here.”
“Quiet!” insists Jiron. “Keep your eyes open and your mouths shut.”
Staying quiet, the riders continue to forge their way through the mist and closer to the temple. After riding for a ways, James whispers to Miko, “How much further is it?”
“I’m not sure,” he replies. “The feeling continues to grow as we draw nearer, but I’m unable to determine how close it may be.”
Then the tingling of magic being worked comes to him. “Magic!” James exclaims as he comes to a stop and throws a barrier around them.
“Where?” asks Jiron as he and the others come to a stop.
“I feel it too,” says Brother Willim and a green glow suddenly surrounds him.
“Is it strong?” asks Shorty.
“Very,” replies James.
Coming to a stop, they remain there for a short time within James’ protective barrier and still nothing materializes. Then out of the mist before them appear two forms, both heavily armored.
“Warrior priests!” cries out Brother Willim.
They raise their hands in unison and a wave of dark magic rolls toward the barrier. More felt than seen, James braces for the impact. When the dark magic strikes the barrier, James cries out as a shockwave travels back along the magic stream to him. It hits him like a lightning bolt and knocks him off his horse. The barrier winks out.
“James!” cries Stig as he vaults off his horse and comes to his aid.
The light from the Star increases tenfold as a beam lances outwards from it toward the two warrior priests. It strikes one of them, causing him to stagger. Where the beam struck the warrior priest, a sizzling hole gapes in the man’s armor, but the man himself appears unaffected. Leaping from his horse, Miko holds aloft the Star as he draws his sword and moves to engage the two warrior priests.
“Miko no!” cries out Jiron. There’s no way he’ll be able to handle two. The last time he faced off against only one he barely survived.
Just then, another of the hell hounds darts from the mist straight toward where James is lying on the ground. Stig hears him coming. Getting up from where he had knelt at James’ side, he turns and braces for the attack. Even before the hell hound closes with him he feels the heat radiating off of it. Striking out with his mace, Stig connects with the creature’s shoulder and excruciating pain burns his hand as the creature’s heat is absorbed by the metal of the mace. Then a split second later one of its forepaws strikes his shield and throws him a dozen yards away.
James regains his senses just as Stig is being swiped aside and sees the creature turn its attention back to him. Leaping for him, the creature opens its maw to rip out his throat and is suddenly entrapped by another of James’ shields. Rolling aside, James gets out of the way before the entrapped creature hits the ground right where he had lain.
As he begins shrinking the shield onto the creature, a flash of white light draws his attention over to where Miko is battling one of the warrior priests. The other one is currently entangled in a mass of vines as Brother Willim lays into it with his staff. Jiron is there giving Miko and Brother Willim what help he can. A stab here, a slash there, he’s connecting but his attacks are not being nearly effective enough.
Bam!
An explosion knocks the vines away from the warrior priest that was entrapped. Now free, he begins laying into Brother Willim with incredible ferocity and skill. Jiron, when he tries to get in a blow is knocked backward just like someone swatting a fly.
With the green glow surrounding him, Brother Willim’s staff is a blur as he counters and blocks the warrior priest’s attacks. But that is the limit he’s able to do as he faces the full force of a warrior priest’s skill. His mind is so set on blocking the blindingly fast attacks that he’s unable to do aught else.
Scar and Potbelly have reached Stig’s side and are helping him. Aleya and Shorty along with Reilin and Perrilin stand by the horses, feeling helpless in this battle.
James works to implode the shield encasing the hell hound when he sees another emerge from the mist and turn its gaze on those standing with the horses. He casts another shield around that one which causes such a drain that he’s no longer able to quickly shrink the shield around the first one. Its progress is now down to about a tenth of the rate that it was before.
Miko fortunately is holding his own against his opponent and if anything is getting the upper hand. Along with attacks with his sword, the Star in his hand lashes out with bursts of light that strike the warrior priest with devastating results. The man’s armor now shows holes in several places and a few are even beginning to ooze blood.
Then out from the mist another hell hound emerges near Miko. James sees it and before it has a chance to attack, he creates a third shield to trap it. Now the drain of magic is such that he’s totally unable to shrink the barriers even a minute amount. In fact, the magic is being drained from his so quickly that he’s not even sure how much longer he’ll be able to maintain the three shields he’s currently holding.
As if that wasn’t enough, he feels a spike in the tingling sensation. The ground starts to shake and groan as cracks appear across its surface. Then with a mighty shake which almost topples everyone, the ground splits open in a dozen places. Man shaped creatures crawl from the earth. Four feet tall and the color of fresh turned earth, they immediately move to attack whoever is closest once they are free of the ground.
We can’t win this! James suddenly realizes.
As Scar and Potbelly face off against five of the creatures, they hold them off of the unconscious Stig lying between them. Shorty, Reilin and Aleya are facing off with another two.
James sees one approaching him. They aren’t moving very fast, sort of like the loping gait of the undead in the first Night of the Living Dead movie. Taking a slug from out of his belt, he uses as much magic as he can spare and launches it at the thing.
Striking the creature in the center of the chest, he’s surprised to see a large part of its midsection dislodge and be thrust out its back. When the midsection hits the ground, it breaks apart like dirt. Taking another slug, he launches it, this time at the creature’s leg. It smashes into its upper thigh and the section from its hip to its knee comes loose. Now only on one leg, it topples to the side where it hits the ground and breaks apart.
He glances over to where Scar and Potbelly are using their swords against the creatures with little affect. Their blades cut into them but do little damage. “Scar!” he yells. “Use Stig’s mace! You have to bash them, not cut them.”
Scar glances over to him for a brief moment and then sees the one that he took out with his slugs, lying shattered on the ground. Seeing Stig’s mace on the ground at his feet, he kicks out and pushes the nearest creature back. Then in one fluid motion thrusts the sword in his right hand into the ground, bends over and picks up the mace, then strikes out at the closest creature. The mace strikes its shoulder.
He’s surprised to see the shoulder, along with the arm attached to it, come off the creature. “Bash them!” he cries out to the rest. “Cuts don’t hurt them!” Striking out with the broadside of his sword, he connects with the creature’s head and knocks it off. “Yeah!” he yells triumphantly as he begins laying into the rest.
Potbelly begins using the broadside of his sword and they soon have turned the creatures into a pile of dirt.
“We aren’t going to win this!” James yells to them. “We have to get out of here.”
They turn to see him standing there, legs shaking from the exertion of maintaining three barriers. Scar nods, then he and Potbelly go to help Reilin, Shorty and Perrilin where they are having trouble with their opponents.
The warrior priest facing off with Miko is showing mass damage to his armor and exposed skin. Miko himself has several wounds running with blood which begin to heal over rapidly as the magic of the Star works to preserve his life.
Brother Willim is not so fortunate. The warrior priest he’s up against shows very little damage form the battle and is still going strong. Jiron had to quit the battle with the warrior priest in order to deal with one of the earth creatures. But once he had it reduced to a pile of dirt he quickly returned to help him.
When the last of the earth creatures falls, James calls for the others to get into the saddle. That they have to get out of here. Just then a blinding flash of light erupts from the Star. Glancing that way, James sees Miko’s opponent fly backward and hit the ground. Another flash of light strikes the warrior priest where he lays on the ground. His body spasms, then grows still. Looking around, Miko begins moving to help Brother Willim and Jiron
