Curse of The Seventh Sword: The Gauntlet of Feona (14 page)

Vannera was breathing heavily but she closed her eyes and calmed herself.  When she opened them, they scanned the forest area in front and her right arm slowly lifted up and pointed to an area high on the right.  Davydd nodded and concealing his movements
from the area the dragol were approaching from, placed the arrow on the bow’s string.  He pulled the arrow back until the rope was taut and waited.  It wasn’t long before he heard the distinct growl of a dragol coming from the direction Vannera had pointed in.  The execution was instant.  Davydd whirled around, his balance sure and his aim steady.  His right hand was pulled back as far as it could go and his fingers uncoiled like a spring.  The arrow flew with ferocious velocity, and whistled through the air.  It stopped on an invisible target with a thump.  What followed was a series of loud guttural noises with the arrow appearing to be yanked about.  The blender slowly became visible as it fell lifelessly from a high tree branch to the forest ground below. 

“
Max!” Davydd yelled.

Max nodded and a portal opened up around the blender.  Max grabbed the blender and opened up a portal in front of Matilom, dum
ping the body there on the ground. 

“Whatever you need to do, do it now.” 
Davydd said to Matilom.

Mat
ilom was chanting out some incantations.  He had laid the daggers in a row on the ground.  As he lifted his hands the daggers were raised up from the ground by some unseen force.  They all impaled the body of the dead blender and slowly began to glow with a bluish aura. 

“
That’s one unfortunate blender.”  Max said to Sam who managed to smile at the joke.  The growls had gotten closer and the group got even more agitated.  However, Matilom’s spell concluded with the daggers pulling back out of the blender’s body and floating to each member of the group.  They spun slowly at the back of their necks. 

“Do not be afraid.”  Matilom said. 

“They will not cut you.  However, if they spin faster and make a humming sound, there is a blender nearby.  I hope the gods give you sight to see it before it sees you.” 

“Angwelethean warriors!” 
Davydd called.

“I am not asking you to lay down your life and fight for me.  You are here because you believe in our land, our right to live and our freedom.”  The group responded with a chorused
ruahhh
. 

“I believe in those very
same things.  It’s why I’m here.  It’s why we are all here!”

Ruahhh!

“This will be the first of many battles and challenges we will face, the first of many we will overcome!!”

Ruaaahhh!

“Whatever happens here today, you are all warriors of Angweleth.  Warriors of Terrianus.  Never you forget that!!”

Ruaaaaahhh!!!

“So I implore you, to help me.  Help me and by the name of Feona, FIGHT!”

RUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!! 

Davydd walked over to Vannera and motioned for Max to come to him. 

“
Vannera.  I need you to be our eyes.  Matilom’s spell is reassuring, but I need you to watch over us.”  Vannera nodded and turned to Max. 

“You heard my king.  Can you be in many a place at once?”

Max smiled at the question. 

“My princess I am always everywhere.” 

“Sam!  You are in charge of seeing as many blenders on the ground to their deaths.  You are the fastest.”

“It would be my pleasure.” 
Sam nodded.

“Leo. 
I leave you to your element.” 

“
Your highness.”   

“We he
ad towards the shores!”  Ergol yelled.  The growls were upon them.  “Move!!!”

It had be
gun. Some of the men mounted their horses and began racing through the forest as branches fell around them.  The fire had caught up to them and it engulfed the trees around them, including the roots and smaller plants closer to the forest bed.  As they ran, they could hear the occasional whirring of the daggers followed by the cries of one of their own, being mauled by the savage blenders.  Despite their fears, they turned to fight the unseen blenders, and the bloody clashes resulted in the occasional victory for one of Ergol’s men.  Davydd ran after Sam, trying to follow the trail he left.  His dagger whirled faster and hummed. 

“
Davydd! Behind you!”  Vannera yelled. 

Davydd
unsheathed his sword and rolled to his left, dodging the slam of a blender’s arm and claws, aimed to rip him to shreds on the first blow.  The whirling dagger was taking its effect, and the blender staggered and howled loudly, while it covered its ears with its arms.  The dagger projected forward and pierced the blender in the abdomen.  It wailed in pain and tried to rip the dagger from its belly, but Matilom had spelled them so that they could not be removed, once they had impaled their victims.  Davydd seized the opportunity to plunge his sword deep into the chest of the blender.  The dying creature wailed loudly and extended its claws in a last ditch effort to slay Davydd.  However, its hand never made it that far.  An unseen weapon opened up a deep wound on the blender’s arm and the wound quickly became a gash which just as quickly dug through the entire arm until it had been cut off from the elbow joint. 

“Thank you Leo.” 
Davydd said as he sprinted away. 

Baximus
blocked four blows by four different blenders in quick succession.  The blows forced him this way and that, and he struggled to stay on his feet.  This wasn’t just an attack.  This was meant to be extermination.  There were still so many of them and all the while, he could see the figure of the great principal flying overhead.  The spinning dagger behind him whirled loudly again.  He arched backward as a huge scaly arm shot forward where his upper torso had been.  No sooner than dodging that blow, did he have to twist his body back up to avoid another one.  He grabbed the first blender’s arm which was recoiling, to help pull him upwards and regain his balance.  Baximus let go as that blender attempted a swipe at him.  He bent low to avoid the blow, which caught the other blender behind him.  The distraction gave him an opening and he pivoted on his left leg, slashing with his sword clockwise.  All four blenders received deep gashes to their mid-sections and after a series of deep guttural sounds, they slowly dropped to the ground, trying to contain their spilling insides.  Baximus was already away from them, running towards shores.  In another part of the forest, Matilom rode his horse as quickly as he could.  He could not use any magic, as all of his concentration was invested in the enchanted daggers, and also rendering himself beyond Feona’s senses.  As such, Matilom focused on moving through the forest as quickly as possible.  He was the only one without a spinning dagger, for as much as it’s loud whirling noise upset the blender’s enough to make them lose their camouflage, it did not stop them from attacking and thus ripping their victim to shreds.  All around him, he could hear the sounds of the battle ensuing.  He could tell which side had earned a kill.  It was always the blenders who let him know.  There was a loud and powerful roar when one had killed a member of their group, and there was a shriek and cry of pain when one blender had met its end.  The deaths of the young men tore at Matilom’s conscience.  He battled between throwing caution to the wind and helping them now, and believing in them and thus saving himself for the long haul when he would perhaps be more useful.  He knew that if he even so much as revealed himself, Feona would claim his soul. 

“Coward!” He cursed at himself under his breath.  His breathing was heavy and labored now, and
as the horse galloped on, he lurched over and wrapped his arms around himself.  He didn’t even notice that he had let go of his staff which fell on a tree root and made a noisy thud as it did.  Matilom soon followed.  The horse neighed loudly and galloped away through the forest.  Matilom got to his feet and held his breath as the blenders closed in on his location.  He could barely make out two of them.  Their figures just barely distorted the things around them as they moved.  He could hear them and feel their stares on him and yet he did not move or make a sound.  There was a loud growl and then the figures prepared to attack.  Matilom took a deep breath and lifted up his palms.  If he was going to die, he’d rather it be by Feona than these monsters.  He dispelled the magic that hid him from Feona’s view, as fire began to form and encircle his hands very quickly.  The fire did not touch or burn him, even though his hands shone bright red and the heat radiating from the flames was almost unbearable for the blenders.  They started to pull back.  Matilom let out a loud yell and released the flames.  They rushed forward from his arms and engulfed the blenders, including their surroundings.  The monsters let out loud screams of pain, running around helplessly as the flames burned through their scales and devoured them alive.  Matilom took deep breaths of relief and bent down to pick up his staff.  When he straightened back up, Feona was standing in front of him.  In that moment, terror seized Matilom.  He looked directly at the goddess of death.  Fear would not let him break his gaze, though he tried his best to hide the dread that had engulfed him. 

“Two decades and three years you have eluded me wizard.”

“O… Oh my.  It’s been that long already?  I really thought it was shorter than that.”

“Don’t worry wiza
rd.  It won’t be longer than this.  Feona reached back with her gauntlet and thrust it forward towards Matilom’s chest.  Matilom held his breath and braced for the worst, but Feona’s hand never reached his chest.  A portal opened up in front of Matilom and he was immediately dragged in.  Feona slowly pulled her hand back and sighed heavily.  Jaynea appeared behind her at that moment. 

“He
has evaded me once again.  That mortal… Max, had to master one of the most useful powers of mine didn’t he?”

“You… coul
d always take it away.”  Jaynea said shrugging.

Feona looked at her. 

“You know I can’t do that… without consequences.”

They both observed Segmiatus dive under a thick tree root that had risen above soil level to evade a blender’s blow.  The blender took
a step forward but one of Matilom’s spelled daggers whirled loudly and impaled the blender in the foot.  The blender stumbled and fell beside Segmiatus on its back, exposing its belly.  Segmiatus quickly got up to his feet and stabbed repeatedly, until the blender was dead.  He heaved and panted, trying to regain his breath.

“Oh my Feona.” He exclaimed under his breath as he darted off again.

Feona sighed again.

“And I absolutely hate it when he says that.”

Jaynea could barely suppress a smile. 

The portal opened up and Max pulled out a weakened Matilom. 

“That was a close one master.”
sighed Max in relief. 

“Thanks to you I live to take another breath.”  Matilom said in gratitude. 

He caught Vannera staring at him curiously, out of the corner of his eye.  “Is something the matter other than my close encounter with death?”

“Well… there’s… this black aura around you…  It’s pulsating outwards.  It’s barely there and then it’s really there but it’s…”

Matilom took another deep breath and slowly began to sit up.

“…it’s fading away.  What is it?”

“I didn’t think you’d be able to see life energies this quickly.  The stress of this battle must have forced a monumental improvement to your sight.”

“So I see your life energy?”

“Yes, and because you see it as a black pulsating light, it means I was close to death.” 

“I… see… Well… it’
s a blue-white now.”

“All mortals have a blue-white aura as the color of their life force, except for the dragol, who have a violet aura.
Blue and white are the colors of Lynda, the goddess of life.” 

Vannera looked all around her, at the trees, their branches and leaves.  She looked at the birds and all the other animals living on the upper canopy of the forest and those living on the forest bed. 
Vannera then turned her gaze to Max.  All of them including Max had the same blue-white aura around them.  However, the auras seemed to have different characters.  Some were steady, while others seemed to move and shape shift the way tongues of fire do as they burn through an object, others still pulsated at different rates. 

“This… is… incredible.” 
Vannera said as she was awestruck.  She turned to Matilom.

“Do go…”

“We have to move, my child.”  Matilom said interrupting her. 

“
Max can you transport both of us and still cover the area.”

Max nodded and th
ree portals instantly opened up, enveloping the three of them before closing up.

Davydd
pressed his back to a tree trunk and slid out of Balek’s line of sight.  He waited till he could no longer hear the flapping wings of the principal and bolted off again.  At this point, he was certain that the dragol was looking for him.  He wondered if he was the main reason for this attack and for all the lives that had been lost.  Davydd felt sick to his stomach, for he knew answer to those questions.  One of Ergol’s men ran past him, but Davydd caught hold of the man’s left shoulder, pulling him back towards him.  The man whirled around screaming, as he thrust his sword, left handed at Davydd.  Davydd parried the attack and grabbed the man by the neck.  He pulled him around and slammed his back into a tree trunk, fiercely but surprisingly quietly.  His vice like grip had cut off the man’s air and silenced the scream.  When the man had calmed down, Davydd slowly released his grip.