33 A powerful spell

We all retreated and went back to the palace. "What the hell is going on? We can't take on those monsters using swords" I said as we walked into the palace. "My lady I believe this is a dangerous battle and you should sit here and take care of the citadel while my men and I figure out a way to take down the monsters" sir Magnus said. "You don't expect me to sit here and watch you die while I do nothing Magnus, do you?" I said. "It's for out best interest lady Diana. The kingdom cannot survive without a leader. Let the knights do there job my lady" Sir Magnus insisted.

"Aurora where is your king? He is yet to fulfill the side of his deal. I didn't make a deal with him just to heal Torren and cower in his chambers".

"You must watch what you say Diana, king Luther is not a man that takes insults smoothly" Aurora said.

"Then let him prove he's not a coward. How many more men am I going to lose before he shows up again"

"As many as possible. There's no victory without war Diana".

I was infuriated by Aurora's words but I had no choice but to take it in. "There doesn't have to be a war. Luther should be here as long as Qarinah is still out there looking to strike. We can't give her a chance"

"Save that for when you see Luther. Right now we must figure out a way to take down those deadly creatures. Got any books on ancient creatures?". Kahlan searched the library and found a book about defeating creatures of all kinds especially magical creatures. Some other knights where also gone. They were busy stopping the creatures from getting to the heart of the city.

Aurora flipped through the pages of the book "Where is it?, uhmm, okay here, the hydra is an immortal creature with nine heads. It also vomits acidic substances..." I cut her short "skip to where hydra was killed or was it never killed?".

She quickly flipped through again and then stopped and started to read out again "Okay, To defeat the Hydra, Hercules called on his nephew Iolaus for help. As soon as Hercules cut off one head, Iolaus would cauterise the wound with a flaming torch so that nothing could grow to replace it" she thought for a while "cauterize, I think we've got the answers we need. Now we know how to defeat the monster and we've got to get right to it".

"Do you think it's going to be easy?" I asked nobody in particular but Kahlan responded. "No Diana but it's more difficult staying here to do nothing". "Are we sure it would work?" I asked. "Well if it really worked for this Hercules guy, it'll definitely work for us. Unless Liah has some tricks up her sleeve" Aurora responded. "But still we must try. Get a lot of torches ready" I pulled my sword "it's time to put an end to this".

We headed out to meet the other knights who have been fighting the hydras. We went there with a lot of torches and distributed it as we fought, telling the knights what to do with the torches. Liah on her end watched us through her magical crystal. I took on a hydra with Aurora. As soon as Aurora cut it's head off, I quickly cauterized it as said but then, instead of stopping a head from growing there, it grew the head of a dragon. "Impossible!" I watched in terror. "Get down!" Aurora quickly pushed me down with her as the dragon vomited fire, setting some knights ablaze. "Hold!, do not use the torch, fall back!" Sir Magnus commanded. We already had 4 dragon hydras to deal with. "What is happening?" I asked in Confusion. "Get the lady Diana to safety" sir Magnus shouted and Sir Owen came to me "we have to get you out of here my lady".

Empress Liah smiled as she watched us through her crystal "you didn't see this coming did you?". "This is boring Liah. Give them something more challenging" Qarinah said, then Liah snapped her fingers and her eye Color turned red and back to normal again. As soon as she did it, the creatures fell back and all came together and before our eyes, they turned into two giant dragons.

"My lady, Aurora the both of you must leave now. Please do not argue and come with me" sir Owen said and took us back to the palace. "What is happening. They were supposed to die not turn into some other creature. How's that even possible" I asked Aurora who had not even a trace of laughter on her face. She quickly went out, took a horse and galloped into the woods.

Soon she came to the evil cave of Liah, she killed the guards guarding the caves and made her way in. "Stop the attack on Darca" she said on approaching Liah. Liah turned and smiled "oh. You fierce little thing. You know I heard clashes of sword but I was expecting someone more challenging" she got up and went close to Aurora "Torren will never love you again, why risk your life for him". "I will risk everything I can to make it up to him. And I do not desire his love anymore because it belongs to a worthy woman. Now you will call off the attack or you'll have me to battle with" Aurora responded. "You know I could kill you right now right here and not even Luther will question me".

"Are vampires usually like this?, acting without thinking" Qarinah cut in. "You shut your mouth or I shut it for you. Having the chalcedony orb and every other magical instrument will never make me scared of you Qarinah. You are a nobody. Nobody without magic" then she turned to Liah "you'll never be a goddess under my watch".

This infuriated Liah and she angrily struck Aurora with lightening bolts but then Aurora blocked it with her magic. "I wanted to let you go Aurora but then you've given me only one choice. To kill you" saying that she started to make a spell lifting her magical staff and pointing it to the sky as the cave suddenly became invisible and we were standing right under the sky. Then black fog began to form and there was a loud rumbling while black ravens flew in circular motion in the sky. This was a powerful magic that nobody has ever survived or held back. Even Qarinah was shocked that Liah could perform such spell. Before Liah brought down her staff to strike, Aurora quickly grabbed the amulet on Qarinah's neck and disappeared.