Chapter 12: Sorcery

The ogre's enormous club whirred as it sliced over my head. I had just barely gotten out of the way of it taking my head off. The blade of my sword flashed through the air, cleaving into his stomach. Blood gushed out of his wound, and the ogre snarled in anger at me.

"Look out!" I heard Gianna cry out behind me.

I glanced up to see his club raised over his head, then it began rapidly descending at my skull. I let go of my sword and rolled out of the way. The huge club smashed to the ground, sending fragments of rock flying. I looked up at the ogre from where I crouched on the ground. My sword was still stuck in him. He glared at me menacingly, coming at me with great strides.

A dagger came flying out of the air, impaling itself in the monster's back. It gave out a grunt and turned to look at Gianna, who had thrown the knife at the huge monster. It bellowed at her and began to charge her, his footfalls shaking the ground.

Suddenly Val appeared from behind a boulder, her whip cracking through the air. The tip got him in the face, and a red line of blood appeared next to his eye. I took the opportunity to say the command word for the amulet that hung around my neck, turning myself invisible.

Val's whip cracked again as the ogre raised his club to smash the dark elf. The whip wrapped around the club, and she gave it a pull. The club went flying out of his hands. Even disarmed, the ogre still had plenty of inhuman strength in him to smash her into jelly. I needed to move quickly.

Invisible to his sight, I had come around to the ogre's front. I quickly pulled my sword out of him, and my weapon turned invisible as it entered my hand, one of the effects of the amulet. It could turn whatever I wore or held invisible along with the rest of me. The ogre looked down in confusion at the sword that had suddenly disappeared into thin air.

I reappeared as my sword plunged into his chest and through his heart. The ogre stiffened and let out a roar of pain that rattled all of us. He fell to the ground with a tremendous thud, kicking up a cloud of dirt.

As I pulled my sword out of the dead ogre, I looked over to Atheria and Benthor. They were just finishing off the last of the ogres that had ambushed us. Between us, we had managed to kill all three of the creatures that had marauded us.

It had been a week since we left the woods of King Zarlendoros. And in that time, we had been attacked by three groups of creatures that were minions of the Magus Dred, counting the ogres. It made me uneasy that that many followers of Dred had found us in so short a time, but at least we were close to our objective. We were only a short distance away from the tower of Altholos, the wizard we had journeyed a long way to see. I could see his stone tower, rising above the forest that surrounded it.

"I don't like th' idea of goin' into a forest," Benthor said, memories of the undead guards of King Zarl still fresh in his mind.

"You weren't the one who was going to be a love slave for him," Gianna replied as she wiped her dagger off on the clothes of a fallen ogre. "Gives me the chills thinking about it."

"I suggest we make haste," Atheria said, her eyes scanning the area around us. "There may be more of Dred's creatures about. We would be better off in tower with a powerful wizard than out in the open."

I couldn't agree more.

It was midday when we entered the clearing in the woods that the tower stood in. The walls of the circular stone tower were grayish-white stone, and they looked thick and mighty. Open windows appeared here and there on the walls, leading all the way up to the top. A single wooden door led into the tower, which we approached. Atheria knocked on the door, then we waited.

The door opened and young woman appeared in the doorway. She was dressed in red and gold robes, her black hair reaching midway down her back. She looked serious, her brown eyes taking all of us in. She looked to be close to mine and Gianna's age, or maybe a bit older.

"Hail," Atheria said, bowing slightly at the waist and forming a triangle with her hands in front of her face. It was a traditional elf greeting, I had been told. "We ask for an audience with Altholos."

"May I ask who is requesting the audience?" the young woman asked.

"Lucas King and his companions," Atheria replied.

"I will bear your request," she told us. "Please come in."

She opened the door wider and we entered. The room was small and plain, with an open doorway leaving the room. The girl in the robes closed the door behind us, gave us a slight bow, then vanished through the open doorway.

We only had to wait a few minutes in the room before the girl appeared once again. "He has been expecting you. Please, follow me."

She led us out of the room and to a curved stairway that ran along the exterior wall of the circular tower. We went up and up the stairs, passing doors and landings here and there. We went to the very top of the tower before we stopped before a closed door. The girl gave a soft knock on the door, then opened it for us. I entered first, the others right behind me. She closed the door after we had all entered, then stood to one side of the room.