The Elder's Curse by Andrew Walbrown (superbooks4u .txt) 📗

the mindless object chased him, easily sidestepping any thrust aimed at him. Meanwhile, Ulam prepared to strike, aiming for the sentinel’s exposed neck. He grabbed the handle with both hands, and with a feral battle cry, he used all his strength to swing a vicious blow. Sparks flew as the jade green blade bit into the enchanted marble, the heave leaving a deep wedge in the sentinel’s neck. Encouraged by what he saw, Ulam pulled back and struck again, the second hit decapitating his foe.

There was a large crash as the defeated construct fell to the ground, the thunder echoing in the darkness. A split second later the burning light inside faded away, leaving only a pile of shapeless black marble and a shocked Ulam in its wake. He did not expect his axe to be able to cut into solid stone, let alone behead the animated statue altogether. He ran a finger over the blade to check for chips, expecting to find at least one. But to his astonishment, the edge was still smooth and razor-sharp, as though he had just finished honing it.

“That is no ordinary axe, is it?” Mazargo asked as two new sentinels appeared from the darkness.

For the first time, Ulam truly examined the letters engraved in the blade, using nearby torchlight to see them clearly. He had always known they were there, though over time he ignored their existence, focusing more on the blade as a whole. Initially, the symbols were among the first things he noticed when he discovered the axe in the Orc Sanctuary near Silverwater. But he never sought the truth behind the cryptic marks, causing his curiosity to fade away over time. However, as he stared at the gleaming symbols on the shields of the approaching challengers, Ulam realized the alphabet looked very much the same. And from what he could tell, the language was identical as well.

“Now is not the time to care,” Ulam muttered, “we have more enemies to kill.”

Using the same strategy, together Mazargo and Ulam worked to dispatch waves of black marble sentinels. One by one they isolated the mindless beings, executing them when the moment presented itself. It was like leading lambs to a slaughter, only if the lambs could murder their masters as well. Regardless of how well their plan was working, they remained cautious, because one flawed movement would have led to a spear point in their gullet.

Ulam did not know how long they had been leading the sentinels to their demise, he just hoped it would come to an end sooner rather than later. His arms were becoming heavy, almost to the point where he could no longer swing his axe. In the beginning, he could slice off a head with two clean strikes, but as time wore on his swings became weaker, eventually needing six or seven hits to fell a sentinel. Because the deathblow took longer to reach, it left him more vulnerable to counterattacks as well. A couple of spear thrusts came dangerously close to impalement, one even grazing his left leg, spilling a small amount of blood. Ulam knew they needed to kill the last sentinels quickly, because if they did not, he would become too tired to dodge their attacks.

Mountains of crumbled black marble littered the floor, the corpses of the slain sentinels looking more like a pile of building materials than a once enchanted army. As Ulam killed enemy after enemy, the thundering of heavy stone feet slowly faded away as well. Eventually, the only sound he heard came from the lonely stomping of one sentinel chasing Mazargo, the last of its kind.

“This one is the last,” Mazargo yelled as he turned his back to his foe, not worried about the distance between them. “Mazargo does not see any more.”

Ulam grunted. Good. My arms feel like they are about to fall off, and the cut on my leg stings. I should have taken some bandages from Kona before we split.

Like the dozens that came before it, the enchanted sentinel fell to Ulam’s onslaught, its head rolling into the darkness. The fire-red light burning in its shield faded away, leaving no indication that any enchantments had ever existed. Everything was quiet as Ulam leaned on a pillar, silence once again reigning supreme. He checked his wounded leg and was relieved to find the cut was not deep, applying a salve he bought long ago to clean any dirt or grime that may have accidentally entered during the combat.

Suddenly they heard a loud clicking noise, followed by the creaking of door hinges. From across the way, Mazargo spotted a bright yellow light flooding into the otherwise dark room, illuminating the path to the exit. Immediately he rushed over and helped Ulam to his feet, and together they left the piles of black marble corpses behind. The second trial had come to an end.

Chapter 16

Amantius

“How is any of this possible?”

Amantius stood on a mountainside, his feet covered in squishy red mud, watching as a lazy mist rose from the treetops. The sun hung high above, its brilliant rays basking the world in its golden glow. His eyes were wide open as he looked into the valley below and saw a familiar sight, their very presence bringing tears to his eyes. Standing in the nearby plains were great alabaster walls, ones that he had seen in his dreams a thousand times over. They beckoned him to come, like a moth to light, and Amantius could not wait to oblige.

“Where are we?” Kona asked. “And where are you going?”

Amantius turned to her, wiping the tears from his eyes while trying to steady his voice. “I’m going home, Kona. We’re in Accaria.”

Amantius started running down the hill, the path from Mount Meganthus to his front door forever etched in his heart. Because of his injured leg, he fell a few times, but the excitement of seeing his mother again nullified any pain. He felt like a child as he hurried