Vampires were famous for their strange magics and illusions and Aravos could feel the powerful illusion raising the hair on the back of his neck. He had to fight to speak through a growing fear. “It’s a vampire… he’s testing us, trying to find our darkest fears. If you move, if you try to run, his magic could tear you apart!”
One of the knights in the center of the group began to gasp for breath and Aravos could hear his armor rattle as the man began to shake.
“A werewolf!” he cried, fear bringing a hysterical edge to his voice. “I can hear it growling! It… it’s right in front of me! It’s going to kill me!”
“Don’t move!” commanded Halvor, his voice sharp as he heard the man’s boots scrape on the floor. “It’s not real!”
“I can feel its breath!” the man cried. “No! No! Get away from me!”
There was a clatter of armor and the man fled with a scream, nearly knocking Devon down as he went. The other soldiers and paladins shifted helplessly as the man cried out and fell to the floor with a gurgle. Aravos commanded them to be still once more, feeling a sudden chill as a pair of red eyes appeared in front of him. They drifted closer in dreadful silence and the Deathknight felt the air grow steadily colder. He held perfectly still as the paladins struggled to hold their positions, flinching slightly as a cool breath touched his neck, tugging slightly on his dark hood.
“You are a traitor, Deathknight…” it whispered, its voice as cold and and as sweet as honeyed milk. “How? How did you break the damned king’s control?” The eyes vanished behind him and he felt as if fingers were scraping along his heavy cape. “His will is unbreakable….”
Aravos groaned as his head began to pound. He could hear his companions beginning to cry out in pain and terror. Even Devon and Halvor began to yell and thrash around as the eyes appeared once more.
“If you teach me to free myself I will let your friends live,” said the vampire gently. “Listen to them… as helpless as sheep before my magic. I could kill them now… you know this don’t you?”
The Deathknight was stubbornly silent, struggling to shake of the vampire’s powerful magic. He could hear the others running and screaming, dying as the darkness began to manifest their fears. The red eyes narrowed. “I could help you, you know, help you find the revenge you crave. Your desires are so very loud… why not let me help grant them?”
“No?” it asked, seeming to grow impatient and angry. “Fine! Then come meet your death, Deathknight!”
Abruptly the lights returned and the sounds of screams and moans stopped. Aravos looked around in horror, seeing streaks and smears of blood on the smooth floor and walls. Only Devon and Halvor remained, their faces white and strained. Halvor seemed frozen, his wide eyes locked on the bloodied spaces where his men had been moments before. The knight was kneeling on the floor, shaking like a leaf.
“They all moved…” he quavered. “They all tried to run… no matter what I said… they all ran away.”
“Get up,” commanded Aravos, grabbing his shoulder and lifting him to his feet. “We need to hurry! Some of them might still be alive…”
“They’re all dead,” Halvor said numbly, never moving from his place. “I felt them all die.”
“Such a sweet pain isn’t it?” asked a new voice that seemed to rise from beneath the stone under their feet. Mist swirled up through the cracks, drifting in dizzying circles around them. “They gave themselves over to their fears and to my power.”
“Show yourself vampire!” Aravos roared, the runes on his armor and sword beginning to shine fiercely as frost began to creep over his armor. Behind him a hand reached from the mist, plucking Devon from the air and hurling him against a wall. Halvor moved for the first time, his shining hammer thundering through the smoke as the hand dissipated into particles. He thundered a wordless cry and slammed the hammer into the floor, raising a blast of light that pushed the shadows and mists away. The vampire laughed and the mist swirled back.
“Do you really think that your holy light will work here?” it asked. The hands returned again, snaring the paladin by the shoulders and slamming him to the floor, only to vanish as Aravos’ blade cut past, a fraction of a second too slow. One reappeared as a fist, driving into the mail at the edge of the Deathknight’s breastplate. He grunted in pain but absorbed the blow, catching the hand in an iron grip. The vampire growled as the terrible cold surrounding the Deathknight chilled it’s undead flesh. Aravos pulled mightily, yanking the monster from the void and slamming his head into its bony face. It shrieked and wrenched free, vanishing in a cloud of black smoke just before Halvor’s hammer flashed past to shatter the stone of the wall beyond, turning one of the strange candelabras to dust.
The mist flowed away, wrapping around the unconscious Devon and lifting him to his feet. The vampire appeared fully, holding the knight as a shield, its fangs bared over the man’s throat.
“Shadow to shadow Deathknight,” it panted, grinning wickedly. “You are much more fun than your paladin friends… Are you sure you don’t want to free me? Overthrow the damned king and take his throne!”
“I don’t want his throne!” thundered Aravos, raising his hand to launch a fierce blast of ice that washed over both the knight and the vampire. He sprang forward, slamming the hilt of his runeblade into the undead thing’s face as his free hand pulled Devon from the encrusting frost. The vampire hissed and melted away into vapour, vanishing up the last staircase. Aravos lowered Devon to the ground as Halvor sprinted after the fleeing vampire. The knight’s face was pale and ashen, but his breathing was steady and he groaned as Aravos checked his neck for marks. Finding none, he cast another spell, weaving a web of ice like a protective shield over the sleeping knight.
“Too many damn spells,” he panted, running away up the steps. “I’m a Deathknight not a wizard….”
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