The Wicked Wizard-Elf (3)

Demala became angry at her words. He leapt at her again, but this time she was ready for it. She grabbed him by the throat, jumped into the air and threw him onto the ground with the full strength of her arm. Demala lay on the ground and gave no movement of any kind.

Kilamen laughed aloud. "Is this it?" she asked. "Is this the alliance that thought it could come here and destroy us and everything that we've built?"

After those words, Kilamen slowly turned round on the spot. "How pathetic you all really are."

But she did not notice that the young Wicca, Molnet, had used her Talisman to perform a confusion spell. All Witches have Talismans, for they are as important to Witches as wands are to Wizards.

Molnet's hands and Talisman were now glowing purple and blue. After seeing that her spell had worked, she proceeded to try and sneak up behind the Wizard-Elf. She came up behind her and carefully stretched out her arms towards the sides of Kilamen's head. The girl's plan was to introduce and mix two foreign samples of energy into Kilamen's mind. She had the idea because a Wizard-Elf's true power came from their individual magical energy. If she could disrupt Kilamen's energy, it might weaken her enough for them to gain the advantage.

But before Molnet could succeed, Kilamen whipped round and caught her by the wrists. "What a clever little Wicca you are," she said, "but I'm afraid you're a little too clever for your own good."

The energy on Molnet's hands started to move down past her wrists and spread all over her body. She found that she could no longer move or speak.

"Wait until you see what I have in store for you, little girl. It will be the price for daring to think that you could have even the slightest chance of defeating someone who is clearly your better," said Kilamen.

A wide, vindictive smile came across her face as she thought of her plan. She tightened her grip on the young Wicca's wrists and threw her into the air. When she was satisfied with the height that the Wicca had reached, the Dark Wizard-Elf quickly put up her right hand, and Molnet stopped and did not move from there unless Kilamen moved her hand in any direction. At first, no one had seen what had happened, but it was Delsani who brought it too their attention.

Those who could see were all looking up and pointing to the young Wicca.

"PLEASE I BEG YOU LET HER GO!" shouted Saren. "SHE'S ONLY A TEENAGER!" the Wicca's words pleased Kilamen, for now she knew that there was an emotional attachment between the two, and she only had to distract her enemies for a second.

"I will let the girl go on one condition."

"And what would that be?" asked Delsani, as if he did not already know. He had gathered up his strength and was standing again. Some of the other wounded soldiers were now on their feet as well, feeling renewed strength at the sight of the helpless girl. They were ready and oh so willing to use their weapons if they needed to.

"All I want is to Phaze back to the fortress in peace," replied Kilamen.

"I'm afraid I can't allow that to happen," said Delsani, who was trying to stall the Dark Wizard-Elf for as long as he could. For the Wolf Demala had fully healed and had taken a position behind her as not to alert her to his presence. He stood there patiently waiting to pounce at the first sign that she would let the girl fall.

"I grow tiresome of this," said Kilamen. She had begun to think of what else she could do to distract her enemies. Then it came to her. Why not just give them some new things to fight? And using only her imagination, she created Lores, Goblins, mountain and Cave Trolls, Imps, and Dark Wizards.

Everyone had fallen for her deception, all except for Delsani, who was trying to use magic to stop the imaginary creatures, for he knew it was nothing more than a fancy trick. He lost sight of the Wizard-Elf and was no longer trying to stop the fighting. Now he was trying to stop Kilamen. His only hope was that Demala was holding her back.

The imaginary creatures vanished, and Delsani could now see Demala lying with a dagger in his chest. Beside him was the body of the young Wicca, Molnet, both on the blood-soaked ground of that once beautiful and peaceful land.

Kilamen however, was nowhere to be seen.

"We've failed," said Avelan.

"Perhaps not," said Delsani. "We may have stalled her long enough for John to do his part."

"I hope that's the case," said the Elf.

Delsani turned to Demala who was still on the ground. He bent down and as gently as he could, he took the dagger from the Wolf's chest. Delsani had heard most of what he and Kilamen were talking about and he knew that Demala had done all that he could to stop the Wizard-Elf from escaping.

Saren was with Molnet. She was sitting on the ground with her niece's head in her arms rocking to and fro. Henkot was at her side with his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry, child," said Saren. "I should be the one lying here and you should be at home with all of your friends playing games and having fun like someone your age should." She broke into tears, and Henkot put his arms around her. "I tried to help," she said, "but every spell I tried bounced off her."

"A deflection spell," said Delsani.

"She was gone by that time. And I didn't see or hear her use any spell," said Saren.

"That is because she changed Molnet's spell and used it against her," said Delsani.

"When she pushed the spell into Molnet, she changed it into a deflection spell," said Henkot.

"Yes," Delsani said.

"We can't leave her here alone," said Saren.

"We won't leave her here," said Henkot. "You should go on and join the others. The four of us will stay and look after the most seriously wounded," the Warlock said to the old Wizard.

Delsani nodded. "Yes I think that would be for the best." He called for those who were able to fight to follow him.

"Be careful, for the curse is still in your body making you weak. I merely stopped it from spreading. It will take years to recover fully," Henkot said to Delsani.

"I WILL BE CAREFUL, THANK YOU!" Delsani shouted back as they headed towards their companions to fight what was left of the battle of Kealhal.

Kilamen had not Phazed into the room occupied by John and Ulicoth, but the hall next to it.

She walked to the room door, which was open, just a crack. She could see John standing with an energy ball in his right hand. She touched the door with the tip of her right index finger and a slight glow came over it. The flow began to move along the wood of the door and went straight into the hinges. She then opened the door a little more. Her spell had worked; the door hinges did not creak, and she could now see Ulicoth lying motionless face down on the floor. John was still standing beside the Dark Wizard-Elf and now looked ready to throw the energy ball to finally destroy the evil tyrant who had threatened their world for so long.

Kilamen however, had now entered the room; she had begun to sneak up on her enemy. As she walked, she was ready to throw an energy ball at just the right moment.

John raised his hand a little higher.

Now, thought Kilamen, and she threw her yellow energy ball. It hit the back of John's wrist, and his energy ball flew out of his palm and hit one of the flags on the wall. The flag immediately caught fire. The fire was not orange, red and yellow; instead it was green like the energy that started it. The fire did not spread. Its remains merely fell to the ground and became a smouldering pile of ash.

John grabbed his wrist as soon as the energy ball hit him. He made another energy ball and turned sharply, but Kilamen had jumped toward him, kicked him in the chest. As he flew back, he threw the energy ball.

Kilamen tried to use her powers to stop it, but she had made the same mistake as Ulicoth. For the energy ball exploded into smaller pieces. Some hit her, and the others struck the wall. The paintings that hung there and whatever else lay in their wake. She let out a squeal, for the energy had burnt deep holes in her beautiful skin. Then her arms, legs, face and head all felt as though they were on fire, a fire that she could not hope to dowse. She fell and slid a few paces from where she once stood. 

John, however, had hit one of the double doors that lead to the balcony. The door shattered when he hit it, and pieces of it were sent soaring across the room. One of them hit Ulicoth on the back, and slowly he regained consciousness. The Dark Lord was still very groggy. He looked left and right and saw both Kilamen and John lying in heaps on the floor. Obviously, John was stronger than Ulicoth had thought. He found that he was now weaker than before the Wizard King had arrived, and he could no longer move from the waist down. The Dark Wizard-Elf's last hope was that he still had at least one of his abilities.

He stretched out his left arm toward a small chest on the floor, of which he was seeing three. That didn't make what he had to do any simpler, but he knew he had to try and focus. With his arm outstretched, he imagined the chest opening, but nothing happened.

He turned his head to make sure that John was still unconscious. He then turned to Kilamen who was also still out for the count. Ulicoth looked again to the chest and stretched out his arm, concentrating hard. His life certainly depended on his own abilities. The Dark Lord knew if John awoke before Kilamen. The Second Prophecy would indeed come to pass.

It was working. Ulicoth's hand was glowing with a shimmering purple light. The latch on the front of the chest began to move upward, and when it was all the way up the lid was thrown back.

Ulicoth heard what sounded like a disorientated groan that seemed to be coming from John's direction. He tried not to be distracted by the fact that his enemy was regaining consciousness. His hand was now shaking as he tried to control the contents of the chest. The sound of chains rattling could be heard coming from the box, and out of it came a pair of black shackles and a wide arm band. Each of the cuffs had a pink gem in them, as did the armband. Ulicoth moved his hand, and the armband came to him. The Dark Wizard-Elf moved his hand in John's direction, and the shackles went immediately over and each locked around each of John's wrists.

Kilamen was now fully awake and that she was standing over him.

"What took you so long?" he snarled, and as he met her gaze, she saw that the whole left side of Ulicoth's face was burnt beyond recognition. "He was nearly the end of me."

"I met a lot of resistance on trying to return. It was nothing that I couldn't handle," replied Kilamen.

"Good," said Ulicoth. "Now help me to my feet so I can finish with our guest."

That wretched woman took her master by the arm and hoisted him up onto his feet.