Chapter 2: New Friends
Great stone walls appeared on the horizon, as the immense towers we had seen earlier had foretold, but now we realized something else. The great city of Lyandar was under siege. We could see the besieger's metal war machines hurling stones, lobbing fireballs, and battering the gate. A thunderous boom reaching the caravan moments after the battery ram struck again.
"Well this is just great! How the fuck are we supposed to get in now!?" Laurez exclaimed, yet again extremely pissed off. She really needs to find an outlet for her stress.
"We could throw you in there and they'd all shit bricks," I stated simply. "Then you could use those bricks to..."
"Fuck off asshole! Stop giving me reasons to beat the shit out of you!" She spat as her mailed fist whistled over my head.
"Calm yourself Child. I still know more things than apparently this siege's commander and you combined. There is a way," stated the small, grey mouse.
"Then explain to me how the fuck we are supposed to get in. The city is in a mountain inlet, we have a thirty-eight damn wagons, and. Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Tail, Ow!" Me and Saum were spluttering, trying not to laugh. Apparently Laurez had forgotten who she was talking to. Nemin now had the tigress's tail clasped firmly between two large stones held in place with her powerful magic.
"Watch your tongue Miss! You don't talk to your elders in such a manner unless they are drunk and on the ground. Your anger will be the death of you. If you had allowed me time to explain I was about to tell you about the tunnels." All this was said without a hint of anger, but instead with the tone of a parent scolding a child.
"Ooh I love tunnels. They're dark, mysterious, sometimes infested with spiders, and occasionally have treasure!" Saum exclaimed with her tail wagging furiously. She was hopelessly off topic again and had only heard the word "tunnels".
"Saum, the tunnels are a passage into the city. I doubt there they're very dangerous," I sighed. "Dammit," she replied appearing extremely crestfallen.
"The tunnels are a system of many passages, both natural and man-made, through the mountains and out to the surrounding roads. The tunnels are most likely in use at this moment by the city; otherwise it probably wouldn't have survived this long. This particular section might not be in use right now, but they all link up to a central hub road. Also because these tunnels are meant as emergency roads, they are big enough for our wagons," explained Nemin. Her mind could multi-task really well so she had probably already started to map the route, calculate the time for travel, what spells to prepare, debate whether or not to let Laurez's tail go yet, and think about what monsters would be down there. She did all this while giving Saum a bemused look at her outburst.
"First we need to stop and make camp somewhere. The road is too dangerous so we will need to find a clearing of some sort," I reminded.
"I was getting to that Child. There is an off shoot up ahead that leads to the tunnel. We can set up camp along there"
"Oh very well," Laurez moaned still rubbing her tail, "We'll need to get going now though. I want camp set up before sunset."
The wagons had been pulled into a rough oval shape off in a clearing by the side path. The smell of roasting meat and delicious desserts wafted through the air, rising above the trees and attracting unwanted visitors.
"Umm, that smells delicious Tryen. The food never is dull when you cook for us," I said to the plump squirrel. Tryen was along in the caravan for one main reason (only one because Laurez doesn't value his cooking very highly. She doesn't think good food is important.), because he can haggle better than she can. He was a elderly man, about the equivalent of 63 years old, with dark red fur that was redder than mahogany. He still spoke in a peculiar way that people spoke when he was a child, tending to lengthen words and take his time.
"Why thank ye very much. I hope ya like the way I's made the ham," replied the cheerful squirrel. Nothing could put a damper on his spirits. Even if he had been in Lyandar since the siege started, he'd still be as cheery as he ever was.
Soon the meal was over. A few members had gone to the stream nearby, filled the water skins, and got some sand for washing. Soon the cleaning was almost done, with everyone cleaning their own dishes and helping the cooks. Suddenly the contented silence was broken.
An arrow whoshed from trees, roughly coming from the direction of Lyandar, and imbedded itself with a loud Tong-K in Tryen's pot. The hiss of the arrow had immediately alerted everyone in camp, and by his quick wits, Tryen had blocked the arrow with the pot. Realize what he had done he shouted towards the woods, "Ye damn ruffians! That thur was me best pot, and yew just stuck an arrow in eet!" his accent increasing because of his anger. He drew out a great crossbow and aimed it into the forest.
A malicious retort came back: "There will be more if ya don't turn back from whence ya came. Now get!" The voice sounded like that of a larger human or an orc, perhaps a hobgoblin. Not really caring, I charged into the woods. His words were ended by a loud thunk as Tryen sent his bolt into the forest, and a pleasing scream met our ears.
"Well lets see what those arrows can do to me!" I challenged. The rest of the camp followed suit, still having all their armor on from the days travel. The enemy charged back, with a few horses appearing out of the woods and arrows whizzing past me. I saw on a horseman's tabard the same symbol that was on the flags of the siege camp. Skillfully flicking my sword, I completely missed the horse, but created a gash from the man's left shoulder to his right leg. He screamed as he fell but I didn't notice. I was already fifty yards away, intent on more prey. I sighted an archer shooting from behind a felled tree. In one great stride I over took him and severed his arm. The soldier stared in disbelief at the severed stump before he fell mercifully into unconsciousness.
The furs easily cut down the horsemen simply because we had greater reflexes and stood roughly the height of their horses. The thunder of cavalry was gone in the first five minutes, the foot soldiers falling more gradually, but the archers hidden in the woods were dwindling extremely slowly.
I grunted as I pulled a bolt from my arm before recklessly charging deeper into the forest. The archers quickly fell before my bloody wrath, their arrows bouncing harmlessly off my scales. As another bolt pierced my leg, I saw a spear impale him. Looking up into the trees, I saw many cloaked figures springing nimbly from branch to branch, slaying the remains of the "customs" patrol. I headed back towards the wagons to gather my troops against these new appearances.
As I limped back to camp, a snow leopard jumped down from the trees, landing lightly in front of me. She wore a chainmail surcoat under her druid's tabard, clearly defined by the dark brown color with a golden tree in the middle. She held a wooden staff that appeared as if it were a living piece of wood. Her golden hair cascading down past her shoulder, and even her knees, with it elegantly braided so as to provide no advantage to her enemy while still looking extremely stunning. Her bright green eyes shown on me intently in the twilight.
"Allow me to heal your wounds," she said forcefully, reaching out to grab my. Her already cool touch cooled even more as divine power surged through her grasp. I looked at my leg as the wound quickly closed without even the slightest scarring.
"I thank you for healing me, even though I could have done it myself, but I really must be heading back to the caravan," I said to her as politely as I could in my haste.
"Very well then. We shall see you in the morning. Do not worry about setting watch, we will watch for you and make sure none of them survive," She replied curtly in an extremely business-like manner.
"Fine," I shouted back to her as I ran towards camp. As I was running, I caught sight of an ogre, possibly the sergeant or lieutenant, try to sneak through the trees towards camp with a few soldiers. He was wielding a great flail that was emanating steam, telling me it was enchanted to deal bitter cold blows, and a large round shield. I had been wrong, the patrol's leader wasn't an orc, it was an ogre. Against my better judgment, I drew my sword, prepped my shield, and charged towards the small group.
A few of them turned at the sound of my footsteps and shouted in alarm, but they weren't quick enough. Five were dead before any of them had drawn their swords. As the bodies fell heavily to the ground, I turned toward the remaining three. The ogre's face was contorted in rage as he bellowed orders to his two remaining men. "Don't just stand there, smash his skull open!" he bellowed. At first the two men hesitated, but then charged forward. Using my shield to meet one's clumsy slash, I impaled the other on my sword. I brought my shield down and jumped towards the other soldier, his head hitting my shield with a sickening crack.
"Ugh, if you want somethin done, you got'ta do it yourself!" The creature muttered angrily as he loped forward. He hefted his flail and swung it in a mighty downward arc. Jumping nimbly to the side, I thrust into his stomach only to have my blade turned aside by his armor. Blocking his next sidearm swing with my shield, I slashed at his leg and was rewarded by a grunt from the creature. Knowing that I wouldn't get anywhere fast this way, I glanced around for an opportunity to strike his unarmoured head. I saw my chance with a gap in his armour at his shoulder. Seizing a spear from one of the fallen, I swiftly pinned his sword arm to a tree. He howled in pain from the wound, and attempted to yank the long shaft out. Leaping into the air, I bounced off the tree and cut several great gashes in its head. The beast almost immediately fell to the ground, but was supported for a mere second by the spear shaft, which promptly broke under the ogre's weight. Having thought my job was finished, I turned panting back towards the camp, but with its dying breath it swung the great mace and clipped my foot.
I crashed to the ground feeling the foot go cold from the magical frost. Calling upon my divine magic, I slowly healed the wound enough to where I could walk on that foot. Deciding it wasn't worth the effort though, I spread my wings and labored into the air wary of the branches of the trees.
I tumbled down heavily in the middle of the camp next to the fire, and people rushed to help me. As the last one back, people had feared the worst, and thought the ogre had killed me. They set me on one of the few cots, and that's when I saw my foot. The whole back portion of my foot was black with frostbite. They thought there was little that could be done for me, since limbs that have been removed, or are dead like frost bite and burns, can only be healed by a skilled cleric. Sadly we did not have one traveling in the caravan. They wrapped my foot in a warm cloth and left me alone, knowing that I would talk about my experiences in the morning.
As soon as they had all left, the snow leopard from earlier today swung in from the window, landing gracefully in the portal of moonlight that shone from the window. She strolled casually over and grabbed my bad foot with her iron grasp. I was about to question her when I felt the cool wave of healing pass over my foot. Soon the healing was done, my foot looked and felt normal, and she turned to leave. Knowing this was my last chance to find out who her and her people were, I jumped out of bed and got a firm grip on her arm.
"Not that I'm not grateful, but who the hell are you and why did you help us?"
She struggled a little before realizing that my grip was even more powerful than hers. "I'm the high priestess of my clan, now let go of me you bastard!" she snarled angrily.
Even though she had told me little, I was able to figure some things out. "Well that's a start. You're the high priestess of one of the Vaeran in this area, but you didn't answer my question. Before you say 'if you don't let me go, you'll all be dead by sunrise,' trust me, we won't. You're people are just as tire as mine. Now, what is your name, and why did you help us?"
"My name is my own business," she snapped, "And we didn't help you. We killed them because they were evil, helping you was a byproduct. We are standing watch over you because we know you mean no harm."
"Alright. Thanks for your help. We could repay you with dinner and some goods. We are also looking for a mine shaft somewhere around here; can you help us find it?" I asked equally short.
"Fine. This will do us well. They have it fortified against outsiders. We will help you get there. You are the bait, and we will wipe them out while they are distracted. That will be the last of these intruders," her voice cool and stoic. She's showing me a façade I thought to myself, this will be interesting to see how long she can hold it up.
The next morning, I told the caravan members of the plan for the day: We would be assaulting an enemy outpost, and we would also be traveling with the people who helped us yesterday. Some grumbled about lack of trust, other just went along with it, and Tryen grumbled about his pot even though he fixed it by melting down some "ewrow eads" ,as he put it, to fill in the hole.
With the outpost being more than a day away, the day was fairly uneventful until the evening. Around four, the smell of blood washed over the caravan, and traces of red could be seen in the stream. After another ten minutes of traveling, the smell and moans of the undead came with the change in the wind. Fetid stench of corpses, moanings of zombies, the clacking of bone on bone, cackling of ghouls, and the chanting of wrights flowed through the air. Strangely, though, the ringing of steel on bone, flesh and steel also rang in the air.
Without any further thought, our bloodlust awakened, Tryen, Saum, Luarez, and I charged through the brush with Nemin following coolly behind, and from the shadow in the tree, I knew that the priestess was charging as well. As we entered a giant clearing, we saw the battle; a grey wolf now streaked with red was fighting a horde of undead. Poor soul probably wandered into this clearing full of crypts and graves. Whoever did this did a shoddy job though, I noted. The graves were barely a foot deep, and the crypt doors were just a few bound sticks and no holy markers to send the spirits on.
"Hah! Now this is what I'm talking about. The jolly dead that won't stay dead! I was beginning ta think that you talk'd me inta tis trip for nothin Ariedren," Hooted Tryen as he loaded a quarrel into his crossbow. The wolf spared a glance towards our party at the shout, but couldn't give much more as the undead swarmed in determined to finish this one so they could feast on the fresh meat. His scimitars resumed the deadly dance they had before taken, tracing shimmering lines in the air with the blood of the lifeless. The sight of these unholy abominations enraged me to the point that in less than five seconds, I had dived into the swarm and had killed three of them. Calling upon my holy powers, I blessed my sword and set to work laying the forlorn souls to rest whether they wanted it or not!
The undead were endless, literally swarming up out of the ground, but we were like a scythe on wheat. Our party, now with the addition of the priestess, mercilessly cut down any of the creatures in our way straight to the beleaguered wolf. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw us moving through the horde like a multi-bladed war machine, and fought with renewed effort. He focused his efforts in moving our way, but the undead were determined to have at least one victim and this one just oozed life (quite literally because he was bleeding from multiple gashes and several other wounds). Just as the darkness closed in around him, we reached his now limp form.
"God damn it! Tryen You got anything that can drive us a path through these abominations?" Saum screamed.
"Way ahe'd uv yah!" he replied smiling devilishly as he pulled something out of his enormous coat. Four red spheres and two white ones, each the size of a marble. Crying: "Try this on fuh size yuh undyin' bastards!" as he flung them into the crowd. On impact, each of the red spheres exploded into a burst of fire, while the white ones disintegrated the undead in their burst with some divine blessing.
Then two things happened at once: the explosions had left us a great hole in the horde; secondly, the priestess and I swore in unison. Our blood lust against these wretches had caused us to forget our most powerful weapon against them: our prayers. With our holy deities of good, we could banish the undead from this plane of existence and force them to ascend (or descend depending on their life). Each smite is unique to the combination of the deity and the caster. As a paladin of Bahamut, the draconic god of balance, along with my personality, made my smite a rain of swords comprised of pure holy energy. Though I knew not what god she represented, I knew her smite was powerful when I saw it. Holy energy speared through the ground disintegrating the undead it touched, much as my swords did.
Combining our abilities we protected Saum and Laurez as they dragged the unconscious wolf out of the clearing and back towards the camp. As I got to the tree line, I saw Nemin preparing a spell. She was completely out of this plane, drawn into her magic so deep that she no longer saw this world except for her targets. As he chanting reached a crescendo, she suddenly shouted "Atrazc Veler Te Suun / Melar Parasim estoreme Ovrun!" _ A wall of white hot flame erupted all around the clearing, trapping the undead inside. Those caught in the flame were quickly burned to ashes and taught the undead to not test the flames again. "_Veren Arraes Atrazc!" The circle slowly contracted burning more of the dead, and the smell of rotten flesh was soon replaced with the smell of burning flesh.
The smarter creatures hid themselves in the graves and crypts, but the skeletons and zombies were caught in the deadly fire. Flesh withered and bones shattered violently into hundreds of charred pieces. I was only brought out of the sight of this mass retribution by the sight of Nemin losing consciousness, drained by her massive use of magic. Quickly, I dashed forward and caught her, but almost let her slip when I saw what she had done. The field, once crawling with plants and undead, was now a black clearing. Red showed in some spots from where a creature had been cut down, and bones ranging from black as night to khaki littered the field. Even the undead that had crawled into graves had been incinerated. The once white marble of the mausoleum had been charred to black, and the heat was so intense that many of the tombstones were crumbled and broken.
"Come on we gotta g...By the Nine Hells! What the fuck happened?"I hadn't even noticed Luarez had come up behind me. Before I had even started to explain, she saw Nemin unconscious in my arms and again yelled so loud that the others came running. "Tell me, what the hell happened?"
"Well uhh, she uhh, cast some kind of spell and well, that happened. Fire and fire and holy shit." I mumbled fairly incoherently since I was still stunned by it myself. "Uhh, I think we should go back to the caravan, and get these two to a healer."
"I've already administered to the wolf, but he is only slightly coherent due to a fever inflicted by the undead. By the way, he said to call him Kesh, and my name is Larulashiarsh. Please call me Laru. Nice to meet you all."
"Harharharhar! She's like one uv dem truvles, cold an hard on the outside, but nice an sarft on te inside!" We all looked startled at Tryen as soon as he started that laugh of his, which sounds too old for him. It sounds almost like when one of the elders laughs. As soon as our astonishment at Tryen was over, it was Laru's turn. The fact that she just went and suddenly removed her cold façade shocked all of us (except for Tryen that is). "Nemin's gonna be sorry she missed this!"
An hour later, Nemin was conscious and had been filled in (she had even interviewed our new friend). Laru was sitting comfortably eating Tryen's stew with the rest of us. Kesh was sleeping in one of the wagons, too worn out from his efforts that day to join us for dinner. All there was now was that outpost. Damn that will be so fun. According to Laru, the outpost was another half a day's journey away and was heavily guarded. Tryen told me about some crazy machine he was going to make to help, but was sketchy about it. I hope it works and we all come through alive. Finally I lay down on my mat and closed my eyes, but my dreams were not pleasant, they were filled with spiders.