Rise Of Darkness: Virgil Series Book One (The Virgil Series 1)

by Kyle J Cisco

  “Fancy meeting you here, Lady Romansky,” Rex said with a charming smile that brought a smile to her face as well.

  Fighting their way to the exit was easier now that they were three and were so damn close to their goals. Suddenly, they were out.

  “Where is Popavich?” Virgil asked, panting.

  The question lingered in the air for a while.

  “Natasha, where is Popavich?”

  “He fell in order to cover my advance here to rescue you and Rex.”

  A body fell from above and landed before their feet. It was Popavich. He was bloody and beaten. Up the hill stood a cloaked figure.

  “Sending a mere fool to secure your advance was a foolish idea. Your man will suffer for your poor decision,” it said, its voice ringing over the din of skeleton soldiers.

  Virgil threw his weight forward into the new onslaught of the undead and drew his knife. Upon reaching a clear area in front of him, he somersaulted out of the fray just in time to catch the blade of the specter about an inch from Popavich’s nose.

  “Not today, dark one,” Virgil said as he delivered a furious backhand to the specter, driving him back a few feet.

  The sound of falling rocks behind him told Virgil that Rex was trapping the rest of the skeletal warriors that were left inside and crushing others into a pile of bone dust.

  Virgil drove forward, taking a blow on his dagger and countering the strike with a vicious swing of his battle-ax that just missed the head of the specter but cut some of the cloth off its hood. The next blow was parried but his dagger was not, and Virgil drove the blade deep into the specter. The specter screamed in pain, releasing a blast of dark energy that threw Virgil to his back.

  By this time, the others found themselves nearly surrounded by a goblin horde. Rex waded through their numbers, clubbing them to death with his mace. Natasha was a deadly whirlwind of daggers, slicing any that came close.

  Virgil could tell that this specter was much stronger than the others he had faced. His muscles wrenched in agony as rose to his feet. The fights had worn him down and did not show any sign of stopping. He readied himself for the next round of combat.

  He charged in and poured all his frustration and determination into one scream of rage. The specter was catapulted back to the bottom of a hill against a tree. Power surged through Virgil’s veins, as if a dam had broken, releasing all its pent-up water in that split second. Bounding down the hill, he mustered all his strength and swung the battle-ax into the specter’s neck area, severing it. The disembodied head that fell from the hood was the head of a man but his features were gnarled and discolored, pale with blue spiderwebbed veins. Then it all disappeared as the other specters had, leaving nothing but the cloak and sword . . . and a book.

  Not having time to read the cover, Virgil ran up the hill to the aid of his friends. Leaping into the fray with Rex at his right, the three of them made quick work of the remaining seven goblin warriors.

  Once completed, Virgil dropped his weapons next Popavich and as he leaned in close, he could hear that the young man’s lungs filling with blood. Popavich grimaced.

  “Keep her safe, Virgil.”

  “Keep who safe?”

  “Natasha. Keep her safe for me. I . . . have to—” Coughing into his hand, there was a pool of blood. “I have to go . . . now.”

  As the ranger took his final breath, his head slumped against his chest, lifeless. Virgil checked his neck and saw that he had passed on to his next life. Natasha and Rex stooped beside him, weeping. It was the first time Virgil could remember seeing the lady truly moved by emotion.

  It took a couple of hours, but they buried their friend. It was the last thing they could do for the young man who had given them so much. As Virgil dusted off his hands, he remembered the book left behind by the foe and hurried to see if it was the clue that they were hoping to find about what the forces of Darkness were doing so far into the Covenant of Man’s kingdom.

  Approaching the book, Virgil spoke an incantation of protection and then reached down and grasped the book in his hands. He could feel an evil within that was trying to grab hold of him, but his incantation of protection kept it at bay.

  He flipped the book open and saw it was the history of a kingdom, one he had not heard of before. There was a map depicting the Forest of the Dead. That sounds ominous, he thought. He kept reading and flipped through the pages, ignoring the cracks on the incantation that grew as the Darkness pressed upon his protections.

  He read of an ancient army from before the Age of Turmoil that had been annihilated here by the warriors of that forgotten kingdom. The pieces started coming together. The specters needed the village people for labor to unearth the remnants of this army. That skeleton horde they fought in the cave must have been one of the first contingents to be unearthed. He read more and found that the army that lay underneath this forest was in the tens of thousands.

  “Rex. You need to see this.”

  His mentor hurried over, and before grabbing the book from Virgil’s hands, readied himself with a spell of his own.

  “They look to resurrect an army that sleeps in death here,” Virgil said, brow furrowed.

  “It all begins to come together,” Rex muttered. “They mean to come from behind the Fortress of Light and attack from within the Covenant’s borders. We must get word to the High Executor.”

  “How do you expect we do that, Rex? In case you haven’t noticed, we are trapped in here. Our only chance to stop this from happening it to do it ourselves.”

  Natasha wandered over to see what the others had found. Tears ran down her cheeks, clearing a path through the dirt and dust of battle to escape onto her leather armor.

  “This certainly changes things, now doesn’t it?” she said after she heard what they found. “Good. I will avenge Popavich’s sacrifice for the Order.”

  Retrieving her crossbow, she slapped a new bolt box into it, then cleaned the dried black goblin blood from her blades and sheathed them. “Now all we need to do is find where this army is located and defeat the necromancer before he can raise them.”

  Rex shot her an uneasy look.

  “We are missing some vital data about whom we are facing still. I have an odd feeling about this mission.”

  “What feeling is that, Chaplain?”

  “I sense foreboding doom here in this place.”

  Making their way back up the hill was no easy task for they were all wearied from the fighting. Virgil’s mind dwelled on Popavich’s last words, and he wished that yet another person’s blood was not on his hands. However vital this mission had become, could it really be worth the blood they paid to get here? Friends and fellow brothers had died. Mere hours before, Jack had been smiling, joking. Now all that remained was a mangled visage that faintly resembled his friend.

  “Virgil? You all right?” Natasha took his hand and squeezed it. “I know you are hurting from their deaths, but the time for mourning their passing will come later. We need you in the here and now.”

  Slowly, he nodded and squeezed her hand back. “I know he was your friend, and I am sorry I could not do more for him.”

  “Popavich stayed for a reason. Don’t take that away from him, Virgil.” Her tone was soft but firm. “I chose you too. I could have stayed with Popavich, but then you and Rex would have died in his stead and the Order needs you and your connection to the Mother of Light. We do what we must.”

  Slipping her hand away from his, she put her finger on his lips before he could speak again.

  “We will make it through this.”

  The reassurance in her voice was genuine, and Virgil clasped onto those words, pushing aside the other fears invading his mind enough to focus on the mission and his surroundings once more. At the top of the hill, goblin corpses littered the ground. Something glinted in the sun, a broadsword from the Order.

  Virgil picked up the sword and went to hand it to Natasha.

  She waved it off. “You take it. You are the be
tter swordsman here, and I am sure Popavich finds it fitting if he’s watching all this by the Mother’s side right now.”

  “That is not the point. He was your friend. He would want it to be used by a friend,” said Virgil.

  Natasha took the sword, placed the sheath on her belt, and stored the sword for the time being. The group pushed their way through the heavy brush and dropped as low as possible to scout out the deserted enemy encampment. They crested the hill and began trekking to the camp, making sure to stay as silent as possible.

  Halfway down the hillside, Natasha found some of her bolts that had missed their intended targets and pulled them from the ground. Virgil led the group but stopped abruptly. Voices could be heard. Dropping to the ground and moving under the concealment of the underbrush, they heard part of a conversation.

  “This is not the spot where it is located, master.”

  “Then we need to keep moving north and find it.”

  Specters, Virgil thought, judging by the rasp in the voices. Slipping out from under the brush, Virgil made his way to the top of the hill and peered into the camp. Most of the villagers followed two cloaked figures walking toward the north. Waving his other two companions to follow, he headed toward the camp, but before he made it a few steps farther, Natasha grabbed him. She pointed at a tree branch and one of the bushes of underbrush. Virgil could barely see the trip wire set up there. Had he kept going, he would have been impaled for sure.

  “As I said before, we need your head in it, Virgil,” Natasha said with a sigh of annoyance in her voice. “I’m sorry. I just—”

  Virgil waited.

  She took a deep breath and gave him a fierce look. “I just can’t lose another friend.”

  Virgil nodded.

  Natasha held his gaze a moment longer before turning her back on him and slipping into the forest. Virgil smiled as he ducked under a tree branch to follow her.

  Making their way through the camp with good speed, they approached the first dig site and, upon looking in at the older structure below, the looming architecture, etched pillars, and dank air of the ruins seemed familiar. And judging by horrified look on her face, Natasha recognized it as well.

  “This looks like the shire room in the caverns, Master Rex,” Virgil said.

  “Indeed it ought to. There was once a massive underground civilization there before we came along. The dwellers were a race of elves until the Darkness touched them. But before that time, their stately architecture was distinct. Let’s make our way north and follow the villagers’ trails to see if they lead us in the same direction the map does.”

  If only they’d had some back-up, Virgil thought, mentally kicking himself. What had possessed him to want enter the forest without more men? His mind then shifted to Popavich’s story. If only he had listened to the boy. It was too late to undo those short-sighted judgments. He could only move forward. And so they made their way into the thick underbrush, following those who sought to resurrect a massive evil army from the ground.

  Night fell and all lights went out under the canopy. For hours, they picked their way slowly through the forest, trying to make no sound. Eventually, Natasha paused. In the distance, the group heard pickax clangs; they must be close to the next dig site. Virgil decided to make the call to camp for the night. With minimal supplies, they sat against the trees and began to sleep while Virgil took the first watch.

  His mind raced over the events of the day as he studied the forest around him, listening to the continual clanks of the digging nearby. He heard a sound and turned around and saw nothing, then turning back, someone was there. Virgil toppled off the stump he was perched on.

  “Watch is over,” Natasha said. “My turn. Get some sleep. You’ll need your energy for the fights to come.”

  “Well, next time try not to scare me half to death,” Virgil said, catching his breath. “You’re lucky I didn’t stab you.”

  “Whatever you say, foundling,” Natasha said with a smirk.

  Virgil nodded and then went to the base of the tree where Rex was taking his rest. Closing his eyes and making himself as comfortable as could be while wearing his armor and sitting on roots, exhaustion overtook him and he fell asleep.

  Violent shaking brought Virgil back to consciousness. The light had begun to shine through the canopy once again. Blinking, he noticed that Rex was still sleeping by the tree, and it was Natasha waking him.

  “Now this is something I could get used to, having someone as beautiful as you waking me.” Virgil took Natasha’s outstretched hand. As he got halfway standing, she let go, allowing Virgil to fall to the ground.

  “Well, perhaps you should go back to sleep then. For we are companions in arms and no more than that.”

  Natasha gestured for Virgil to get a move on and wake Rex.

  Gently, Virgil touched the man on the shoulder and caught in his left hand the mace that swung up at him.

  “Easy, Rex, I am friend not foe.”

  “My apologizes, Virgil. Many sleepless nights have forced me to be protective of this body when it does catch some rest.”

  “We must go. We have some tracking to do. Natasha said that the camp they made last night moved farther north once again.”

  The trek through the forest was easier today as they’d become accustomed to its terrain. Following the heavy footprints of the resurrected villagers was simple, and they were careful to avoid the scouts and booby traps left behind by the moving party.

  Then up ahead, they saw it. The dense forest parted to reveal a grassy field with an old structure sticking up from the ground, looking at though it were an entrance to an underground structure. Virgil approached with caution as he saw the tracks leading towards the door. It was a sturdy door made of stone but with a simple push of Light energy, Virgil moved it as if it was made of air. It opened into a staircase shrouded in darkness, so Virgil brought up his orb of light, though it was not as bright as it had been.

  The dimness worried him. But Virgil pushed that thought aside and slipped through the doorway. Sending his orb down to the bottom of the steps, he instantly recognized the architecture of the place in which they had entered. It was in fact the same type of substructure as the one that lay underneath the Fortress of Light. Seeing the corridors and chambers branching off, he motioned for the others to come down.

  “Looks familiar, doesn’t it?” he said, letting the orb dissipate. “Seems like yesterday we were attacked in chambers like this.”

  “No, I believe it was three days ago now.”

  Virgil laughed and Natasha cracked a smile. The belly-laugh felt good, but the waiting darkness all around made no sound as Virgil lifted his pendant and lit his light.

  Moving through the corridors, they noted stark differences in this substructure as opposed to the one they knew from the caverns. This one was kept intact for the most part and seemed to have been kept in use.

  Turning the corner in the corridor, it opened up into a massive underground chamber. Rising from the grand hall were hundreds of stone pillars reaching all the way to the top of the underground complex that must have been three stories high. The elaborate ceilings were carved in intricate designs that looked as though they had been chiseled into the ceiling by hand over many generations. Virgil lingered on the masonry, wishing that he could inspect its beauty for a lifetime, but his thoughts of horror and death pulled him from the fantastic waking dream he was having. I am a brother of the Order of Dvorak, he told himself as he made his way forward to rejoin the others.

  As they continued through the great hall, they listened intently for the sounds of digging. Nothing.

  They made their way around the large perimeter of the grand hall, inspecting some of the rooms and corridors branching off from the main room, looking for a shrine room like the one they had seen during their trials. Shrines had a certain connection with the Darkness and would most likely be where the ritual necessary for rising a whole army from the grave would take place.

  Con
tinuing on, they heard chanting, guttural yet melodic, drifting from down a shadowed corridor. The group stopped to decide their course of action.

  They would have to enter the corridor to see what was going on, but Virgil did not feel his usual confidence. The place was shrouded in so much darkness that his connection to the Light severed once they entered the corridor. His pendant blinked out while Rex’s grew a shade dimmer.

  “Why can’t I feel my connection to the Light here?” Virgil whispered.

  “The Light has not left us, but it is fainter in the darker places of the world. You must hold onto your faith in the Mother of Light, Virgil. I can sense the conflict you face. You must embrace her decision on your friends’ fates.” He grasped Virgil’s shoulder. “Once you do this, you will retrieve your connection.”

  Virgil looked at his mentor in disbelief. “I have not lost faith, but I do mourn their deaths and respect the sacrifices they made.”

  “You must let go your anger with the Mother, Virgil. The choice of sacrifice was their own, not that of the Mother.”

  Virgil shrugged off Rex’s hand and continued down the corridor, catching up with Natasha who was going ahead to see what lurked beyond the corridor.

  The chant echoed down the corridor. Goblins huddled in droves in a mess hall, eating and drinking like they were celebrating something. Fires raged in the background, roasting the carcasses of a few deer and other smaller animals.

  Natasha stood at the corner of the entranceway to the hall, watching intently. Virgil looked for a way to pass through the hall without being noticed. Rex came to where they were and extinguished his light.

  “Adds to the adventure, I suppose.”

  I’ve had enough adventure to last me a lifetime, Virgil thought. How are we ever going to make it across this room without being seen?

  12

  Evon surveyed the room filled with captains and lieutenants, all huddled around the giant war council room table. The ornate table was made of sturdy wood, and though ages old, it had never lost its luster. The table’s surface was engraved with depictions of the Fortress of Light sitting between the mouth of the Shadow Pass. The Covenant of Man’s banner stood atop the fortress overlooking the pass. Moving north, the armies of the other kingdoms spread out across the realm. Evon surveyed the map, knowing that a plan must be made to prepare for an imminent attack. The assault on the village must have been a diversion to draw out their forces and assassinate the leading members of the Order. Now would be the perfect time for a strike.