Cursed Cleric

by Salvador Mercer

  Cursed

  Cleric

  SALVADOR

  MERCER

  Cursed Cleric

  Copyright © 2019 by Salvador Mercer

  All Rights Reserved

  First Electronic Edition

  Published by Diamond Star Publishing

  For information contact; Salvador@salvadormercer.com

  www.salvadormercer.com

  Book and Cover design by Christine Savoie aka ‘Cagnes’ c2017

  Art and Stock Photo Credits:

  Cursed Cleric by Ratislav Le

  Interior Icons: Svetlana Shirokova | Dreamstime.com

  Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  ASIN: B07NVX2KMD

  First Edition: May 2019

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  Other Books by Salvador Mercer

  Claire-Agon Dragon Series

  The Blue Dragon: A Claire-Agon Dragon Book 1

  The Green Dragon: A Claire-Agon Dragon Book 2

  The Black Dragon: A Claire-Agon Dragon Book 3

  The White Dragon: A Claire-Agon Dragon Book 4

  The Red Dragon: A Claire-Agon Dragon Book 5

  Claire-Agon Ranger Series

  Ranger Rising: Claire-Agon Ranger Book 1

  Dead Druid: Claire-Agon Ranger Book 2

  Mad Mage: Claire-Agon Ranger Book 3

  Sci-Fi-Technothriller

  Lunar Discovery

  Red Horizon

  Black Infinity

  Book Description

  A thousand years ago, on the world of Claire-Agon, a war raged between men and dragons, destroying the creatures and the land's many civilizations.

  The ancient nemesis of man is revealed as dragons awaken while Ulatha is covered in darkness as the undead walk again. Targon, and his trusted band of heroes, must confront the challenges and villains that stand in their way as they face their worst fears and the balance of their world lies in their hands.

  Only together, and with the help of a Dead Druid, will they be able to bridge the gap of a thousand years and use history to aid in their epic struggle. Urged on by the Arnen Druid, Elister, the party seeks out the only known power to fight the overwhelming evil and darkness of the dreaded lich and the Kesh's Mad Mage. To fight fire with fire they must seek and find the Cursed Cleric.

  In doing so, they must pray she helps them, otherwise, they will face a gruesome death at the hands of the walking dead and Agon will be plunged into darkness forever.

  For:

  Tolkien for allowing me to dream

  MAP

  “Claire-Agon”

  Chapter 1

  Ulathan Pass

  Chapter 2

  The Lady in Green

  Chapter 3

  Kesh Redemption

  Chapter 4

  The Coming of the Storm

  Chapter 5

  The Hunt

  Chapter 6

  Kesh Death

  Chapter 7

  Critir

  Chapter 8

  Backstabbing

  Chapter 9

  Wolves

  Chapter 10

  Mad Mages

  Chapter 11

  Crypt

  Chapter 12

  Phantasm

  Chapter 13

  The North

  Chapter 14

  Secret Passages

  Chapter 15

  Treaties and Negotiations

  Chapter 16

  Volcano

  Chapter 17

  Confluence

  Chapter 18

  Red Dragon

  Chapter 19

  Redemption and Sacrifice

  Chapter 20

  Hope

  Contact the Author

  About the Author

  Appendix A

  The “Science” of Claire Agon

  Appendix B

  Cursed Cleric Glossary

  MAP

  “Claire-Agon”

  (From the Dragon Books)

  Go to SalvadorMercer.com for a full-size version of this map.

  Chapter 1

  Ulathan Pass

  “Now that gives me the creeps,” Captain Cregg whispered to his counterpart.

  Captain Stallo replied, “I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it for myself.”

  The sun had yet to rise at their backs, but the eastern horizon turned a light purple in color as the impending dawn was less than a half hour away. Snow flakes fell lightly and a dusting of snow covered the ground everywhere. From their vantage point atop the northern, wooden tower at the pass between Kesh and Ulatha, the pair of officers watched as far below a rambling army of undead marched silently towards them.

  Cregg had kept his voice low in deference to the Kesh wizard standing at the opposite end of the tower watching the same spectacle unfold. The Mad Mage, as he was already being referred to in the Kesh capital of Keshtor, had promoted several apprentices to full status as wizards and ordered a trio of newly appointed members of their magic order to guard the pass between their realm of Kesh and the enemy realm of Ulatha. Suspicion, envy, and distrust still ruled amongst the leaders of Kesh.

  “You thought our description of our foes was embellished?” The wizard Kyros asked the pair of officers without looking at them.

  Both men looked at each other and Captain Cregg, being an actual Kesh officer and not a mercenary, answered. “No my Lord. It is, however, something entirely different to see it with one’s own eyes as opposed to only hearing about it.”

  Kyros nodded in approval at the man’s answer. “So do the realms of the far east believe in such things?”

  It was obvious the wizard was asking Captain Stallo who had recently arrived after a rather large payment by the High Mage to the ruler of his realm. Stallo cleared his throat, “We’ve never seen such a thing, though obviously we have heard of such tales going back eons from our ancestors of old.”

  “Well,” Kyros said, lowering his eyes to look to his side and slightly tilting his head so he could just see the mercenary officer near him, “we will find out if you and your troops are worth the price that our illustrious leader paid. I expect nothing less than victory in our impending battle.”

  “We were never told that we would face foes who were already dead,” Stallo added, making a warding sign as he looked out and saw another line of undead entering the clearing from the forest a half-dozen rock throws from their position. There seemed to be no end to the number of undead approaching them.

  “Then they should be easy to kill a second time,” Kyros said, no sympathy in his voice. “Or are you rethinking your contract?”

  Captain Stallo shook his head, “Of course not, my Lord. We will honor our liege and fulfil our blood oath to your High Mage.”

  “Good,” Kyros said, returning his gaze at the open, sloped field in front of him. “It would be a shame if the High Mage had to renegotiate your contract during a time of crisis. It could go poorly for your ruling class.”

  The pomp and hubris from the wizard oozed with every word, and Stallo understood why only the most desperate of realms on his continent contemplated working with, or for, the Kesh wizard class. It was seen as a move of desperation amongst the other bands of his land. “We will fight.”

  “Then see to it that your men are ready,” Kyros said coolly. “The dark army will b
e within range in a matter of minutes.”

  Not sure if he was being dismissed, or if he was being delegated a task to carry out, Captain Stallo had no desire to cross the Kesh wizard since the tales were legendary of the many people who were executed on the spot after talking back to one of their magic-users. Leaning over the tower and looking back along the narrow parapet that allowed his archers a platform from which to fire, he barked a command. “Bows ready. Pull your arrows.”

  Not to be undone, Kesh Captain Cregg did likewise, “Pull your bows and lock your bolts in place, lads. Let’s give it to them undead bastards.”

  A roar of approval at their captain’s orders greeted them breaking the eerie silence. A flurry of activity was both noticeable and intense as scores of troops readied their missile weapons from atop the wall’s parapet.

  The Kesh were mostly all clad in black leather armor and the men from the wild east wore various garb from chainmail, to brown leather, but mostly unarmored save for various bronze plates of various types. Chest plates to protect their vital organs, bracers to fend off errant sword swings. Shin guards to protect their lower limbs, and open helmeted visors for skull protection. Each armored and armed according to their individual stature, thus was the way and culture of the far eastern realms.

  The pair of men noticed some sort of signaling between the two wizards, one on each tower. The third wizard, Kasos, stood in between them on the portable scaffold that was erected when the wooden gate was closed and locked. All three magic-users were looking west at the approaching army. The pair of officers were located on the northern tower and had a clear view in front of them and behind them where a couple hundred, foot soldiers stood in formation at the ready in case the wall was breached.

  “You’re sure they can’t breach the cliffs on either side?” Stallo asked his counterpart, looking at where the high, wooden wall ended at the edge of a sheer, rock face that rose taller than their towers. The mountain pass itself was rocky and vertical save the low pass where the road threaded a fine line at close to the only passable point in the Border Mountains for many leagues in either direction.

  “I’m sure of nothing,” Cregg responded. “We’ve yet to have the wall and towers breached, though this will be the first true test of their effectiveness.”

  “We have your wizards fighting as well,” Stallo said, trying to sound hopeful. “Even dead, I don’t envy them if they approach the main gate within range of not one, but three of your spell casters. They should be dispatched back to the abyss where they belong.”

  “Time is up,” Kyros said. “Send a first volley and let us see what happens.”

  “Aye, my Lord,” Cregg replied. Looking over the side of the tower’s wall and getting the attention of his flaggers, he gave the signal to fire with a motion of his arm as it bent from the elbow in a throwing motion towards the west. The flaggers gave the signal and a horn sounded to accompany the visual order. “Fire,” Cregg said habitually as the signal had already been given.

  The first bolts shot out from the crossbows and plunged into the line of approaching undead who had never stopped and even now were coming into range of even a hand-thrown weapon. Cregg clenched his fist and pumped it in the air as a sign of approval of the marksmanship of his crossbowmen. At least half the bolts hit home, some burying themselves deeply into the corpses of the walking undead. Others barely missed or went straight through the skeletal remains of the more decomposed troops of the evil army.

  The joy of their accuracy was quickly replaced with the dreaded fact of reality. The number of undead that seemed affected by the first volley of nearly three score of the Kesh bolts could be counted on one hand. “Impossible,” Stallo said looking at Cregg in disbelief.

  “Try your bowmen,” Cregg said hurriedly, eager to have another shot at the marching troops approaching their position.

  “Fire,” was the simple command that the mercenary captain gave. Half his men arched their shots into an arcing pattern hoping that their arrows would hit the largest mass of undead in the center of the approaching army. His other bowmen took sniping shots trying to aim for a specific individual enemy combatant. The latter group had relatively more success, especially those that took head shots. A dozen or more undead fell where arrows protruded from their skulls.

  “That was more effective,” Cregg said. Leaning over again he yelled to his crossbowmen, “Aim for their heads. Fire at will.”

  The crossbowmen reloaded, slower than the longbowmen, and took potshots at the approaching army. The undead started to slowly fall, first a handful and then by the dozen as they closed the distance between them making it difficult for even a neophyte archer or bowmen to miss. While heartening to the Kesh and mercenaries who saw them falling, it was equally dismaying to see that there appeared to be no end to the number of undead exiting the forest and marching towards the wall.

  “My Lord, what do we do?” Cregg asked his leader. Of the three wizards, Kyros was the most accomplished, most dangerous, and most proud of the trio. He was also designated the lead wizard for their army.

  Without looking at him, Kyros answered, “We have plenty of bolts. Keep firing until they reach the wall.”

  “Then what?” Cregg asked.

  It took a moment for the youthful appearing wizard, if one could call a man in his forties youthful, to turn his head slowly and gaze directly into the Captain’s eyes before saying, “Then we shall show them the true power of Kesh.”

  The statement gave the men hope, something that had been lacking for months within the Kesh ranks. They shouted to their troops encouraging them to maintain their rate of fire. The swordsmen within the ranks shifted nervously not knowing, or being able to see, what was happening on the other side of the wall.

  When the first of the undead reached the wall, they began to claw, hack, and hit it with their lifeless limbs and weapons. At first the effort appeared ludicrous, but as more and more of the evil army piled up against the thick timbers of the wooden wall their sheer number and weight started to cause the individual pilings to heave to-and-fro swaying as if in a strong wind.

  Kyros nodded at his companion, the wizard Kasos, below him and at the center of their fortification. Kasos raised his staff and spoke the words of the arcane and summoned a fireball that he directed down at the undead directly below him.

  Cregg watched, fascinated at the spectacle and somewhat surprised that a member of their ruling class, known for their intellectual prowess and sharp minds, would summon fire to burn at the base of their flammable wall. While the facts were at odds with one another, the result was nonetheless spectacular as dozens of the piled mass of bodies and animated skeletons burned and the first cries of death, pain, and agony were heard as the souls left the animated corpses for good. Unfortunately, the wooden gates started to burn at their base as well.

  Captain Cregg took a few steps to the eastern edge of the tower and leaned over to shout at their support personnel who stood well behind their armed troops. “Quartermaster Hodges, have your staff fetch water buckets and bring them to the main gate now.”

  The chubby man nodded in acknowledgment and barked orders to the scores of servants milling about apprehensively in the rear of their formation in what basically amounted to a base camp for their army. At least a score of them grabbed buckets and headed for their water barrels. Satisfied that the task would be done quickly, Cregg turned and walked back over to the western most side of the tower to lean over and assess the damage that was being done to both the undead army, and their own fortification.

  Black smoke billowed into the dark sky that was only now starting to turn blue from its purple color as the sun rose behind them. The eastern horizon was already a vibrant orange tinge as dawn approached and despite the dim light, he was able to see the wall and the undead below clearly as they contrasted against the white, snow covered ground. The snow had stopped falling. Almost forgetting his place, the Captain turned to his leader, “What is he doing?”

&nb
sp; Kyros was watching intently and answered the presumptuous military leader without taking his eyes off the scene below. “He is defending our land. The gates can be rebuilt. See to it that your men are ready to sally forth when I give the command.”

  Without waiting, or saying anything further, the wizard nodded across the large gap at the opposite tower and then both wizards summoned identical balls of fire and hurled them at the undead below. Cregg noticed with relief that both men had cast their magical spells of destruction well beyond the wall and into the still approaching mass of undead thus saving the towers from a similar predicament as the main gate.

  Looking at his counterpart, Cregg saw that Captain Stallo was entranced with the scene and almost paralyzed with watching the Kesh wizards at work. Cregg had to mentally remind himself that the eastern mercenary had scant to no experience in working with the wizards of Kesh and this was most likely his first encounter at witnessing the arcane power unleashed by the Kesh ruling class.

  Running this time back to the opposite side of the tower, he leaned over and found his Chief Lieutenant standing at the front of their formation with his sword drawn. Gaining his attention he yelled, “Lieutenant Stryker, ready a brigade for an assault on my mark.”

  The large, young man nodded and barked an order that caused the center group to bring their weapons up to a horizontal position and place their left leg in front of their right in an attack formation. Turning back to his captain, the muscle-bound officer waved his sword in acknowledgement.

  As Cregg turned he walked back over yet again to the western side where he was starting to feel something akin to a yo-yo with all his necessary movements. There had to be a better way but the look on Captain Stallo’s face gave him cause for concern. When Stallo pointed far out over the Blackthorn Forest, Cregg squinted trying to see what the man was pointing to.