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The Worlds Within Choose a chapter: Chapter
Eleven Hypatia found the thought of Valen watching over her
very reassuring so she slept well and deeply.
Waking feeling refreshed she stretched from the tips of her fingers
to her toes luxuriating in an almost feline way before turning to Valen.
She was a bit startled to see his gaze fixed upon her. “Is something wrong?”
She queried. Valen blinked, and blushed slightly.
“No, my lady. If you are feeling rested we should break the fast and be on
our way.” They ate quickly and left the upper levels of the
temple. Hypatia paused
briefly at the locked door leading to the lower levels.
She looked at the key in her hand and up at the massive metal door.
She felt a certain amount of trepidation about what might be down
there. One vampire, to be
certain, but beyond that her imagination failed her. With a deep breath she turned the key in the lock and
accompanied by a soft click the door opened. There were more stairs, still
leading down and then a high bridge that fell away on both sides into what
seemed to be bottomless crevasses. There
was a platform ahead bordered by a barrier of wrought metal bars that
boasted a huge pair of gates. They were attacked by three very large bone golems as
soon as they stepped on the platform.
Valen destroyed two of the vile things while Hypatia managed to
take care of the third. In the center of the small platform was a metal
railing surrounding a deep hole. This
had to be what Sodalis had referred to as ‘the pit’. They found a rope in a chest nearby and, after a
brief argument with Valen about who should go first, Hypatia tied it off
and began to lower herself down into the Pit. What they found was truly a horror.
Not Sodalis a solitary vampire, but a colony of them.
They fought their way through room after room of vampires, breaking
up furniture to get the wooden stakes necessary to kill the dreadful
creatures. Hypatia cast her powerful Sunbeam spell to great
affect, as the nightmares could not bear light drawn from the sun itself.
They found an enclave of drow who had been sent as sacrifices by
the Valsharess in exchange for an army of the bone golems to swell her
ranks. Though Hypatia would
have released them from such a horrible fate, they all fought to the
death. They discovered the bone golems were being animated
by the blood of a captured Deva. The
poor angelic creature was tattered and abused.
Once they freed her she happily agreed to find the rebel camp and
aid them against the Valsharess. They finally found Sodalis, standing arrogantly
before a large crack in the otherwise unmarred temple wall. The vampire warned them of an ancient named Vix’thra before
attacking them with a vicious barrage of spells. Valen, too, was tired of the spell that froze time
around them and he attacked before Sodalis could cast that one.
The High Priest held his concentration while summoning several huge
fire elementals to aid him though. Hypatia again managed to banish one of them.
She stayed behind Valen while he battled the others and healed him
as needed. She’d been given
to understand that, due to his heritage the tiefling had a certain amount
of resistance to fire. While they were busy with the elementals the vampire
did manage to cast several protective spells around himself, the green
misty one and the one that looked like black fragments both. He also cast spells that covered the floor in deadly clouds
of acidic fog. Hypatia had expected such from him though and
countered with her dispelling magics.
This left him open to Valen’s attacks and he fell quickly to
powerful blows. The sarcophagus that held Sodalis was nearby and
Hypatia swiftly used a wooden stake to end his foul existence. They decided after that to rest. Hypatia had used up her spells fighting their way through the
vampires and Valen too was exhausted after so much battle.
They retraced their steps to where the drow had been quartered and
once again barricaded the door. Hypatia was pleased to find that one of the little
furnished apartments boasted a small tub for bathing.
There was a fountain nearby so there was plenty of water; all she
had to do was heat some. She
hummed softly to herself as she got a fire going and put some water on to
boil. She pulled a screen in front of the tub since Valen
refused to leave her unprotected, so that she could bathe in privacy. Valen watched all this with a somewhat bemused
expression as he polished his armor and flail.
“I don’t understand your preoccupation with bathing, my
lady.” Hypatia looked up from her preparations.
“I smell, Valen. I have the sweat and blood of battle clinging to me and I
find it distasteful.” She
stopped for a moment before continuing with a bit of a wicked glint in her
eye. “Perhaps you should
join me…you could…scrub my back?” Valen goggled at her before looking away and
blushing. “I don’t
think that would be appropriate, my lady.” Hypatia giggled a bit then slipped behind the screen
to bathe. She couldn’t
believe her boldness in teasing him.
She had known he would not take her up on her offer.
Perhaps that was why she had done it.
Still, she was glad he’d looked away when he did because she
hadn’t wanted him to see the answering blush that had stained her
cheeks. Ahh, Cimmera,
you’d have been proud of that one. Following their rest, they again approached the
section of the temple wall where it had been opened.
A rough tunnel led even farther downward. Before they entered it Hypatia began casting every protective
and aid spell she possessed. She cast spells that protected against various types
of life force drains, spells that protected against negative energies and
spells that increased their battle prowess against the undead. She also cast spells to increase their strength and clarity
of thought. She cast spells
upon Valen’s weapon, imbuing it with even more magical properties and
she cast a spell that would allow her to see truly. It was only then that she allowed Valen to entered
the tunnel. It was roughly
hewn from the rock and angled steeply down.
They crept along for long minutes in near complete darkness.
Finally they reached a place where the tunnel leveled out and
opened up into an enormous cavern. Hypatia peered out of the narrow entrance into the
immense cavern. There
appeared to be dragon skulls, three of them lying around.
In fact, there appeared to be three complete dragon skeletons.
What could possibly… A terrible sound interrupted her thoughts.
From the high ceiling of the cavern an animate dragon skeleton
dropped, screaming in rage. Its voice was unlike anything she had encountered before,
more felt than heard. Which
makes sense seeing as the thing has no vocal cords. It landed with an impact that shook the ground under
her feet. Dust and small
pebbles were shaken loose from ledges and crannies all around. Hypatia shrank back a bit.
Merciful Lady of Mysteries…Vix’thra is a Dracolich.
Hypatia could practically feel the evil radiating off the thing as
it waited for her to make a move. She
imagined, or at least she thought she was imagining its very presence
sucking the life out of the air around it. How in the name of all that’s holy are we to put
an end to that thing? Hypatia
sent the brief prayer urgently skyward.
She had barely finished the thought when a miraculous thing
happened. Hypatia’s holy symbol and the Ring of Mystra
adorning her hand both began to glow brilliantly.
Before she had a chance to consider whether her actions spoke of
sanity, her feet were moving. She
knew what she had to do and how to do it.
Now it was speed that was critical.
She circled to the west of the dracolich, running as fast as she
could, while reaching back into her pack. “Into the flames we leap!”
Valen opted for a frontal attack.
He looked insignificant as he faced the gargantuan abomination.
He was undaunted and swung repeatedly with his flail at the
dracolich that towered over him. Hypatia held her breath as the monster enveloped
Valen with its breath weapon, but the spells she had cast upon him held
true and he emerged unscathed. Finding what she had been searching for in her pack,
she paused only long enough to set the golem attractor from the isle of
the maker on the stone floor. Just
in time too as three massive bone golems answered the call of their
master. The attractor distracted the golems and kept them
away from Valen, who was having more than enough trouble with Vix’thra.
The monster swiped at him with its cruelly clawed forelimb drawing
blood and nearly knocking him off his feet.
Valen stood firm though and replied with a powerful swing of his
flail. Anther strike by
Vix’thra and Valen gulped down a potion quickly before answering with
his flail. Hypatia kept running, keeping out of Vix’thra’s
reach. The dracolich turned,
following her progress, but Valen could not be ignored.
The bone golems used their electrical attacks on her, but the ring
she had found earlier protected her.
She reached a small passageway and ran into it.
She didn’t hesitate as her feet guided her a few steps up the
wall to one side where its slope was a bit more accessible. She didn’t even see the trap she’d been guided around.
Once more as she traversed the passageway she found herself running
up the wall to clear a section of the floor.
Undoubtedly the traps would have killed her. She rounded the corner of the passageway and into a
small room that looked like it had been carved out by huge claws.
She spared but a glance for the vast pile of gold in one corner.
Her eyes were drawn to a delicate pedestal flanked by two bone
golems. Upon the pedestal sat a dark sphere. It seemed to be glowing, or maybe it was sucking the light
out of the air around it. It
was so evil Hypatia found she had to steel herself against recoiling from
it. This, then, was her target.
Somehow she knew that this was the way to defeat Vix’thra.
Ignoring the bone golems she drew her katana and began to chop at
the sphere. The Searing armor
discharged its golden beams of searing light each time the golems struck
her. Though the golems pained
her, she maintained her focus on the sphere.
She had only moments to demolish the thing before she would be
forced to contend with the golems. To her horror she felt the ground tremble beneath her
feet. She could feel the
presence of the dracolich behind her.
It was intent upon protecting its source of life and power.
Desperate tears ran down her cheeks as she hacked again and again
at the sphere with her katana. Oh
please! Let this thing be
destroyed soon. Her eyes lit with hope as a small fracture appeared
on the surface and purplish lines began to crawl out of the fracture and
snake over the exterior of the sphere.
With renewed purpose she struck the vile thing again with her
katana. A startled gasp escaped her as she found herself
engulfed in a dark cloud writhing with negative energy.
The dracolich had used its breath weapon on her.
She was grateful that she had cast her most potent protection spell
against the undead and negative energies. Undeterred she swung again.
To her surprise it suddenly shattered and Hypatia stumbled back as
a vortex of negative and destructive energies swirled up to swallow up the
shards of the sphere and its pedestal. She felt more than heard the outraged scream of the
dracolich and whirled to see Valen still battling valiantly against the
thing. He had bought her the
time she needed to destroy the crystal phylactery of the dracolich. But he was in dire need of her healing touch. She ran to him to cast a healing spell, but the
dracolich was no fool and knew what she was.
It lunged toward her. It
was only Valen’s quick reflexes that deflected the blow and saved her. She would have to heal him without coming into range of the
monster’s powerful forelimbs. Valen’s lashing tail caught her attention and
quickly Hypatia began casting. The
remaining bone golems seemed to keep a respectful distance from their
master thus giving her the space and time to cast her spell. All she had
to do was touch him. She made
a successful grab at his tail as she uttered the final words of the spell.
He obviously had not been expecting her to come up with such a
solution, for when she grabbed his tail he leapt to the side, yanking his
tail out of her grasp, a startled exclamation on his lips. He spared her a glare even while the healing glow
surrounded him. It was
Vix’thra’s reaction, however, that truly sparked her interest.
For the dracolich flinched away from Valen while his wounds closed
rapidly and the healing energies of the spell did their work. A thought filled Hypatia’s mind and she suddenly
knew what to do. Again she
began casting her most powerful healing spell.
This time, though, instead of trying to keep out of Vix’thra’s
ferocious reach, she ran right behind Valen, and up to the dracolich. The potent Vix’thra knew what she was doing and
delivered an devastating blow just as Hypatia finished the last words of
the spell and laid her hands on the curved talons of its off hand. Both connected in the same instant. There was a terrible sound of metal rending and the
Searing armor retaliated with an almost blinding burst of light.
The last retaliatory strike it would ever make.
Hypatia was thrown to the rough stone floor by the force of the
blow, blood pouring freely from her ruined side.
It was fortunate she had her arm raised to deliver the healing
spell that had doomed Vix’thra. Otherwise,
it would have been sheared away by Vix’thra’s curved talons.
She landed in a crumpled heap, unmoving. Vix’thra screamed once more as the positive energy
of Hypatia’s healing spell annihilated the negative energy that was its
life force. The now inanimate
form crashed to the stone floor, shaking loose a fall of dust and rocks
from the cavern ceiling. Vix’thra’s
dreadful head came to rest near where Hypatia had fallen. Valen had turned to the bone golem that was closest
to him as soon as Vix’thra’s attention had been turned from him.
First one then the other fell quickly to his mighty flail. Exhausted Valen turned to see if there were any more
threats to be found. “We
have triumphed, Hypatia.” He
looked around for her. “Hypatia?” He
searched more carefully, certain that she was nearby. It was when he noticed the pool of blood forming on the floor
that his expression became grim. Following
it he found the cleric, barely conscious and lying in her own blood. Taking off his gauntlets Valen knelt by her.
“Hypatia? You have
to heal yourself.” Hypatia’s eyes fluttered and blood ran from the
corner of her mouth. “Valen,
please, take my armor off of me. It’s
hurting me.” Though the weakness of her voice caused a worried
expression to form on his face, Valen carefully did as she requested.
The armor had been torn like so much parchment.
Jagged edges curled into the terrible wounds she had sustained.
As carefully as he could Valen eased the metal out of her torn side
and got the armor off of her. There
seemed to be an awful lot of blood though. “Hypatia,” he called to her urgently.
“You must heal yourself. I
drank all of my healing potions so I have none to give you.
I’m no healer, my lady. You
must cast if you are to live.” Hypatia was struggling to breathe. “Valen, I’m cold, please get a cloak for me.
I’m so very cold.” Valen’s eyes flew wide and he went quickly to her
pack. He searched roughly for
a potion of healing. Finding
one, he paused to wrench off his breastplate before returning to her. He cradled her in his arms.
“You have to drink this Hypatia.”
He held the potion to her lips. Hypatia tried to move her head. “Take my katana to my sister.”
She said her voice getting weaker by the moment. “Hypatia, drink this.”
He ordered her, his voice taking on an anxious quality. “You may keep everything but my holy symbol and The
Ring. Take those to a temple
of Mystra. And you must be
careful. There is a relic in
my bag. I’ve never been
able to get rid of the cursed thing, for all if I’d purchased a rogue
stone it might have saved my life. Whatever
you do, don’t touch it. Don’t let anyone touch it.
Be sure to take my katana to my sister Cimmera.
She would want them.” Hypatia
coughed up blood and her eyes fluttered closed. Though she was still struggling to breathe, it was just
barely and the end could not be far away. “Tia!” Valen’s anguished cry echoed through the
cavern. He dropped the vial
containing the healing potion, its contents mingling with the blood on the
stone floor, and held her close. The
movement caused her hand to drop from where it had lain across her stomach
and a glint of light caught the ring on her finger.
The Ring of Mystra. Valen stared at it long and hard. “If you could have any spell in all the realm of magic,
Hypatia, what would you choose?” With shaking hands he laid her on the floor and took
the ring off her finger. Looking
it over carefully he read the word inscribed on the inside of the band.
With a look of grim determination he put the ring on his own hand.
It would only fit down to the second knuckle of his smallest
finger. Once it was on he pressed the flame shaped ruby between
Hypatia’s breasts and recited the word. Glowing swirls of lights began to dance over her form
and her wounds began to close. The
lights became so bright that Valen had to close his eyes and turn his head
away. When they died down
though Hypatia was looking up at him with a slightly confused expression
on her face. With a laugh of relief Valen caught her to him and
held her close. “You know,
Hypatia,” he couldn’t help but chide her gently.
“Anyone else given the opportunity to have any spell in all the
realms of magic would have selected something that would have all their
foes bowing before them.” “Yes, well,” Hypatia replied tartly while daring
to snuggle up to him just a bit. “Anyone else would have died too.
How did you know?” Valen released a shaky breath. “I didn’t, but you are a healer first and foremost.
I made a guess.” He paused then said sternly,
“Do not ever do that again.” Hypatia pushed away from him so that she could look
into his eyes. “Well it’s
not like I woke up this morning and said to myself, 'Hmmm...I think I'll
see if I can get myself almost killed by a dracolich.' I've never
experienced such pain in my life.” Valen reached out and took one of her braids in his hand. They had come loose from her head and the one he held was unraveling from where it had been sheared off by Vix’thra. “Oh!” Hypatia
looked at the ends. “My
hair!” Standing somewhat
unsteadily, she nevertheless managed to deliver a vicious kick to the
unmoving remnants of the dracolich. “My lady, you will hurt yourself.” Valen
cautioned her. He stopped
somewhat abruptly, blushing and averting his eyes.
“You might also consider putting some clothes on.” Hypatia looked down at herself and realized that her
undergarments had also not fared well against Vix’thra’s final strike.
Blushing deeply herself, she wrapped her arms around herself and
turned to her pack. Quickly
she pulled out her tunic, then stopped and looked at herself again.
She glanced over her shoulder at Valen and saw that he was very
interested in something at his feet. She quickly took some of the linens from a healing
kit and dampened them with a little water.
A quick sponge bath and she at least didn’t cringe when she
pulled her tunic on. Valen noticed a bit of green ribbon on the stone
floor at his feet and realized that it was what bound a length of
Hypatia’s braid. It was the
length that had been severed in her fight with Vix’thra.
Glancing toward her he saw that she was busy with her grooming.
He knelt picking up the soft crimson locks and after rubbing the
silky strands between his fingers, tucked them gently into his pack. She stood and turned in time to see Valen tucking
something into his pack before he retrieved his breastplate. “You might as well start deciding which things from
that,” Hypatia waived one hand toward the huge pile of gold and other
interesting items that lay in one corner of the cavern, “you want.” Valen turned toward the vast treasure.
“What do you mean, my lady?” “Well, half of that is yours and I need to see
about my armor before I go digging through dracolich treasure.” Valen’s jaw dropped.
“Surely you jest.” Hypatia looked at him with one eyebrow raised.
“Well we’re not leaving it here.
What did you think we would do with it?” After a long moment Valen finally spoke.
“You are very generous, my lady.
But it is not necessary to give me treasure that is yours by
rights.” An angry expression found its way to Hypatia’s
face. “You saved my life.
You battled the dracolich just as much as I did.
What kind of a person do you think I am?” Surprised by her sudden anger Valen thought to
distract her. He brushed his
knuckles gently along her cheek. “My
lady, you are a selfless and good person.
I would never insinuate otherwise.” Hypatia looked up at him with wide eyes, her anger
instantly forgotten. Before she could speak, Valen continued.
“I do not think even Rizolvir could repair your armor though.” Hypatia’s eyes flew to the twisted pile of metal
that was all that remained of her prized Searing armor.
Making a mournful sound she went to over to see if Valen’s
assessment was true. Of
course it was. The once proud
suit of armor was torn and crumpled.
It’s enchantment destroyed by the sheer amount of damage that had
been done to it. Hypatia knelt down and touched one ragged edge
briefly. With a sigh she
stood and turned to the treasure. “Well,
lets hope there is something in there that I can wear.
I don’t carry spare armor in my pack.” The treasure was indeed vast and while Hypatia
scooped up gold coins with both hands, alternating between putting them in
her pack and his, Valen disarmed several traps and opened up one of the
chests. Since he could carry
more weight than she could, it was agreed that he would take armor that
she couldn’t wear and weapons. She
would carry amulets, rings, assorted jewels and miscellaneous magical
items. It took a considerable amount of time to gather and
pack up all the loot. It was
while Hypatia was making a final check of the area that she found an oddly
shaped bundle hidden between a chest and the rough wall of the cave. It looked like it had been undisturbed for a long long time. “Hmmm…” Hypatia picked up the bundle.
“I wonder what this is, and why it was hidden away, or maybe it
was lost and forgotten?” It was a rather largish sized parcel wrapped up in a
drawstring bag. She loosened
the strings and pulled the mouth of the bag open. “Ohhhh,” she breathed in a reverent voice.
Reaching into the bag she pulled out something that looked like a
cross between leather armor and a priestess’ dress. It had a white breastplate upon which was somehow
stamped a red flame encircled by blue and purple stars.
There was a five paneled skirt in deep blue with red flame
embroidered at the pointed bottoms of the panels and over the flames arced
purple stars. The skirt was
stitched in such a way as to allow the panels to separate once they fell
to mid thigh. Matching white
leggings were to be worn underneath the skirt and had flames embroidered
around the cuffs. Blue boots
and a blue cloak with silver stars around the hem were meant
to match and completed the contents of the bag. Hypatia burst into tears. “Have you ever seen armor so beautiful?” A skeptical frown crossed Valen’s face.
“Are you certain it’s armor Hypatia?” “I’m fairly certain…” Suddenly she looked at
her right hand then back up at him. “Could
I have my ring back now?” Startled that he’d forgotten to return her ring to
her, Valen quickly removed it from his hand and gave it to her.
“Forgive me, my lady.” He
sounded a bit sheepish. Hypatia smiled at him warmly as she took the ring and
slipped it onto her finger. She
then studied the Mystrian armor once again.
Laughing with delight she informed him, “It is indeed armor.
It has the same strength as the Searing armor did, though it does
not have a retributive strike.” She held it up to herself, seemingly pleased with the
way it measured against her. “Come,” she grabbed Valen’s hand. “I must bathe before I can wear this.” |
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