THE KEEPERS RISE

Chapter 10 - Fear's Strike - Part 2

*Remember to click the play button to listen to the soundtrack as you read!*

Will'ym's words hung in the air for a long time. And then, Velda heard faint footsteps. They were the first sound she had heard outside the room. The footsteps drew nearer, and then Velda heard a door slide open. Though she was sure someone had entered the room, it was still pitch black, making it impossible to tell who was there.

A harsh voice pierced the darkness like a blade, making Velda cringe. "Surely, you know that this would have been much easier if you hadn't fought." It was the kathumis. She tried to say something, but she couldn't get the words out.

"What choice did we have?" Will'ym spat at the man.

"You only wasted your strength."

Will'ym was breathing hard. "You would have killed us."

"I did not mean to."

"We can't die, anyway," Velda said smoothly. "Whatever you want, you're wasting your time." She tried to sound confident, but she could feel her whole body shaking.

The kathumis was unbelieving at first. "A childish notion," he said, and his footsteps came nearer to the wall. Velda was frozen in fear.

"It's true," Will'ym said with determination.

There was an uncanny silence. Nobody moved, and Velda prepared herself for the worst. Then, Will'ym yelped in pain, and a white glow of magic started to pierce Velda's vision, coming from his closer arm. The kathumis was right in front of them, holding a sword wet with Will'ym's blood. Inside Will'ym's arm, white magic was pulsing and arcing in a stream of life force, revealing the mechanism for the immortality of the Keepers that Cha had once talked about. His face was trapped in a grimace.

Frantically, Velda scanned the room. They were being held about half of a mep's height above the floor. The round wall was blank save for barely visible sets of small rectangles of a different metallic material. Dark restraining magic could likely emerge from them and connect again to the cold metal, which was silver and glistening from the cold. Next to each grouping was a small camouflaged button, just far enough away to be unreachable by whoever was trapped there.

Velda looked back at Will'ym's arm, which was closing up fast, making the light fade. Quickly, she tried to gain control of a portion of the magic his body was producing, just as she normally could with her magic stream. It was very resistant. Will'ym's magic was unfamiliar with her control, and besides that, reluctant to leave Will'ym while it was healing him from a potentially fatal wound.

Finally, she managed to pull a chunk of energy free, just in time. She lifted it and slammed it against the wall to Will'ym's right as hard as she could, praying that she'd guessed the spot right. Will'ym fell to the ground on his hands and knees, quivering. Velda moved the magic towards her and hit the wall again, releasing the hold on her arms and legs. Then, she pushed forward off the wall and kicked the kathumis in the chest. He was hardly hurt, but he got knocked back, and that gave Will'ym just enough time to stand up and punch him in the jaw from his full height above the kathumis's head. It all happened so quickly that he had no time to react.

The kathumis staggered backward and fell onto the ground, staring up at them in fear and frustration. However, he collected himself quickly and barked, "Computer! Call for reinforcements!"

The order was followed by a shrill beep, then a computerized voice said placidly, "CALLING REINFORCEMENTS TO CELL 7G." It had barely started speaking, however, when the kathumis sent a storm of magic hurtling towards them.

Velda tried to put up a shield and realized with a start that her stone was still blocked. She used Lin's teachings to probe her mind and saw that the parts of it that were usually so easily accessible had a firm barrier around them, as impenetrable as any sort of aura defense. She barely had time to get out of the way before the kathumis's Dark magic slammed into the wall with a resonating shudder. Will'ym dashed along the wall in the other direction, catching the kathumis's attention and drawing his fire.

Then, Velda noticed she was still controlling the clump of white magic. She knew an opportunity when she saw it, and brought the magic to her ring to pry off the Dark magic block. After several tries, it weakened enough to come free, and the glow from her stone lit up the whole room as she felt a presence in her consciousness lift. Velda! Cha cried. Thank the fates! What is going on?

Go help Will'ym, quickly!

Cha instantly went to Will'ym's side and connected its spirit strand to his stone, which Velda used as a quick channel to unblock his stone as well, though it took more effort than she had been expecting. The kathumis ran forward and tried to push Cha away, but he went right through the vaya and ended up instead being held up at sword point against the wall by Will'ym with his own sword, which Will'ym had cleverly slid out of the kathumis's sheath when he brushed by.

"Don't attack him!" yelled Velda, running over to them. Cha returned to her stone as she came to Will'ym's side.

Will'ym looked down at her in angry confusion. "Why not?"

Velda glared at him. "You don't have to. It's not worth it."

Though Will'ym didn't move the sword, he reluctantly nodded. He wasn't ready to give up on kathumi yet. The kathumis sighed in relief and gingerly turned around to face them. Will'ym never let the sword lose contact with him. As the kathumis turned, his hood slid off, revealing his cyanotic, rough skin and pure white hair. He was even more blue and icy than Iyan.

"Who are you, anyway?" Velda asked the kathumis.

"Why would I tell you?" he snarled.

Velda considered this. "If you don't, I might take back what I said about you not being worth killing."

The kathumis desperately looked up at Will'ym, who was towering over the Dark mage and still had the sword pressed into his chest. Will'ym put the sword up against the kathumis's neck, and said roughly, "Talk." Despite the fact that Will'ym was using his left arm since his right one was still healing, his sword technique was perfect. Konte Tah'rin's drills had certainly done their job.