Mark of the Fool

Chapter 422: The Twinblade

It started with one.

When Theresa Lu left her family home in Alric, she took with her one of her great-grandfather's two swords. And with it, shed fought a hive-queen, and silence-spiders in the Cave of the Traveller, and monsters in the Barrens of Kravernus with the sword in one hand, and her hunting knife in the other. Shed never thought of it as anything but a singular blade, one that she cherished. It was the weapon shed paired with her knife when they were desperate to escape Uldars priests and Thameland.

When her father had given her the other sword on her birthday, she saw each one as part of a set: a pair of separate weaponsone to wield in her left hand, the other in her right; just two individual blades. Made to function as two, and to defend as two.

But, they were not two. They never had been.

Just as the Dance of Fusion fashioned two beings into one, the blades were two halves coming together to form one potent whole. So, trying to push one's life force into them separately was like a heart pumping blood into two divided halves of a body: it would go nowhere, feeding neither side. But if the halves were united, and became a wholewith a connection between them, then...

Unyielding power flared between the weapons.

Between each half of the Twinblade.

And that power sparked in Theresa's grip, unruly, like a wild beast running free for the first time in untold summers. But, Theresa Lu had experience in bonding with wild beasts.

Ahead, the world crawled onseeming to stretch endlessly between heartbeatsas she watched the battle before her. Her senses were sharpening, cutting deeper into each passing moment. Seconds became eternities.

She watched Grimloch smash his poisonous maul into the behemoth's hand, cracking bone-shell armour. But the Ravener-spawn leader turned its massive body, striking the sharkman with an arm studded in spears. The dull thud of lead on bone sounded near her as Grimloch was driven back, his feet digging trenches through stone-dust.

Thundar came to his side, his mace batting spear-flies as illusionary duplicates appeared. He struck a bone-charger in the arm, and raced for the behemoth's legs, firing pulses of force magic at the hive-as-one as he ran.

The humanoid-shaped swarm crouched in back of its hosts bone-spikes, using them as a shield to deflect the minotaurs force energy. Growling, the towering monster lifted an enormous arm and...brought it down toward the horned attacker. It missed the flesh and blood target, passed through an illusory image of him, cracked the tunnel floor as shocks rippled outward, knocking him to the ground.

Bone-chargers and spear-flies leapt at the downed minotaur.

Theresa's blades flashed; appearing no different to the eye than they had before, but to the huntress, theyd come alive. She allowed her lifeforces power to flow into either half of the linked weapon.

Steel screamed, and in that cry, she could feel its hunger. For combat. For death. For blood.

And she was ready to feed all three.

With a fearsome cry, the huntress' legs twitched with reinforced life-energy, catapulting her ahead, both blades flashing on their way to the bone-charger bearing down on her fallen friend. Spear-flies shredded by the number, the weapon slashed through air, then struck tough hide.

And felt resistance.

A resistance that instantly broke.

The dual weapon of Twinblade Lu split Ravener-spawn hide like rotted fruit. A powerful arm drove the blade through iron muscle and bone, severing the monsters limb, it careened up, and across the tunnel.

In two pieces.

With an agonised cry, the beast turned to snap at her, but the other blade was already slicing bone-shell, biting into its skull. Twice.

Her jaw dropped, but she kept working.

Her arms shuddered from impacts as the blade carved armour, splitting what lay beneath, and as the blade cut bone, two slashes appeared where only one should have been. Every sword strike was dealing two wounds.

The bone-charger's beady eyes widened before it gurgled, then fell, its skull split in three.

On your feet Thundar!" Theresa shouted, whirling on the behemoth. Her blades screamed in triumph, cutting bone and hide in a blur, sending bone-chargers and spear-flies to their ends. Steely elation filled her with a bloodlust only a weapon could know, bringing surprise to the huntress face and laughter to her soul.

'You're awake!' she thought. 'At last, you're awake!'

In heartbeats, all fear, dread and frustration evaporated, replaced by confidence, and iron resolve. She didnt notice Thundar's shocked expression as he looked between her and the blades.

"We've got to work together to take the rest of these things," she yelled. "I'll get the behemoth and that thing on its shoulder, you get the bone-chargers!

Thundar's eyes widened, watching her screaming swords. "Y-yes, m'am!"

He leapt to his feet as she charged the behemoth's leg.

Bone-chargers jumped at her, but her united twinbladeits power resonatingslashed skin and bone shell, leaving two wounds for every stroke. The more monsters she cut down, the more her euphoria tempered: moderating, adjusting.

Her blades still screamed, but her own feelings now rose above theirs.

Relief.

All-encompassing relief and contentment swept over her, wrapping her like a blanket, transforming her into a calm eye in a storm of slashing steel. A smile grew wider with every step she took. Her cuts grew sharper, and though the twinblade had carved bone, blood and sinew, there was not one single speck of gore marring its surfaces. All had slid away like oil from water.

The sound of its joyful cries had eyes turning toward it.

The behemoth was roaring as Watchers came at it with an unrelenting stream of deadly magics, its bone armour blackened and cracked under the assault. On its shoulder, the hive-as-one raised a hand. A sickly green light coalesced around twitching 'fingers' formed from a nest of barbed spear-fly legs.

With a chittering cry, the monsters hand aimed at the Watchersuntil its many eyes fell on Theresa and her shining swords.

It cocked its head, seeming to take her measure.

Her threat was clear.

With the wings of its many spear-flies writhing, it turned the hand and released the energy beam. The magic seemed to whisper death as it flew at her; she was poised to jump away, but the blades shrieked, thirsting for challenge. They shifted in her grip as though longing to meet the deadly magic full force.

See them as they are.

The cry of challenge. The blood and gore beading off them like repelling oil. Steel shining like two halves of a mirror.

She put faith in her great-grandfather's twinned weapon. Raising one blade, she met the oncoming magic with the other, the foul energy ray struck shining steel.

Her arm was numbed by the power sparking across the twinblade; making it ring like a church bell. Magic flared bright. Metal gleamed. The beam ricocheted off her weapon, racing back to its sender.

The creature stilled in surprise; a deadly mistake.

Green light rebounded, striking its core, vile magic splashed over the massive clot of spear-flies, bathing them green. Awful power worked horrors through the hive-as-one, bodies shrieked, withering like weeds bathed in vinegar and the hot midday sun.

Twitching and near death, the clustered spear-flies collapsed on the behemoth's shoulder with a weak, pleading cry. Its host glanced from the surprised huntress to its barely stirring rider.

Quickly shifting the hive-as-one so it was hidden behind a shoulder spike, the monster snarled down at Theresa. Fingers like clubs curled into a fist the size of a boulder, then it levelled a spear-capped arm at the defiant huntress glaring back at it.

Every spike in its bone armour lengthened.

They launched in a deadly wail that pierced the air.

Theresa spun through the storm of bone-spears, her blades slashing, splitting them with the precision of a mantis striking a fly. Snarling, spittle flying, the behemoth drove its fist at her.

The cracking sound its armour made matched that of breaking walls, alarming the earth mages. The monsters closed hand had enough power behind it to shatter stone, but although it struck with speed, it was clumsy. Too much momentum, too little control; and in comparison to the lightning-like agility of Zonon-In, the behemoth moved at a snails pace.

Theresas usual response would have been to leap aside, rush forward, look for a weak spot in its armour, then strike.

But now?

Now she could punish its overreach.

She sidestepped the fist, blades swept out, catching the oncoming limb. She never imagined that even with life force enhanced strength, she could cut through its layers of armour without first landing a series of cuts to its body. But with the spawns own weight and strength helping to do the work?

The fist drove into her blades. Steel screamed. Bone armour split. Flesh parted in four trenches. The behemoth bellowed, yanking its arm back, and the huntress leapt.

Her boots landed atop the spurting limb. She balanced her body like she had in the Grand Battle and drove a blade into bone armour, stabilising herself on its flailing arm while the other blade lashed its wrist with whip-like strokes.

She carved away chunks of armour, sliced through meat with shallow cuts, and the creature might have survived a hundred, or even a thousand of them.

But, she wasn't trying to kill it.

As the monster flailed its arm, trying to throw her off, Watchers, Thundar, Grimloch and Brutus were tearing through the remaining bone-chargers and spear-flies. The second breach was now sealed by force spells, and Ravener-spawn numbers had dwindled.

A lava ballthrown by Tyrisstreaked through the air, sailing above light cast by forceballs, and burst on the weakened hive-as-one; its many mouths screeched as insectile bodies boiled in their shells. Shrill voices rose, and died as one.

Then Grimloch and Thundar raced to the behemoth's knees, pounding their bludgeoning weapons into bone armour, cracking it, pulping the flesh beneath.

Theresa felt something shift under her feet and leapt high in the air as shards rose from its armour. Bone shifted, preparing to fire in waves.

Until a shadow fell over monstrous eyes.

Her shadow.

She landed square on the spawns skull, her boots cupping it, a blade bit into armour. Her eyes met the Ravener-spawn's: the glare of a beast levelled with the glare of a huntress.

And, it was the beast that turned its eyes away first.

If it could have known hers would be the last face it would ever see, it might have turned away sooner, but it didnt, and so it hadnt.

Her screaming blade slashed across its eyes.

Then, it saw nothing more.

Somebody throw me a spear! She shouted, sheathing a blade.

The behemoth yowled, red running freely, its jaw parting. She planted one boot in its open mouth and pressed its jaws apart with the other foot.

Svenia scooped up a spear no longer needed by its dead owner, and tossed it through the air.

Theresa snatched it with her free hand and jammed the spear tip into the roof of the creatures mouth, propping it open. The hulking monster went wild, tossing its head in a frenzy. She balanced in the centre of the gaping mouth, and while her teammates used hit and run tactics on the behemoth and bone-chargers, her blades flurried inside the giant beast's mouth. The first strike split jaw muscles and tendons before its jaw could clench; but it seemed disinclined to do so, fearing the spear tip pointing toward its brain. Its jaw slackened and quivered as her second strike severed the tongue. It bellowed, trying to claw at the inside of its mouth, but she punished it with a strike to the knuckle.

Another slash rendered its jaw useless.

Without its tongue, nothing separated her from the back of its throat.

And so she stepped in.

The titanic Ravener-spawn's cries withered into gurgling sighs as gore sprayed. It stumbled. Thundar and Grimlochthough weakened by magic and blood lossshattered its knees in a barrage of swings.

Washed in red, the huntress leapt from its mouth, landing lightly on the tunnel floor, and immediately began chopping down remaining Ravener-spawn. Behind her, the behemoth toppled in a twitching heap, the passage shook violently, and by the time the battle was over, every last monster was dead, and the tunnels quaking had nearly stilled.

Her blades sighed, seeming pleasedboth halves together at laststeel shining. While the shaking finally calmed around the excavation team, she looked at the swords with gratitude and gave a silent prayer of thanks.

'Thank you great-grandfather. Thank you so much for helping me. Thank you for the gift of your legacy.'

When she looked up again, more than half the excavation team was staring.

Thundar's jaw hung open. Prince Khalik's matched the minotaurs. Tyris' eyes were almost as big as Harts.

Grimloch had a bloodthirsty glint in his eye. "Yeeeeeesss," he growled in approval.

"Well...." the lead Watcher murmured. "That was a welcome sight.

Brutus bounded to her and two heads licked her face enthusiastically. The third regarded her swords with...

...was that jealousy? Was he jealous of the attention she was paying the weapon?

She reached down and hugged his neck. Dont worry boy, well always be a team.

The Watcher cleared his throat. "Good job. Just wish you'd done that before." He turned to the excavation team. "Alright, we got through that one, so everyone get ready. I want to see us ready to move in a minute. Blood mages, you know what to do, lets get the wounded and the dead taken care of. This victory wont do us a lick of good if we're trapped like rats down here."

He looked to the elder earth mage. "Is that mana coming for us? We'll need to move faster. Can you handle it?"

Silence.

"Hello?" the lead Watcher prodded the other wizard.

The elder earth mage was frowning, his brow furrowing in thought while his eyes widened in surprise. "I...I don't feel anything." He looked at the other mages. "Do any of you?"

The other mages glanced at each other, apprehension on every face.

"I...I do not," Prince Khalik said. "I think it is no longer trying to crush us."

"I don't hear anything in the walls either," Grimloch grunted, breathing deeply. His skin looked dull from the hive-as-one's magic. "But.Wait...Theresa, you hear that noise down the tunnel?"

The huntress glanced ahead, closing her eyes.

From deep in the passageway, faint battle sounds reached her: screams, the flash of weapons, the sound of spells.

Beyond that....a low unnerving rumbling.

Coming from the direction of the castle.

"Oh by the Traveller," she murmured, opening her eyes. "There's fighting ahead, and I also heard a sound way up there that sounded like an earthquake."

Prince Khalik stiffened. "What if the dungeons are trying to collapse the research castle?"

Alex's face appeared in Theresa's mind.

"We have to move," the huntress voice was strained. "Now."

"Agreed," the lead watcher said. "Everyone get yourselves together. I want haste spells or running enhancement spells on anyone whos still on their feet. We have to get moving."

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