Sordid Sorcery: A Harem Fantasy, page 24
"You know that could mean they might come after you. The elders." Lethana took hold of his hand.
"Maybe," he said. "But I think I may have some friends in the Guild. We'll see what happens. Right now, we have to deal with Resmon."
Chapter 33
Tal stood at the gate of the short wall surrounding the tower in the middle of Pole. Lethana, Ambr, and Dishgash were just behind him. They'd passed several townspeople in getting there, most of whom paused from their morning routine to stare at the four of them walking down the road. Tal was recognized, and Dishgash could have passed for one of the town's guards, from a distance. But Pole hadn't been visited by an elf for generations, and Ambr seemed to defy the townspeople's understanding. Several of them followed the four, but not too closely, at least until Tal stood in front of the gate and stared up at the tower. The townspeople must have guessed something bad was about to happen. All of them quickly cleared the roads around the tower's courtyard. Only a few could be seen lingering, hiding themselves somewhat in narrow paths which ran between the shops and houses.
"What's that?" Dishgash asked.
Across the courtyard, in front of the tower's door, stood a large stone creature, completely blocking the entrance.
"It's a golem," Lethana said. "They're almost indestructible. If Resmon has ordered it not to let anyone into the tower, it's going to be difficult getting past it. Most magic won't do anything to them, either."
"Of course he has a golem." Tal looked up to a window near the top of the tower. "I could levitate to get in that way."
"You're not leaving us out here," Ambr said. "I want a piece of him too."
Tal turned around to make sure the area was still clear of spectators. "I wish there was a way of doing this without putting the town in danger."
"If we don't do this," Dishgash said, "the town will be in more danger. He's already threatened to burn down one of their houses."
He looked at her, then back to the tower. "Yes, and I'll take him down by force if it comes to it, but I want to avoid bringing more pain down on the town if possible."
Ambr laughed. "You're going to try to reason with the man who tried to poison you, and framed you for what he did to Chresdain?"
"Stupid, huh?" Tal said. "I just don't want anything to happen to my town. I know it's probably useless to try, but…" He looked around at all the houses, homes to people he'd lived among for years.
Lethana took his hand. "We're with you whatever happens."
He cupped his hands around his mouth. "Resmon Riasga! I would have a word with you!"
He glanced to the stone creature to make sure it wasn't coming their way. Golem hadn't budged.
They waited a moment, but Resmon didn't respond.
"Resmon! Pole is a small town of good people. There's nothing for you here. Take your sorcery back to wherever you came from. This isn't your home."
It's mine.
Tal looked at his companions and shrugged. "How do you tell an evil bastard that's what they are, without making them act like it?"
Lethana stared up at the window. "He's not coming out."
Watching the golem to see how the creature would react, Tal touched the gate. He wanted to see whether the magical barrier Fizda kept around courtyard was still there. He couldn't tell if it remained, but decided to try the gate's latch.
"What are you doing?" Ambr asked.
"I'm going levitate up to the window and see if he's there, but I can only lift myself straight up. I need to get closer to the tower."
Dishgash started to draw her sword, but Tal put his hand on hers.
"Wait," he said to her. "Not yet." He glanced at Golem. "I don't want to give that thing any more reason to leave its post and come after us."
"You think the golem will stay there while you walk up to the tower?" Ambr said.
Tal pushed the iron latch up. "I have no idea, but I'm about to find out."
Tal opened the gate and took a step inside the courtyard. Golem didn't move.
Turning back to his companions, Tal said," I don't know how this is going to go. So, be ready for anything."
Dishgash and Ambr nodded to him.
"Be careful," Lethana said.
He nodded then walked to the tower, cutting a diagonal line across the courtyard so he wasn't walking directly at Golem, but remaining in the creature's line of sight.
Standing a few feet from the stone tower, he cast the levitation spell. He'd only used it once before, hitting his head on the ceiling of his room in the Guild tower. He looked up at the late-morning sky, noting there was no danger of a bump on the head. A magical blast to the face maybe.
His boots lifted from the stone courtyard. Slowly—he'd learn that lesson—he moved up. Five feet. Ten feet. Twenty. Thirty. A warm wind blew his robes slightly to his left and tussled his hair. He glanced back. Lethana, Ambr, and Dishgash were still at the gate. He didn't see golem, so he guessed the creature hadn't moved from the tower's door.
No. Don't do that. Several townspeople had come into the street to watch him.
As his head rose toward the window, he made the necessary gesture to ease up his levitation, so he would stop after a few more seconds. Floating a few feet outside the glassless portal, he saw Resmon standing in the room, facing him.
"Tal." Resmon scowled at him.
"Resmon. Would you care to step outside?"
"I'd rather not. Thanks." Resmon made a fist with his right hand and raised his arm in front of him. He wore a gold ring on his forefinger.
A split second later, Tal heard a strange ringing noise coming from Resmon's hand. The ring suddenly took on a bright green glow. Tal gestured with his hand just in time to drop himself from in front of the window as a green blast of energy shot at him from Resmon's ring, then a second one shot out, grazing his shoulder.
As he rushed downward—the top of his shoulder burned, but not enough to keep him from carrying on—he glanced behind him, to see if Resmon's attack had hurt any of the townspeople on the the few hills he knew were high enough to be in the line of fire.
The green blast struck one home, which sat atop a hill overlooking the center of town and the tower. The house was his. Thankfully, Gram had gone out of town to visit her sister, he thought. He knew no one had been hurt, but the magical energy seemed to have done considerable damage to the side of the house, where his own room was situated. He noticed the roofline shift downward about a foot.
"Tal!" Lethana called out to him. He looked down and saw her going through the gate into the courtyard. Ambr and Dishgash followed her. He wanted to stop them, but he had to concentrate on Resmon to keep him from doing more damage to the town or blasting him out of the air.
Noting how narrow the blasts from Resmon's ring looked, Tal conjured the disc-shaped shield that fixed to the back of his hand. He would be able to deflect the attack from the ring with it, he thought, hopefully sending the energy in a direction that posed no danger to the town. He rose back to the window before Resmon came to it to strike him from above.
Holding his magical shield in front of him, Tal looked into the window, expecting Resmon to blast him again with the ring, but that didn't happen.
Resmon was doubled over and screaming in pain. With one arm, he was holding the other. The hand on which Resmon wore the ring looked severely injured, as if the green energy blast had surged when it came out of the ring, burning his hand and wrist. Seeing Tal, Resmon stopped screaming and let go of his arm. It dangled by his side as he breathed heavily before charging Tal. He came at him with his undamaged hand up like he meant to hit Tal with it.
Tal noted the gap between him and the tower, at least three feet. He waited for Resmon to come to him, knowing Resmon wouldn't be able to get to him without falling out of the tower.
Resmon evidently realized it too, and halted his charge abruptly. He scrambled to stay on his feet and managed to keep upright, but his impulsive move had given Tal enough time to ready another spell.
Tal decided to make use of the long narrow tapestry hanging on the wall behind Resmon. Keeping the magical shield on his left hand, to deal with whatever Resmon next attempted, he spoke an incantation and began to manipulated the woven piece to his will.
Resmon apparently didn't see it coming. The tapestry fell down from the wall and quickly wrapped itself around him, binding his arms to his body. Tal clenched his right hand and held the fist tight, forcing the material to hold Resmon. Tal knew as long as he kept his hand closed, whether in his sight or not, the animated wall decor would keep Resmon trapped.
Chapter 34
Tal looked down to see if his companions were alright, but he could only partly see Lethana and Ambr. They were close to the tower's door, which had a large stone overhang. He couldn't see Dishgash, but he heard her battle cries. Lethana held her staff at the end with both hands and was swinging it toward the door, undoubtedly at the stone golem. Ambr was panting, apparently winded from what must have been a flurry of attacks with her claws. As best as Tal could tell, Lethana and Ambr didn't seem hurt, and Dishgash sounded like nothing was slowing her down.
He wanted to keep an eye on Resmon, but felt the urge to get down to the ground to help his companions. Maybe the golem isn't fighting them. If it's as indestructible as I've heard, Tal thought, it might just be standing there. Oh, I hope so.
Tal glanced at Resmon to make sure he hadn't freed his arms, which Tal knew Resmon needed to cast spells of any consequence. The tapestry still had Resmon bound, though the look he was giving Tal certainly would've killed if it was in Resmon's power to do so.
Tal relinquished the magical shield from his left hand and gestured to lower himself toward the ground. He kept his right hand clenched to keep Resmon secured. "Are you three okay?"
They didn't answer, and he could see from Lethana swinging her staff and Ambr leaping toward the door that the fight continued.
Just as Resmon went out of view, Tal heard him whispering something. He couldn't make out what Resmon was saying. He'd never heard the language before. Tal paused the gestures of his left hand, uncertain whether he should rise to see Resmon or lower himself the rest of the way to confirm the women were indeed the only ones attacking.
In that moment, a hideous black thing flew out the window.
Tal looked up at it. The creature had slick leathery wings, which fanned out like those of a bat, and it was shockingly thin, bones visible through its skin. Curved black claws extended from its disproportionately long arms and legs. Tal kept his right hand closed, even though it seemed Resmon was capable of summoning such a creature with a whisper. He didn't want to risk Resmon getting his hands free and doing more magic.
Tal prepared to cast an attack with his left hand, but he needed to get to the ground first. He accelerated his decent, then dropped the levitation spell entirely when he came within three feet of the ground. The fall jarred him a little, but he still kept his right hand closed.
Lethana looked up at the flying creature. "What is that?"
"A demon, I think," Tal said. "I'm not sure, but I have Resmon under control. I think." He held up his right hand to show her what he meant. "Are the three of you alright?"
"Yes," she said. "It hasn't moved, but everything we do to it is useless. Our weapons won't scratch it, and even my elven magic has no effect on it. Watch out!"
Tal looked up to where Lethana pointed, but a flying creature, a second one, struck him, knocking him onto his back. The unexpected blow caused his right hand to loosen. He felt the loss of control over the tapestry. The magic had ended. Resmon was free.
Still on his back, Tal saw two more such creatures fly out the tower window. One of them headed toward the surrounding houses. The other circled overhead, apparently lining up to attack Tal and his companions.
Tal stood up. "Ambr! Dish! If the golem isn't fighting, leave it be. We have more trouble above."
"Right," Ambr said, doing a stretched-out back handspring, to get away from the golem. She looked up. "Oh, that's not good at all."
Dishgash yelled once more, and Tal heard the clang of her sword against the golem's dense stone body. A moment later, she stepped over to join the others. "I can't cut it. If I hit it any harder, my sword will break again."
Tal gestured to one of the three black creatures flying overhead. "Try it on one of those when it gets close enough. But be careful, all of you. Those claws look sharp."
"These claws are sharp," Ambr said, holding her arms up to show them. She watched one of the flying demons for a moment, moving her head to follow its movements, then she crouched, coiled to spring. "Here it comes."
As the demon flew down in a dive toward Dishgash, Ambr leapt onto it, wrapping her legs around it so she could hang below it. It turned upward, taking her high into the air. Her arms almost in a blur, she viciously ripped into the neck of the monster with her razor-sharp claws. She stayed with it as it fell toward the ground, hugging it with her legs and thrusting the speared tips of her fingers into it. The demon's dark blood sprayed from its mangled neck, but Ambr kept attacking, and the two of them continued to plummet. Just before the demon slammed into the ground, Ambr leapt clear of it and tumbled, flipping and then rolling, until she'd used up the momentum. The black winged creature split open in several places as it hit the stone courtyard, sending dark blood outward in all directions.
Tal felt pulled in too many directions. He wanted to stop the errant demon from attacking the townspeople. He knew he needed to stay put to help Lethana, Ambr, and Dishgash fight the two demons flying overhead. But Resmon wouldn't let their distraction go to waste, he thought. If he didn't go after him soon, Resmon might unleash more threats to the town, or attack him and his companions when they weren't looking. Tal glanced at Ambr and knew she was okay. "Lethana, Dishgash, can you two keep them at bay while I deal with Resmon?"
Dishgash held her sword in front of her as she looked up. "I'll do better than that. As soon as one of them comes down here, I'll split it in half."
"Go, Tal," Lethana said. "You need to stop him before he does more."
He nodded to her and ran to the side of the tower and began to levitate again.
"Duck!" Tal was only a foot off the ground when he heard the familiar woman's voice from his right.
Chapter 35
A crackling orange streak of energy shot by Tal and struck one of the demons as it was swooping down at Lethana. She hadn't seen the foul beast flying toward her, but the orange blast knocked the creature from its path. It continued flying, but from its erratic movement, it clearly had been badly hurt.
Tal looked to his right and saw Brook walking toward him. "Good timing," he said as he continued to levitate. "What are you doing here?"
"Chresdain. I'll tell you later," Brook said. "But Resmon's on his own now, as far as the Guild. Is he up there?"
Chresdain's recovered. Good.
"Yes. But help them." He nodded toward Lethana and Dishgash, and Ambr, who had returned to their side to face the next flying monster that came within reach.
"I'll help them take down these two demons, then join you."
"There's a third!" Tal had almost risen to the window, but he saw Brook look back at him and he pointed toward the houses, where he'd seen the other demon go."
"Got it!" She raised her hand to signal she'd heard him.
With his magical shield held in front of him again, Tal moved up to the opening at the top of the tower and looked into the room, expecting Resmon to throw a fireball or shoot a blast of energy at him. But what he saw was more troubling.
Resmon stood to the side of the room in the midst of a complex combination of several floating semi-transparent magical circles, some vertical, others parallel to the floor but running through his torso. Tal had never seen nor read of such a spell, but the scope of it and the fact that Resmon was speaking in a deep demonic-sounding voice told him he shouldn't let Resmon complete whatever it was he was doing.
Still floating outside the open portal, Tal hurried to ready an attack. Resmon didn't seem to be looking at him, for which Tal was thankful, but Tal knew he had to interrupt the magic encircling Resmon. If he's been casting the same spell all this time, Tal thought, it must be something terrible.
Regaining his focus, Tal finished the incantation to form a ball of blue lightning in the palm of his hand. He couldn't believe it, but Resmon's eyes were still closed. Tal had a chance to take Resmon out while he was still in the midst of casting the demonic spell.
Tal concentrated on the blue orb, bringing the charge as high as he could manage. When he began to feel the electricity seep from the magical containment field into his arm, he threw the charged blue ball at Resmon, aiming for his chest. Arcs of electricity shot out from the sphere to various points around the room as it sped toward Resmon.
Tal had thrown it well. The charged orb hit dead center, exploding into a blinding flash of sparks and ripping currents that surged into several sections of wall around the room. Tal turned his head and averted his eyes to guard them from the intense light. The room flickered brightly as he continued to look away. He knew he'd stopped Resmon, and now only waited to see what the scene looked like once the crackling display of lights dissipated.
A moment later, the energy from his magical sphere of electricity had completely subsided, and he turned to see what condition Resmon was in, or what remained of his body. Tal nearly dropped his levitation spell as the shock of what he saw shook him to the core.
Resmon remained standing in the midst of the magic circles. He appeared entirely unscathed by Tal's attack.
How?
Resmon opened his eyes and laughed as he stared at Tal.
Tal knew he had to do something else, but wasn't sure what magic packed a greater punch than the one he'd just used. If it did nothing to him, he thought, there may not be a way to stop him.
