Blood & Wine - A Spawn Astarion Fan Fiction

Astarion

There isn't a way out, at least not that I can see. All of the doorways, including the one behind us are locked tight with a row of iron bars. The skeletons were slow to stir at first, but with each moment whatever spell that is animating them grows stronger.

Karlach is the first to react, practically glowing with excitement that stokes her flames into a frenzy. With her first step the skeletons break formation, the ones with blades charging forward. She makes quick work with the first to reach her, splitting it's skull in two.

I stare at the bars of my quite literal cage and swallow down my fear, instead letting my body fall back into the burning instinct to fight and brandish my dagger. I'm a viper poised to strike.

Beside me Nymeria's attention is torn between each wall that surrounds us, tendrils of bright green magic wrapping around her fingers and snaking up her forearms. As a result thick vines split through the cracks of brick in the walls, rending solid stone and reaching for the nearest skeletal forms, holding them in place.

A movement catches my eye as one of the skeletons lifts his bow, arrow nocked and shakily trained on Nymeria. I surge forward and wrap my arm around it's shoulder, in one fluid motion sliding the blade of my dagger between the vertebrae at the base of it's skull, sending it tumbling to the floor. The body slides from my arms and I pick the bow from it's tangled form along with the handful of arrows it has stored in it's quiver.

Magic is thick in the air, enough for me to taste. Not the familiar warmth of Nymeria's magic that borders on sweet, but the rotten tang of necrotic magic.

I nock an arrow and draw back the bowstring, scanning the room until I find it. A row of stationary mages gathered at the far end of the room shambling against the twisting vines at their waists. The magic in their hands crackling and waning as they struggle to gain enough composure to cast their spell.

It's then that one shakes free of the enchantment, magic flaring to life. My aim is shaky and the line of sight is broken as Karlach continues to rage, swinging her greataxe with wild laughter. The sounds of steel sparking against steel filling the cavernous room.

"Nymeria! Watch out!" I call out as I see the green magic blast from the skeletal mage's fingers. I steady myself and loose the arrow, relaxing as it finds it's mark wrenching the skull from the body and shattering it against the stone behind.

My heart drops as she lets out a pained cry, I turn with only enough time to see the bolt of magic clip her shoulder. It sinks in to her skin and I can see the glow of it traveling through her veins down her right arm, but her spell of entanglement holds true.

I push through the burning in my chest, nocking an arrow after arrow and letting them fly. Some splitting skulls and tethering them to the wall, others falling flat. I leap over the fallen skeletons, searching for another quiver. I'm close enough to the crypt wall to hear the rattling of bones thrashing against a casket beside me.

"More are trying to break free!" I call out, "There's something channeling the magic that's animating them. We have to find it and stop it."

"Astarion!" Nymeria yells, pointing a shaking finger to the ceiling above the ornate sarcophagus in the center of the room. "There!"

I notice the cloudy green orb pulsating with light, it was easy to miss with how far it's recessed into the ceiling, guarded with a rim of thick stone. I swallow and ready my bow with a silent prayer to the gods that the impact will be enough to shatter it.

The smell of blood tickles my senses and I turn to see the ruby red drip from Nymeria's nose before she shudders and the magic in her fingertips crackle and fade.