Dreams of Jupiter

Part 8 - The Witch Lord

A dark, brooding and powerful figure stared at the light building beneath the arch, shadows swirling around it like wraiths of dark intent.

"My lord, your acolytes and Shadow Blades have engaged a small company of heroes near the arch," a figure in black knelt to bow its head and say.

"The Blades report the Vengazi sorcerer is with them."

"Steaphan?" the figure in shadow rumbled, his voice tinted with surprise. "I defeated him at Anoth. I watched him fall." He turned his head to regard the kneeling acolyte. "The Blades are mistaken. Tell them to, ..."

A tingle washed across the figure's senses and he paused, lifting his head slightly as if tasting the wind.

"So," he growled, the shadows abruptly darkening to nearly hide him as he gathered his fel powers. "The Blades didn't lie; my old adversary has somehow returned from the dead." Then he was snarling commands.

"Secure the seer with a full company of Shadow Blades. I don't want anything coming near her. Then send the rest of my acolytes to ward our perimeter. Once they have secured the ruins and the grounds surrounding the arch, send our messenger to Feron with our ultimatum. If Steaphan wants to play this kind of game, I'll play. And I will emerge victorious once again." He paused to take a quick look around him.

"Then all of Vandium will belong to the Broen!"

Myles slipped behind a battered stone column, his body still echoing with the poison Markis had managed to purge. Catching his breath, he watched the figure in black bow before the shifting shadows once more before turning and leaving. With a glance at the shifting shadows that could only be the Witch Lord, Myles carefully stayed low and followed the leaving figure.

A good decision; it was only a few tense moments before they were approaching a cluster of Shadow Blades grouped around a young woman who sat on a stone, looking tired, worn and sad.

"Ceana," Myles breathed, slipping behind a heap of rubble to peer at the assassins grouped loosely around the captured seer. A number of them moved forward to listen to the figure in black as they relayed whatever the shadows had told it.

For a long second he stared at the unfolding tableau, heart pounding. Then he was pulling a second lance out of his satchel.

"What the hell," he muttered.  "Not like another chance was going to come along soon." Then he was charging forward as the lances powered up in his hands.

"Time to change the world!"

The first pair of blasts smashed aside a handful of assassins each, peeling away the layer of Blades around the beaten looking Seer. Then Myles was through the opening he had created, a second wave of blasts knocking aside more Blades before he was skidding to a halt beside an astonished Ceana.

"Madam Seer," he said in a breathless voice. "My name is Myles Abbott. The sorcerer Steaphan sent me to help rescue you."

"Steaphan sent you?" she said in a quavering voice. "I don't know whether to slap you, kiss you, or salute you. Rescuing me was a horrible risk. Yet I am so very grateful that you've tried."

"Tried?" Myles turned to blast several more Blades as they charged in.

"As long as access to the gate is available, the Witch Lord can take me through to Kalidain and perform the sundering. Hope for the Vengazi will end."

"Of course," Myles growled. Why would changing the world actually be easy?

Smashing back the last of the assassins, the young human twisted towards the arch and its cascade of light.

"If closing down the gate will prevent the sundering, then closing the gate we will do," he said. Then he was taking Ceana by the arm.

"C'mon!"

The arch throbbing with channeled energies as they ran towards it, a small cluster of grey robed beings standing nearby.

"Who are they?" Myles asked.

"Members of the Priory," Ceana said breathlessly as she ran unsteadily beside him. "They've controlled travel via the arches to the worlds around Bordain called Bordain's Fist for centuries."

"Yet they didn't stop Korsahg," Myles said and Ceana shook her head.

"Only a handful stay with the arches. They didn't have the strength to resist when Korsahg arrived."

"Ah!" Myles smiled grimly.  Then they wouldn't try to stop them either.

The nearest robed figure turned towards them as they approached at a run. He instantly paled at seeing the seer.

"No, no, no," he began to protest, holding up his hands. "He promised to leave us in peace if we allowed him to take the seer through to Kalidain."

"Change of plans," Myles said, the lance in his hand already humming. Then he turned and fired at an acolyte that was running in from the side, weapon ready. The blast hit him square in the chest, nearly cutting him in half before throwing the rest back.

Bringing the lance back around, he aimed it at the robed man.

"Where are the controls?"

The panel on the back of the control pedestal come off with a little coaxing, allowing Myles to peer inside. As expected the interior was thickly caked with dust, most of the parts inert and broken. He wasn't going to pretend that he could know how such a device worked. But he could recognize some of the parts from the ones he had experimented on at Steve's castle. Like the breakers that were lined up in a row in front of him, similar to one of Tesla's circuit panels. With only one of them glowing, it wasn't hard to determine what was keeping the gate active.

Reaching in, he pulled the breaker, a simple crescent of solid metal, out of its socket. Then he watched in satisfaction as the tumble of light within the crescent collapsed.

"Arch officially closed," he said with a grin. Then he was grunting as strong arms looped around his body and he was being pulled through an open portal.

****

The music was alien, yet somehow soothing as it filled King Feron's great hall, crowded with Vandium royalty from every race allied with the Vengazi. And one lone human.

Myles smiled as he leaned against the column, letting the music sweep over him. He was dressed in a high necked tunic and baggy pants in shades of blue, tucked into black leather boots, the latest in Vengazi fashion.

"Well, Mr Abbott," Steve said as he stepped to Myles' side, dressed in his usual robes and hands clasped behind his back. "You did it. You helped save Vandium."

Myles' smile faded slightly.

"This time," he said. "We saved the seer, thanks in great part to the skills you passed to me with that touch." As he said that, he watched a smiling Feron walking through the crowd, greeting his guests with Ceana on his arm. The seer looked refreshed from a few days' rest and one of Steve's healing spells, radiant in a dress of gold, sand and pale red.

Then he was looking over at Steve.

"But we didn't stop the Witch Lord. We only thwarted his plan."

"That's true." Steve's smile was wry. "So you'll be staying a bit to help out with that?"

Myles felt his smile return as he remembered Steve's promise to take him back to Earth once he had saved Vandium. He turned to look at the color and sound of Feron's ball, letting the alien sights and sounds wash over him for a moment. Then he was nodding.

"For a bit," he said with a smile.

"For a bit!"