Augury Answered

by Phillip Murrell

  At hearing this, both Dorris and Lalindra started to cry.

  “Never! You’re a liar!” Crusher yelled, unable to accept the fact that Borin was dead.

  “I don’t lie and I think that you know that already,” said Krag. “You were worthy opponents once upon a time.”

  “You are not worthy enough to eat the dirt under my fingernails!!” a barbarian shouted at Krag.

  Krag did not like this comment and shot a fireball at the prisoner who spoke and killed him very slowly. The man screamed and Tare, who was standing nearby, could hardly contain his anger. He would have attacked Krag there except, he knew the battle was coming.

  “I hope I don’t have to do that to anyone else,” said Krag. “However, in three days, I will kill one of you every hour until you decide to become scavengers.”

  With that, Krag left the room that was silent except for the screaming of the burning barbarian and the soft sobs of individuals.

  The Army of Peace rose early the next morning. They had many preparations to make. The entire army went to a meeting hall that Gulture added to their new kingdom.

  “Everyone, please be quiet!” David shouted.

  The room fell silent after a couple more times of repeating this order.

  “Thank you,” David sighed. “Before I give the details of our plan to attack Castle Doom . . .”

  At the sound of the word “attack” many men cheered. It took David a few more minutes to quiet everybody down again.

  “First, I must remind everyone that women and children will stay here and guard the base . . .” started David.

  Some teenagers were upset at hearing that they had to stay and would have argued, except for the fact that their fathers’ silenced them. David waited until the room was quiet once again.

  “I know that some of you are upset at being left behind,” said David, “but we need some of you stronger men to stay here and protect the women.”

  The teens got the idea and realized that they wouldn’t be going and that was that.

  “Now, one more thing before I explain the plan. Many of you will not be coming back. If anyone is scared, you may stay behind and no discredit will come to you,” David said.

  Not a single man decided to step down. In fact, not one of them even thought about it.

  “Good. I am happy to see that all of you still want to go through with this. Now, here is Borin’s plan,” David said as he explained it with the maximum amount of detail desired.

  All of the women and children left to prepare a meal for the men. In most cases, it would be the last meal cooked by their families that they would ever eat. After that, David explained what each man was to do and they nodded as they got their assignments.

  “OK, now everyone get your weapons, rest, eat, or do anything else you need to do before we leave tonight,” David instructed.

  Everyone left except David, Dawayne, and Tricks.

  “I need to talk with you two,” David said to them. “How do you expect to get to the sewer vents if scavengers are posted all along the wall? They can use their magic to see in the dark.”

  “Perhaps Gulture can cast an invisibility spell on us that would last long enough for us to get inside Castle Doom and find a place to hide,” Dawayne suggested.

  “Good idea,” David commented.

  “I get them once in a while,” Dawayne joked.

  “I know,” said David. “But since you were the one with the great idea, you can go get Gulture.”

  “I knew you were setting me up,” Dawayne sighed.

  Dawayne ran off and came back a couple of minutes later with Gulture right behind him.

  “I got him,” Dawayne said.

  “Thank you, Dawayne,” said David as he turned his attention to Gulture. “Gulture, can you cast a spell of invisibility that will last long enough to let us sneak into Castle Doom and hide?”

  “Yes, I can and the spell also allows anything you touch to become invisible as well,” Gulture answered.

  “Good,” Tricks said. “Our plan is sounding better with each passing moment!”

  “I just hope that we can defeat Krag without losing many lives,” said David. “C’mon, let’s go get some of that food before it’s all gone. After all, this may be the last good meal we ever have.”

  “We will all survive,” Tricks said. “Be optimistic and think positive or we will definitely fail.”

  “Lord Krag, I have just received word that our army was defeated at Sweet Meadow,” a scavenger reported.

  “What?! How could my army be defeated?!” Krag bellowed. “Bring me the scavenger in charge of that battle!”

  A scavenger entered the room very slowly and obviously frightened for his life.

  “you were the captain in charge of the force that attacked Sweet Meadow are you not?” Krag asked.

  “Yes, my Lord, I am,” the scavenger said as he swallowed hard. “All the kingdoms are putting up teleport barriers and firing cannons on us like the Army of Peace did before you defeated them.”

  Krag fumed with anger then became calm.

  “I understand,” Krag said.

  “Thank you, my Lord,” the scavenger said as he released a huge breath.

  “I understand that you must die!” Krag said as two other scavengers grabbed the first one’s arms. “The Bloodsuckers.”

  “NOOOOOOOOO!!!” the scavenger screamed as his weapons and armor were taken from him. “Anything but the Bloodsuckers!!!”

  The scavenger was tied upside down with his back towards Krag. Krag was handed a bunch of ant-like creatures, which he threw on the scavenger’s back. The scavenger screamed in agony. The Bloodsuckers stuck their six tiny legs and head into the scavenger’s back and started to drink the blood. After a while, the Bloodsuckers were fat as bumble bees and they entered the scavenger’s body. There, they would sleep until the next day when they would begin to eat the scavenger’s organs. He stopped screaming so he would die quicker, but he knew that it would take several years until he would be dead.

  In the prison, the members of the Army of Peace heard the scavenger scream.

  “He has the Bloodsuckers,” one knight said frantically. “Krag will do that to us if we don’t convert.”

  “Shut up, you!” Tare shouted to the knight, “or I will tell Krag to kill you first.”

  The screams came again and then stopped.

  “Poor bastard,” Crusher thought to himself.

  “OK, everyone. We are about to go to the forest by Castle Doom,” David said.

  “Remember there is to be no talking when we get there or we may be spotted by scavenger patrols,” said Borin.

  “Yes, it is very important that we are silent. I also suggest that everybody here try to get some sleep. That is what I am going to do when I get into my hiding spot. Keep a few watches up and rotate on shifts so that everyone will be at their peak performance tomorrow. Any questions before we go?” David asked.

  There weren’t any questions for they had been briefed to the highest extent.

  “OK, Gulture, we’re ready,” David said.

  There was a blur as the Army of Peace flashed across the land to their destination.

  “OK, everyone set up and get some rest,” said Borin.

  “Tricks, Dawayne, and Gulture, come here please,” said David. “OK, Gulture, in the morning, make the images and then have the army march onto the battlefield. As for right now, make us invisible.”

  Gulture waved his hand and the other three seemed to vanish.

  “Are you still there?” Gulture asked.

  “Of course we are,” said David.

  “You sound as if you aren’t very confident in your magic,” Tricks said.

  “This isn’t my magic,” Gulture said. “It’s not my magic, it’s Krag’s. I’m just making sure it worked.”

  “Now you sound as if you don’t have much confidence in Krag’s magic,” Dawayne joked.

  “I don’t,” Gulture responded quickly in a joki
ng manner. “When you are hidden well enough inside the castle, give me the thumbs up sign.”

  “But, if we are invisible, how will you know when I’ve given the sign?” David asked.

  “I can cast another spell that will let me see you when you’re invisible,” Gulture answered.

  “Then why didn’t you cast that spell earlier? Why did you have to ask us if we were still here?” Dawayne asked.

  “I forgot about it,” answered Gulture. “Well, get going. Oh yeah, and good luck. You are definitely going to need it.”

  “Yeah, you too,” David said back.

  “See you when this is over,” Tricks added.

  “Yeah,” Dawayne said.

  David, Tricks, and Dawayne headed for the castle. They used their grappling hooks to get over the moat of acid surrounding the castle. The hooks hit the wall and made a loud CLANG!

  “What was that?” a scavenger asked another.

  “I don’t know. Let’s go check it out,” the other responded.

  David, Tricks, and Dawayne all held their breath. However, the scavengers couldn’t find the cause of the noise and gave up.

  “That was close,” David whispered.

  The three swung over the moat to the other side. They then let go of the grappling hooks, which vanished and reappeared in Gulture’s hands. They walked around the castle until they found one of the sewer vents. David opened it and the three crawled in. Dawayne closed it behind them. The three sneaked through Castle Doom, occasionally pressing against the walls when scavengers passed by. Dawayne tripped one of the scavengers once and his partners scolded him.

  “This looks like a good place to hide,” said David.

  They walked into the armory and hid behind a big pile of cannon balls with the least bit of discomfort. David then gave the thumbs up sign and they became visible once again.

  “I believe that we agreed for you to take the first watch,” David said to Tricks.

  “Yes, we did,” Tricks agreed as he watched for scavengers.

  David and Dawayne went to sleep. Tricks stayed on guard and caught himself every now and then drifting asleep. After a while, he woke David up.

  “My turn?” David asked, waking back up to reality.

  “Yup,” Tricks answered.

  “OK, you can go to sleep,” said David.

  “I’ve been waiting all night to hear those words.”

  Tricks went to sleep.

  David looked around the room and saw some barrels of gunpowder. This gave him an idea. He started to load cannons and position them around the room. The cannons were all facing different directions. He linked the cannons to a three-foot fuse. He then spilled all the gunpowder around the room. David looked around the room and was satisfied. He went behind the cannon balls to watch again, but the rest of the night was uneventful.

  chapter 9

  The Fall of Castle Doom

  The Army of Peace woke up early the next morning and got prepared. They lined up the ten cannons they brought at the forest’s edge. Twenty men stayed to operate the cannons and the rest of the men formed lines and began to march towards Castle Doom. The lookouts spotted them immediately.

  “Krag! An army is approaching the front gate!” a scavenger yelled.

  “It can’t be the Army of Peace so who is it?” Krag asked.

  “I don’t know,” the scavenger admitted.

  “Well find out,” ordered Krag.

  “Who are you?” the scavenger asked the man leading the army.

  “We will only answer to Krag,” the man answered.

  “I am here,” Krag said. “Who wishes to speak with me?”

  “I am Bonsker,” the man answered.

  “Well, Bonsker, why have you come here and what do you want?” Krag asked.

  “We seek revenge for what you have done to the Army of Peace and a countless number of other armies,” said Bonsker.

  “You are fools, but brave ones like the Army of Peace. Since I admire your courage, I will give you thirty minutes to change your mind and go back to where you came from,” said Krag.

  Gulture teleported into the weapons room where David, Tricks, and Dawayne were.

  “I guess it’s show time,” said David.

  “You guessed right,” Gulture said. “Are you guys ready to rumble?”

  “Yeah,” David, Dawayne, and Tricks all said together.

  “Then let’s go,” Gulture said as he waved his hand.

  The door unlocked.

  “Don’t forget to free the prisoners,” David said, reminding Gulture.

  “I won’t,” Gulture said.

  David aimed his Power Sword at the fuse for the cannons and shot off a flame.

  “Let’s go,” said David.

  The four opened the door to leave and unfortunately ran into two passing scavengers. David took one and Tricks handled the other. These two scavengers were tougher than most and neither David nor Tricks could kill them.

  “David, Tricks, move out of the way,” Gulture said.

  The two men flipped backwards as instructed. The scavengers charged, but when they were directly in front of the door, the fuses were up and the cannons blasted. The two scavengers were blown away. Everyone outside was bewildered, but the cannons outside opened fire on Castle Doom, leveling one of its walls. David, Dawayne, Gulture, and Tricks charged down the hallway. Gulture used his magic to make the drawbridge disappear. Krag looked back and saw David.

  “It can’t be!!” Krag yelled. “You’re supposed to be dead!!!”

  “Yeah. Don’t you just hate the Army of Peace?” said David.

  Gulture teleported to the prison cells. As he did this, scavengers surrounded the three that were still there. Then the Army of Peace attacked from outside. Scavengers teleported outside before any of the attacking soldiers could get inside. The scavengers paused when they saw troops attacking the base. This gave David, Dawayne, and Tricks time to cut their way through the pack of scavengers. They killed seventeen in the process. Krag teleported to the top of a tower to watch the battle and nobody saw him do this. Nobody, except Dawayne. However, Dawayne saw Dogar run and went after him instead.

  “What’s going on?” Dorris asked.

  “I don’t know, but it sounds like a battle,” answered Crusher.

  “That’s right,” Tare said, taking off his helmet.

  Tare threw his helmet at one of the two scavengers, knocking him into a pit of lava under the cages. Tare then drew his sword and stabbed it through a scavenger’s face.

  “Get us down so we can join the fight,” said Crusher.

  “Right,” responded Tare.

  Tare pulled a lever and all the cages opened. Gulture appeared and he, Lalindra, Maria, and Dorris teleported to the outside of the castle. The remaining troops grabbed their weapons from nearby and were just in time. Tor and plenty of scavengers entered the prison.

  “Die!” Tare yelled as he cut off a scavenger’s head.

  Crusher picked up a scavenger and broke him over his knee. Tare was fighting tough and charged Tor with his sword pointed. Tor stepped to the side and grabbed Tare by the shoulder. Tare felt his scavenger armor evaporate and then Tor stabbed him through his back and out his stomach. Tare didn’t have a chance and died. Tor then realized that most of his scavengers were dead and he retreated. However, he did have plenty of people chasing him.

  Borin stabbed his spear through a scavenger’s body and swung it off at another. The other scavenger got up and Maria shot it with an arrow. Both armies were losing troops by the second. Brad cut a scavenger’s neck and then flipped it over his back. The scavenger landed in the acid moat. A scavenger charged Brad from behind, but Borin used his spear as a pole vault and kicked the scavenger into the moat as well. Maria took aim with one of her arrows and shot a scavenger through the leg and it stumbled backwards in the moat. Everyone in the Army of Peace started to force scavengers into the moat and some fell in themselves. Tor had taken a few scavengers and went to get the dra
gons. Tor and about fifty scavengers swooped down and started burning people in the Army of Peace. Maria saw this and shot an arrow into a dragon’s eye. The dragon went out of control and fell down a cliff. Tor, however, escaped this fate by jumping off his dragon. He landed in the middle of three members of the Army of Peace and killed them all quickly.

  Tricks and David ran through the castle with about ten scavengers chasing them. David shot a flame off and killed one. David and Tricks made a sharp turn around a corner and stopped. When the scavengers came around the front, two of them were blasted by fire. Then, Trick’s kicked the next one in line and they all fell down like dominos. David and Tricks killed the scavengers before they could get up.

  “C’mon,” David said to Tricks.

  As the two ran down the hall they were spotted by twenty scavengers and immediately pursued. David and Tricks turned around a corner, but found it to be one that the cannons had blown down.

  “Whoa,” David said. “Walk slowly.”

  David and Tricks walked across the narrow piece of ground. When the ground widened, David turned around and cut the ground. It became loose. David and Tricks then ran down the hall. When the scavengers came around the corner, the ground caved in because there was so much weight and they fell to their deaths.

  Crusher turned around and swung with his mace. It smashed a scavenger’s head in. Five scavengers advanced on Crusher and he killed them all with so much style that you wouldn’t expect him to be so big. Crusher worked his way to the outside of the castle since this was where most of the fighting was taking place.

  Dawayne was chasing after Dogar. Dogar passed a single scavenger. This caused Dawayne to stop. He had never killed a scavenger and was a bit intimidated by the sight of the scavenger’s evil, black armor. The scavenger swung his sword at Dawayne, who ducked and crawled through the scavenger’s legs. Then, he got up and jumped on the scavenger’s shoulders. Dawayne pulled out both of his daggers and stabbed them into the scavenger’s neck. The scavenger fell down dead and Dawayne continued to chase after Dogar.

  Scavengers were chasing Dawayne and Tricks again. David saw an air vent and Tricks followed David as he entered it. The scavengers passed and Tricks kicked out the vent. Three scavengers were knocked over the side of the castle and Tricks battled the last one. Tricks swung at his enemy with his katana, but the scavenger blocked the attack with his shield. The scavenger swung at Tricks with all of his might, but Tricks jumped over the blade and did the splits in the air. While in the air, Tricks slashed between his legs with his katana. The scavenger dropped his sword and then fell to the ground. Tricks then kicked the body over the side of the castle.