One Man's Will

Chapter 4: Ordeal of Fire · Halberd stumbled into the forest. He looked around, but · there was no sight of the Archmage that he was looking for. The · clearing was empty. "Where'd he go?" thought Halberd to himself. · He checked the clearing. The only unusual trait was a circle in · the center of the clearing. · Halberd went closer to the circle and inspected the circle. · "Magic," he thought. "Abashi must have used a spell." · Halberd stepped into the circle. "He must have returned to · his home in Dread Peaks." Halberd would have continued the loud · thought, but he was consumed by fire. · Nyke saw Halberd in the clearing. He came closer and · managed to hear something about Dread Peaks. He looked back at · the path he took then the clearing. "Where's Halberd?" All that · remained of Halberd was a scorched mark on the ground. He went · to the clearing to investigate. He just managed to set his feet · within the circle when fire rose from the ground. He screamed. · Halberd found himself at the plateau. He found himself with · only his clothes, and those were marked with singed marks. A · quick check only gave him information concerning himself and his · surroundings. Asides from his clothes, he was still wearing the · gloves. Anything else that he brought along with him was · consumed by the fire. He was also very definite that he stood · within Dread Peaks, the mountain range. He could see the volcano · where Abashi had hid in the past. "Abashi, I'm coming to get · you," he silently vowed as he began to journey to the volcano. · "I see Halberd is very persistent," smiled Abashi. "Maybe I · should make him work a little more." Abashi began incanting a · spell. The Archmage summoned a fire elemental. It stood twice · Halberd's height and burned with a hot flame that made Abashi · sweat, even with his protections. "Go and kill the man that you · see before you," ordered Abashi to the elemental, as he pointed · at the picture of Halberd climbing up the side of the volcano. · Halberd took a brief rest on a small outcrop. Breathing hard, he · wished he had something to drink. He looked up at the giant that · he was fighting. He couldn't remember the volcano being this · huge, but then again it was five years ago. It has been a long · time since he had come here. He began to climb once more, not · noticing that a column of fire was starting its way down from the · volcano. · Nyke opened his eyes. He quickly looked at himself. He · cursed as he found a lot of things missing. He was also singed. · The only weapon he had left was the jeweled sword, his daggers · had melted when the fire appeared. He took a quick look. "Where · in the world am I?" he asked himself. Trying to decide what to · do, Nyke looked up. He could see a small figure climbing the · cliff face. He wanted to make sure if it was Halberd, but his · eyes were focused on a column of fire that was slowly creeping · down the mountain. The column of fire was on a direct course for · the figure. Nyke began to run towards the mountain and begin to · climb. Looking at the rise, Nyke thought, "This is going to be · as simple as climbing walls," then as an after thought," maybe · not if that thing comes after me too." · "If that's Halberd, he's going to owe me," he thought. He · rubbed his hands together and began scaling the rockface like a · spider, "He's going to owe me big." · Halberd continued climbing. He began to sweat as the sun · pounded on him. The small breeze that blows was no comfort, it · smelled of ashes and was humid. The column crept closer. Its · prey has not noticed it. A few more minutes, the quarry should · be nothing more than ashes. · The elemental struck out without remorse, sending Halberd · falling down the slope. Halberd reached out in desperation and · managed to grab a slender plant. · Nyke felt the pebbles hit his face and moved off to one side · and continued climbing. "I hate this. Why am I here? I could be · miles away having a drink with a friend. I could be with Jenzia. · I could be sleeping, but no. I have to follow that big oaf that's · being attacked by a column of fire," sighed Nyke to himself. · "Life's definitely not a joy ride." · Halberd looked up to see the elemental reach down and touch · the ground, causing the stones to melt into lava. Small rivers · of the molten rock flow down the slope. Halberd looked around · and saw that there is a place for him to stand several feet · below. He let go of his support and slid down several feet. A · hand reached out and grabbed him. "In here." · Halberd looked into the face of Nyke. "You seriously think · that I would leave you alone? Now is there any treasure in this · place?" calmly asked Nyke as he lead Halberd deeper into the · cave. · "There's a creature of fire out there." · "I know. It's just by luck I found this place. Close your · eyes," said Nyke in as sweet a manner as he can place it. · Halberd just stared at him. Nyke pointed into the darker · side of the cave. "We have something that the fire creature will · not like much. Water." · The elemental landed on the ledge and roared. The creature · entered and glowed brightly. The flames lick the walls and · burned off some of the old fungus growing on the stone. The · creature sees its prey and lunges forward. · Halberd stood waiting for the elemental. The temperature · grew warmer. The elemental saw him and moved faster. Waiting · for the last possible moment, Halberd jumped to the side. The · elemental tried to stp, but the momentum was too fast. The · creature entered into a pool of water. · Nyke looked on as steam rose from around the creature. The · shrieks filled the cave and hurt his ears. Nyke jumped down from · his ledge and pulled Halberd away. "This is not my idea of fun. · So where's the gold?" · Halberd shook his head and lead the way out of the cave. · Looking up, Halberd pointed at an opening near the top of the · volcano. Nyke looked up. "So that's where it is. Well you · better be saying the truth. You owe me," grinned Nyke.