he scattered about him. Then he said a word of invocation and suddenly vanished.
Vasha, seeing this, called out to the wizard, "I know you are here, Ragan. You cannot escape me. If you think that by becoming ethereal and masking your scent, it will help you hide from my shadow-beast, you are gravely mistaken." She laughed harshly and then added, "The creature tracks by scent, not sight. Surrender, Tauri, for you are beaten and doomed. Oh, long have I awaited this hour, Ragan. Tonight, you shall fall and return to your father in Errada."
With that, Vasha laughed hard and cruelly, her teeth shining white against the blackness of her skin and soul.
The shadow-beast stood immobile, its heads swaying slowly, as it sniffed the air in an attempt to lock in on Ragan. This gave Ragan the necessary time to attack. Gideon watched as a large ball of white light energy appeared in the air and hurtled toward the creature as if from thin air. The sphere impacted with the beast and then was drawn inside it. For a brief instant, the creature glowed as the light coursed through its horrid blackness, dissolving it. The shadow-beast shivered and collapsed. As it fell, it faded in a terrible wail of pain. Seconds later, Ragan reappeared in the spot from whence the ball of light had come and withdrew from his pouch a small box.
"Oh no, you don't, Tauri," howled the Dark Elf. "Not this time. I will not be placed in stasis."
With a scream of fury, she raised one long glove-covered hand and pointed it at Ragan threateningly. She let out a low chuckle as multiple streams of eldritch energy shot forth from her fingers, striking Ragan down in a wave of unimaginable pain.
The box fell to the ground and rolled askew as he sank to his knees.
"And now," whispered the dark-skinned Vasha, almost as a lover, as she aimed her hand one last deadly time, her face a mask of victory, "the kill!"
Seeing Ragan fall, Gideon moved cautiously toward Vasha, sword in hand. The Valharri was so intent on destroying the wizard that she failed to notice his silent approach to her rear.
"Good-bye, Tauri," said Vasha, as once more, she let forth a burst of energy. Ragan grunted and fell to his side, writhing in agony.
Just then, Gideon lunged with the sword toward a small section of unprotected skin in Vasha's armor that he had noticed during the battle. The blow struck deep and true, causing her to screech in pain as it pierced her side. The shock of the blow caused her aim to falter, and the deadly bolts left Ragan to strike a tree. The bolts singed, split, and shattered the tree as they consumed it.
Ragan crumpled toward the ground anyway, attempting to avoid the last of the deadly energy.
Vasha spun, her crimson irises burning with rage, and glared at her assailant.
"Who dares?" she cried. Then locking her terrible eyes on Gideon, she roared, "You!"
It was a question, but it sounded like a statement. Her face became a mask of unmentionable fury. Gideon saw the awesome evil upon him, and he wanted to run, but he could not move. It was as if those horrible red eyes were piercing his soul, freezing his will to flee with his feet fixed on the ground. He realized at that moment he was doomed. He'd never felt fear like this before. Not even in the jungles of 'Nam.
He felt he would never get back to Earth. He was going to die here, and no one would know of his passing. He stood pinned to the spot by an arrow of fear or by her will as Vasha pulled the instrument of her pain from her side with a casual gesture. She then grabbed his shirt with her other hand and proceeded to lift him off the ground until he was eye level with her.
"You will pay for that, human," she spat vehemently. "Oh yes. You will pay. No one, especially an insignificant little worm like you, strikes a Valharri in such a manner without earning their wrath!"
Gideon gulped dryly. He knew he was going to die, but he could not leave this world without a fight of some kind.
He tried to kick off the horse and break her grip, but her arm seemed made of steel and wouldn't budge.
He tried a hold-breaking maneuver, but it was like trying to bend a manhole cover.
He tried punches and kicks, all to no avail. She smiled and chuckled as he struggled to release himself.
So he decided that if he was going down, he was going to try to really piss her off in a last act of defiance.
If I'm going to go down, he thought, I'm going to go down with guns blazing. Hoo-hah!
"You may kill me, Vasha," he said softly, his feet dangling, "but you will have to live with the fact that I cut you. Me, John Gideon!"
Vasha was silently staring at him, the rage steadily growing.
"Remember that when you report to your master!" he continued with a slowly growing smile. It was the resigned smile of a man who knew death was only a few heartbeats away. "Not quite as tough as you thought, huh? I guess the only way you Valharri can win any fight is when you are beating up old men or cripples." Then he added with sheer delight, "You're all a bunch of weaklings!"
If possible, Vasha's eyes glowed more fiercely or her face contorted in more anger at that moment. Gideon was still grinning as Vasha threw the sword she was holding into some nearby bushes and put that hand over his face and part of his head.
This is it! he thought. This is really it! I am going to die now!
The grip tightened, and Gideon had to close his eyes as the painful pressure increased on his skull. The method of his death finally sank in with terminal clarity. She was going to crush his head like an empty beer can! Vasha was having a slight difficulty crushing his skull, and then Gideon recalled Pyne saying the circlet would protect his head as a helm.
"Arise, my warriors," she said to the now-mobile Charachau. "Fetch the Tauri, and bring him to me. I wish to play with him a bit longer before I kill him. I will enjoy his death after I dispose of this refuse!"
Three Charachau were closing in on the slowly moving form of Ragan when Vasha returned her sadistic attentions back to Gideon.
"Now," she cooed vehemently, "where were we? Oh yes. I was slowly crushing your face."
She began squeezing harder and harder, enjoying his pain.
Gideon cursed, shouted, and kicked his feet in vain. He thought he felt his cheekbone break. The pain was overwhelming, and he could not help himself—he screamed in pain.
Then between screams, he thought he heard a noise, like the rush of many flapping wings, and he painfully opened his eyes. He tried hard not to black out as he looked through the fingers in the glove that partially covered his face. Through the fingers, he saw, far above them, the dawn had arrived, and the sky was black with many flying beasts that were hurtling down toward them.
Vasha too heard the sound and turned to greet it. When she saw what it was, she slackened her viselike grip and cried in defiant despair. She also sensed the approach of a powerful being, one who had masked its mystical signature, but as the beasts moved closer, the power behind them seemed to protrude to Vasha's enhanced mystical senses.
"The Alor have come! Curse them! There are too many elven knights on griffonback. Retreat, my warriors, for even you are no match for that many of their lances. Flee for your lives! We will regroup later!"
The Charachau were already scattering. Realizing escape was her only outlet now and her revenge would have to wait until another day, she dropped Gideon to the ground like a stone and spurred her black steed toward the trees.
On the back of each griffon was a single rider. Some of the riders had strange-looking weapons mounted on the saddle of their griffon. Gideon thought their weapons looked a bit like the shortened heavy lances the knights of his world used back during the medieval period, but they seemed to be made of crystal and some kind of black or silver metal. Other knights on griffons knocked arrows with drawn bows.
From the tip of the lead griffon rider's lance, an intense beam of white-hot energy leaped to Vasha's chest and exploded. The Valharri was hurtled from her mount as the knights fired another volley at her. The beams struck randomly; dirt and tree