"You're up," said Melock with a wave toward the charging threats of muscle and steel.
"What?" Murphy shook her head still a little dazed.
The first two were on her with raised swords coming down for the kill. She turned her body sideways and stepped between them as they missed her and stumbled forward. She spun her hammer behind them catching the first in the head and sending him flying into his partner. Blood spattered all over the second man as the first experienced a massive brain injury if not instant death. The two went down, Murphy's hammer went up, and crushed the second man's skull with a devastating thud.
The other two stepped back, grabbed helmets off the floor, and put them on. Behind them was another diamond-shaped doorway leading down.
"We've got company!" yelled one into the doorway.
The other advanced more cautiously and swung sideways at Murphy. She dropped under his wide swing and twirled her hammer in the opposite direction connecting with his knee. His legs snapped together with a clank of armor and the crunch of a kneecap. He collapsed to the floor.
The last soldier stood his ground at the doorway. Murphy stepped on and over his whimpering associate. The man raised his sword and charged forward letting out a ferocious battle cry. Murphy spun her hammer in a one-armed windmill, leaning back and heaving the weapon at the oncoming attacker. He didn't stop his charge but attempted to swat the oncoming war hammer. His sword connected but only slowed the inevitable impact to the right side of his pelvis. His hip shattered on impact and his war cry turned into a howl of pain.
Murphy skipped over to him, picked up her hammer, and slung it to rest on her shoulder.
"Before I rid the world of these evildoers, do you have any questions for them?" she asked Melock.
The wizard stood next to the man holding his knee.
"Where is your master?"
"He's... he's on the main level... deciphering the hieroglyphs. Don't let her kill us!" said the man.
Murphy's response was to take the helmet off the man with the broken pelvis. His crazed eyes shot her a look that would kill if it could. Sweat-drenched hair stuck to his pained face.
"Do you repent your evil ways?" she asked him.
"Fuck you!"
Murphy made those his last words.
"I repent! I repent! I'm sorry!" said the last man.
He sat up but fell back unable to stand. Murphy walked over to him and kicked his sword across the room.
"Can you crawl out of here with one leg?"
"I think so," he said and began to drag himself toward the stairs.
"They say no one who enters the tomb of the lich comes out alive?" she said.
"Wait no, I repented, I'll change my ways!"
She slammed her hammer down on his other leg, flattening his shin guard and the leg beneath. The man screamed.
"If you crawl out now, your penance will be complete," she said.
The man held back his groans and clawed at the floor, dragging himself much slower toward the stairs.
Murphy returned to the last one she killed and undid the straps of his shoulder armor. She took off her bucket helm and pulled the armor over her head. Her armor was a piecemeal collection of parts that didn't fit her, nor match together in any way. She took off the plates that were on her upper arms to make room for the new large shoulder plating.
Melock walked to the diamond door.
"If you're finished dispensing with the henchmen, shall we continue?"
Murphy nodded and followed, putting on her bucket and giving her hammer a few practice swings.
They went down a long spiral staircase and emerged in a great hall. At the midlevel of the tomb was a massive room with diamond walls covered in symbols Murphy didn't understand. The room was lit by many brass braziers and in the center was a man in a black hooded robe and two half-sized little men. One was writing in a large book, the other holding a bright lantern. The robed man turned to them as they entered. Melock stepped forward.
"Kulju, my misguided old friend, this is not a sustainable method of long life. Lichdom would only drive you to madness."
Kulju laughed and pulled back his hood. His fingertips and palms were blackened like he had stuck them into fire. His head was bald and his eyes were solid black orbs. He opened his mouth to reveal pointed teeth and a forked tongue.
"Your narrow-mindedness drives me mad!" growled Kulju.
The two little men pulled hand crossbows and fired two bolts at the intruders. Melock flicked his fingers at the arrows and they changed direction in mid-flight and returned to the small fellows with a sting.
"No, no, no!" they shouted, pulling out the offending darts.
"Master the antidote?" one pleaded as they both began to turn a blueish-green and collapsed gasping for air.
Kulju didn't even look at them. He raised his hands and produced a ball of fire that expanded into a cone and raced across the room. Murphy looked into the burning circle of flames and saw the room before her turn into an inferno. Melock placed two fingers on her arm and instantly she was standing on the other side of the room behind Kulju. He continued to throw the fires of hell at the stairway where they previously stood.
Murphy's eyes narrowed and her grip tightened on her weapon. She ran, swung, and connected. Kulju never saw the hit coming and it knocked the life from his body. The fires of darkness extinguished and a feeling of sublime rapture flushed through Murphy's body. To extinguish the evil of the world was her goal in life. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, silently thanked the goddess of light, and exhaled long and slow.
YOU ARE READING
Space Wizards
Science FictionUsually, they say not to judge a book by its cover but....
