Danica Pt. 20

Already stunned by the psionic knife, Zoraster’s consciousness retreated away from the intrusion, his mind acting naturally to defend itself from a common center. Danica hammered at him, pushing forward and shattering his mental defenses.

Danica’s senses screamed when she sensed a dark, powerful presence surging forward in Zoraster’s mind. The god Blorcasir seized upon the Archmage’s incapacitation, hoping the mage would die so that he could escape and reconstitute his physical body. He added his will to Danica’s, punching into Zoraster’s mental defenses.

Danica saw a weakness, and immediately exploited it, breaking through into his consciousness. The tangled web of Zoraster’s schemes was near indecipherable. The many layers would take hours to fathom, and Danica tore her mind away from them. Glimpses of his inner sanctum appeared to her, as well as the magic necessary to enter it. Then memories of her, and those that she had encountered, drew her attention like a beacon.

Anger welled up inside Danica as she sifted through the memories. Her first encounter with Tonda was there, and Danica knew that memory was a threat to Tonda, her husband, and their unborn child. Instinctively, she lashed out at the memory as she had in Marlena’s mind, and it shattered like glass.

Another memory, one of Hathortari, exploded into shards next. Danica sifted through the Archmage’s reeling mind, destroying every memory she could find, defending those she cared about in the only way that was possible. For every memory she vanquished, another person was safe, even if she and Celes should fail.

A wail of anguish erupted within Zoraster’s mind, and Danica felt the presence of Blorcasir shoved back. An even darker, even more ominous presence replaced it, and something suddenly thrust Danica out of Zoraster’s mind as well.

Yelping and grabbing her head, Danica fell hard to the stones. She felt like a knife was stabbing into her brain, and an unnatural chill permeated her flesh. Opening her eyes, she saw Zoraster regaining his senses as well.

Scrambling to her feet, Danica glanced over to see Celes still unconscious. Looking back at Zoraster, she saw his eyes focus on her. Those orbs turned hard as stone, and Zoraster spat out, “Mind Witch!”

Zoraster leveled his staff at Danica, and she taunted, “Missing something, you arrogant fuck?”

Red-hot hatred flared in Zoraster’s eyes, and he screamed, raising his staff over his head as he lunged at Danica. Danica jumped out of the way when Zoraster swung the staff down at her, the enchantments upon it shattering the chest of drawers he struck into thousands of splinters. One chunk, several inches long, slashed across Danica’s abdomen, drawing an angry line of blood.

Danica spoke the name of a rune, cupping her palm over her forearm where the rune was drawn. An image of the rune rose up, burning white hot, and Danica hurled it at Zoraster.

The rune magic blasted through the enraged wizard’s defenses, setting his robes aflame. He ignored the flame and raised his staff to strike again, but started when he found it suddenly gone from his grasp.

Danica glanced over and saw Celes finish her gesture. Fear was the trigger that unleashed her power to teleport, and seeing Danica in mortal danger had sparked that fear. Reaching into her robes, Celes withdrew the crystal sphere and shattered it upon the floor before her.

They all felt the gloom settle over them. The second sphere destroyed all magic, not just that summoned with word and gesture, but that contained in items as well. The Art was now utterly useless in this room.

Zoraster stabbed his hands into his burning robes, withdrawing the obelisk in his blackened hand. Instantly, the flames winked out and his flesh slowly healed before Danica’s eyes. Transforming the obelisk into a dagger with a thought, Zoraster advanced upon Danica. “I can see you are too dangerous to live – a pity,” Zoraster croaked, his voice becoming stronger by the moment as the energy of the god trapped within the blade flowed through him.

Seeing one of the shattered chunks of wood on the floor, nearly a foot long and shaped like a stake, Danica grabbed it with her telekinetic powers and hurled it at Zoraster. At the same moment, Celes did the same with her inborn power, the one triggered by anger.

Zoraster stopped, Godsbane falling from his nerveless hand. Blood fountained from his mouth as he glanced down, a look of stunned surprise crossing his features. One spear of wood pierced his throat, and the other his heart.

Zoraster – Master of a vast hidden empire, and one of the most powerful mortals ever to walk the planet – collapsed in a broken, smoldering heap to the floor.

Danica watched in horror as his hand clawed for the nearby dagger for a moment. Both Danica and Celes tried to move the blade with their powers, but found it resisted them.

Zoraster’s hand ceased it’s scrambling and collapsed to the floor, still curled tightly into a claw.

Celes hurried to Danica’s side, the auburn haired woman moving closer to Zoraster to examine him. Through the haze of sickly-sweet smoke, Danica could see he was not breathing.

A chuckling sob escaped Danica, “It’s over!”

{*****~~o~~0~~o~~*****}

Staring into his scrying mirror, Rogan Illiciat felt something he had not felt for a very long time – his own mortality. Only the old Guardian and Zoraster could match his power, and one of those had just fallen.

“I suppose I shall have to give more credence to the mad ravings of the prophets. They have come.”

He vanished in a flash of light.

{*****~~o~~0~~o~~*****}

Tam’s eyes popped open, and a great smile spread across his face. “They are the ones – they are the hope we have awaited!”

Vellana’s brow furrowed. “The champions the prophecies speak of?”

“Yes, Vellana, the universe has been awaiting this moment since its birth. The presence of the stones in this reality is an aberration, and now they shall contend for dominance through those that they prepared in the beginning, even as they slumbered.”

“So, it is true,” Illiciat said, appearing before the pair at the table.

The Guardian nodded, his smile vanishing. “Yes, those two – Danica Ardane and Celes Hartwell – they are the heart and soul of those who will stand against the dark.”

Illiciat laughed, “I know you don’t like me, old man, and I don’t like you either. I may not serve completely of my own free will, but I will not see all cast into darkness. I will play my part in this game – fear not. In truth, I find it all quite fascinating, and there are benefits, of course.”

Now it was Tam’s turn to furrow his brow. “I fear I understand you less than Vellana understands my motivations.”

Pulling down the hood of his deep purple robe, Illiciat shrugged his shoulders. “Then obviously you are not meant to understand my motivations, else the stone would have revealed them to you.”

Tam sighed. “I trust in her, and thus I shall trust in you.”

All three then started, listening intently to the song of the stone, coming to them from its resting place deep in the cavern.

Snorting in disdain, Illiciat asked, “Bah, what foolishness is this?”

The Guardian laughed. “In this I believe I have the advantage over you Rogan. It is necessary, a part of her preparations.”

Narrowing his eyes, Rogan retorted, “We are not even to inform them – the ones who are supposed to be the hope of the world?”

Tam shook his head, a look of compassion in his face. “No, I fear their trials are not yet over, and they must meet them on their own.”

“Sometimes I believe your brains have been addled by the stone, Tamelauran. I will abide by the order, thought I think it foolish,” Illiciat said, and then simply vanished from the room.

Tam rose, holding out his hand to Vellana. “Come, you have your part to play as well, my dear. It is time for us to go and commune with the stone once more.”

“Yes, Master.”

{*****~~o~~0~~o~~*****}

Danica reached out with her mind, opening the door to her closet and the door of a cabinet in her study at the same time. Concentrating, she used her telekinetic powers to pull a fresh robe from the former, and a wooden box from the latter.

She directed the box into Celes’ hands, and started pulling on the robe as quickly as possible. “We need to get Andrea and Marlena, and get out of here.”

Celes nodded. “We may have a fight on our hands.”

Ignoring the clasps and simply tying the robe closed, Danica closed her eyes and sent her thoughts hurtling out beyond the walls of her room. A moment later, she opened her eyes again and said, “No, there doesn’t seem to be any alarm. My rune defenses and the dispell must be blocking anyone from discovering that Zoraster is dead.”

Zoraster is dead. The words sent giddy disbelief flooding through both women. If it were not for his still smoldering corpse lying on the floor not far away, they likely would not believe it to be true.

Danica nodded to the wooden box. “Replacement rings. We probably both don’t have enough magic on us right now to deflect a cantrip. Those aren’t as strong as our usual items, so we’ll have to be extra careful.”

Celes nodded and opened the box. At that moment, Danica had a flash of inspiration, one that felt quite unnatural. The thought felt like something that she had always known, but only now allowed her to sense it.

“Just a second, I’m going to try something.”

Celes asked, “What, Danica?”

Danica was already concentrating, however. Pressing her forearms and palms together, Danica held them before her and summoned up the power of the runes scribed upon her flesh. She spread her arms wide, and then pulled them back together slowly, cupping her hands and turning toward the dead Archmage.

Celes felt the dispell leave the room. “Is that a good idea? Gods only know what kind of dangerous magic he might still have on him.”

“The dispell is still around him,” Danica explained.

Celes’ eyebrows rose. She walked over toward Zoraster, and a few steps away felt the dispell chill her again. Stepping back out of the range of the dead magic zone, she turned to Danica and asked, “How did you do that?”

“I just... I knew how. I don’t know why, but I did,” Danica replied, and then her eyes lit up and she crossed the room toward her lab, holding out her hand. A tooled leather bag leapt from a shelf and sped into Danica’s hand.

“I’m not leaving anything for his servants,” Danica remarked, and opened the bag. Walking to each room in turn, Danica spoke command words, packing up nearly everything in her rooms into the Satchel of Hasty Departure.

“I guess we won’t have to take down my defenses either. I can teleport us out of here even through them,” Danica explained.

Celes pulled off one of the rings on her finger and replaced it with one from the box, placing the drained one in her pocket for later recharging. “Let’s get ready and get out of here then.”

A memory flooded into Danica, one she had found while within Zoraster’s mind. She knelt down and pulled at Zoraster’s charred robes, finding what she sought in a pocket within. Withdrawing the crystal sphere, she handed it to Celes.

“Oh, my love,” Celes whispered, sensing her lover’s spirit trapped within.

Danica hugged her and then said, “We’ll find a way to free her. We need to get our magic items replaced and escape while we can.”

The women exchanged their depleted defensive magic items for new ones, and then joined hands, vanishing from the room.

They appeared a moment later in Marlena’s room, startling the woman.

“Quickly, we want to get to Andrea – and Brandon,” Danica added his name when it flashed through her mind.

Celes nodded. “Good idea, he’s too good for this place.”

“What are...”

Danica cut Marlena off with a wink and a smile, taking the other redhead’s hand in hers, and then taking Celes’ hand. Once again, they vanished on the wings of magic.

Brandon was no less surprised than Marlena had been by the women’s sudden appearance. They didn’t even give him a moment to protest. Celes simply grabbed his hand and winked them all out of the room.

Andrea screamed when they appeared in her humble home. Danica shivered when she felt a sudden chill settle over the room. She noticed the others were likewise reacting to the unexplained cold.

Andrea laid a hand over her heart and exclaimed, “You scared me half to death!”

Brandon asked, “The hell is going on?”

Danica answered, “We’re leaving. I can’t explain right now, but this is not going to be a pleasant place very soon. We want you to come with us, where you’ll be safe.”

Andrea smiled. “I’ll go. I couldn’t bear losing more friends. Celes, is that you?”

Celes responded in her brogue, “Well, who’re ye thinkin’ ‘twould be, lil’ missy?”

Andrea caught Celes up in her arms, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Oh, that’s so wonderful, Celes!”

Celes felt other arms closing around her then as well, Marlena adding her joy at seeing Celes’ curse broken to that of Andrea.

Pushing them away, Celes said, “There’s no time for that now. Will you come too Brandon?”

A mischievous smile crossing his lips, Brandon replied, “Four beautiful, sexy women are asking me to come away with them. What kind of idiot do you take me for?”

He put his arms up defensively when four simultaneous slaps hit him, the entire group laughing.

The door suddenly burst open and a gust of magical wind rushed over them. A robed man stood in the door, his face hidden beneath the hood. His voice was ominous when he said, “Something is amiss here. I am going to detain you until the Master can be consulted.”

Danica, Celes, and Marlena all fell into their spell casting. At the same time, Brandon drew his sword. Anger burned in Andrea’s eyes as she pointed at the intruder and shouted, “Get out of my house!”

Brandon jumped back, and the other three women stopped their chants instantly when lightning leapt forth from Andrea’s finger, catching the man in the doorway off guard and sending him twitching to the floor.

Danica reacted quickly, grasping the man with her telekinetic powers and jerking him inside. Celes gestured as soon as he was clear and slammed the door shut.

“What... What was...” Andrea said, staring at her hand and the shallowly breathing man on the floor.

Celes slapped her forehead. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of it before now. The fires whenever you were aroused, the wind whenever you got excited, the cold when we scared you a few minutes ago, and now the lightning when you were mad. Andrea, you’re a witch!”

Her eyes open wide, Andrea stammered, “I’m a what?”

Danica completed her spell casting, trapping the man in magical bonds and adding a slumber spell on top of it. “Later – we need to get out of here. If my sister listened to me, I have help waiting to get us somewhere safe.”

Danica then turned away from the rest of the group and chanted the Hellgate spell. As soon as it opened, she gestured for the others to follow and stepped inside. They followed her instructions and Danica closed the portal behind her, breathing a sigh of relief.

“This is nice,” Brandon muttered, looking around at the glade.

“Looks can be deceiving,” Celes responded, “Andrea, you’ve been using your natural powers without knowing it for a long time now. How did your parents die again?”

“It was a fire. The house was stone. I don’t know how it burned.”

Celes nodded her head knowingly. “It was probably a demon then. You’re going to have to learn to control your powers, and use them. We’re both targets now. Once the power is unleashed, it is like a beacon to hellspawn, dark warlocks, and evil witches.”

Danica finished centering the portal, the image of her dusty shop appearing within. “Time to find out if Devan can follow orders from her little sister,” Danica said and opened the portal. She stepped through, the others following her.

Almost instantly, Devan appeared in the shop next to them. She glanced at the still open portal and said, “Hellgate? Danica, you have a damn lot of explaining to do.”

“I love you too, Devan,” Danica laughed. She then introduced the other four with her.

“Charmed, I’m sure,” Devan said impatiently.

The tone of Devan’s voice lit up a memory in Danica’s head. She looked at her sister and said, “Devan, do you use any sort of pattern to teleport to Darkni’s island?”

Devan nodded, “Yes, that’s much easier, and you can make longer jumps that way without risking the dangers of the Hellgate.”

“Think about the pattern, like you were planning to use it,” Danica asked.

Devan shrugged her shoulders and let out an exasperated sigh, but did as Danica asked. She felt her sister’s mind touch hers, and then Danica said, “That’s it, I’ve got it.”

“How did...”

Danica cut her sister off with a thought cast into Devan’s head, Like you said, I have a lot of explaining to do. She then said, “Celes, there’s something I want to do. Will you come with me, please?”

“Of course, but what, Danica?”

“I’ll explain in the Hellgate.” Danica then turned to her sister and asked, “Devan, can you take them back to Darkni’s? I’ll be there shortly. I know the pattern now, so I can teleport there.”

Devan countered, “Why don’t we all go back to Darkni’s, and then I’ll go with you wherever it is you’re off to.”

Danica shook her head. “Devan, I’m a big girl; I can take care of myself. I have to do this, and I want to know you’re protecting the people I care about.”

Devan opened her mouth to argue again, but then she saw the look of determination, mixed with a faint hint of pleading, in Danica’s eyes. “Okay, Danica. You’ve grown up. Come back safe, or I’ll track you down and spank your ass for you, then take you home so Dad can turn you over his knee too.”

Andrea and Marlena both walked up to Danica. Andrea said, “Make that three spankings.”

Marlena added, “Four.”

Brandon laughed and said, “As long as everybody is joining in the fun...”

Devan turned and twitched her eyebrows at the warrior, and then turned back to Danica, “So, who’s this then?”

Danica wiggled her finger at her sister, “Hands off – and that applies to everybody.”

Devan threw her head back and laughed, and then told Danica, “We’re going to have a very long talk when you get back.”

Marlena and Andrea hugged Danica and Celes in turn. Brandon then walked up and both women hugged him, kissing him on opposite cheeks.

Devan held out her hands, and the others joined the circle. “We’ll see you soon. Now, it’s your turn to promise,” she said to Danica.

“Promise,” Danica said with a wide smile.

Devan nodded and cast the spell. As soon as they were gone, Danica turned to Celes and said, “I was in Zoraster’s mind while you were unconscious. There are some things I have to do.”

Celes hugged her dear friend and lover. “I trust you, and I understand. Let’s go, quickly.”

Danica walked back through the portal, Celes right behind her.

{*****~~o~~0~~o~~*****}

“Danica, we just escaped here. Now you want to go back and rescue a bunch of unreal things Zoraster used to torment us?”

Danica brought the focus of the portal in on a door in the complex, and then turned to look at Celes. “It feels too much like leaving part of us there. Zoraster wasn’t the only sick, twisted, evil bastard there either. Maybe we can prevent someone from stepping into his place and continuing where he left off.”

Celes nodded. “Okay, you’ve convinced me, but no dallying. We get in there, do what we can, and get out.”

Danica hugged her, and then said, “Don’t worry; I have too much to live for to take too many risks.”

They stepped through the portal, and Danica cast her thoughts out through the complex. When she opened her eyes, she told Celes, “There are some uneasy people around, but there is no general alarm yet. We still have time.”