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Page 11
Bor-" he cursed as he leapt for cover as a shock wave tore the mountain
asunder.
It was already too late
Twado dreamed.
-In the name of everything crimson, not more walnut farms- he thought.
But there was nothing. No farms, not even a solitary walnut, nothing.
What happened? Was he in some sort of trance? This was most perplexing.
A face appeared before him.
"AAAAAHHHG!" cried Twado, "What in the name of…"
"Be quiet," it said. So Twado was.
The face looked at Twado for a moment, then disappeared with the words,
"No, not him…"
-What in hellsteeth was that about!?-
Strangely, Twado couldn't remember any features of the face, except the
fact that it was evil. Pure evil.
"By Borc's fiery nostrils."
Twado woke.
A snowdrift broke Lobsang's fall. The blast had
flung him into the shear face of the mountainside with a sickening crunch
of broken bones. He landed in the drift and rolled coming to a halt near
the edge of a rocky outcrop above the plateau. He stood slowly, nursing his
broken ribs and looked around. Half the courtiers had been flung screaming
over the far edge of the plateau and into the gorge. The rest were in a
crumpled and bloody heap nearby. Dane had not moved. Lobsang ducked behind
a rock and awaited developments.
Dane stood up and raised his dull blade. "What is your purpose, Cholan?" he
intoned, addressing an area of space just above the gorge. Lobsang looked
closely, the air seemed to contort to give the impression of a large winged
creature.
"BWAHAHAHA!" a sibilant laugh echoed back and forth across the plateau,
shaking snow from the firtrees with its force. "I come for vengeance!" the
voice whip-lashed across Lobsang's senses like a death knell.
"I cannot let you past" Dane grinned.
-What is the fool doing?- Lobsang wondered.
Again the cracking laugh filled the air "you shall die with the rest
meatling!"
"so be it." Dane scraped a semicircle in the snow in front of him, with his
sword and spat.
-Borc, preserve us, he doesn't stand a chance- Lobsang's mind raced -what
to do?-
He withdrew a speed elixir and drained it. This was going to be fast, and
he needed to be ready for anything. Instantly his vision darkened, the air
became as thick as honey. Falling snowflakes slowed.
The Cholan lunged, even at triple speed, Lobsang could just see a blur as
Dane moved. Launching himself into the air he drove his sword down slashing
at the distorted shape. Dark blood sprayed out from a cut hanging in space.
Ignoring the wound the Cholan swept past, heading for the cave. Its front
limbs lashed out tearing rock apart, digging to get at the people inside
the cave. Cursing Lobsang leapt out of the path of a house sized boulder,
which shattered on the wall of stone behind him. He struggled to keep his
balance on the edge of the outcrop as rock-shrapnel whizzed passed him.
Dane was hacking and slashing at the Cholan's back with no real effect. The
wounds closed seconds after being inflicted. Reaching a decision, Dane
scampered away from the Cholan, dodging rocks. A swift back flip brought
him into a half crouch some distance the creature. He rose slowly, red
sword held aloft.
"Kzark'Flensvar!" he commanded. Light seemed to crystallise around the
blade, slowly it took on the colour of fresh blood. It shrieked as Dane
whirled it in a complex manoeuvre. "And now you shall die!" he grinned,
crackling blue lightning surrounded him, earthing on nearby trees.
At the sound of his voice, the Cholan turned from the collapsed entrance to
the cave. To points of light on its head blazed, as it raised its spectral
limbs. Extreme cold washed over Lobsang, as, from his vantagepoint, he
watched the Cholan form ball of Ice-fire and cast it at Dane. The ball,
dripping blue flames, arced towards Dane, trees in its path froze then fell
to powder. Moving swiftly Dane raised his blade and split the flaming ball
in twain, it splashed in a wave of cold on either side of him. He laughed
witheringly. "You will have to do better than that!"
The Cholan's eyes flashed again. It raised its wings in a blur of speed. A
sonic boom expanded from the creature. Lobsang could actually see the wave
of compressed air moving towards Dane. The wave levelled the spavined
firtrees, vaporising them instantly. When the clouds of ice and snow
cleared Dane could be seen, lying flat with his sword driven deep into the
snow. He got up slowly and brushed himself off. "Aha!" he said, "still
here!"
The Cholan cackled, and formed countless long slivers of ice from the
ether. It cast them in the thousand, a solid wall of twelve-pince long ice
shards.
Dane's eyes widened. His sword and arms became a blur as he smashed them
out of the air. Perspiration flew from his face as he tried to create an
impenetrable shield of moving steel. The Cholan began to increase the size
and quantity of the icicles. Lobsang watched in amazement as sheets of ice
shattered around Danes invisibly fast blade.
-He might just survive!- he thought. Leaping from
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