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power unleashed that he had just discarded the holy object he was sworn to
protect. "No!" he shouted, furious at his own stupidity. But before he could
do anything, the hammer was sailing end-over-end toward him. Somehow it had
reversed directions like a boomerang and was headed back straight toward his
waiting hand. Without conscious effort on his part, the handle pressed into
Tarl's palm as though someone had slapped it into place.
Instantly the hammer blazed with an even greater ra-diance, bathing Anton,
Tarl, and the three other remain-ing clerics in its holy aura. The skeletons
and zombies were held at bay by the light. They shielded their faces with
their bony arms. It was as if the eyes in their empty sockets were being
blinded by the blue-white glare. The undead giants and ogres screamed in agony
as they were touched by the light, and as one they turned and ran in fear. But
the light from the mystical implement of Tyr didn't stop the oncoming
wraiths or the creatures that followed.
"Back the way we come!" Anton shouted. "Run as you've never run before!" Anton
shoved Tarl in front of him and wasted no time following. The big man was as
fleet as any as he leaped over graves and slammed skele-tons, splashing holy
water on the bodies of the dead as he ran. "Bless .. . ya, brothers!" he
gasped.
Tarl threw the Hammer of Tyr repeatedly as he ran. Wraiths exploded, and cries
of the undead were every-where. The other brothers continued to use their
cleri-cal powers turning the undead with their holy symbols, throwing holy
water, and muttering prayers to Tyr as they ran. Their powers were strong and
undoubtedly would have been enough to save them under other cir-cumstances,
but the sheer numbers of undead made it impossible for the clerics to protect
themselves com-pletely. Tarl heard the screams of two more of his broth-ers,
and then a third. Only Anton ran beside him now.
"Give usss the hammer." Tarl pulled up short, and so did Anton, as they faced
a line of six ghostly creatures, their distorted, taloned hands outstretched.
"Give ussss the hammer," they said once more.
Anton grimly assessed the situation. "They're specters, lad, and a vampire
leader."
Tarl was overwhelmed by revulsion, rage, and unadul-terated terror. Left by
himself, he felt he would die of fright, but the Hammer of Tyr became a living
extension of Tarl's innate strength. Blue beams erupted from the hammer,
blasting the remaining wraiths into cool white bits of fog. As more beams
followed, the six specters were driven back.
"Well dooonnnne, lad!" A deep, evil-sounding voice echoed all around Tarl.
Where the specters had stood only a moment ago, a handsome, white-robed man
now floated in the air. His deep-red eyes shone, and his gaze seemed to burn
into Tarl's soul.
"No, Tarl! Don't meet his gaze!" shouted Anton. "Get back, ya wretched
vampire, ya spawn from the
Abyss! As Tyr is my god, leave us alone!"
The robed figure seemed to flinch at Anton's words, but then he stiffened and
floated closer, smiling evilly. His deep voice echoed again throughout the
graveyard. "Yooour puny god has no hooold over me!"
"Blasphemer! My god will swallow your unholy flesh and vomit you back to the
Pit where ya belong!"
Anton held out his holy symbol and quickly recited prayers to Tyr for turning
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the undead.
Tarl clutched his own holy symbol in one hand and the Hammer of Tyr in the
other, but the creature's glowing red eyes showed no fear. Even as the
specters cowered back, the vampire floated closer. If it weren't for the
grisly fangs revealed when he smiled, the vampire would appear almost
friendly, Tarl took a step forward, no longer afraid but drawn to the handsome
figure.
"No!" Anton shouted, and Tarl felt the man's huge paw clamp down firmly on his
shoulder. Anton jerked
Tarl back behind him and hurriedly incanted another clerical spell. "Let the
flames o' Tyr strike ya dead!" he shouted at the creature, and he threw a
handful of sulfur toward it.
With a whoosh, a torrential column of blue flame shot down from the sky and
bathed the robed figure in white-hot fire. It screamed in agony, and its robes
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