Tom Liberman - The Staff of Sakatha

“I cannot approach the darklings either,” said Tenebrous. “Thantos is with them and he would recognize my presence immediately. I cannot tell you their precise numbers.”

“So you can’t tell us much of anything then,” said the First Rider in a low whisper.

“I’m afraid that is an accurate assessment,” said the shadowy shape. “It should be apparent when the dragon children complete their ceremony and gain the Staff of Sakatha. That is when Thantos and the darklings will strike. Once that happens you must act.”

“I understand as much,” said the First Rider, his hand still on Sorus’s back. “We’re going to send Sorus forward to grab the thing while the rest of us distract or disable the others. You lead him back to the surface and my people,” he went on and suddenly turned and gazed intently at Tenebrous, “if you do not safely guide this boy I’ll want a personal explanation as to why not. Is that understood, Tenebrous?”

The black cloud coalesced for a moment into a humanoid shape something like a man with two great horns on its head and massive wings sprouting from its back. “I understand, Vipsanius, First Rider of the people of Elekargul. I pledge that I will honor my part of the agreement.”

“I think they’re moving,” said Sorus as he noted several of the little darkling creatures move into the open. They were followed by a massive furred beast of the same variety he fought earlier. One of the little creatures got his foot under the large creature’s clumsy gait and shouted out in pain.

“What was that?” said Vipsanius and leaned forward and over Sorus’s shoulder.

“Clumsy,” whispered Sorus back to the First Rider. “I think, yes, the lizards heard it as well. I think there’s going to be a fight. Should we go?”

“Wait and see what happens,” said Vipsanius. “Maybe they’ll battle themselves out and we can strike from behind.”

“What if they take the staff out some other entrance?” said Jon from the rear.

Vipsanius looked to the dark cloud of Tenebrous, “Tenebrous?”

“It is possible the dragon children know another exit from here,” he said, his form darkening. “They have full access to the dreams of the Toxic One and I do not.”

Sorus watched as a darkling horde spilled out of the side passage with two more of the great furry creatures as well as half a dozen ghoulish monstrosities, their flesh rotting and decayed. Soon the sounds of battle echoed throughout the chamber for all to hear.

Odellius moved up next to the First Rider, “I do not like to stand and wait for the stronger side to emerge.”

“I agree,” said the First Rider, “but we’ve no sign of the staff.”

“The reptile men are coming out from the center of the circle and I can’t hear chanting anymore,” said Sorus in a normal tone of voice. A sudden explosion sounded from past the corner and the boy turned to look.

“Enough waiting,” said Vipsanius. “Odellius, Jon, with me; Sorus follow. We’ll head toward the stones and try and get to the middle.”

With that Odellius, Jon, and the First Rider burst out from their hiding place and immediately shuttered their eyes as the brilliance of the white marble reflected even the dim light a thousand fold. It took them a few seconds to adjust to the brightness; fortunately, the creatures embroiled in conflict were either too busy to notice them or did see them but were unable to react.

A dozen darklings lay scattered on their ground, their bodies burnt by some fiery spell while one of the big furry creatures lay on its side, a great blackened mass of flesh that emanated smoke. Near the closest of the white marble pillars three reptile men lay on the ground either dead or near death while half a dozen more, all in priestly robes, fought on against twice their number in ghouls and darklings.

Jon Gray’s massive strides took him toward the rear of the darkling creatures, although Vispanius kept up with his own little legs churning like spokes in a wagon wheel and Odellius quickly fell behind, his rolling gate no match for the other two. With one sweep of his massive stone sword Jon sent three of the creatures straight to oblivion, and the First Rider cut into another two with precise sword strokes through their necks.

Odellius, who brought up the rear, attacked the second of the huge furry beasts and drove his blade into the thing’s lower back at an upward angle, and his forward momentum caused him to crash into the creature. The sword burst out of the thing’s chest as it sprawled forward on top of a reptile man with upraised arms and crushed him to the floor with a terrible splat.

The arrival of the third force changed the dynamics of the situation immediately as the darklings turned to face their new foes, while the last of the furry creatures grabbed a reptile man and tore off his arm with a seemingly nonchalant motion. One of the priest’s eyes opened wide and a smile began to form on his lips as he assumed the First Rider and his friends were allies. Jon disavowed him of this notion with a flick of his wrist; his massive stone sword came down on the head of the creature, crushed it and sprayed a wide splatter of skull and brain matter in all directions.

Jon, Vipsanius, and Odellius blew straight through the combatants and into the maze of giant white stones while Sorus moved behind them. The reptile men and darklings stood in stunned silence for a moment, their weapons and spell-casting paraphernalia held high. The third, and final, great furry beast recovered first and took a swipe at a priest of Sakatha, severing his head cleanly, after which the battle resumed in full force.

The First Rider strode through the white stones, running headlong into a spectacularly bedecked priest and shoving him against a pillar with a thrust of his short but powerful arms. The reptile man cracked his skull against the stone, slumped to the ground, and left a trail of blood on the otherwise bright white surface. Within seconds all four of them stood near the center of the stone circle where a huge green stone made of jade, or some like substance, glowed with an internal light, and three reptile men stood around it, their arms raised and their chants at some sort of a crescendo.

Vipsanius raised his hand and the others stopped immediately as they took in the sight. One of the reptiles spotted the group from the corner of its eye, and the chant faltered for a moment, but a glance from the leader of the group returned them to their duties. The leader then raised a hand towards the First Rider, Jon, Odellius, and Sorus and a greenish gas engulfed them. All four scattered away from the miasma and coughs racked their lungs, although the First Rider went towards the priest at the center of the circle with his sword upraised.

At that moment the chants hit a crescendo and a tremendous flash of intensely bright green light, focused on the stone in the center of the room, exploded into the chamber.

Jon Gray stood stunned for a moment, shook his head as bright little spots impaired his vision, blinked again and again as he tried to clear his sight. First he began to see large blobs of white but they slowly resolved themselves into marble pillars and then he spotted both his friends and the reptile men priests. Everything seemed unusually bright and a glance up revealed blue sky through a skylight in a domed ceiling that he didn’t remember from a moment before.

The reptile men looked up, down, at one another, and then merely stood there without a sound.

“What… what happened?” said Sorus as he blinked his eyes and tried to clear his vision. “Where is that light coming from? Are we outside?”

“The stones look the same,” said Vipsanius as also shook his head and blinked rapidly. “We’re in the same place, they’re,” with a point to the reptile men, “the same, I don’t hear any combat, but that,” with a look up, “is very different.”