“Are they coming to clear out all of the races except for the hu- mans?”
“Maybe they’re just looking for supplies?”
“They have a war to fight—why are they sending people down here?”
“I need to get to my family!”
The room turned into chaos as the harmony from a moment before was ruined.
“What will you do, Todd?” Katrine asked.
“I...I’ll go to the Deepwood. I can live off the land for a bit there, wait for this to calm down.” Todd started to jolt into action. He had so many things he needed to do, he was met with indeci- sion.
“We’ll go with you,” Gunnar said. Sofie and Katrine looked over.
“If the church is coming with the army, it likely means that they want to purge Laisa. There won’t be anyone but humans left alive and they will live like slaves for the church as they take over the city and bring in their believers.” He raised his voice so others could hear, increasing the panic and the people leaving the tavern.
“Is that true?” Todd asked.
“Yes. I’ve seen it happen before,” Gunnar said with a dark ex- pression.
“Okay, okay.” Todd, panicked, ran upstairs to grab supplies. “The army is only a few hours away!” someone yelled in the
streets.
Todd ran back downstairs. “I grabbed some food and clothes.
Let’s go.”
The other three had their gear all packed already and just pulled it onto their shoulders.
Todd stood at the entrance, looking at his tavern and the spilled beer from those who had run out. He thought of the memo- ries he had in this place. It was his home. He always imagined Tom- mie walking through the door and saying he was home, how happy he would be.
Will it be here when I come back?
Todd closed his eyes and turned, leaving the tavern.
People were gathering caravans; the entire village was stirring. Most believed they were overacting—they were as far from the Church of Light as possible. Why would they care about their small village?
People were fleeing to the east, west, and south.
The guards left the doors wide open as people rushed out, cre- ating streams of people.
“I’ll get the mounts. Meet you at the wall!” Sofie yelled. She ran off, the fastest of their group.
They continued toward the gate, pressing in with the other people—those with carriages, others with backpacks. Entire fam- ilies, with screaming children and white-faced adults, moved through.
Gunnar and Katrine protected the shorter Todd as they got out of the village and moved along the southern road.
Sofie burst out of the gates with Gunnar and Katrine’s mounts. They were all ikas, large four-legged beasts that looked like a mix between a horse and a wolf. They could run for long distances and were nimble for their size. They rarely ran quickly but were tireless. “Todd, ride with me. I’m lighter than Gunnar. Gunnar, take his
pack,” Katrine said.
They reorganized their weight and got up onto their mounts quickly.
Todd grabbed hold of Katrine’s waist, they had just gotten a short distance from the town. He looked behind; he could see a dust trail in the distance. Suddenly a person riding a horse appeared in the distance. Their bright-white armor was clear to see as lines of military horses and a number of others wearing the white armor of the Church of Light could be seen riding toward Laisa.
The group split up, led by those white knights to intercept those fleeing the city.
Todd watched as they moved as fast as the ikas would take them toward the Deepwood. He heard noise in the distance and he turned to see the people fleeing east fall to the ground ahead of the charge.
Aerial familiars shone in the light, diving down and reaping lives, mixing in with the arrows that the mounted military person- nel were shooting.
The mounted army used their familiars, enhancing their bodies and using their ranged abilities, or materializing them and having them chase the fleeing people of Laisa down.
Todd was stunned, his stomach gripped so tightly. He just didn’t—he couldn’t—believe what he was seeing.
No, no—this can’t be true. This has to be an illusion, or I’m asleep and it’s a nightmare. They can’t be dead. No!
As much as he raged against the truth, there it was in front of him.
He couldn’t tear his eyes away.
The main army rushed toward Laisa. The gates slammed shut. The guards on the wall, seeing their friends and family mem-
bers get slaughtered, counter attacked, using their bows and their spears.
Goblin explosives were tossed out, killing members of the church and of the army. Laisa was fighting back against their at- tackers.
A burst of golden light appeared around a woman, the woman who had been leading the army over the hill. A lance of power shot out from her hands, hitting a gate and causing it to explode. A hole opened in Laisa’s defenses.
The defenders didn’t give up.
Todd saw gnomes, goblins, and humans fighting together, against the Radal army and the Church of Light.
Laisa grew distant as flashes of light and attacks could be seen within the walls of the village.
“Stop in the name of the church!” a man yelled out, his voice increased by his familiar as he charged forth with his army.
They had caught up with the southern escapees, who ran hard-
er.
The man shot out a blast of light. “Stop or be cleansed!” Some did stop, pleading for mercy.
Todd wanted to yell out but he saw as a human family with two
younglings, a mother, and a father were struck by horses, trampled.
“Spies will not be tolerated.” The man from the Church of Light had a sense of gloating and Todd wanted to tear the man apart.
The army seemed to be waiting as they drew and fired their ar- rows at those near them.
Sick bastard. He just wanted to see whether people would stop, di- vide us.
Arrows cut down people indiscriminately as familiars charged forth.
A familiar jumped up and stuck its claws into the side of the ika Todd was riding. The sudden pain made the ika jolt to the side, startled.
Todd kicked at the familiar’s face, hitting it a few times.
The familiar growled and jumped up and bit into Todd’s leg making him cry out in pain.
Sofie rode next to them and slashed at the familiar with her blade; her familiar enhanced her strength as she cut through the enemy familiar.
A man cried out in the army as his familiar was killed.
Sofie had a pleased look on her face as she grinned at Todd. “Little bandage and you’ll be—”
A beam of light cut through her armor, sprouting through her chest and going through her ika.
Time slowed. Todd saw the stunned look on her face as her ika stopped. She was thrown forward. Her sword slipped from her hand before she slammed into the ground.
Todd cried out as he felt a burst of pain in his back and chest.
He looked down to see an arrow sprouting out of his chest. He let out a wet cough.
“Sofie!” Gunnar yelled.
“Todd! Todd! Are you okay?” Katrine yelled.
But it was becoming distant as darkness came in and shut off Todd’s vision.
Chapter: On Dawn’s Break
Claire led the group through the ruins of Ashmere.
“Wow, they really let this place go, huh?” Anthony asked.
Claire just rolled her eyes as she scanned the area. She threw out a hand, stopping the others. She cast Illusion on the hallway they were in.
A few seconds later, some guards of the Church of Light marched past. She cast a detection spell that spread through the walls, highlighting the different living creatures around her.
“Let’s go.” She dismissed the Illusion spell and they continued
on.
They reached a section of wall. As the others kept watch,
Claire
put her hand in an alcove.
There it is. She pulled and twisted a handle. A locking mecha- nism disengaged as she pushed on the wall.
“Footsteps,” Anthony said, hurrying everyone through. Damien pushed the wall closed and it locked back into posi-
tion. Everyone held their breath.
Claire saw the guards moving past on their route, watching them with her Detect spell.
She held her breath as they continued on.
With hand gestures, she led them through a small tunnel and they found themselves in an old room.
“Where do we go from here?” Aila asked. “We go up.” Claire pointed to the ceiling.
Tommie let out a hiss of air. “These enchantments—it’s more complex than anything I’ve seen before.”
“It’s a spatial teleportation formation. Now, I hope that the other formations are still active.” Claire pulled out a crystal. The mana density in the room increased rapidly as she moved to a sec- tion in the wall. It opened with a tap and she slotted the crystal in.
515
The formation flickered to life and the wall lit up with different dots on the wall.
Claire looked at the dots. “These are all the destinations.” She wiped the part of the wall next to the dots, showing the Church of Light cathedral.
“It looks like they cleared most of the ones in the higher levels. There is one here, just three levels from the main chambers where the leaders of the church host their meetings.” Claire pulled out a timepiece. “They should be starting their meeting in about ten minutes.”
She shut it with a snap and looked at everyone.
“Anthony and I will take on the meeting room. I’ll play a cleric and you will play a guard. Damien, Aila, and Tommie—you will be heading to the restrictive enchanted rooms. These are rooms that the Church of Light have altered in order to contain the power of the ley line and use it for their own means. If we can break that hold, then the power of the Guardians will increase dramatically and the power of ‘Light’ that the Drafeng have gifted will trans- form once more into the power of Dena, reducing the threat of the Church of Light’s guards, priests, and saints.
“Do you know all of the locations?” Claire asked. Aila pulled out a map from her pack.
“There are four in the basement level, two on the eighth floor, one on the eleventh and seventeenth, with three more located at the base of the spires on the top level,” Tommie rattled off.
“Good. If you can destroy them, then do so. Otherwise, Tom- mie, you know the most about enchantments among us. It will be up to you to destroy the enchantments and remove their hold on the ley line.” Claire looked at Tommie.
He looked nervous but he gripped his fists and nodded.
Claire waved her hands, gathering mana and forming it with a few words and gestures. She threw it on to the others. Faint golden
outlines appeared around them, making them appear to be human and wearing the different clothes of the Church of Light clergy. Tommie looked like a small human priest while Aila was a Church of Light cleric and Damien a large Church of Light guard.
Anthony became a guard as well. Claire transformed into a high priestess. All of them wore robes of white and gold and pol- ished armors, different from the ragtag items they had been wear- ing before.
“This illusion will last three hours, unless someone has an iden- tification spell or sight to see through it. If you attack or are at- tacked with the attack hitting your clothes, then the spell will be annulled. Tommie, you need to make sure no one interacts with you. I have increased your height with the illusion, so if someone was to shake your hand, your illusion’s hand is much higher than yours and they would grab the illusion, destroying it. Got it?” Claire looked at them all.
“Does my butt look big in this illusion? Do I have a face again?
Which face did you give me?” Anthony asked, all excited. “You are worse than—”
“I am not worse than when you pick out shoes!” Anthony said. “Shoes are important! One must be stylish and functional!”
Claire waved her finger at Anthony.
“Don’t remind me why we went to the Okasi market. Two hun- dred shoes! I had to carry all of them back as well while you were wearing those simple sandals. You got blisters three times but you wanted to work them in. Then, when we went on that mission to the Gloustecher swamps, you stepped into mud and were beside yourself for like ten minutes!”
Claire’s eyebrow twitched.
“Wasn’t Gloustecher swamp burned down?” Damien asked. Anthony pointed finger pistols at Claire wildly.
“Anything that destroys a pair of handmade, venarei leather sandals deserves to be destroyed!” Claire yelled, her eyes like dwar- ven cannons that had locked onto Damien.
He raised his hands and stepped backward.
“Yeah, she brought down Meteor Rain on the entire swamp, over shoes. I’m the crazy one!” Anthony threw up his hands in the air in defeat.
“Enough you cretin, Let’s start moving,” Claire said. “Tommie, Aila, Damien—you’re up first. Anthony, you’ll need to use your emblem in order to send them up there.”
Anthony came over and put his hand to his chest. His Guardian emblem came out from his armor, a carved metal block in his hands. He pressed it into a recess in the wall. A flash of purple power ran through the walls and into the formations on the ceiling and the floor, activating it.
He tapped the teleportation circle on the bottom floor as the enchanted formation powered up.
“See you on the other side!” Anthony said cheerfully as they disappeared in a flash of light.
Then there was just Claire and Anthony.
“Why did you have to tell them about the sandals?” Claire complained as she walked over to the middle of the teleportation circle.
“Most badass battle mage in the Guardians and she destroyed a swamp because of her muddy shoes—it’s pretty funny.” Anthony laughed as he activated the enchanted formation once again and jumped into the middle. “It’s like old times, just the two of us sneaking into some evil dick’s lair.”
“You make it sound so romantic.” Claire sighed.
“I add the flare into fire. Hmm, that doesn’t sound right. The rom into romantic? What does rom mean?”
Claire hid her smile. Even being asleep for centuries, he’s still the same lovable idiot. My lovable idiot. I was scared that he would have changed, that with him becoming undead he would have changed.
Claire felt relieved as the formation activated and they disap- peared in a flash of light.
She looked around as they found themselves in another dusty room and she cast her Detect Life spell.
Seeing no one on the other side of the doorway, she opened it, stepping into a cleaning supplies closet.
“Hmm, looks like we’re sneaking into closets again too. So many memories,” Anthony said from behind her, making her jump as she blushed heavily.
Anthony’s human face smiled at her and winked. He turned to close the hidden door in the side of the closet.
She checked there was no one outside again and they walked out into the halls of the Church of Light.
“Let’s get to judging some Agents of Chaos, Here come da Judge,” Anthony said.
They started walking through the halls, and people moved out of their way as they headed to the floors above.
***
Letanya sent forward her enforcers, the demon hunters, to cut off the rivers of people fleeing Laisa.
Traitors. Why flee if they have nothing to hide? The power of the Light will cleanse them.
She dismissed them from her mind. Nothing but cattle and weakness that should be cut down from the world.
The gates to Laisa closed as they were riding up.
She didn’t speed up her pace, letting the army go forward to prove their worth to the church.
Explosions went off among those who met the wall. The people of Laisa were fighting back.
&
nbsp; “You dare!” Letanya’s burning rage overflowed as she drew power from the Lord of Light. She felt his warmth fill her as she lowered her sword and directed it forward. A blast of pure power shot out and collided with the gate, blasting it and a section of the wall apart.
“Charge in! Leave none of them alive!” Letanya yelled. “Cleanse them—cleanse the heretics! For humanity! For Light!”
She let the others rush forward and prove their worth.
She rode in behind, cleansing those who were left behind, those crying out. She looked at them with disdain, letting their wounds claim them.
She cut down those who could run and wandered the city, looking for the non-humans, the Agents of Darkness.
She turned a corner and saw small goblins running out, herding people.
“Rapists, murderers!” Letanya let out an enraged yell as she rode her horse toward them. The goblins threw their explosives at her, but their aim was bad and she cut them down, slaughtering them.
She was a saint, a power that stood to judge the unworthy, to guide those to the light who could be saved and remove those who couldn’t.
The people and the humans who had been herded by the gob- lins cried out, not in joy but in horror as they attacked Letanya.
There was a thunderclap above the city. Dust shot through the streets, making it hard to see. Letanya backed off on her mount, readying herself to attack again and kill the nest of darkness that rested in the heart of Laisa.
The city has been lost, the people claimed by the darkness.
She saw them through the dust and made to charge forward.
Her movements were arrested as the power of the Lord of Light stilled in her body, no longer responding.
Death Knight Box Set Books 1-5: A humorous power fantasy series Page 44