The Sorcerer's Ascension (53 page)

Guards led the party of surface dwellers out of their cells and back up the long ramp towards the "surface" and the inner circle of the arena. When they emerged into the arena, a loud roar filled their ears from the shouts and screams of nearly a thousand Pescarans, the power of their voices amplified by the water. Their numbers did not come close to filling the seats of the ancient arena and Maude was very pleased to see that. It meant that escape was far more likely than if Pescaran citizens filled the seats to the capacity of the thirty or forty thousand people it could accommodate.

The guards returned the surface dwellers’ weapons, pointed out the guards and priests along the rim of the arena, and gestured with a claw across the throat that left no question of what would happen if they tried to flee.

From an even larger door leading down a different ramp at the far side of the arena, handlers herded out numerous large manta rays. There was at least a score of the creatures and as they began to swim nearer, they could tell that these were no ordinary rays. Their mouths were filled with razor-sharp teeth much like a shark and they moved with an intelligence greater than a person would normally attribute to a mere fish.

The crowd cheered as the death rays made their aggressive advance towards the surface dwellers. The crowd knew they kept the evil rays starved and were hungry and aggressive. Tarth cast a spell that conjured several images of himself to confuse the enemy, Malek chanted a prayer to Solarian to aid his friends in battle, and Maude and Borik took up defensive positions around the cleric and wizard to protect each other’s backs.

A few of the bolder, or perhaps hungrier, rays darted in hoping to draw first blood. Maude launched a vicious attack, bringing her sword around in a swift and powerful swipe that nearly cut one of the rays in twain. Borik and Malek swung at another ray that sought to get the first taste of blood and received an axe and a hammer to the spine for its trouble.

The next attack came as a concerted effort as the rays swarmed en masse. The fighters’ swings were a flurry of blows in a wild attempt to ward off the snapping jaws and long, lashing barbed tails of the death rays. Tarth sent a fireball streaking out to the outer edge of the attacking throng of evil fish. They could all feel the sudden rise in the water temperature as a thirty-foot ball of steam boiled several rays alive.

Maude lashed out again and cleaved deeply into another ray, but three more bit down hard on her arm, leg, and torso and commenced to trying to shake her apart since their teeth could not penetrate the strong steel of her full plate armor.

Borik and Malek did not have such near-impenetrable protection. As Borik swung at another ray before it swiftly darted out of harm’s way, a second got behind him and bit down on his thigh. The strong sharp teeth of the ray pierced the chain links that protected his arms and legs. The dwarf could feel the ray's teeth sink into his flesh but not deeply. He gripped the handle of his axe high up on the haft and brought it down on the head of the deadly fish that was gnawing on his leg. The axe failed to bite deep enough for an immediately lethal blow due to the lack of leverage the modified grip afforded, but it parted the skin and scales of the ray deep enough to draw a significant amount of blood. The ray released its grip and swam quickly but unsteadily off, away from the dangerous meal.

Malek turned swiftly at a movement at his back and had just enough time to glimpse a death ray close its mouth around the head and torso of Tarth. He let out a cry of shock and surprise before watching the image of the wizard dissolve into nothingness. Saved by his duplicate, Tarth reached out and touched the ray with a slender delicate hand. The motion and the touch seemed more like a delicate caress than an attack, but the results were readily apparent. The ray began to twist and spasm in the water before falling still and floating towards the top of the arena on its long trek towards the surface.

Studying the results of his shocking touch gave Tarth an idea. He began waving his arms and chanting the words to another spell. He thrust his hand out towards the largest group of rays, most of which were both chewing on and shaking Maude in her armor or were circling nearby hoping for their turn. Arcs of electricity suddenly filled the area. Maude, Borik, and Malek let out cries of pain and alarm. The three companions felt every muscle in their body contract as the electricity ran its searing course through their bodies. The effect on the rays was even more dramatic. A dozen of the killer fish immediately began writhing and twisting in the water, the ones latched onto Maude let go and joined in the strange spastic display before falling still and floating upwards.

Once the fighters overcame the shocking jolt, it was a simple matter of finishing off the few remaining rays. The crowd that gathered to witness the display cheered wildly for the spectacle. Many had come to see the humans devoured but their triumph merely meant that there would be another show very soon.

A dozen guards swam in while more stood back with several of the priests and disarmed them once again before ushering them back down the ramp to their cells.

"
Criminy
, Tarth, what in the seven hells was that?" Maude demanded once their escort left them.

"It would seem that the undersea creatures are particularly vulnerable to electricity," Tarth replied musingly. "It would also appear that my lightning bolt is greatly affected by the water as well. It creates an area of effect like that of a fireball instead of a single bolt as it normally would. This is very interesting."

"Wow, Tarth, that's the longest, most coherent statement I think you've ever made. You should electrocute yourself more often," Borik announced in all seriousness.

"
Hm
, what did you say?" the wizard glanced around vaguely.

"Never mind," the dwarf muttered.

"Alright, it hurt like hell but we're still alive, and we can use that information to our benefit next time. Tarth, I want you to load up on as many electricity-based spells as you can," Maude told the elf.

Malek was attending Borik's wounds while Maude detailed their plans for the next impending battle. The bite was moderately deep and his thigh and leg bore several smaller punctures. Malek was able to heal these with little more than scars to show that they had any harm had been inflicted.

Zathenlanis greeted them warmly and congratulated them on their victory. Later that evening, she called over to Maude to inform her of tomorrow's event.

"I overheard the guards saying that we will be fighting together in a massive battle never before seen in the arena," the sea elf informed Maude. "Perhaps we can escape when we are all together."

"If the opportunity presents itself then we will surely take it, but I would wager that we will be too weak and suffering from too many wounds to try and escape," Maude conveyed her concerns to the sea elf.

"Then how will we ever be free if we don't take the one chance we have when we are together?" she asked in frustration.

"We need to be together but not fighting a bunch of monsters at the same time. I just don't know how to accomplish that. Perhaps at the end of the battle we could stage a fight between your people and mine. Make it look like we don't like each other. Perhaps the next day they will pit us against each other in the arena," suggested the leader of the surface dwellers.

"You are assuming that we will be alive at the end of tomorrow's battle, and I get the feeling that the odds are stacked to ensure that we do not survive the fight, at least not in any number that would be of use afterwards."

"Perhaps we could use the battle to aid us?" Malek said, interposing himself in their plans.

"What do you mean?"

"I know we can't control the creatures, but if we could break the control that the priests had over them they may seek their own escape and possibly revenge for their cruel punishment on their captors."

"Of course, if we can attack enough of their priests with spells they may lose the control they have over the monsters as well as the shields that they use to prevent our escape," Maude said, filling in the plan.

"And the King is sure to be in attendance. If we can overcome him and his personal guard, we may be able to take the trident from him. We must get that trident or we have no chance of escaping at all," Zathenlanis added.

"We only have one wizard and one cleric; we need more magic to make this work."

"Several of my people have a magic of their own. It is not as potent or deadly as your wizard's but it can prove effective at providing a distraction," offered Zathenlanis.

Zathenlanis explained the plan to her people while Maude and her people prepared themselves for the next battle.

"Just a thought, but what are we going to do if the boat is gone?" Borik asked.

"I told the ship captain to give us three days. It's hard to tell how long we've been down here, but I think we still have time, but just barely. We have to get away tomorrow no matter what. If that ship is gone the odds of us getting back to land is slim. Zathenlanis' people may be able to help us, but if we have half of this city on our tails I doubt that even they will be of much help."

"Great, just thought I'd ask," grumbled the dwarf as he sank his teeth into the raw fish that made up their lunch and ever other meal.

Several hours after Tarth recast the spell that enabled them to survive in this harsh environment, a full two score of guards and half a dozen priests came for them. The guards also led Zathenlanis and her people up the ramp to the arena to participate in the grand melee. They equipped the sea elves with spears, tridents, and harpoons while Maude and her people wielded their own weapons. The Pescarans allowed the air breathers to use them since they found them exotic and enjoyed seeing them in action.

The guards and priests swam up towards the rim of the arena once they issued the weapons and raised the large coral gate. Once again, handlers drove a host of hideous sea creatures out into the arena. There were nearly twice as many Pescarans in attendance as there had been in their previous battle and the roar of the crowd was deafening. It seemed that King Icxzantrelix declared the exhibition a holiday and mandated attendance for nearly everyone in the city.

Maude looked across the field at the raised reviewing stand where the large king sat with a contingent of personal guards and priests. She then looked about the arena and pointed out to her allies that there seemed to be fewer priests along the walls and top of the arena in order to provide protection for their ruler.

A mighty blast from a long, pink and sand-colored shell was blown and the crowed went silent as the priests released their mental leash on the horde of sea creatures. Maude and her allies watched as the death rays glided forward gracefully, huge crablike creatures scuttled towards them, and hideously evil Morkoths slashed at the water with their tentacles propelling them towards their target.

"Now," Maude shouted out the command.

Tarth created a burst of electricity at a knot of four priests and several guards at the top of the arena while Malek brought forth a huge column of flame that immediately turned into a pillar of scorching steam on two more priests and guards. Zathenlanis and six other sea elves chanted in their strange language and dozens of thick, ropey strands of kelp sprang up from the ground wrapping up and constricting several priests and guards along the lower wall.

Maude, Borik, and several sea elf fighters converged on the Pescaran king and his entourage but were all blasted back across the arena with a simple wave of the magical trident. King Icxzantrelix laughed heartily at the prisoner's futile attack against him, but his smile quickly turned into a scowl as it dawned on him what was happening.

Initially, the sea creature horde simply stopped, some attacking others within their ranks as the force that prodded them into action weakened then vanished altogether. Once free of their reins, most of the animalistic creatures sought freedom, but the more intelligent ones sought revenge. The wicked Morkoths lunged into the seats of the surprised Pescarans, grabbing the fleeing people out of their seats with their long tentacles and inflicting lethal wounds with their huge, tooth-filled mouths and poisonous tentacles.

The eight-foot-tall crab men climbed over the wall out of the arena and into the stands, grabbing anyone unlucky enough to avoid them, in their enormous brutal pinchers and crushing the life out of them. Maude had to scream as loud as she could to make herself heard above the cries of terror and pain coming from the crowd of spectators.