shaman chpt3 pt 4
Will clicked off his flashlight and dropped it into his pack. James had already begun walking toward a shaft of light, the light of Debarge unveiled. The firebirds followed him, vocalizing in a tongue long stripped from the present memory of man. Their voices were the crackling of a burning log and the call of the hawk. He spoke with this flock and they understood. “What are they?” Nicole asked, with her eyes wide in wonder.
“They are the desar, beings in-service to Debarge” James responded. “Once, in the days of magic, in the periof of dragons and kings, they freely drifted in our world. It is from the desar that our legend of the phoenix came.”
“Are they going to aid us?” Nicole inquired when they entered the first of the shafts. Jsmes smiled slyly, shrugged his shoulders and hiked even further ahead.
“Hey, magic-man before we go any further, I strongly suggest you try answering the lady’s question,” Will said angrily, grabbing James by his shirt.
The desar all turned in flight and flew straight toward Will. Before he knew what was happening and could let go of James, the desar tore at him with their talons of fire. Will screamed as his clothing burst into flames.
James frantically waved the birds of prey off. In a cluster. they took flight in a formation of blazing burgundy hues. Will rolled across the tunnel floor, until the flames slowly smothered. “You better let me get a look at your arm.” Josh ordered, kneeling down next to him. “Whew, you’re lucky it doesn’t seem too bad.” Nicole opened the first-aid kit and treated the burns. She glared up angrily at James.
“I want a word with you little brother.” She said harshly, her eyes blazing furiously. “Can you control these creatures or not?”
“The desar are living beings that exist in a cosmos parallel to our own called Debarge. It is a world of magic where emotional bonding is the way rather than our own world where physical reality is the law. The desar sensed Will’s outburst of emotion to be a threat and acted according. They understand now and are finding our primitive world quite amusing.”
He reached down and helped Will to his feet. “Do you think you can make it?”
“I can make it just fine!” Will answered. “Where do these tunnels lesd?”
Again, James did not answer but walked still further ahead. The passages extended for miles into the earth. They burrowed through the mountain and down, distant as the human eye could view. Josh stopped walking and knelt down on the path. He pulled out a pen from his pocket and poked into the whitish ash that littered the ground beneath them. Will removed a shovel from his backpack, stooped down close to him and started to sort through the ash. A minute later, he struck something solid and pulled it up through the grayish powdery substance. In his hand was a human thighbone.
'“My God!” Nicole screamed when she saw it, '“This is a graveyard!”
“More like a vampire’s equivalent of a fast-food franchise.” Josh quipped.
The walls of the shaft suddenly began trembling. Fragments of earth and rock had fallen along the crooked course. The desar spun around midway down the tunnel before heading back toward James. It was the cry of the banshee of old Ireland. It was the sound of a thousand starving wings beating rapidly.
The apostles of Turel had awakened and they scented their quarry. The route in front was dark with the broad, leathery wings. The shrieks and wails of the pack sent fear through the hearts of them all. James charged straightforward. The desar followed him into the attack.
For a chilling moment, a cloak of stillness desended but after that, havoc followed. Josh pulled out his thirty-eight and raced to join his comrade. The plea of the hawk answered the high-pitched shriek of the bat, burgundy talons meeting ivory fangs.
The bonfires of Debarge joined with the roaring flames of Sarlesse to engulf countless numbers of Turel’s followers. The vampires fell dead along the trail, returned to their normal human forms. The winged horde descended and started devouring their fallen brothers. Josh fired into the assembly of feasting creatures. The .38 echoed throughout the cavern like a mortar. Will raised his sawed-off shotgun and blasted away at the ghouls at close range. James recited the spell of Argus to shield his friends from the rampaging fires. The passage walls glowed blue-white from the extreme heat. THe desar tore at their leathery winged opponents, while small pieces of desar flesh landed, turning to ash on the cavern floor.