The Coldstone Conflict (19 page)

He grabbed hold of Burnie and together they bolted toward the sunlight that played on the fringe of the trees. Diek practically had to carry the little troglodyte, who was clutching the box so hard that his entire body was trembling.

The dragon crashed along behind them, picking up speed with each giant stride. It felt the fires brewing in its stomach.

“Wha’s ’appenin’?” Groan boomed, but the companions were too preoccupied to give an answer.

Diek broke from the wood, but got only a few paces before he felt a sudden resistance that caused him to stop. At first he thought the dragon was somehow blocking his movement. Then he turned around.

The box had begun to rise into the air, Burnie still clinging to it for dear life.

“Let it go!” Diek cried. “Let the box go! The dragon’s probably controlling it or something!”

“ ’Ere,” said Groan. “You talkin’ ’bout me? Don’ let me go! If you do, I could end up ’nywhere! ’Old on to me box!”

Diek grabbed hold of Burnie’s leg, just as the hulking beast emerged from the woods.

The dragon charged up the hill and released a jet of flame that burned away the grass patch where Diek and Burnie had been standing. But the two companions had gone: they were now visible only as a small, airborne speck that rocketed into the distance.

A tricky one you are … tricky, to be sure. But we love a challenge—we … thrive … on it.

The dragon took to the skies, and thundered after them.

Earl Visceral’s arrival on the battlefield had preceded the arrival of the second horde of the possessed. Now the Army of Illmoor was outnumbered, though they still fought valiantly to turn the tide against their mindless foes.

Grid Thungus swept across the battlefield, his great axe carving strange and terrible patterns as it cleaved everything in its path. Suddenly, he was alone in a widening circle of the possessed. Wondering why the enemy were suddenly giving him such a wide berth, Thungus turned on his heel and peered around.

Gape Teethgrit walked out of the battle and hesitated for barely a second before driving his longsword at the barbarian’s throat. Thungus managed to block the thrust, but was driven back by the sheer strength of the brute.

There’s no doubt about it,
he thought.
You’re Groan’s brother all right.

On the other side of the battlefield, Baron Muttknuckles was still beating everything that crossed his path with the nail-smothered chair-leg. Prince Blood had managed to avoid the conflict entirely and was watching from a nearby hill, attempting to assuage his own guilt by stopping several of his soldiers and ordering them away from the battlefield. Earl Visceral, on the other hand, was engaged in a bitter battle with two of the possessed. He fought for his friend, Viceroy Funk, who had fallen to the pair, a pitchfork buried deep in his back. He had been a good man … and a good leader. He deserved revenge.

Effigy, Obegarde and Jimmy Quickstint were enjoying a well-earned break from their determined effort to enter the palace. Having forced back every unit of the possessed they encountered (mostly due to Obegarde’s incredible fighting abilities), they’d stopped at what remained of the palace gates in order to regroup and take stock of their situation.

As Jimmy made to lean against the once-grand arch, an explosion of sound caused the three companions to start.

Moltenoak erupted from the palace, his great wings beating furiously as he took to the sky. The giant red dragon sped through the air like a rogue cannonball, leaving a trail of curling smoke in his wake.

“What the hell?” Effigy gasped, hurrying off after the dragon before he realized that doing so was futile. “Where is he going? What’s happening?”

Obegarde drew his sword warily, looking back toward the palace.

“Do you think he’s done it?” he said. “Do you think he’s destroyed Vanquish?”

“What if he hasn’t?” said Jimmy, doubtfully. “He wouldn’t just leave, would he?”

Effigy shook his head. “I certainly hope not.”

The vampire let out a deep sigh. “So what do
we
do?”

“Keep on with the plan, I suppose,” said Effigy. “We need to get inside the palace and search for these caskets.”

“Yeah,” Jimmy agreed. “After all, that’s what he
told
us to do.”

“Looks like the decision’s been made for us,” Obegarde finished as a group of twenty possessed guards appeared in Oval Square. “I know I only get one vote, but I’m voting we don’t fight that lot …”

M
OLTENOAK MOVED THROUGH THE
sky at lightning speed, his great wings working frantically as Illmoor slipped by far below him.

Soon, the battlefield would be in sight. Not soon enough, though—the mistake had been made. He knew he wouldn’t, couldn’t be in time to stop the unthinkable from happening …

Gape Teethgrit and Grid Thungus had fought each other to a standstill. Steel glinted off steel as the two warriors circled. Grid could tell that his opponent’s mind possessed none of the barbarian’s inherent skill, but it seemed to have full access to the vast reserves of strength that were the Teethgrit family’s stock in trade. He knew he had to go for a killing blow—but first he needed to get past the soulless fool’s defences.

Grid charged forward … and stopped. The ground beneath him was beginning to shake.

Gape also swung out with his sword, but the quake caused him to topple.

Baron Muttknuckles and Earl Visceral likewise ceased their individual combats, as all across the battlefield warriors were looking down at the cracks appearing in the dusty plain.

From his position atop the hill, Prince Blood looked down on a scene of absolute chaos: the very ground was splitting beneath the battle, great chunks of it falling away as the land swallowed zombie and human alike.

Suddenly, one entire section of the plain fell in, taking with it more than a quarter of the army on both sides.

“Did you see that?” Prince Blood gasped, watching the events with mounting horror.

The officer on horseback beside him was speechless, his eyes locked on the disastrous collapse. Then his jaw dropped, and he pointed.

“Look, Majesty! LOOOK!”

Prince Blood followed his gaze, and gulped.

Something of unimaginable size was beginning to emerge from the hole.

A
LARGE BLOCK OF
stone was shifted aside, and Jimmy Quickstint rolled into the corridor beyond.

“It’s always worth taking a short cut,” he said, winking at Effigy as he and Obegarde followed him into the palace.

“I don’t know why,” the vampire complained. “We could have stepped through the hole caused by Effigy’s explosion.”

“Yeah,” Jimmy admitted. “Or the one caused by our friend, the hooded man, who’s really an age-old dragon in disguise.”

“Will you two shut up and help me out, here?” Effigy snapped, producing a roll of parchment from his jerkin and quickly unfurling it.

“What’s that?” Obegarde prompted, as he and Jimmy shuffled around to see over the freedom fighter’s shoulder.

“It’s a map of the palace.”

“Where did you get it?”

“Visceral gave it to me. Now, let’s see, we’re
here
, so the throne room is
that
way …”

“Do we want to go to the throne room?” Jimmy wondered aloud. “I mean, what if Vanquish is in there?”

“Well, we just have to hope he isn’t,” said Obegarde.

At the end of the corridor, Effigy indicated the left-hand path.

“We go up the stairs at the end, turn left, right, left and then we’re practically on top of it. Easy or what?”

“Oh yeah,” Jimmy grumbled. “Everything we do
looks
easy …”

The other two ignored him, and together they continued along the corridor.

As the shadow rose out of the ground, every head on the battlefield turned to face it. A giant black-bodied sphere: at first it looked more like a small planet than the ageless demon it truly was.

Someone screamed, an ear-piercing cry of terror that washed over the sudden silence of the battlefield.

Then, all at once, a series of tentacles lashed out from the sphere, fixing on the ground and moving the bulky mass over the plain at a remarkable speed. At the same time, a line formed across the length of the huge body and split open, revealing a single, vast yellow eye. The pupil was covered in mucus, but not enough for the cruelty within it to be disguised.

Panic spread over the plain like a disease as every man with enough sense to comprehend the threat turned and ran for all they were worth.

Soldiers who’d sworn never to relinquish their swords dropped them without a second’s thought, praying they could reach safety before the hideous entity thought to consider them.

Some died in the crush, trampled by their own friends and brothers. Some stood frozen to the spot, too terrified to move.

And then it happened.

Vanquish looked down upon the people of Illmoor … and began to kill them, indiscriminately.

B
URNIE FELT AS THOUGH
he’d been fired from a cannon. Curled up like a fetus, his body wrapped entirely around the box, he flew through the sky at a rate of knots, Diek still clinging desperately to his leg.

“You should have let it go!” the boy screamed, his voice distorted by the rushing wind. “Why d-didn’t you just let g-go?”

Burnie was too shocked to say anything; he was also scared out of his wits.

Behind them, the dragon soared aloft, wondering why it couldn’t catch them—despite the fact that it was moving at its top speed.

Far in the distance, the spires of Illmoor’s capital city reached for the heavens.

“Dullitch!” Diek screamed. “The box is taking us toward Dullitch!”

Burnie forced open one eye, only to have it immediately fill with water as it was battered by the wind.

“Is the dragon still behind us?”

Diek shivered and closed his own eyes, trying to keep his head from exploding.

“I th-think so. I can hear something flapping!”

Hills, mountains and rivers rushed along beneath them. Then they were hurtling over the city walls.

“The palace!” Diek cried. “H-here comes the palace! Arghgghhhhhhhhhhhh!”

“What’s that noise?” Effigy said, stepping through the wreckage of fallen masonry that lay strewn across the floor of the throne room.

“Eh?” said Jimmy, distractedly. He was searching an antechamber for likely-looking soul-vessels.

“There
is
a noise,” Obegarde agreed. “I can hear it too. I think it’s coming from … arghh! Effigy! Look out!”

The freedom fighter spun around just as Burnie and Diek came flying through the dragon-made hole like a pair of rogue torpedoes.

There was a noisy collision accompanied by several cries of pain, and all three ended up in a tangled heap on the floor. The box hit the wall and exploded, a strange mist drifting from within.

“Effigy!” Obegarde shouted. “Effigy, are you OK?”

Jimmy and the vampire rushed over to help their friend, but both quickly recoiled in shock.

“B-Burnie?” Obegarde said, his eyes lighting up. “Burnie! It
is
you! Effigy … look who it is!”

Effigy Spatula forced himself on to his elbows, blood dripping from a wound on his temple. “Hello Burnie,” he said … and fainted.

Jimmy was pointing at the boy, his eyes wide with shock.

“You,” he said, accusingly. “You’re Diek Wustapha!”

“He is,” Burnie said, struggling to his feet. “But I want you to leave him be.”

“But he kidnapped—”

“Please, Jimmy … it’s complicated. Right now, the only thing you need to worry about is—”

Me?

Everyone in the room heard the word, though it was unspoken, like a searing brand burned in their minds.

The dragon crashed onto the flagstones of the throne room, its great wings folding up behind it.

You can’t run anymore, young enchanter. Now you and your pathetic friends will feel my wrath …

“Run!” Diek spluttered. “
Ruuun
!”

Obegarde ran at the dragon, which clawed him aside as if he were a child’s toy: the vampire rocketed into the far wall and lay still.

Wasting no time, Jimmy was first to his feet. He’d almost reached the corridor when he realized the others weren’t with him. Burnie and Diek were still in the center of the room, attempting to carry Effigy’s unconscious form between them.

“There’s no time!” Jimmy screamed. “It’ll melt us where we stand!”

“Oh yeah?” said a voice behind him. “ ’Ow’s it gonna do that if I’ve ripped its stinkin’ ’ead off?”

V
ANQUISH MOVED OVER THE
plains, spidery legs carrying the immense bulk with comparative ease. Dark clouds gathered around him, appearing to fuel the chaotic god with lightning.

Vanquish dealt death in terrible quantities, his great eye firing a beam of jet-black liquid that instantly killed every living thing it touched. The corpses were then eaten by the beast, which dropped down upon them, lowered by the spider legs, and used an otherwise invisible set of mouths to consume them
whole.
All across the battlefield soldiers fled, were hit by the black spew and fell. Even the army of the possessed were destroyed in astonishing numbers.

“Retreat!” Prince Blood screamed, as Visceral and several other riders galloped past him. “The battle is lost! Run for your lives!
Retreeeeeeeeat
!”

As the surviving troops swept away from the dark god, Grid and Gape staggered and fell. Caught together, they had both been completely covered in the black liquid. Life drained from the two great heroes, and Vanquish ate everything that was left behind.

It was then that Moltenoak arrived. Swooping down from the skies over Coldstone, the great dragon surrounded its former master in a burning ring of fire.

The dark god let out an unearthly scream and staggered slightly before his legs managed to stabilize the bulk of his body. Vanquish shuddered terribly, and his yellow eye flicked upward. Then he launched a fierce stream of death at the great dragon.

Moltenoak dived to avoid the blast, twisting through a wild arc as the liquid spew shot wide of its mark.