Stygian Sword Read online

  Part II- The Tower Of Magi

  Lucia

  Xavier left. With a nod from Hector I dashed after him, hearing Heather snicker behind me. My face turned red, but my feet were pounding on the gravel, loud and fast. With a short whisper, my speed doubled. "Its been awhile since I've used psychic energy." I thought. I finally caught up to Xavier. I walked close behind him, to see if he noticed. Which he did. Turning around and grabbing me by the neck, I saw his face soften, and he lowered me. We walked side by side. "We should get married you know." He had an absent-minded look on how face, and replied; "No. You are my partner, not my lover." I sighed and replied: "why did she have to go this way. I'd rather fight Anima or Animus." He shook his head. "No. You would die, and I would be cursed with avenging you." And then Hector and Loch showed up, followed by Ivan and Heather. We continued in silence, until we came to a small shop. We walked in, and talked to the lady at the counter. Loch spoke up. "Can you lead us to the Dark Temple? King Roy sent us." The woman quickly jumped up knocked Loch's sword out of his hand while she drew a spear and twelve more jumped from the shadows. All this happened in seconds. Me and Xavier drew our amthyst knives just as Ivan drew his short sword. Hector, Loch and Heather were unconscious. Xavier's hands became a blur of purple and black streaks. All of his strokes were accurate to the nearest millimeter. My hands were swirling and circling as I spun and flipped over the enemy's head, Ivan managed to kill one. Twenty Seven more soldiers came from the sides. Ivan was stampeded. This was it. Combining mine and Xavier's mental energy, we let out a shockwave, leaving only bloody masses of those too close. I was getting tired and Xavier's strokes were getting slower. A spear butted me in the head, the last thing I saw was Xavier's face. When I regained consciousness I was free, but Loch was in line with the other guys, except Xavier, who was free to walk around but always had a soldier with him. That's when I noticed two things. The first realization was Oh Great. We are underground. The second was that all the warriors were females in wolf skin clothing. Xavier spoke up. "Please. Put on clothing. Undergarmets do not score well with me." And they replied "The only reason you are alive is because you are a good warrior. You are a good warrior, but you are a male, nonetheless." And then it hit me. Amazons. The ladies only warrior group. We were herded into a hall with nothing but a golden throne with lines of female spearmen, or spearwomen. On the throne sat a woman with nothing but a fur robe and a cloak: the queen of the Amazons, Athena. We have been in her presence once before, but they relocated their base. She stepped down from the throne. Oh gods. She started inspecting Hector. Her voice was deep and heavily accented. "Take this one to the barracks. He could make a good grunt." She turned to Heather "She could make make a good Dragoon. Take her to the training grounds." Next she turned to Ivan. "This one is hiding something important. Take him to the torture chamber." She inspected Loch. "You are a handsome one aren't you?" Loch turned pale. "Back Demon!" he yelled. "I Will not allow myself to be touched!" And surprisingly, she backed off. "Take him to the "Changeroom". Make him think differently." Next she turned to Xavier. "Ah Xavier. Why don't you grab some dragoon armor and meet me in my room?" He walked and took some purple armor down from the wall. It has a beak on the helmet, which was full with a chin guard along with feathers and fake wings on the back. He put it over his white clothing. He waited at the side, nodding to the guard on his left. She whispered something to him, and his face turned green. Finally Athena turned to me. "Lucia Darling? How has it been? Execution for you. Tomorrow at sunset." As they took me to the death row I hit Athena in the face with some well-aimed saliva. Punching me in the stomach, they locked me in. I concentrate and use my mental power to see the future out of Xavier's eyes.

  Xavier and Athena walked out of the hall to the left and up a spiral staircase. They stopped at the top and Athena pulled Xavier inside. They entered a lavishly furnished room lit with candles. Giggling, Athena pulled him to the bench off to one side. She sat down beside him and started to talk. "You are the first male ever to wear Amazon dragoon armor" Xavier looked uncomfortable. "That explains the extra chest room." Athena laughed. "That is made from pure celestial bronze, painted purple." Xavier scratched off some shoulder paint. It was bronze underneath. She turned Xavier's head and leaned in for a kiss, that Xavier struggled against. Hah! It was for these situations Xavier has poison on his lips at all times. After she pulled away she laughed. "I'm immune to arsenic Xavier. Remember last time?" Gods I really don't want to. Xavier chuckled. "Yeah. You were writhing on the ground for twelve minutes and fourty four point six three seconds as I laughed and the guards came up." Athena sighed. "But I forgive you. Because you are going to make up for it tonight." Oh gods. She moved to the bed and took off her cloak. Using clarvoyance Xavier predicted the next... event and used the bronze glove to hit Athena in her face. Ow. Xavier looked at his hand in shock. "I have never... Hit... A lady... before..." Athena didn't look mad in the slightest. Xavier flushed red and hurried out of the room and down the stairs. He took off his chestplate and hammered the chest to the correct size with the hammer someone left carelessly around. Putting it back on, He left, Leaving some guards surprised.

  Returning to the present, I used telepathy to check on Ivan, Heather and Hector. Heather was sitting to the side of the practice room as the other soldiers were spearing dummies. Ivan was getting arrows shot at him as he tried to dodge them, a pitiful mean of torture. Hector was sparing with another Amazon, and he was aiming for the head, apparently trying to kill her.

  Loch was an entirely different story. He was brought through a door where a crude machine lay. They strapped him in and spun the water wheel. Loch was in intense pain, being electricuted. There was a flash of light, and Loch was screaming in pain. Because of his immense pain, he broke from the straps. He walked past the operators and locked the door. Then picking up a random assortment of unused and forgotten pipes, he beat the operator's heads until their craniums were a mass of red and pink and broken skull. I think that the operators thought that Loch would be more tame, as he was dazed and confused. But the opposite happened. Taking his sword from the operators he charged out and left no Amazon alive. Fourteen bloody corpses lined the hallway. At that moment, the entire team came (except Loch) to free me, and I ran up to hug Xavier, who said: "thanks for the help." And said to the others; "I'll tell you later." We moved swiftly out of the shop of the Amazons without being spotted. Loch burst out shortly after we did. We walked along, telling our stories, except Loch, because it was very embarrassing. I had to act like I hadn't seen any of it, for fear that the others would sense my powers. Just then, everything turned dark. Xavier went pale, and drew his black knives. I drew my gold sword. Wordlessly, Xavier passed out black, gold and bronze weapons to everyone. The surrounding trees turned brown and died. We turned back to back on each other, Ivan was hopping back and forth, alternating his legs. A shadowy horseman burst from the forest, charging at us with his spear. Hector, Loch, Ivan, and Heather all dived into the dead forest, leaving me and Xavier to fight with the shadow man. I donned my hood, as Xavier was still in dragoon armor, and the knight charged at us. Xavier flipped over his head and sliced at his helmet. He missed. I slashed at the horse legs, which missed. The horseman came around and stabbed at my heart with his spear. My chest was on fire. The spear smote through my tunic, my steel breastplate and skin, but thankfully, was stopped by my rib cage. My chest was literally smoking as he flung me against a tree using the spear. My conscious body was still able to watch. Xavier spun-jumped in the air, slashing the knight's head in two. He proceeded to cleave the rest of the knight into small pieces, the only way to truly kill them. The knight dissolved into smoke, and Xavier immediately ran towards me. Assessing the damage, he looked distressed, then a look of annoyance. "You have just been stabbed in the chest with a dark spear. Your body is smoking, and you were more likely to live than I am to marry Athena, and you still survived? I am so glad to have you as my partner." And he smiled. He grabbed me by my back and back
of knees. A heroic stance. He carried me to the others, who were looking down at something. I caught a glimpse of it. It was Helen. Or at least, what once was Helen. Now she was cut in half, smoke emitting from a spear stab in her chest, her dress ripped at the waist area, and dried blood on the ground next to the bottom of her waist. And to top it all off, what looked oddly like intestines was coming out of her waist.

  "Great. More mess in the woods." Said Ivan. "Act serious Ivan." Heather lectured. "What happened to Lucia?" Hector asked. Xavier shook his head. "Stabbed in the chest. She'll live... maybe." He carried me all the way to the next town, to the inn, and to our room. Placing me on the bed, whispering goodnight, and brushing the hair out of my face, he began to sharpen his knife. I fell asleep, watching him. When I awoke I was all healed and ready to go. Xavier is a whiz with medicine. And archery. He was still sharpening his knife when he noticed I was awake, but he had his assassin gear on instead. He turned towards me, and instantly they