Chapter 53

“Swords up.” And then the wolveris attack.

They are still in the Canton Mountains, but they are no longer in the Free Lands of Andromeda. They are now in The Accursed Land of Loki. Here, on this side of the mountains, the trees are much more sparse giving way to very tenacious bushes and plants.

How the minotaurs are a loosely contrived creature of a human with a bull-like head so are the wolveris a human with a wolf-like head. Minotaurs on average are a good foot taller than the wolveris, but the wolveris use their fangs as much as their swords once they lock in close range mortal combat. If pushed into a corner and all other aspects of survival are lost more than one minotaur has been seen lowering his head and using his horns to impale his enemy. Using his powerful torso, shoulder and neck muscles he would then fling his enemy aside like a rag doll as he looks for another enemy to do battle with. With bull-like roars the minotaurs charge into battle as a unit. With wolf-like growls the wolveris move as a pack and once and again battle their most hated enemy.

The minotaurs may be helping the White Sorceress and her Great Protector in reaching their destiny, but this is an ancient blood feud. Both use swords, spears, daggers, and over the years the wolveris have stolen the minotaurs’ most lethal weapon that is a long shaft with blades on both ends. Once it gets whirling it can often be a danger to anyone standing nearby, either friend or foe.

Sorbo blocks a wolveris’ downward arc and Dakota runs him through. Dakota blocks an upward swing from the lethal two bladed spear-like weapon and Sorbo decapitates the aggressor as he swings around in conjunction with his beautiful warrior wife. Together they dole out death at a rapid rate. Sorbo ducks and Dakota slices the back of the wolveris’ legs and he goes down and then Sorbo runs him through twisting the blade with the intent of finality.

Since Dakota’s explosion into womanhood at thirteen this girl, this young lady, has grown in every aspect of her life and she is without a doubt a very lethal individual with a mind and body to match. Plus, now she is a mother and she is fighting for her child as much as anyone or anything. From the first true combat together when Dakota was fourteen they fought well together, even though Dakota first took a life at twelve. Once, Sorbo had to tell her that the shaking was normal after battle, but he no longer has to reassure her that she will be able to function when afraid and under pressure.

As Sorbo watches Dakota finish off the last wolveris he says, “That’s why I have never stood in her way to express herself anyway she so desires.”

As the moaning of the last wolveris fades away everybody is standing around trying to catch their breaths. Just then they hear many more wolveris howling into the daylight hours.

Dakota walks over to the ledge that looks down into Loki’s Land and she can see at least seven more packs of wolveris winding their way up towards them. As Dakota is standing there wiping her blade on some cloth, she says out loud, “The underbelly of death and deceit does it rise before us all. With gall and guts do we say, to the abyss with you!”

Sorbo walks over and kisses his wife’s sweaty hair. “Looks like we walk from here.”

Dakota looks over and sees their two horses torn apart. “I’m glad we didn’t bring Hugs and Kisses.”

“Me too.”

Just then Hekar comes over. “You two should leave before the other wolveris get here. We will lead them further away to the north and east and that should give you the time necessary to make it out of the mountains and into the desert. As far as I know they do not go into the desert.”

“No!” says Dakota. “We must stick together.”

“You honor us, White Sorceress, but this is why we are here. There are far too many wolveris for just our group to defeat. Now that blood is heavy in the air they will be distracted from your scent and your magical paint will hide you from their eyes.”

“Dakota, get the shaft and your pack, we head out now.”

She turns to Sorbo as he is walking over to his dead horse to get his pack. He shoulders it and watches his wife get her supplies and one third of her destiny, the Staff of Creation. Another one third of the White Sorceress destiny hangs around her neck as the Eye of Opalescence. They are going to get the final piece, the Star of Elegance, which is bejeweled with diamonds. Together they will give the White Sorceress enough power to stop the asteroid from destroying the Dark Moon and the Crystal Orb moon.

Only once does Dakota look back, as she continues to worry about the minotaurs. From their higher advantage point they can see a gap in the packs of wolveris that are charging up. If they hurry they can get to a series of rock outcroppings and take cover as two different packs go on either side of them.

They make it there unseen and as they are hidden in a crevice they await to see if their plan will work.

Always taking any moment they can to show their love, Dakota is sitting in Sorbo’s lap. One pack fifteen strong comes closer than the others. As hoped the wolveris are running by without a second look. As the last wolveris is near he stops and smells the air. He slowly starts to turn their way and appears to be getting ready to call out when the Eye of Opalescence flares as it did with the giant salamander and the wolveris shakes his head as if in a fog and then he runs to catch up with his pack. With a quiet sigh Sorbo and Dakota start heading through the last league of the Canton Mountains. It is February, height of winter, and yet they can feel a wall of heat already buffeting against them.

“Should we wait until nightfall before we go out?”

As Sorbo and Dakota are crouched on the edge of the mountains and the desert, Sorbo is contemplating that very thing. He rubs his long past due to be shaved face. “Well, there are plenty of those clusters of big bushes that we can skirt to and from. Since we don’t know exactly where the entrance is we should make what time up we can now.”

“Well, come on then,” says Dakota, pulling him out into the desert.

It is maybe a league to the Lake of Fire. This lake is not to sustain life to the region. It has boiling water coming up from the bottom of it and sulfur is heavy in the air. Dakota and Sorbo have long since put cloth over their mouths and noses.

As they make their way around a huge rock outcropping that is on the top of a hill they find the entrance to their destiny. They have to weave their way through several boulders, but at last the entrance to the Underworld opens up before them. Sorbo does a quick assessment of the immediate area of the cavern that it leads into. There are bubbling puddles of lava and the only light is from the flames that flicker from those.

“I don’t see anything,” says Sorbo, taking Dakota’s hand. Bending over to make it harder for them to be seen they skirt to a nearby boulder that is about twenty feet inside the cavern.

The cavern is huge. Nowhere as near as big as the one that is the home of the giant salamander, but it is big. This cavern ceiling is only about twenty feet high and throughout the whole cavern there are columns a person thick. This place is so ancient that the stalagmites and stalactites have long since connected and made one single massive column. The soil is slightly darker than the sandy soil outside.

“What do you think?”

Dakota stops and looks at her husband with a smile on her face and tears in her eyes. “I think that after all this time and at the world’s most pivotal moment you still want to know what I think.”

Sorbo puts his sword down for a second and places his hands on each side of his precious wife’s head and kisses her deeply. “If not for you I wouldn’t care if the world got saved or not. You are my world and I love you more everyday. Even now the thought of making love with you stimulates me in a hot and arid place like this. Even in hell you are heavenly.”

“I love you.”

“Me, too, babygirl, now let’s go.”

They step out around the right side of the boulder planning on skirting the right wall. They don’t get twenty feet when they run into two zombie-like creatures that are moving around lethargically and without purpose. They freeze. Either the creature has long since lost its drive or the magical paint is doing its job and hiding them from all prying eyes. As soon as the creatures that look like long dead humans go away from them they quietly move to the next column.