Savage Messiah

"There's nothing more we can do here," he concluded. "Make ready to leave for Tammerland. I want to have as many warriors guarding the palace as we-"

The first explosion was loud and grating-like stone grinding against stone. Then came another, and another. Dust-colored smoke filled the night air. The crashes came so quickly that they became an earsplitting wall of continuous noise. Faegan looked up and his mouth fell open.

From the tops of the bluffs surrounding the village, huge fingers of living stone shot into the air. Like tentacles, they grew out from one side of the bluffs, bridged the space above the village, narrowly missing the roofs of the buildings, and stopped at the other side, where they fused with the living rock of the far bluffs. They were numerous and spaced less than a foot apart.

When the noise finally stopped, the warriors and the wizard stared up through the smoke. From bluff to bluff, a latticelike arrangement of stone columns crisscrossed the entire area above them. Faegan was stu

Suddenly, there was a scratching, grinding noise. Although softer, it was no less nerve-racking.

The sides of the bluffs began to move, sections of the walls morphing into cones. A blazing torch appeared within each one; the many flames easily illuminated the entire square. While the captives stood there in wonder, silence reclaimed the village.

"How is this possible?" Traax asked. "I thought partial adepts couldn't summon such immense power."

"Impressive," Faegan answered quietly as he continued to examine the structure that imprisoned them. "Partial adepts are the undisputed masters of the organic realm of the craft," he added. "Stone and fire are certainly a part of that world. Partial adepts may possess only partial blood signatures, but that does not necessarily mean the quality of their blood ca

Traax snapped open his wings and flew the short distance up to the stone grid. He slid his dreggan from its scabbard and hacked his blade several times against one of the newly formed bars. The sword had no effect. Faegan motioned to Traax to move aside.

The azure bolts that streamed from the wizard's hands were perhaps the brightest the warriors had ever seen. While Faegan strained to hold the bolts securely against one of the stone bars, dense smoke rose. Finally tiring, he lowered his hands. When the smoke cleared they could see that aside from black singe marks, the stone hadn't been affected at all.

"There must be another way out of here," Traax protested. "No cage in the world can hold this many Minion warriors against their will."

Faegan pursed his lips. "I fear this one can," he replied. Looking back toward the tu

"Still, there seems no other choice," Duvessa countered. "The food and water are all gone. Forced to stay here long enough, we'll all starve to death."

"I'm aware of that," Faegan said ruefully. "I'm also begi

No sooner had the wizard finished his sentence than the ground began to tremble. Stu

Then, with great heaving motions, the earth began to open. Dust flew high as the square-shaped sections of ground slowly levered themselves upward like trapdoors. The openings revealed darkness below. All went quiet again, but Faegan knew the silence was not to last.

When the rumbling began, Faegan tried to shout to Traax, but the noise drowned out his voice. More of the warriors left the ground, but more than half of them were still earthbound when the first of the beasts came charging up out of their lairs. Furious, the screaming, grunting monsters ripped into the warriors.

Faegan raised his arms and shot bolts squarely into the back of the first creature, tearing it to bits.

Urgently looking around, he gasped as dozens more of the earthen doors released hundreds of the terrifying beasts.

Each creature was about the size of a full-grown deer. They ran on all fours, easily leaping a dozen feet or more in a single bound. Their heads were like those of wild boars, with long snouts, slanted red eyes, and almond-shaped ears. Their bodies were stout and their short legs powerful, ending in sharp, cloven hooves. Their hides were covered with long, sharp spines. Curved tusks bracketed their mouths.

Duvessa called out orders to her warriors, but she could not make herself heard above the sounds of the attack. And then one of the creatures charged at her and she had to focus on defending herself.

Forcing herself to wait until the last moment, she swung the heavy sword with all her strength. The tip of the dreggan slashed across the monster's throat, releasing a torrent of blood. When the screaming beast went down onto its front knees, she raised the dreggan with both hands and plunged the blade into the top of its skull. Pulling the bloody sword out, she quickly looked around and her gorge rose.

The monsters weren't simply killing the Minions. They were devouring them. All around her fallen warriors screamed as the dark beasts tore into their flesh, the powerful jaws driving those long teeth through the toughest Minion body armor as if it weren't there.

Nearby, one of the monsters was attempting to take a bite out of one of Duvessa's warriors. Duvessa rushed over and slashed her sword across the back of the thing's neck, then quickly backed away. Turning its head toward her, the beast cried out. But despite its bleeding wound, it eagerly went back to devouring its victim. Duvessa struck it once, twice, a third time, and finally severed its head.

Duvessa looked down into the eyes of the fallen warrior. The woman's body was torn wide, and she was moaning in pain and fear. When she saw her leader standing over her, she calmed a bit. With a trembling hand she reached out, grasped Duvessa's blade, and used her last bit of strength to place the dreggan's tip against her throat. Her gaze was beseeching.

Understanding, Duvessa nodded. Knowing it would be the quickest, surest way, she felt for the hidden button in her sword hilt and pushed it. With a clang the dreggan's blade launched its extra foot, ending the warrior's life.

It was all Duvessa could do to force down the vomit. Trying to collect herself, she turned back to the battle. Soon more of the awful things fell to her swinging sword.

From his litter in the air, Faegan did his best to destroy the beasts as they exited the dark holes in the earth. Given their great numbers, even he couldn't kill them all. He had lost sight of Traax and Ox, but he knew that the officers were doing all that they could. Those warriors who had managed to lift into the air before the beasts struck were having a better time of it. But the majority of the warriors had remained on the ground. Many of them were dead, the beasts hungrily tearing away chunks of their flesh.

Having landed, Traax suddenly found himself facing three of the snarling things at once. His back up against a building, he had nowhere to go. He knew that if he tried to concentrate all of his efforts on killing one of them, the other two would eventually find an opening and rush in.