The Cry in the Water Part 9

"Come, come to me Balthamar!" cried the hooded figure, between other words of dark arcane language that grated on the listeners with the force of malice. "I call you forth to my service!"

"It is coming," groaned Jayr, feeling the force of power that was beyond the glowing orb of light. His face had gone pale, and the sweat was beading upon his forehead. No amount of optimism could disguise from Zena that he was under an assault of psychic pressure and not a little fear. She felt it too like a thick water around her.

"A hand!" gasped Burton, trying to keep his voice low, even as he pointed to the claw that was reaching from the orb of bubbling lights. It was dark and misshapen, almost like the limb of a dead tree with leaves withered away, leaving only grasping branch like talons. This extending horror was moving towards the victim that writhed on the ground, screaming vainly against the gag in its mouth.

"We have to act!" hissed Zena, "now or never!"

The next few moments were a blur for Burton. He never moved, but observed all in the heartbeats that followed. The warrior leapt out of the shadows, sword flaming brightly with a deadly peril, and on the right, the wizard bareheaded, screaming arcane words that blasted the air with power. A wave of energy roiled over the small distance towards the hooded figure that was caught turning quickly, the wards guarding it from attack broken with a great crack of sound like lightening striking stone.

Burton saw the hand reaching for the victim on the ground pause for one hideous moment, aware of the disturbance beyond the glowing orb. Zena was grabbing the prone victim with here left hand, striking out with here right. The flaming bladed struck against the crooked fingers of the beast beyond the orb. Sizzling as water on hot metal was the result, fierce and sharp. A shriek was heard, and a retreating bloodied claw followed.

At the same time the hooded figure who was caught off guard, went flying from a gush of air so powerful that it lifted off the ground in a jerking blow as if hit with a hammer. The prone form slammed into the wall of the underground chamber with a bone jarring crunch, sliding down in a limp flop to the ground. It had all taken mere seconds.

A great rumbling vibration began to shake from the center of the glowing orb, its powerful forces filling the air beyond. The cavern room began to tremble, and aside from the screams from the captive villagers who had so far been silent with fear, a crackling sound was heard. It reminded Burton of the noise right before a lightening strike, the tearing just as the white flash lit the sky.

"Look out!" cried Jayr, as the glowing orb suddenly grew in size, no longer the mere portal for limbs to reach through, but a full sized gate for the coming of something. Something quite angry.

"No! You fools!" screeched the hooded figure, coming back suddenly to its feet. Limping then staggering it fell again, hands grasping the stone floor in an effort to steady itself. "What have you done?!"

Burton looked at the creature, a male by the sound of its voice. All he could see was a ghastly white visage, still half hidden beneath the cowl. For one moment, the underside of the face appeared scaled, fanged, and nearly chinless. Then the image seemed to waver, in a hazy blur revealing a wispy gray beard and clenched human teeth. Was it really reptilian a moment ago? The boy did not know. Too much was happening for him to focus long on the apparent discrepancy.

"You must move!" ordered Jayr, his staff striking the lock of the cage in which the villagers had been enclosed. Sparks of red and blue light sprang from the blow, as the magic of two forces collided, resulting in a crumbled piece of metal that fell away. Even as the wizard seized the door and opened it quickly, another rumbling sound came from behind him, but he was intent to rouse the cowed prisoners.

"Move now!"

"Over here!" shouted Burton, trying to get the attention of the blinking people, spell bound so long by sheer terror. "This way!"

Zena had dragged the sacrificial victim back with her to the boy, never once turning away from the menace of the now towering orb of light, its width and breath enormous. Great heat was roiling from beyond its span. The presence of something preparing to come through, a maddening thought that now drove everyone back.

"Oh Valin help us," whispered Jayr, he too facing the glowing portal as the freed people stumbled and clambered as best they could a midst the panicking fear towards the only exit possible.

"Stay where you are!" hissed the hooded figure, drawing itself up finally, with bone cracking sounds. Arms extended above its head, the figure radiated power. Caught off guard a few moments before, there was not to be a second time.

Blades of dark fire rose behind Burton, and he recoiled involuntarily, the passage they had come down now blocked as an exit. He could see a curtain of the dark purplish flames snake around in a great arcing swath, neatly hemming them in on all sides. Zena had drawn back to stand next to Jayr, the two of them in the gap between the survivors and the spell caster. Riotous laughter suddenly filled the air, an almost hysterical tremor to it.

"Balthamar, Shroud of Darkness comes forth, and you shall be his first sacrifices!" cried the hooded figure, who now tossed back his hood to reveal an aged man with madness in his red eyes. "Long have I waited for the gifts of power he shall bestow on me. You sought to ruin the summons, but now you shall sate his ravenous hunger!"

Two enormous hands reached through the orb portal, each one taking an edge of the glowing ring, as if steadying the bulk behind to swing up and through the gap. They were hideous coal black clawed fingers, far larger than the appendage that had reached through before and been bloodied by Zena's blade. It occurred to Jayr in an abstracted way that the first must have been a slave or servant to the greater. Now the master had come to deal with those who had defied its taste for human flesh.

"Valin save us," cried Zena in a low voiced prayer. "There is no escape."

There was a sudden crashing sound against timbers. Every head jerked in the direction of the sound, including the mad spell caster who had been gloating at them with his eyes. The impact of another blow was felt as much as heard, and it was obvious that a door was being attacked. A door hidden from view beyond the cage that had held the village survivors.

"Of course, there is another passage in." said Jayr, half to himself with out of place amusement. "How else did they all get in here?"

"Shades of night, not again," groaned Zena, knowing even as the third blow blasted the door into splinters who she would see. Not just two, but now three threats at once. The creature had come, its luminous pale yellow cat like eyes filled with rage as it let forth an ear piercing scream.