From: patchman@wpi.WPI.EDU (Peter Bruce Harper)
Subject: [L] The Final Assault
Organization: Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 16:23:42 GMT


     Brycur soon regained his composure and turned to face the Queen.  Maice
again begain to chant the language of magic and a powerful bolt of lightning
hit the Queen's protective wall.  For a moment it became visible, a transparent
shell surrounding the Queen's throne.  Maice realized that the wall could be
destroyed so he started throwing everything he had at it.

     Wave after wave of magical energy assaulted the queen, but her wall of
force was holding...for now.  With the queen distracted by Brycur's attack,
Luthor spent the last of his Shadow Magic on taking the wall down.  He
envisioned the wall of magic and saw it become thin and frail, changing shape
to many times its origonal size, and many times weaker.

     He saw a magic missle strike the wall, and that was enough...the wall
faded out of existance leaving the queen vulnerable.  Luthor, having nothing
else to fight with, took out his magical bow and a few arrows.  He set them
out in a pattern so he could fire them in rapid succession.  He took his
first arrow and carefully aimed the shot.  He aimed for the queen's chest...
best to get this over with as soon as possible.

     He let the arrow fly and it missed its mark, but still hit her arm.

     'Well, that should slow down her spell casting anyway,' he thought
reaching for another arrow.

     The queen paniced, "My wall, what has happened to my wall?"

     Luthor was about to shoot the next arrow when he saw Murell being attacked
and killed out of the corner of his eye.  Waves of emotion hit Luthor and in
the last moment of Murell's life on this plane, Luthor got the impression that
Murell honestly wished him luck.  The creature who had killed him turned and
charged Brycur from behind.

     Luthor shot his second arrow at this creature and it hit it in the neck
causing a spurt of blood to erupt from his body.  Brycur heard the creature
scream in pain and turned to fight it.

     Brycur noticed the fallen form of Murell behind the creature.  He was 
immediately filled with rage over the loss of his companion.  Mrell had been
a good friend to Brycur.  He was a valiant warrior and a trusted companion.
The thought of his death almost blinded Brycur with rage.  

     The creature pulled the arrow from its neck and charged again at Brycur.
Brycur responded by charging at the creature, giving off a loud cry as he ran.
When the thing was within striking distance Brycur levelled his sword and 
rammed it into the creature's midsection, burying it to the hilt.  The creature
again cryed out in pain, it staggered back for a moment but soon began clawing
and biting at Brycur, slowed only slightly by the seemingly mortal wound 
which Brycur had just inflicted.

     "Will nothing stop this vile creature!" Brycur thought as he pulled his
sword free of the creature's torso.  He began to feint left and right, keeping
the creature at bay while trying to figure out how to kill it.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

     Luthor reached for another arrow, but suddenly, a wave of searing heat
washed over his body turning the remaining arrows to ash.  For a moment, all
Luthor could think about was the pain.  He screamed and doubled over.  As he
hit the ground, the pain redoubled and all he could do was quiver.
     
Now that Luthor and Murell were dead, the queen turned her atention back
to killing his other friends, and her son.  Permus was about to be destroyed
by her guards, the fat mage lay on the ground helpless, and the one with the
spell-sword was busy with her little pet.

     After watching for a few moments more, she got bored and thought to end
things quickly with her last fireball spell.  She gathered the energy for
the spell and began to shape it into the familiar pattern.  Now there was
no Luthor to stop her and no little mage to interfere.  This battle was already
won in her mind.

     As she was about to release the spell, two burning hands encircled her
neck cutting off the final words of release.

     "You killed my son, but you will not kill my friends too BITCH!" Luthor
shouted from behind her.  She struggled against his hands, she had not realized
how weak she had become from casting so many spells in a short time.

     Although Luthor was in incredible pain, the souls of his wife, son, and
the rest of the Company of the Blue Star urged him to press harder around the
neck of this, the cause of their deaths.

     With a surge of strength, the queen pulled his hands away from her neck
and inhaled deeply.  She punched Luthor in the face causing him to black out
for a moment.  Then she pressed a button on her throne and began crawling
through a secret passage beneath it.

     Luthor came to and saw the queen escaping.  He reached inside his cloak
for something...anything...he didn't care what.

     "You will not escape me!" he shouted at her as he hit her in the neck
with the thing that he had pulled out of his cloak.  The queen gurgled...blood
flowed into her throat and lungs, drowning her.  Having died, her body went
limp.

     At that same moment, the queen's creation fell into a lifeless blob of
flesh and blood.  Brycur let out a sigh of relief as his opponent was finally
destroyed.  

     After resting for a bit, Brycur came over to Luthor and helped him to his
feet.  He saw the queen's body on the floor.

     "What did you kill her with?" he asked.

     Luthor looked, but he couldn't believe his eyes.  Protruding from the
queen's neck was a silver arrow...the same arrow that Murell shot at him just
a few weeks ago.

     'Thank you Murell...Rest in peace friend," Luthor thought.

     Love and Peace and Favors,
           -The Dreamer-

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