Accursed Wars of Immortalis

Chapter 5: Lone Wolf to Cornered Rat

Instead of a hulking, fire-breathing giant, they found scattered corpses – three of them – and the belongings of a fourth that was nowhere to be seen. The bodies were maimed and badly burnt on their upper bodies, and some had been nibbled on by animals.

Ragnhild examined one closely, and searched a discarded satchel next to the corpse. She pulled out a wand, ornate, made of augyrum, a white metal with a slight tint of yellow, and engraved with the name of the owner. She handed it to Flann.

"This," she said, "looks like wands used by the Scholars of Elizabeth. There's a few of them in Luxurum since the beginning of the Outbreak." She gestured to the wand, "A backup, for you." 

"The Scholars are typically good mages. I wonder how they were bested by a single Maledicti," mused Colton.

"Who knows," said Walgen, "they could have been ambushed by it, or maybe they were weakened by bandits, first."

"Even then," interjected Flann, "as soon as you catch fire, you become helpless. They had no shields; there was nothing they could do to protect themselves from fire-breath without spending their mana, and fire-breath is not the Maledicti's only weapon."

She knelt beside one whose face was relatively intact and closed the dead woman's eyes. 

"Regardless of what happened, there is nothing I can do to help," exhaled Flann.

Walgen came to her side and patted her on the shoulder.

"We'll prevent any more deaths by slaying the fiend. Let's not spend more of our precious time here."

Ragnhild pulled out a small, translucent, white ball from a pouch on her belt. She dropped it on the ground amidst the corpses. She then stomped on it, shattering it. Flann felt a sudden pulse of energy emanate from the shattered object.

"Hopefully, someone'll get the signal and come to tend to them. Hope that they don't become victims too." sighed Ragnhild. "Can't let this happen to my village. Let's go."

They jogged down the road, following its slight curvature. Upon passing a clump of trees, they saw it – the rogue Maledicti – twelve paces away.

The demon stood seven and a half feet tall, taller than any other Maledicti Flann had seen. It slowly turned to face them, smiling, revealing its dark gray ashbone teeth, its glowing fire-pit eyes and a dark spot on its half-molten stone skin. As it rotated its body, similar spots appeared; Flann guessed that it had taken a few hits from the Scholars' magic; the skin appeared to have cooled and solidified. It's hands were red, drenched in blood, and dripping. It growled, ever-grinning.

Ragnhild took position, sword and shield poised, and Kurt took place beside her. Walgen stood behind, and Colton readied himself nearby. Flann remained at the rear, augyrum wand in her left hand and ha'rm sword in the right.

The Maledicti waited, claws readied to strike. No one moved. Ragnhild, tired of waiting, took a few tentative steps forward, followed by the rest of the group. The Maledicti watched intently. Flann did not like it, this particular demon was far too calm compared to its mana-thirsty kin, who would mindlessly charge into the fray, knowing that they would scare the feeble away, and those remaining could probably be dispatched with ease.

Ragnhild was only seven paces away now. She barely perceived the Maledicti shifting its weight as it began its lunge. She brought her shield forward just in time to parry the Maledicti's right claw, knocking it aside to her left. Kurt stepped in, blocking the other claw that was aimed at Ragnhild's exposed side. The mighty woman thrust her blade into the demon's chest. The fiend had anticipated the riposte, however, and moved in time to avoid any major injury. Lava, dripped from the wound, smoking in tiny puddles on the ground. Ragnhild gave a signal to Kurt before stepping forward. She blocked two other strikes as Kurt moved around the Maledicti. The Maledicti swivelled and leaped at Kurt, who successfully blocked the first, but not the second blow. He staggered, but Flann could not see the wound. 

Ragnhild roared and lunged at the demon, which swung a wild kick. She crouched low and used her shield to redirect the kick over her head, then, from that position, pounced. She drove her blade into its abdomen, running it in half-way. She could not free her weapon, as the fiend swatted her away with a flurry of blows, tearing gashes in Ranghild's mail armour, and putting serious dents in her cuirass and helmet. The demon lent forward and followed up the attack with fire-breath. Ragnhild's shield held against the flames long enough for Walgen to strike. He had moved in position along the fiends other flank and had swung a mighty downward blow, hitting the Maledicti in the back, right below the neck. It fell flat, screeching in pain. But it yet lived.

It let another ear-grating scream, and threw itself off the ground, knocking the poleaxe away, and it jabbed at Walgen. Fingers pierce plate and mail, but did not reach beyond that. Flann shouted. Poor Walgen was shoved back by the blow, winded, and he fell to the ground. The demon was angry, and poised itself over him and opened its fanged maw to blast the prone vanguard with fire. A powerful high-pressure beam of water struck it right in the head. Colton had been mustering his mana, drawing water from the environment and unleashed the most powerful beam he could. Ranghild smashed the maledicti in the head with her shield. The demon looked rather pitiful now, skin darkened, cold, and cracked from the blunt strike. Kurt, shield strapped to his back, swung a two-handed blow at the fallen fiend's legs, embedding the blade in most of its calf. Flann stepped up near Walgen and swung an under-handed sword blow at the fiend's face.

Wicked with rage, it kicked and swiped, batting everyone away. Walgen crawled away during the demon-tantrum. Kurt also lost his weapon, still sticking from the Maledicti's left leg. Flann drew Walgen's sword and called out to Ragnhild before throwing it, hilt first, to her. The young priestess immediately turned her attention to healing her partner.

The demon now backed up, considering its options. It once more had the frightening calm of a trained soldier. It had but two armed opponents, Ragnhild and Colton. Then it saw Flann. The rogue, no longer able to produce a substantial fire, spat a thick volume of ash into the air which quickly obscured the area. It jumped from the cloud with two swords in hand, bot red hot in the middle of the blade. Flann turned to look, and seeing the demon coming straight for her and Walgen, she grabbed her sword and rose to fend it off. The Maledicti swung a longsword at her, which Flann parried with difficulty. It followed up with a blindingly fast spinning attack. Ragnhild, who had tried to close in from behind, was forced to block and hold position. She never saw the last motion of the circular strike which slashed Flann in the throat. 

Flann stumbled back, grasping at her neck. Her hands were soaked in seconds. She tried to heal herself with her wand, but, as panicked as she was, she could not focus and direct her mana. Ragnhild bellowed an incredible, thundering, mountainous roar before ditching her shield and tackling the demon. She threw it down and smashed its face with the pommel of Walgen's arming sword, then punched it with her off-hand as she pointed the sword at its eyes and thrust.

Flann did not see if the demon died. All faded to black as Flann hit the ground, and her precious life-blood flowed freely.