Dirin-Gal was astonished. She had expected to take part in a desperate but hopelessly futile attempt to stop whatever was going on. Stopping an evil ritual. Saving her own life. Getting revenge on the dwarfs for hunting her down. And she had run around the corner after these others with the full expectation of a quick and maybe even painful death......
And now just after the fight started, the elven assassin had taken the first dwarf down, maybe even their main spellcaster. She could see the dwarf go down after the first attack and the elf delivering a swift coup de grace. The elven woman was already onto the heavily wounded barbarian and the body of the girl on the stone altar just started moving, which meant the invisible sorcerer might have reached her to disturb the magic flow. Things did not look so dire as they first seemed. There might be a chance to get out of this alive.
Just as she loosened another bolt at the barbarian, who by now looked seriously wounded but would not yet go down, she saw movement at the far door. Two caragor riders appeared, immediately joining the fray. She could see the elf moving against another dwarf. Why does he not turn invisible again? He would not get an advantage like this with the other dwarf already moving towards him! With all her training, Dirin-Gal made a quick assessment of the situation. She could see one of the caragors ignoring the elf. This could only mean they also spotted the moving body of the girl and the wavering beam of light. In one smooth motion, she turned her hand towards the beast and shot again. She would not be able to save the elf, but she could give the sorcerer more time. The body was almost out of the beam. If only she could get the beast's attention long enough. And suddenly the body moved upwards and vanished. They did it.
Outside on the green field near the spire, Thoravil looked at the beautiful woman in his hands. He had rescued the damsel in distress. He had single-handedly disrupted whatever ritual it was that needed the body as a channelling ingredient. He was looking up, whether he could already see the first signs of a disruption of the beam and thus his victory. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw the eyes of the woman opening. What beautiful eyes. Deep. Captivating. He looked straight at her and said, "I saved you, don't worry, you are save now!". He could see a flicker of what must have been confusion in her eyes. Surely the poor girl did not know what was happening. Nothing he could not handle. "I got you out of the grasps of the evil dwarfs and their magic. You are in the hands of the mighty wizard Thoravil. I'll protect you! Don't you worry!" She lifted her head and smiled. What a beautiful smile. What a soft and melodic voice. "Let me kiss you then my hero!". Finally, after all these years, things seem to have turned out well! He moved his face towards hers. As the lips touched, the world stopped. Her eyes suddenly turned from a sapphire blue to a dark burning red. His extremities turned cold and he could feel his life force being sucked out of his body. But the eyes. He loved those eyes.
Morghesa could feel the arcane energy flowing through her body. The ritual had worked and this fool had just given her the last bit of energy she needed. Over the last weeks, all the magical energy from the surrounding country, collected by this age-old magical lens, had flowed into her body, together with all the life. She was immortal. Invincible. The strongest spellcaster in eons. And she could feel it. The land. The creatures. The ebb and flow of arcane energy around her. The fight inside her new palace. Yes, the fight....
The tide had changed. Dirin-Gal saw the body vanish, just as an army of goblins and hobgoblins stormed through the far door. From behind she could see a group of black-clad men rounding the corner, chased by two more dwarfs and another army of hobgoblins. They were surrounded. Just as she braced herself for her last stand, time seemed to stop. The room suddenly was filled with a bright white light and a figure appeared on the slab of stone. First she thought Thoravil had cast a spell, but the shape hinted at a female with a long flowing dress. "STOP!" All fighting stopped and all heads turned towards this massive discharge of energy that all could feel. The voice seemed to come from inside Dirin-Gal's head. "I AM MORGHESA, YOUR QUEEN. BOW TO ME OR PERISH!". As the goblins and dwarfs dropped to their knees, one man from the group of black fighters charged forward towards the queen, shimmering blue in, what Dirin-Gal guessed, was a protection sphere. The queen's head turned and she slowly lifted her hand towards the attacker. A beam of light hit the magical sphere and for a second it stopped before the sphere collapsed and the body of the man started to glow red from within. Within two steps, the body turned black, cracked, and disintegrated into smaller, black parts that became gray ash when hitting the ground. Within seconds, only small ash clouds were all that was left. Two other men started to run shouting "Faron!" and went up in flame after a short glance from the woman. After this everything turned quiet. The queen slowly turned her head and started to walk towards the few people still standing. "Anyone else who disagrees with me taking control?". Dirin-Gal went down on her knee as the queen looked at her and she could see Vrael and Ashara do the same. "Good, this seems settled then. Where is Kort?" "Dead, my queen", one of the dwarfs answered looking up, "Killed by him!", pointing at Vrael. The queen had a curious look on her face that quickly turned into a smile. "Killed? Stand up and come to me my champions and see that, as my eyes, ears, and arms, you too shall be immortal!". As six dwarfs stood up and moved towards the queen, she reached down to the 7th dwarf, violet light engulfing the body. The dwarf opened the eyes, looked around confused, but very quickly saw Morghesa and stood up to kneel. "My queen, it has worked! I'm at your service!" "Yes Kort, it has worked. Thanks to you and your brothers, this world is now ours to grab!" Her eyes moved from dwarf to dwarf while she walked slowly along the seven, again kneeling, dwarfs. "You will be my champions, leading my armies, guiding my swords, governing my empire. Together we will shape this world anew to our liking. Rise, my generals and counselors!" As the seven stood up, one of them turned towards Ashara and Vrael. "What about them? They have tried to stop us and have killed Kort!" "They have tried indeed. I would not like to see good talent go to waste, but since it was Kort who suffered, it is his decision and I trust his judgment." With these words, she turned and walked up to the slab of stone again, which started to glow and turn into a throne made of sapphires and white marble. She gracefully turned around, sat down, slowly looked up towards the sapphire dome above her and closed her eyes. "It is time to call forth our army and introduce ourselves to the world!"
Mornië alantië
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