The Sorcerer's Scourge (11 page)

Knowing what they faced tomorrow, the group got as much sleep as they could before rising early the next day. Samone and Brother Charles spent much of the remaining twilight communing with Solarian. Kyle prepared his spells that were best suited for what was almost certainly going to be close quarter combat in confined spaces. Griff honed his blades to a razor’s edge while keeping cadence with his strokes by repeating prayers.

“There are at least five, maybe six, vampires in that place,” Griff remarked as they left the inn and marched towards the manor. “Think we should grab a couple dozen city watch to take with us?”

Samone shook her head. “This requires Solarian’s holy strength to deal with. The vampires would slaughter the watch and gain strength from feeding on their bodies. They would be worse than just being in the way.”

“And you still want to just go up and knock on the door?”

“We have little in the way of real evidence to support our theory of involvement. We must take a subtle approach until we are sure. We should know shortly whether this is our house or not,” Samone explained.

She really did not need to go over what they had discussed last night nor did Griff need to hear it again. Talking simply helped calm their nerves and kept them focused on what they could control. Soon enough, even if everything went to plan, there would be little in the way of control as the two opposed forces fought for the right to exist.

Just as before, there was no one guarding the decorative gates, so they pushed through and knocked on the door. A minute later, the door partially opened and Claudius’s face appeared in crack.

“I’m sorry. I thought I explained that the master would not return for at least two weeks.”

“That is what you said, but we believe the master is at home now and we will speak with him,” Samone informed the man authoritatively.

Sweat beaded on the man’s balding forehead. “No, I am sorry, but you are mistaken. There is no one here. If you please, I have duties to attend to.”

Samone used her armored foot to keep Claudius from closing the door. “Then perhaps we could speak with the lark?”

Claudius surrendered his pretense and ran back into the house. Samone kicked the door wide and shouted to the cleric.

“Charles!”

Brother Charles rattled off a quick incantation and Claudius froze mid stride in the middle of the room just beyond the foyer. Samone secured the man’s hands behind his back and tied his ankles together with strips of stout leather. Kyle stood close to Samone while Griff and Charles spread out and scanned the room.

“I don’t suppose you think he’ll tell us where they’re hiding?” Griff asked as he studied the obvious passages leading from the room.

Samone answered as she tugged the cords tight. “Doubtful. He is in thrall of whoever commands here and will not reveal anything. It is unlikely the creatures are above ground with the sun out. We need to find the way down to wherever they hide during the day. It is almost certainly hidden behind a wall panel or secret doorway.”

It took nearly an hour of searching before they finally located the hidden doorway that led under the mansion. Stone stairs delved into a dark, cavernous room at least thirty feet below the house. Samone uttered a word and her shield lit up like the lens of a lighthouse.

Charles and Kyle also created magical light, but none could pierce the unnatural blackness for more than a few yards in any direction. It was almost as if a thick, black fog absorbed the light, particularly near the stone surfaces. They could see several yards down the passage yet the ceiling and where the wall met the floor refused to allow the light to penetrate and held onto its shadows like a mother protecting her child.

“By Solarian’s Light,” Samone exhaled. “They must have been here for years creating and enspelling these passages. They appear to go on forever.”

Charles’s deep voice rumbled down the dank passageway. “I think these were likely the old aqueducts and storm drains the city used before the sewers were built. They probably bricked up several of the passages where the newer sewers connected and claimed these halls for their own. They could well span several miles beneath the city.”

As they stepped further into the tunnel, a woman’s laughter echoed up the passage. “Go home, creatures of light. You will find only death within the darkness.”

“We come to send you back to the earth where you belong, abomination!” Charles roared back.

More laughter responded to his threat. “The world belongs to us, breather, or soon will. Go back to your world of light and enjoy the last few weeks of life you have left.”

No one bothered to reply to the threat this time. No words would end this battle, so the squad of Solarian’s Light delved further into the darkness to put an end to the mocking voice with steel and fire.

A dark form flitted across the passageway several yards ahead of Samone, mocking the living with its laughter as it sped past. Another form darted across to their rear, cackling gleefully as it toyed with the humans. Kyle leapt to the side and launched a massive fireball after the fleeing form, but only scorched the stone wall at the end of the corridor and a few of Griff’s whiskers as it streaked by.

“Easy there, Sparky,” Griff warned with small laugh.

The wizard’s failed assault brought forth a gale of fresh laughter as the vampire’s voice echoed throughout the labyrinthine maze. Onward the party pressed, alert to the slightest sound or movement. Even at this level of heightened vigilance, the first real attack caught them completely by surprise.

Celina darted in, flashing a dagger at Griff’s throat with astonishing speed. The big warrior barely had time to raise his own blade and deflect it away from his throat, but he still received a deep cut along his left cheek. Brother Charles reacted instantly and called out to his god.

“By the light of Solarian I rebuke you, abomination!” he shouted as he held out his amber holy symbol.

The golden orb flared in a brilliant light that managed to erase even the pervasive shadows from all around them. Celina screeched in pain and rage as the light washed over her. Kyle sent several fiery bolts from his fingertips into the vile vampiress as she reeled from the hateful radiance. She leapt straight up into the air, clung to ceiling like a spider, and scuttled away, vanishing almost as quickly as she had appeared. The powerful light vanished and only the cloying scent of burnt hair and flesh remained to give witness to the attack.

“I smell your blood, breather. I can taste it on my blade,” Celina mocked from somewhere down the dank passage.

“All I can smell is your cooked hide,” Griff shouted back.

“Your wizard will pay for that effrontery, I promise you!” the vampiress raged, no longer amused.

“Are you all right, Griff,” Samone called back.

“Yeah, the little minx just scratched me.”

“They’re getting bold so let’s be careful,” Samone cautioned.

Griff gave a short laugh. “Yeah, because I was so over-confident before.”

Black passages continued to branch off every few yards. Between bouts of the vampires’ laughter, the silence was so pervasive the warriors could hear their own hearts pounding in their chest.

A form darted past to their front and rear just as before. Kyle held his spell this time and the others readied themselves, anticipating another attack. Hidden in the darkness of the ceiling directly above Kyle, Karla silently extended her legs and lowered her upper body until it she hung upside down, perpendicular with the floor. Her dagger flashed out with incredible speed and power, slicing deeply into the wizard’s throat.

Kyle crumpled to the floor almost instantly, gagging on the blood that ran down his throat. The bright red spray was lost in the darkness of the passageway. Charles dropped to his knees with a prayer of healing on his lips, but Celina and Jacinth flew into the group, short blades and claws flashing.

Griff interposed himself between Celina and the cleric, catching the blade aimed for Charles’s neck. The man and vampires fended off each other’s strikes in a flurry of steel, claws, and fangs. Jacinth’s claws made three long rents in Griff’s chainmail. The fighter managed to cut the undead woman deeply in the side, but the wound failed to slow her down.

Celina also leapt for the cleric and bore her talon-like nails through his leather and chain armor. Charles responded by slinging holy water from a clay vial each of them carried on their belt in a wide arc. Celina and Jacinth hissed in rage and pain as the holy water burned them as if it were acid. Samone smashed her shield into Celina’s ruined faced and prepared to take her head off with her sword as Jacinth leapt away and retreated into the darkness.

Some sixth sense alerted the paladin to a new threat just above her. Samone thrust straight up above her with her holy sword and stabbed Karla through the chest as the vampiress prepared to attack her from above just as she had done with Kyle. The vampire lost her magical grip on the ceiling and fell heavily downward.

“Griff!” Samone shouted as she guided the vampire away and to the floor with her sword.

Griff turned and swung his sword without hesitation, striking Karla’s head from her shoulders. Charles turned back to Kyle, but it was clear that it was too late to save the young wizard. He used another vial of holy water on the vampire’s severed neck, ensuring that the creature would never rise again.

“Kyle?” Samone asked as she looked down at the motionless body.

Charles simply shook his head in reply.

A click, instinct, and a lot of luck were the only things that saved Samone’s life. The paladin raised her shield and managed to block the heavy crossbow bolt Filip shot at her. The bolt glanced off the shield at the same time Celina and Jacinth renewed their attack. Samone turned to her two remaining comrades to shout a warning, but she lost her voice as she spied the crossbow bolt intended for her sticking out of Charles’s neck.

Landrin watched the cleric fall to the ground as Filip, Celina, and Jacinth threw themselves back into the fray. The compulsion Eldon held over him would not allow him to fight directly against the other vampires, but he thought he might be able to aid the remaining two humans enough to give them a chance.

He cast a simple spell that created an icy stretch between Celina and the big man named Griff. Caught by surprise, Celina’s feet slipped out from under her and she landed hard on her back while she continued to slide towards the man with both his swords raised and ready to strike. One blade flashed down and pierced her through the chest. The other went onto her open, screaming mouth and out the back of her neck. Griff pulled a vial of holy water from his belt, jammed it into her mouth, pulled out his blade, and kicked her in the jaw.

The clay shattered under the force of his kick, forcing its contents down Celina’s throat. The holy water burned down her gullet and nearly hollowed out her skull in seconds. She spent the last few moments of her undeath writhing in agony. Griff had no time to revel in his victory as Jacinth scampered along the wall and leapt for him, cursing and slashing furiously with knife and nails.

Landrin immediately turned towards Filip who had dropped his crossbow and was sprinting down the passageway with astonishing speed. He cast another minor spell and some of the stone blocks comprising the floor rose up a few inches. Filip caught a foot on one and sailed headfirst towards the paladin. Samone braced herself for the impact and caught the flying Filip with her shield, much as she had done with the quarrel he had shot at her.

The force of the impact knocked the woman back several steps, but she recovered immediately and charged back at the vampire as he swiftly jumped to his feet. With a shout to her god, Samone’s sword and shield burst into an eye-searing brilliance. Filip raised his hand to shield his abused eyes as Landrin looked away and Jacinth hissed and fled the painful luminescence.

Samone shouted once again as she brought her holy sword down in a powerful arc, severing Filip’s upraised arm and cleaving his skull in twain clear down to where the head joined the neck. The paladin wrenched her blade free and spun to see how Griff fared. She relaxed slightly when she saw the big man standing with no enemy in sight.