by C G Gaudet
“We’ll give you a couple of seconds,” I say, “And I can’t guarantee that.”
Breathtaking pain strikes my shoulder as a knife materializes out of the dark and embeds itself into my flesh.
Damage: 2
Current Health: 10
I rip the blade from my shoulder and biff it at the head of the nearest skeleton. The knife lodges into its skull, but it keeps moving forward without so much as a flinch. I switch my blade mid swing from a scythe to a sword when the same skeleton lurches into arms’ reach. Even with the quick switch, I’m not fast enough to stop it from jabbing the rusted short sword it carries into my side.
Damage: 4
Current Health: 6
I cut off the hand of the skeleton to keep it from making another attack, then swing wide to catch two others in the same swing, taking out their legs and knocking them to their knees. I press my hand against the fresh wound in a vain attempt to hold my insides in.
“Jameson,” I call out between clenched teeth.
“Almost.” Despite his assurance, the stream of curses he lets out in the next breath tells me how screwed we are.
A scream from Willow is cut off by a thud that sounds like I imagine a body falling might. I spin to be sure, and there she is, on the ground.
UNCONSCIOUS
The word screams at me from above her head. Talie and I must have both stepped aside to attack the incoming swarm and left an opening for the others. Talie drops to her knee next to Willow, a hand over the wound in her chest, leaving me to deal with the horde of attackers.
I dodge a sword by a hair, but have no chance to breathe my relief as there are a dozen more weapons coming for me.
“Got it.”
The door behind me clicks open and I shift the sword back into a scythe to force the attackers back by an extra few steps to give us time to get to safety.
Talie drags Willow through the door leaving Jameson and I to slam it closed behind us. The bang of the skeletons slamming their bodies against the door to try to force their way is echoed by the thud of my heart.
“Lock it!”
Jameson seems not to hear me as he stares at Willow and Talie. I reach around him to try to turn the lock and find why he ignored my demand. Where a key is meant to be placed, melted metal is in its place. Whatever he did to get us through the door means there’s no longer a way to lock the skeletons out.
Laughter fills the room and blue lights flicker into existence around the space. I turn to take a proper look at where we’ve ended up and find we’re in what looks to be a throne room. Unlike upstairs, where the stone was all neatly polished and well kept, in here weeds have pushed their way through the stones, cracking bits of flooring and causing a section of the ceiling to collapse in the corner to the right of the door. Rotten chairs and tables crumble to the side of room covered in moss and mold and on the far side of the room sits an impossibly large skeleton of a humanoid that must have been more than three times the size of anyone I’ve ever seen before. I’ve heard of giants before, but never thought the stories could be true. From the bulk of this decayed form, I’d say the stories undersold the hugeness of the creatures.
The only good thing about the situation is that the giant seems quite content to sit motionlessly on his enormous stone throne, though the shadow his body casts seems less inclined to stay still. It peels away from the floor by his feet and lifts into the air to have a strange flat form with constantly shifting edges. Its mouth gapes open in a smile to reveal a full view of the giant behind him.
“Welcome.” The laughter somehow continues to echo through the room even while it speaks. “I’ve looked forward to our meeting and can’t wait to bring you before the god of the underworld.”
He moves his arm and a long staff appears as though it’s materialized out of its shadowy form. But where his edges flow like mist, the staff appears solid with an intricately carved thorny vine wrapped up the top half, culminating in a black rose that seems to be perpetually losing pedals, yet never seems to get any smaller.
“Of course, to meet our god, you must first be made ready,” the shadow continues. “By which I mean you must die.”
I release a long sigh I’ve been holding in since we first met the skeletons.
“Yup.” I rub the building stress headache between my eyes. “That sounds about right.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Teamwork is Dreamwork
“I don’t suppose you have a potion to help Willow?” I ask Jameson while we keep our backs against the door.
It’s a pointless battle. I can feel the wood snapping, so even if we’re able to hold the door closed against the skeletons, they’re going to be able to get through soon enough either way.
“Only if we can get her conscious,” he tells me. “It won’t work if she doesn’t swallow it entirely.”
“Of course not.”
The shadow’s laughter grows so loud it hurts my ears and it shows how confident it feels about defeating us by turning its back on us. I assume that’s what it does, at least. It’s hard to tell when it’s a flat shape with no features, making it look the same from the front or back. Its staff is pointed in the other direction though, so I guess it turned.
As a black swirl of magic extends from the end of the staff and wraps itself around the bones of the giant king, I realize too late why it turned away.
The bones of the giant creek and groan as he slowly lifts his enormous form off the throne. I thought it was large while it was sitting. That didn’t reveal half of his full height. I can only imagine from the way the rags of clothes still cling to his bones how much bigger he would still be if he had his full girth.
“Talie?” My voice comes out as a whine as the full realization of how much trouble we’re in settles into the pit of my stomach.
“A minute,” she says just as desperately. “I need less than a minute.”
A glance shows me she’s staring up at the creature with just as much horror as myself, but her hand remains steady on Willow. A glow emerges from her hand and sinks into Willow’s wound.
I glance at Jameson who gives me a blank stare back. Nope, no help coming from him with this one. Looks like I’m on my own. Me and my remaining six points of health.
Alright, magic lights, tell me what I’m up against.
They flicker into existence over the skeleton’s head as though even the magic is hesitant to reveal how dead I’m about to be in a moment.
Giant King Croth – Undead servant of Latherty
Level 5 undead
Abilities
Attack: Bite
Attack: Smash
Well, none of that seems good. He grabs an item from next to his throne that I dismissed as being a fallen tree trunk. Ripping it away from the moss and growth connecting it to the stone, he tosses it onto his shoulder, causing a creak of bone that makes my knees go weak.
“Is that supposed to be a weapon?” I glance at Jameson who still hasn’t shifted from his wide-eyed stare at our impending doom. “The head of the thing is the same size as me.”
The shadow waves his staff and cackles. “Kill them,” he shouts.
“Or not,” I say just as loud. “That’s also an option.”
It takes an unsteady step forward causing the ground to quake with the movement before steadying itself and focusing the holes it has for eyes onto me.
I step away from the bulging door, leaving it to Jameson to hold for however long he can. Though it seems like we’ll be smashed to bits by this beast before the smaller skeletons ever get a chance to rip us apart.
My scythe spins in my hands just as easily as it did the first time I held the thing, though this time the movement pulls at my multiple wounds, making me wince in pain. Well, if I’m going to go down, I’m going to make it as difficult a job as possible.
I gather all of my pent up anger toward the idiot customers who would demand refunds on used candles, complain about there being slight flaws in the coloring
of the wax, or tell me how everything was too expensive and I should give it to them for free. I don’t even get free candles, why should you?
And don’t even get me started on the owner. That arrogant, self absorbed, chauvinistic, prick.
It’s after a flash of comforting letters appear before me claiming a “critical hit” that I realize I’m emphasizing each thought with a blow of my scythe.
Ha! I’m doing okay. A critical hit must mean I’ve damaged it beyond…
The hammer slams down on me and I only barely get my scythe up in time to take the worst of the blow. My legs buckle from the pressure and I scramble out of the way of his raised foot.
Damage: 4
Current Health: 2
That wasn’t even a direct hit. Just the pressure of the attack hurt me that much, I don’t want to think what it would feel like to take on the crushing blow directly.
Just as I have the thought, the giant swings its empty fist down on me, ready to grind me into the stonework. A flash of light skids in front of me as Talie uses her own body surrounded by a strange gold aura to block the attack and save my life. The giant appears slightly thrown off by Talie’s ability and stumbles back a step while flexing its bony hand.
I glance over to Willow, hoping she hadn’t just abandoned the girl to save me, but Willow is sitting up with her back braced against the door. Shards of wood have broken away from the door, giving space for the skeletons to reach their arms through, which Jameson and Willow both use as an opportunity to rip the arms off the first two monsters and use them as make-shift weapons to smash back the onslaught.
Talie readjusts her stance, causing a shield of light to form a half circle around her.
“I can give you a bit of shelter,” she says, “but you’ll be losing my sword.”
Great, so it will take a little longer for them to kill us. As far as I can tell, my attacks have done little more than scratch the ankles of the giant, and then there’s the shadow still watching and cackling in some dark corner that I have no idea how to deal with.
“The staff,” Willow says as she bashes a skeleton in the head with its own arm. “I saw it in the book. Its what’s controlling the skeletons. We need to get it away from the shadow.”
A bottle is pressed into my hand, but by the time I turn to look at Jameson, he’s already shifted away from the door and is slinking around the edge of the room to the side of the giant. Willow’s weight is not nearly enough to take care of the door alone, so he’d better have a good reason to walk away like this.
I cringe at the muddy looking liquid I’ve been handed. This is going to end badly.
Ripping the cork off with my teeth, I gulp down the entire contents and force myself not to gag on the sulfuric taste and gooey texture. Without waiting to figure out what change might have occurred, I slip around Talie’s defenses to draw the attention of the giant and keep him from noticing Jameson moving along the wall.
As I raise my scythe back to make my attack, illuminated words fill my vision.
Congratulations! You’ve reached level 3!
New Health: 21
New Defence: 12
Choose a skill:
> Shadow Walk
> Bash
> Precision Hit
I select the first option without thought just to get the bright lights out of my eyes and go back to focusing on the attack. As soon as I do, a strange sensation comes over me as though I’m looking at the giant from two places at once. In one view, the giant’s hammer is swinging directly down on me. The other is a view of the back of the monster, as though I’m looking on from somewhere near the throne. A much safer space and one I prefer to be in right now.
And then I’m there.
Somehow without so much as taking a step, I’ve moved all the way across the room and out of the strike area for the giant’s attack. Another image of being near a shattered table with a vine wrapped around the one leg still standing reveals itself to me and an instant later, I’m standing in that spot.
A grin pulls at my lips as a new sense of optimism fills me. Full health and the ability to move around the room at a whim? Let’s do this.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Blades and Bones
I slip into the shadow of the giant and deal him a quick blow with my scythe before dancing back into the shadow of the throne and out of reach of his retaliation. The motion is exhilarating and each time I swoop in and out, a sense of joy rushes through me. This is what I’m meant to be doing. I might not be able to take a hit like Talie, but dealing one feels right.
“Shadow walk.”
The shadow’s voice has a hint of annoyance as it names my new ability. I turn to look at where I think the sound is coming from, but there’s nothing but blue flames and broken stones to be seen. It’s faded into the walls again.
“No matter,” he says. “Attack my king as much as you like, you’ll never be able to get him down, not before you run out of stamina.” The staff peels out of the wall to point at the crumbling door. “Especially when you’re trying to take on hundreds of my minions.”
The door bursts open tossing Willow aside to roll across the floor to Talie’s feet. The magical barrier Talie was holding to protect both her and Willow from the giant drops as she turns to defend against the oncoming horde of skeletons. I make an attack on the back of the giant’s leg to try to keep his attention and for a moment I’m sure it’s worked. His bones groan as he turns back to the throne I climb onto for a better vantage point. If I could find a weak spot on him to at least disable his movement we’d be in a much better position.
“That’s right,” I shout. “Come at me, you ugly tub of lard.” Yeah, the giant has only bones and a few scraps of clothing left to him, but I can imagine he was fat in life. Fat and hideous with boils and a bulbus nose with snot hanging out of it constantly. “Your mother was a ball of slime and your father was a worm!”
I don’t know if he can hear me or he just sees my arms waving around to catch his attention, but either way, he’s taken notice of me.
“You fool,” the shadow growls. “Leave that one. Destroy the others. She will have her turn soon enough.”
The shadow forms out of its hiding space in the corner with the collapsed roof and raises his staff toward the giant. I blink and am standing in the same space as the shadow. I can see his arm reaching out of my chest, can sense his body flowing with energy I don’t understand. I attempt to grab his arm, but my fingers pass through the darkness, unable to find anything to grip.
His laughter fills the room as he blinks out of sight once more. A quick glance at the giant confirms he’s still lumbering toward the throne and whatever the shadow planned to do, I’ve prevented it for now.
Even without the giant attacking them, Willow and Talie are overwhelmed. They’re swarmed by skeletons with Talie doing everything she can to keep Willow from going down again, including taking hits she might otherwise be able to avoid. I’m about to go over to help when I remember Willow’s warning. They’re being controlled by the staff. Without stopping the shadow, the skeletons will just keep coming, no matter what we do.
The laughter suddenly cuts out with a shocked “What the--”
There on the far side of the room is Jameson with his hand clamped firmly around the staff.
“If I angle the light this way, it should be just what I need,” Jameson cheerfully says as he twists his body around to allow the blue fire behind him to shine directly on the shadow. The figures edges become even less defined as it shudders, clearly trying to get away. “Then if I place this bottle right about… here. Yes. That will do.”
Unable to grapple the staff from Jameson’s grip, the shadow releases it and rapidly shrinks to skitter away to a better hiding spot. As it does, Jameson dips down and I can imagine the sound of a soft plop of the cork he uses to seal the top of a glass bottle he had placed on the ground. He lifts the bottle up to his face and grins at his new capture of a shifting ball of shadow b
ouncing around trying to find a way out of the sealed bottle.
While marvelling at what Jameson has accomplished, and entirely unclear how a bottle could possibly hold a shadow but not wanting to question it too much, given it might have just saved out lives, I forget about the skeletons still swarming the room until Talie screams in pain. Jameson examines the staff in his hand for a moment, a sad look in his eyes.
“Willow!” he calls out, grabbing the girl’s attention away from the injured white knight. “Any chance that book tells you how to use this?”
The staff is flung across the room and Willow scrambles to catch it before one of the skeletons can steal it from her.
Talie throws up another barrier while she leans back on the floor, blood pouring from her side. I move to help when something catches my attention out of the corner of my eye. The giant has found me and his foot is inches from my head. I panic, throwing my arm up to defend myself, as pointless of a move as it might be.
“Stop.” Willows voice isn’t overly loud, but it rings out through the room with an energy that mimics that of the shadows.
I expect the weight of the giant to come down on me at any moment, but nothing happens. I peek out from between my squeezed eyelids and find the giant still hovering above me, no closer or further than when I noticed his attack.
I take the second of relief and move over to the shadow cast by Willow, where all the skeletons that were attacking the two of them also look to be frozen in place. She looks terrified with her book open in one hand and the staff raised above her head in the other. Terrified and powerful.
“Sleep,” she commands.
Black magic flows from the staff in a burst of mist. It pours out over the room and into the hallway and as it settles down onto the skeletons, they instantly drop to the floor wherever they stand, their bodies as still as a grave.