Chapter 10

I cast the 15th-level spell. I set the target area to be where I thought the enemy was located. Purifying Fire would engulf the enemy with divine fire. It would do no damage to our party members but would offer some healing if they needed it.

As the fire burned, I nodded to Jamie, who raised her orb slightly and the 13th-level spell, Frostburn. A flaming ball of ice hurled forth, causing damage to anything near it. I hoped our party members stayed far enough away to avoid the carnage.

Then off in the distance I heard Guy’s roar and knew that he had engaged the enemy. There was a clattering of what sounded like swords slashing against each other, and then against flesh as screams called out into the semi-darkness.

Jamie cast Greater Invisibility, first on me, and then on herself, and we literally became invisible, and would stay that way for a while, or until we attacked. We moved forward quickly to assist our friends.

Guy was a killing machine. He reminded me of a slow blender run amok, spinning and slashing and shredding anything within reach. Raina was moving very quickly, darting in and stabbing with her dagger, then scampering back into the woods for cover, only to come back seconds later from a different angle.

If anything pursued her, a shuriken would fly from her other hand, embedding itself in the pursuant’s body, and dropping it. Jake and Sheila were fighting goblins off to the right and holding their own. There were plenty of dead creatures laying around from our ranged attack of a few seconds ago.

What worried me was the large, rather, very large figure standing in the center of the melee. It looked quite a bit larger than a troll, though not quite as large as some giants. It would take a lot to bring it down.

“I’m going to hit it with Astral Blades of Death,” I said quietly to Jamie. “Why don’t you try Disintegrate?” She nodded affirmatively.

As we cast our spells and became visible, the focus of attention of the huge creature went from everything around it to Jamie and me.

The green ray from level 19 Disintegrate struck the creature in the chest and it howled in anger and pain. This was followed by the sudden appearance of unforgiving blades of silvery light appearing around the creature, hacking away at it and causing large amounts of damage. Level 23 spells were awesome in their power.

The creature retaliated by swinging an enormous club, tree-sized, and crashing it down in front of us, the earth-shaking effect knocking us into the air and onto our asses.

I was dazed by that tremendous blast. Then I saw that Jamie had taken more damage and was clutching her left arm protectively. She was bleeding in several locations too and was moaning. I looked up and saw that the creature was picking up a large rock and looking directly at her.

“Hold tight, babe, you’ll be fine.” Jamie saw that I was preparing another spell, and then it struck her what I was going to do.

“No, wait, I can help you--”

I cast Clarion Call of the Astral Sea, which instantly whisked her out of here and hopefully to a special fortress on the Astral Sea. I only hoped that all of the magic presented to us now was safe because if this worked, she would return shortly fully healed.

The boulder came crashing through where Jamie lay just a second ago, a roar from the creature telling me it was pissed that it had missed.

I turned my full attention to the battle as my own rage surfaced.

“Fire Storm!” and with that, a roiling cloud of fire surged across the battlefield, scorching only enemy combatants. The remaining goblins were cooked, all dead in that one instant. The huge creature, which I identified as some obscure young giant, had taken more damage and was visibly suffering.

Guy charged it and slashed at the back of its nearest leg with his +4 Lifedrinker Sword, cutting tendons and dropping the beast to its knee. Raina and Sheila jumped into the fray, slashing and stabbing at it too.

Then Jamie reappeared, standing next to me, looking completely refreshed, and, well, angry.

“You,” she said, speaking to me, “I’ll deal with you later.” Then she turned her complete focus on the creature that caused her pain.

“Thunderclap,” said Jamie, and a peal of thunder sounded, followed by a sonic wave hitting the giant square in the head.

It fell prone.