Chapter 7 Part 1

THE TEMPLE AND THE FORTRESS

Ditks led Armegon, Ultrecht and Avery along with a score of animated dead bodies, magically preserved, through the sentry lines posted around the Doyr stronghold. They had left the cabin and a most certainly furious Calista five days before.

The Doyr scout had led them dressed in Doyr clothing through the woodlands east of Tycho without error. When they had come within detection range of the sentries, Avery had used tree bark, beeswax and berry juice to make sufficient disguises for them all. Then they put a bandage over the rangers eyes as if he were blind to conceal the one feature that he could not hide. When disguised, Avery and Ultrecht fell in line with the walking dead.

They passed through the perimeter with uncanny ease. Ultrecht leading Avery followed a squad of walking corpses while Armegon and Ditks reported to the head sentinel. To hide the fact that many of the troops were in fact dead, they had bandaged up the fatal wounds, but in spite of that anyone looking closely enough might detect the strange lack of fresh blood.

In spite of the dangers, they were soon inside the stronghold. It was a lair of ancient buildings mostly buried in the compost and vegetation of the surrounding forest. Ditks confided that it had long ago been a city but had fallen into ruin until the Doyr religion had excavated it and set up residence.

The troop passed through the gates and were inside the main compound, when a passer by noted that one of the soldiers was familiar. "Hey Grund," the guardsman chaffed, "you guys really took a beating didn't you?"

The corpse of course did not answer, and the guard became even more curious. "Hey Grund!" The guard reached out and grabbed the body's arm. The arm had been partially amputated, and when the rough treatment was inflicted, the arm completed its separation from the body. The zombie made no motion, except to walk onward. The guard, however, was not stupid. He drew his sword and sounded the alarm.

As the call went up, other guards appeared on the scene. There was momentary confusion as the guards encountered familiar faces and no fighting resistance. Armegon took the advantage of the moment to act. Just as he had done at the cabin, he released a force scythe. The ripple in the air spread out symmetrically. Ultrecht, Avery and Ditks fell flat on the cobblestone floor as the wave of death passed over them.

"Quick," Avery snapped as he tore his blindfold from his eyes. He grabbed Ditks and yanked him to his feet. "Where would Nikki and Sam be kept.?"

Ditks stammered momentarily. Body parts were littered all around him and Armegon was running to their side. "Either the temple or the dungeons beneath it," he guessed.

"Which way?" Ultrecht demanded. Ditks pointed to a large archway where a pair of cloven bodies were in the process of slumping to the ground.

Avery released the scout. "Get your family and get into the forest. Don't wait." When he released Ditks, the man turned and fled.

"We may have to blast our way inside," Armegon muttered.

"We’ll do what we must," Avery replied. "We’ve lost our surprise. Nikki and Sam could be in danger." The ranger reached over his shoulder and drew the enchanted sword. It rang out like a bell tower hit by lightning.

Will you fight? Avery thought to the weapon. They were in the Doyr's home. On more than one occasion when they were the aggressors, the sword had refused aid.
We are here to right an injustice. The inhabitants of this dwelling are accomplices, the sword answered.

Avery sprinted for the massive temple doors. They were closed and barred from within. Avery inserted the impossibly thin blade in the space between the doors and raised the weapon. There, about halfway up there was a hint of resistance, almost undetectable.

Avery wondered if it had been nothing more than his imagination, but whatever it was, the doors swung inward. Entering, Avery noted as he inspected the doors that not only had the door been barred with solid iron, but a locking mechanism had also opposed their entry. Liberator had effortlessly sheared both bar and lock.

As they stepped through the portal, they were met by a priestess. With staff raised above her head, she screamed in an alien tongue. Armegon took the point and clapped his hands together at arm's length. In mid speech, the priestess was lifted from her feet and slammed violently against the back wall of the entrance chamber. Dazed she fell to her knees.

There was no time to waste. Armegon took a dagger and ran towards the young woman. She would know where Nikki and Sam were being held. As he drew closer, the priestess slammed her staff against the ground. The floor of the room buckled beneath their feet throwing them to the floor. When the trio regained their footing, the priestess ducked back through a second archway into a large hall.

Immediately, Armegon, Avery and Ultrecht followed. The priestess retreated through a second pair of doors that were guarded by a pair of huge Doyr males. As the doors closed behind her, they began to glow with a pink aura. The guards each drew long wickedly jagged blades.

At full sprint, Avery charged the vanguard. One guard meant to cleave him in two, but as the weapon hissed through the air, Liberator darted up and intercepted the swing. The offending weapon shattered as it touched the Sword of Justice. On the ranger's back swing, the guard's head vacated his shoulders, and flew across the room.

The second guard lunged in an attempt to stab the ranger, but again the enchanted blade disallowed the blow to strike home. A repeat of the last maneuver followed, and in a breath's time, Avery stood alone with Armegon and Ultrecht before the glowing doors.

"These doors have been sealed with magic," Ultrecht stated.

"Can you penetrate them?" Avery asked. Ultrecht gave no reply. He reached into his pouch and drew forth a six pointed star on a chain, the Talisman of the Eight Elements. He took a piece of chalk and drew an upright triangle on the door. Then he drew a blue spiral within the triangle, the symbol of the element of wind.

Ultrecht stepped back from the door and bade his partners do likewise. Avery and Armegon, having seen Ultrecht at work before, retreated out of the room and took cover.
Ultrecht closed his eyes and began a short incantation. After a moment he paused. "It is very strong," he informed the other two. "But I can handle this." It took about three minutes, but suddenly Ultrecht brought his two fists together hard and thrust them at the door.

The doors blew inwards as the sheer will of Ultrecht's unmatched command of the elements blasted the door, fiber from fiber, with a battering ram of pure force. Armegon and Avery ran forward to give aid in dealing with anything that may emerge from the chamber beyond.

The scene in the room was like that of a nightmare frozen in time. A humongous, horribly disfigured spider with the torso and head of a giant human female hung within a giant web. Also present in the web were husks of numerous bodies rotting away. The chamber also contained about a dozen women dressed similarly to the priestess that had entered most recently. Lastly there were about three slim males dressed in togas and carrying trays of food. Everyone within stared in disbelief at the trio in the doorway.

"Infidels!" screamed a woman. "The inner sanctum has been violated. Guards!"

"Silence!" a voice boomed from the throat of the monster in the web. "It is most inconceivable. No mortal can break my magic." The hideous body climbed from the web and stood on the floor. The sight of the whole thing had stunned the invading trio and though well over fifty meters distant, they simply stared.

"Spare yourselves and submit to me," the monster demanded. "I shall grant you life in servitude."

"No way, Miss Muffet," Armegon answered. "You’ve taken some friends of ours and we came to get them."

"Fools! Resistance is futile," the demon insisted.

Ultrecht groaned. "Resistance is futile?" he mocked. "Don't these people have any imagination? I mean if I had a penny for every time some villain has said that to us..."

"You dare mock me?" The queen was outraged. Her hideous body trembled in anger and shook the web violently causing shattered bones and other long discarded body parts to fall from the upper reaches of the lair.

"Hey look, Creepy-crawley," Armegon continued. "We came to get the woman and the boy. If you don’t hand them over, pronto, we’re going to trash your pad, tuffet and all."

"Are you a god?" the demon queen asked as she dislodged a leg from the web.

Ultrecht looked at Armegon and shrugged. Armegon looked back and a smile formed on his lips. "Yes," he answered arrogantly. Avery turned bewildered to Armegon. “At least that’s what Blackpuss believes,” Armegon added under his breath. "Remember, Blackpuss claims to have been beaten by a god."

Avery just rolled his eyes and lowered his head in wonder. Armegon would never change.

"Then I shall feast on your minions," the monster claimed and one arm raised dripping mucus to point at Ultrecht. A stream of some vile liquid shot from an opening in her palm catching the mage off guard. The liquid splattered across his chest and solidified instantly. With a yank of inhuman strength, the demoness pulled on the newly formed web strand and Ultrecht staggered forward.

In a blur of motion, Avery's hand flicked out and the Dawn of Law severed the deadly cord. Ultrecht fell to his knees and began to get violently sick.

The creature hissed and from her eyes a sickly brown light shot forth in a pair of twin rays that caught Avery in the side and whirled him around. Again, the mighty Liberator acted as the sword took control of the ranger's body and the blade intercepted the beam.
The demon shrieked with outrage and turned her attention to Armegon whose hands were gripped with white knuckles as he strained within.

"Kneel!" the creature screeched with the magic of demonic command. "Acknowledge me your mistress!"

Like a dam bursting, Armegon felt the magic wash over him. He felt the spell grip his brain. When the power began to push at his will, he released the surge of magic he had been holding back.

Armegon's body blazed into incandescence. White, fury driven emotions controlled the magic now and the unfortunate object of his attention was the demoness, who had shrank back at the eruption. Never before had she been opposed with such power.
"Where are the ones you have taken?" His voice shook the room and, Avery suspected, the entire Doyr city as well.

The demoness shrieked and charged forward. Armegon did likewise.

The room rocked as they came together. The brightness of the light and savagery of the fight made standing impossible, so Avery, on hands and knees dragged Ultrecht out of the room and took a moment to check him over. He quickly neutralized the venom that had been absorbed through the mage's flesh from the webbing, and in moments Ultrecht was better.

"Where is Armegon," Ultrecht glanced around briefly. The unbelievably bright battle going on in the other room gave the illusion that the door was a window framing the twin suns at high noon.

Avery nodded at the room. "He’s in there."

"What happened?"

Avery grinned. "The demon made a big mistake." he said. "She made him mad."

The battle lasted only a few more seconds and the walls blew outward. Avery and Ultrecht were shielded by a stone table from the flying debris.

"What an invigorating game," Armegon said as he high stepped out of the temple. Behind him they could see several bodies but no sign of the demon.

"What happened to the demoness?" Ultrecht asked.

"She’s no longer our worry," the halfelf replied.

"Well, what did you do to her?"

Armegon smiled. "She wanted to rule spiders, so I gave her some to rule. I sent her into that prison we got Ganatar and Sounder from. Remember the second Tower?"

"Whoa," Avery swore. "How did you do that?"

"It was written in that book we copied just before we left. Remember?"

Ultrecht said. "I think your solution has a certain touch of class," he commended.

"I have similar plans for Blackpuss," Armegon smiled.

"Oh, I like that," Ultrecht agreed. "I also noted that you didn't freeze up when facing that spider."

"Apparently my magical defense against arachnophobia has been reinstated," Armegon observed.

"I never really understood how you could be scared of spiders like that," Ultrecht teased.

"Enough," Avery interrupted. "Did you find out where Nikki and Sam were?"

"No," Armegon's smile faded.

A noise back in the temple caught their attention. Avery leaped and dashed into the chaos. There was a shriek and soon he reemerged dragging a woman behind him.

"Who are you?" Armegon demanded.

"I am nobody," the woman replied. She was dressed in a flowing gown of red and black.

"Know that you stand before the Forester," Armegon said indicating Avery. "He knows truth when he hears it."

"I told you I am nobody."

"You lie," Avery informed her coolly. One hand loosely held the enchanted sword.

Unable to convince the invaders that she was of no interest to them, the woman decided to change her tactics. If she told them who she was they might have mercy upon her. "I am a priestess of the Doyr."

"That is truth," Avery replied flatly. "Where are the woman and boy you took from my cabin?"

"They were taken to Aspberg. For what, I know not."

Avery bowed his head. "That is also truth," he confirmed.
In that instant of weakness, the woman lunged and grabbed Ultrecht's utility dagger. She then whirled with the point driving straight at Armegon's eye. It happened so fast that the mage had no time to react.

The point was almost at the eye when again, the Sword of Justice snapped up and intercepted the blow, but somehow this time the counter attack was different. Instead of the usual beheading, the sword simply swiped against her head with the flat of the blade and stunned her.

Avery glanced at the weapon in wonder. That was a first.

She is with child, the weapon explained. Though she had murder in her heart, the child is guiltless.

Avery explained the sparing of the life to his comrades.

"Well we can't just let her go," Armegon objected. "She might rat on us."

"Imprison her," Avery suggested.

"In the prison with that spider?" Armegon asked.

"No," Avery said. "We can’t send her to that prison when she’s due to give birth. That would doom the child. Remember the inhabitants and their story about someone having to die for a baby to be born alive? I get the feeling that this woman's comrades aren’t very self sacrificing." The ranger sighed. "We need to get her somewhere safe. Someplace where she can be controlled until later.”

Ultrecht nodded. "I can do that." He explained. "All we really need is get her back to the cabin. I can create a pocket dimension to hold her in. There she will be safe until we release her."

"That sounds good," Avery agreed. "The way back to the cabin is fairly easy. You shouldn’t have any trouble getting there. I’ll join you within a week."

Ultrecht blinked at the ranger and glanced at Armegon. "Where are you going?"
Avery sheathed his sword. "I have to check on something. Don’t worry, I won't get into any fights and I won’t stir up any trouble that you might miss."

"Now just you wait a minute," Armegon insisted. "That answer cuts pretty close to ducking the question. We want to know what you’re up to."

Avery sighed. "Look," he explained. "You just offed a major demon and the matriarch of a whole species of sub humans. They’re not going to like that very much. Not only that, but after that little display of your temper, your buddy, Quickdraw, probably knows exactly where we are. Since the Doyr are most likely some allies of Blackpuss', I’m going to set a false trail to lead anyone following us or seeking revenge in the wrong direction. If that is okay with you." He added the last with a hint of sarcasm.

Armegon frowned but only nodded.

With Ultrecht and Armegon escorting the Doyr priestess, Avery led them back out of the compound. When they were outside, obvious signs of refugees who were fleeing the now devastated temple were clear. Doyr folk ran to and fro through the maze of houses and dwellings. None of them knew much more than their queen, a major demon had been attacked and was no longer in control of the dwelling. Many of the Doyr were fleeing into the forests in a disorganized rout.

"I don't think you’ll have any bad encounters," Avery said when they were again in the forest. "The path back is well marked and any Doyr that you meet are more than likely going to be disorganized and afraid of you."

Armegon eyed their prisoner. "We can change this gal's looks and disguise her. We don't want any fanatics trying to rescue her."

Ultrecht drew a knife and fingered it, testing the blade. "We can start with a haircut."

"Change her clothes as well," Avery advised. "That should help." He also noted the woman's pale hair. "If you stew some berries, you can change the color of her hair altogether. That should make the disguise complete."

Armegon nodded. "I think we can deal with that." He turned to Avery. "When will you get back?"

"About a week," Avery answered. "I want to give any followers plenty of reason to think we might have gone east."

"Good luck," Ultrecht called as the ranger turned back towards the ruins.

Armegon watched his friend depart. Avery was up to something else as well.