The War of Stardeon (The Bowl of Souls)

by Cooley, Trevor H.

  At first, she thought that the moonrat was there to control the rock spiders, but soon dismissed the idea. The spiders were being guided by the orcs riding them. They wandered too far from the moonrat for it to keep them under control. She decided instead that it was there to control the huge giant that pulled the boxed wagon it rode upon. Its head was dented in on one side and it was heavily scarred. The giant moved well, but such a ruined beast would be vicious and stupid, likely unable to follow instructions. With a grim nod, she knew which target she would strike first. She whispered instructions to her archers and they readied their bows, waiting for her signal to take aim.

  Faldon’s forces were spread out along either side of the trail, all of them trained veterans of battle. Jhonate and her five marksmen hid behind boulders on one side, while Faldon and Jobar were perched in the trees at the back of the trail with three more archers ready to take out any goblinoids that tried to flee. The remainder of their group consisted of Tamboor and his howlers, who waited in the trees on the far side of the trail ready to assault the core of the goblinoid forces.

  Tamboor’s Howlers were comprised of the remnants of the academy’s old Berserker Guild that had retired in the mountain villages. The Berserker Guild had been broken up several years ago when the academy council realized that their kind were no longer sought after by the neighboring kingdoms. Tamboor had been the last Berserker Guildmaster and as news of the siege spread, his old comrades began joining Faldon’s army, eager to serve with their old guildmaster again.

  Jhonate felt the surface of the message stone change in her hand and looked down. Scrawled on the surface was a word. “Nom”. She frowned until she realized it was supposed to say, “Now”. Somehow Faldon had managed to make his w look like an m. She really was going to have to talk to him about his handwriting.

  Jhonate crouched and whirred the end of her staff, building up speed and her archers pulled back their bows. She stood and swung forward, willing her staff to release one end of the string, sending the ball hurtling toward her target.

  The iron ball caved in the head of the moonrat with a sharp crack, knocking both green eyes from their sockets. As her strike landed, her marksmen fired, their arrows taking out the orcs driving the wagons, then shifted their attention to the spider riders. At this signal, Tamboor’s Howlers burst from their concealment in the rocks and waded into the startled goblinoid recruits, swinging their weapons and screaming with battle-fueled fury.

  The goblinoid forces were in disarray from the beginning. The ferocity of the berserker attack scattered the ranks and they were mowed down relentlessly. Tamboor was the only berserker not screaming. He mowed through them like a silent demon, his face twisted in rage, dancing through the goblinoids, shearing off limbs and heads with great swipes of his sword, Meredith.

  The giants heard the sounds of battle and stopped pulling the wagons. They stood in surprise, staring at the dead orc drivers and the attackers and blinked stupidly. Then the scarred one bent and picked up a heavy rock.

  “Keep firing! Take care not to hit our men. Focus on the first giant and the spider riders!” Jhonate commanded and as her marksmen obeyed, she climbed over the boulder in front of her and ran towards the wagons, willing the end of her staff to flatten into a blade.

  The giant with the dented head had its back to her and didn’t see her coming. It had one arm cocked back ready to throw the large rock when she struck. The razor thin edge of her staff cut through the back of the giant’s right leg like butter, severing its hamstring.

  As it cried out and fell to one knee, she twirled and reformed the tip of her staff to a spear-like point. She put all her weight into her thrust and pierced the giant’s ribs, sinking in a full foot before she pulled it back out again. The giant gurgled, turned and swung its arm around, the rock still clenched in its fist.

  Jhonate ducked the blow and slashed upward with her staff at an angle, slicing deeply into the beast’s armpit. With her hands now gripping the center of her staff, she turned both ends into blades and whirled, slashing back and forth, carving the giant’s fleshy back.

  It roared and tried to turn to face her, but she moved, staying behind it, striking its shoulders and the back of its neck. It swung back at her again and again, but every movement now hurt the beast and its strikes were hesitant and more easily evaded. She turned the tip to a spear-point again and jabbed, piercing a kidney. The giant’s roars turned to whimpers. It arched its back and fell to the side, reaching out one pleading hand.

  There was only one mercy she could give it. Jhonate flattened the edge of her staff like one long blade and jumped over its extended arm, swinging down in a mighty two handed chop to its neck. The giant’s dented head rolled from its shoulders.

  A roar erupted from behind her. Jhonate turned just in time to avoid the frenzied swing of the second giant. The beast was carrying a large wooden spoked wheel that it had torn from the first wagon. This giant wasn’t as big as the other one, but she wasn’t catching this one unawares. Its side and back had been peppered by the arrows of her marksmen, but the beast seemed unaffected. Its eyes were full of rage and sadness and Jhonate wondered if she had just killed its friend.

  She was forced to dive to the ground to dodge its next swing. Jhonate rolled to her feet. It was not going to be easy to get in close to this one. Its reach was extended too much by that wagon wheel.

  “Marksmen!” she cried. Only one arrow responded, joining several others already sticking out of the giant’s shoulder. The giant barely winced. She chanced a glance to the archers’ position and saw one of the spiders climbing amidst their boulders, its orc rider slashing about with a long spear. To her relief, she saw that Faldon and Jobar had broken the concealment of their position and were headed their way.

  The giant swung again. Jhonate jumped back and almost tripped over the leg of its dead companion. Her feet slid, the ground slick with giant blood, and she realized that she needed a new strategy. The giant was not allowing her to get in close enough to work her staff and she definitely didn’t have time to string up her sling. She had to find a way to at least distract it long enough to get in close. Her hand flew to the pouch hanging at her neck.

  She opened the end of the pouch and waited until its next swing. As the wheel narrowly missed her, she threw. The open pouch hit the giant in the nose, sending a plume of finely ground pepper right into its open eyes. The pepper was intended for fighting trolls, but for this use it was perfect.

  The giant roared, clawing at its burning eyes and Jhonate rushed in. One spear-like thrust pierced a lung, a wide slash opened its belly, and it had more to worry about than its eyes. As it clutched at its stomach, trying to keep its insides in, she slashed a final time. The tip of her Jharro staff opened its throat and the beast gurgled and fell.

  The sounds of fighting were still fierce all around. She looked to see if her marksmen still needed help, but the spider rider was nowhere to be seen and arrows were once again flying from their position. Jhonate’s gaze returned to the boxed wagon and the corpse of the moonrat on top of it. Why had the moonrat been there? She no longer thought the giant had been the reason. It had seemed coherent enough to obey orders without control.

  As if in answer to her thoughts, there was a bang from within the box and the wagon swayed. Was there someone trapped inside? Maybe a prisoner? She took a couple steps towards it and a series of loud knocks rang out getting louder and louder.

  The wagon rocked back and forth, the internal blows continuing until one wall cracked and bulged outward. With a hail of splinters, the wagon’s occupant burst free and Jhonate saw the reason for the green-eyed moonrat. Green slime dripped from the creature’s bulky body. It sniffed the air for a moment, then reared back and roared, exposing a cavernous mouth full of rows of sharp crooked teeth.

  It was a troll, but a breed of troll Jhonate had never seen before. Most trolls were tall and lanky. This one was large and wide, not as big as the ungainly giants had been, but ma
ybe seven foot, and with thickly muscled arms and nasty claws. It turned to look at her.

  Jhonate gripped her staff, ready to battle the beast, when she noticed its gaze move past her. She glanced back to see one of the giant spiders stepping over the corpse of the second giant and heading towards her. It was riderless, riddled with arrows and missing half of one leg, but still very formidable. She was sandwiched between the two monsters. The troll charged, roaring and mad with hunger.

  Jhonate crouched, her heart thundering in her chest and waited for the right moment. When both beasts were almost on her, she dove forward and rolled, turning and swinging her staff as she came to her feet. The end of the staff was solid as iron now and struck the running troll in the small of the back, forcing it into the spider’s path.

  The two creatures collided together and the troll, as stupid and mad with hunger as trolls usually were, attacked the spider, clawing and biting. The spider struck out with its fangs, plunging them into the troll’s stomach, pumping poison. The troll ignored its attack and gnawed at the spider’s armored back.

  Jhonate grasped the center of her staff and changed both ends to blades. Knowing which was the bigger threat, she began slashing at the troll from behind, swiftly alternating blows and opening deep gashes in its back. The only way to kill a troll was to burn it or pepper its dismembered body to keep it from regenerating. Her goal at the moment was to slow it down and hope that the spider would keep it distracted long enough that she could find her pouch of pepper.

  The troll was too frenzied to notice her strikes. It ripped at the spider, its powerful claws tearing deep holes in its chitinous shell. The spider bit at the troll and crawled backwards, trying to get away, but the troll hung on, gnawing until it broke through and began feasting on the spider’s soft flesh.

  Jhonate felt a jolt of fear hit as she realized that her attacks had been ineffective. Every opened gash began healing almost instantly. She took a step back and looked for her pouch but the spider had backed up until the two creatures were fighting over the second giant’s body. The pouch was somewhere underneath.

  “Troll!” she shouted, looking for help from her archers. “Fire! I need fire!” The slime that coated a troll’s body was highly flammable and their main weakness. “Marksmen! I need fire arrows!”

  Nothing came immediately. They hadn’t seen any trolls when scouting the supply caravan so none of the archers had fire arrows prepared. The troll was still focused on the spider, but unfortunately, it had already won the fight.

  The spider was convulsing, its legs curling in. The troll had climbed on top of it and its face was covered in spider-ichor as it plunged its clawed hands into the spider’s abdomen and scooped handfuls into its toothy open maw.

  Trolls were single minded creatures. Hunger was their only emotion and it drove them relentlessly. This made them predictable, but this particular troll was an unknown. Hopefully it would continue focusing on gorging itself until they could kill it.

  Jhonate smiled in triumph as a flaming arrow arced through the air and plunged into the troll’s muscular back with an audible thud. Her smile faltered when the troll’s slimy skin did not erupt into flame. The arrow hissed and the flame guttered out. The troll stopped feeding and its head whipped around, sniffing, looking for its attacker. Its beady eyes latched onto Jhonate and it turned to face her.

  Jhonate set her jaw as it slid off the spider and screeched at her. Two more fire arrows thunked into its back, but they were extinguished just as quickly by its thick slime. The troll didn’t even flinch this time, its complete attention focused on her.

  Jhonate took a step back. A troll that wasn’t flammable? How was that possible? She looked into its eyes and saw that the hunger was gone. Had it been satiated by the spider? Trolls were never satiated. Then its brow furrowed and its face twisted with rage. She heard a familiar feminine voice in the far reaches of her mind.

  “You have been marked for death.”

  The bulky troll roared, bits of spittle and spider ichor flying from its mouth, and for the first time since her childhood, Jhonate considered giving into fear and running away.

  That made her angry.

  Jhonate came at the beast swinging a staff made hard as iron. It leapt at her. The end of her staff caught it in the jaw and knocked it stumbling to the side. The beast was healing too quickly for slicing or piercing strikes unless she could hit a critical location. She couldn’t let it regain momentum. If it grasped her with those powerful hands, she would be done for. Another blow sent it stumbling further. It tried to dig its feet in, but she kept at it relentlessly with a quick series of blows, striking the troll’s hands, knees and head, looking for the right opening.

  Finally she had it. She bashed one hand wide, and reversed with an upthrust blow that struck it under the chin, knocking its head back, and the beast was stunned for a mere moment. She sharpened the tip of her staff and sent it upward with all her might, driving it up through soft flesh under the troll’s chin and through the roof of its mouth, piercing its brain.

  She yanked her staff free and the troll fell to the ground, convulsing wildly. Jhonate shouted in triumph but she knew the victory was temporary. A troll would heal from any wound no matter how severe. Cut one into six pieces and if you didn’t burn them, you would end up with six identical trolls.

  She ran to the fallen giant and searched for her pouch of pepper, but where was it? Had the giant fallen on top of it? To make matters worse, the corpse of the spider had collapsed on top of the giant’s legs. Jhonate jumped over the beast and looked behind it, but the pouch was nowhere to be seen. She crouched to one knee and began searching under the edges of the giant’s body. She saw movement in her peripheral vision and a chill went up her spine. The troll rose from the ground and once again she heard the eerie chuckle of the mother of the moonrat echo in her mind.

  “You have been marked for death, Jhonate Bin Leeths.”

  The troll roared and ran for her, no visible trace of its wound remaining. This one healed far too quickly. What kind of troll was it? She shifted her stance and crouched, ready to launch an upward thrust to knock the beast back again, but the troll never reached her.

  Tamboor charged from the side like a mad bull, swinging a powerful two-handed swipe of his sword. Meredith caught the troll in the shoulder, cleaved through flesh and struck bone, the force of the blow driving it to the ground. He ripped the blade free and the beast climbed back to its feet quickly. It slashed at him as he swung his sword again. His blade struck between two of the troll’s fingers, splitting its hand all the way to the wrist.

  The troll didn’t register pain. It held the wounded arm out away from its body, leaned forward, and slashed out with its other hand. His sword still stuck in the troll’s other arm, Tamboor was forced to let go of the Meredith’s handle with one hand to catch its incoming wrist. He yanked the troll forward and slammed its face with a fierce headbutt.

  Jhonate stood to help, but as she was about to leap over the giant’s corpse, she saw something out of the corner of her eye. Hanging out from under one of the spider’s legs was the drawstring to her pouch. She knocked the leg aside with her staff and scooped up the pouch. To her relief there was still some pepper remaining in the bottom. The troll wouldn’t catch fire. Hopefully it wasn’t immune to pepper too.

  Tamboor grappled with the beast, his back on the ground. He was forced to abandon his sword. His blade had bound in the troll’s wrist bone and its flesh had begun healing around it. Tamboor gripped its right wrist with one hand, its left forearm with the other, and shoved one foot up under its chin, keeping its hideous maw away.

  Jhonate darted behind the troll and slashed its back open with a two handed swing of her staff, then grabbed a handful of pepper from her pouch and rubbed it in the wound before it could knit back together. She could feel its flesh, recoil from the spice. The troll screeched and tried to pull from Tamboor’s grasp, but he refused to let go. It tried to back away. Jhonate slashe
d its hamstrings.

  The pepper was beginning to take effect. The wounds weren’t closing right away. Jhonate honed the tip of her staff to a fine point and thrust at the base of the troll’s skull. The tip wedged between two vertebrae. She caused the tip to swell, widening the gap between the two bones until there was a crack. The troll jerked spasmodically and Tamboor forced its head back further with his foot, using its two arms as leverage. Jhonate twisted her staff and with a pop, the troll’s head hung limply.

  Tamboor kicked the troll to the side and Jhonate chopped down with her staff two times, severing its head completely. She rubbed the last of her pepper into the base of its head and the stump of its neck, then kicked the still moving head aside. She wiped her hands off in the dirt and sighed with relief, knowing the beast could no longer regenerate.

  Jhonate felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked back as Tamboor gave her a firm, approving nod. He grabbed his sword by the pommel and had to jerk it a few times before it tore free of the troll’s spasming wrist.

  It had grown oddly quiet and Jhonate realized that the battle around them had ended. Tamboor wiped off his sword and spat on the beast before heading back to help his Howlers dispatch the goblinoid wounded.