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Night was a sweet respite for
Cale. It always had been, since he was
just a little child. A time when worries could be forgotten and
lives
lived to their fullest. But he could feel something strange with
this
night. He had taken lead of the group, guiding them along the
path with
his unerring night vision, aided by Whiteblaze's unerring sense
of
smell. The shadows moved as they did, following them through
the
deepening forest.
Cale could hear the Ronins behind him, each with a hand on the
one in
front of him. He had even talked the women into the action, keeping
in
contact with the one before them at all times. The night was
too dark.
No stars afforded them with light from above, even Halo's armor
remained
dark. Something was not right.
Cale called a halt as Whiteblaze lowered his form to the ground,
growling deeply. Kayura's hand tightened on his arm and he reached
over
with his other hand to pat hers in reassurance.
A slight noise alerted him to danger to his left. He threw himself
down, taking Kayura with him, and felt the distrubed air of a
close miss
waft across his face.
Kayura gave a surprised yelp, and the Ronins instantly brought
weapons
to bear. Eyes searched the darkness, looking for the direction
that the
next attack would come from. Cale gathered his wits in time to
see a
dark shape hurtle itself at Thunderstorm. He shouted wordlessly,
causing her to spin. Even from his distance, he could see her
eyes
glowed with a radiance that illuminated the area around her.
Thunderstorm saw the dark cloud-like shape decending rapidly
and
struggled to recall a spell. Moonshadow was faster, her eyes
too,
glowing. She wrested one of Ryo's blades from his hand and moved
infront of the shaman, bracing herself for impact.
The wraith impaled itself, red eyes flashing wide, clawed hands
reaching for the Conduit. Moonshadow pulled suddenly to the left,
ripping a peice of the wraith out, causing it to dissolve to
nothingness. Thunderstorm nodded a silent thanks to her friend,
as
Shadow returned the sword with a smile.
Ryo glanced from one to another, their features lit by the unearthly
light of their eyes. Storm cast a glance around, the light of
her eyes
like a spotlight. Rolling clouds surrounded them on all sides,
each
forming slowly into another of the wraiths. Storm recognized
them from
tales she had been told.
"Don't let them touch bare flesh!" she warned the others.
"Their grip
is freezing, life-draining."
Sage gnashed his teeth, edging in front of Moonshadow. The Ronins
formed a circle, the three women at the center, each warrior facing
out,
weapons ready. The seven wraiths attacked simultaneously, aiming
for
what seemed to be the weakest links in the circle.
One wraith sizzled into nothing as Rowen's Arrow of Life streaked
through its center. Another struggled as Cye's military fork
closed
around it. Cale felt his Sword of Darkness bite deeply into the
substance that created those things. Thunderstorm chanted briefly,
forming a glowing ball between her hands. With a tremendous heave
she
threw it high into the air.
"Cover your eyes!" Shadow shouted, ducking her head,
without checking
to see that the others did.
Storm called out a single powerful word. The globe exploded
into
searing blinding light. Inhuman cries rose from the remaining
wraiths,
forcing them back to the realm of darkness with the pristine pure
light.
The light faded away, leaving the night silent. Cale uncovered
his eyes
and looked around. Everyone was slowly looking around, wondering
what
happened.
Thunderstorm leaned heavily on Shadow's shoulder.
"You shouldn't have drawn that much alone," Shadow
said in a low voice.
"That's a definate beacon to that sorceress."
Diamond froze, looking around.
Behind them, her sharp magick-enhanced
eyes picked up the light from Thunderstorm's globe, and also the
wave of
energy that flew by. Her eyes narrowed as the remaining Children
of
Hell gathered around her.
"Cocytus," Diamond began. "I want you to go back
and check out just
what that was..."
"No." Styx said, as her brother began to obey the
sorceress. The
Jewel glowed sickly under her face, casting an eerie glow around.
"You
will stay here, Cocytus." Styx turned to the shadows surrounding
them.
"L'das.. come out."
The dark naga slithered from the trees, blinking slowly at her.
"You
ssssumonned me.."
Styx grinned triumphantly at Diamond, who remained silent glaring
at
the young tramp that had usurped the power that Diamond had thought
she
had secured. L'das drew himself up until he could look directly
into
the empress' cold blue eyes.
"Go back to keep an eye on those wanna-be heroes."
Styx ordered,
motioning back down the path. "I want to know exactly what
they are
doing.."
L'das ducked his purple-black head in agreement, and slithered
off into
the forest again.
Diamond shook her head, pushing the blonde hair behind her ears.
"Styx, he will attack them, you know this."
"He failed the first time.. and I will not stand for failure."
the
Empress returned.
"C'mon sis, I wanna get that orange guy..." Phlegethon
whined.
Lethe smacked her brother's arm. "Stop whinin'.. it ain't
gunna get us
nuthin'."
Cocytus began to correct her, but stopped upon the glare that
Diamond
passed him. Diamond scowled, her once beautiful face creased
by the
wrinkles of old age. She glared around at the four remaining
Children,
to whom she had given so much of her youth. Her silence grew
and even
Styx shifted nervously.
L'das paused and regarded the
Ronins and their companions quickly.
They had stopped for a bit, allowing the shaman to recover. He
silently
avoided the double watch posted, coiling himself within the crook
of a
large tree. His huge golden eyes peered out from the foliage,
determined to follow his orders explicitly this time. No attacking,
he
vowed, not until he was ordered to do so. Not without some measure
of
backup.
Diamond traced a large circle
into the dirt and pine needles on the
ground, connecting the four tangible elements with solid lines
and a
ghostly lines to connect all of them to the spiritual element.
Styx
watched her with a sullen silence. The would-be Empress' hand
was
curled around the Jewel at her neck, as it pulsed a dull blue.
The sorceress raised her milky eyes to the magickally aged girl.
"You
cannot summon these creatures.. only a truely trained sorcerer
can."
Diamond sneered as Styx turned away.
"Cocytus, come with me.. we're going to mark the path ahead."
Styx
ordered.
Cocytus' green eyes narrowed, but he followed his elder sister.
Diamond watched them leave, and shifted her gaze to the last two
Children. Phlegethon and Lethe took up posts at either end of
the path,
keeping eyes out, and attempting to ignore the sounds of spell
casting.
Diamond stood in the center of her pentagram, closing her eyes
and
focusing on gathering her energy. She could feel the presence
of her
own Conduit, Draco, locked away in a cold prison cell somewhere
in
Toyama. She shrugged off the idea of trying to draw energy from
him
when he was so far away.. it would surely disperse before she
could
gather it from him. She had to rely upon herself and pray that
her body
would keep together with the influx of power.
Facing each of the cardinal directions in turn, she turned in
a full
circle and raised her hands to the sky, her voice forming the
spidery
words of magick, her body beginning to glow as she pulled the
power from
the air around her, drawing magick from the earth, the air, the
moisture, and the heat.
"Give to me the bones of your dead," Diamond intoned,
lowering her
hands to become parallel to the ground. "Your humans, your
animals, the
monsters of the ancient dead."
The ground bubbled like ooze, the noxious air bubbles rising
to the
surface and bursting with sickening spluckes. Left behind, after
each
bubble, were piles of bones, some pristine white, other yellowed
and
decaying with age. Diamond uttered another incantation, sending
bolts
of fiery white energy to each of the piles. With a great amount
of
rattling and clunking, the bones lifted themselves from the ground
and
reformed into various skeletons, ranging in species from humans
to the
tiniest mouse. They milled about in a disorganized mass.
Diamond snapped her fingers. "Line up!"
The skeletons shuffled into order, forming a ragged line. The
human
skeletons held in their hands large boneblades. The animal skeletons
bore vicious teeth and sharp claws. Diamond smiled in pride.
"Guard this path." she directed, motioning to the area
around them.
"Let NOTHING pass."
When she was sure that the skeletons understood, she motioned
to Lethe
and Phlegethon and walked off, down the path, in the direction
that Styx
and Cocytus had taken.