Lost Lands: The Game - Atlantis (25 page)

Sartael did a stuttered step as that thought rolled through his head. The witch. She was unaccounted for. From all descriptions that had reached his desk, he could
only guess who it was. That’s when he felt a slight twitch in his caduceus. She was close.

Seconds later,
he found out how close she was when she landed five feet in front of him and directly in his path to the fallen samurai. He did notice that she was wearing a form fitting black leather body suit that was extremely flattering and holding a pair of knives. Considering the fighting stance she was in, he guessed that she knew how to use them. Not that it really mattered to him. He could tell that they weren’t enchanted which means they had no hope of penetrating the magical shield radiating from his caduceus.

Plastering a smile on his face, he summoned his most persuasive voice.
“Callistra my dear, it is a pleasure to see you again.”

“Liar! You might’ve stolen my wand from me but you will not take my husband from me.”

That revelation shocked him enough to make Sartael jerk backwards slightly. “Your husband? Wow, Al Shaytan wasn’t kidding when he said that he had a present for me. I can only imagine the power his blade will add to my caduceus once it’s joined with your wand.”

“You won’t have a chance since you’re not leaving here alive.”

Sartael couldn’t hold back his laughter. “You are outnumbered and powerless against my army. You have lost already, you just don’t know it.”

“As
John Paul Jones once said, I have not yet begun to fight.” And the vampyress attacked.

Back in the real world, Cassie had been training in TaeKwonDo for over a dozen years. She was no where near as skilled a martial artist as Tao was in this realm or even
Patrick back on the other side but then, her real self wasn’t nearly as fast or as strong as this body. Since Calli had lost her wand, she had relied on her marital arts skills many times to get her out of sticky situations and had become downright deadly.

However
she hadn’t counted on his magical defenses. She started her assault with a jump spin side kick that landed square on his scepter. She had hoped it would be knocked out of his hand but it was only knocked aside. It did allow her the opportunity to stab with her daggers. Both scored direct hits in the center of his chest but the blades seemed to pass through Sartael’s body and robes without injury.

The sickening
grin plastered on his face only angered her.

Channeling her fury into her attacks,
Callistra let loose with a dazzling series of kicks followed by more knife attacks. Sartael seemed to be moved backwards from the force of her attacks although he didn’t seem to be hurt by them at all and once again, the non-magical daggers just passed through his body without injury. Regrettably for Calli, her last series of attacks actually put her out of position and almost directly under the raised head of the cockatrice.

“My turn,” said Sartael as his
caduceus began to glow with a reddish light.

Calli hazarded a quick glance upwards and saw that the deadly serpent was sucking in air, not a good sign. Her eyes flicked to the body of her husband and she saw him move, not much but at least he was alive. Refocusing her attention onto the wizard, she tensed in expectation of his spell. She would only have one chance to dodge
whatever spell he was about to cast and she needed it to count. One wrong move and she was toast or a statue.

Neither sounded
like a good option to her at this particular time.

*   *   *   *   *

Mathias reached over to his shoulder to grab another arrow only to find empty air. Not that it should surprise him. He’d been firing arrows non-stop since they had begun this assault. He’d already gone through the two quivers of fifty he’d strapped onto his hips before the raid. And now his back quiver of one hundred arrows was also empty.

This was not good.

The half-elf began scanning the nearby corpses for arrows. None that were close seemed to have any usable arrows protruding from their bodies. Not that they didn’t have arrows stuck in them, they did, but most seemed to have been bent or broken in the enemy’s death spasms.

Damn it! Here he was an archer without arrows but plenty of targets.

Expanding his gaze, he saw the ivory skinned witch backing away from the black robed wizard. Even though Matthew hadn’t officially met Cassie’s current avatar, he knew it was her. And now she was caught between the wizard and the cockatrice. She couldn’t dive to her left since that would put her back to the wall of the stables and nowhere else to dodge. If she dove to the other side, it would be easy for the cockatrice to breathe on her. If she stayed still, the wizard had her.

The Matthew part of him couldn’t help but think,
‘Lord, if only I still had some arrows I could help.’

Mathias felt
the enchanted bow vibrate in his hand and right before his eyes, an arrow of pure magic formed across the riser. It was solid white and seemed to pulse with its own heartbeat. Sighting down the shaft at the rooster-headed serpent, Mathias Strongbow held his shot as he witnessed a dark shadow leap from the barn loft onto the cockatrice’s head.

*   *   *   *   *

Brandon couldn’t believe what he was doing. But then, he wasn’t Brandon at least not entirely. At this precise moment he was Tariq al’Nasir al’Rafiq of the Hashashin Order. He was the Silent Blade of the Burning Sands. He had been given the challenge of killing the cockatrice. And a Hashashin never backs down from a challenge.

Biding his time, Tariq
had waited until the serpent’s attention was fixed on the witch before he struck. He had dialed up the poison in his katar to its most deadly venom. He doubted it would do anything more than slow the beast down. His only hope lie in his first strike and then his agility.

The knowledge of anatomy imparted to him by his assassin avatar did not cover the vulnerable parts of a dragon. He had to trust in the witch’s suggestion of attacking the eyes. It was only logical. Even if it didn’t kill it, at least it would put the great beast at a disadvantage. And that might make all the difference.

As soon as he leapt, he knew that he’d timed it perfectly. Tariq landed and stabbed his magical blade deep into the serpent’s left eye. What he didn’t take into consideration was the speed at which the beast would react. The cockatrice jerked back so violently that he was flung off its neck. Tariq flipped over in mid-air and bounced off of the nearby barn. Meanwhile, his katar was still lodged in the ruined eye socket of the cockatrice and it was now pissed off and after him. This didn’t bode well for his immediate future.

Chapter 30

Callistra would’ve smiled at this situation if she was still back home sitting at the keyboard.

Actually, that was incorrect. Cassie would’ve smiled. There was a distinct difference in the two and she forced herself to remember that. Back home the worst thing she’d ever done was a speeding ticket or smoked a little pot. But over here, she was a killer. She’d had to drink the blood of innocents to survive. She was still unsure of how Patrick’s sense of honor would react to that fact. Although, she hoped to have the chance to find out and that all depended on the next few minutes.

Tariq’s attack on the cockatrice had caused Sartael to pause but not enough for her to escape. Now
, he was about to cast a killing hex. She knew this through her faint connection with her former wand. It still answered to her but only slightly. It was slowly being drained of power and soon wouldn’t even recognize her. Even as Sartael cast the spell, she leapt high in the air to avoid its deadly effects but it still struck her.

As she was
knocked back through the air, she knew the only reason she was alive was her wand. It had resisted the killing aspect of the spell but in the process she could sense that it was done. It was no longer attuned to her and now only responded to the black robed wizard.

Callistra
came to rest against the corpse of a wyvern that still had its saddle and bags strapped to its back. Something about the saddle rig tugged on her memory but she couldn’t concentrate. The world was fuzzy.

Sartael calmly walked toward her.
His brow was furrowed as he chewed on the inside of his lip. “You’re supposed to be dead. Why aren’t you dead?”

Callistra grimaced when she tried to move. At least one rib was broken, that much she could tell. Not that she was worried about it. If she lived through the next few moments she would heal and heal quickly, one of the few benefits of her vampirism affliction. If Sartael had immediately c
ast a second spell, there would not have been anything she could have done to defend against it but the wizard wanted to talk, so she would talk.

Grinding her teeth together at the pain, she shifted to a more upright position and looked the wizard in the eyes. “
It’s simple, I wasn’t supposed to die.”

That brought Sartael up short. “What do you mean by that?”

“There are more forces at work in this realm than your precious Al Shaytan.”

Sartael rubbed his chin as he considered her implications. “You’re bluffing.”

She licked her dry lips and knew that there was blood on her tongue, typically not a good sign. “Think so? Then why didn’t your spell kill me? I know that was your intention.”

“True
.”

She nodded toward his makeshift
caduceus. “Why do you only have half of the Dragon Orb? Because that is how the powers that be want it.”

Callistra could tell that her words were causing him doubt. She could almost see
the uncertainty flooding his face. But more than that, she saw that her husband had pushed himself up to his knees. He needed more time to clear away the cobwebs but she didn’t know if her current bluff would give it to him. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw the half-blind cockatrice as it chased the nimble assassin through the onrushing horde of goblins, who quickly discovered that they were just as susceptible to the serpent’s devastating breath weapon as Jerrick had been.

The witch
nodded toward the wounded cockatrice. “Your pet isn’t faring well.”

Sartael glanced in that direction and shrugged. “No matter.
He is only one of many. The same could be said about the goblins. They are naught but pawns to be used and discarded when they’ve outlived their usefulness.”

Calli shifted to her left and
felt a jolt when her hand brushed up against a familiar object wrapped in a blanket which had been shoved into a saddlebag. Sartael didn’t seem to notice her actions since he was still talking.

“This world is nothing but an elaborate chessboard. Anyone and everyone are just pieces in the game.
Nevertheless I’m playing to win. I’m happy to trade pawns for nearly any gain but more importantly, I’ve traded a simple knight for a powerful bishop. Hell, I don’t even mind trading my cockatrice for the death of your friends.” Sartael nodded toward the rooster-headed serpent. “Behold. Bear witness to their destruction.”

Calli couldn’t help but look a
nd the sight crushed her hopes.

The cockatrice had Tariq pinned underneath one claw
with scores of broken and shattered statues of goblins and men surrounding them. Not far from that spectacle, Kastle was down with blood flowing from a head wound. Gamble the dwarven skald was standing over top of him, injured and putting up a brave but futile defense against the massive dreadknight.

“Now it’s time to end this. However, don’t take this personal
. It’s just business.” Sartael raised his caduceus and spoke the command phrase of his strongest and most painful curse.

Calli gripped the hilt of Roland’s sword and pulled it free. Thrusting it in front of her in a desperate measure of defense she couldn’t help but mutter, “Oh Lord, let this work.”

*   *   *   *   *

Tariq looked up from the flat of his back at the massive
cockatrice as it raised its head high and took in a deep breath. This was it. He was trapped and didn’t have a single trick left to play.

“By God, I didn’t think this was how it would end.”

*   *   *   *   *

Something had told Mathias to hold his shot. He wasn’t sure why but he’d held the arrow of energy and waited for the right moment. Seeing the cockatrice rearing up overtop the prone form of the assassin, he knew it was time. Exhaling slowly, the half-elf sighted down the shaft and trusted his archer instincts on the wind and release his shot.

The mystical bolt flew straight and true.

*   *   *   *   *

As the fog cleared from Patrick’s mind, he took in the battlefield in a single glance.

It was bad.

About fifty feet to his right, the wizard was standing overtop of Cassie and looked to be about to cast a spell.
While off to his left and much closer was Cozad, who was about to strike a killing blow on Gamble. Tao knew he could intervene only on one, not both. His head told him to help Marvin, his oldest friend, yet his heart ached for him to aid Cassie.

“Jesus, how do I choose?”