by James Wolf
Anaksum charged away from Logan, and made for Jvarna. The creature swung its huge sword at the warrior woman. Jvarna braced her spear to block, but the Skeleton King’s sword snapped the spear in two. The evil blade followed through, and cut deep across Jvarna’s stomach. The warrior crumpled to the floor.
Drual flourished a dagger in each hand, and launched them at the Skeleton King’s back. They both thudded home, penetrating the blood red armour, but the creature just roared its outrage. Anaksum hurled itself at the rogue, swinging its evil blade with such force that, although Drual parried the blow with his sword, the might of the skeleton’s attack flung him back against the chamber wall. The rogue cracked his head against the stone, sliding down the wall into a defeated heap on the floor.
Logan pounced on the fearsome creature, swooping in with a colossal strike that would have split the horizon. Such a blow would have shattered any mortal enemy, but the Undead King met the Sodan’s swing, just turning it aside enough. The force of the impact generated a tremendous pulse of raw magic, exploding from where the Sodan blade met the necromantic sword. Blinding sparks swept over the chamber.
The skeletal lord dropped its jaw and bellowed an almighty roar. That roar was deeper than thunder, heavier than stone. A challenge. A declaration of hate.
Logan raised his Sodan blade above his head, as in Eagle Gliding On The Wind, and stalked towards his enemy.
But Anaksum turned, and charged to where a dazed Taem was struggling to get up on his knees. Taem’s sword was yards away. He was so stunned, he did not see the great skeleton hurtling towards him. The King of the Dead slowed to swing his sword at Taem. Logan dived in first, hauling Taem to the ground, pulling them both away and under the huge swinging blade. Both Sodan lay prone on the floor. Anaksum towered over them. A magic firebolt thudded into the Skeleton King, but the creature ignored the great blast. It raised its sword overhead, and swung down at the floored Sodan. Logan powered upwards, thrusting his Sodan blade round at the same time. Logan’s sword cleaved through Anaksum’s armoured wrist. The skeleton roared. It’s evil blade clattered to the floor, armoured hand still grasping the hilt. The monstrous skeleton lashed out with a hefty metal boot, smashing Logan’s sword out of his hand. Logan scrambled to get back on his feet, to put himself between Anaksum and where Taem lay dazed. The King of the Dead swung its remaining armoured fist down as Logan rose from the floor, whacking the prone Sodan’s jaw, knocking him out cold. Anaksum reached down with its remaining hand, and picked up its evil sword. The beast glared down at Taem with the most vindictive stare imaginable.
A huge bang rocked the whole chamber. The explosion smashed Anaksum in the back. The King of the Dead was hurled through the air. Taem was thrown, tumbling and rolling along the ground. But Anaksum had been closest to the blast, and absorbed most of its force. The mighty armoured figure crashed to the floor. The chamber wall had exploded, shattering the ancient stone, sending up an enormous dust cloud.
Taem raised his dazed head, and watched in amazement as a monstrous squat figure charged out of the cloud, towards the floored Skeleton King.
‘Yhee rotten bastard!’ Forgrun stomped a huge foot, down in the middle of Anaksum’s back, planting the skeleton’s face in the floor. The skeleton’s head smashed into the ground so hard, it’s dark crown was knocked off.
‘Now yhee die!’ Forgrun raised his great axe overhead, and chopped down through Anaksum’s neck. The hulking armoured skeleton went limp. Anaksum’s skull rolled away, the purple glow in its empty eyes gone forever.
A thin silhouette, and a tall massive shadow, stepped out from the dust cloud. Baek and Ragad hurried to help their fallen companions.
‘Even yhee mighty Sodan,’ Forgrun reached a hand down to Taem, ‘need ye help o’ Rhungari steel.’ Forgrun grinned, as he pulled Taem up to standing.
Taem struggled to breath, wincing as he leant on the Rhungar. He remembered Logan was hurt and rushed to the Master’s side. Taem knelt down beside Logan, found he was still breathing, but could not rouse him. Taem laid the Master on his side, to keep his windpipe open, the way Logan had always taught him.
‘What was that?’ Taem turned to Forgrun, and pointed at the broken wall.
‘Rhungari Boomsticks,’ Forgrun said proudly.
‘Boomsticks?’ Taem said.
‘Aye!’ Forgrun grinned. ‘Do got ’em at Khan Zhen. Be made by Rhungari engineers with ye black powder. Dynamite – clan Arcanlode do call it.’
‘Well whatever magic that is,’ Taem murmured, ‘thank you, my friend. You saved our lives.’ Taem gripped the Rhungar’s shoulder.
‘Fulfilled me debt ter yhee have I,’ Forgrun winked, and tapped Taem on the shoulder, before he went off to see if any of the other companions needed help.
Baek had managed to bring Drual round, but the rogue was confused. Ragad supported Jvarna, as the Wizard hunched over the gaping wound in her stomach. The golden glow of healing shone out, and sealed the wound, but a purple and black bruise remained.
‘This wound,’ Hirandar murmured, once she had let the golden glow go, ‘was made by a sword of dark and terrible power. It will take me days to try and cure this poison.’ Hirandar gestured at the marks on Jvarna’s stomach. ‘And even then, there is no certainty she will survive.’ Hirandar placed a hand on the unconscious woman’s brow. ‘There’s no way she can travel.’
‘I will carry her to the surface,’ Ragad nodded to the Wizard.
Hirandar noticed the makeshift bandage tied round the Northman’s temple.
‘What happened?’
‘Balthus,’ Ragad took of his great bear-pelt cloak, and wrapped it round Jvarna, ‘he has the Key-Piece.’
‘Damn,’ Hirandar muttered, ‘and Isornel is within the pyramid.’
Ragad looked at the Wizard in shock.
‘How did you know we were here?’ Hirandar said.
‘On the other side of that wall,’ Ragad pointed to the gaping hole in the chamber. ‘We were walking in a passage, where light streamed through spy holes. Naturally, you know who,’ Ragad dipped his head toward Forgrun, ‘could not resist a peek through.’
‘Thank you, Ragad,’ Hirandar put a hand on the Croma’s shoulder. ‘Look after Jvarna, I must see to the others, then we move. It’s not safe here. Anaksum may be dead, but his skeleton slaves still endure.’
The weary warriors of the Hand of Fire pushed on through the empty passages, in search of a way out. Jvarna had not woken, and the great Croma carried her in his arms. They continued for a long time, re-tracing their steps at dead-ends, and going round in circles. Until, finally, Taem saw a glowing Power Stone that Hirandar had placed on the passage wall. From here Hirandar led them on, following the trail of glowing stones, back up to the entrance chamber.
The Hand of Fire crept down the passage to the outside. To their dismay, Hirandar’s light revealed the entrance had been caved in.
‘The Light blind them!’ Hirandar examined the fallen stones. ‘Isornel must have done this from the outside. Damn them to hell! They’re getting away with the Key-Piece.’
‘Have you got any more of those boomsticks?’ Taem asked Forgrun, but the Rhungar shook his head.
‘There may be another way we can get out,’ Hirandar stared back down the passage.
Taem looked around at his friends, saw how they sat slumped and dejected against the passage walls. Jvarna was pale, her eyes closed. Drual’s eyes were tired and weak, and even Logan looked drained – after being thumped by the Skeleton King. Forgrun had lost his legendary enthusiasm, and Baek’s shoulders were drooped. The prospect of going back deeper in the tomb was grim.
Taem helped Hirandar get the companions up. They went back to the entrance chamber, and took passages and stairways that led up higher into the pyramid. They had only just spread out to search, when Baek shouted.
‘Over here!’ Baek called, and the warriors gathered round. The Aborle showed them into a room that had a doorway out onto a balcony.
A
fter the stifling pyramid, Taem found it indescribable to breath fresh air again. He never could have anticipated it would feel that amazing. Taem walked up to the balcony, closed his eyes and inhaled. He felt his body relax. Freedom. Taem opened his eyes, and gazed out into the dark sky, and his heart sank. The mood of the company plummeted. Forgrun glared out into the dark, muttering under his breath. Baek put his hands up to his temples in despair. Ragad shook his head, and gently laid Jvarna down. There was a look of crushed hope in Drual’s eyes.
Drual had brought rope with him into the Nakramilis, so they could have climbed down the side of the pyramid. But it was not the height that daunted the Hand of Fire. Dark was falling on the City of Night, and the undead had come out of their lightless holes. Taem’s shoulders slumped as he saw how the streets of the dead city swarmed with skeletons. They shambled around, in their thousands, a horrible parody of the way they once lived.
‘Lights out, get down!’ Logan said, and the companions all dropped below the balcony, extinguishing any lights they held.
‘Now the sun has set,’ Drual muttered, ‘the undead are free to walk their City of Night.’
‘I had hoped to be away before nightfall,’ Hirandar sighed, as she sat down beside Jvarna, and put a hand on her cheek. ‘We now have no choice but to stay here tonight, and pray we are not discovered.’
‘We bar the door and set watch,’ Logan said defiantly.
‘There is nothing we can do but hope for the dawn,’ Taem murmured, as he listened to the lost cries of hundreds of skeletons.
‘Jvarna needs your cloak,’ Hirandar said to Baek.
Hirandar spread Baek’s cloak over Jvarna, on top of Ragad’s cloak. The Wizard took off her own cloak and laid it on top with care. Drual placed his jacket over the cloaks, with concern in his eyes. The other companions had all left their cloaks with the backpacks.
‘I do hardly be believin’ ye betrayal,’ Forgrun said glumly, as the companions sat on the balcony in the darkness of night.
‘A carefully constructed ruse designed to win our trust,’ Hirandar murmured, shaking her head at the dishonesty of Balthus. ‘It shows what a Dark Servant is capable of, how low they will go.’
‘After his grief at the death of his soldiers,’ Taem said in disbelief, ‘back up in the mountains, it would take the blackest heart to deceive us like he did.’
‘Balthus was a hero of the Light,’ Baek said incredulously, ‘and a king? How could he become a Dark Servant?’
‘Maliven can be found amongst the high and the low.’ Hirandar said gloomily. ‘All walks of life can be lured to the Shadow.’
‘Anyone,’ Logan said coldly, ‘who turns from the Light to the Dark – discarding all that is good and right in this world – deserves death.’
Taem saw Ragad and Forgrun nodding. Anger and hatred stirred in Taem, when he thought of the young Defender, who died being comforted by the insidious Dark Servant responsible for his death.
Given their predicament, it was hard for the companions to feel positive about anything. Taem shivered as the night wind brushed the bare skin of his arms. He brought his knees up to his chest, trying to keep warm, as he thought how the Hand of Fire had travelled all that great distance, through danger and fighting countless enemies on the way, to have nothing to show for it. They were tired and wounded, trapped in a dangerous situation, with hundreds of miles of hazardous country, and foes, between them and safety. Taem looked around at his trembling friends, and knew they were all thinking the same dark thoughts.
The doubt was etched in all their faces, but no one spoke for a long time. They had no blankets, Jvarna had all their cloaks – and they certainly did not risk a fire – so each of the companions began to rub their arms or stamp their feet. They had no food, and no water left in the flasks some of the company carried. The companions shuffled up next to each other, sitting shoulder to shoulder against one of the walls, trying to hold the heat in, each left to their own dreary thoughts. Taem watched Jvarna murmuring, fighting off the fever, and he hoped to the Light she would pull through.
‘There is so much evil in this world,’ Baek said darkly.
The Aborle’s eyes held such sadness that he looked on the brink of crying. Forgrun sighed miserably, as most of the others wilted. Logan glowered westward, out into the darkness, filled with the fire of vengeance.
‘But yet so much good,’ Hirandar said strongly, as she lifted her hand away from checking the temperature of Jvarna’s brow. ‘For think of the citadel under the mountain you have seen,’ a warm smile swept across Hirandar’s face. ‘So happy – so content! – the Rhungars are. Then there is the joy and freedom we brought to Gulren, or all the bustle and life on the streets of Dolam. What would these people do without us? It is easy to forget what lies westwards, in safer lands, when we are trapped here, with enemies all around.’ Hirandar held up a fist, ‘But when you need the hope and courage to go on, look back to the good things we fight for.’
Hirandar’s belief was so strong, and so infectious, that Taem felt glad to simply be alive. The Wizard’s smile and enthusiasm spread to all the companions.
‘Thank the Light you are with us, old friend,’ the Sodan Master touched Hirandar on the shoulder.
‘Yhee truly be a Great One,’ Forgrun knuckled his forehead, as was Rhungari custom.
Taem looked to each of his friends in turn, seeing how the Wizard’s words had heartened them all, and he grinned at his teacher.
Hirandar dipped her head to Forgrun and Logan. Sometimes, Hirandar knew, even if you did not believe it yourself, you had to tell others what they needed to hear.
The companions went about settling down for the night, organising a rotation of the watch, and making sure the door was barred. But Taem and his friends soon found it was difficult to sleep that night, whilst they heard the walking dead shuffling through the ancient streets. Those spine-chilling cries were dreadful sounds to drift with into the world of dreams.