Ice Phoenix
Chapter 29 - Deep trouble

“Raimus, watch out!” Baneyon shouted.

The overweight Imeldor heard him and barely avoided the cloud of ash that attempted to snare him from above. Raimus fell back to where Baneyon was, and together they faced the strange demon who had been attacking Raimus. It had not uttered a single word throughout the battle.

They hovered thirty metres in the air, the demon a little higher. Similar in build to Meldogan and Garok, he stared at them insolently. A strange mask covered the left side of his face.

“Baneyon, we can’t hold him off for much longer. That ash is spreading. The only thing that’s been saving us is your spear,” panted Raimus. He was right. The ash corroded everything around it, including the armour that both Baneyon and Raimus had been wearing, forcing them to shed it in a hurry before it melted into their skins. Baneyon had used the flat of his blade on several occasions to nullify the ash.

“We need to retreat,” panted Raimus. “My qi’s almost exhausted, as is yours.”

Baneyon stared at the demon. “Raimus, is it possible he’s using dark qi?”

Raimus flashed Baneyon a concerned look. “His powers fit the profile. He doesn’t die, he can transform, and he uses an ash that is able to burn through anything it touches. Does that ring a bell with a certain experiment? ”

“Yes,” said Baneyon. “Splitting qi particles. Three out of ten times when we successfully divided a qi particle, a dark matter was released and the holding container burned, much in the same manner his ash behaves.”

“Except this isn’t happening three out of ten times. That demon’s controlling it completely. It’s almost as if his biological makeup was designed to access those parts of qi that we cannot. Like the lightning demon for instance.”

“Whatever it is, he’s killing us.”

A sibilating noise infected the air, travelling across the terrain at an alarming rate. It reminded Baneyon of a live wire being submerged in water. He wasn’t far off the mark. Both he and Raimus turned to see a dark ash cloud racing towards them, growing larger. Nearly the size of a football field, the cloud flashed erratically, hanging low off the ground.

Baneyon paled. “Our demon combined his ash with the lightning from the other demon. When did they do it?”

But when was not the problem. There were more pressing issues at hand. The cloud of ash and lightning suddenly expanded, and it became obvious what the demons had in mind. They intended to trap everyone under the cloud.

Quempa, Lady Fless, Kalum, and L-Master Ana were still on the ground so were caught beneath it. They were running, but they were hindered by the third demon, who was slashing at them. Lady Fless was able to shield off the attacks, but it was becoming clear that she was tiring.

“We need to help them,” said Baneyon.

“We need to help ourselves,” replied Raimus. “We’re surrounded.”

Baneyon looked up and swore. The lightning-ash cloud was now over them, and Baneyon’s efforts to expel the cloud with a mini typhoon were useless. He and Raimus were forced to descend to the ground. The Imeldors would not have believed what happened next if they had not seen it with their own eyes. The edges of the cloud reached down suddenly, sealing everyone off from the outside world. They were trapped in a cloud dome of ash and lightning.

Inside the dome, they were faced with another danger. Some of the dratkaars had also been trapped. Freaked out by the cloud phenomenon, they became even more hostile. Their growls rivalled the sibilating sound of the lightning-ash dome. Baneyon gulped.

“Raimus, if you have any qi left in you, now would be a good time to dig a tunnel out of here.”

“I’m working on it!” Raimus said quickly.

“Baneyon! Raimus!” Lady Fless and Kalum reached them, supporting a very weak L-Master Ana. Quempa also appeared, running past Baneyon to help Raimus with the tunnels.

“Cover us while we work here!” he ordered.

The ground around them caved in, and most of the dratkaars fell through, yelping in surprise. As quickly as the dogs had disappeared, the ground closed up.

“Hey, Quempa, I hate to question you, being the leader and all for this mission, but aren’t you supposed to weave a getaway for us, not the dogs? Whose side are you on?” barked Baneyon.

“That wasn’t us,” said Raimus.

“Indeed it wasn’t,” called out another voice. Despite being trapped in the dome without natural light, the lightning that coursed through the cloud provided enough visibility for the Imeldors to distinguish Meldogan and Nashim walking towards them. Another form blurred past them; they turned to see that a third demon had joined them.

Of the three demons, Baneyon thought that Meldogan appeared the most regal, with his long braid and graceful stride. Nashim appeared the most brutal, psychotic even, with the mask covering half his face. The third demon differed vastly from Meldogan and Nashim, possessing an elongated head, and slender limbs to match.

“That skinny bastard is Eera,” muttered Lady Fless. “Beware, he teleports over short distances.”

The demons stopped about ten metres from the Imeldors, and Meldogan stepped forwards. He pointed at Baneyon.

“Hand the pendant over,” he snarled.

“What makes you think I have it?” Baneyon replied, feigning nonchalance.

Meldogan’s finger travelled from Baneyon’s face down to his gaten. All eyes swivelled to Baneyon’s groin area. A patch of light shone dully through the material.

“With that much power between your legs I’m surprised you didn’t notice it, Baneyon,” said Quempa, slightly annoyed that his friend had gotten careless with the pendant, thus allowing the demons to see it.

“Well, he could be forgiven, Quempa. The colour is rather dull and uninteresting,” added Kalum.

“I don’t know about you lot, but I was expecting to see a wormhole!” said Raimus. “I can’t say I’m not disappointed.”

Baneyon scowled, peeved at their less than constructive comments, and that they would pick this time to jest. Not to mention, he had a very ancient and powerful pendant hidden beneath his gaten that had somehow activated. Parts of him no longer felt safe, and he could only guess the pendant had reacted to the dark qi around it, emitted from the demons.

He quickly unhooked the pendant from the inside of his belt and pulled. It gleamed in the flickering darkness. Almost immediately, it began to tug away from him as one of the demons tried to grab it. Baneyon held on to it tightly.

Swirls of ash rose around them, so it was almost impossible to see. Quempa swore. He removed a tiny round object from his sleeve and threw it on the ground. It smashed open and the area was lit by a steady blue glow.

“The ash is everywhere!” L-Master Ana cried out.

It started to encroach on their feet, and Quempa immediately wove thick dust clouds from the ground to try to slow its progress. The idea was to coat the ash particles and weigh them down. Raimus moved to support him, but Quempa waved him aside.

“Let the dogs out,” he muttered. The rest of you replace a way to keep the demons on the ground. The dust can’t hold back the ash — our only chance lies with the dogs because only they can nullify the demons’ qi. And hurry, the dome is closing in fast. They mean to incinerate us to collect the pendant!

Lightning flashed down. Baneyon watched as Raimus was forced to abandon his task, weaving a thick wall of earth to shield them from being fried. However, a stray finger of lightning found its way through a gap in Raimus’s defences and caught Kalum. The others watched in horror as he instantly roasted. The odour of singed flesh filled the air, and he collapsed to the ground.

“Kalum!” L-Master Ana cried.

“He’s still alive, but barely,” Quempa said grimly. “Ana, I’m going to weave a dust storm — it’ll help to deflect this lightning. I need you to lace it so that it lasts indefinitely.”

L-Master Ana nodded. “I’m ready.”

Quempa’s eyes began to glow. “Baneyon, give me a good wind.”

Visibility inside the dome was reduced to zero as Quempa flooded it with dust. It whipped around everyone like a hurricane, coating the ash and slowing its progress.

“Raimus! What about the dogs?” Quempa yelled out.

“Er, we have a slight problem on that front,” replied Raimus. “They’d rather remain underground, sheltered from the storm.”

“Get them out!” snapped Quempa.

“Watch out!” shouted Lady Fless. She raised her broadswords and deflected several knife attacks as the third demon dashed in and out. They couldn’t see the other demons through the thick dust. Quempa grunted in pain and collapsed, his wing nearly sliced off.

Lady Fless rushed to his defence but it was L-Master Ana who fell next. She gasped and looked down at Ana’s stomach, where a large wound had just appeared.

"Baneyon,” screamed Lady Fless. ”Find him!”

Baneyon released his spear and it pulled away, chasing after the third demon. Something struck Baneyon from behind and he fell.

Meldogan loomed over him. Lady Fless moved to attack, but Meldogan was quicker. A knee slammed into her face and she crumpled almost instantly, knocked out cold. Raimus was felled in a similar manner.

When all the team were sprawled on the ground, the dust storm inside the dome subsided.

“Play time is over,” snarled Meldogan, plucking the pendant from Baneyon’s hand. “You held onto it long enough.” He slipped the pendant beneath his armour. Now that it was no longer a worry, he leaned over Baneyon, his hand crackling with electricity. “This is for Garok.” He dragged his finger along Baneyon’s chest and the Imeldor screamed as live current coursed through his body. Meldogan’s lip curled, and out of sheer cruelty, he dug his fingers into the Baneyon’s flesh.

As Baneyon lay twitching and dying, he wondered why his life was not flashing before his eyes like it had done for other people. Good times, bad times — he couldn’t see them. Instead, it was fear that clouded his mind. Fear that he hadn’t accomplished all that he had wanted to in his short life. Baneyon was young for a Pophusian; they could live for more than two centuries. He had shown promise in his early career, becoming an Imeldor at an age when most Pophusians were barely out of their diapers. For the briefest moment, Baneyon regretted his career choice.

He shivered. His fingers and toes felt like ice despite the searing heat from the lightning. flew off his chest as Meldogan continued to torture him, but instead of screaming in agony, he felt nothing. Did death feel like this? he wondered. In his haziness, he watched Meldogan leap away from him, the demon’s face a mass of confusion as he glanced around the dome. Meldogan’s hand was covered in ice.

“What’s happening?” Meldogan yelled.

“Meldogan!”

Something blurred by and grabbed Meldogan. Where the demon had stood, an ice-rod skewered the ground. Baneyon could have cried his relief when he saw it. The distress signal they had sent out earlier must have been received, and help had finally arrived. Not just any help either — they had sent the big guns. They had sent the queen.