The Obsidian Dagger (17 page)

 

Chapter 19

Sacrifice

A presence enveloped all of the Gaelic kingdoms and observed. The balance of magic was nearly warped by the witch, but somehow the little Leprechaun was hanging on. It was doubtful that Duncan would be able to last much longer, though. The presence thought about how interesting the entire scene was and wondered how it would end. Could the witch pull off the coup of magic or would this unlikely group, which the presence had set in motion, come through? It had been so long since the presence had involved himself in the affairs of man. The last time he did he lost his mortal life. He couldn't let the humans down again. The boy‘s birthright was the only chance the world had. It was in his hands now.

…

Flashes of orange, blue, and purple slammed into the attacking red-eyes and Sidhes. Lizzie's staff crushed the skull of a female Rua and, just before it crumpled to the ground, Lizzie gave it a front kick and sent it into four other gray-skins.

Biddy's blue wings shone brilliantly in the dim lighting of the hall. She zoomed in and out of the cantankerous leathery bat-like freaks. They slashed at her, but she evaded the attempts. Sharp barbs flew from her wings and knocked several of the Sidhes to the floor. Some of them were pinned to the ground, while others limped along the ground with holes sliced into their wings. They pumped their fists at her in anger, but were relatively powerless to do anything about it.

Rory shot his arrows like Robin Hood and darted in and out of stomping feet. He kept a wary eye on the Sidhe King because he had not attacked yet. He shot a final arrow into the eye of an unfortunate Rua when he noticed a change in Wardicon.

The Sidhe King dropped to the floor and convulsed. He wretched and vomited out black ooze before his body convulsed and he rolled onto his back. He screamed in pain as his body swelled and bulged. His hands and feet extended and long grizzled claws forced their way out of his fingertips. His pointy ears protruded further. His facial features grew more contorted and grotesque. When he had finally stopped howling and changing, Wardicon stood to his full height, which was over seven feet tall at this point, and fixed his eyes on the ones with the colorful magic.

“Holy crap,” observed Lizzie.

Wardicon howled ferociously and snatched up a Rua who had stumbled too close to him. He used both hands and tore the undead in half and chucked the halves at Rory, Biddy, and Lizzie.

“Okay,” swallowed Lizzie. “That has to be the grossest thing I've ever seen.”

Wardicon took two steps forward and strained his now very developed and corded muscles. He opened his jaws and roared and salivated.

“What do we do?” shouted Biddy.

“Run!” answered Rory.

And they did.

They ran back to the stairwell knocking red-eyes and Sidhes out of the way. They took the steps two at a time and ran as fast as they could up the spiraled staircase. They ran faster when they heard Wardicon hit the first step.

…

“Stupid, little girl,” Dullahan provoked. “Did you think that you were going to stop us?” A frightening, hollow laugh echoed out of the hole where his head should have been.

Dorian crab-walked backwards as Dullahan advanced and raised his sword. He slammed it down and struck nothing but stone. A spray of sparks lit the air as Dorian flipped out of the way. She turned on the spot and blasted Dullahan with a lightning bolt of red energy in the chest. He fell backwards and skidded on his back. His chest smoldered and smoked, but he was hard to defeat and sat upright.

“Why don't you just die?” Dorian cried.

“You first, Princess.”

Dullahan sprung to his feet, charged forward, and slashed out with his sword as he pulled his ax from its loop. They found the surface of a red shield that formed in front of Dorian. The impacts were fierce and powerful. The first one drove her to her knees. The second was an uppercut and sent Dorian across the room until she landed on the altar and slid into one of the chairs knocking them to the ground. She hit her head in multiple places and she was seeing stars, but Dullahan's heavy boot steps brought her back to her sense in a hurry. He jumped on top of the altar and began to bring his ax down upon her. She blasted the chair, and it flew into Dullahan, crashing him to the stone floor.

She had bought herself a little time to think. What should she do? How do you defeat a demon? She glanced around and saw that the contents of her bag had spilled out. What caught her eye was the small container of the golden dust of the force field residue. She lifted the vile and dumped it into her palms. Her body was overcome with a golden glow and she stood up. There was no way she was going to be able to hid when she shown like a candle.

“It doesn't matter what color your magic is, girl. You can't beat me.” Dullahan twirled the ax in his left hand and strode forward.

Dorian took a deep breathe and jumped on top of the alter. “Bring it.”

…

The griffin circled over the Black River and screeched triumphantly. It peered down into the mist and dust to find the swordsman's body. It flew lower and searched. It needed to confirm that the boy was dead. Morna would not be too forgiving if the swordsman were to show up again.

The griffin landed on the banks of the Black River with soft feet. It walked closer to the water and stared down into the current. It's own reflection looked back at it. It snorted and sniffed and was pretty satisfied that the swordsman was dead. It leaned over and lapped at the water. Killing people was a thirsty business.

Water dripped off its beak and made ripples in the river. It began to walk away and take to the air when bubbles rose to the surface. The griffin stopped and looked over its shoulder. It was just one or two bubbles at first, but the griffin knew that magic was hard to destroy. It came back and readied itself for a fight. It pulled its paw back and spread its claws. The bubbles came up faster and larger until it looked like the river was boiling.

A silver magic was obvious in the river, and the griffin growled. Brendan burst from the water, throwing energy from his body without even thinking about it. He searched around and then spotted the beast on the banks with its mouth hanging open in surprise.

He stared at the griffin and its eyes took on a silver glaze. Brendan, whose body was shining brightly, walked out of the water and mounted the griffin.

“Back to the castle,” he said, tapping his heels on its sides. The griffin sprang into the air. “I hope we're not too late.”

…

“Get outside!” screamed Lizzie, leading the sprint.

She and the Leprechauns made their way across the drawbridge and across the moat. Wardicon wasn't far behind and once he hit the openness of the outdoors, he took to the skies and surged at his enemies.

Rory fell onto his back and shot his arrows into Wardicon's eyes. Temporally blinded, the large, mutated Sidhe crashed into the ground and slid into a tree.

“Great shot, Rory!” complimented Biddy.

They crossed onto the land and became ready. Wardicon blinked the orange arrows out of his eyes and wiped the wetness from them. He glared at the group and snarled.

It was frightening and nightmarish. Lizzie wanted to wet herself, but didn't think it would help any. She would just be wet and scared instead of just scared.

“We need to stick together and move. No one sits still for long,” strategized Biddy. “You strike and then you move and the next one takes a shot.”

“Maybe he'll wear out,” offered Rory.

“Or maybe it will just make him angrier,” suggested Lizzie.

“Either way it's better than just letting him rip us to shreds.” Biddy flapped her wings and narrowed her gaze. “Here we go.”

Wardicon took to the air and roared. He flapped hard and rose high above them. Biddy zipped up to confront him and fired barbs in rapid succession pelting the Sidhe king. They did little more than annoy the creature like the thorns of a rose, but it was effective in drawing his attention. He pulled up short of crashing down on Lizzie and Rory and went after Biddy instead. She was a fast flyer, though, so she was not an easy catch.

Rory took the opportunity to fire several arrows into the beast's buttocks. Wardicon stopped in mid-air and shot a hateful look back at the archer.

“Run, Rory!” screamed Lizzie.

Rory ran and Wardicon pursued, swooping low and stretching out his claws to snatch the annoying little Leprechaun up. Lizzie started swatting stones from the banks at Wardicon. A few actually hit the big lug.

“Hey, ugly!” she taunted. “Come pick on someone your own size.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, she regretted it. He changed courses and headed directly at her. She was fast, but she wasn't fast enough to escape him. He slashed down, and she went into defensive mode blocking his arm with the staff. The contact with the staff burned Waridcon's flesh and he retracted his arm quickly. He howled and slashed out again, only this time without trying to make contact.

They circled each other and Lizzie was scared to death. This was a nightmare come true and she had to hold her ground. She couldn't run. She couldn't hide. She had to make a stand.

Wardicon had his back to the moat and cocked his head at Lizzie. He leaned his head back and howled at the water. For a moment, the tension was the only thing boiling in sight, but suddenly the water started to churn and a large water beast shot out of the water and landed at Wardicon's side.

“Heavens!” cried Biddy. “It's Usis!”

Usis the Merrow Queen had mutated as well. Her once beautiful features were gone, replaced by the mangled and demonic characteristics of a dragon. To Lizzie she looked like the Loch Ness Monster on steroids.

Usis climbed onto land, towering over Wardicon. Black water rolled on her back and fell in drops onto the grass.

“Talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire,” observed Rory.

…

Dullahan ran at Dorian and swiped his sword at her ankles, but met nothing but air as she catapulted herself into the air and flipped over the headless demon. In mid-air she couldn't help but glance down into his neck, but there was nothing to see except for swirling black smoke. She assumed it was his essence or his blackened, evil soul. Either way, she didn't want to see it again.

She landed and sent flames of red at Dullahan's back. His cape was consumed, but he simply tore it away and threw it aside.

“Why do you delay the inevitable?” he asked. “In a few short minutes, your clan's magic with be Morna's and you will be her slave.”

“That is tempting, but I think I'd rather keep my mind and my magic, thank you very much.”

“Suit yourself. Time to die.” The demon closed in on her and lashed out with his sword and ax, battering at her protective golden shield.

She felt each blow as if being hit while inside a punching bag. She held her arms out instinctively as he struck her with each blow. She was knocked left and right; her head was ringing from the onslaught. He side kicked her in the chest and skipped her body across the floor. She came to rest next to her father's cage.

She looked at him through woozy, belabored eyes. “Father,” she whispered.

“Oh, how touching,” hissed a voice from across the room.

Dorian looked over and watched Morna cross the tower floor. She stopped and stood above the fallen princess and the weakened king. “Is this reunion all that you hoped it would be?”

Dorian held her hand out and put it into the cage. She rubbed her father's arm with her finger. “Let him go.”

“Ha!” cackled the witch. “Give up, child. You've been defeated. Your little Leprechaun friends and the girl are just about to die, your spirit friend has turned on you, and my griffin has destroyed your insignificant boyfriend.” She stared hard into Dorian's eyes. “All hope is lost.”

Lightning flashed and thunder clashed and Brendan, riding atop the griffin flew through the window, much to Morna's surprise.

“All hope lost?” He jumped from the griffin's back, executing three perfect flips, and landed in front of Dorian. “I don't think so.”

Morna glared at the griffin and spat, “How could you betray me?”

“It really wasn't his fault. I'm just too dang charming,” said Brendan. He nodded and the griffin flew from the tower.

He hacked down with his sword on the cage's lock. “Take your father and go. I'll handle this.”

“Who do you think you are?” Morna screamed.

Brendan fixed her with a stare and recognition beset her eyes. She knew who he was or at least from where his power came. “It's too late, boy. The Leprechaun magic is mine.”

“We'll see about that, witch.”

“You will lose,” she croaked.

Brendan looked over at Dullahan. “I think she's talking to you, handsome.”

Dullahan took a tighter grip on his ax and sword. “You talk too much for someone who's about to die.”