Rend Hope (22 page)

             
Suddenly a figure dropped down from the air in front of the crushed men.  It was a man in a dirty white straitjacket, his dark brown hair and pale skin were just as filthy.  He wore no shoes and had on light-green pants.  His light-grey eyes bored into the Mayor's.

             
"Hello David.  It's been awhile." He greeted, his voice neutral.

             
"Sahiron." David snarled in response.  "So you're behind this."

             
Sahiron didn't answer, instead he opened his mouth wide and all the recently crushed deputies' bodies began to compress even further until they were nothing but mashed up flesh, bone, clothes and hair.  The liquefied remains of the valiant deputies then travelled into Sahiron's mouth, leaving no trace of them left, not even any blood.  Sahiron sighed contentedly and then let out a loud burp.

             
"Your cannibalism and gluttony is as rampant as ever I see." The mayor observed.  Sahiron licked his lips and grinned.

             
"There's something about the taste of human flesh, there really is nothing like it." Sahiron replied.  "I'm impressed David, you managed to build yourself quite the city in two years." David frowned.

             
"I'm surprised you escaped your prison.  Rosalind's sealing glyphs are second to none." The mayor commented.

             
"Ah, Rosalind, how has that bitch been?  No doubt running around preaching the evils of necromancy I bet.  Stupid girl." Sahiron said, shaking his head.  David's response was a smile of his own, something he wasn't expecting. 

             
"Well Sahiron, if you're so curious about Rosalind, you can just ask her." David said pointing over the former prisoner's shoulder.  Sahiron turned around just in time to see Rosalind start to swoop down to the ground in front of him.  On her way to the dirt street she waved both of her hands at the horde of ghouls below her.  Dozens of white arrows constructed from sorcery poured out of Rosalind's hands, bombarding the large mass of ghouls.  Their inhumane shrieks of rage and agony were soon silenced from the barrage of arrows.

             
Rosalind finally landed in front of Sahiron, her blonde hair billowing in the wind.  Behind her not one ghoul moved or made a sound, they had all been devastated with three or more arrows lodged in their bodies.

             
"Sahiron." She spat, "How did a bastard like you escape your prison?" Sahiron was unfazed by her intimidating glare.

             
"Sorry I'm not part of your merry little band, so I don't have to answer your question.  You know what you have to do if you want me to answer." The former prisoner said, licking his lips.

             
"Enjoy your little remarks while you can, tonight I'm sending you to hell." Rosalind said with a hint of disgust in her voice.  Sahiron looked at her questioningly

             
"Sending me to hell?" The former prisoner asked, his voice quiet.  Rosalind didn't like his sudden change in demeanor, she dropped into a fighting stance.

             
"Yeah, that's right." She answered him, Sahiron lowered his head for a moment, and when he raised it again Rosalind noticed with alarm that his eyes were wide and bloodshot.  The worst part though was his stare, Even though he was looking at her she could tell his gaze was distant, as if he was seeing something else.

             
"I'm already IN HELL!" He shouted suddenly.  Rosalind grunted as what felt like an invisible fist hit her in the gut.  The impact powerful enough to send her careening down the street at breakneck speeds.

             
The battle was on.

Chapter 19

              For the first time, Ebrim felt a little unsure of his plan.  It wasn't a lot, he still felt he would succeed.  But the man who stood in front of him, the short blonde-haired aeromancer was giving him pause.  This man was strong and what was worse was that Ebrim could tell he was holding back.

             
Markus reached forward with his right arm, his hand balled into a fist.  Ebrim noticed that his giant skeleton reared back, like it was hit by something.  The aeromancer then opened his right hand and the giant skeleton's ribcage and sternum proceeded to tear itself apart.

             
"What!?" Ebrim cried out in alarm.  Markus smirked.

             
"Mess with my stuff, I'll mess with yours." He replied.  The enormous skeleton continued to break apart.  Its right arm and both legs, even its skull was being torn apart right in front of Ebrim's eyes.  The necromancer then noticed that the wind was picking up around him.

             
Before Ebrim could react, the air compressed around his skeleton's remains, folding up the bones into a tight ball of pressurized wind.  Markus twisted his open right hand clockwise ninety degrees and the compressed ball of air suddenly reversed.  The sudden change in pressure shot the bones of the skeleton out like shrapnel, they travelled at high speeds and ended up puncturing the sides of buildings or embedded themselves in the ground.  None of the shrapnel came near Markus.

             
As the spell expired, the newly deputized magi suddenly noticed someone standing on a rooftop to the right of him.  Looking up, Markus saw none other than Ebrim, the smile gone from the necromancer's face.  A long narrow piece of bone was lodged in the dark-haired man's right shoulder, another one was stuck in his left thigh.  Blood was traveling down his right arm and left leg.

             
Ebrim was surprised, no one had come close to damaging his giant skeleton in a long time.  Benjamin was the first to damage it in years yet this aeromancer had just dismantled it in seconds.  This person, this Markus, was different.  Something dark lingered within him, but Ebrim couldn't put his finger on it. 

             
The necromancer glared down at Markus.  When he had first followed the two magi to the city he was trying to discern which was the one who had been responsible for destroying one of his better experiments.  Even when he started this battle he wasn't sure who was stronger, the aeromancer or the girl with the armor.

             
Now, he had his answer.

             
"That's impressive aeromancer, I haven't met anyone as strong as you in a long time." Ebrim complimented, pulling the bone stuck in his right shoulder out with his left hand.  "Who taught you how to use your sorcery?"

             
"None of your business." Markus replied harshly, thrusting his left hand forward and creating a whirling pillar of wind that rushed towards the dark-haired necromancer.  Ebrim brought his left arm forward, bone still gripped in his hand.  Just before the pillar of wind was going to make contact with him, it parted instead, flowing on each side of him.

             
"Oh well it was just a mild curiosity anyway." Ebrim said casually, pulling the bone out of his left thigh with his right hand.  Markus was on guard, the bastard had deflected his spell like it was nothing.  He definitely was more powerful than he was letting on.  The newly appointed deputy surmised he'd have to approach him carefully.

             
The dark-whiskered necromancer suddenly flung the bone spike in his left hand at Markus.  The blonde aeromancer leaned to his left to avoid getting impaled in the face by it.  This however, proved to be a mistake.

             
Instantly Ebrim appeared only a meter's length in front of him.  The necromancer's blue scarf billowing in the wind, his knees slightly bent from the high-speed jump he had just performed.  He was already bringing the bone spike in his right hand forward, aiming for Markus' left eye.

             
Markus managed to swat the outside of Ebrim's right wrist with his left hand.  The maneuver caused Ebrim's right hand to move its trajectory slightly so instead of impaling him in the eye the necromancer merely scratched him on his right cheek instead.  Although he had escaped death, Ebrim continued to press the attack.  The dark-haired man rammed his left knee right into Markus' sternum, causing the aeromancer to stagger backward a few steps.

             
Ebrim jabbed forward with the bone spike yet again.  Markus leaned his head to his left, narrowly avoiding the strike.  Ebrim tried again and the blonde-haired aeromancer leaned his head to the right this time, dodging the second strike. 

             
Changing tactics, Ebrim kicked at Markus' stomach with his right foot.  The newly deputized magi blocked it with his left hand, then proceeded to wrap his left arm around the necromancer's right ankle, forcing him to hop on one foot to keep balance.  Ebrim hopped off of his left leg, trying to nail Markus in the face with his free foot, but Markus ducked under the attack.  The dark-haired man's left foot sailed harmlessly over the blonde magi's head.

             
Ebrim managed to keep from falling on his face from his failed maneuver.  His missed kick twisted him around so that his back was to Markus, but he managed to plant his left foot and both of his hands into the ground, stopping his fall.  With lightning reflexes, Ebrim braced himself with his hands and shot his left foot right into Markus' jaw, connecting solidly.  The aeromancer let out a grunt, stumbling backwards and releasing Ebrim's foot.  The dark-haired necromancer quickly rebalanced himself on both his feet and sprung high into the air.

             
Markus saw Ebrim's leap and smirked, the bastard had thought he was off-balance and was going in for the kill, now he was overcommitted.  As Ebrim started to bring the bone spike down in a wide arc with his right hand.  Markus suddenly shot his left arm out, grabbing the inside of Ebrim's right forearm with his left hand and stopping the madman's momentum.

             
It was Ebrim's turn to look surprised as Markus buried his right fist in Ebrim's gut.  The blue-scarfed necromancer coughed and let out a choked gasp from the hit.  The aeromancer then slammed his right fist into the underside of Ebrim's jaw in a vicious uppercut.  The impact caused Ebrim's teeth to clack together as the force of the blow knocked him away.

             
Ebrim quickly recovered, twisting in mid-air and flinging the bonespike at Markus' right eye.  The necromancer's aim was dead-on.  Relying on his reflexes, the blonde magi was able to bring his left hand up to block the bonespike.  Unfortunately it lodged itself into his palm.

             
While Markus grunted in pain, holding his impaled left palm, Ebrim landed gracefully on his feet, about fifteen meters away from the aeromancer.  Markus never took his eyes off Ebrim though, keeping him in sight at all times while he yanked the bone spike out of his hand.  Both combatants glared at each other, weighing their options, finally Ebrim smiled.

             
"I have a good idea who you are now." Ebrim suddenly stated, his smile showing his teeth.  Markus raised his left eyebrow

             
"Oh really?" The aeromancer asked.  Shattering the bonespike in his right hand like it was made of glass.

             
"Yes.  I'll admit you were an enigma at first, but I believe I've solved the puzzle." The madman answered.

             
"You should be paying more attention to staying alive, you don't want to mess with me." Markus threatened.

             
"Oh don't worry I came to this city fully expecting to be confronted by powerful magi like yourself." Ebrim replied, raising his right hand into the air and firing off a red blast of magic energy into the sky.  "I assure you aeromancer, that I have more than skeletons and ghouls at my disposal."

             
Markus heard something then, it was faint at first, but as the seconds went by, it became louder.  It was the cawing of birds, a lot of birds.  The aeromancer looked up and saw that the inky black night sky was filled with massively large white-feathered birds.  Each bird the size of an average land rover.

             
"Oh hell." Markus said out loud.

**********

              Consciousness was slow to return to Vice-Sheriff Janine Garlow, with a groan she slowly opened her eyes.  The first thing she noticed was that she was in a dark green tunnel, something was illuminating it with a light-green glow, but her vision was still too blurry to identify it properly.  The second thing she noticed was that she was moving, someone was carrying her.

             
"You're finally awake I see." She heard a voice say, the vice-sheriff discovered that she was piggyback riding the very same red-haired boy that said he was going to murder her.

             
"Why are you helping me?" Janine managed to ask, her voice seemed so quiet, so weak.  The boy grunted.

             
"Because I don't like killing girls, especially ones who are unconscious and can't even defend themselves." He answered, shaking his head.  He couldn't do it, he just couldn't.  After the ground collapsed and he lost consciousness, Benjamin awoke to find that he was still alive and that the vice-sheriff was still out cold not even ten meters from where he lay.  It would have been so easy to bash her skull in or choke the life out of her, but the red-haired youth just could not bring himself to do it.

             
So now here he was, helping the very person he was supposed to kill.  Trapped in some weird fucking underground green tunnel and with hardly any supplies.  Yup, he was a real fucking winner right now.

             
"Well if you aren't going to kill me, then let me down.  I'm pretty certain you aren't in tip-top condition at the moment and my extra weight probably isn't helping." Janine informed him.

             
"Well, aren't you just fucking perceptive." Benjamin snarled, but he complied, letting her down.  Janine took a quick look around the tunnel they were currently walking through.

             
"Any idea where we are?" She asked him.

             
"Hell no." He replied, "I didn't plan on sending us into this shithole during our battle, it just happened." Janine nodded in response.

             
"Yeah I saw that in your expression right before we fell." The vice-sheriff continued to look around.  "I think our battle triggered something, ancient sorcery long forgotten."

             
"Old stuff huh?  That makes me nervous, any idea how to get out of here?" Benjamin asked her. 

             
"The only option we have at the moment is to take the path before us." She answered, what she didn't tell him was that these tunnels might end up going on forever underground.  This place could end up being their tomb, it was a very chilling thought.

**********

              Rosalind managed to right herself in mid-air by conjuring wings made of sorcery on her back.  She glared down at Sahiron, who was glaring right back, his eyes bloodshot.  She placed both of her hands in front of her and fired out a thick beam of white magic energy.  Right before the beam was going to hit Sahiron, it suddenly changed direction and slammed into the ground just a meter in front of him.  The former prisoner didn't even budge as debris showered him from the close proximity of the blast.

             
"Foolish.  You should have known that wasn't going to work, you were the one who stopped me the first time after all." Sahiron stated, Rosalind snarled in frustration.  She had forgotten how annoying the straitjacket-wearing necromancer’s ability was to manipulate gravity via his sorcery.

             
Sahiron stared hard at Rosalind, with her wings conjured, she almost looked like an angel.  A petite guardian ready to bestow divine reckoning upon any who crossed her.  He smiled inwardly, it would definitely be satisfying to devour something as holy and beautiful as an angel.

             
The former prisoner hopped a few inches off the ground.  Using his sorcery, Sahiron drew away most of the gravity from the area around him.  As gravity's hold lessoned on the formerly imprisoned necromancer, he propelled high into the air, well above Rosalind's altitude in the speed of an eyeblink.  At the peak of his jump, Sahiron drew on his sorcery once more and increased the gravity around him.  He plummeted faster than a meteor, the former prisoner stretched his right leg out, intending to smash his foot on Rosalind's shocked face. 

             
Rosalind barely managed to pull off an evasive roll to her right in time.  Sahiron instead impacted the street below her, creating quite the crater upon his landing.  As her opponent was busy trying to pull his foot out of the ground, the hoodie-clad magi struck.  She twisted around to face Sahiron and shot a massive-sized fist constructed of white energy out of her right palm at him.  Her aim was perfect, the giant fist aimed straight at his back.