“Yes! We got it!” she cheered.
Around the creature, the grog dispersed. They quickly joined other groups around other grays and robed beasts while the flames grew higher. Kelthur blinked into existence behind the creature and grabbed its head with the whole of his palm. He squeezed, then blinked back to his original position as the robes fell, limp.
“Don’t get cocky! I don't need them all,” he bellowed.
The soldiers behind Lara froze, aghast.
“Don’t listen to him! We got one! He can’t take that away from us! Head down the line and pick off as many as you can!” Lara yelled.
They moved down the wall, setting up and taking down grays, though the robed creatures had apparently wised up. Still, the grog walls subsided as the grays fell, unable to control their wards. Diedra’s club flew from side to side longer than any of the other weapons on the wall, though even she could not reach her enemies consistently. Kelthur gestured from his spot on the field, and his armies retreated to take up a position around him.
“Enough,” he said.
For several minutes, Lara, her soldiers, and everyone else on Thogt’s north wall froze. They stared at Kelthur. Kelthur stared back. No one moved, aside from grog.
“I will not have my city’s wall destroyed simply because the traitors inside don’t understand their place. I will give you one more chance to leave. You have an hour.”
Kelthur disappeared. His forces moved towards the gate in the north wall, formed a column, and stopped.
“What are they doing?!” Lara yelled as she found Diedra in the chaos.
“I do not know. What should we do?”
“I don’t know, but I’m going to go see if we can get more help. Send someone back to the castle if you need me, but I’ll try to return as soon as possible.”
Diedra nodded. Lara practically flew down from the wall, taking a horse from a soldier and riding towards the castle. At this point, most people along the wall gave Lara free reign over anything she needed. She galloped to the castle as fast as she could to find Felas. Hopefully, with the full brunt of the army, these creatures wouldn’t be able to infiltrate the city even if they did send every grog from the mountains against one gate.
Running into the castle, Lara shouted at the first steward she found to get Felas. The young woman sighed. Lara understood that she had been calling for the king at all hours so often lately, but times were dire. After the steward disappeared, Lara jogged towards the council chamber. She arrived to see the usual two guards, but stopped short in astonishment. They were unconscious and on the floor.
Lara nudged one, then the other. When neither stirred, she drew her blade and stepped inside. The chamber lay empty, though one of the council chairs looked off center, as if it were just occupied. Torches on the wall barely lit the room, as if they were not tended in some time. Lara froze and listened. Light footsteps traveled her way from the far side of the room, where Felas usually entered and exited. With her blade pointed towards the throne, she waited. The footsteps didn’t move quickly, but neither did they slow.
Eventually, Danae walked into the room dressed in a nightgown.
“Lara! How dare you come into this council room with a weapon?!” she screamed.
Lara dropped the sword immediately, putting both her hands up, palms up.
“Danae! Danae, I can explain, please! Just-”
“You can explain? Good, because I need a lot of things explained.”
Lara cocked her head to the side and raised an eyebrow as Danae crossed her arms.
“What do you mean, ma’am?”
“No, please start with what you need to say. I cannot say I’m not disappointed with you bringing a weapon in here, but that has more to do with the situation at hand rather than your character.”
“I-I just… the guards out front are unconscious, and-”
“What?!”
“Yes, they’re both on the floor. I can hear them breathing, but I don’t think they’re merely asleep.”
“Pick up that sword Lara, and come with me.”
Lara did as she was told.
“What I was hoping you could tell me,” Danae said as the pair walked quickly down a hall behind the throne. “Is where my husband is.”
“Felas is gone?!”
Danae nodded.
“Are there ways to get out of the castle from back here?”
“There’s one passage that’s only to be used in an emergency, and it’s heavily guarded There are doors there that reach under the city. He is the king, after all, so I assume the guards won’t be of much help. I hear we’re under attack, as well. That sounds like an emergency to me.”
“It does, yes, but why wouldn’t he inform you? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you shy from any danger.”
“You’re not wrong, but Felas always wanted to protect me. It took him years to tell me exactly what was going on with Kelthur, and even then I don’t think I’ve gotten the full story. I’m essentially our ambassador to every civilized city or country on the continent, but even with the finest guards and weaponry, he assumes something terrible will happen if I go under the mountain and I won’t come home. I may be getting on in years, but the day I can’t swing a dagger is the day someone will have to plan my funeral.”
“I get the same feeling with Robert, you know. I never heard of any of these things, though if he knew more than you, he hid it well. We turned that office upside down looking for any help when searching the tunnels, and there was nothing.”
“As far as I can tell, Robert knew what we knew. He was a good man, but he definitely felt the need to take on more than was healthy so others didn’t have to. Here we are.”
Danae stopped in front of a simple iron door with no markings, save for the royal seal. She produced a key from a false stone in the wall and opened it.
“From here on out, you’ll have to ask the guards yourselves. I have to get dressed and assemble the council. Hopefully, we’ll get everyone who can’t fight safely tucked away. Then, well… I don’t know. See you when I see you, Lara.”
Danae offered her hand, which Lara shook before heading down the passageway. Behind her, the queen shut the door and locked it again. Lara turned forward and walked down the straight corridor, feeling somewhat confined. It was only large enough to accommodate one person’s width, and she wasn’t so sure Diedra could even enter the passageway. After what seemed like ages of jogging, Lara reached another door at the end of the dimly lit corridor. She pushed it open.
The moon was now high in the sky. Though she had no way to tell in the corridor, time definitely had passed. There was no way she could have emerged back along the northern wall so quickly. To either side of her, several fully armored guards stood, weapons drawn.
“Lara! What are you doing here?! That passage is only for the king and queen!”
“I know, I know! Danae sent me out this way to find out where Felas went. Have you seen him?”
The guards glanced at each other for a moment before one decided to speak.
“He took two soldiers and went down that street, why?”
“Apparently he felt no need to tell his wife, our queen, where he was going. If they weren’t running the city, I can’t say I’d be so alarmed.”
Lara thanked the guards, then jogged off down the street the guard pointed to. The street was empty, save for one person several houses down sitting against a cart. Lara ran up to them, but stopped when she got a better look at the person.
The man’s arm, at least what she could see of it in the moonlight, almost looked the same color as a grog’s.
“Sir! Sir, are you ok?!” she yelled.
The man groaned. When Lara came closer, he rose to his feet. The arm that Lara was worried about actually reached almost down to his knee. In better lighting, it looked like a grog arm had been sewn on to this poor man.
“Sir! I said, are you OK? What happened to your arm?!”
From behind Lara, a messenger
called out.
“Lara! We need you back at the gate, now!”
Panicked, she looked at the messenger, then back at the man with the disgusting arm. He advanced slowly, groaning with every step. She moved closer, turned her blade flat, and swung. It slapped the man in the face hard, but didn’t cut him. He fell to the ground and squirmed a bit, raising his other arm to his head. Before she turned, Lara wondered if she saw a hand or a claw come up with it, but had no time to think on the matter.
“I’m so, so sorry,” she said before turning back towards the messenger. “What’s happening?!”
Lara charged back towards the wall with the young man who came to get her. Kelthur had returned, though he remained far behind the mass of grog, grays, and robed creatures that made up his army. Aside from the archers and a small group of soldiers to protect them, every soldier available at the moment now stood either on the wall or behind Thogt’s northern gate. It took only a few seconds to find where Diedra, Nami, and Cecile stood, thanks to the height of the first.
“What is everyone doing here?! Why aren’t we firing on them from above?” she asked.
“We tried. It was not effective, so we stopped. If they charge, the archers have orders to fire again.”
“Are we expecting them to charge?!”
“Lara, you and I both know if an army advances, they’re getting ready to do something,” Nami said, her huge blade over her shoulder.
“Nami is right, Lara. With Kelthur returning, we must assume we are about to be attacked. Since they have lined up at the gate, it is very likely they will try to crash through.”
Lara sighed.
“Then I guess we’re fighting.”
Nami smiled, but instead of her usual wide pre-fight grin, it was warmer. More serious.
“Wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. They’re not getting our city without going through us.”
From over the wall, the grog howled. Shortly thereafter, every soldier behind the gate turned to look at it with weapons drawn as their foes slammed into the other side. Behind them all, Lara saw several carts turned over in an effort to create a barrier in case retreat became necessary. For now, the army stood in front of their improvised wall in neat lines, many equipped with shields as well as swords. Lara led the others up to the front, moving the other soldiers so that the four women would have a bubble of space for Diedra’s war club and Nami’s sword to swing freely.
The noises continued. Everyone could hear the grog tear bits of the gate away. Lara turned to the army behind her.
“Friends, it has been an honor to know you. I am not saying we won’t survive, but just in case, I want you to know how I feel. Good luck!”
The army cheered. Lara turned back towards her friends.
“Diedra, fancy a little bet? I’ll kill more of the runts than you, I say.”
The orc smiled, but only for a split second. Her attention, along with everyone else’s, was drawn to the gate.
After several more loud bangs, a single grog claw slammed through.
12
"Fire!"
After Lara yelled, dozens of flaming arrows shot from over the wall into the grog column outside. Despite the missiles hitting their targets, more bodies slammed into the gate, knocking bits of wood loose with each impact. By now, every guard Lara could pull from the other gates stood between this one and the rest of Thogt. Weapons at the ready, barely anyone in the army spoke.
"Do you think they're picking some off?" Nami asked.
Diedra sighed.
"Not enough. We have much work to do."
Above their heads, a claw jabbed through the upper reaches of the gate. Soldiers closer to the gate flinched, hoping not to get crushed under the tide of jaws and claws. More chunks of the thick wooden gate fell inwards as Lara tried to keep Thogt's army as close to the gate as possible without being in immediate danger. Though it would be hard, each soldier knew they must prevent any grog from getting past, lest they surely run amok in the city. One beast tried to wriggle through a larger hole in the bottom of the gate, but a pair of soldiers rushed forward to crush its skull. After the creature stopped moving, the soldiers retreated again.
Other grog kept hacking away at the gate. It was difficult, but Lara could hear the hissing of many grays in between grog hitting the wood. After her encounters with them below ground, it became second nature to pick them out.
"Hold! More fire above!"
Fighting in the gate itself, now that the grog piled up against it, would be suicidal. Lara figured their best bet was to hold Kelthur's forces immediately inside the wall. Some grog crawled through two large holes in the gate, but were quickly defeated by nearby soldiers. Though Thogt's forces suffered no casualties from these skirmishes, Lara saw each single grog bring more wood with it, a signal that the real battle was about to begin. After three more crawled through, fought, and were slain, she could hear the beasts retreat.
"What's happening?" Cecile asked.
"I don't-"
A concentrated force of grog bashing into the gate drowned out Lara's answer, splintering the barrier and sending shards into the crowd. As the soldiers lowered their shields, they saw a wave of the beasts follow their brethren in, howling for battle.
The initial crowd of grog struggled to climb over the fallen as the soldiers engaged with full force. Claws clanged off shields as counterattacks sliced through grog skin. Lara charged alongside Diedra, Nami, and Cecile straight into the center of the mass, letting the orc clear a perimeter with her mighty war club. What few grog managed to evade the mallet met with blades as the others stabbed, slashed, and gored any creature that tried to attack the orc's backside. Behind the four, Thogt's army clashed with the rest of the horde, holding the line as best they could.
"Lara, behind!" Nami yelled.
Trying to sneak up on Lara, two grog howled as they leapt towards her. One fell right on her blade while another missed entirely, heading straight into the edge of Nami's two handed sword as it cut the beast from shoulder to hip. Cecile parried a creature to the group's right, then immediately stabbed it through the breastbone as it fell off balance. Spearheading the group, Diedra kept swinging back and forth while stepping forward, parting the sea of angry beasts until she was practically standing at the gate.
"Watch out!" Cecile yelled.
Though the grog still poured in, they now parted themselves to avoid Diedra's wrath. Many opted to trot past the orc as a line of greys appeared behind them, hands raised. Diedra saw them lean back, then point directly at her. She dove straight down, lying flat, as mystical energies flew past her onto waiting shields and the flat of a two handed blade. Lara and the others moved up to cover Diedra so she could get up.
"Where were these hiding?!" Nami said as she swung wildly over the others' heads.
"The mountains are deep," Diedra said. "We have only begun to explore."
With the orc back on her feet, all four women fanned out to catch as much of the grog tide as they could without the possibility of hurting each other. Ahead, the grays tried to assault them from afar, but most of their invisible blasts struck grog that leapt at the wrong time. Lara dodged one that made it past the scrambling grunts, then spun to stab what she thought would be a grog racing by.
Instead, Lara faltered, faced with a robed creature not more than a few feet away. It raised lumps of tattered fabric and shuffled across the ground towards her. Diedra swatted away one grog from Lara's side, then another, and two more still. Lara tried to focus on her opponent and cut through the robes, but whatever was under old clothing moved far more nimbly than expected. One arm swung at Lara, then retracted quickly enough to prevent any counterattack. The creature advanced further and further, pushing Lara, Nami, and Diedra closer to the flow of grog, until it suddenly stopped.
A blade hacked at the robes around where the beast's neck should have been. Once, twice, and again, until the creature finally dropped from shock. Behind, Cecile stood, chest heaving.
"That took more than I expected!"
Nami's eyebrows lifted, but she had no time to remark. Grog, now lacking one minder, started to stray from the river of claws and pay more attention to the four women between them and the army. Each blade cut through flesh while the war hammer swatted beasts away, but the grog would not relent. Another robed creature appeared just outside the gate, reforming the grog into a river that flowed towards the rest of the army. Diedra fought against the mass, allowing her comrades to move further and further towards the group of grays. Blasts flying past them, Lara and her group ducked and dodged until they reached the grays under the splintered remains of the gate. It seemed odd that this line would be left to fend for themselves, considering the grog branched away from them, but Lara cared only for subduing the enemy. As she struck the closest one down, a mighty force knocked her to the ground.
"Fools! I'll have my city back if I have to kill you myself!"
Kelthur stood behind them in his fearsome armor. When he appeared, no one could tell, but there was no time to worry about such things. Nami swore as the underking barely missed her with his mighty fist. Lara attempted her own assault, darting to Kelthur's right and trying to run behind him. However, the beastly king turned with her, pushing her back with unseen force. Diedra brought her war club down on Kelthur's back with a sickening crack, making him flinch.
"Orc! Learn your place!"
Kelthur swung around with alarming speed and grabbed the club. With Diedra still holding on to the other end, he grabbed his end with both hands and tried to swing the orc off her feet. She started to budge before Kelthur roared again, Cecile's blade slashing the back of his knee.
"Do you know my husband's name now?!"
"Whelp! Leave my city!"
"Do you know his name?!" Cecile shouted, furiously swinging her sword again and again.
"I do not care! I only want what is mine!"
Behind Kelthur, Lara and the others could see that the grog were slowly pushing Thogt's forces back as Cecile faced the beasts' lord. One got past the front line to Lara's left, while a mass of the creatures were beginning to break a shield wall in the distance.
What Lurks Below Page 20