Chapter 16

Chapter 16

I pushed the heavy doors open into a room of sweltering heat, their groaning hinges stilling the clanking. In the center sat an anvil, and on tall spikes to either side of it were the impaled bodies of two children. They hung limply, the spikes jutting out of the top of their heads. The smith was nowhere in sight, the weapon hed been working on left abandoned. It was a wicked ax blade with a handle made of bone.

The horrific scene made me pause. Id seen and done terrible things, but nothing came close to this twisted kind of evil, to sacrifice ones own kids was a different level altogether.

Drawing my attention away from the anvil, I examined the rest of the room. The ceiling had rows of meat hooks hanging from it. At the far end was a massive furnace whose mouth looked like that of a gaping skull, full of crimson flames. All around the walls were tools that could have belonged in a torturers basement.

Embedded into the floor in small rivulets were troughs full of steaming blood. They spread out from the anvil forming some runic design. There was a clanking sound, drawing my attention to an armored figure coming out from behind the furnace.

You monster, I snarled.

His armor was bloodred, and he wielded a black hammer carved with runes and a massive ruby mounted in the middle.

Friar Brown, the smith said.

I wasnt about to listen to a melodramatic speech from this monster. I rushed him.

Reshaping Mercy into a needle-sharp blade, I attacked with reckless abandon. It was almost my doom. He reached the anvil before I did, and brushing aside the unfinished ax, he slammed his war hammer onto the black anvil. A kinetic wave exploded outward and threw me back across the room. I crashed into the far wall with immense force, my bones cracking.

As I was saying, the smith continued. I shall enjoy killing you, Friar Brown, and your little undead pet.

His words stunned me. I lay against the wall baffled both by the impact and by what he said. I looked to Friar Brown.

He may be undead, Friar Brown said, but he is not evil. David, he is an evil creature choosing to be good, while you are a good creature choosing to be evil. Which is worse?

I got to my feet, no longer able to keep my expression neutral. How long have you known?

Since we very first met. Friar Brown chuckled. Later, we shall discuss this at length. For now, we have work to do.

I gave him a weak smile that turned hungry as something occurred to me, my gaze falling on David. I guess I dont need this then. I let the illusion fall away as I discarded my robe, it would only slow me down, transforming from an average-looking human into a black skeleton.

Who would have ever thought a priest of purity would work with such a monster, David sneered.

I may be a monster, I sneered right back, and I may have done terrible things, but Ive never done something so heinous as this. I gestured to the unfortunate fate of his children. If there is a hell, you dont deserve to go there. You deserve someplace far worse.

Friar Brown cast his enhancement spell and my body sped up, strengthening. David drew back his hammer in a wide arc aimed at the anvil. Before he could strike, I released a bolt of death magic straight into his chest, which exploded, knocking him back. Though his armor negated most of the damage, when he looked at me, I saw anger.

You arent just a skeleton.

The corpse closest to David grabbed him, keeping him from the anvil. The sight was horrific and I regretted casting such a spell, but it bought me the time I needed. Casting the most powerful undead healing spell I could, death magic flooded my body. I focused it all into my shoulder. While my foot wound did hurt my mobility some, it wasnt nearly as debilitating.

David roared with rage, and I looked to see him struggling against the undead that had once been his child. His eyes, filled with real hatred, fixed onto the dim purple orbs that were my eyes. With a surge of strength, he yanked himself free and slammed his hammer onto the anvil.

I couldnt dodge the kinetic blow, but this one was weaker than his initial blow. The two zombies on the spikes, which were now hostile to him, were shredded by the proximity to the blow, turning into flaming chunks. I was knocked back and tumbled trying to catch myself.

Rolling and getting back to my feet, I used Mercy to brace myself as I continued to slide across the floor. I wouldve succeeded too, but my bad foot caught on a groove in the floor and gave way. I fell back and hit my head hard on the floor, stunning me for a moment.

Lifting my head, I barely saw David blurring across the room straight for me. I brought Mercy above me and caught his descending war hammer just above my chest. There was an explosion of force as the two weapons collided, but my faith in Mercy was justified. It held, the impact staggering David back.

Before I could get to my feet, he reeled and struck again, eliciting another explosion of force.

He stood above me, sneering down as he put all of his weight into his hammer. My arm was beginning to buckle under the strain, but Mercy didnt even bend.

Not possible, David hissed. In the past, this weapon has destroyed true blood weapons!

Maybe it isnt a lack of ability of the weapon, but of you, I sneered up at him. Or maybe my weapons superior to yours.

He growled in anger and I tried to push him off me, but couldnt. At that moment, Friar Browns enhancement spell ended and my arms visibly shook under the strain. Before they could collapse, a torrent of gray and white light slammed into David. It picked him up and tossed him across the room. He caught himself on the anvil, bracing himself, and began to push back against the beam. I got to my feet and saw Friar Brown pointing his staff at David and channeling a tree trunk sized beam of magic across the room.

A red Nimbus of energy started to surround David the longer he resisted the friars magic. He tilted his hammer into the beam, and the energy began to extend itself toward Friar Brown. I thought I saw a smirk on the friars face. He looked at me and nodded, clearly wanting me to continue the fight.

I skirted the room. David was far too focused on his struggle against Friar Brown to notice me. The beam had reached the halfway point between Friar Brown and David, coming to a complete stop, suspended in dual annihilation between them. It was like Friar Brown let it get there before putting forth the effort needed to stop it.

Stepping in front of the mouth of the skull-shaped furnace, I could feel the blistering heat and even the foul magic contained within. Moving toward David, I cast a dark magic spell that quieted my movements, then poured as much death magic into my blade as I could.

I examined the back of his armor, searching for weakness as I slightly modified Mercys blade. Both his head and chest were too well protected by thick red metal for me to get at, but it wasnt completely impervious. It would still take a strong thrust to penetrate, but I could do it, even without Friar Browns enhancement spell.

Stopping behind David at the optimal distance, I readied my attack. At the last moment, he seemed to realize hed lost track of me, beginning to look behind him as I thrust. The needle-sharp tip of Mercy struck the flexible armor around his neck and cut through. His head was halfway around as my blade drove through his neck.

A gasp escaped Davids lips. Unfortunately for him, Id missed his spine, so the blow wasnt instantly lethal. He dropped his hammer and Friar Browns beam slammed into him, driving him against the large anvil. He grasped at Mercy and tried to pull it free as the beam ate into his body. But as he pulled, the slight modification Id created on the blade-staff showed its worth. Id added barbs along the blades length, so once it was in, it would be hard to pull out.

David began to scream in pain as his flesh tugged, and the barbs hooked the red metal of his armor, Mercy remaining firmly in place. The death magic inside the blade filled his neck, and as his hate-filled eyes looked at me, tendrils of inky-black magic worked their way up Davids face.

Before the magic could kill him, his armor began to fight back. Red vitality trickled down to counter the death magic and I was certain they would win. Although, my magic wasnt the only magic at work hereFriar Browns spell finally ate through the armor.

David opened his mouth and let out a garbled scream as Friar Browns magic annihilated his body. I was honestly impressed he could scream around the blade impaled through his windpipe. It didnt take long for our combined attacks to finish off the evil smith, his charred corpse laying against his anvil.