Ice Phoenix (25 page)

"Raimus, watch out!" Baneyon shouted.

The overweight Imeldor heard him and barely avoided the cloud of ash that attempted to snare him from above. Raimus fell back to where Baneyon was, and together they faced the strange demon
who had been attacking Raimus. It had not uttered a single word throughout the battle.

They hovered thirty metres in the air, the demon a little higher. Similar in build to Meldogan and Garok, he stared at them insolently. A strange mask covered the left side of his face.

"Baneyon, we can't hold him off for much longer. That ash is spreading. The only thing that's been saving us is your spear," panted Raimus. He was right. The ash corroded everything around it, including the armour that both Baneyon and Raimus had been wearing, forcing them to shed it in a hurry before it melted into their skins. Baneyon had used the flat of his blade on several occasions to nullify the ash.

"We need to retreat," panted Raimus. "My
qi's almost exhausted, as is yours."

Baneyon stared at the demon. "Raimus, is it possible he's using dark qi?"

Raimus flashed Baneyon a concerned look. "His powers fit the profile. He doesn't die, he can transform, and he uses an ash that is able to burn through anything it touches. Does that ring a bell with a certain experiment? "

"Yes," said Baneyon.
"Splitting qi particles. Three out of ten times when we successfully divided a qi particle, a dark matter was released and the holding container burned, much in the same manner his ash behaves."

"Except this isn't happening three out of ten times.
That demon's controlling it completely. It's almost as if his biological makeup was designed to access those parts of qi that we cannot. Like the lightning demon for instance."

"Whatever it is, he's killing us."

A sibilating noise infected the air, travelling across the terrain at an alarming rate. It reminded Baneyon of a live wire being submerged in water. He wasn't far off the mark. Both he and Raimus turned to see a dark ash cloud racing towards them, growing larger. Nearly the size of a football field, the cloud flashed erratically, hanging low off the ground.

Baneyon paled. "Our demon combined his ash with the lightning from the other demon. When did they do it?"

But
when
was not the problem. There were more pressing issues at hand. The cloud of ash and lightning suddenly expanded, and it became obvious what the demons had in mind. They intended to trap everyone under the cloud.

Quempa, Lady Fless, Kalum, and L-Master Ana were still on the ground so were caught beneath it. They were running, but they were hindered by the third demon,
who was slashing at them. Lady Fless was able to shield off the attacks, but it was becoming clear that she was tiring.

"We need to help them," said Baneyon.

"We need to help ourselves," replied Raimus. "We're surrounded."

Baneyon looked up and swore. The lightning-ash cloud was now over them, and Baneyon's efforts to expel the cloud with a mini typhoon were useless. He and Raimus were forced to descend to the ground. The Imeldors would not have believed what happened next if they had not seen it with their own eyes. The edges of the cloud reached down suddenly, sealing everyone off from the outside world. They were trapped in a cloud dome of ash and lightning.

Inside the dome, they were faced with another danger. Some of the dratkaars had also been trapped. Freaked out by the cloud phenomenon, they became even more hostile. Their growls rivalled the sibilating sound of the lightning-ash dome. Baneyon gulped.

"Raimus, if you have any qi left in you, now would be a good time to dig a tunnel out of here."

"I'm working on it!" Raimus said quickly.

"Baneyon!
Raimus!" Lady Fless and Kalum reached them, supporting a very weak L-Master Ana. Quempa also appeared, running past Baneyon to help Raimus with the tunnels.

"Cover us while we work here!" he ordered.

The ground around them caved in, and most of the dratkaars fell through, yelping in surprise. As quickly as the dogs had disappeared, the ground closed up.

"Hey, Quempa, I hate to question you, being the leader and all for this mission, but aren't you supposed to weave a getaway for
us
, not the dogs? Whose side are you on?" barked Baneyon.

"That wasn't us," said Raimus.

"Indeed it wasn't," called out another voice. Despite being trapped in the dome without natural light, the lightning that coursed through the cloud provided enough visibility for the Imeldors to distinguish Meldogan and Nashim walking towards them. Another form blurred past them; they turned to see that a third demon had joined them.

Of the three demons, Baneyon thought that Meldogan appeared the most regal, with his long braid and graceful stride. Nashim appeared the most brutal, psychotic even, with the mask covering half his face. The third demon differed vastly from Meldogan and Nashim, possessing an elongated head, and slender limbs to match.

"That skinny bastard is Eera," muttered Lady Fless. "Beware, he teleports over short distances."

The demons stopped about ten metres from the Imeldors, and Meldogan stepped forwards. He pointed at Baneyon.

"Hand the pendant over," he snarled.

"What makes you think I have it?" Baneyon replied, feigning nonchalance.

Meldogan's finger travelled from Baneyon's face down to his gaten. All eyes swivelled to Baneyon’s groin area. A patch of light shone dully through the material.

"With that much power between your legs I'm surprised you didn't notice it, Baneyon," said Quempa, slightly annoyed that his friend had gotten careless with the pendant, thus allowing the demons to see it.

"Well, he could be forgiven, Quempa. The colour is rather dull and uninteresting," added Kalum.

"I don't know about you lot, but I was expecting to see a wormhole!" said Raimus. "I can't say I'm not disappointed."

Baneyon scowled, peeved at their less than constructive comments, and that they would pick this time to jest. Not to mention, he had a very ancient and powerful pendant hidden beneath his gaten that had somehow activated. Parts of him no longer felt safe, and he could only guess the pendant had reacted to the dark qi around it, emitted from the demons.

He quickly unhooked the pendant from the inside of his belt and pulled. It gleamed in the flickering darkness. Almost immediately, it began to tug away from him as one of the demons tried to grab it. Baneyon held on to it tightly.

Swirls of ash rose around them, so it was almost impossible to see. Quempa swore. He removed a tiny round object from his sleeve and threw it on the ground. It smashed open and the area was lit by a steady blue glow.

"The ash is everywhere!" L-Master Ana cried out.

It started to encroach on their feet, and Quempa immediately wove thick dust clouds from the ground to try to slow its progress. The idea was to coat the ash particles and weigh them down. Raimus moved to support him, but Quempa waved him aside.

"Let the dogs out," he muttered.
The rest of you find a way to keep the demons on the ground. The dust can't hold back the ash — our only chance lies with the dogs because only they can nullify the demons' qi. And hurry, the dome is closing in fast. They mean to incinerate us to collect the pendant!

Lightning flashed down. Baneyon watched as Raimus was forced to abandon his task, weaving a thick wall of earth to shield them from being fried. However, a stray finger of lightning found its way through a gap in Raimus's defences and caught Kalum. The others watched in horror as he instantly roasted. The odour of singed flesh filled the air, and he collapsed to the ground.

"Kalum!" L-Master Ana cried.

"He's still alive, but barely," Quempa said grimly. "Ana, I'm going to weave a dust storm — it'll help to deflect this lightning. I need you to lace it so that it lasts indefinitely."

L-Master Ana nodded. "I'm ready."

Quempa's eyes began to glow. "Baneyon, give me a good wind."

Visibility inside the dome was reduced to zero as Quempa flooded it with dust. It whipped around everyone like a hurricane, coating the ash and slowing its progress.

"Raimus!
What about the dogs?" Quempa yelled out.

"
Er, we have a slight problem on that front," replied Raimus. "They'd rather remain underground, sheltered from the storm."

"Get them out!" snapped Quempa.

"Watch out!" shouted Lady Fless. She raised her broadswords and deflected several knife attacks as the third demon dashed in and out. They couldn’t see the other demons through the thick dust.  Quempa grunted in pain and collapsed, his wing nearly sliced off.

Lady Fless rushed to his defence but it was L-Master Ana who fell next. She gasped and looked down at Ana’s stomach, where a large wound had just appeared.

"
Baneyon
," screamed Lady Fless. "
Find him!"

Baneyon released his spear and it pulled away, chasing after the third demon. Something struck Baneyon from behind and he fell.

Meldogan loomed over him. Lady Fless moved to attack, but Meldogan was quicker. A knee slammed into her face and she crumpled almost instantly, knocked out cold. Raimus was felled in a similar manner.

When all the team were sprawled on the ground, the dust storm inside the dome subsided.

"Play time is over," snarled Meldogan, plucking the pendant from Baneyon's hand. "You held onto it long enough." He slipped the pendant beneath his armour. Now that it was no longer a worry, he leaned over Baneyon, his hand crackling with electricity. "This is for Garok." He dragged his finger along Baneyon's chest and the Imeldor screamed as live current coursed through his body. Meldogan's lip curled, and out of sheer cruelty, he dug his fingers into the Baneyon's flesh.

As Baneyon
lay twitching and dying, he wondered why his life was not flashing before his eyes like it had done for other people. Good times, bad times — he couldn't see them. Instead, it was fear that clouded his mind. Fear that he hadn't accomplished all that he had wanted to in his short life. Baneyon was young for a Pophusian; they could live for more than two centuries. He had shown promise in his early career, becoming an Imeldor at an age when most Pophusians were barely out of their diapers. For the briefest moment, Baneyon regretted his career choice.

He shivered. His fingers and toes felt like ice despite the searing heat from the lightning.
Sparks flew off his chest as Meldogan continued to torture him, but instead of screaming in agony, he felt nothing.
Did death feel like this?
he wondered. In his haziness, he watched Meldogan leap away from him, the demon's face a mass of confusion as he glanced around the dome. Meldogan's hand was covered in ice.

"What's happening?" Meldogan yelled.

"Meldogan!"

Something blurred by and grabbed Meldogan. Where the demon had stood, an ice-rod skewered the ground. Baneyon could have cried his relief when he saw it. The distress signal they had sent out earlier must have been received, and help had finally arrived. Not just any help either — they had sent the big guns. They had sent the queen.

A hole ate its way through the dome and sunlight flooded in. A rush of insane ecstasy rose in Baneyon when he saw the queen storm through on her faar. Charging immediately on her heels was Lady Anrath. Hundreds of tiny needles pierced the lightning-ash cloud, and Baneyon watched the dome disintegrate.

Baneyon grimaced as he staggered to his feet, pulling an equally pained Quempa up with him. They were the only ones conscious. As the faars landed, both Lady Anrath and the queen dismounted and walked quickly to the fallen Imeldors and L-Masters.

The tall and dark Lady Anrath quickly coated the more seriously injured L-Master Kalum in ice, and lifted him onto her faar. To rouse the others from their unconscious states, she wove clear sacs of freezing cold water, which she promptly released. In no time at all, Lady Fless, L-Master Ana, and Raimus were sitting up, completely drenched and spluttering.

"As soon as the dome collapses, the dratkaars will start to attack. Lady Anrath will ride out to meet and destroy them, but I want you to clear a path for her," the queen said to Baneyon, Raimus, and Quempa without emotion.

The trio were aghast, but did not show their alarm. Instead, Baneyon gave a hopeful look towards the queen's faar. "Could we not borrow Nisa?"

"She remains here with me," the queen replied. That was the end of any transport relief for Baneyon, Raimus, and Quempa.

"The lightning demon has the pendant, Your Highness," Quempa said.

"Not anymore, he doesn't. The masked demon has it. Leave! You are in my way."

"The dogs already approach," warned Lady Anrath. She helped L-Master Ana and Lady Fless onto her faar and turned the beast towards the dogs. "Start clearing a path," she ordered Baneyon with as much feeling as a rock. Baneyon scowled at the dark woman with her white corn braids, and thought pettily that the queen had chosen the perfect companion.

"Move!" barked the queen.

Baneyon held his hand out and called his spear to him. It flew into his grasp and he, Raimus, and Quempa ran towards the dogs, ahead of Lady Anrath’s faar. Meanwhile, the queen aimed an almost hungry look at the demons, her ice-blue eyes glittering in the sweltering heat of the three suns. Like Lady Fless, she also carried two long swords which were crossed over her back.

"Return the pendant!" she called out.

Nashim, with the half mask, stepped forwards. "Queen Julere," he said. It was the first time he had spoken, and his voice was deep and gravelly. It carried across the terrain and reached the other Imeldors' ears. Quempa, Raimus, and Baneyon turned and looked back at the demons.

"Had you remained in your sector, you could have lived another day," Nashim continued to the queen. "But instead, you chose to rescue your worthless comrades. As soon as the dratkaars arrive, your qi will be neutralised and you'll be on our level."

"Then I expect you to hand it over before they arrive." The queen's tone was dictatorial.

Nashim and Meldogan laughed, but the third demon, Eera, snarled, his face turning nasty. "I'll hand you this!" He vanished suddenly, but he wasn't the only one who did. The queen also vanished. A knife slashed the air where she once stood and Eera materialised, looking surprised.

"You're too slow," the queen whispered behind him. Her hands came around his head. The shocked expression remained on his face as his body fell away. The queen tossed his head aside carelessly, and it rolled across the cracked ground, leaving a trail of green blood. She glanced at the two remaining demons. Their sneering expressions had disappeared now that their comrade lay in two pieces on the dry, baked earth.

"No qi required," she said lightly, "and yet, I highly doubt we are on the same level."

"
Eera
!" Meldogan screamed. He shot her an enraged look. "I'm going to kill you!"His words carried to where Baneyon and the others were watching.

"Quempa, did you see that?" yelped Baneyon. "She just ripped his head off with her bare hands! Now they're only two!"

"Keep moving, Baneyon," his friend said in a grumpy voice. "There's a reason the queen told us to leave."

"Yes," added a still groggy Raimus. The three of them were struggling to stay ahead of Lady Anrath. "Aside from the fact that she'd only demonstrate how useless we are, the other reason is, Nashim still has the pendant. As soon as he figures out how to activate it, the queen won't be able to protect us. She knows that too."

Baneyon scowled. "You two are missing the point here. She
ripped
his head off!"

"And the dratkaars are about to rip ours," said Quempa. "Focus, Baneyon!"

Baneyon groaned and ran towards the dogs with his comrades. Quempa was right about the dogs — it was going to be a difficult task to clear a path.

Meanwhile, Meldogan was rushing at the queen. Lightning streaked down towards her, but she evaded the strikes and appeared in front of Meldogan. "Die," she said. Her hand grabbed his shoulder and Meldogan was suddenly unable to move. His eyes widened in terror when he realised his blood was beginning to freeze. Attempts to expel her qi from his body proved futile. The queen's qi, for whatever reason, could not be overcome.

Nashim appeared at his side and ash blew into the queen's face. While she was momentarily distracted, Nashim pulled Meldogan away. They retreated at least thirty metres. The ash fizzled and vanished, and Queen Julere advanced on the demons, her expression a frozen landscape of death.

Nashim faced her and hissed. "So the rumours have substance — your breath is comparable to the ice-phoenixes of Dartkala."

The queen did not answer. Instead, she began running towards them.

"
Now, Meldogan
!" screamed Nashim.

The two of them combined their qi to produce a super tornado of ash and lightning, directing it towards the queen. Meldogan dropped to his knees and hammered the ground with his fist; it split open and the queen fell through. The tornado jumped in after her.

Lightning struck the ground and dark ash ate away the earth where the queen had disappeared. It lasted for what seemed an eternity, and when it finally subsided, there was no sign of the queen. Only a large scar remained in the ground, where Meldogan had split it open. Minutes ticked by.

A blackened body rose into the air, and the demons shrieked their joy. The queen floated in front of them, her body charred and limp.

"Look!" Meldogan shouted across to the watching Imeldors. "Even the mighty queen is nothing against our combined powers! Her ice failed to fend off the burning fury of lightning and ash!"

From where they watched, Baneyon trembled in disbelief. He refused to believe that the queen could so easily have been thwarted by the demons. She had been their only hope of getting out of Si Ren Da alive. "Quempa, please tell me she's not dead," he whispered.

Beside him, his friend also shook. "It was Meldogan," he said hoarsely. "He was the key. That explains why they weren't afraid to meet her head on."

"What are you talking about? You don't make any sense!"

Quempa threw Baneyon an angry look. "Use your head! Meldogan is a lightning user. How is lightning formed? From the positive and negative charges caused by
ice
in the air. That means, like the queen, he controls similar elements. We were so stupid! All this time we just thought he was a lightning user, but we never once thought of how he created it."

Quempa's words were beginning to make sense to Baneyon.

"Meldogan used the queen's power and turned it against her," Quempa continued. "When the tornado struck, the queen grounded herself in ice. At that precise moment, Meldogan interfered and created the negative charge needed for lightning. He created lightning
inside
her shield. She was completely unprotected."

"Dartkala," whispered Baneyon. "You mean to say it was planned from the very beginning?"

"Look out!" shouted Raimus. The first pack of dratkaars had arrived. Baneyon ducked as one leapt over his head. Quempa ran up Baneyon's back, catapulting in the air. He landed just behind a dratkaar's neck and sent it crashing into the ground. Baneyon then ran up and kicked it in the head, rendering it unconscious. Four more dratkaars leapt onto Lady Anrath's faar, but she punched one in the face, sending it flying. Her faar took care of the remaining three; it gored two with its horns, and in one powerful swipe, it broke the neck of the last one.

The ground trembled beneath their feet and everyone, including the dratkaars, was thrown off balance. A particularly violent tremor caused them to slide across the surface. They looked down and were surprised to discover the baked, cracked ground covered in ice. It even reached the demons.

"Hurry!" Lady Anrath said urgently. "While the dratkaars are still confused, head to Mire's Point!"

In the distance, the demons watched the Imeldors race away, surprised that the ice had reached even them. "Who would have thought the dark woman also wove ice?" said Meldogan, dusting the snow off his feet.

"Whoever said it was her?" came a mocking, familiar voice.

Both demons stared in horrified disbelief at the queen, who was hovering in the air, her cold blue eyes piercing right through them. She was smiling, but it was clear that it wasn't the friendly kind. Her charred, blackened skin fell away like ash, only to be replaced by dark scales that covered her entire body.

"Excuse the attire, but you didn't leave me with much choice," she said, her eyes glinting. "Now, where was I?"

One of Meldogan's fingers exploded, and the demon screamed. He wasn't granted any reprieve as the rest followed, clouding the air with bloody spray as lightning destroyed them from within.

"Meldogan!" Nashim reached to pull him away, but the dark demon stopped him.

"Stay back!" Meldogan growled. "She's controlling the charges in my body! I'm a bomb right now!" His right arm tore to pieces and another blast removed it entirely from his shoulder. He screamed horribly.

Nashim snarled and smacked his fist into the ground. It cracked open, releasing all the dratkaars that had previously been trapped beneath. He was close to unlocking the pendant's power, but until he figured out how, he had to find a way to neutralise the queen.

Dratkaars surrounded them on all sides. Their vast presence had an immediate effect on both the queen and the demons. Meldogan broke free of the queen's grasp and returned to Nashim's side.

"Let's see how you fare without your qi," growled Nashim.

The queen dropped to the ground lightly. A smile crossed her cold, beautiful features as she faced the demons. She drew out the swords from behind her back, and they gleamed like cold death in the sun.

"Let's."