two blue missiles shot forth and struck them.  

Immediately, the duplicate struck by the spell dissolved into smoke and faded away, while Chal stumbled backwards from the blast.

Aurei and her duplicates were running forward as Soric turned toward her, chanting another spell.

He pointed his finger at her as she was halfway across the room and said; “Mors inminet vobis” which she recognized were the same words the Death Knight had used to kill Neal and Vinth.  

But nothing happened, and Soric looked very surprised.   Before he could begin another spell, suddenly in between Aurei and the Arch Lich materialized three huge Black Dragons, all three facing Soric.

 

Immediately they made loud hissing sounds from deep within their throats and the next moment spat a huge spray of acid onto the Necromancer master.

The acid covered him and he screamed in agony as it ate at his skin and clothing.   Aurei and her duplicates moved in right then, swinging their Drow swords at the Arch Lich as he writhed in pain.

Her duplicate on her left missed him entirely, but Aurei’s sword bit deep into his shoulder, and her duplicate on the right side hit even better, her sword slicing his neck deeply.   To her absolute amazement, Soric fell to the floor, lifeless.

 

The Black Dragons roared with victory and she knew of course it was Alleania, using some magic to take the very effective form of the great wyrm.  

“His phylactery - we need to destroy it to kill him forever!”  She spoke to the Dragons, but before she could say anything else, suddenly they were attacked seemingly by giant iron statues wielding swords; the Iron Golems had been activated by Aurei’s weapon being drawn.

 

There were six of the Golems, and they attacked Aurei and each of her duplicates in pairs.   Aurei easily dodged her two golems’ attacks, but her duplicates mimicked her moves exactly, and both were hit by the Golems’ swords.

 

She selected one of the two attacking her and brought her weapon down on the creature’s sword arm, chopping it completely off.   The golem just reached down and picked up the sword in its other hand.

Her duplicates attacked one of their attackers each and easily hit the hulking forms.

Alleania, still in Dragon form, attacked the golems, and her duplicates did as well.   The golem Aurei had injured was clawed and bit, but still stood and seemed uninjured.   One of her duplicate’s golems was also clawed and bitten, but also remained standing and seemed totally unharmed.  

“Magic weapons only work against them!”  Aurei heard Chal yell to them as the Iron Golems now attacked Alleania and her duplicates as well.

One of Alleania’s duplicates seemed seriously injured by the sword of her golem, but the others avoided injury.  

 

Aurei and her duplicates stuck savagely at the golems and though they each scored great hits, the Golems still moved.

 

Alleania and her duplicates suddenly morphed back into their natural forms, and each began chanting a spell.

 

“Lightning!” Chal yelled from one end of the room, “She’s casting a Lightning bolt spell; get out of her way!”

 

But the Golems prevented that and struck at Aurei and her duplicates.   To her right, her duplicate had her head cut from her shoulders and immediately disappeared with a popping sound.   She and her remaining duplicate struck again at their Golems, damaging them greatly with their magic belt enhanced strength, but they continued to attack furiously.

Before she could move, Alleania’s lightning bolt - as well as her duplicates’ bolts- went off at point blank range at the Golems.  

Electricity flowed all around her, but she seemed immune from any damage.   The golems however, were slowed by the electricity, though they still moved.

 

Aurei didn’t wait, and slammed her long sword down at the damaged golem still attacking her.   Her sword bit deep and the Golem’s enchantment was dispelled.   It fell over with a crash.   Aurei’s duplicate also scored a solid hit on her golem and it too fell over as the magic faded from it.

 

The slow moving golems swung at Alleania and her duplicates, while the one that had killed Aurei’s duplicate swung his sword in slow motion at Chal and his remaining duplicate as they ran up to join them.  They all easily avoided the slow moving creatures.

 

Aurei attacked Chal’s golem from the rear flank and as her sword contacted its metallic skin, it too fell lifeless and collapsed, nearly pinning Chal underneath.

 

Alleania and her duplicates continued to attack their Golems, using daggers they carried in one of their boots, but the blades did no damage to the animated creatures.  They managed to avoid the Golems’ swords, and Aurei and Chal rushed over to assist her.

 

Chal’s dagger damaged a golem slightly, but his duplicate’s blade actually shattered when it slammed into the metal skin.   Aurei and her duplicate hit their golems but the damage was not severe.

 

The Golems swung at them and yet again they avoided their swords.   Once again Aurei, her duplicate and Chal hit the three remaining golems, doing just a bit more damage to them, while again easily avoiding their slow moving blades.

 

But the slowing effect of the lightning bolt ended abruptly and the golems began swinging their swords quickly.   Aurei and Chal avoided their massive swords, but Aurei’s last remaining duplicate took a massive blow to her face and vanished with a pop. 

 

 

Aurei’s next swing brought the Golem’s sword arm off at the elbow, but still he remained animated, while Chal kept stabbing at his golem.  

Aurei’s next blow finished her foe and she turned to assist Chal.  But before she could come to his aid, his golem connected with a downward swing that cut him in half.  

 

Immediately his form turned to a smoky mist and drifted away, while his duplicate disappeared with a slight popping sound. Aurei brought her sword against the head of Chal’s killer and it crumpled to the floor, destroyed.

 

The remaining golem swung at Aurei and missed. She swung hard, but her sword connected with the golem’s sword and it was jolted from her hand.

The golem took the advantage of her fumble and caught her on the helm, knocking her to her knees.  Alleania and her doubles leapt at the golem, to give her time to recover. 

 

Their attacks did not harm the golem, but the creature swung against one of Alleania’s duplicates, ripping her in half, which caused the duplicate to disappear immediately.

 

By now Aurei had recovered her sword and she immediately attacked.  The golem ignored the damage to its form and attacked Alleania’s other duplicate, cutting her deeply. 

 

Aurei aimed for the Golem’s head and this time her blow ended the Golem’s animated life and it fell like a rock, crushing Alleania’s remaining duplicate underneath its heavy iron mass.   There was a crunching sound, followed by a pop and the last duplicate vanished.

 

 

Reviews

[Elina]

"...she recognized was the same words..." I believe was ought to be were.
I noticed that the fighting scene gets a little complicated once you start going back and forth between Aurei and Alleania. There are times where all it says is "she" and I had no clue who that was referring to.

[Eddie Davis]

Thanks, Elina, reworking the fight sequence will take some time, so I'll see what I can do to make it more clear tomorrow. I appreciate your help immensely.