“We found and smashed the soul-gem,” said Jazhara.
James said, “I thought he would . . . die or something when we smashed the stone.”
“I’m no expert in this sort of thing,” Jazhara mused. “Hilda might know more. But I’m wagering now that since the gem has been destroyed, we can find a way to destroy him, too.”
Kendaric asked, “Can’t we just leave them locked up until they wither away?”
“Not if he’s the source of whatever is blocking your spell.”
Kendaric stood with a resigned expression on this face. Then he started to haul away the first of the headstones blocking the crypt door. “Care to give me some help?”
“Not really,” answered James, but he set to picking up another headstone.
“Do we have a plan?” asked Solon.
“We must cut off one of the Vampire Lord’s hands,” Jazhara reminded him.
James said, “We let them open the doors. They don’t like the light, so maybe that will weaken them. I encountered a demon not too long ago whose flesh burned in the sunlight. Perhaps it’s the same with these.”
“With the lesser vampires, perhaps,” said Solon, heaving away another stone. “But I suspect the master vampire will find it only somewhat irritating.”
“Maybe we can kill them one at a time as they come through,” suggested Kendaric as he dropped a stone a few yards away, and returned to pick up another.
The door started to move, as the vampires inside threw their weight against it. “We can’t burn them,” said Jazhara, “or at least we can’t burn the leader; we need his hand.”
“Maybe we can get him to stick it out,” suggested Kendaric, “then lop it off and run like hell.”
Solon chuckled. “We break heads and cut throats. It’s simple.”
James stepped back from the doors as they began to push outward. “Yes, it’s simple.” Then the door swung suddenly outward and two figures leapt at him. “But that doesn’t mean easy!”
James slashed the closest vampire across the throat as it staggered in the unexpected daylight. As soon as the sun touched the creature, its flesh started to blacken and it began to howl in pain.
The second vampire turned and tried to reenter the crypt, but was pushed back by two more coming after it. Solon laid about him with his warhammer and knocked them first to one side, then the other.
Jazhara struck downward with the iron end of her staff, and soon three corpses lay smoking in the sunlight. James peered into the gloom of the crypt. The bright sun made the interior dark and indistinct. Nothing appeared to move.
“I think we’re going to have to go in and get him,” James said softly. Turning to Kendaric, he nodded toward the wrecker’s sword. “You’ve got the only blade that could cut that thing’s head off. If we get him down, try not to chop either Solon or me while you’re at it.”
Kendaric went pale, but nodded.
James looked then at Jazhara and raised an eyebrow. Then he spoke again to Kendaric. “Should she be forced to set him alight, I want you to be ready to run in and chop off a hand.”
Kendaric wiped perspiration from his upper lip with the back of his sleeve. “Which hand?”
“Either should do, I think,” said James. He nodded once to Solon and they both charged into the crypt. They raced inside, one on either side of a central catafalque, their eyes darting to left and right.
Three sets of three catafalques dominated the floor of the crypt and both men knew that crouched behind one of them was the Vampire Lord. As James reached the second set, he had a premonition. “Solon, look up!” he shouted.
As the monk obeyed, a figure dropped from the peak of the roof, and only James’s warning saved him. Reacting swiftly, he spun and swung his warhammer, smashing the Vampire Lord’s ribs.
The master vampire flew across the room, slamming into the stone wall before James, who swung his rapier and lunged, attempting to skewer the creature on the floor, but with supernatural speed the creature was up and on his feet, slipping right past James’s sword.
Then a second vampire dropped from above, and suddenly James was borne down to the floor. The stink of carrion assaulted his sense of smell as he struggled against the power and weight of the two vampires. “Solon!” he shouted.
The powerful monk closed upon the three figures on the floor in two strides. He gripped one by the collar of his tunic and threw him toward the door. The creature slid into the light of day and started to shriek in agony.
Kendaric stepped forward and with as powerful a blow as he could muster he chopped off the creature’s head.
Jazhara cried, “Duck!”