The man sucked in air with a gurgle and coughed violently. Grimble exited his suit, stood upon the table, and lit his pipe to cover the odor of the thawing corpse. Murphy and Sabastain looked on in amazement. She whispered a silent prayer to the gods of death and he mumble disbelief in his mother tongue.
"Dragons! Dragons!!!" screamed the man attempting to stand but falling back on the table under worthless limbs.
"It's alright. The dragons are gone. You're safe. We're friends," said Melock.
The man's crazed bloodshot half-working eyes looked around the room from person to person. He appeared confused, then calmed at the sight of Grimble, and excited again upon a longer look at Melock.
"Sgt. Gogol of the Army of the Western Kingdom. My men were eaten by the snow dragons, only I survived. We come with a message for Melock the Wise. Are you he?" said the man cracking his jaw as he spoke with much effort from raw blue lips and a swollen tongue.
"I'm Melock. What is your message, Sergeant?"
"King Æthelred and his wizard Dicax send word that a plague has befallen our kingdom. I've been tasked with finding you and petitioning for help. Darkness covers the west. The dead rise from the grave. Monsters in the forms of our families and friends terrorize the streets. An evil voice whispers in the wind above the great plains. Will you help us?"
"Of course, I'll do all I can."
"Save the city! Save my children!" said the man with a desperate terrified look.
"When did you leave the citadel?"
"Less than a week ago. We made haste through the mountains."
"That you did, brave knight," said Mr. Grimble.
"Lay back and rest, your mission is complete," said Melock.
"Thank you. Thank you so much." Gogol laid back on the table, closed his eyes, and returned to his eternal slumber.
Melock pulled a gold-framed mirror off the bookshelf, set it on the table face up, and tapped it three times. The image of Luculentus Dicax Sid appeared in the mirror.
"A dark power has come to our world. At first, I feared your journey to the tomb of the lich released some undead foe but I went there and all is well. Evil magic descends upon our kingdom sucking the life from our citizens. Despite my efforts, it continues to take hold. On your return contact me at once."
His image faded only to reappear a second later. The second time Dicax wore a thin golden helm and a chest plate splattered with blood.
"He calls himself the Necromancer. We've battled and his power is extreme. He is a being from a distant galaxy who was punished for turning world after world into planets of the living dead. He escaped from a multidimensional cage after millions of years of imprisonment. He may have told me this out of boastful pride, but his power seems to grow with each death he causes. He already commands an undead army the city can hardly hold back. His aim is the conquest of our world. We fight for our lives. When you return, do so with extreme caution. And arm yourself, to the teeth. I fear we shall not survive the night."
His image faded again. Melock closed his eye in a long silence while the others watched. When he opened them again, his face bore a grave expression.
"Sid is dead," he said as a matter of fact.
"We must go and fight this evil," said Murphy standing straight and raising her hammer before her.
"That we must," added Grimble. "Does the castle have an armory?"
"Isolation is the castle's defense," said Melock.
"There are many spoils to be discovered in acts of valor," said Sabastian.
"I'm glad I can count on you, friends, but I suspect we will need additional help. I must go. I'll return shortly. Eat, rest, and prepare yourselves for battle." With that and a touch of his fingers to his amulet, Melock vanished.
"Is it always like this with him?" asked de Martín.
"Yes," said Sister Murphy.
"We best give this soldier a sky burial. He's starting to stink something awful," said Grimble climbing back into his suit and picking the body off the table. "I'll throw him over the ramparts."
Murphy and Sabastain followed him to the outer wall and watched the body fall, bounce off rocks, and vanish into the ravine below. Murphy prayed that Gogol's soul would be released from his tortured body and that she would be in time to save his children. In her mind's eye, she saw the light of his spirit drift up into the heavens.
Grimble armed his robot with Gogol's sword and shield
"What did he mean by non-dead?" asked the gnome.
"Undead," said Murphy.
"Vampire. Zombies. Ghouls. I've heard these fantasy stories of old Earth," said de Martín. "Myths meant to scare children. Nothing more."
"Here they are real," said Murphy. "I've faced such creatures before. Vile magic brings them to life."
"Like what Melock did to the frozen man?"
Murphy looked at Sabastian with deep concern and said, "Maybe... Not exactly. I don't know? At least Gogol didn't try and kill us."
"They say a bite from an undead creature will turn you into one of them," said Sabastian.
"Then I suggest you wear armor," said Murphy holding up a brass-covered arm.
"Wizard!" sounded a yell that echoed across the valley. "W-i-z-a-r-d-!-!-!"
Murphy's eyes lit up and she ran to the courtyard with Sabastian and Grimble at her heels. There, in full white battle armor was Øregård. Next to him was a white steel cube and a ridiculously oversized turbo blaster. Murphy ran down the stairs three at a time, her armor catching the afternoon light with a sparkle.
"Øregård!"
"Little warrior! You look well. Such fine armor."
They hugged with a clank. Grimble's iron robot walked down the steps much slower and opened for the gnome to give his hellos.
"Mr. Gimble Grumble," said Øregård. "Your new robot is too small for the fight we are to undertake. I brought you this."
He touched the top of the white cube and it opened into a blocky robot nearly as big as Øregård, himself. The robot's square head sat atop a squared torso and rectangular arms led to chunky four-fingered claws. Thick rectangular legs went down to the ground like tree trunks. The chest cavity opened to reveal advanced circuitry and systems far beyond anything on Abraxas.
"I thought we weren't allowed to bring advance machinery here?" said Grimble.
"The wizard made an exception," said Øregård lifting his handheld super cannon and activating it with a click and a low resonance hum.
"We'll make fine use of it," said Grimble examining the robot. "A Grandorian knock-off, but not a bad reproduction of an old Sentinel model. It's made of the same starship astro-hull material that your armor is made of. If I'm not mistaken?"
Øregård puffed out his chest lifting the barrel of armor around it. "Indestructible," he said cracking his gun into the breastplate.
"Certainly stronger than my brass clockwork fellow here. Does it have remote capability?"
The gnome parked the two robots next to each other and climbed back and forth between them, adjusting parts, moving things, and fine-tuning the robotic soldiers.
"What did Melock say we're to do?" asked Murphy.
Øregård took on a serious expression and said, "Be ready at dawn."
YOU ARE READING
Space Wizards
Science FictionUsually, they say not to judge a book by its cover but....
