The Demon Witch

“I’m here. We can go save the helpless Hume now.” Beldin announced as he brushed the snow off his Dragoon armor.

Dominuse came in quietly behind him. “I’m sorry we are late. How can we help?”

“We saved room for you both in Foxx’s party. If you don’t need a rest I think we’re ready to go shake this witch out of her hiding place.” I said

The demons in Castle Zvahl Baileys look like they were cut out of the castle itself. Both are roughly cut and black as onyx. It makes it easy to be caught off guard by a large group of them and be overwhelmed if you don’t pay attention. If a demon sees you attacking his comrade he will waste no time in coming to his friend’s aid by attempting to remove your head from your shoulders. A task with which you really don’t want him to have success.

We wasted enough time killing our way up to the castle so we opted for speed by way of sneaking around as many of the locals as possible though in a group as large as ours we did have more than one, “Oops I think he spotted me, and oh by the way he has friends.”

“Not to doubt your sense of direction but I think we’ve passed this way already.” Marrcus said.

He was right. The map didn’t make sense to me. I couldn’t see how I was supposed to get down to the floor we needed. “I think you’re right.” I admitted. “Can someone else make sense of this maze?”

“Give that to me. How do you get so many people willing to follow you when you have no idea what you’re doing?” Foxx blurted out in frustration. “I’ll get us there. Just show me where you are trying to go.”

I handed the map to the Taru and he bounded off without another word in long Taru leaps as he held the map close to his face. We followed him closely as we could until we reached a room with a cavernous hole in the middle. Foxx circled the edge until we reached the far side and stopped. Looking down and then checking his map again he nodded to himself and said, “Yep, we jump down here. See that ledge. We want to land on it. You miss the ledge and I leave you there to die and maybe we’ll pick up the bodies later” he sneered. Without hesitation he leapt down nimbly and walked out of sight.

The two Dragoons followed quickly behind without a problem but when Jumpingtaru took his turn he hit the ledge hard and rolled. Garness reached out and grabbed Jumpingtaru by his boot before he tumbled over the edge. “Ouchie.” Jumpingtaru whimpered. “I didn’t like that.”

“Bend your knees when you land.” Beldin called up.

“You have got to be kidding me.” I said. “You are telling me the only way in is a fifteen foot drop to a ledge I may or may not be able to land on? This is crazy. What kind of person designs a castle like this? I know a king is not expected to leap down there like a rabbit. There must be another way.”

My fellow party members took turns jumping down with perfect success but I was not so sure this was a good idea. It’s not that I have a fear of heights it’s that that I have a fear of a painful death where my lovely face may be smashed by large pointy rocks.

“Are you ready to go?” Brodie asked me as he stood behind me at the edge.

“I’m not sure. Another minute maybe.” I said timidly peering down below.

“I’m afraid we don’t have another minute to let you decide. I think that pack of demons coming this way would like to use us as welcome mats for future visitors.” With that he picked me up in his arms. “Sorry sweetie.” He said as he tossed me over the edge.

I hardly had time to gasp in disbelief before Gurok caught me in his massive Galkan arms and shook with laughter. “Do you need me to carry you the rest of the way or do you think you can handle the remainder of the trip on your own two feet?” he mocked.

“Stop messing around.” Foxx commanded. “We’re here.”

With that I squirmed down not even pausing to give my usual look of death appropriate for such occasions. “Which wall Foxx?” I asked.

“Humm…” he said as he ran his hand along the wall without touching the stones. He stopped as a faint purple glow emitted from a barely visible crystal shard embedded in the rock. As Foxx took his hand away the light dissipated. “Here.” He stated confidently.

“Everyone ready?” I asked.

“Of course.” Kammy said as she reached out and touched the wall. Nothing happened. In what can only be described as a Mithra temper tantrum she started clawing at the wall wildly. “Foxx broke it! Fix it, Fix it!!” she shrieked.

“I can fix it.” I reassured her and she stopped and perked her ears to listen.

“To open the door, and I quote, you must have a ‘heart aching with a burning desire." I told her.

“But I do. I want to save Orabu!” she said as she went to work on the wall again. Her fingers started to bleed and Moltov reached around her holding her arms down tightly against her sides and whispered something to her that calmed her down.

“Maybe it needs to be something bigger though by your determination I’m surprised you didn’t qualify. Something you would be willing to give everything for. Think of it clearly and try again.” I told her.

“I think I should go in first. Hard to say what is over there and I’m sure I have something that will open this portal.” Siegg said. With that he reached out and touched the wall. The crystal burned a blinding purple to white light and Siegg disappeared.

“Lets not waste time.” I said. “We don’t want him in there alone. I’ll go last to make sure we all enter.”

The light burned almost continuous as hero after hero reached out with the one thing they would give anything to have secretly expressed in their minds until it was only me and Garness.

“I can’t get it to work.” Garness said with frustration. “I’m having a bit of trouble thinking of anything.”

“Isn’t there something you crave above all else?” I asked.

“Darn you woman if there was I wouldn’t be out here with my friends in there!” he shouted.

“Ok, easy big guy.” I said. “I have an idea.” I reached my arm around him.

“I don’t feel that way about you Alison.” Garness said as he started to step back.

“Don’t be silly. Trust me for once.” I said as I pulled him near me and touched the crystal.

With that we were in. We all stood silently with shocked expressions. What we saw we had not been prepared for. A pack of fifty demons would have been less shocking to see.

“Welcome adventures.” It said. “So many customers at once I have not had before. All with such noble desires too. It must be my lucky day to be of service to such a fine group. What can I humbly do for you?”