El-Vador's Travels (32 page)

Sarvacts
let out a sigh. 'Yet now there is nothing further I can do but claim
your life for all the destruction you have wrought. You have pushed
me to this, Elf. It is only right that you be the one to bear the
consequence of that action.'

Anacletus
appeared in the doorway, startling Eihblin with the silence of his
approach. 'No, he will not suffer any consequences for his actions,
regardless of the morality of them. You will relinquish your hold
over me, Orc. Or you shall die.'

Sarvacts
laughed. 'You really plan to oppose me? Your own master? You cannot
even control your own actions. Lift your left arm.'

Anacletus
lifted his left arm.

'Take
your dagger.'

Anacletus
grasped the hilt of his dagger in a shaking palm.

'Now
plunge it into your heart.'

Eihblin
snatched away the blade and the assassin's fist pounded on his chest,
much to the amusement of the Orc.

'You
see? You are an irrelevance in this conflict, now stay still and
watch me take my vengeance.'

The
assassin remained rooted to the spot, unable to aid the Elf as he
squared off against Sarvacts. Eihblin moved closer with the dagger in
one hand and her sword in the other. 'He may not be able to strike at
you, but can you really fend off three blades?'

Sarvacts
swung his axe in a testing arc, as if warming up his arms in
preparation for butchery.

'Yes.'

He
turned to Anacletus then, a look of distaste settling on his face. 'I
shall deal with your treachery soon enough.'

El-Vador
struck with the speed of a serpent as Sarvacts was still speaking.
The giant Orc sent the head of his axe swirling about in a defensive
pattern, looking to bludgeon the Elf's weapon out of his grip before
it could do any damage. The blunt end connected and the sword went
flying to the floor, he had disarmed his foe with his first strike.

Phaedra
appeared from the other side of the room, moving to Sarvacts' side
without comment on the actions she had just seen.

El-Vador
stood, waiting for Eihblin to unleash the power of the amulet upon
her. Nothing happened.

Instead,
Eihblin now walked forward and took her place on the other side of
Sarvacts' broad shoulder.

'You
were both his servants, all this time.'

Eihblin
offered him a cold smile. 'Surprise.'

Phaedra
picked up his sword and carried it over to Sarvacts in a reverential
fashion. 'Here is the cur's blade, my master.'

With
Anacletus at his back, El-Vador found himself surrounded by enemies.

Slowly
he reached for his bow, Sarvacts continued to smile and raised his
hand as if to ward off the light. A shimmering red wall rose from the
floor of the chamber, compounding the red mist over El-Vador's eyes
at the sight of such treachery.

'Take
your best shot, Elf. You cannot kill Phaedra with an arrow, you
cannot reach me through this shield and I do not care if you kill
Eihblin.'

El-Vador
sighted their smiling faces as ran his bow over the potential
targets. Sarvacts was right of course, unless the red wall was some
kind of illusion he was all but untouchable, and with El-Vador's bow
useless and his sword taken from him, things were looking bleak.

Sarvacts
watched him with satisfaction and more than a little interest in what
the Elf would do next.

With
the finality of knowing that his last shot would not lead to another,
El-Vador let fly and watched as the arrow sped forth toward Eihblin,
the only target he could harm.

Except
it wasn't Eihblin that he was aiming for.

An
explosion tore her to pieces as the arrow hit the heirloom, throwing
El-Vador and the occupants of the room across the floor. Sarvacts let
out a grunt of pain but held on to his axe, El-Vador heard the
clatter of his sword nearby as it came loose from Phaedra's tenuous
grip.

Rolling
forward through the haze of the explosion, El-Vador snatched up his
blade and decapitated Phaedra before she could rise, searching for
the gore-splattered features of Sarvacts that he had seen in the haze
of stone fragments littering the air.

The
axe came scything down out of the dust, he dove to the right and
heard it whistle past his ear to crunch on the already ruined floor
beneath them. His riposte was immediate, thrusting his sword forth
into the location of the swipe in an attempt to disarm the Orc before
he could get another strike. The blade bit nothing but air, and
El-Vador felt frustration at his foe having escaped retribution once
more.

Backing
away and waiting for the dust to settle, El-Vador chanced a look back
to see if Anacletus had made a move. The assassin remained in the
doorway, a pile of rock fragments gathered beneath the shadows that
encased him.

Thinking
no further of it, the Elf listened as best he could, though the blast
had sent a ringing through his ears that dulled the sounds
significantly.

He
grew closer to the door now, careful not to touch any of the smoke
that was whirling protectively across Anacletus' form.

Then
the Orc came rushing forward, the blunt edge of his blade catching
El-Vador off-guard for that split second and knocking the sword clear
once again with a monstrous strength that left the Elf's hands
writhing in pain. A second quick blow to the shoulder sent him to his
knees, why hadn't Sarvacts killed him if he was so capable of doing
so?

'Do
you regret what you have done, Elf?' the Orc asked, levelling the
blade for what was presumably his execution. El-Vador didn't give him
the pleasure of desperately struggling for life, he knew there was
nothing he could do now.

'All
of my actions were done with good reason, I am not one to regret.'

It
was the wrong answer, Sarvacts snarled at him and sent the blade
crashing down.

A debt to a monster is a strange
thing and unenviable to the extreme. To be in the debt of two creates
a very complex world indeed.

A
t
the last moment possible, El-Vador threw himself clear of the blade.
He had convinced the conjurer that he had accepted his fate and come
to terms with facing death. In all honesty the thought of dying at
this foul Orc's hand repulsed him as much as it terrified him.

He
waited for the clang of the axe as it collided with the floor once
again, or the inevitable angling of the downward attack like a
woodsman would do to correct a wayward stroke from tired limbs. He
thought briefly of his father then and all the pain that Sarvacts had
caused him, and how he had done nothing to stop that from happening
to many others of his kind.

The
axe did not meet his flesh though, it didn't do anything.

El-Vador
opened his eyes and peered up from where the blow should have landed,
the axe was suspended in mid air, attached to quivering green limbs
and covered in dark smoke that poured forth.

Sarvacts
let out a strangled yell as the billowing clouds surrounded him and
started to pass down into his open mouth. He tried to force his jaw
closed by tearing at his face but it remained open in spite of his
efforts, there was nothing he could do to prevent the black death
that was entering his lungs.

El-Vador
watched as the Orc took several steps back, staggering almost
drunkenly toward the centre of the room. His wails were growing
painful to listen to as more and more fumes invaded his shrieking
body.

He
had to put a stop to this, he had to enact his vengeance now or
forever have it stolen from him by this vile cloud of darkness.

Slowly
he rose to his feet, edging his way toward the now disarmed Sarvacts
and closer to the centre of the room.

The
Orc's face had changed, in his eyes he saw fear as well as loathing.
Under the intense pain of the invading smoke his emotional defences
had been stripped bare, he was naked to the Elf's gaze and El-Vador
found little pity in his heart for him.

He
could not allow this thing to kill Sarvacts, it must be done by his
hand. He knew exactly how to do it too.

Sprinting
toward the Orc he levelled a savage kick at him, sending him flying
back with a satisfying thud and not disturbing the black cloud from
its ministrations.

Sarvacts
toppled backward with a look of horror plain on his face, it wasn't
the roiling death in his body that caused it this time.

A
scream cut the room as the bloody spike protruded from Sarvacts'
chest, the Orc was still alive somehow, landing on it hadn't killed
him as El-Vador had suspected.

He
crossed over to his nemesis with hesitancy, there was nothing he
could do now to pose any significant kind of threat.

Sarvacts
looked up at him, blinking through the pain. 'El-Vador, please.
Release me from this, I will not die otherwise.'

'Not
so fast.' Anacletus had crossed the room to join the conversation. 'I
believe there is still work to be done.'

The
Orc looked up at him with contempt, knowing that the assassin would
show him no sympathy and not wasting his breath in pleading further.

'Release
me from your service and I shall call off my cloud.'

Sarvacts'
eyes widened. 'Yes, you are released, you may do as your please.'

Anacletus
smiled. 'Excellent. I lied to you, it isn't my cloud at all. I have
no control over its... whims.'

He
turned to El-Vador then. 'You may do as you please with him, Elf. We
part ways at this juncture, know that if you come after me any
further I shall terminate you with brutal precision.'

El-Vador
barely noticed him, his eyes were still clamped on Sarvacts as he
murmured assent.

Seeing
that his time was done here, Anacletus swept from the room and
vanished from sight, if not from mind.

'Why
should I spare you, Sarvacts?' he finally asked after a time,
noticing that with the departure of the assassin the smoke had
stilled.

The
former Orcish chieftain let out a long and hollow laugh as the blood
started to pour of his mouth, then winced in pain has he finally
stilled from the shaking. 'Spare me? I do not expect you to spare me,
Elf. Not after the knowledge I'm about to impart to you.'

El-Vador
stared at him, wondering if this was some kind of trick. 'What
knowledge do you speak of?'

Sarvacts
smiled back at him infuriatingly.

'Tell
me!' the Elf roared, thrusting his blade at the Orc's throat in an
entirely futile gesture.

The
spike seemed to be soaking up the blood of its captive now, glowing
with a malevolent intensity and causing tremors to run their way
through the floor of the chamber.

'The
atrocities you have committed this day are even worse than my own,
for where I was empowered with the will to restore order to my
corrupt people, you seek petty vengeance for a duty I was sworn to
carry out.'

It
was El-Vador's turn to grin back at the Orc as pain twisted through
its body once more. 'What possible atrocities could I have set in
motion that are worse than the wanton slaughter and enslavement of my
entire race?'

Sarvacts
forced himself to lean forward, pressing his throat against the
blade. El-Vador withdrew it slightly for fear of killing the creature
before he knew everything.

'Your
race was but a tool, a means to an end. I would have freed your
people from their servitude once my goals had been achieved.' His
great arms tried to find purchase on the stone but lacked the
strength to push him up any further. 'Then the Orcs would have
bothered you no more, we would have gone back to learning our ways of
old. Of not interfering or encroaching upon the other races.'

El-Vador
snorted derisively. 'You lie, your race are bloodthirsty and evil to
the core. You just wish to save yourself from the torment to come.'

Sarvacts
somehow found the energy to hold up hand to still El-Vador's tongue.
'By planting me upon this crude spike you have set in motion the
destruction of your own people. This fortress will crumble to dust
and bury all that now reside within. The remnants of the last of your
kin from the northern reaches.'

The
young Elf's eyes widened. 'The remnants? I drove your forces back
from the mountains, you did not reach the northern peaks!'

Sarvacts
eyed him with a crafty look then for all the pain he was in. 'You are
mistaken, Elf. We sent our forces ranging far north of your
settlement and the order was given to slaughter them all. There is
none of your kin alive this day beyond this fortress.' He subsided
into phlegm-riddled coughing before struggling out the last few
words. 'The blame lies squarely upon your shoulders.'

I
have been sorely tested many times, but that moment as he lay there
at my mercy, that was my greatest test. The path I chose echoed
throughout eternity, I march onward by its side and without regret.

'
W
hat
will you do with me... Elf?' Sarvacts coughed out, blood trickling
down his swollen lips.

He
gave it some thought. If forcing him onto the spike would just leave
him in endless pain the smoke may yet bereave him of any vengeance he
may wish to enact.

A
cracking sound came from above.

'The
spike has taken the blood of its master, this place will be torn
apart. You must do something, Elf. You cannot leave me here like
this!'

El-Vador
smiled at him, it was so clear to him now. 'Leave you here like this.
Smoke choking your life away as it has been reduced to one of
immobility and constant agony, watching all that you have constructed
and fought for crumble around you.' He paced over the Orc's body,
fixing him with his gaze. 'With the only hope of survival or
secession of eternal agony being the one you wished death upon but
moments ago.'