by Kyle J Cisco
Light footsteps descended the stairs leading to the chamber. Evon turned around to see a the most beautiful woman he’d ever laid eyes on approaching. She was dressed in the garb of a sister of the Order, but her tunic was covered by a thick leather chest plate and she was holding the ceremonial mace of the Order and a Codex of Light hung from her hip. But it was not her accoutrements that caught all of the men’s eyes in the room, it was her goddess-like figure which could be seen through her skin-tight tunic. Evon had never seen a sister of Light quite like her before.
“Greetings, gentlemen. I am Sister Laura DeSilva. Are we ready to go? I heard I was being brought on this mission to purify the cavern, not to get gawked at by a bunch of perverts.”
At that, all the men turned away and stared awkwardly at the floor.
“Yes, Sister Laura, you have arrived just in time,” Evon said. “Let’s head out.”
Master Krich and the brothers grabbed their weapons and torches and stepped into the caverns. A few steps inside lay the corpse of a one-armed initiate who had been completely ripped apart by the dwellers.
All was silent except for the trickling of water flowing through the caverns.
“Stay close. Do not fall behind. We know not what else lies down here other than the dwellers,” Evon said in a hushed voice that echoed off the walls.
Another round of screeches reverberated throughout the cavern from all around them. In the distance, they pinpointed the direction from which the sounds of combat seemed to come and decided to follow it. As the shrieking grew louder, Evon could feel residual cold from something evil near; it was not the first time he had felt cold like this. He remembered it from the night he found the High Executor assassinated. The chill in the room had penetrated his bones. And he felt that same chill now.
Rounding the bend, they saw what it was they were following. A dweller was crawling down the corridor. Its legs had been taken off with something dull; stringy tendons and crushed bones hung from the stumps where its legs had clearly been a short time before. Evon cut off the creature’s head, and the corridor fell silent for a moment.
From up ahead they heard a faint growl, and most of the men in the party drew their blades and dropped their torches. The cavern went dark. Then an orb of light appeared above Laura’s hand; her expression was as cold as steel. Sisters of the Order were among the best magic users in the Covenant. While their main specialty in the Order was in healing, many of them exerted the power to purify an evil place with searing white fire.
The growl grew louder as they neared the next bend. Evon’s heart pulsed rapidly as he tightened his grip on his sword.
“You may want to control your breathing, Master Krich. Creatures of the Darkness are known to smell the fear of men.”
Turning to glare at the sister, his ear caught the sound of the faintest of footfalls coming from around the corner.
Before he could react, an enormous pink demon barreled around the corner and swooped one of the men off his feet and bit his face, removing half his flesh. Blood sprayed out, covering the face of the demon, whose appearance was much more horrifying once its full body came around the corner. The bulbous monster looked like a large sack of pink flesh with multiple sets of arms that it slithered around on. It had sharp teeth that protruded from it hideous gum line, with pieces of battle brother face and dweller carcass stuck in between its teeth.
Whatever this thing was, it was definitely enough to make the dwellers afraid for their lives and Evon was beginning to see why.
Captain Deater charged in, trying to save his man who was still in the clutches of the creature. He struck out and cleaved one of the demon’s arms clean off. Brackish blood spouted onto the wall but demon continued to munch the helpless man’s face off while the captain and other men stabbed and slashed at the thing’s enormous sack of a body.
The demon simply shrugged off the assault. It threw the man bouncing off the wall, leaving a streak of blood where the man slid down into a contorted position on the ground in a growing pool of blood.
Sister Laura stepped forward, mouthing an incantation, and in a brilliant flash of light, her mace erupted in a burning white flame. She struck the demon on one of its stubby arms, and the thing recoiled in wild rolls of flesh. Its arm shivered into dust, the ash creeping and spreading, slowly disintegrating the entire bulbous body until it fell into heaps of ash upon the floor.
Evon looked at Sister Laura in shock, for he had never witnessed the awesome power of what some of the sisters trained in the Order’s battle magic could do.
“Sister Laura, when this is over, I would like very much to speak to your superiors about more extensive hand-to-hand training for the battle sisters.”
“I think they would doubt that your training could improve us in any way. We already receive sufficient training from within the Sisters.”
Evon blustered at the insult to his skill and experience training the most formidable warriors within the Brotherhood over the past twenty years.
“Well, in that case, perhaps we should see whose training is better with a contest after all of this.” He tried to make it sound like a joke, but he knew he was being an ass. “Shall we press on then?”
Evon motioned forward with his arm and the group set off around the corner from which the demon had come. The corridor it led into was littered with the bodies of dwellers. “Looks as if the dwellers put up a coordinated defense against whatever it was that did come in here. I doubt it was only one of those demons that did all this.”
As if saying it made it real, they could hear the scrape of footsteps coming from the hall. The corridor opened up into a vast hall that had passageways leading off into separate chambers.
One such chamber looked to be an ancient library. Though the books in the ancient place had long since turned to dust, the room itself was relatively intact.
“How far underneath the Mountains of Shadow do these caverns go?” Sister Laura asked, looking around the crumbling shelves.
Evon’s brow furrowed as he pondered that thought.
Laura shivered as though ice shards slid down her spine.
“What is it, sister?” Evon asked.
“We’re not alone here. Something of great evil lurks near to this place. I can feel its chill.”
Sister Laura stared at one of the shelves where there was but one book standing. Reaching her hand out to grasp the book, a chill ran through Evon.
“Don’t, Laura, it’s a trap!” Evon cried out as Laura’s hand touched the cover of the book.
Thin black tendrils crept out of the book and surrounded Laura’s hands in thick vines that wound their way through her skin as if sewing her to the book cover. Her eyes rolled back and she slumped over, limp. Evon stooped to help her to the ground.
A humanoid shadow began to dance out of the book cover. Swathed in dark purple robes that dissipated into thick black smoke, it wore a crown of broken glass on its skull.
“A thousand thanks to those who have released me upon the world,” it hissed.
“Who or what the hell are you, creature?” Evon said raising his sword up to the creature standing before them.
The tendrils had stopped moving up Laura’s arms and began to move back inside of the book. She lay unmoving on the floor of the abandoned library.
“I am a dark spirit sent to help conquer the world of men. Is that not why you have come for me?”
“We are not agents of the enemy. We serve the Light and those that would have you banished from this world forever, demon.”
Evon, Captain Deater, and the brothers took a defensive stance before the demon.
However, in a flick of its hand, a sword made from bone appeared in the demon’s hand and the nightmare dashed forward, slamming into the two nearest brothers and dispatching them with one mighty blow from his sword.
Furious, Evon and Captain Deater charged the demon, hacking and slashing in perfect sequence, and the demon was put on the defensive immediately and fell
back to the far wall.
Laura stirred, but Evon did not have time to let his eyes wander for too long. The bone blade bore into the defense of his shield, biting deep into the wood. Stumbling back, he steadied his footing and waited as Captain Deater attacked the demon. Evon heaved a brutal thrust into the demon’s side. It turned and backhanded Evon, sending him flying across the room and slamming into the ground, knocking the air from Evon’s lungs. Deater and his brother fought hard, but they too kept getting hurled across the room.
Evon dashed around to the demon’s back, driving his blade until it would go no farther. Upon wrenching the blade out, thick black smoke poured from the wound. The room was quickly seeped in darkness. A globe of light on the other side of the room began to consume some of the thick smoke shrouding the room, but the demon was gone.
“What the fuck was that thing?” Captain Deater asked.
“I am not sure,” Laura said, still inspecting her hands to make sure there were no remaining tendrils in her hands and forearms. “I have never seen its like.”
“Well, that’s not very comforting now, is it?” Evon looked over at the sister who shrugged off his glance, silently communicating she did not require help.
“We need to find out what that was and how the hell we are to stop it before it reaches the enemy.” Evon motioned for the team to move.
As the team exited the room, he grabbed the book with his gauntleted hands and shoved it into a pouch on his belt. Perhaps the book would be of use to the Order as it might reveal the secrets of the enemy.
Moving out again into the hall, they found another room which looked as though it was dark with a thick smoke. Heading over to the other room, Laura brought her orb of light which, pulsing bright, began to suck away the darkness. As the air cleared, they saw a shrine room centered around a stone altar, and on that altar lay a demon.
“You should not have come here, mortals, for those who enter are bound never to leave.”
The cryptic words reverberated from all directions.
Pointing his sword in the direction of his foe, Evon said, “You will tell us what you know, demon, or your passing will not be easy.”
“Your threats mean nothing, mortal. Your kin will be eradicated from this world soon enough. For a far greater evil rises from the south.”
Furious, Evon swung his sword, severing the head of the demon. The head toppled down, hitting the floor and shattering into shards. The rest of the creature vanished in smoke, leaving only its robes and a massive two-handed bone sword.
“What did it mean, a greater evil?” Deater asked.
“I am not sure, captain. All I know is that we must seal off the chamber for now and prepare for an assault on the castle.”
Arriving back in the chamber where the entrance to the cavern lay, Master Krich closed the door for the last time, and the group moved back up the stairs toward the Executor’s office.
“I want both of you two in my office now,” Evon said pointing to Laura and Deater.
Once he sat at his desk, he continued, “We must be ready for war. Are those in your sect ready to fight?” he asked, posing the question to Laura first.
“We have been trained for such a circumstance, yes.”
“Send word to those who lead your sect, and let them they will speak to me to make preparations of the defense of the fortress.”
“There will be no need for any other leaders to come then,” she said. “I am the commanding Battle Sister.”
“Well, then, we have plans to make. Captain Deater, go and collect the rest of the captains of the Order and report back here for the war council meeting.”
11
Rex lit his pendant ablaze to inspect the dim cave. Virgil, not wanting to stay near the entrance, decided to follow Rex. The walls were wet from runoff, and Virgil could sense an essence of heat in the place, musky and pungent. The ground was dry and littered with small rocks and bones. Rex ventured farther into the cave. Virgil saw a glittering pool of moving water and decided to take a drink.
He sat for just a moment to gather some of his strength back. The day had been rough so far. Jack’s loss hung heavy on his heart. He’d known the noble since the days they came up as together initiates but had only grown close since the trials. Their friendship bloomed too late. Sitting there looking at his reflection in the pool, he saw blood not his own dried brown on his skin.
Cupping his hands in the water, Rex’s voice called for Virgil from deep within the cave. Hurrying to where Rex’s pendant was enlightening a dead end, he stopped to see a massive pile of bones littering the floor.
“This is not a place we should linger long in, Virgil. It’s a den of dire wolves.”
Both men turned and started heading up to the mouth of the cave mouth, but before they got halfway through, a loud howl stopped them in their tracks.
Around the bend they were nearing waited an enormous dire wolf. Its eyes were blood red and teeth bared, ready for its meal of the day. Its pack mates joined him, growling low. The men both drew their weapons and increased the light through whispered incantations. The eyes of the dire wolves averted the light for only a second, but this was long enough for Virgil and Rex to get the jump on the predators. Virgil planted his ax squarely into the head of one of the wolves. Another pounced to save his friend but caught a knife to his throat.
Rex swung his mace, bashing some of the wolves attacking him to the side, rendering them out of the fight. The whimpering of injured wolves echoed through the cave, drawing more into the fray as they heard the wounded cries of their pack mates. Virgil slammed one of the wolves against the wall by the scruff of its neck, dodged another lunging attack, and whipped it into the wall with such force, it snapped the wolf’s neck.
A bite snuck through Virgil’s defenses and caught him in the arm, drawing warm blood into its mouth. The creature wrenched and wrenched, trying to pull his arm free, but Virgil was quick with his free left hand and thrusted a knife into the side of the wolf’s head.
Blood ran down Virgil’s arm, wetting the handle of his battle-ax with blood. The other wolves in the pack sniffed the air, ears pricked towards Virgil. Rex stepped in front and raised his hand, surrounding them both in a protective barrier of blue energy just as the wolves pounced. Claws and jaws raked at the barrier, but the creatures couldn’t get in. The two men made their way forward knowing that the shield wouldn’t last long. As they rounded the bend near the opening of the cave, Virgil raised his hands and loosed a blast of light at the top of the cave, bringing down the ceiling and caving in the wolves in the depths of their den. Howls and whimpers filtered through the stone, but the danger to the men was over.
Dust choked the air. The forest beyond the cave was unnaturally still. Then came the tramp of uniformed marching, dull at first, but growing louder. Virgil and Rex sank back along the cave’s walls.
From opening, undead warriors began pouring in on them. Wasting no time, Virgil dove into the combat, fighting with the desperation of a man who knows the odds are not on his side. Hacking, slashing, ducking, and dodging, he pushed his way into the center of the column of skeletal warriors. Then with his open hand, he muttered an incantation to the Mother of Light and slammed his fist into the ground, creating a circular blast of energy that wrapped all around him, pushing foes on all sides down. The feeble skeletal warriors caught by the blast wave were reduced to pile of bones on the ground. A few that were shoved to the ground creaked up from where they had fallen but got crushed to the floor again by the boots of warriors lumbering forward to close the gap.
Exhaustion set in; with every swing of Virgil’s battle-ax, it grew heavier and more cumbersome. Rex looked as though he was tiring as well. His mace still bashed through the skeleton ranks, but their numbers were crushing.
More sounds of battle echoed from outside the cave, but Virgil focused on fending off skeleton attacks. Hacking and slashing, bones clattered to the floor. Natasha stepped into the mouth of the cave, firing with her w
ide-headed arrows that sliced through skeleton spines, one by one. They didn’t even notice her approach as heads toppled from necks, again and again.
“Rex! Natasha is at the mouth of the cave. We need to start working toward her,” Virgil shouted.
Nodding, Rex forced several ranks back with a swipe of his hand and then began heading for the hole in the ranks, warding off blow after blow with his mace. A sword bit into the man’s chest and dented the armor, slamming into him with enough speed and power to force Rex to stop. Judging by the assailant’s ornate helm with its aged plume of red, this was once the captain of this unit of warriors. Rex ducked another blow, arching for the captain’s unprotected head this time and coming up with his mace swinging. To his shock, the skeleton grabbed it with his free hand, delivering a massive blow to the side of Rex’s face, opening up the flesh on his cheek and crushing his nose.
Then the second blow came, one that Rex would not be able to intercept in time. He quickly brought up a protection spell that thrust the blade to the side while countering the blow with his own weapon. Making sure to hit home this time, he knocked the head from atop its spine, dropping the foe. Then came a stinging in his left side where one of the skeletons had managed to find a weak point where the two plates from front and back met. Grabbing the skeleton’s sword with his right hand and swinging the mace with his left, he beheaded the undead foe.
Sticky blood seeped from Rex’s wound as well as from his hand where he’d gripped the blade to make sure it went no farther into his body. He dropped the blade to the floor and touched the wound with a healing hands spell to close it.
Virgil saw the older man clutching a bleeding wound, so he grabbed Rex by the shoulder and pulled him along. Rex swung and beheaded two foes and with that, they were out with Natasha who by now was also surrounded near the mouth of the cave.