Manny severed his psychic ties with the cadets and floated ahead of them. This action forced Alex to use her own eyes.
The Beholder squared off against Holmorth, all of his eyes facing forward, giving the wizard his undivided attention. “Holmorth, what are you doing here?” he asked. “Have you gotten bored pretending to be a dark magician in that hell pit you call a home?”
Holmorth laughed again and swiped his staff upward. A bolt of lightning issued from it and hit the ceiling, sending a cascade of glass falling. The recently rescued cadets screamed in fear as they backed up, inching closer to the far edge of the hall.
Alex, Brath, Jollies, and Gill did not retreat. They held their ground behind Manny, who had moved forward, his eyes still trained on Holmorth.
Holmorth rested his staff against his shoulder as he chuckled. “I see Myrddin is still having you play babysitter,” he said tauntingly. “I wonder why a powerful and eldritch creature such as you has allowed a lowly human to make you his errand boy?”
Manny’s body swelled as if he were growing in size. A pulse of energy came off him, which Alex felt wash over her like a wave of heat. “We both know Myrddin is far from being a lowly human,” the Beholder countered. “He’s a finer wizard than you’ll ever be. I’d be surprised if you are even capable of handling me alone.”
Another wave of energy came off Manny, hotter than the last. “Apparently you need an entire army to deal with children now,” he followed up. “Are your powers waning? So sad to see your potential wasted.”
Holmorth took a step forward, and dark energy radiated from his body. Even though the light was shining from him, he was still cloaked in blackness. “Hardly,” Holmorth said, snarling. “Nothing you taught me has been wasted, unlike that fool Myrddin.”
Holmorth waved his hand, and the floor before him broke into spikes that floated into the air and flew at Manny.
Manny did nothing, yet when the spikes should have hit him, they disintegrated into pebbles.
Holmorth laughed again, the same ear-piercing sound. “You are wasting your potential, Manny. The Dark One would reward power such as yours instead of delegating his menial tasks to you. An eldritch being of your power should be a ruler.”
“And that’s what you’re doing? The Dark One wants to rule. He won’t share it with anyone.”
“That is where you are wrong, Manny. The Dark One will indeed rule, and there are some of us who will also rule what has been given to us through his many graces.”
One of Manny’s eyes flipped over and looked at Alex before he turned to face the cadets. “Do you all have weapons?” he asked.
Alex and the rest of them solemnly nodded, and Jollies pulled a tiny crossbow out of her knapsack. Alex whispered to the Beholder, “If you could do all that, why not save us all the stress? The cards, the sneaking around. You could have just blasted them the whole time.”
“Because I won’t always be with you, and I needed you to see your actions and understand your potential. You are a leader who cares for her soldiers. You are a strategist who seeks survival over frivolous battle, and you are more powerful than you know. Myrddin was right about you, Alex the Boundless. I am proud to have been your eyes, as brief as that time has been.” the Beholder’s eyes softened as he looked upon her. Then turning to everyone, he said in a loud voice, “Good that you have weapons, because you’re going to have to fight your way to the stables. I’ll hold them off for as long as I can, but you make it to the stables and you leave. Don’t turn back. Don’t try to help anyone else. Do you understand me?”
Alex grabbed the rifle slung over her shoulder. “No way,” she shouted. “We’re not just going to leave you.”
“You have to. You cadets are more important than me. You’re the hope of Middang3ard. Do you understand me?”
A bolt of plasma went flying past Manny and hit an orc in the chest. The rest of the orcs screamed, ready to bolt forward, but Holmorth held his hand up to keep them back.
Gill, who was holding his smoking rifle, shrugged. “We’ll go,” he said slowly. “But we aren’t leaving you alone. If we’re running, so are you.”
Manny sighed as one of his eyes flipped over to watch the horde of orcs across the room. “Fine, we’ll all go,” he agreed. “But I’m going to need to stall Holmorth if we’re going to make it. When I say go, go. No questions asked. Understood?”
Manny faced Holmorth again and floated forward as the dark wizard started to walk toward Manny. “I assume you still honor the old ways?” the Beholder asked. “The eldritch traditions I trained you in?”
Holmorth folded his arms and snarled, then he nodded.
Manny and Holmorth stood face to face a few feet from each other. “Good. Shall we begin?”
Holmorth said nothing, only clutched his staff. He aimed it at Manny, and a bolt of lightning fired from it.
Manny raised one of his eyes, and the lightning deflected and struck the wall. Then Manny’s eyes burned bright white, and a black hand, twice as large as Holmorth, appeared in the air. The hand grabbed Holmorth and wrung him as if he were a wet towel.
Holmorth shouted, and the boom of his voice destroyed the hand. He fell to the ground and grabbed his staff, then turned and aimed it at one of the orcs.
The orc was hit with a blast of green light, and it fell over as its body started to swell and bulge. A tentacle ripped out of it—a creature was growing within
