Danse Macabre

Torvus Messorem's arrival spells death for two of Aurei's companions.

20.

Danse Macabre

 

He materialized through the wall near the door without any flash of light or sound, almost like a shadow suddenly forming.   Torvus Messorem’s scythe cut through two of Lord Frampbrum’s elite archers before they even realized he was there.   Instantly their bodies crumbled to dust.  

 

Torvus raised his weapon to strike down Duchess Frampbrum before she could get out of the way in the overcrowded room, but at the last moment her husband leapt in front of her, his long bow held like a staff to defend them from the Reaper.

Torvus’ blade sliced through him and into his wife.   Both dissolved to dust.

A royal guard swung his sword at the death master, scoring a solid hit on his skull.   Torvus was unaffected and the next swing of his scythe took the brave guard and another guard next to him, into death.  

 

The room exploded into chaos as everyone madly scrambled to get out of the deadly path of the Reaper’s scythe.   On the other side of the room, Kinzer stood up, pale and grim, and began chanting the rather lengthy Gate spell.   Their options had ended.  

Torvus immediately began slicing his way across the room toward her, for he apparently knew what she sought to do.  

But she was not left unguarded, for the Paladins formed a wedge around her.

Rori quickly cast a spell that threw sticky goo over the Reaper that would have bound any living thing, yet he moved unaffected through it.  

Sophia put up an ice wall with her spell, directly in front of him, spanning the length of the room and there was a few moments’ pause, then he materialized on the other side of the obstruction. 

Drake’s spell was a blast of centralized sound aimed at the death master.   The missile of sound hit him in the chest and knocked him backwards, slamming into the far wall of the room. 

Suddenly one of Eioldth’s ghostly arcane hands materialized and pushed Torvus hard against the back wall as if trying to push him through it.   He was pinned and the stone cracked a bit from the force of the giant hand pushing on him.  

 

But he was held only for a few moments before he suddenly dematerialized and then reformed directly in front of the Paladins guarding Kinzer.  

Zeatt let go with a spell she had been in the process of casting, anticipating the Reaper’s escape.   A huge tongue of fire seemed to flow down from the ceiling and slam into Torvus’ head with a terrible roar.   He stumbled back, but was uninjured.  

Yet as he stood up, Sir Alvis released the icy winds from Helke, which threw the Skeletal being across the room again.

“We’ve got to keep him occupied while Kinzer finishes the spell!”  King Haroldris shouted, and he rushed forward across the icy floor, with the Paladins, Khord, Thorm, Pectros and Lute following behind.  

The remaining guards took the Paladins place surrounding Kinzer, while Drake, Zeatt, Eioldth, Siris, Sophia and Rori stood by to cast spells or fire arrows as the need might be.

Torvus was once again advancing toward them when the Paladins formed a ring around the Scythe wielding manifestation of death.

“Careful” The King warned, “Engage him but remember, we can’t injure him, though he can kill us with that scythe.”

Torvus swung the weapon in a broad swipe which they all avoided.   Aeric and Davit rushed him, hoping to force him to move backwards in order to get room to swing his scythe.

But he merely faded away to instantly reappear behind them, ready to strike them from the rear.

“No!”  Alis screamed as she saw the two in danger of being killed.   Using her shield as a battering ram, the half-elf girl rammed the Reaper from the left, knocking him down and giving the two Paladins time to turn.  

Alis pounded at Torvus with her shield, but again he dissolved and reformed above her with his scythe coming down toward her head.  

But the scythe met with an invisible force as a giant hand suddenly blanketed Alis.  

Pectros and Khord moved in swinging their weapons from two different sides to distract him while Thorm pulled the girl to her feet.   The Dwarf then threw his Dwarven Axe, aiming for one of Torvus’ skeletal hands clutching the deadly scythe.

His aim was true and the weapon bounced off the Reaper’s hand, doing no damage, but causing him to release his grip for an instant.  

 

Khord’s twin long swords moved like the wind, slamming into the Reaper’s other hand while Pectros’ blade worked to topple Torvus by hammering away at his hips.  

Lute used the side of his huge great axe as a hammer, as with a roar he brought the weapon down, not against the Reaper, but onto the shaft of the scythe he carried.  

 

The Half Ogre’s strength forced the weapon from Torvus’ hand and it fell to the floor.   In a flash Eleazar used his great sword to push it out of the Death Master’s reach and Haroldris stood over it to prevent a recovery attempt.

 

Torvus again dematerialized to reform behind the King, directly in front of the magic users and Siris. Haroldris spun around as the Reaper bent reaching for his weapon, but Siris acted first.   Not having a sword due to the earlier battle, she swung her long bow like a staff, smacking Torvus’ hands back long enough for the King to get his Great Sword around.  

His blow knocked Torvus to the ground, but as Haroldris brought his sword down to pummel him again, the Reaper managed to grab his scythe and disappear again.  

For a few terrible moments, all in the room did not know where Torvus had gone.   Everyone spun around, expecting to find him right behind them.  

But just as Kinzer finished her spell, Torvus reappeared, only a few feet from where he had departed, but on his feet and bringing his scythe down across Siris and the magic users standing beside her.  

Siris jumped backwards, barely missing the blade of the scythe, as did the two Drow women.   Sophia’s arm pushed Eioldth back enough for the blade to miss the Queen’s head by inches, and Rori ducked with youthful speed. 

 

But Archmage Drake had glanced over at the portal at the very instant Torvus had arrived and was only turning around when the blade sliced through his shoulder.   Suddenly he was gone, a pile of ash setting to the floor where the Watcher had been. 

Kinzer screamed in horror upon seeing her great grandson killed, but could do nothing but maintain the portal to send the fiend back to Hell.  

Aurei had joined the Paladins in their advance against Torvus, but had not engaged him before he had teleported behind her.   Now he had killed Archmage Drake and as she turned and ran toward him, he cut down with one swing,

three of the Royal guards surrounding Kinzer.

There was no way to stop him, no way to kill him; their hope rested solely in pushing him through that gate.   She knew what she had to do.  

Dropping both of her swords, she spread both of her arms wide and tackled the Reaper, pinning his arms to his side with the magic strength given to her by the belt she wore.  

 

Her rear attack caught him completely by surprise and though he held on to his scythe with one hand, he could not swing it.   Straining with all her might, she pushed him quickly to the magic gate that stood suspended in mid air.  

She had no time to pause, for at any second Torvus could simply teleport across the room and break her hold.  

 

The scene on the other side of the portal was one of utter blackness, darkness so thick and deep that it made her skin crawl.   Terrible screams of agony and terror came out of this darkness, but she had to be brave, to push him through, even if she had to go through with him.

 

Kinzer stood to one side of the portal, using her magic to hold it open, a look of pain and horror at the death of her grandson on her face, but recognizing what Aurei was attempting to do.

She saw all of this in only a few moments’ time, but as she carried the Reaper to the very edge of the gate, she felt a hand violently grab her by the arm while another pushed against Torvus’ head.  

“Let go!” Eleazar screamed in her ear and she complied immediately, realizing what he intended to do.  

As if engaged in some crazy tribal dance, Aurei and Eleazar both lifted their right legs together and placing them quickly against the back of Torvus (who was rearing back with his scythe to strike Kinzer) they pushed with all of their giant belt enhanced strength.   Torvus staggered forward, dropping the scythe as he was thrown into the gate.  

Stumbling, his left hand closed around Kinzer’s arm as he fell through the gate, and to Aurei and Eleazar’s horror, he pulled the Archmage through the gateway. 

 

Before the Paladins could even scream, Kinzer and Torvus had disappeared through the portal and the gate disappeared with a flash of black, leaving the room of the tower empty except for the grieving and the dead.

 

***

 

On the airship 'Talon' Morbis Noctunus, looked down at the burning city, only twenty feet below.   With a smug smile, he turned to Tantibus Gravem, his fellow Lich, "Torvus should have them completely engaged by now.  Shall we wait?"

"No" said the other Lich, "Send forth our forces; we shall muster the Masters of the Grave against the Watchers, Haroldris and his vassels.   Have the Anthrodracoi escort us; all the others send into the city; they know what we expect."

"What if Torvus destroys them all?"

"I don't imagine that will occur; but if it is so, all the better.   Yet with the Watchers assisting, I imagine they will eventually defeat him.   A pity, for he is a boon for us."

"Then we shall engage them in the tower?"

"Yes, to keep them contained.   The Emperor's legions soon will be engaged with Haroldris' forces in the south, so the city will have no help from his army.   Northmarch will soon crumble, or at worst, be too weak and powerless to stop anything we desire to do."

"Soric's death may have been a blessing for us."

Morbis chuckled, "His destruction marks our ascension."

The two Liches turned to their lieutenants, barking orders for the invasion to resume.

Reviews

[Erin Winter]

"A pitty, for he is a boon for us."
Pity has one t, and maybe swap the for us to in our favor.

[Eddie Davis]

Thanks, Erin, I think I have misspelled pity for years now.

[Elina]

"But the scythe met with an invisible force as a giant hand suddenly blanketed Alvis." I think you were wanting Alis, rather than Alvis.
"...where Torvus had went." I believe it should be "gone" rather than "went."

[Eddie Davis]

Thanks, Elina, you are right on both. I have had a tough time with so many 'A' names in my book. I really don't know how that happened, but Alis and Alvis is rather close and I'm afraid I made this same mistake several times. I appreciate your eagle eyes!

[Elina]

Haha! You are quite welcome. I apologize for taking so long to get back to reading your book (maybe it hasn't been long, but it feels like ages to me)...

[Eddie Davis]

That's no problem, but I have missed your corrections -- as crazy as that may sound. ;)

[Elina]

Ahaha! Well, I'm glad all my corrections are still appreciated...

[Eddie Davis]

Absolutely they are appreciated!