Dark Soul - Disrupted

Chapter 2-1

Chapter 2

Daniel parried the strike from one opponent, swaying away from another’s thrust. The third tried to take advantage but Daniel kept his movement going, placing the first attacker between himself and the third.

The three men were well trained, and the blades they carried dripped with a vicious darkness, one that stretched from the blades towards Daniel. He was skilled in swordplay but three against one should still have been bad odds, especially with the dark blades involved. For a normal person they would have been, but Daniel was far from normal. He could hold his own against several vampires, even allowing for their supernatural strength and powers. These three were dangerous, but he could dispatch them easily.

Except he didn’t want to kill them. He wanted to know who they were, who had sent them and where they had got the blades. Taking them alive was a much more difficult task. He parried two more attacks, then suddenly turned and ran, using his speed to cover thirty yards in the time it took them to cover ten.

“Don’t let him get away!” shouted one of the men.

Daniel had no intention of getting away. He skidded to a halt, turning as he did so, and drew on his powers. Red leapt to his command, cleansing power that would scythe through the attackers, but that wasn’t what he wanted. Pushing it down he pulled on the sturdy power of brown, infusing it with a little green, the power closely associated with plants and life, weaving the two into a pattern which expanded into a net of power.

One of the men slowed as he saw Daniel was no longer running, edging to the side, but the other two carried straight on. As soon as they got within ten feet Daniel launched the net at them. They barely had a chance to register the ethereal creation’s flight before it struck, dragging both to the ground. Daniel winced as one of the swords contacted the net, causing it to drag more power from his body.

He reached out for brown energy, drawing it out of the very soil, but was once again reminded that darkness had held sway in Echtberg for a very long time. The power he drew was weak and wilted, barely worth the effort. He gritted his teeth, pushing more of his own reserves into maintaining the net.

The third attacker, the one who was still free, moved in closer. Daniel had hoped to capture him with a similar net, but he simply didn’t have the reserves to do so. He made a decision. This one would have to die, then he could deal with restraining the other two properly and trying to learn more about them.

The man wasn’t coming for Daniel, though. He suddenly darted to the side, towards his fallen colleagues, and brought his sword down. Daniel hissed at the extra drain on his power, but he kept the net in place. He couldn’t do it much longer, though. His reserves of brown power were almost gone. Red he had in abundance, the sun had seen to that, but it was the power of destruction, not of structure.

The attacker’s sword rose and fell once more, this time slashing down above the other captive. Daniel felt the net start to unravel but held it together by willpower and the last strands of brown magic he possessed.

The attacker raised his sword once more, but this time he raised it high over his head, then slashed it rapidly downward. The air shimmered and split as the blade passed, and a gateway to… somewhere was revealed. Daniel couldn’t see much, the air beyond was full of a sickly yellow mist, but he could sense the dark power that dwelt within.

For a moment he thought the attacker was calling on reinforcements, but no one emerged from the gateway. Instead the attacker offered him a crooked smile and a nod.

“You probably want to follow me,” he said, voice steady and calm. “I think you’ll find your lady friend needs you more, her and her child. She doesn’t have your cursed magic to protect her.”

Daniel’s heart lurched. Sarah! Sarah and Mary! Were they being attacked too? He had to reach them… but he needed to take at least one of the captured attackers for questioning. He stepped forward, preparing to reduce the net to the size needed to restrain the closest attacker. The man who’d summoned the gateway chose that moment to step through it.

As he did so the mists within bellowed out. Daniel formed a powerful bolt of red power, preparing to unleash it, but the mist wasn’t heading for him. Instead it flowed over the two captive attackers. When it rolled back a few seconds later all that remained were two shrivelled corpses, clothed in rags and lying next to rust pitted swords that looked ready to disintegrate if they were touched. The mist flowed through the portal… and it disappeared.

Daniel stood and stared for a few moments, then angrily shook himself. Sarah and Mary! He had to reach them! But where were they?

As Josef moved towards the door, the two men standing there backed away. Their eyes kept darting between him and their blades.

“I told you we shouldn’t have trusted the Ghost!” one of them hissed. “These aren’t enchanted blades. He lied to us!”

“They aren’t enchanted, but they are cursed,” Josef said loudly. “Whoever gave them to you set you up. They forgot to mention that I’m a member of the Order. The true Order, not the darkness-tainted Bronze Order you had here, and that means I have protection against exactly that form of attack.”

He paused, letting that sink in. The two men glanced nervously between Josef and their fallen accomplice, who was either dead or somehow surviving with his neck at a most unnatural angle. One of them, the younger looking, was pale and sweating.

“We didn’t sign up for this! He said it would be easy. He said we’d catch the outsider by surprise and the blades would cut the outsider down in an instant. He knew. He must have known! That’s why he didn’t come. I said we shouldn’t trust him. I told you!”

“Bollocks! You were the first to take the gold he was offering. Now show some backbone! We can still do this. We just have to work together.”

“Balls to that! I’m getting out of here.”

“No! Don’t! You know what he said about…”

The younger attacker wasn’t listening. He turned and started to sprint away. The other man yelled in desperation.

“No! You can’t run! You heard what he said! Oh damn! No! No! I didn’t…”

As the younger man started to run, the other man had gestured with his sword. Josef saw the sword leap forwards, slicing into the fleeing man’s side. He wasn’t fleeing for much longer. He collapsed to the ground, clutching at the wound and letting out an awful scream. Moments later he was still.

The final man stood frozen for a moment, then held the sword out at arms length, as if it was a deadly snake… and in some ways maybe it was.

“I’m not running! I’m not running!” he insisted, then he glanced at Josef. “I’m not going to fight, either. You have to get this sword off of me. Please!”

Josef moved forward. The man looked as if he was fighting with the sword, fighting to stop it turning on him, and as if he was losing the fight. Josef moved forward slowly, not wanting to spook the man.

“You’ve been duped,” he said. “Your two friends are dead. Don’t join them. Put the sword down and I promise no harm will come to you.”

“I can’t!” wailed the man. “It won’t let me! If I try it’ll kill me.”

“Just hold still. I can keep you safe. Just hold still and I’ll take it.”

Josef moved closer, to within a couple of steps. Suddenly the blade slashed towards him, and it was definitely the blade. He saw it drag the horrified man with it. He prepared a parry but before it was needed a blinding blast of white light shot past him, smashing into the blade and the man.

The blade was physically checked, stopped dead for a moment. The man screamed and covered his eyes with his free arm. He started to back away, but the sword twisted as he did, dragging him off balance. He stumbled, then fell… right onto the blade which had managed to swing itself into just the right position to impale him. He struggled for a few moments, then fell still.

Something awful happened then. Josef watched as the dead man’s energy was sucked into the blade, greatly strengthening the darkness within. For a moment he thought he saw something move in the blade, but then there was nothing. He couldn’t shake the feeling that the blade was lying there waiting, biding its time. He shivered at the thought.

He edged forward so he could check no one else was hiding in the hallway, though moving closer to the blade made him feel sick. The hallway was clear, for the moment. He backed away from the blade then turned towards Clara.

“Are you injured?” she asked. “I saw them land a blow but something seemed to block it.”

“No. I’m fine. The protections of the Order kept me safe.”

Clara shivered. “I’m not sure I’ll ever hear that word without my guts clenching. I know it’s different to the Bronze Order and its corruptions, but I can’t change how I feel that easily.”

“I understand. They took everything that was good about the Order and twisted it. The big question now is who sent these three? Could they have been part of the Bronze Order?”

“Possibly, but I don’t think so. We kept track of everyone who was and I don’t recognise any of the three. Their words back that up, too. Someone paid them to do this, paid them and gave them swords infused with darkness.”

Josef nodded. The question could have been why, but they most probably already knew the answer to that. Or the answers. Having stopped and destroyed Rafael and the Bronze order. Having set up the council to keep the town safe. Having so much power in the town. It could be any of those, or even all.

“They mentioned a name,” he said. “The Ghost. Does that ring a bell?”

“No. Definitely not. I’d remember something like that.”

“So we have a new threat, or an old one with a new name.”

He shook his head, glanced at the blade on the floor, then shivered again.

“It’s horrible, isn’t it?” Clara said. “I feel like it’s looking at me.”

“It might well be. I’ve heard of demon possessed objects in my time, though I never had to face a powerful one.”

“It’s horrible… but… there’s something about it…”

Josef’s hand shot out, grabbing her by the arm and dragging her back.

“Ouch! What did you… wait… what was I doing? I wanted to pick that cursed thing up! Why would I do that?”

“Sorry, but I couldn’t take any chances. That settles it. That thing is definitely infested by a demon. I’ve heard of this, heard how powerfully they can call people.”

“Not you, though!”

“I’m wearing enough protection from the… from my old life to shield me from pretty much anything. Are you free of it now?”

“Yes. Now I know what it’s doing I can use my power to block the effect.”

Josef studied her closely. He could just make out a white haze, settled around her head.

“That’s subtle. I can hardly see it.”

Before she could answer shouts echoed down the corridor, followed by the sound of heavy boots running. Josef moved closer to the door again, then glanced at Clara.

“Guards, do you think?” she asked. “Or another attack?”

“Or both,” he replied. “Either way, the demon blade will call to whoever it is. We can’t let that happen.”

“Can you pick it up?”

“Probably, but that’s not going to dampen its pull. Can you block it?”

“I wouldn’t know where to start. We need Daniel for this!”

“I’d certainly welcome his help, but I think you’ve selling yourself short. Rather than protecting yourself can you project the same pattern over the sword? All around it, in fact?”

“I… yes. Yes, I should be able to.”

“Better do it quickly then… the guards are nearly here.”

Her only reply was a frown of concentration. Sweat broke out on her brow and her breathing became laboured. Josef could sense the battle she was fighting, could see that her pattern of white power was close to the blade but was being repelled.

“You don’t need to get it too close,” he said. “Just surround it.”

There was no reaction for a moment, then she nodded and made the net looser. A few seconds later she let out a deep sigh.