The rumbles of remote thunder from the sea echoed off the hills, but except for the wind picking up, there did not seem to be an impending threat of rain. For a couple of hours the torchlight toted by the survivors on higher ground made good progress when they came across a gently sloping hill. From there it was only one more major climb before the healthier survivors could practically sprint to the lighthouse.
Fortunately, many of the weaker survivors did not have to sprint anywhere. The ship offshore was confirmed to belong to Wregor, prompting me to dedicate half the griffin squads to carrying the survivors off the lighthouse and hills. Taking away the frailest survivors also had the benefit of speeding up the group as a whole. This constant flying and vigilance surely wore out the griffins’ wings and lungs, but a well-trained rider and their partner should know how to manage under such pressure.
“Odet,” said Clarissa.
I looked back to see Ghevont had stopped walking. “Is the spark back?”
“Yes, except…”
“Yes?”
He waved his staff from north to south. “There are three this time. One to the north, one to the east, and one to the southeast.”
“Does that mean three groups of thralls?” asked Hanying.
“Well, one spark meant two thrall groups before,” said Gerard. “Though it’s possible we couldn’t sense the other spark last time.”
A minute later and the griffins at the perimeter signaled the incursion of four distinct thrall groups. Three of the groups were most concentrated between the east and southeast, but with the fourth to the north, making a half circle formation was going to leave our rear exposed to them. Eight horsemen were sent to the north group in an attempt to get them to mass with the others. Meanwhile, the rest of us moved closer to the hills, though not quite abandoning flat land just yet.
According to the fires the horsemen left behind, they were succeeding in luring the northern group to the southeast. However, Ghevont noted that the north spark ignored the riders and grew in strength as it and the two others drew nearer. I would have sent the scholar with a rider to figure out what these sparks belonged to, but we needed every griffin not busy evacuating the survivors to thin out the approaching horde before the main attack commenced. Like before, we made two half circles, though considering the number of our enemy, we had to spread out our forces twice as far.
“There’s a lot more than last time,” warned Clarissa.
When the first wave of thralls reached the horsemen, the eruptions of flame gave life to Clarissa’s declaration. The first wave alone appeared to be as numerous as the initial group we encountered. This meant that the first wave was about as troublesome to handle, but the second and third groups of thralls were essentially a unified little army. We retreated and braced ourselves to meet them.
“They’re close,” said Ghevont.
“We can see that,” said Hanying.
“Not the thralls, the sparks. I say they’re right ahead of this next wave.”
“I don’t see anything unique,” said Clarissa.
“Really? The leading spark should be near the horsemen’s line by now.”
“Shit,” said Gerard. “Remember the giants in Uratama? They traveled underground.”
“Then they’re under us!” I said. “Ghevont, take us to the closest spark. Hurry!”
Ghevont ran straight ahead. Twenty yards later he halted his sprint and said, “I think it’s coming right for-”
Barbed vines shooting out of the ground interrupted the scholar. They wrapped around his staff with perfect precision. At the same second the vines pulled the staff and the scholar to the ground, Gerard cast an earth spell to harden the soil around the natural ropes. Ghevont pulled back, tightening the vines. They were too strong to break, but I was already on my way to cut them. Since the scholar was pulling as hard as he could when I sliced through the vines, he fell back when the tension released. Clarissa helped him back to his feet.
“Where is it?” I asked.
Ghevont opened his mouth to answer, but a plume of dirt twenty feet in front of us did it for him. Not far behind the plume, outbursts of flame marked the clash of horseman and thrall. The flashes of light gave form to the naked being standing before us.
I initially thought I was staring at an emaciated thrall, but as my eyes and mind adjusted, I realized it was no average thrall. For one, it must have been ten or eleven feet tall. Its height suggested it may be related to a giant, but its features were still undoubtedly human, if grossly stretched out of proportion. Even its eyes had bloated to fit in the now taller-than-wider eye sockets. As if only held by two old threads, its jaw hung loosely open. With most of its skin like the bark of a rotting tree, it was difficult to tell what sex it used to be.
“Where are the other two?” knight asked scholar.
“They’re nearing the horsemen. I can’t tell if they’re coming for us or not.”
“We can’t risk them overwhelming us or the others,” I said. “Let’s take care of this one as quickly as possible.”
Raising my ward, I ran forward, Gerard and Clarissa right behind me. The high thrall cocked its head and rose its arms. Rock and dirt shaped into spikes levitated off the ground. A flick from its dangling fingers sent each spike at me. My ward rippled from each powerful impact, but it held together. Seeing the ineffectiveness of its attack, the high thrall moved on to another tactic.
In a frightening show of speed, it dashed to my right, its long strides further propelled by its nismerdon prana. At the same time, its right hand sprang out vines. I extended my shield to intercept them before they curled around me or anybody else. However, even more vines sprouted from the originals. They did not have much offensive use, but they were making it impossible to see anything through my cover. I had no choice but to retreat and dispel it.
Nevertheless, I achieved my goal of getting the knight and vampire closer to the enemy. They each had created tentacles of water and earth that they then flung at the high thrall. Rather than attempt to dodge, the creature ran straight for them, relying on a purple ward to counter them. Its ward shattered after enough of the tendrils had crashed into it, but before the rest of the attack could reach it, the enemy leapt over us.
It aimed for the scholar, but that same person cast an arc of lightning as it careened through the air. Another nismerdon ward flickered into existence, but only briefly. Lightning enveloped the high thrall at the same moment its feet hit the ground. The shock it suffered gave Gerard the needed second to whip a couple of tendrils around the creature’s leg. It tried pulling away, but it was a lackluster effort.
As Ghevont’s electric attack ceased, Clarissa committed a trio of robust water whips to wrap around the high thrall and pull it down. That’s when it spewed a wailing scream from somewhere within its human self. Thralls were already nearby, but the bloodcurdling wailing actively drew them to the screamer.
“Hold it down and kill it!” I said. “Hanying and I will keep the thralls off your back!”
As Hanying and I ran up to the closest of our enemies, a swooping whiptail reminded me of our air support. Claw and spear made quick work of a thrall. Another tried jumping on top of the griffin, but my shield prevented the attacker from landing on its target. It thus became the next victim of the griffin. Hanying went ahead and swung his war hammer at the next thrall’s chest. With it knocked down, I impaled my sword in its neck and slashed it open.
Fifty feet away, a horseman backed away from six or seven thralls. The horse could have easily outran them if it were not for the sudden outbreak of vines grabbing at its legs. The neighing beast fell on its side. His rider was able to get up, but instead of running, he cast a fire spell at the incoming thralls. Fire only worked on the thralls when there was time for it to burn, so the burning thralls ignored their roasting situation and tackled the horseless horseman.
Eu-Sook’s whiptail screeched a pained cry. I looked back to see its back leg tangled in vines. I wanted to go h
elp somebody, but trying to decide who to assist put me in danger. A thrall ran out from the shrubbery to my left a full moment after I should have noticed it. My reflex to raise my shield saved me from being tackled. It bounced off and I ran in to cut its face. I did not cut deep enough. It came for me again. I raised my ward again. This time Hanying came behind it and whacked the point end of his war hammer onto its back. The thrall’s body slammed into my ward, coughing up feculent blood before crumpling to the ground.
The whiptail had been screeching the entire time of my confrontation, stopping when Eu-Sook could not free her mount and was forced to unsummon it. Eu-Sook scrambled back to her feet and ran away from the still flailing vines. Also running toward me was Gerard, his sword stained with green ooze.
“It’s dead?” I asked him.
“Unless it can survive without a head and spikes of ice in its chest.”
“Let’s not stick around to find out. We have to retreat to the hills. We don’t have the advantage down here anymore.”
Eu-Sook’s signal to spread the call to retreat was two geysers of fire spells aimed at the sky. We helped protect her until we saw other riders repeat the message. From there we made our own way to the hills. Most of the horsemen and those on foot started to bunch together, but I avoided getting too close. I first wanted to see how the high thralls responded. Would they pursue us or the others? Would they split up?
As we ran, I asked Ghevont, “Where are the high thralls going?”
“One of them is following close behind us… The other is moving between us and everyone else.”
The ground was quickly transitioning into an irregular field of rocks. Every step we took brought us to higher and higher ground, and hopefully ground that was harder for the high thralls to dig through. As for the thralls in our field of vision, the faster ones looked close to catching anyone who stumbled or simply ran the slowest. Thanks to our health and training, those in my immediate group had less to worry from the lesser thralls, at least until the progressively unsteady terrain forced us to be more mindful of where we put our feet. Gods forbid we twisted an ankle.
The horses began having a difficult time climbing the slopes, so much so that those on foot were catching up and even surpassing some of them. It was difficult to tell, but I thought I saw a few riders abandon their steeds. The winged beasts above lacked concern over the untrustworthy ground. Their constant swooping was the only reason few of us fell victim to a thrall’s clutch. Regardless, as hovering above the ground for any significant time made them as vulnerable as anyone, a griffin generally shoved a thrall out of the way, not kill it with a well-aimed spear or fire spell.
When Gerard reached a stable ledge hanging over a steep section of hill, he turned around, waited for Ghevont to pass him, then spread out his prana over as much of the ground as he could mentally and spiritually grasp. The little earthquake he created started the rockslide he wanted. The darkness and my need to keep moving prevented me from seeing how effective it was.
Our climb took place on a hill adjacent the one the survivors were descending from, so when Ghevont stated that the high thralls were now moving south, it could only mean they were heading right for them.
“How fast are they moving?” I asked. “Can we intercept them?”
“Their speeds vary, but I doubt we can overtake them on foot.”
“Then we’ll go on wings. Signal the griffins to come pick us up. Eu-Sook, can you summon your griffin?”
“Not for long.”
“It doesn’t have to be for long. Just deliver a few words for me. I didn’t want to have to do this, but get the remaining griffins to focus on protecting the survivors and taking them off the hills and lighthouse. That’s their top two priorities, understand?”
“I do. Anything else?”
“Yes. If you have any prana left, tell those on the ground to go help the survivors as well. Now get going.”
Eu-Sook needed a moment to coalesce her prana to summon her partner. As she flew off into the sky, the first couple of griffins Ghevont signaled for landed ahead of us. Needing the guidance of Ghevont’s staff, I asked him to mount a steed. Seeing that a few more griffins were on their way to pick up the rest of my group, the scholar and I took off.
Once again I lamented the fact that the gods did not grant us the convenience of flight. Distance meant so little to winged creatures. Merely getting twenty feet off the ground made the world considerably smaller. Our borrowed wings only needed several moments of flapping to get above the survivors in what would have otherwise taken five minutes of furious scrambling to achieve. There was around three dozen survivors left, and I felt a bit of solace when I saw that none of them were children.
While the griffins that dropped us off collected survivors, I asked Ghevont, “Well?”
“They’re close. Very close.”
Hoping they at least understood the motions of my arms, I turned to the survivors and yelled, “Gather together! Hurry!”
At the same time a red glow radiated off the ward he cast, Ghevont cried out, “Princess!”
I turned in time to see a high thrall’s vines slam and break through his ward. If I wasn’t already preparing myself to cast my shield before he shouted, the vines would have enveloped him. Putting a great deal of my prana into the endeavor, I stretched my shield to encompass much more than the scholar. My ward formed a dome over most of the survivors. A handful of them chose to run from the threat, not stick together. Relentless pressure on my ward and the screaming from survivors prevented me from perceiving how well those caught outside my dome fared.
Despite my best efforts to keep my ward’s strength intact, expanding it so much created weak points. Large cracks formed when a second vine attack thumped the barrier nearest my face. Thinner vines infiltrated through these fissures. Moving any part of my body would risk breaking my focus, so only Ghevont’s fire spell stopped them from finding my head. The vine attack finally eased when griffin screeches announced the arrival of reinforcements. Purple wards blocked the initial volley of physical and elemental attacks, but they were enough for me to shrink my barrier and catch one or two of my breaths.
Able to jump from a higher point than a human, Clarissa did not need her griffin to get all that close to the ground, making her the first to join those on the hill. Gerard was a tad too high to jump off his griffin, but he did so anyway. However, the knight wasn’t exactly aiming for the ground. As the vampire engaged the high thrall’s ward with a stream of water, Gerard’s sword was able to plunge on to his enemy’s back. The unwelcome interruption disrupted the high thrall’s ward, giving an opening for the tendril of water to strike. A surge of electricity followed.
With one high thrall busy, I looked out for its infected kin. It was a whiptail’s shriek that led me to the second high thrall’s position. Vines had wrapped around a wing that was attempting to take its rider and passenger away from here. Vines from its opposite hand held someone in a body-encompassing cocoon. Abetted by a hard pull, the vines slammed the griffin against the ground. The survivor tumbled off its back. The rider unleashed a stream of flame on the vines, but a nismerdon ward dispersed the heat.
With little other recourse, I cast my ward and dashed toward the high thrall. Not knowing what would happen, I rammed my ward into the enemy’s barrier. Whether instinctively or purposely, the nismerdon ward pushed back. My shield cracked. The purple ward rippled. For the briefest of moments they seemed to merge, but rather than live in balance, they each erupted in a wave of magical shards.
The griffin used this time to escape the vines, though this meant they were now free to go after me. I tried casting another ward, but I needed another split second to gather the required prana. The vines grabbed a hold of my right forearm, including the weapon I brandished. Even with the gauntlet under my sleeve, I felt the sting of several barbs cut into my skin.
I braced myself, expecting to be enveloped in more vines or be dragged against the rock. What came instead
was a tentacle of water out of the corner of my eye. It wrapped around the vines and flash froze into a block of ice. Implementing my meager strength training, I poured prana into my muscles and pulled away as hard as I could. The brittle vines snapped like glass. I almost slipped from the leftover momentum, but Hanying’s hand helped keep me stable.
More griffins swooped in to support us. They saw the difficulty we were having trying to keep two high thralls at bay, so they had no choice but to ignore my wishes to help the survivors and support us in the fight. It was hard not to feel grateful for their adjustment to the plan. Being limited in my offensive capabilities, I made it my job to herd the survivors away from the battle. I also got Hanying’s mother tongue to aid in the shepherding.
Soon we had about every griffin available to us opposing the high thralls. Their attacks from above and to the flanks overwhelmed their wards, giving those on the ground plenty of openings to take a hold of the enemy, pin it down, and finish it off.
Just as the last high thrall was about to be killed by a swing of Gerard’s blade, the scholar asked him to stop. He wanted a chance to absorb its prana first. When Clarissa assured me her ice shackles could hold for a while longer, I gave Ghevont permission to try his absorption spell. We didn’t have the luxury of time or smooth ground to create a rune to refine the spell, so the scholar simply placed his staff’s crystal on the high thrall’s head and started absorbing the alien life force.
Meanwhile, most of the griffins acquired a survivor and flew off. A handful had been injured by the barbed vines, but nothing too serious. What truly pressured the griffin riders by this point was the sheer amount of time and energy expended within the last hour. Several riders already reached their limits and had to unsummon their partners. I expected a few more would not be able to come back after dropping off their passenger, and we weren’t done yet, not with the horsemen and several survivors left.
After a couple of minutes, the oddly calm creature finally shrieked and struggled like its tainted life depended on it. Stubby vines were even beginning to grow out of its arms and chest. When Clarissa’s ice shackles splintered and cracked, Gerard’s sword separated its head from its body. A fire spell from the scholar charred the oblong ball for a moment before Gerard’s earth spell buried it.
The Dragon Knight and the Light Page 30