The One had been amazed by what he’d been witness to. Who could have known the King's Aunt was a divine being banished from heaven to live among mortal beings! It was apparent it was she who had been the builder of the City of Aduni and it was her descendants who ruled for over a thousand years! Now, the time had come for the task which he had been bred for. Eagerly he drew the curved blade and checked his hammered bronze shield for balance. With weapon and shield ready, the One waited with keen anticipation.
Out of the blood tainted water came the foulest stench causing everyone present except for the Gatebringer to choke and gag. Erupting from the turbulent fouled water came a swarm of chittering, scurrying and crawling base land and sea creatures! Aunt grit her bright white teeth at the sight of another piece of the vision coming true. Using the stone once again, yellow lightning crackled forth roasting the creatures with super-heated air and blinding energy. Yet no matter how many bolts she cast, Aunt could not stem the flow of crawlies flooding the cavern.
Marta and the Chief held themselves off the cavern floor by their chains as the carpet of crawling things moved below them. Struggling to hold on, the Chief heard the dark-skinned girl scream in the Aesir tongue, "Mjarga protect me!" The surprise of hearing a girl of the Southlands calling upon the Aesir Witch would have to wait. Right now, he was too busy trying to haul himself high up the wall as his chains would allow. Grunting with the effort the Chief growled, "Now would be a great time to make your appearance Knight!"
What did appear was not what the Chief had in mind. Leaping from the blood-filled water was a man with the face of a skull! Covered in blood and flaps of rotten flesh, the Skull-Faced Man landed hard upon the cavern floor with the wet splat of bare feet. He held out a sword coated in dripping blood with a wicked looking bow and quiver holding two arrows. The very sight of the demon hit Aunt with an unwelcome wave of fear. On reflex, she hurled a bolt of lightning at the demon only to watch it be caught by the blood-soaked short curved sword and reflected off into the cavern.
The stray bolt struck the pins holding the Chief's and Marta's chains shattering them in a thunderclap and shower of sparks. Blinded and deafened by the blast, the Chief screamed as he fell into the roiling mix of blood, water and swarming creatures. "Fuuuuuck!" Before the Chief could fight his way back to the wall, a wave of the horrid mixture washed over him and he was gone. Marta on the other hand had managed to gain purchase upon the column's rough surface and held on by her fingernails screaming for anyone or anything to save her.
Clutched in Aunt's unbreakable grip, the Slave-Trader King yelled, "The gate is closing!" Incensed by the rapidly deteriorating situation, Aunt realized the Gatebringer had gone and the gate was closing. She had come too far to fail with her goal within reach. Turning to the One she pointed to the Skull-Face screaming, "There! There is your ultimate opponent! Kill him!" The One wasted no time as he launched himself at the blood soaked demon. With the only being present who could thwart her engaged, Aunt turned her attention to the closing gate.
"Nephew, if you stay you will be slain by the demon! Hold onto me while I keep the gate open long enough for us to pass through." Not wanting any part of demons, bugs or blood fouled water, the King held onto his much taller ancestor's neck cushioned by her bared breasts. Now with both hands free, Aunt raised her cane and the stone to link once more with the statue which caused their energies to converge on the closing gate. The gate resisted, but then began to give way to the growing energy. "YES!" roared Aunt with inhuman joy as the blood-red water began clearing and the gate reopened. Forcing the gate open was taking all her power and concentration. The One had to keep the demon at bay or all was lost!
The One was ecstatic! From the first swings of his sword and shield he knew this was no demon, but a man! A man of uncanny ability who took away the sting of not being able to finish the bearded foreigner who showed such promise. Already the Skull-faced man had survived longer than most against him. It then quickly occurred to the One that the Skull-Face had made no effort to attack. He made the odd parry with his curved black sword which reeked of scorched blood. Otherwise, he merely dodged the brilliantly executed attacks the One put forth. The One suddenly halted his attack and stepped back in a single fluid move. Looking over the edge of his shield the One's annoyance was plain as he said, "You're not even trying!"
The One looked into the empty sockets that were the Skull-Faced Man's eyes as he slowly shook his head, 'No.' Just when the One's outrage reached the surface, the Skull-Face took on the ready posture the One had learned as a child. Then, the warrior deftly changed his grip in the same manner the One had when facing the bearded Northman after his spear had been cut! The next fighting stance the warrior shifted to was unfamiliar to the One, but its wide-open position was an invitation for attack. "Yes demon, you are the one I've been waiting for!" With that said, the One flung his shield at the Skull-Face as an action to for him to dodge. To the One's complete surprise, instead of dodging the lethal missile the demon-warrior stepped forward to meet it!
With a whip-like flick of his sword arm, the Skull-Face deflected the spinning weapon upwards and was instantly upon the One. With the demon-warrior now on the attack, abruptly the One found himself in the unfamiliar position of being hard-pressed. Sparks and bits of steel flew from his curved sword as he fought hard to deflect the multiple strikes. Each blow was heavy and the black blade bit further into his own gouging and bending it. 'Is that thing made from an anvil?' thought the One. Just when he'd thought he was gaining the rhythm of the sword swings, the demon added a barrage of punches, kicks, knee and elbow strikes!
Aunt drew deep from the stones and statue's power to maintain the open gate and stabilize the tempest created by the Gatebringer to keep her out. Now with him gone and the Skull-Face occupied, the way was clear! "Come nephew and embrace destiny...." With the King still hugging her neck, Aunt strode forth along the glittering path leading towards the Sacred Land. Still holding out the cane and stone to keep the gate open, Aunt struggled against the flow of unseen energy trying to keep her at bay. Now over half the distance, she could hear the screams of her final descendant as the energy tore at his mortal body.
That was the reason she bore a child using the mortal body she’d stolen twelve hundred years ago. Mortal flesh from of her own blood was needed to pass through the gate. After so much time, nothing was left of her own mortal shell. So it would be her descendants who would act as replacement flesh! To safeguard her begotten mortal flesh was why she built Aduni, set her children upon its throne and acted as the wise and aged Aunt guiding them for more than a millennia. Unfortunately with so much time having passed, her once powerful blood-line in which great heroes, beauties of renown and conquerors had been watered down to this last pitiful weakling. ‘No matter,’ thought Aunt. As his screams strengthened and his flesh began to smolder, he would endure long enough for her to gain entry.
The One was in trouble and he knew it. No matter which way he blocked, dodged, ducked or turned, there was a blow waiting for him! Each cut, smack, swat or drubbing hit with equal strength making each blow hard as the last. He was now fighting a purely defensive battle. Step by step he continued to give ground as the blows continued to get past his guard. The One refused to panic. No matter who it was, anyone could be beaten. He just had to keep his head. Suddenly, the demon-warrior changed tactics again after knocking away the One’s bent and battered sword. Before the One could recover from losing his weapon, a series of blows struck him causing what seemed to be a string of pain. The final blow was a kick to the gut which folded him in half and knocked him to the cavern floor.
With only a smoldering corpse left hanging about her neck, Aunt stood at the threshold of the gate looking out over the Sacred Land. Green fields heavy with ripening grain and fruit cast their heady scent upon the breeze. Tears began to flow once more from her now completely black eyes. Her power was fading, but once she set foot upon the soil of her birthplace, she would be renewed.
"I will not allow that." The calm but firm voice was both music and death-knell to Aunt's ears. Looking ahead was a beautiful dark-skinned woman with finely braided black hair falling about a brilliant blue dress. Her body and voice now hideously distorted from her effort to force her way through the gate Aunt spoke with an inhuman wail, "Priestess!"
Suddenly, two black arrows protruded through Aunt's now sinewy withered breast. Yellow blood began to pour down her shriveled skin and she wailed at the sight, "Nooooooo!" The Priestess looked with tears in her eyes upon the errant and hideously deformed being with the charred corpse of her last descendant hanging from her neck and said, "I told you Aduni, you could not come through the gate bringing blood and death with you. Begone... my daughter!" The woman struck her golden spear upon the ground and the wind blew at gale force.
Severely weakened, Aunt could no longer control the power of the stones. The statue of the murdered whip-wielder shattered from the strain breaking the connection it had on the world Aunt was trying to leave. The last thing Aunt saw of her beloved home and mother was the brilliant sliver-blue light coming off the sword-like blade of the spear. Hurtling backwards into the cavern from the gate, Aunt slammed hard into the natural stone column which supported the weight of the palace far above ground. Despite being critically weakened, Aunt still possessed the body of a semi divine being. The heavy column snapped from the tremendous impact and part of it fell away pinning Aunt beneath the weight of the palace itself. The rumble of the trembling cavern ceiling and falling stones combined with Aunt’s wails of anguish and pain filled the cavern.
The One lay beneath the hard bare foot of the Skull-Faced Man with the wails of Aunt in his ears. He had been soundly beaten. He was not The One. Regardless of the pain he felt from numerous cuts and bruises, there was no way he'd beg for mercy. The Skull-Face leaned onto his knee and the light from the still open gate fell upon the bare half-skull. Within the sockets the defeated warrior saw the glistening of eyes and the demon-warrior spoke. "See this not as your defeat, but as your rebirth. You are not ready to defeat me. Not yet. Your task has always been up to now lies waiting for you to complete. I now give you your life in fair trade for three gifts and a request."
The Skull-Face stuck the sword into the cavern floor a hair's breadth from the warrior's head and then laid the bow and empty quiver on his other side. "Take these weapons and grow strong. Know you this; take up these gifts and complete your task the name of Kifo, your name... will become synonymous with death. She will become your ever-present companion and follow you wherever you go. My request is that you now get your wits about you and see the woman out of these caverns.
For a time, the woman will be of great comfort to you and you to her. But, we both know you will again take up these weapons and not give up until you face me once more! Until then, I will be watching you upon every blood-soaked battlefield you trod and be just over the horizon after every duel you fight. I will keep the tally of your victories and when the time comes, return to Aduni. If you can best me then, I will take back the gifts I've given you."
The Skull-Faced Man took his foot away and stepped backwards into the pool as the bloody water and swarm of crawlies were drawn to him. He was quickly immersed by them and all was absorbed within the churning pool. The warrior named Kifo looked up towards the now closing gate to see a beautiful dark-skinned woman wearing a brilliant blue dress standing in the doorway. She waved to him with a sad smile which for some reason managed to tear at his heart. Within an instant, the gate was closed leaving the room lit by soft yellow light.
The source of the light was the growing pool of blood coming from the mortally wounded Aunt. Beautiful once more, she was crushed beneath the column and beside her lay the unconscious Marta. With watery brown eyes filled with pain Aunt pleaded, "Kifo my child...." The warrior paused for a moment then turned back towards the black sword and decided his fate...
To be continued....
© 2011 H. Wolfgang Porter. All Rights Reserved.
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