Sphiel's Song

by Alara Branwen

  She rushed toward the next one a few feet away. He took a battle stance and was ready for her. He thrust with his spear and she was able to catch the point on her small buckler. Sphiel countered with a lunge of her own but the goblin knocked it out of the way.

  Sphiel swung her sword at the goblin, but the small creature backed away and shoved the spear at the elf’s face. She swayed back just in time and the tip of the spear missed her chin by inches. The elf made several strikes at the goblin, but he was able to keep her far enough away with his spear that her attacks had little effect. Likewise, Sphiel kept the goblin’s spearpoint away from her by quickly dodging or bouncing the spearhead off her buckler.

  The battle was a stalemate for several seconds until the second goblin on the left joined him. He rushed Sphiel with his spear and she had to back away several inches to keep the second goblin’s first strike from goring her stomach.

  The two goblins worked in tandem, charging forward, looking for an opening to thrust their spears into.

  Sphiel’s feet were quicker than the smaller creatures and she was able to stay far enough ahead of them to keep their weapons away from her, but she couldn’t get near them without taking a hit. She was unarmored and a spear thrust would likely do severe damage while her attack wouldn’t be too harmful to their armored bodies.

  The elf continued circling around, staying ahead of her attackers, hoping she didn’t get tired.

  Shiva had much better luck. She squashed the first goblin with her massive tree branch and was quickly on the second. He stood to face her, bracing his spear for her charge. When she got close, he rushed forward and pushed his spear out.

  The point only hit air. The goblin looked up to see his huge adversary had jumped to the side and twisted her body to bring her equally large weapon swinging toward him. He had no time to react and the bone shattering impact of the strike dropped him to the ground.

  The final guard on the right saw this display, threw his spear at the troll and dashed into the woods. The large missile struck the ground several feet from Shiva.

  The ring of goblins stopped chanting and saw the elf squaring off against two goblins. This didn’t hold their attention for very long, however. A few of the goblins in the ring screamed as they saw a massive, bellowing troll charging toward them.

  The goblin in robes and the ones in the ring all had small weapons of some type, but their hands didn’t reach for them. The goblins were too busy keeping their hands and the rest of their bodies as far away from the scary troll as possible.

  They scattered in several different directions. All of them managed to run into the trees before the troll could get to them.

  The goblins fighting Sphiel saw their comrades route and saw the troll chasing them. They lost concentration and this allowed the elf to step between their spears and ram her sword in a goblin skull. The final goblin she fought threw down his spear and ran into the trees. Fear made goblins incredibly quick. Even though the elf was fast on her feet, she couldn’t catch him before he disappeared.

  Sphiel met her friend in the middle of the clearing, close to the fire where the goblins had been chanting a moment before.

  “Well, that was easy,” Sphiel said, still shivering as the adrenaline ran through her.

  “It was, way too easy. I figured there would’ve been some kind of challenge. Oh well, the goblin king that gave the quest said he wanted them vanquished. If that means kill them, we can just wait here and kill them when they come back,” Shiva said.

  “Let’s check out that ruined castle,” Sphiel said, “maybe they have a little treasure or something.”

  The door to the ruined castle opened, and out came an elderly man in a bright pink bathrobe and baby blue bunny slippers. On his head was a white nightcap with a pink fluff ball on top. In his hands was a black rod fashioned to look like a skeleton, and a modern looking coffee cup.

  He regarded Sphiel and Shiva with a slight bit of disdain. He raised his staff and shrieked words that Sphiel didn’t understand. His staff glowed green. The fire roared up and took on a sickly yellow-green hue. The two backed away and behind them they heard groaning. They turned to see humanoids with grey skin digging out of the ground. Their clothes were tattered and eyes hollow.

  Sphiel threw a glance at the strangely dressed man, then to her friend. “I’ll take the necromancer, you kill the zombies.”

  Shiva nodded and stepped forward, swinging her tree branch and knocking the head clean off of one zombie.

  Sphiel screamed a battle cry and rushed toward the wizard. When she within a few feet, he yawned and tossed the liquid in his cup at her. It was green and didn’t much look like the liquid she thought it was.

  Sphiel brought up her shield and protected her face, but some of the splash got her her belly. There was a loud hiss as acid tore away at her tunic and burned her skin.

  Sphiel Lvl. 8

  Health 85% (-15%)

  Stamina 68%

  Character Status

  Healthy

  The elf gritted her teeth and tears formed in her eyes as her skin burned. Still, her feet carried her forward.

  The old man stepped aside and whistled. The skeletons of two dogs rushed forward and crashed into the elf. She fell to the ground as the canines attempted to bite her. One managed to latch onto her shoulder.

  Sphiel Lvl. 8

  Health 75% (-10%)

  Stamina 68%

  Character Status

  Healthy

  With a mighty push, she tossed one of the dogs off of her. The other managed to claw her face.

  Sphiel Lvl. 8

  Health 70% (-5%)

  Stamina 66%

  Character Status

  Healthy

  Warmth leaked from the stinging wound. The dog managed to get another scratch on her before she punched her shield against it and got him off.

  Sphiel Lvl. 8

  Health 65% (-5%)

  Stamina 66%

  Character Status

  Healthy

  The other dog was already rushing toward her. She planted her foot in its face. The bones cracked and it slid back. Sphiel rolled to her knees and pushed herself up.

  The two dogs circled her, gnashing their teeth together. From out of the corner of her eye she saw Shiva swinging her tree branch with great fervor. Each swing brought down a zombie, but for each one she felled another seemed to take its place.

  A few of the zombies broke away from the group attacking Shiva and shambled toward her. Twenty feet behind them was the necromancer, directing them as one would a classical band with his staff.

  One of the skeletal dogs leapt at her. She brought her shield forward and it crashed against the wood. However, she other jumped and bit her thigh.

  Sphiel Lvl. 8

  Health 55% (-10%)

  Stamina 66%

  Character Status

  Healthy

  A gasp got caught in her throat. She brought her sword down on the canid skull and it cracked. Two more rapid strikes and it fell off. One more strike caused it to fall motionless.

  The other dog slipped past her shield and bit into her acid wound, raking its claws across her exposed skin.

  Sphiel Lvl. 8

  Health 35% (-20%)

  Stamina 66%

  Character Status

  (Extra Damage Suffered from attack on an open wound)

  Sphiel pressed down with her shield and pushed the dog off her. It jumped up to bite her again but its head met her shield. She pressed the undead creature to the ground and brought down several heavy strikes against its ribs and legs.

  When she got up, the creature was in several pieces.

  She looked toward the zombie mob approaching her. They were in arms reach. Two grabbed her shoulders. Their cold and clammy hands were strong and drug her toward their open mouths.

  Sphiel jabbed her sword into the head of one and with a heavy yank pulled free of the other. More zombies reached out for her, but she backpedaled. She thought
to run around and attack the necromancer again, but the zombies formed a crescent around her, pressing her against the wall of the ruined castle.

  The zombies would easily overwhelm her if she didn’t do something soon. Her eyes came upon the entrance to the castle. Two undead stood in front of the door, but a shield bash and a swing with her sword cleared the way.

  She threw the door open and stepped inside.

  It was dark. Sphiel didn’t know if there were any monstrosities waiting within. She thought she heard the rattling of a chain and a cry, but the sound was drowned out by a collective groan from the zombies in front of her.

  The elf raised her shield and turned to face the hoard. They were pressing against the door, trying to all get in at once. Sphiel swung her sword and it landed with a loud crack against a zombie’s skulls. Another swing felled another zombie, and then another.

  The passageway was small and only one zombie could come in at a time. This turn made it easier to face the hoard. Swing after swing connected, bringing down the undead. Soon their fetid bodies piled up and the elf had to sweep the bodies to the side in order for more to come in.

  The ferocity of a few zombie attacks forced her to retreat a few steps into the castle, but each time she managed to beat them back. The undead didn’t seem to mind getting hit upside the head, so it was child’s play to bring them down.

  Twenty-one zombies fell to Sphiel’s sword. When the last one dropped, she breathed heavily and walked over the mushy bodies of her fallen foes back into the clearing.

  There were still about fifteen zombies fighting Shiva. She had taken a different tactic. Instead of standing in one place and attacking, she’d run away from the zombies, let them get close, took one or two out and keep moving again. It was working, as there weren’t as many zombies after her as there once were, but Sphiel could see her breathing heavily.

  The strangely clad necromancer cursed when Shiva took down another zombie. He waved his staff and three of the fallen zombies got up and joined their brethren. The necromancer moved his staff in a circle and one of the defeated zombies reached up and grabbed Sphiel’s ankle.

  She gasped, tore it away from the creature and sprinted toward the mage as fast as she could. If she didn’t press the attack, he’d just continue raising his fallen minions, and eventually she and Shiva would be overwhelmed.

  Despite her injuries, Sphiel was still fleet of foot. She quickly closed on the necromancer.

  He raised his staff and fired a black bolt of energy that crackled with purple lighting. Sphiel slanted left and the bolt whizzed passed her.

  The necromancer raised his staff again but Sphiel threw her sword at him. This broke the mage’s concentration and he dodged aside.

  A bolt of energy left his rod and found its way into Sphiel’s shield. It felt like ice exploded through her body, weakening her limbs.

  Sphiel Lvl. 8

  Health 15% (-20%)

  Stamina 38%

  Character Status

  Weakened

  Even with a weak body, she still managed to get close to the necromancer. She rushed toward him with her shield raised.

  The mage dodged to the side and Sphiel twisted her body and grabbed his arm. She used her momentum to turn a complete circle and slam him into the ground.

  She fell as well but was quickly atop him. He brought up his staff but he had no time to cast another spell. Sphiel went to work slamming her shield into his face. There were several cracks and screams.

  Soon a pool of blood formed beneath the crushed head of the mage. The last shield strike broke the rod.

  Purple and black wisps of smoke slithered from the broken rod. The rest of the undead that chased Shiva stopped and their heads popped off and their bodies fell limply to the ground.

  Your skill with One Handed Swords has grown to 14!

  Your skill with One Handed Swords has grown to 15!

  Shiva looked up and scowled.

  “You know, I could have taken them out,” she called over, a lopsided grin spread on her face.

  Sphiel struggled to pull her body up. There was a buzzing in her head and she saw red at the edges of her vision. She fell to the ground and Shiva ran over to her.

  “What’s wrong?”

  Sphiel told her friend what she saw.

  “You took a ton of damage. Just rest. If you exert yourself too much you might get the internal injuries status and you’ll be screwed.”

  Sphiel leaned on her friend for support as they walked toward the castle. There was a rattling of chains and a cry from inside the ruin. When Sphiel first heard it, she thought it was a monster. But now that she heard it again, it sounded like a person crying for help.

  ELEVEN

  Shiva lit a torch using her tinder box and led the way into the ruined castle. The light barely penetrated the oppressive darkness in the ruin. Sphiel limped inside, holding onto the troll’s waist, and found several sleeping bags arranged haphazardly on the floor around a stone firepit covered in flaky soot.

  Toward the back was a trapdoor. It was locked, but Shiva hit the padlock a few times with the hilt of Sphiel’s sword and broke it off. A long and narrow, rickety ladder led down into the basement. The ladder could barely hold their weight. The elf held onto her friend’s neck and dangled off the troll’s back as Shiva descended the ladder. She winced each time the troll’s foot came down, thinking they would fall into the inky blackness below.

  Sphiel sighed when they found the ground and let go of the troll. Shiva thrust the torch into the blackness and they found a cabinet and long shelf stacked with pieces of parchment, various items in glass beakers and bones of various shapes and sizes. On a massive oak table in the center of the room were the bleached white bones of a skeletal figure of a large humanoid anatomically arranged.

  Thick, interwoven cobwebs stretched from the tall, shadowed blackness of the stone ceiling onto several cracked cylindrical pillars carved with visages of twisted, screaming faces.

  Wild fear flew through Sphiel’s body as she saw the wound, horrific visages. She squeezed Shiva’s waist and the troll looked down.

  “Lovely place the guy had here,” Shiva smirked.

  “This place is horrid,” Sphiel said with a shiver.

  “Don’t worry, I’m sure we’ve taken out anything here that might be hostile.”

  Sphiel leaned on Shiva as they walked over to one of the pillars. The troll brushed a finger over the stone relief. When the pad of her digit touched the face’s mouth, an ear shattering scream pierced the air.

  Shiva stumbled back and dropped the torch while Sphiel screamed and crawled away from the pillar as best as her wounded body allowed, pressing herself against another pillar. The two were still for several minutes, looking around wide eyed into the blackness. When no other sounds came the troll picked up the still lit torch and helped her friend off the ground.

  “Well, won’t be doing that again,” Shiva grinned, showing sharp teeth.

  “I want to get out of here. This place is starting to freak me out,” Sphiel said.

  “This place is a den of evil. You should leave quickly,” an unknown voice said near them.

  Shiva turned the torch to the right and found a slender man with green skin slumped against the corner of a small cell behind a rusted metal grate. His facial features were thin and angular. His complexion pallid. Red webs were spun in the whites of his crystal blue eyes. He reached out, his hands shaking. “Please, leave this place, I don’t want him to get you, too.”

  “You don’t want who to get us?” Shiva said.

  “The defiler of the forest, the Deathwalker Ando. Get out, or he’ll hurt you,” the man’s voice ended in a small whine.

  “Are you talking about the old man in the tacky robes?”

  “Yes, that’s him. Please, get out, before he drains your life essence and uses it in his foul magics.”

  Shiva wickedly grinned “Oh, you don’t have to worry about him. He won’t be defiling anything anym
ore, save for the place where his old carcass hit the ground. My friend here, the mighty elven warrior Sphiel, bashed his brains it with her shield.”

  The thin man looked up at the shivering visage of Sphiel. “Is it true? Did you kill him?” His voice was earnest.

  Sphiel slightly nodded. “Yes, he’s dead.”

  The slender male’s eyes lit up and a smile erupted on his face. His joy seemed to emanate from the cell and reached the elven woman, wrapping her in a soothing, warm blanket. She stopped shivering and lost herself in the bright blue pools of his pupils.

  The man stumbled forward and caught himself on the grate. “Please, you have to get me out of here. The wicked fiend that captured me has the key on his person. Get it and release me from this prison, I beg of you.”

  Shvia lit another torch from her pack and gave it to Sphiel before climbing back up the ladder to search the necromancer’s body for the key.

  Sphiel turned to the man in the cell. When her eyes met his sparkling blue orbs, her gaze dropped to his thin nose and gently curving mouth. She stared for a few beats longer than was normal and looked back to the blackness behind her. The gazed into the nothingness for several minutes before the man cleared his throat and brought her attention back to his face.

  “Your friend said your name was Sphiel?” The man said.

  Sphiel chewed on her cheek and jerked her head in a nod.

  “I’m Balanos.”

  “It’s uh, nice to meet you,” Shiel reached out to shake his hand but blanched when she realized the grate was in the way. She saw a flash of red and her body quivered.

  Sphiel Lvl. 8

  Health 14% (-1%)

  Stamina 32%

  Character Status

  Wound Complications (Warning: Possibility of Death)

  “Are you okay?” Balanos said.

  “My character screen says wound complications,” Sphiel gripped the cage and a cough wracked her body. Hot daggers stabbed into her lungs.

  Balanos rested his slender fingers on hers and whispered a few unintelligible words. Warmth rushed through her body as the green man’s frame grew bent. When he was done, Sphiel’s character screen popped open.