CHAPTER SIX #2
Wyatt could see now that the plan was to force it back to the cemetery where it had begun purging the city and trapping it in its entirety before destroying it fully.
Contain the menace in one spot and then take it out.
It was a good plan. Silas and Ira followed close behind them, and he was told the hellhounds were at the cemetery.
He was comforted by the fact that so many capable warriors were on hand to handle anything that might go wrong.
The wildcard was the entity, and that gave him concern.
No one had faced it yet, although Kass and Valarian had found its trail in several parts of the city, including the cemetery.
It was elusive and had plenty of time to gorge itself on the growing blight; he worried about its current strength.
It was intelligent, and it knew there was a Necromancer stalking it, so that was also a grave concern.
Wyatt stayed close to Atticus, keeping his eyes on his beloved and on everything around him.
Nothing was going to harm this man because he would not allow it.
For the first time in his life, he had peace and acceptance and love.
He could see a future, and he could see happiness, and he would not give that up.
With that thought in mind, he stepped a little closer to Atticus.
"Everything is going as planned," Atticus assured him, obviously picking up on his unease.
Atticus raised his hand, and a skeleton stumbled from the brush at the end of the alley and burst into flames.
It was a revenant, so several soldiers broke off to search the area, but there were no more.
Atticus continued, confident that he was gathering the malignancy and pushing it toward the cemetery.
The air was filled with the scent of magic, a sharp, electric scent that heated and roiled continually as it passed over his flesh in waves. Atticus was more powerful than he even realized. This shaking of the very air was his beloved controlling the evil that tried to hide in shadow and mist.
The cemetery was just ahead, no more than fifty feet.
The hellhounds were inside, standing together in the center; they moved apart as they sensed the darkness and evil of the blight enter the cemetery.
Silas and Ira also separated and entered from either end; they were preparing to protect and defend Atticus.
Wyatt stayed beside him and drew his iron dagger, holding it to his side.
There were no revenants here, nothing that would be harmed by a conventional weapon.
It was trapped; the powers of the Necromancer had isolated it to the borders of the cemetery.
This was the end, the true confrontation; it had nowhere else to run.
Atticus raised his hands, and the emblems on his cloak began to glow and throw off sharp, brief flashes of light in rapid succession.
They lit up the area, and the shadow blight congealed, now a dark cloud of anger and evil, it tried to meld with the trees at the back of the cemetery but it was pulled into the open.
The intensity in the air heightened, and the force and momentum of Atticus’ attack had this ball of blackness shrinking and writhing in pain and desperate confusion.
Everyone stood waiting, positioned around and within the cemetery, watching this thing that had terrorized the community for days now trapped and fighting to escape.
Atticus held it with the power of his magic and tore it apart it ended in a massive light show of competing magics and an explosion that shook the ground.
The blast radiated inward, sucking every essence of the blight in on itself, and then disappeared.
Wyatt had never seen such a display of dominance and control.
The total authority with which Atticus brought the shadow to heel was startling.
The harsh wind and the rumbling of realms continued to rock the cemetery as everyone stood in awe of the Necromancer.
Atticus looked over at him and then glanced poignantly at the dark woods.
"It's not over yet, Wyatt. The entity approaches.
" He pulled a gold chain from the pocket of his coat; a circular, intricately embossed gold pendant hung from it.
He placed it around Wyatt's neck. "It will protect you.
" He said, and then turned to all the men standing around them throughout the cemetery.
He cast his arms out, spreading his fingers, and uttered a series of Latin words that Wyatt did not understand, and then a flash of lightning cracked the sky.
A powerful spell fell over them; all the effects of it could be felt.
Atticus had cloaked them with a protection spell.
"The entity will try to overwhelm and drain you the spell will prevent it from possessing you.
" He spoke to the men standing there. The atmosphere stilled for a few seconds; it was a heavy, anticipatory stillness, and then it burst forth from the darkness of the trees.
Wyatt held his dagger aloft and stepped closer to Atticus, hoping to shield him.
The soldiers moved to circle them with the hellhounds on either side of him and Atticus.
Silas and Ira stood with them. They all watched as the entity moved first as an indistinguishable form and then observed it shift into a human form with each step it took toward them.
"Atticus!" It screeched. "You failed before, and you will fail again.
You cannot hold me." Wyatt abruptly stepped half in front of Atticus, and the hellhounds moved in along with Silas, Ira, and the rest of the soldiers, tightening the circle.
The thing went for Wyatt but recoiled, stumbling back a few steps; the protections were working.
Atticus glanced at Wyatt, who heard the words, 'It can't be allowed to escape,' echo in his mind.
He was suddenly filled with the fear of losing Atticus just as he had lost those he had sworn to protect.
In a blind rush that this entity did not see coming, he broke away, and before it could recalibrate its planned attack, Wyatt struck, plunging the iron dagger deep into its heart.
The shock and pain flashed through its distorted countenance, and then everything became a free-for-all.
The entity attempted to call up the dead that lay around them, but Atticus easily confined them to their graves, and the few who escaped were deftly dealt with.
Everyone had brought some manner of enchanted weapon with them, and they all wore the Necromancer's protections.
While Wyatt dismembered the entity a slice at a time, Atticus sent each piece straight to hell and trapped it there.
He did not have the power to completely annihilate this thing, but he could send it to a place it would never escape.
***
"It was a success," Silas reported to his father, Ismael.
"The blight has been eradicated, and the entity was sent to hell where it will spend the rest of eternity.
" He chuckled. "I must admit I had my doubts about the rather flamboyant Necromancer, but he was worth every penny you paid. It was an honor to watch him go head to head with these things.”
“How’s Wyatt?”
"He handled himself admirably. He brought the entity to its knees, and then Atticus took it out. It was impressive, and I would be quite saddened if the Cultus Mortis ever ceased to exist. We must take steps to see that it and its talents are never lost. I have never witnessed such magical proficiencies before.” Silas mentioned, and his father made note because he and Louis had been discussing the same issue.
You may not need them every day, but when you did need them, no one else would do so the order must survive.
"Atticus and Wyatt, along with a team of soldiers, are doing another sweep just to make sure nothing is lingering in the cracks and crevasses of this town, and they will conduct another complete purification," Silas explained.
"The rest of us will do the physical clean-up and get things back to normal before first light. Also, Atticus stated that with the blight and the entity gone, those who were affected and survived will begin to recover.”