Thomas Reid - The Fractured Sky

As he punched at the three horrific creatures battling him, Kael felt a more righteous anger swell within him.

Kael murmured a prayer to Torm, calling on the Loyal Fury's blessings to aid him in his fight.

Torm heeded Kael's call.

A bit of the deity's divine essence coursed through the half-drow. Kael felt glorious strength and holy wrath overtake him. With renewed vigor, he slammed his armored fists left and right, landing preternaturally powerful blows upon the shadow-dryads. Each strike burst with spiritual light and energy and sent the battle-crazed creatures scattering and yowling in anguish.

Kael strode to his sword and picked it up. Brandishing it, he roared, "I am punishment incarnate!" His voice, magically amplified, reverberated across the battlefield.

The three grotesque fey flinched and fell back from the divine knight.

Kael swung the blade once. He turned to the nearest of the three sprawled horrors. "Feel my wrath!" he bellowed.

The thing screeched and scrambled to escape.

Kael lunged.

The blade whistled through the air, crackling with holy power. As it struck the shadow-dryad, a thunderous boom emanated from the point of impact, and blinding white light flashed. The shadow-thing let out a single ear-splitting scream and vanished in a burst of purplish smoke.

Kael roared in triumph and turned to the next of the three.

The two creatures jabbered in fright and turned to flee.

Before either of the creatures had covered five steps, Kael was on them, carving them apart with shattering, thundering blows. When he drew up and paused, neither one of the shadow-dryads remained.

Around Kael, the battle raged. Tauran and the two half-fiends worked furiously, staving off a multitude of the things as they continued to swarm. Several of the creatures came at him.

Kael advanced to meet them, the thrill of divine power urging him forward. Gone was his petulance. Gone was the sense of betrayal, the jealousy-yes, that's what he had felt, he knew-at seeing his mentor and his mother comforting one another. In their places, there was only the fulfilling glory of Torm's divine might.

Kael stepped among the horde of twisted, cursed dryads, cutting and lunging with his blade. He moved through sword form after sword form, his motions swift, compact, and precise. Everywhere he turned, his blade parted the shadows, cleaving them into nothingness.

Conducting the battle required no more thinking on Kael's part. Each move was logical, the correct response to the previous step, the shifting of the opponents. Everything he did was a continuous flow of motion. He was a river maneuvering among the stones.

Each slice of Kael's blade connected with his enemies. The spiritual energy of Torm coursing through the sword blasted those enemies, ripping them apart and annihilating their shadowy flesh. Puffs of purplish smoke erupted around the divine champion as he carved his way through his foes.

The fight led the half-drow into the midst of his companions. As he conducted the battle, he worked in concert with the other three, attacking in unison with them to flank an opponent or catch it off balance.

Tauran drove one back within reach of Kael's blade, and Kael sent it to oblivion.

Vhok faced two at once, and Kael stepped between them, dispatching both in a fluid series of swings.

Aliisza became trapped within a gathering of three, and Kael ran to her side, going back to back with her until none remained to threaten her.

It was over. Kael drew his blade back for another devastating strike, and he had no more enemies to battle. All their foes had fallen. The twisted, cursed things were no more.

Yes! Thank you, blessed Torm. That's what it's all about.

With the danger past, his god's divine wrath left Kael and weariness crashed into the knight. He felt light-headed, barely able to stand, and numbing cold pulsed in half a dozen spots on his body-wounds taken during the fight. He sank to one knee, laying his sword at his side, and panted.

Aliisza also settled to the ground, sitting cross-legged. She stared wide-eyed at Kael. Vhok remained standing, though he breathed heavily and had to lean down with his hands on his knees. Tauran came down to one knee as well, though he immediately entered into a silent prayer, presumably for the immortal remains of the dispatched dryads.

"I hope we don't have to do that again," Vhok said between ragged breaths. He eyed the surroundings as though looking for more enemies. "It seemed like they would never stop coming!"

"Funny you should say that," Kael replied between hard breaths. "I was just starting to get into the moment, myself."

Tauran looked up from his completed prayer and frowned at Kael. "They rest now," he said quietly. "They are at peace. I pray we don't encounter any more warped souls like that." The comment seemed directed at the half-drow.

Vhok smirked and shrugged. "Well, good for them. I still say that was a fool's errand, angel. Clearly Zasian did that to slow us down. We played right into his hands by staying here and fighting. I thought you wanted to catch him."

"I'm not so sure that was his only purpose," Aliisza said. She shifted herself so that her legs stuck out as she leaned back on her hands.

"What do you mean?" Kael asked, finally beginning to catch his breath. "What other reason could he have for torturing those dryads, other than mere capriciousness? That seems counterproductive to his task." He felt calmer, serene. The battle had been good for him, he decided. A cleansing of the mind to remind him of his purpose.

"Aliisza's right," Tauran said with grim purpose. "Zasian is leaving a trail for us."

"A trail?" the half-drow asked. "Why?"

"Two reasons," the angel replied. "First, he wants to make sure we know where he's going, make sure we can track him."

Aliisza nodded. "The slaying of the storm dragon right at the portal between the House and here," she said. "At first, I thought it was just a means of throwing us off the path, but it seemed odd to me that he would do that right there, where we would know which way he departed. Now it seems like a marker, a beacon left for us. Especially because he never bothered to hide his tracks."

"Left for us?" Vhok asked. His voice was full of doubt. "Why?"

"I don't know," Tauran said. "But clearly he wants us to follow him. Whatever his plans are, we are a part of them."

"And what is the other reason?" Kael asked.

Tauran's face grew grimmer still. "To reveal his power," the angel said. "To taunt me with the alliance he has formed."

"What are you talking about?" Vhok asked, impatient. "What alliance? And how do you know this?"

"The shadow creatures," the deva answered. "They are Shar's doing. Or rather, the doing of one of her most talented minions."

"Zasian didn't do that to them?" Aliisza asked.

Tauran shook his head. "No. I'm sure it was his idea, and part of his greater plan, but the magic was another's."

"Who?" Kael asked. "And why does the priest wish us to know it?"

"As I said, to taunt us, I'm sure," Tauran replied. "To show us his strength. As for who, I know of only one person who is capable of such. Kashada the Nightwraith."

Kael flinched at the mention of that name. "But she is imprisoned!" the half-drow protested. "Back within the House!"

"Apparently not any longer," Tauran said.

"By holy Torm," he murmured. The warrior knew well the story of Kashada the Nightwraith, sometimes called Kashada the Veiled. Renowned as one of Shar's most deadly assassins and mystics, capturing Kashada had been Tauran and Micus's biggest triumph-and had come very close to being their downfall. Kael had still been in the early stages of his tutelage among servants of Torm when the two angels managed to ensnare her.