It didn't take long to reach Gedrin village, even with Jasmine's slight detour to collect and prepare a stone artifact to use against the sorcerer Wyrmias. For obvious reasons Jasmine opted to keep out of sight while the gladiatrices simply marched right in to the quaint and dusty town square, at the center of which stood a massive, four-armed but headless statue. Just as Jasmine had described, most of the men folk were out searching for what they already carried while the rest of the villagers seemed to walk around aimlessly in a trance, under a powerful spell of the evil sorcerer.
There were still a few armed soldiers, obviously Wyrmias' personal guard but they all just kept a watchful eye on the new comers from a distance. It was only when the trio stopped in front of the headless statue and unwrapped what Jasmine had given them that they started to spring to life. In mere seconds, a man in long robes, no doubt Wyrmias himself, appeared and walked quickly towards them.
"Do you really think this belongs up here?" asked Nerith loudly as she held up a grotesque statue head.
"Excuse me," said Wyrmias, staring at the statue head as if though it was the most precious thing in his life. "May I ask where you found this?"
"Oh, we just came upon it on the desert," lied Nessa. "Our tall friend suggested it might belong here."
"That it does!" exclaimed Wyrmias excitedly. "Now, if you would be so kind... please hand it over."
The girls feigned ignorance well as they hesitated.
"My apologies. I forgot to introduce myself," said the sorcerer. "I am Wyrmias, servant of King Tectuk. By law you must do anything I tell you to. Don't get any fancy ideas either. I've enslaved the minds of the women and children here and can kill all of them with but a thought before you can even draw your weapons. Now... give me the head."
As planned, Nerith silently handed it over while Nessa moved to block the view of the guards from what Indas was preparing to do.
"Finally! I have it!" Wyrmias laughed as magical energies flowed from his body to the statue head that he was re-attaching to the headless body. "I will be immortal!"
At the height of the energy transference, when the guards were most distracted by the light, is when Nerith and Indas struck: the first jamming a knife through Wyrmias' skull and the second smashing down on the weak spot of the statue head they had prepared with her hammer, causing the entire thing to crumble into a pile of dirt. With no vessel left to hold his essence, Wyrmias screamed as his energy particles were suddenly pulled in every direction until he was nothing. At that moment the spell he had cast on the entranced villagers was lifted.
The few guards that managed to react either found knives being thrown into them by Nessa or magical balls of fire by Jasmine who had been watching the events from hiding. Those that survived either fled or surrendered, the later being executed with a slow, burning death by the blonde mage they had abused and left to be eaten.
"Thank you again," said Jasmine as she watched the fire slowly die out on the blackened corpses. "If you ever need anything, of me or my people - please do not hesitate to ask."
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