Amulet of Souls (The Sentinels of Wizgrad Book 1) (13 page)

There was a huge cheer and combined howl from every single wolf there, which signalled that the war had finally ended.

Liamar and Koruko were not far from Haven now. It was the closest place from the Kijiar town and they went to find out the situation with Mr Pannett and Plode.

They approached the last hill before Haven when they saw an enormous black figure in the distance. They knew who it was without a second glance, Morgoth. He marched towards Haven and he was not alone. Morgoth had several troops around him, Yin, Ogres and Greelong.

Koruko had to hold Liamar back before she ran in reckless. They watched as Morgoth entered Haven without any resistance.

Liamar and Koruko followed behind but kept back to not be seen. They slowly approached Haven and watched as the last of the troops entered.

“What do we do?” Koruko asked.

“We go in, of course,” Liamar said.

“You do understand what that means?” Koruko said.

“I do not fear death.”

“That does not mean you should wish for it.”

“You know I cannot just sit here and do nothing. They must pay for what they have done.”

“And they will, but doing it like this is suicide! We should learn what we can from the foxes and relay it back.”

With a sigh, Liamar agreed. They cautiously approached the two foxes that guarded the entrance to Haven.

The foxes looked and saw Liamar and Koruko, they then went to greet them. Koruko raised his hand to his lip and the foxes did not make any sound.

Koruko whispered into one of the fox’s ears. “We know about the evil forces in here, we just want some information, we will try and help you.”

“They all just came and took over Haven by force, most of our people are dead. Several of your own are prisoners here” the fox replied. Koruko continued to question the fox.

“When?” Koruko asked.

“Three days ago.”

“You said there were prisoners?”

“Yes. Some bearded man and a male and female Dark Elf.”

“Iris is here?!” Koruko quietly exclaimed. “Liamar we must notify the others immediately.”

Liamar did not listen. She had got the root door open and ran inside.

“Liamar!”

Liamar had sensed the two guards behind her when she walked through. She pulled out her sword and spun on her heel. The sword gutted the two Greelong Guards in one swing.

Liamar kicked one of the Greelong over the bannister and it hit the floor with a crash. Their cover was gone. The enemy started to make their way up the walkways within a second, alerted by their fallen comrade.

“Oh Lord,” Koruko said. He ran toward Liamar to help.

It quickly became frantic inside. Greelong flew up and tried to flank them from behind while the Yin sent barrages of spells and the Ogres swung their heavy weapons at them.

Liamar and Koruko dodged, blocked and attacked with extreme precision. Koruko deflected spells with the King’s shield, but Liamar was in a bloodlust. She threw the sword around in a frenzy. Enemy after enemy fell to Liamar’s blows.

The few Ogre fighters the enemy had soon met their end at the hand of Liamar. The Yin had soon realised their weakness. They could not fight at a distance and the Yin figured out they needed to barrage them with spells and stay away. The Yin were talented fighters and they all grouped together, to fire one large attack.

They launched the attack directly at Liamar and Koruko and disregarded their allies. Koruko noticed the attack and grabbed hold of Liamar’s armour and threw her behind him. He then ducked behind his shield just in time to take the full force of the spell.

The spell had made a hole in part of the walkway. Koruko fell down and hit the lower walkway with a crash. Fire spread around the hole and set the walkways alight.

The rough landing had knocked the wind out of him and his eyes were dazed. A Greelong flew down toward Koruko with a spear in its hand. Liamar ran on all fours, leapt through the smouldering gap in the walkway and onto one of the Greelong. She plunged her sword into its back and severed its spine.

The sword had become embedded into the floor, the Greelong was still impaled through the back. Liamar knew that she would not be able to remove the sword with ease.

She dropped her shield, got down on all fours and leapt high into the air. She clawed through the wings of a Greelong overhead, then landed on another and dug her claws deep into the back of its neck. Another attacked with a spear, but she deftly moved to the side, grabbed the spear and pulled the Greelong close. She took a bite of the Greelong’s throat and threw the Greelong off the walkway.

She deftly got Koruko up on his feet. Either side of Liamar and Koruko the flames had rose impossibly high. The Yin again had built up a large spell but, this time, there was no escape.

Liamar prised her sword from the floor using all her strength and then retrieved her shield.

“Thank you Koruko, My love” Liamar said. The sudden realisation of what was about to happen had settled in. The Yin fired the spell and it landed a direct hit with a crash that echoed through the entire of Haven.

“What the hell is going on?” said Iris. Iris and the others were still in the cellars below and could hear the commotion above but couldn't quite make out what was happening. The loud crash shook the cell bars like a rattle, which triggered an idea in Plode’s head.

' Iris's cell holds the key.'

“I get it now,” Plode said. He looked at the door of Iris's cell as it shook. It was the hinges, they were different to the other cells.

“Iris, lean back on the top of the cell door,” Plode said. Iris made a confused face but did as he asked and put her hands high up on the door and leant back. Plode put his hand through the bars and grabbed Iris’s cell door with his hands. He gripped it hard and yanked upwards with all his might.

The door to the cell lifted and bent at the top. They tried again and after a yank from Plode the door came loose.

“Look for some keys, I'm sure they were hanging up,” Mr Pannett said. Iris looked around but could not find any keys. The hook that was used to hang them was empty. Iris glanced around the corner and a door opened fast towards her. A man ran inside with his cloak on fire.

In a panic, Iris ran back down the hall. She turned to see it was Astrid who had thrown his cloak aside.

“You bastard!” Plode yelled. Astrid had the cell keys on him around his waist.

“There is not much time, I know a safe exit from here,” Astrid said.

Astrid took the keys from his waist and unlocked the door to Mr Pannett’s cell. He then did the same to Thorley, Efrundle and Plode last. The moment Plode’s cell was loose, he burst out and took Astrid round the throat.

“Give me a reason why I shouldn't kill you right now!” Plode yelled angrily.

“Who do you think told you about Iris’s cell. I'm not your enemy” Astrid struggled to speak through the pressure around his neck.

“Not our enemy!” Plode shouted furiously and he squeezed harder.

“Dartis...he set this up...” Astrid said bright red in the face.

“Let him go!” Iris insisted. Everyone looked at her in shock “Let him go Plode” she said sternly this time.

Plode threw him down to the ground with a thud, Astrid coughed profusely.

“We must get out, I will tell you everything,” Astrid said. He got to his feet and leant himself on one of the cells to keep himself up.

“My beautiful home” Mr Pannett sobbed as he stood at the open doorway and looked out.

“I will explain later, just follow me hurry!” Astrid urged. He ran to the end of the cells to a brick wall and pressed his hand against it. The wall moved and revealed another tunnel behind it.

Astrid took a wand from his side and it shone a bright light ahead. He insisted them to follow and everyone but Mr Pannett followed.

Plode looked back at Mr Pannett as he helplessly sobbed. Mr Pannett had either not noticed the stone about to fall on him or didn’t care. The ceiling above him caved in, but Plode leapt in and covered Mr Pannett just in time.

“Plode!” Iris yelled.

With a smash Plode burst through the rubble, Mr Pannett was under his arms and still sobbed. Plode ran at full pace towards the others and the entire room began to crumble down on top of them. Plode barely squeezed into the narrow passageway before the whole room collapsed.

They followed Astrid up the narrow passageway led only by the bright light on the end of Astrid's wand. The further they ventured down the passageway the wider the path became.

“It was me who told Dartis some of these tunnels, although there were some parts I did not tell him about” Astrid claimed.

“Like we would trust anything you say. You could just be leading us into a trap,” Efrundle said. Astrid did not respond. He stopped at a section of the path that split into two directions.

“Assuming we ever get out” Efrundle sarcastically commented.

Astrid again ignored Efrundle and took the left path into what looked like an old aqueduct. They ventured down the aqueduct but were soon greeted by no more than sixty enemies of Ogres, Yin and Greelong. In front of them stood someone none of them wanted to see, Morgoth.

“Master told me you would betray us sooner or later, now you shall die!” Morgoth said. Just as Morgoth was ready to prepare the troops, a massive explosion ripped through the middle of the tunnel between Morgoth and Astrid.

The tunnel was now exposed to the central part of Haven. Mr Pannett and the others looked through in horror to see the entire place on fire which included the magical tree. The flames around the tree burnt a bright white flame.

From the other side of the explosion stood Liamar and Koruko with the two foxes and a group of twenty guards from Haven, who had kept hidden until the time was right. They did not run directly toward Iris and the others as Astrid stood between them.

“Give it up Morgoth!” Astrid yelled.

Morgoth laughed, “You won't get away with this betrayal. Troops, to arms!”

Liamar, Koruko and the Haven guards made a wall and prepared to fight. Mr Pannett turned his sorrow into anger and he screeched a magical blast that sent a Yin threw the air and it smashed into the wall.

“Nice armour” Plode said to Liamar and Koruko as he admired the Golden armour of their King and Queen.

“I'm sorry Plode, but Morgoth is ours,” Liamar said. Plode did not argue with her, not that he had time to anyway. A wave of Ogres approached Plode at speed ready to attack.

Astrid turned and ran over to Iris and Efrundle. In each of their hands, he placed one handle from
Limbo
.

“I hope that's enough to show my real intent.”

The wave came in quick and a barrage of spells from the Yin rushed toward them. Astrid deflected the spells with a large staff he held in his hand. Astrid deflected spell after spell, but he missed an Ogre take a swing at him. Plode grabbed the handle of the mighty axe and it just missed Astrid’s head. Plode punched the Ogre over, took the axe from his grip and thrust it into the Ogres' chest.

Astrid did not thank him but continued to deflect as many spells as he could. The Ogres continued to flood in. The Haven guards struggled to deal with the Ogres and many of them died in the initial rush.

Efrundle turned his handle into a huge spear and stabbed it into the chest of an Ogre that charged towards him. The Ogre shrugged off the hit and smacked Efrundle with the back of his hand which sent him to the floor.

Iris made a blue shield emanate from the handle and a Greelong flew in from above. It charged into Iris and she fell to the ground and dropped the handle. The Greelong pulled a bow back and aimed it at Iris. The Greelong was knocked out of the air by another screech from Mr Pannett.

Mr Pannett leapt through the hole, dodged an attack from a Yin and stood the other side of the flames. He took in a deep breath and shouted a spell through the fire. The magic sent the flames through the air and engulfed an entire line of Yin.

Thorley ran over to Iris and helped get her up. He picked up
Limbo
from the ground and threw it to Efrundle. Thorley knew that Efrundle could use them both far better than Iris. Efrundle caught it and used a spiked shield to push the Ogre out of the way. He leant down and picked up the second handle from the floor. A bulky sabre emanated from his hand and decapitated the Ogre in one swoop.

Thorley took a bow from a Greelong corpse and gave it to Iris. He then took a quiver full of arrows in one hand and took Iris's arm in the other. He led her away from the battle and behind a large rock.

“Ladies don’t belong in fights me lady,” Thorley said. Iris glanced over at Liamar, who fought Morgoth with equal strength.

“Well, she ain't in da rule” Thorley joked. Iris aimed for a Yin furthest away from her. She had seen others fire a bow and arrow, it could not be that difficult surely? Iris pulled back on the bow and looked down the arrow for her target. Enemies and allies would run between her sight and she released the tension on the bow, Iris did not want to hit an ally.

There were not many enemies left, but those left were strong. Efrundle, Plode, Thorley and the remaining few troops battled the last few Ogres. Liamar and Koruko were still busy in combat with Morgoth.

Astrid tended to the wounded. He did not use magic but wrapped pieces of cloth around wounds to try and stop the bleeding. Iris decided she would help Astrid how she could.

Iris ran over to Astrid. He had just got to an Elf, who looked almost like Mireylon. He had a large wound on the stomach and the blood gushed out fast. Astrid placed some cloth over the wound and put Iris’s hand on it. “Put pressure here,” Astrid said.

A backup platoon of evil men arrived. They ignored Liamar and Koruko and charged toward Plode and the others.

Morgoth swung his massive sword at Koruko and knocked him to the floor. Koruko struggled to steady himself from the concussion. Liamar attacked Morgoth’s back, which forced him to turn. Morgoth was much stronger and could take many hits on his thick black armour. He was much slower and most of his attacks would miss Liamar and Koruko, who could dodge with greater speed.

The light from the room disappeared in an instant, even the flames around them faded into darkness. The room went pitch black and the fighting paused.

After several seconds, the light appeared once more. The sudden light dazzled everyone in the room. One small part of the room was still smothered in darkness.

Koruko was on the floor and did not look conscious, but he was now under the control of Morgoth. Liamar stood in shock and Morgoth threw himself at her with his sword in hand.

“Liamar!” Plode yelled at Liamar. She turned with a glazed look on her face. Morgoth knocked her into the air with his sword. She hit the wall with enough force to wind her and the sword had cut through a weak spot in the armour on her arm. The gash on her arm bled heavily.

Morgoth kicked away her sword and shield and stood above her. “Good thing about Kijiar, they give me nine lives instead of just one” Morgoth said. He put his sword away to his side and pulled out a dagger.

Morgoth leant down and put his hand around her throat to pick Liamar up from the floor. An arrow whistled past him and landed beside Koruko.

Morgoth looked at the arrow and grinned. “Oh what a great idea” Morgoth held his hands out at Koruko. Koruko stood rigid. His eyes were black and he walked towards Liamar in an awkward movement.

Morgoth then handed the dagger to Koruko, who took it and placed it to Liamar’s throat under Morgoth’s spell. Morgoth suspended Liamar in the air and she did not resist. Koruko’s hand shook and he breathed heavily.

The fight nearby had gotten worse and much more of the allies had perished. Plode and Efrundle held the line between them and they thrived in combat. They took out Ogre, Greelong and evil men with ease. Plode would overpower the enemy with his brute strength. Efrundle was nimble and could change his weapon in the blink of an eye.

Astrid tried to help the wounded how he could and Thorley was hidden behind a rock the entire time.

Blood had started to trickle from Liamar’s neck. Liamar stared into Koruko’s blackened eyes. Tears rolled down her face, she could not see her husband in those eyes.

Iris pulled back another arrow and aimed it at Morgoth. She had to do something to stop him. Her hands shook, but she tried to get Morgoth in her aim. Koruko raised the dagger, Iris closed her eyes and let go of the arrow.

The arrow went faster than she thought and it missed Morgoth entirely. The arrow plunged straight into Koruko's leg. The colour in Koruko’s eyes returned, he was no longer under Morgoth’s control. Koruko turned and slashed the dagger across Morgoth’s knee joint. Morgoth fell on his knee and Koruko thrust the dagger into the back of Morgoth’s neck. Morgoth yelled out in a deep roar and he fell to the floor face first.

Koruko stumbled on his wounded leg and fell beside Morgoth’s body. Liamar pulled the dagger from Morgoth’s neck and leant it against a nearby wall. Morgoth’s body came to life. Morgoth took the sword from his side and raised it in the air. He thrust it toward Koruko with all his might.

“You shall kill no more!” Liamar screamed. She kicked Morgoth’s dagger with all her strength and the blade snapped in half.

The Dagger sent a shockwave through the room, which knocked everyone down to the floor. Morgoth impaled Koruko with his sword through the chest, however this final blow was Morgoth’s last. Morgoth was dead.

Liamar ran over to Koruko and frantically tried to tend to his wounds. Tears streamed down her face and blood covered her hands.

A moment later ghosts and spirits flew out of the dagger in an endless stream. Iris watched the spirits fly through the air and walls. Most of them went towards the magical tree and disappeared into it. The ghosts were of many different races and ages. The sound of children then filled the room with a deafening scream.

For a short while, hundreds of Kijiar ghosts left the dagger. These spirits were bright white and each Kijiar had a different amount of tails which ranged from two to nine.

One spirit left the dagger which sparked a reaction in Liamar. It was her child who died when the Legion stronghold was attacked. It also went off into the distance and disappeared into the tree. Liamar gave a small, sad smile.