An assassination job and a panty bandit are the highlights of this early adventure of the sorceress supreme, Riss Cobalt
Off to See the Sorcerer, part 1:
An Early Adventure in Sorcery
“You want me to do WHAT?!” I screeched to the dozen assembled lords of Westover as I slammed the palms of my hands down on top of the table and jumped out of my chair. My hasty removal of my seventeen-year-old person from the chair caused that piece of furniture to fall over onto the floor with a crash.
I stood at the far end of the finely polished oak table in the middle of what Lord Etain and the other, lesser, lords of Westover termed the “grand meeting chamber”. The room was, however, anything but grand. The room was small. It was dank. And it was dimly lit, even with the torches on the walls. And speaking of the walls…Mold and mildew had long ago taken up residence on the stone walls. And rather than go to the effort to try to clean the walls off, tapestries had been hung to try to cover the fugi instead. The only “grand” thing in the room was the aforementioned polished oak table.
“You heard me, Miss Marissa,” Lord Etain said from the end of the table opposite me. “I want you to eliminate someone for us.”
“That’s what I thought you said,” I said as I brushed my blue bangs out of my eyes and collected myself. “I just wanted to make sure I heard you right.”
“Well, you did, Miss Marissa,” said Lord Abarond, a rather plump, bald, and mustachioed lord to my left.
I straightened my chair, sat back down, and gave the lords a hard look. “I’ve told you all before, I don’t do assassinations. I may be a bad girl, but I’m not that bad.”
The middle-aged, brown-haired Lord Etain fixed his fierce green eyes on me. “Yes, we know, Miss Marissa. And we wouldn’t have asked you to do this if we had any other option. But we don’t. You, the great and beautiful mercenary sorceress Marissa Cobalt, are the only one who can rid us of this threat.”
“Wellll….” I said, starting to waver. What can I say? Flattery for someone with my reputation is rare to come by. And, it’s nice to be needed, after all.
“And we’ll make it worth your while, of course,” Lord Etain added.
“Oh???” I said, even more intrigued. “How so? You’re already paying all of my bills in the city for as long as I reside here in Westover, provided that I keep my mercenary services at your disposal.”
“We’ll let you have a week’s vacation. We won’t ask you to do a job for us the entire time.”
“Sounds good. But only a week? That’s not much time. Considering all that I’ve done for you all in the past two years, I should get more than just a week. Make it a month, and you got a deal.”
“Fair enough. One month it is.”
“Okay! So, who is this walking dead man? Does he have a name? And why do you consider him a threat?”
“We recently received a report,” said Lord Duranngal, a tall, skinny, dark-haired man to my right, “from our spies in the nearby small city of Pikaal. The report mentions a powerful man governing there. A man who wants to control more than just Pikaal, and plans to start with Westover.”
“Okay. I think I follow you. But who is this man? And what do you mean by powerful?”
“He is a sorcerer by the name of Xaver.”
“Xaver, huh?” I said. “An easy enough name to remember. Xaver the sorcerer, leader of the small city of Pikaal. This should prove to be an interesting caper. Glad I took the job.”
When I had finally made my way back outside the castle and to the street, I put the hood of my cloak up and struck off down the road to my right. It was now evening, and I was growing both hungry and tired. As I walked in the growing darkness, I saw a couple of men – one brawny, the other skinny - approach me from the direction of a tavern.
Inwardly, I groaned. “Oh, great,” I thought.
I glanced around, and saw nearby me a lightpost. So I stood underneath the light, making sure that my hood still kept my face enshadowed, and watched the two men come to a stop before me.
“Hello there, little lady,” said the brawny one with an obvious drunken slur and a certain glint in his eyes.
“Hello yourself,” I said. “Is there something I can do for you gentlemen?”
The mismatched duo chuckled.
“Oh, I think you know what you can do for us, pretty lady,” said the skinny man. His tone left no doubt as to what he and his friend wanted from me, and confirmed my earlier suspicion that had made me groan.
“How do you know I’m pretty? You can’t see my face for the hood.”
“With a fine figure like yours, you have to be pretty,” said the brawny man. The skinny man’s head shook vigorously in agreement with that statement.
“You think so? Well, why don’t you have a look anyway.”
I pulled back my hood to reveal my face and blue hair. The two men gasped and took a step back.
“I…I’m sorry, Miss Marissa,” stammered the brawny man. “I…I had no idea it was you.”
“P…Please, forgive us,” added the skinny man.
The two men then turned around and ran off, the skinny man calling, “Have a nice evening, Miss Marissa!” back to me as they ran.
I chuckled and continued on my way to find some dinner before returning home.
Home for me in Westover consisted of a small, one-room, rented loft above a magic shop. I returned there after a fairly satisfying roast chicken dinner at a small restaurant. I gave my landlord a small hello, but the old man was too busy counting his till from the day’s business to notice me, so I shrugged and trudged up the stairs to my room. There I undressed and put on a nightgown. Then I sat down and brushed out my leathers to get them ready for the next day, when I would set out for Pikaal. When I had my clothes ready for the upcoming journey, I crawled into bed and fell asleep.
At one point during the night, a small noise in my room woke me. I quickly sat up and placed my hand on a small magic globe on the nightstand, turning on a light to let me see. And what did I see? I stared in utter astonishment at the sight of a young man standing in my room, holding my underwear. He looked at me with an expression of total surprise, and a little fear, on his face.
“What in Dumarh’s name are you doing?!” I screeched.
“Uhhh…ummm…yes, well…uh…heh heh,” said the young man. He dropped my panties and ran out the door. “Bye!”
I clambored out of bed, yelling, “Oh, no, you don’t!”
I chased the young man out to the street and tossed a few small Lightning Arrows after him. They struck him in the behind, making him yelp and run even faster down the street.
Satisfied with my punishment, I smiled and returned to my room to get what sleep I could for the rest of the night.
To be continued
Off to See the Sorcerer, part 2
An Early Adventure in Sorcery
The next morning, I awoke refreshed. I climbed out of bed and got dressed. I hesitated just a little before I put on my panties. Then I tossed on my white cotton shirt and griffin leather pants, tunic, and gloves, followed by my black dragon leather boots. The leathers and boots were something I’d picked up on my first bandit raid. How the bandit gang had gotten hold of them, I didn’t know, and still don’t. But I’m glad they had them.
After I was dressed, I braided my long blue hair and slid on a gold circlet with an emerald in the center. The circlet was a parting gift from my teacher, the sorcerer Althor, though I didn’t start using it and its amplification power until I’d been on my own for a little while and had found out just how handy it was to have. For the finishing touch, I strapped my short sword to my belt and tossed on my little brown cloak. Then I left my room and went downstairs.
My landlord was busy getting his magic shop ready to open when I showed up downstairs.
“Good morning, Miss Marissa,” the old man said.
“Good morning, Master Kimmbel,” I said.
I headed for the front door.
“The neighbors said you had a little excitement last night,” my landlord said.
I turned to face him as he straightend a shelf of magic items. “Oh, it was nothing much.”
“What happened exactly? No one seems to know anything except that you ran out in your nightgown after a guy and tossed a spell at him.”
“That’s pretty much it. The guy broke into my room and seemed interested in taking…some personal effects of mine. But from the look of surprise on his face when I woke up and confronted him, I don’t think he’d expected to fine ME there. I think he must have broken in to the wrong room.”
“Ah. I see. Well, you look like you’re dressed to go off somewhere again, so I won’t keep you. ”
“Thanks.”
“Business for the Lords again?”
“Yes.”
“Do you need anything before you go? You know that my wares are at your disposal if you need them.”
“I know. And no, thanks. I think I have everything I need.”
“All right. Well, happy hunting, Miss Marissa.”
“Thank you, Master Kimmbel.”
I then left the magic shop and struck off down the road towards the northern city gate, stopping briefly in a shady part of town to shake down a few thieves for some spending money before I left. Then I finally set out on my way from Westover for the nearby small city of Pikaal.
Pikaal was only a day’s journey from Westover. But it was a nice spring day, so I took my time walking, allowing myself to enjoy the fresh air and bright scenery as I journeyed along the woodsy road. The scenery was so beautiful and serene, I didn’t mind that the day passed by uneventfully. When dusk came, I was only a little more than halfway to Pikaal. I set up camp and ate a meager dinner of rations, then went to sleep. The night also passed uneventfully, and I awoke to another bright spring day. I decided to take it slow and enjoy the day again. And so I did. And the day also passed by peacefully. When I finally approached the southern gate of Pikaal, it was just before dusk and I was in a really good mood.
My mood became even more cheerful as I sat in the dining room of an inn and enjoyed a delicious meal of roast pheasant, roast beef, and mutton with sides of fresh vegetables. It was a far cry from the rations of dried meat and biscuits I’d been eating on the road.
After dinner I retired to the room I’d rented at the end of the upstairs hall. I planned to start looking for the sorcerer Xaver the next morning after I’d gotten a good night’s sleep. I shut my door, lowered the hod of my cloak, undressed, and slipped on the courtesy gown I found in the little wardrobe. Then I crawled into bed and promptly fell asleep.
I hadn’t been asleep all that long before I heard my door creak open and footsteps enter my room. I was instantly awake. I sat up and touched the small magic globe on the nightstand, bringing light to the dark room. I stared in shock at the young man who stood in the middle of my room, my underwear in hand, staring in shock at me as well.
“YOU???” we both said at the same time.
The young man quickly dropped my panty and made for the door. But I was ready for him this time.
“Freeze Motion!” I called out, casting a binding spell on the young man.
A pale white light surrounded the young man, and he froze in midstep. I got up from bed and walked over to him. I stood directly in front of him, crossed my arms, and glared menacingly at him. He gulped.
“Explain yourself,” I said. “Why are you trying to steal my underwear?”
“Uh, well, you see, it’s like this, Miss Marissa.”
“Yes?”
“I wasn’t intending to steal YOUR panties. I didn’t know it was you. I just saw a very nicely shaped woman in a cloak and, well…”
I just stood there, staring at him, at a loss for words. But I kept the menacing look so that he wouldn’t know that.
“Please, don’t hurt me!” the young man pleaded when I hadn’t said or done anything for a couple of minutes. “It was an honest mistake!”
“What’s your name?” I finally said.
“Kal.”
“All right, Kal. I’ll tell you what. I’ll make you an offer. Accept it, and I won’t punish you.”
“Anything! Just don’t hurt me!”
“Help me out with this job I’m on.”
“All right. I’ll do it. What’s the job?”
“I’ve been hired to kill the sorcerer Xaver.”
“What?! On second thought, count me out! I’ve changed my mind!”
A Fireball appeared in my hand. He looked at it fearfully.
“Uhh…on third thought,” Kal said, “I’ll help you after all, Miss Marissa. What do you want me to do?”
“You seem to be pretty good at breaking in to places. You’ll be my little spy. And you’ll start tonight by going to Xaver’s castle.”
“And what will I be looking for?”
“Any news about Xaver and his plans. Report back to me first thing in the morning.”
“Yes ma’am.”
“Good boy. Good luck.”
I started to walk back to my bed, but Kal stopped me.
“Uh…Miss Marissa?”
I turned back around. “Yes?”
“Aren’t you forgetting something?”
“Huh?”
“I can’t move.”
“Oh! Sorry about that.” I pictured the runes of the spell in my mind. “Release Motion!”
A white light surrounded Kal, and he finished the step he was in the middle of when I froze him.
“Thanks,” Kal said.
I gave him a small nod of acknowledgement. Then he left my room. I shut my door and crawled back into bed.
To be continued…
Off to See the Sorcerer, part 3
An Early Adventure in Sorcery
I sat at a table in the inn’s dining room, enjoying a delicious breakfast of fruit, pancakes, and sausage, when Kal walked in. He looked a little worse for wear, and I felt a prickle of concern…and a slight twinge of guilt. After all, I was the one who’d sent him out into possible danger while I stayed behind to get some beauty sleep. Kal walked over to me and took a seat in the chair across from me.
“Good morning, Miss Marissa,” he said.
“What in Dumarh’s name happened to you, Kal?” I asked him as I sat my fork down on the plate. “How’d you get that black eye? Did the guards catch you?”
“Oh, no, no. I made sure not to let them see me.”
“Then, how…?”
A sheepish expression crossed his face. “Let’s just say you’re not the only woman who gets violent when she gets angry."
“Huh?” Then it came to me, and I frowned. “You tried to steal a woman’s panties, didn’t you?”
“Umm…well…yeah. I came across the maid’s quarters when I was in Xaver’s castle. I…I couldn’t help it, Miss Marissa. You know how some people become obsessed or addicted to something? That’s how it is with me. I’m really not sure how the fetish got started, but…”
I sighed and rolled my eyes. I had grown sick of the panty topic. It was time to get back to business. So I interrupted him. “Did you manage at all to do the job I sent you on, Kal?” I asked.
“Of course I did, Miss Marissa! I didn’t stumble across the maid’s quarters until I was on my way out of the castle.”
“Good. So, what’d you learn?”
“Xaver is going to make a big announcement later this morning. I wasn’t able to find out what it’ll be. There were also signs of activity within the army, as if they were getting ready for something. Perhaps that has something to do with Xaver’s announcement?”
I looked at my plate of food and thought to myself, “Looks like the Lords’s spies were right. Good thing I got here when I did.” I looked up at Kal. “Kal,” I said, “I think you’re right. And that’s why I’m here. I have to stop Xaver from doing what he’s going to announce.”
“And what’s that?”
“That he’s going to war against Westover.”
“What?!”
“He’s not content to rule just Pikaal. He wants to spread his power, and Westover is his first target.”
“How are you going to stop him, Miss Marissa?”
“Well, I don’t have a plan worked out just yet…”
“Oh, great!”
I ignored his sarcasm and continued. “But I should have one by the time Xaver makes his announcement. When is that, exactly, Kal?”
“At eleven o’clock. You have two and half hours to think of something.”
“All right. That’s plenty of time. And where is he going to make the announcement?”
“A platform and podium are being errected outside the castle especially for this.”
My eyes widened slightly and the inklings of a plan started to form in my mind. “Really?” I said. “That sounds promising. But I still need to see the layout in order to formulate a really good plan. Show me the spot, Kal.”
Kal and I squatted on the roof of a small shop across the street from the castle. We watched the workers as they set up the platform and podium that Xaver would use to make his announcement. My mind ran through various scenarios as I sat there. After a while Kal yawned and laid back.
“We’ve been up here for over an hour now, Miss Marissa,” he complained. “How much longer will this take? I’m getting bored.”
I ignored him and focused on the plan that was forming in my mind. A plan that could just possibly work. Finally, I turned to him. I examined him from head to toe with a glint in my eye.
“Yes…” I said in a low voice. “You’re about the right age. You should do nicely.”
He looked at me with fear in his eyes. He gulped and sat up.
“Uhhh…Miss Marissa…What…What are you talking about?”
“You’re going to help me finish my job.”
“But…But I…I thought I was done helping you after I spied for you.”
I shook my head. “Nope. I have another job for you.”
“Wh…What do you want me to do?”
I leaned over and whispered in his ear.
“WHAT???” he cried and shied away from me.
I chuckled. “Meet me on the street below just before time for the announcement,” I said.
Kal, his eyes still full of fear, watched me saftey drop to the alley below and run off down the street.
To be continued…
Off to See the Sorcerer, part 4
An Early Adventure in Sorcery
I paced back and forth in front of the store from whose roof Kal and I had spied earlier. A large crowd had already gathered around the platform outside the castle. In ten minutes, Xaver would take the stage and make his announcement, and Kal hadn’t shown up yet. Time was running out to start my plan, and I needed Kal in order for it to work. I had my cloak on with the hood up, so I was ready for my part of the plan. But where in the gods’s names was my impromptu partner?
Finally, I saw him running down the street towards me, and I sighed with relief.
“Sorry, Miss Marissa,” the young man said as he stopped beside me and brushed some blonde hair out of his face. “I kinda lost track of the time.”
“Uh-huh,” I said, and handed him a bundle of clothes. “Here. You have five minutes to change into this uniform.”
He looked at the army uniform in his hands. “How…How did you get this?”
“You’re not the only one with thieving abilities,” I said, and turned him around to face the alley. “Now, GO! Duck in there and change. You only have four minutes now!”
Three minutes later, he came out of the alley in the army uniform.
“Great!” I said with approval. “Now, are you ready?”
“I…I guess so…”
“Okay, then. Come on! Follow me.”
And we headed into the crowd and worked our way close to the platform. When about three rows of spectators separated us from the platform, a trumpet sounded. A tall, somewhat brawny man of about fifty, with dark hair, a silver crown, and a royal purple sorcerer’s robe walked onto the platform and stepped up to the podium.
“That has to be Xaver, my target,” I thought to myself.
“Good morning, good citizens of Pikaal!” Xaver called to the assembly.
I motioned the right, and Kal nodded once and headed that direction, towards the open castle gate where I could see some soliders lined up, awaiting a signal from Xaver. I then started to work my way up to the platform, elbowing people out of my way.
“I have a grand announcement to make!” Xaver continued. “Today marks an historic occasion for our city! Today, Pikaal will make a name for herself! Today, Pikaal will begin her quest to become Andor’s greatest and most powerful city! At my signal, our army will embark on this crusade! And the army’s first stop will be Westover!”
I finally broke through the crowd and ran up onto the platform. “NO!” I cried out. “You…you can’t!” I dropped to my knees at Xaver’s side and looked up at him with tearful, pleading eyes. “Please! You can’t! You can’t send my husband out to die! Not when we’re expecting our first child!”
Xaver just looked down at me.
I wrapped my arms around his legs. “PLEEEEEASE!”
Xaver frowned in disgust. “Get off me, wench!” he yelled.
As I had expected, he kicked me off him. I went rolling into the castle wall at the back of the platform. I lay there on my stomach, catching my breath. Xaver was pretty strong.
Kal came running up onto the platform then, as planned.
“Hey!” he cried out as he ran up to Xaver, intending to punch him. “You can’t do that to my wife!”
But Xaver punched Kal first. Kal went tumbling backwards and tripped over me.
“You okay?” we asked each other at the same time.
“Yeah,” we answered simultaneously.
Behind us, Xaver laughed.
“All right,” I said, crawling to my feet. “Enough fooling around.”
I lowered the hood of my cloak and faced Xaver and the crowd.
The crowd gasped. “Marissa Cobalt!” they called out.
I smiled and took a small bow.
Xaver’s eyes widened in surprise. Then he grinned evilly.
“Ah. The infamous Marissa Cobalt! What a pleasure it is to make your acquaintance.”
“Wish I could say the same for you. You know, Xaver, that I cannot allow you to follow through with your plan.”
“Yes. I know. And I look forward to seeing you try to stop me.”
“As you wish.”
I started the chant for my favorite spell, a Fireball. But at the same time, Xaver whispered a spell. A pale yellow light flashed briefly about me. Suddenly, I stopped chanting and looked at him in puzzlement. Kal noticed my look and stepped up beside me.
“Miss Marissa?” he asked. “What’s wrong?”
“I…I don’t believe it!”
“What?”
“He…He sealed my magic! But how could he? It shouldn’t be possible! Who is this guy?!”
Xaver laughed madly for a moment, then motioned to the guards. “Seize them!” he called.
“Uh-oh!” Kal and I said as the guards surrounded us.
“What do we do now, Miss Marissa?” Kal asked.
“Uh…Let me get back to you on that, Kal,” I said as I stared at the point of a sword that a guard held directly in front of me.
Xaver laughed again.
To be continued…
Off to See the Sorcerer, part 5
An Early Adventure in Sorcery
“You won’t get away with this, Xaver!!” I yelled while I struggled against the manacles that held me to the dungeon wall. “When I get free, I’ll make you suffer SOOOOOOO much!”
“Umm…Xaver’s not even in here, Miss Marissa,” Kal said from the set of manacles next to me.
“I know, Kal. I know. I just had to let it out.”
“So, have you thought of a way out of this yet?”
“No. Not yet. But I’m working on it.”
“May I ask you something?”
“I guess so.”
“You had a short sword, so why didn’t you fight the guards? Why’d you surrender and let them take your sword?”
“Because, Kal, I had no intention of committing suicide that way. I consider myself a fairly good swordswoman, but there’s no way I could have won a fight with those kinds of odds. See, as soon as the fight would have started, those soldiers would have come running, and there’s no way I could have fought the guards and the soldiers and have lived.”
“So you let us get captured instead.”
“Right. But look at the bright side, Kal. We’re still alive and can escape to defeat Xaver.”
“But, how, Miss Marissa? You’re now magicless AND weaponless.”
My head drooped. He just had to rub it in, didn’t he? “I know, Kal! I know! Don’t worry! I’ll think of something!”
“Well, could you make it soon? My arms are cramping.”
I grimaced and growled slightly. If I wasn’t manacled to the wall, I would have smacked him good.
“And,” Kal continued, “my hands are going numb from lack of circulation. These manacles are too tight. Not to mention, this place is so cold and damp, I’ll probably catch pneumonia and die. Oh, and now my feet are starting to fall asleep... This is all your fault, you know, Miss Marissa.”
I growled louder, and pulled with all my might and then some against the chains. “Enough complaining! Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP!” The chains then came out of the wall so suddenly, I fell on my face. “Ooof!”
“Miss Marissa!” Kal called. “Are you all right?”
“Uhnn…yeah,” I said as I sat up. My hand instantly went to my forehead to check for bumps. “Oh, hey! Look, Kal! I’m free!”
“Great!” Kal said. “Now, can you free me? Please???”
I stood up and brushed myself off. “Oh, well, I don’t know, Kal. After what you said…”
“I…I’m sorry, Miss Marissa. I didn’t mean it. Really. Please, let me go. You’ll need my help to fight Xaver, you know, now that you don’t have your magic or your sword.”
“Well, I suppose I could free you…”
“Great! Thank you, Miss Marissa!”
“…if I had a way to undo your manacles.”
Kal’s head drooped, and he groaned.
I chuckled. “Just kidding!” I rooted around in the magic pocket inside my cloak. “I think I have something in here that’ll get you loose…”
He looked up at me and frowned. “That wasn’t funny, Miss Marissa!”
“Really? I thought it was…” I said as I still rummaged in the pocket. Finally, I found what I was looking for. “AH! Here it is! This should get you out of those manacles, Kal.”
“Great! What is it?”
I showed him the small metallic item.
Again, Kal’s head drooped and he groaned. “But…Miss Marissa…that key has no teeth! How will it open the lock?”
I rolled my eyes and walked up to him. “Silly! It’s a MAGIC key! It’ll open any non-magical lock.”
“Really?” He got a greedy look in his eyes briefly but shook it off. “But, can you use it, Miss Marissa? You can’t use your magic…”
“Sure I can. This key, like many magic items, doesn’t require magic to use.”
“Really? I didn’t know you didn’t have to be a mage to use magic items.”
“Of course. How else could sorceresses use magic items during the time of the month when they can’t use magic? But remember, there ARE magic items that you do have to use magic to use.”
“Uh…okay. Whatever you say. I’m getting lost now. Why don’t you just let me go so we can get Xaver?”
“Right.”
I stuck the key in the lock of Kal’s manacles and turned it. With a click, the manacles opened. I placed the key back in my pocket as Kal removed himself from the manacles. Then he hugged me.
“Thank you, Miss Marissa!”
“Uhhh…You’re welcome, Kal,” I said, blushing slightly, and pushed him off me. “Now, let’s go.”
“Right.”
We walked to the door of the dungeon cell we were in. From the corner of my eye, I thought I saw Kal stick something in his pocket. But I had no time to dwell on it, for while I was reaching for the door handle, someone on the other side of the door opened it.
Xaver stood in the doorway.
He glared down at us. “Going somewhere?” he growled.
“Uh-oh,” Kal and I said.
To be continued…
Off to See the Sorcerer, part 6
An Early Adventure in Sorcery
Xaver the sorcerer loomed over Kal and me. Fire gleamed in his eyes.
“Well?” he growled. “Did you two actually think that you were just going to waltz right on out of here before I could have my fun with you?”
Kal and I gulped and took a step back.
“What do we do now, Miss Marissa?” Kal whispered.
Ignoring Kal, I steeled myself, looked Xaver right in the eyes, and said with as much bravado as I could muster, “Actually, Xaver, I wasn’t planning on ‘waltzing’ anywhere.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yes. I was actually planning on…” I paused to quickly grab Kal’s hand before finishing my statement, which I did by yelling, “…RUNNING!”
Utterly surprising both men, I ran directly at Xaver, pulling Kal along behind me, and knocked the sorcerer over on my way out of the room. Not even pausing, I ran as fast as I could down the hall and made a sharp turn to the right at the intersection. Just as I completed my turn, a Fireball exploded into the wall behind me.
“MARISSA COBALT, COME BACK HERE!” I heard Xaver call as I ran up the steps out of the dugeon. Footsteps immediately followed the cry.
“Yeah, right,” I muttered under my breath. “Sure I will.”
“Miss Marissa,” Kal said behind me, “why are we running away? Why aren’t we fighting Xaver?”
“We’re not running away,” I said. “This is a tactical retreat. We have to find some weapons before we can fight him. Now, where’s the armory?” This last was a rhetorical question. But to my surprise…
“Six doors up on the left,” Kal said. “I saw it last night during my spying.”
“Great! I knew you’d come in handy, Kal. I just wish you’d taken some weapons while you were here.”
“You sent me here to spy, Miss Marissa, not to steal.”
“But that didn’t stop you from trying to steal the maid’s panties, now did it?”
“Uhh…”
“That’s what I thought.”
We ran into the armory and Kal quickly shut the door behind us. Then I took stock of the weapons stocked in the room to see if we could possibly use any of them to fight Xaver. There were long swords, short swords, broad swords, bows, crossbows, maces, lances, halberds, battle-axes…You name it, and I probably saw at least one in the room.
While I perused the racks of swords, Kal wandered over to look through the bows. To my consternation, one particular short sword caught my eye.
“Why, of all the…WHAT is MY short sword doing in here???” I liberated my weapon from the rack and strapped it to my belt. “No one had better have used it!”
“Miss Marissa?” Kal said from the other side of the room where the bows were. He didn’t sound like he was questioning my outburst. Instead, it sounded as if he’d found something.
I came to my senses. “What is it, Kal?” I asked as I turned to face him.
Kal turned to face me. In his hands was a crossbow. But the metallic parts of it were silver instead of steel. Certainly it was no ordinary crossbow. Even Kal knew that much. He had to, for he’d picked it out of the lot.
“How about this?” he asked. “Would it work? I get the feeling it’s a special weapon. It’s not like the other crossbows, and it was hidden far in the back…”
“Let me take a look,” I said.
I walked over to him and reached a hand out towards the weapon. As I did so, I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. That was a warning sign. It meant that I sensed magic. I paused before actually touching the crossbow.
“It’s special, all right,” I told Kal. “It’s a magical weapon.”
“Really??” Kal said, his eyes growing wide. “What does it do?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “If I could use my magic, I could probably cast a spell to find out…”
I paused as my stomach started to feel queasy. That was another warning sign. This time, it was a warning of danger. My keen hearing then detected footsteps outside the door. I yanked the crossbow from Kal’s hands, grabbed some quarrels, and loaded the weapon.
“But right now,” I told Kal, “we’ll just have to use it to find out what it does. We have company.”
Then the door burst open and Xaver walked in. “MARISSA COBALT!!!” he yelled angrily.
“There’s no need to shout, Xaver,” I said. “I’m right here.” Then I pointed the crossbow at the sorcerer and pulled the trigger.
Nothing happened.
I frowned and tried again.
Still nothing happened.
I frowned angrily at the offending weapon in my hand. “Dammit! Why’d you have to jam up??”
“HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!” laughed Xaver. “You are no match for me, Marissa Cobalt! I think I’ll just put you out of your misery right now!”
Xaver pointed the palm of his hand at me and whispered something. The next thing I knew, an invisible force struck me. The crossbow fell from my hand as I was knocked to the ground and went flying across the floor into the far wall, swords clattering to the floor around me.
Xaver walked over to me as I lay on the floor catching my breath. He seemed to shimmer as he moved. And then, as he stood over me, he was no longer human. He had become…a Demon! No wonder he had been able to seal my magic!
The thing known as Xaver towered over me. It was tall, black, clawed, horned, fanged, and utterly evil. It glared down at me with bloodlust in its four red eyes. Saliva dripped from its fangs as it laughed madly.
“And now, Marissa Cobalt,” growled the Demon, “I shall kill you! And then Westover and all of Andor will belong to Dark Lord Yangul!”
It extended a clawed hand towards me, and I backed up against the wall in a feeble attempt to get away from it. Then I saw a briefly white flash behind the Demon. Then I heard something go THUNK and saw the Demon jerk. Then white flames engulfed it, and it roared and exploded into a pile of ash. A crossbow quarrel dropped to the ground in front of me. I stared at it in shock.
Kal ran over to me and helped me up. “Are you all right, Miss Marissa?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I said. “I’m fine. Oh, and…thanks.”
“You’re welcome. Uh, Miss Marissa, what was that thing?”
“It was a Demon. A servant of the God of Evil, Yangul.”
“Oh.”
I closed my eyes and pictured runes in my mind. A Fireball appeared in my hand. I smiled, and let it die out. “Good. It looks like my magic is back. Now, can I have a look at that crossbow, Kal? You used it to kill that Demon, so I’m guessing it has some sort of grey magic spell or spells on it.”
“Uh…about the crossbow…”
I didn’t like the way that sounded, and frowned. “What about it?” I asked hestitantly. Then I noticed that he didn’t have it in his hands. Slowly, I looked over to where he had been, and saw the crossbow on the ground in pieces. “What happened to it, Kal?”
“I…I’m not sure, exactly. I picked it up off the ground after you dropped it and aimed it at that thing. A white glow seemed to surround the crossbow and the arrow, and I pulled the trigger. Then the crossbow just sort of…collapsed into pieces in my hand.”
“Oh.” I shrugged. “Oh, well. It would have been nice having a magic weapon like that. Well, what do you say we get out of here?”
“Sounds good to me.”
I took his hand and cast a quick Teleportation spell. We ended up on the street outside the castle. I turned to Kal.
“Well, Kal, I guess I’ll head on down the road and try to catch up to the army before they reach Westover. So, I guess this is where we part ways. It’s been…fun. Thanks for your help.”
“You’re welcome, Miss Marissa. And good-bye then.”
Kal turned and walked off down the street, and I walked off down the other way. An hour or so down the road, I ran across the Pikaal army and persauded them to return home. Then I took my time returning to Westover.
Once in Westover, I went to the Lord Etain’s castle and gave him my report. Then I decided to get a bite to eat. So I headed for the nearest tavern. On my way, I passed by a brothel. I heard yelling from inside, and paused on the street.
“No,” I muttered. “It can’t be.”
Sure enough, the door burst open, and Kal came running out, his arms full of panties, and ran off down the street with a horde of angry prostitutes chasing after him.
“I knew it!” I said. “He lifted my magic key!”
I had half a mind to punish him for stealing from me, but decided not to. The ladies chasing him would more than do the job for me when they caught him. Chuckling, I headed on towards the tavern.
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