I'm back from my short vacation. Those who say doing nothing is bad, obviously haven't enjoyed the wonder it is to do nothing. I had a week off and managed to do almost nothing productive. I completely enjoyed myself. I strongly recommend doing nothing if you're given the chance. As promised I did write some of my story mentally and when I came back I wrote most of that down on my computer and have gotten the rest of this chapter done. I do hope you all enjoy it.
As usual there are always people to thank. Special thanks to Kenitra, Shade, Aeoros, Gavalin, Apples, Mirage, Casey, and David. I know there are other people, and I thank you all for taking the time to e-mail me. I love hearing from you. If you want to drop me a line you can send it to either Mist_dark@hotmail.com or Mist_dark@yahoo.ca I check both and try to respond to all the e-mail I get. But sometimes I read them and then go to class and then forget if I've sent a response to one or not.
The disclaimer is the same old one. This story in no way is supposed to reflect anything about the members of Nsync. If you are too young, or it's illegal in your area please leave. If homosexual themes offend you, I'd leave as well. Parts of this story are based off the RPG Rifts. All trademarks belong to Kevin Siembieda and Palladium books.
Until next time, Rune
CHAPTER TEN
Nathaniel walked along the streets of the city. Now and again a spider would join him. He had a fair number of them following him. They knew the city better then he did, so he let them lead the way. He didn't push for speed even though he knew they had very little time to work with. The spiders couldn't keep up with him at full tilt, and he would easily get lost. It was best to take the time now and not have to worry about backtracking later on.
"Down the tunnel?" He asked. The street had stopped and they'd come to a large tunnel. If this one didn't slope downward he would have sworn that it was the same tunnel that Joey, Makyla and he had entered earlier.
One of the spiders moved away from the rest and looked down the tunnel. It paused for a moment before darting into the shadows. It returned a few moments later and made an affirmative sound.
The priest nodded and started down the tunnel. His small entourage moved after him. The tunnel itself wasn't completely natural. Someone had carved parts of it out, but most of it was formed by Mother Nature herself. The floor had been worn smooth by countless creatures moving along its stone.
Nathaniel had been walking for close to twenty minutes before he saw the first sign of inhabitation. A large stone structure had been carved out of the stone wall. Judging from the pillars that lined its front, it was a temple. He didn't see any religious symbol engraved on any of the pillars and didn't know to whom the temple belonged.
"Stay here," he told the spiders quietly. He picked up Phixt and walked up the steps and into the temple.
Once inside Nathaniel knew who the temple belonged to. The Summoner. Statues of him lined the walls in various poses. The man had actually had the audacity to have a temple built in his honour before he was a god. A quick sweep of the temple showed that it was deserted except for one man kneeling near the altar. The man was dressed in the white robes of the common priest.
"You've come to late to stop me," the priest called out. "We may serve the same master, but he will rule me no longer."
Nathaniel stepped out from behind the column that he'd been behind. He wasn't surprised that the man had known he was there. It was very difficult to sneak up on the high priest of a temple in their own temple. "I don't serve your master."
The priest turned around. He was young to be a high priest, no older then thirty. He shouldn't have been appointed high priest for at least another ten years, if ever. "So you're not. Why are you here then?"
"To kill your master," Nathaniel told him.
"Then I wish you well in your quest," the priest told him. "If I had known you were coming I wouldn't have taken the poison. But I might not have had the will to do it if you failed to kill him."
"I might be able to negate the poison for you," Nathaniel offered.
The man shook his head. "No. If you fail to kill him then I would be severely punished for my attempt to deprive him of a high priest. He wouldn't kill me, but he would make me wish that he would. No, I'd rather die now and have you succeed then to live and have you fail."
Nathaniel watched the colour drain from the other priest's face as he talked. "You've taken a very bold step. If the Summoner dies before becoming a god then your soul will be set to walk the earth."
"I know," the priest told him calmly. "But if he does become a god then he will have to find another high priest, and I am his only priest. It will take him a very long time to gain another that could fill my position. He stole me from my god, but at least I was trained in the ways of priesthood. Only a priest can teach that, and he can't steal another priest once he's a god. It would start a revolt. He will have to train that priest himself."
"So you are doing this to be spiteful?" Nathaniel asked in surprise.
"Out of loathing actually. I hate that man more then anything in the world, and I will not serve him another moment."
The priest of Tark nodded his understanding and waited with the priest for death to come. He didn't have to wait long. The priest had taken a very quick acting poison. Within a short period of time the priest's colour completely drained from his skin and then he collapsed to the floor. His body was already cooling by the time it touched the floor. Nathaniel performed a short prayer for the departing soul before he left the temple.
It had taken Joey less then ten minutes to leave the city and enter the tunnels that ran under the city. By sweeping the lower levels with his mind Joey found that most of the creatures were below the city. It wasn't very difficult to figure that's where the Summoner would be as well.
The longer Joey walked, the madder he got. He was furious that any man could hurt a boy like Sandy. As his anger grew his eyes began to glow blue. Evelyn had taught him that the strength of psionic abilities were directly linked to emotions. The angrier one got, the more powerful the psychic's abilities. At the rate he was going he would be able to move a mountain with his mind alone.
He hadn't traveled more then a few hundred yards down the tunnel when he felt an attack. He psychic sensitivities wouldn't have allowed anything to sneak up on him in this state. There weren't that many of them. He couldn't put a number on them, but it was less then thirty. He threw up a force field around his body and waited for the creatures to come to him.
The attack was formed mostly of goblins, they seemed to form the bulk of the Summoner's army. There were a few humans and an odd assortment of other creatures. They pulled their weapons and advanced toward him slowly. On their auras were silver collars.
"Leave," Joey said lowly. His telepathy slammed into each of the creatures. There was an almost audible clicking sound and the collars disappeared from their necks. "Leave or I will kill you."
A dazed look momentarily filled the attackers' eyes. When it cleared they looked at the psychic with awe before following his instructions. They dropped their weapons and raced toward and around him. They disappeared behind.
At first he didn't think it was possible, but freeing those creatures actually made Joey madder. He was furious that the Summoner could make these creatures do whatever he wanted, even if they didn't want to do it themselves. Small pebbles started to move out of the way as he continued his trek down the tunnel. And even though he wasn't a very powerful electokinetic, small sparks of electricity jumped around his body. By the time the second attack came he had enough power to react even more quickly then he had last time. Unfortunately for this attack, they served the Summoner willingly.
The first five goblins fell as a bolt of electricity shot through their chests. The smoking corpses collapsed to the ground in front of their surprised companions. The next three burst into flames before they knew what had happened. He raked mental claws across the minds of four humans. The neurological damage was so severe that all of their motor functions stopped working. They barely made a sound before they died. A telekinetic slap sent one of the ogres into the wall hard enough to leave a crack in the stone. The remaining ogre was ripped apart on the molecular level. It literally vanished as its molecules were dispersed into the environment.
Taking a deep breath Joey continued his movement toward the Summoner. Now and again he would come across one of the mage's minions. If it wore the silver collar on its aura he released it and told it to leave. Otherwise he killed it. There were no other choices for the creature to make. Leave or die. Most creatures tried to avoid him. Anyone of them could sense the fury that was walking through the halls they called home. The anger was almost visible.
Makyla was not having one of her better days. Since the Archfiend had separated them she had been attacked four times and in the last battle she had broken her nail. Despite the fact she tried to prove that a woman didn't have to always look her best for the world, she was proud of her nails. At least she was until the one on her middle finger had broken off. It would have been fine if had simply broken, but she had snapped a fair distance down and had bled for some time. The bleeding had stopped, but her finger still stung. As such she wasn't in the best of moods when the next attack came.
The wolf matron and her wolves formed the bulk of the attack. A few dwarves and humans filled out the rest of the ranks. The matron seemed to be the leader of the group. She hung back and gave orders to the others, but the wolves seemed to act of their own accord. Though the warlock was pretty sure there was some sort of telepathic communication between her and the wolves.
"Again?" She asked. "Why don't you people just leave me alone?"
"Our master insists," the wolf matron told her. Sarcasm dripped from her voice when she said the word `master'.
"I see," the warlock sighed. She raised her staff and pointed it at the group. "Shall we get this over with? I don't have a great deal of time to waste."
The matron nodded and motioned to a few of the humans. The indicated individuals moved forward to threaten the warlock with their various weapons. Makyla slapped the ground with the butt of the staff and chanted a few words. The ground under the humans shifted and moved in and around itself. Their legs quickly became entangled in the fluid stone and it pulled them down into it. The floor kept pulling until they were trapped up to their waists.
Makyla stabbed the staff into the ground, the earth moved to accept the staff. She brought her hands together in a prayer position and then swept them away from one another while calling upon the spell she was casting. The floor of the tunnel followed her hands' movements and formed a wave that trapped the remaining humans and dwarves behind newly formed walls.
"You are very resourceful," the wolf matron said. "I wish I didn't have to kill you. I think we could be friends."
"If it's any help," Makyla said. "You won't kill me. And I won't be killing you."
She grabbed her staff in both hands. She held it above her head and then brought it down quickly in front of her before pointing it directly at the group of wolves that were prowling around the outskirts of the battle. Tiny pillars of stone shot upward from the floor and stopped at the ceiling. Before any of the wolves could react they were neatly enclosed in a makeshift cage.
"Don't hurt them," the matron pleaded. "We don't want to do this."
"I know," Makyla told her. "But if you're all trapped then you can't be held responsible for not killing me. Now did you master tell you to resist capture?"
A smile spread across the matron's face. "No. No he didn't tell us that at all. He just said to kill you and the others. He didn't mention anything about capture."
"Good," Makyla said returning her smile. "Then if you don't resist me pinning you to the wall then we can all be happy. I can move on my way and you'll have fulfilled your obligation. It's a pity that you couldn't completely fulfill it though."
"Very much so," the matron replied. "Whatever shall I do?" As she spoke she moved near the cage her wolves were in and stood against the wall. When she got close enough the wolves calmed down and lay down to rest.
"This won't hurt and it should dissipate in a few hours." The warlock touched the stone on either side of the matron's shoulders. She pulled and wrapped the stone around the woman's shoulders. She repeated the process around the woman's midsection, her waist and at her knees. The woman was effectively trapped. "All of this is timed. The whole lot of it will return to normal in a few hours. You'll be able to leave then."
"And you'll be long gone I hope," the matron said seriously. "Once I'm free I'll have to hunt you down again."
"Hopefully that won't be a problem," Makyla told her honestly. "I hope." She saw the matron's eyes widen as the other woman looked behind her. "What is it?"
The blow landed as the warlock turned around. If she hadn't started to turn the fist would have shattered her spine. As it was it knocked her flying. Her staff went skittering across the tunnel, bounce off the wall and lay at the feet of her attacker.
Her attacker was a male demon of some sort. It stood about seven feet tall with leather wings growing from its back. Two well-muscled arms were on both sides of its body. Its skin was a deep red. "Not all of us are that easily duped human. I may have no love for my master, but I do enjoy killing. And he has told me to kill you." The demon bent down to retrieve the staff at its feet. "How well do you fare without your weapon? Are you as frail as all humans?"
Makyla laughed at it. "This entire city is my weapon." Through her previous magical efforts she had saturated the earth with enough magic to make the next task very easy. The stone responded as quickly as if it was an extension of her. Stone wrapped around the demon's feet to prevent it from moving. While it chipped at that with her staff she continued her manipulation of the stone. Six spikes shot out from the walls and impaled the demon. The warlock pulled herself to her feet and walked over to the demon's corpse. "I am never unarmed." She pulled the staff from its grasp and walked down the tunnel hoping she wouldn't run into any more confrontations before she found the others. She could handle them, but it was wasting time.
The Summoner stood inside the circle that he had just finished drawing. He hadn't activated it yet, but that would come shortly. For the moment he just stared at the ambrosia on the pedestal. The flower had almost completely lost its stone appearance. Within half an hour the flower would be edible and he would be well onto his way to godhood.
"How much longer Master," the Drow asked. The dark elf stood off to one side with the components that had been used to draw the circle. He didn't know enough of summoning to do anything more then hand the components to the Summoner as the circle was drawn.
"Soon," the Summoner said softly. "Very soon."
The pair stared at the ambrosia for a while longer before the Drow broke the silence again. "What will you do when you become a god Master?"
The Summoner took a moment to respond. "I don't know yet. I'll probably test my powers for a while and then extend my protection to those who need it. Of course those who refuse it will pay dearly, and everyone will need my protection."
They lapsed into silence again and a couple of minutes passed before the silence broke. This time the Summoner was the one that did it. "I want to thank you for your services to me. I also want you to know that I will never forget what you have done for me."
"Thank you Master," the Drow said quietly. `I may be rewarded now. Now he will tell me what I have earned.'
"I will need your help to secure my position until the ambrosia is prepared." The Summoner pulled a knife and slashed his left palm. He waited for the blood to well before dripping it on the runes he had carved into the floor. "I need your blood as well," he told his servant.
"Of course Master," the Drow stepped forward and offered his open palm. The Summoner took the dark elf's hand and pulled him quickly inside the circle. Onto the point of the knife. The elf's blood gushed from the wound onto the circle. With a quick movement the Summoner opened a wound from the Drow's stomach to mid-way up his chest.
"I will always remember that you helped me get where I am."
TBC
So? What did you think? Any likes? Dislikes? Let me know. Please?
Rune