Into the Abyss

To her dismay, she found that it came from all around them, there were at least four wizards out there. Even as she searched, two more fireballs came roaring down the mountainside to engulf the wagon behind them and one of the peasant wagons at the rear. She only had time to note that the soldiers were already down, the largest group of them had already been roasted alive along with their horses. Most of the grass in the bottom of the valley was on fire. Lightning rained from the cloudless sky. Sick at heart, she reached out to the nearest wizard. She called to the grass at his feet to rise to her command. Shouting words she herself couldn’t even hear in the roar of the fireballs and the flames from the burning grass and other wagons, she caused the grass around her target to rise to three times its normal height and begin to entwine her enemy.

The grass began to strangle him, it tangled his hands and arms so he couldn’t cast any spells, it would take a while to kill him, but she didn’t know what else to do. Now that she had quit the conjuration part of her spell, she no longer needed to shout, all she needed to do was concentrate. She just about lost her concentration, however, when she heard what Jehenna was saying beside her.

“Tomasedwardperkinje, by thy name and this ring I thee summon. Come! I command thee obey. For I, Jehenna, art thy Master, thou art my servant, thou art bound by the power of this ring, by the Covenant of the Ring. Thou must appear. Aid me now, in this time of need. I command thee.” Jehenna shouted at the top of her lungs.

Jenn was having all she could do to hang onto her concentration. It wasn’t enough that they were under ambush, the madwoman was summoning a fourth order demon with a ring alone! No protections, sigils or triangles! The damn bitch was insane! What would they do? Only Jehenna’s will and the ring would keep it from destroying them. True, Jehenna would probably be safe with the ring, but everyone else?

In front of the wagon, the flames rose even higher, towering up and up, easily shooting twenty feet into the air. A roar louder than any so far grew with the flames. Out from the flames stepped the demon. A true creature of nightmare. Towering as high as Jehenna who stood in the wagon, the thing’s evil body gleamed purplish red in the flames. Flames danced behind it and within its eyes. Sparks seemed to jump from its horns. It bared its giant fangs in a grimace of hatred; it stood with its hooves planted four feet apart, its tail swinging angrily back and forth. Its huge phallus, there between its legs, a monstrous obscenity to the ways of nature. Its forearms stretched outward from its sides and flexed their razor sharp ebony claws. It seemed to be flexing its legs, as if to spring upon the wagon and rend them limb from limb. Small puffs of smoke rose from its nostrils, while its giant bat like wings fanned the fires around it, to quickly speed the destruction of the wagons.

“WHAT WOULDST THOU HAVE OF ME? THIS DAY I COME OF MY OWN WILL. SPEAKEST QUICKLY LEST I DESTROY THEE IN MY WRATH!” bellowed the foul creature; the voice shook Jenn to her very bones, and as it spoke, her concentration at last broke, and she could no longer maintain her spell, knowing full well that she was about to die. She offered a silent prayer that the thing would get careless, and forget, and kill her first, before it raped her. This was pretty much all she could think of as she slid to the foot rest of the wagon.

The wagon, on the other hand, was doing its best to come up and meet her. The horses were going absolutely insane at the presence of the demon. They were rearing and screaming, kicking and jumping. Every movement that the harness allowed them, they performed. In quick frustration, Jehenna, trying not to lose her concentration, pulled Tanthor’s Wand of Paralyzation from her robe and quickly zapped the horses, with it. They fell to the ground with a large crash, breaking the guide poles on the wagon, but due to the nature of the wand, were unharmed themselves, simply unable to move.

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