for one final pounding.
'Tauran, look out!' Eirwyn yelled, leaping in from nowhere. She collided with the other angel and knocked him out of the way as Micus swung Myshik's war axe at him from behind. Tauran went sprawling, landing in the shallow water. The blade caught Eirwyn instead, biting into her shoulder and back. Blood spurted everywhere as Eirwyn crumpled to the ground, crying out in agony.
Tears filled Tauran's eyes as he witnessed another of his friends suffer. Rising to his feet, his mace still clutched in his hands, he snarled, 'You're finished.'
He lunged at the cambion and swung his mace. As he did so, he channeled all the divine power he could muster into the holy weapon.
Kael watched, sickened, as Eirwyn dropped to the sand.
He had tried to corral the raging beast, but Micus would not be denied. He had pushed past the knight, heedless of the half-drow's weapon, and tried to cut Tauran down. Kael felt helpless panic rise when he saw what was about to happen to his mentor, but before he could do a thing to stop it, Eirwyn had flashed into view.
Swearing oaths that would have gotten him punished as a youth, Kael leaped toward the aberration and brought his blade down hard.
The thing saw the movement and danced to the side. Kael's attack cut harmlessly into the damp sand. Micus used the moment to counterattack. He leaped into the air and soared past the half-drow, attempting to slice at him with the axe as he went by.
Kael barely managed to get his blade back into position to block the strike, but the force of Micus's blow spun the knight around and sent him sprawling face-first into the sand.
Kael scooped up a handful of the stuff and flung it from him. Rising to his feet, Kael saw Micus soaring out over the open sky, away from the Lifespring, but the abomination was already banking in a sharp circle to come back around. A few feet away from Kael; Pharaun made a few strange, complex gestures and flung a fist toward the cursed thing. A large glowing ball of crackling energy appeared in the air between Pharaun and Micus and, as the wizard gestured, it zipped forward, headed for the winged beast.
Micus dipped and dodged and managed to evade the dangerous sphere, but Pharaun did a little spinning motion with his hand and had the ball racing back toward Micus from behind. Just as the cursed creature alighted upon the sand between Kael and Pharaun, swinging his axe at them both, the sphere reached its mark and struck Micus.
The energy of the sphere dissipated, sending spidery tracks of electricity all across the thing's body.
Kael expected him to have a bigger fit than he did, imagining how much punishment such a spell would deliver. But the aberration only started in surprise and turned to see what had hit him.
'Immunities,' Pharaun grumbled in disgust.
Micus, perhaps realizing where the attack had originated, turned on the drow wizard and lunged at him with the axe poised to strike.
Upon seeing his foe turn his attention away from him, Kael leaped close and sliced at the thing, cutting a deep gash in the aberration's flank and ruining one of its legs.
On the opposite side of the beast, Pharaun retreated and gestured at the ground in front of himself. A set of snaking, black tentacles wormed up out of the very rock and quickly latched onto the abomination. The tentacles curled around its legs and climbed to engulf its body. Howling in rage, Micus thrashed and kicked and fanned his four wings, trying to break free.
Impressive, Kael thought. Don't get caught up in those.
Kael used his magic boots to go aloft and avoid the black tentacles, then closed in to cut at the creature again. Trapped as he was, Micus could not evade the impending assault, but he didn't seem to care. All his bestial concentration seemed focused on breaking free of the magical appendages holding him.
Kael swung his greatsword in huge arcs that opened the beast from shoulder to tail several times. Micus screamed and howled, doubling his frenzied efforts to break free. Finally, with its body broken and bleeding, the thing crumpled to the ground, still thrashing.
Kael settled to the ground next to Pharaun. 'What a pity,' he said.
The wizard shrugged. 'But also fascinating. Two creatures, fused in such a fashion. I'd love the chance to study-'
'That's enough,' Kael growled. 'He was a high-ranking member of the Court of Tyr and one of Tauran's closest friends, not an experiment. I will not hear him spoken of in that way.'
Pharaun's mouth twitched in the faintest hint of a smile, but he gave a slight bow and said, 'As you wish.'
Kael nodded. 'Release your tentacles,' he said, 'and I will finish him off.'
Pharaun gestured, and the black, writhing appendages vanished, leaving the Micus-Myshik thing flailing feebly, its lifeblood soaking the sand and turning it crimson.
Kael approached the creature. 'I'm so sorry, Micus,' he said. He hefted his sword. 'I wish that… everything had been different between us.'
He drew back the blade and sliced downward. Micus's grotesque, bloated head tumbled from his shoulders. Blood sprayed as the head bounced to one side and rolled away. The rest of the creature continued to flop and spasm.
Kael turned back to Pharaun. 'Tauran will grieve this loss for a long-'
'Beware!' Pharaun said, grabbing Kael and shoving him aside.
Crackling, blinding light erupted from behind Kael and engulfed Pharaun. Kael staggered to the ground and flung his arm up across his face. Spots swam in his vision and he shouted in pain and horror.
When the afterimages of the stroke faded enough for him to see again, Kael, on his hands and knees, peered toward his father.
Pharaun lay unmoving. Smoke rose from his scorched body.
'No,' Kael pleaded, scrambling to his father's side.
Aliisza could barely keep aloft. Her muscles, weakened so much from her magic consuming her, struggled to work. She climbed slowly, gasping for breath with each pump of her wings, rising in a corkscrew fashion.
Just one more time, she'd tell herself. Just once more. An easy pace. You can do it.
But she didn't think she could.
The last of the demons were dead. She had slain them with her blade and watched them fall away. She wondered where they would land. If they would land.
You could fall, too, she thought. Just let go. It would be easy. Get rid of this pain.
No! Just one more time around. An easy pace. See this through. Kaanyr needs to understand.
At last, Aliisza came through the tops of the clouds and spied the bottom of the great stone basin that held the Lifespring.
She almost sobbed in relief, but she couldn't give in even that little bit, or she'd lose her momentum.
Aliisza circled around three or four more times until she crested the edge. She pitched forward and went limp upon the rocks.
You did it. You got here.
Yes, she thought, gasping and panting. Now for the hard part.
She could hear the shouts of battle and urgency forced her up again. She sought her companions and spied them part of the way down the shore, still fighting. Kael and Pharaun opposed the thing that had once been Micus and Myshik. It had grown since she had seen it last.
She felt a momentary pang of guilt and regret, remembering how Micus thought she had betrayed him. Then she shook it off. I am not that person, she insisted. I did the best I could.
Farther along the narrow beach, Tauran and Kaanyr dueled one another.
Eirwyn lay crumpled on the sand.
