seymoure

Shistal vs the Humans
or
What are the Odds?

Meri-am gestured in large movements that she rarely used. Her magicks were normally minimal and utilitarian. She was not what you would call “Showy.”

But these broad gestures felt like the mute woman was doing nothing less than shouting!

As she waved wildly another portal opened near Grath.

Winged creatures by the dozens flew out of the whirling bridge to another world. They attacked the Goddess without mercy.

Un fortunately they were little more than a nuisance, since they were small compared to Shistal. She batted at them and, at least, turned her attention away from the humans before her for an instant.

The sorceress was not finished, as the Stymphalian Birds swooped down upon the Serpent woman yet another circle broke through the walls of reality. From that came two figures that brought a look of pure terror on the Goddess of Gold.

Even the remaining Priest shook in horror at the advent of a Sphinx and a Griffin, both, it seemed, set to devour the female serpent.

Then, for the first time, Shistal spoke!

She uttered words that were not words but thunderclaps! The room and perhaps the world itself rattled around them.

This was followed by a tide of snakes entering the vortex behind her. They came as a writhing flood, filling the air with hissing horrors.

The wave of nightmares drove Bizjon to the ground.

“Snakes!” Grath shouted, “How I hate them!”

Antac heard that and launched himself over the banister and into the maelstrom of scaly abominations below.

The serpent blood became a second kind of rain, but even that did not distract the two creatures summoned by Meri-am. They were intent on the Goddess herself.

Meri-am continued to summon assistance from the nether realms. A flock of Harpy’s entered the room and overwhelmed the piles of serpents, just as those looked to drown the trio of fighters.

At this crisis point the Priests were slinking off to the pool room, but with a bound they found Graath was between them and that door.

They turned and there stood Bizjon and Antac.

An unholy shriek split the air as the Sphinx and the Griffin ripped Shistal in half as the Harpy’s took the last of the snakes back with them to whatever place they had come.

Meri-am was waving manically. When she got the archer’s attention she spoke madly to him with her hands.

“Grab on to something heavy!”he shouted as he took Antac and Grath’s hands.

It was clear he expected the big man to anchor both of them. Grath held the doorjamb.

In a breath the world became a whirlpool of rushing air, drawing any and everything that wasn’t held by something big!

The Griffin, the Sphinx, the remains of all the snakes and their Goddess, the priests and everything else in the room flew to the hole in the sky.

It took only a flash and the room was nearly emptied.

The second before Tiko would have vanished with the rest there was a roll of thunder and the world was still.

The bird flew around the room as though he were celebrating his freedom.

The Brotherhood could not refrain from laughing in relief. Their escape intoxicated them.

They rapidly gathered all the jewels they could carry.

Then they took to the roof of the temple.

Using the sounding horn used to announce that there were demands from the Priests, Grath spoke to the waking people.

“The Priests of the Cathedral of Kouphan,” he bellowed, and all the multitudes of poor could hear, “Have gone on a Pilgrimage to the Land of the Gods.

“They know that they will not return in the foreseeable future. Because there is nothing that means so much to them as their followers, they beg them to come to the Temple and take all the food and worldly riches you can find and make your lives better!

“If you only take what you need and share with your brothers and sisters, the holy brothers promise that you, also, shall share the bounty of the Heavens when you leave this sad world.”

The four of them had barely reached the ground when the crowds entered the lush grounds around them.

The girls were led out by their mistress, surely to find a holy place to carry on business. They carried their best silks and jewelry. None of them would go hungry either.

As they walked away, “Finally,” Bizjon muttered, “The Priest really do the work of the Gods.”

THE END