Chapter 4 Part 20

Serpent Blackheart stepped into the dueling ring and stretched his legs with a standing high jump. He drew his sword and the midnight colored blade seemed to suck the light in from around it. The room's light dimmed though the torches burned just as hotly.

Across the way from the huge tyrant an elven slave was thrust into the dueling ring. He was armed with a long sword and a set of well worn and oversized chain mail. Fear was in his eyes. He had had a family and friends. He had had a name and freedom. He had had a future. Not any more.

Even though he knew his chances of successfully defending himself against the warrior and magical sword confronting him was nonexistent, he still made and effort to block the blow when it came. It was a last act of defiance, but his limbs were too paralyzed with terror to obey his commands.

Like watching a dream he just stood there and observed detached as the dark blade jumped forward dragging the warrior along behind it. There was madness in the man's eyes. The victim felt his body jerk and a coldness spread throughout his being. For a brief moment he saw his own body through the eyes of his enemy, then all was black.

Blackheart pulled the sword free of the elf's body. That was the problem with Reaper. All but a very, very few of its victims were mesmerized by its presence. This elf's mind had shut down the moment he had seen the blade. The last opponent he had fought that had actually resisted the blade's power had been a gold dragon.

Serpent Blackheart remembered well the dying scream of agony as the blade had driven the ancient gold insane on the first blow and had consumed its soul on the second. Blackheart still wore the scar the dragon had left when it ripped his leg open with a dying claw. He treasured it as a battle trophy and refused to let his physician heal it. Just like the scar in his side where a unicorn had gored him just seconds before he had relieved the beast of its head. All these were fond memories.

"Getting your morning exercise in, father?" Serpent Blackheart turned and found his son approaching.

"Miguel, my son. It is good to have you home."

"It is good to be home, father." Miguel kicked at the bleeding corpse. "What will you do with this one?" he asked.

"He was no fun at all," the master of Aspberg replied with an air of disappointment. "I think he will serve me better as a skeleton or a zombie, but nothing greater."

"A fantastic weapon," Miguel said admiring Reaper. "Anything it kills will become an undead creature under your command."

"It has pleased me to no end," Serpent said sheathing the object of discussion. "How was your mission?"

"We have the support of both Freon and the Ice Kingdom," Miguel reported. "We may have some trouble if Freon troops start summoning demons around our allies from Hell," he added, "but I think we can prevent that from occurring if we deploy our forces carefully among those of our allies."

"Well done, my son. We are almost prepared." The Firstborn of the Godking smiled for the first time in months.

He motioned for his son to draw nearer. "Watch this," he said reaching out his hand over a wooden pillar supporting the ropes around the dueling ring. For a few seconds, there was nothing. Then suddenly from a dead post sprang a bud. Rapidly before his eyes, Miguel watched the bud grow and sprout leaves.

"Fantastic, father. A druid?" he asked excitedly.

"A druid and a warrior," the father confirmed. "Morteous confirmed it himself." He smiled again. "Dead by the hand of Tyson with the help of a wight."

"How much control of the druidic magic have you gained?"

"Very little at the moment," Serpent admitted. "My experts are arranging for me to gain some of the necessary spells to hide my true self from the nature of the forests in time for the next full moon. If I can perform the bonding ceremony, I will become a druid of medium power."

"I didn't think it was possible to fool nature," Miguel said with interest. "How do you plan to pull this one off?"

"Normally you would be right. It is impossible for a non-druid to fool nature into yielding her powers to me. But I will be going as a druid already. If I can disguise my true being long enough to take the bond, I will irrevocably gain druidic power."

"How do you know what the bonding ceremony is? That is one of the greatest secrets in the multi-universe. No non-druid knows it."

Serpent looked at his son and smiled. Then he laughed.