by Bill Albert
They didn’t know what to say and just stood holding hands until Jakobus joined them.
“Did he tell you anything?” Luvin asked.
“He’d been used as target practice for those beasts twelve times,” Jakobus said plainly. He was in too much grief and shock to react any other way. “Each time he survived they ‘rewarded’ him by making the weapons bigger and using more attackers. He told me there is another human, an acolyte of Zaslow’s, who dealt with them directly.”
Gallif brushed back her red hair and held it tight. This was something she hadn’t expected.
“He’s a small, dark skinned man who’s a caster,” Jakobus continued.
“Quickly,” Gallif said to Luvin. “Tell Pate and Anamita that. Make sure that they know what to look for.” Luvin ran off and Gallif turned to Jakobus. “I’m sorry. We can’t take that body with us.”
“I know,” he nodded sadly.
Luvin quietly called from the entry way. They turned and saw him waving at them, so they quickly joined him.
From the larger cave that entered the arena opposite them they could see lights moving. There was definitely someone coming.
As it got closer they could see a number of torches and soon made out the figures of orcs. They were unable to tell how many, but they were well armed and armored. As they came closer it was apparent there was something large behind them, but no one could identify it.
Gallif held her sword tightly as it was clear there would be no way to avoid a confrontation. Jakobus swung his axe a few times in preparation and Pate and Anamita also had tight grips on their swords. Luvin, who was standing behind Gallif, prepared his bow and arrows.
They got as close to the wall as possible so only Gallif and Jakobus could see into the arena and the rest waited for their signal to fight.
Three orcs entered the arena. They were together but not in a marching formation and a few seconds later three more orcs walked out. Behind them two more orcs emerged and finally, pulled on a chain like a freakish pet, was a cyclops. The cyclops was twice as large as the fake cyclops and was bigger than any giant they had ever seen.
Gallif motioned for the others to stay back as she and Jakobus stepped into the arena. The orcs, only fifteen feet away, all stopped and stared at them.
“You don’t want this to be a battlefield,” Gallif warned them as she took a fighting stance.
They looked at each other briefly and then all but the orc holding the cyclops’ chain came forward brandishing their weapons.
Gallif and Jakobus prepared to advance but before they could move they heard Pate’s voice behind them and realized he was casting. She saw five of the seven attacking orcs suddenly hold in place. The other orcs came forward, stumbled briefly over the statues in front of them, and then started running.
Gallif and Jakobus met them outside the entrance and Gallif’s flame sword collided with a heavier long sword. The orcs strength was considerable and Gallif shuddered at the impact but quickly stepped to one side. Jakobus ducked beneath his opponent’s long sword and struck hard at it. The armor was hard metal but the blade from the axe did considerable damage. She saw Pate and Anamita run to one side to go after the orc leading the cyclops and a second later smiled as one of Luvin’s arrows shot over head. Luvin missed its eye but planted itself directly in the shoulder.
Gallif ducked as a sword passed over her and she followed with a hard cut at the orc. She shifted the swing slightly and hit it in the division between the right shoulder plate and metal arm bands. The orc howled in pain and tried to swing back, but with its arm now weakened, the attack missed. It switched the sword to its left hand as Gallif stepped forward with another attack. It made several weak attempts to kill her but the aim was off and she made three strikes against the leg bands. Two of them broke on impact and the third one became lose. She hit at the exposed leg and the orc kneeled forward from the pain of the wound. She downed the orc with a furious blow.
She looked at Jakobus and saw that he had been having as much success with his opponent as she had with hers. Confident that he could take care of himself she ran around some of the held orcs and joined Pate and Anamita. She was relieved that the orc who had been guiding the cyclops was dead, but worried about the consequences. The cyclops was on the loose and completely out of control.
Pate and Anamita were on the opposite side of the behemoth and trying to strike at its legs but the arms and massive fists were swinging so erratically they couldn’t get close enough to hit it. At regular intervals Luvin’s arrows would soar through the air at the monster. They struck their targets several times and a number of them had punctured the bare arms and back. There were no large boulders or loose rock for this cyclops to use as a weapon so it had grabbed anything it could find. It was using orcs in each hand as clubs.
Gallif knew this was bad and she sprinted as fast as she could toward the cyclops and impaled its right leg with her sword. The beast howled in pain and took some wild swings at her. She stayed down and close hoping that if she kept out of sight it would miss her. The other danger was keeping away from being trampled as it changed positions.
Jakobus came around the immobile orcs and stopped not knowing how to get close enough to help her.
Gallif realized that the situation was getting worse and she was on her own for now.
Luvin’s arrows struck the cyclops in its neck and it paused for a moment as it reacted from the pain. It dropped one of the orcs it was using and tried to remove the arrows. Its hands were so big it had difficulty grabbing the small shafts, but it eventually pulled them out.
Gallif, still beneath it, noticed that its movements had slowed and started running towards Pate and Anamita. This time she ran directly into the cyclops’ view. It swung with all its strength at her and the armored body of the orc caught her. She was thrown and groaned wildly as she hit the rock wall a full twenty feet away. She rolled to the ground and stopped on her back, too stunned and hurt to move as the huge cyclops pounded towards her for the kill. It raised the orcs as high and she could only watch as it took aim to smash her to death. She didn’t blink as the weapon came hurtling down toward her defenseless body.
A few feet away from killing her, close enough she could see the frozen look on its face, it came to a stop as if suspended in time.
Gallif was not fully aware of what was happening as Pate wrapped his arms around to pull her out of the line of fire. Anamita joined them and they both carefully picked her up and hurried her away.
Jakobus joined them and looked intensely at Gallif. “It doesn’t look like she has anything broken,” he announced.
“I’m not sure. She may be just stunned,” Pate said.
Luvin joined them at a full run and gripped Gallif’s motionless hand and held it tightly. By now Gallif’s eyes were closed as she slipped into unconsciousness.
“We have to get out of here,” Pate said.
“The holding cast on the cyclops could wear off any second,” Anamita said.
“Where can we go?” Pate asked Luvin.
“That tunnel I was telling you about will be safe enough. There’s a small safe space we can lay her in. It’ll be a rough climb.”
“I’ll follow you,” Pate said.
Luvin was about to argue when he realized that Pate was the only one big enough and strong enough to carry her up the tunnel. It would take both Jakobus and Anamita to steady him and Luvin had to lead them. He knew the safe spots along the way. He nodded and they followed him as he hurried to the escape tunnel.
The climb was difficult but as a team they made it to safety. It was barely big enough to hold them all but Luvin got as far to the back as he could get and cradled Gallif in his arms.
He quietly held her and stroked her red hair as the others kept watch to make sure they weren’t spotted from above or below. As he looked at her, as he listened to her shallow breathing, he knew old feelings were stirring inside him.
***
Gallif’s eyes
flickered open after an hour of seeming lifeless. She was better but was still weak. Luvin looked down at her and smiled tenderly. She winked at him and he giggled as he pulled a small pouch from a pocket. He pulled off the cork and poured a little water onto her lips. She licked the water up and he poured the rest into her mouth for her to swallow.
“She’s awake,” he whispered and the other three quickly turned to check her progress for themselves.
“How do you feel?” Jakobus asked.
“Tired,” she said. The best she could manage was a whisper. “A little sore.”
“Do you want a healing potion?” he offered one to her.
“No,” she said and slightly shook her head. “I’ll be okay in a few minutes. The armor will take care of what’s left. Did I miss anything? Where are we?”
“About fifty feet above the arena,” Pate said. “The cast on the cyclops wore off and it went berserk. We couldn’t see anything from here, but there was lots of noise and I think it killed the orcs. It’s been quiet since then, but I don’t know if it’s dead or just wore itself out.”
“I don’t think I really want to know,” Anamita said.
“I agree,” Gallif said. “It won’t do us any good to go back down there any way. I also imagine that there’ll be others coming as soon as word gets around something happened.”
“Can you climb okay?” Luvin wondered.
“I should be fine,” Gallif said as she slowly sat up. “Is there any way we could block this way up so they couldn’t follow us?”
“No,” Jakobus shook his head. “Not without risking a cave in on top of us.”
“How far up will we have to go?” Gallif asked Luvin.
“Quite a ways,” he said and looked up the shaft. “There is a small opening, like a rock bubble, where the climb stops and breaks off in several directions sideways. That’ll put us pretty close to where I have some things hidden.”
“Exactly where is your hiding place?” Pate asked.
“Exactly where I need it to be,” Luvin stared at him.
“Fair enough,” Pate said to everyone’s surprise.
“Well,” Luvin said after taking a deep breath. “It’s tough to describe. There’s no markings or anything, just cave after cave, and you have to know which one is right.”
Pate nodded that he understood, and they all looked at Gallif as she approached.
“You,” Gallif said pointing to Pate. “I want you and Anamita to check the rear. Luvin, you are up front with me. What kind of traps are there to watch out for? How many are there?”
“It’s clear until we get to the next level. The area he uses as a temple has a few traps around it. Nothing too serious, but it frightens the aquilus.”
“What about after that?” Gallif urged him to continue.
“From what I’ve seen they get tougher. Some traps don’t kill a person but can do some pretty serious damage. He doesn’t want anyone uninvited following him up there.”
“Then comes the shaft you mentioned?”
“Yes. We’ll have to find some way to follow him up. Do you have any levitation or flying casts?” he asked and slowly turned towards Pate.
Pate clenched his teeth as he shook his head.
“So, let’s get moving,” Gallif said and pulled herself to her feet.
Gallif and Luvin led the way on the next part of their journey. Luvin had been right in that it was quite a climb and after several hours they finally reached the open area with the tunnels leading off vertically. Covered with dirt and sweat, they pulled themselves onto the flat surface and lay quietly for a while until they caught their breath. Pate was the first to rise and he looked at each of them carefully.
“Where is he?” Pate asked angrily.
Gallif, Jakobus and Anamita rose and looked around to discover that Luvin was missing.
“He left us here?” Anamita guessed.
“No,” Gallif protested strongly. “He wouldn’t just leave. Especially not with me here.”
“Then where did he go?” Pate asked suspiciously.
“To get these,” Luvin said as he came from one of the tunnels. He had several cloth bags with him, and he tossed small ones to each of them. They opened them to find dried meat and fruit and they all started munching on them quickly. The food wasn’t the best they had tasted, but they were very hungry and needed the nourishment to keep up their strength. From another bag Luvin pulled an axe and handed it to Jakobus. Jakobus gasped and took it gently as if it were a glass treasure.
At first the axe looked like the normal one he used with the exception that the blade was shinier and sharper. That image changed when he took it by the handle and gently swung it back and forth before him. As it moved the blade seemed to blur and shimmer as if it were moving at different speeds at the same time. When he held it steady it looked very normal but when it moved it there was obviously a considerable cast upon it.
“It’s a shadow axe,” Jakobus whispered in awe. Luvin nodded and the rest looked at him questioningly. “It’s like having two blades that travel in the same direction just a second a part. You hit with the first and the second one also hits the mark,” he said. “Every time.”
“So, we have three cast weapons with my swords and your axe,” Gallif said. “How many arrows do you have?” she asked Luvin.
“As many as I need. The quiver is cast as well and there will be one whenever I reach for it.”
“Four weapons,” Gallif smiled and corrected herself as she finished off the last of the dried fruit.
“What about us?” Pate asked as he motioned to Anamita.
“No long swords, so far,” Luvin informed him.
Pate let out a disgusted sigh and asked, “Why doesn’t that surprise me?”
Luvin started to speak, but was interrupted when Gallif stepped between them.
“Enough,” she said angrily and grabbed them both by the collar. “You two don’t have to like each other, I understand that, but if we’re going to get out of this alive you must work together. I’m not telling you to trust each other. I’m telling you to just remember who the real enemy is. Got it?” It was clear by the tone in her voice that there was no choice but for them to agree.
“How far is it from here to the temple?” she asked Luvin.
“It’s almost half a day’s walk. It’s uphill part of the way, but not steep.”
“Let’s go,” she said and started walking with Luvin by her side.
They walked for some time without encountering any other signs of life. There were times that the passage closed in so that they could only travel single file and Gallif lead the way with assurances from Luvin that there were no traps here. She held her flame sword in front of her to keep the path visible while Jakobus used his pure white torch as well. Occasionally she would look back at the group to make sure everyone was there and after five hours of travel she saw that being inside the mountain was taking its toll. When they found an area wide enough for them to huddle she called them all together and let them rest. She stayed awake while Pate and Anamita feel asleep next to each other. Even Jakobus’s seemingly inexhaustible energy had ebbed and he was soon sleeping with the shadow blade in hand. Luvin tried to stay awake with Gallif, but they were quiet, and his head bobbed several times and he nodded off to sleep.
She sat unmoving and listened to his breathing for a long time. Finally, she reached over and gently ran her fingertips across his lips, chin and jaw. He looked so different now than he had back at the school. It hadn’t been very long, but he looked as if he had grown considerably. More confident and experienced in just a very short period of time, she thought. She also remembered his last words to her on that day. She leaned over and gently kissed him on the lips before she looked away.
Barely two hours later she woke them all and started marching.
Luvin estimated they would reach the temple in an hour when the tremor hit. This one was much less intense as the last one and only lasted a few seconds. They were
covered in dust and a few pebbles had broken loose from the ceiling, but there was no damage.
Soon Luvin brought them to a complete stop and asked them to hold back a while. He went forward just to the edge of their light and kneeled over. He studied the ground carefully and then returned to them.
“There is a mechanical trap just up here,” he informed them. “There is a pressure plate covered with a thin layer of dirt. It’s got acid bulbs underneath it. Step on it, the bulbs pop, and anything in a ten-foot radius gets destroyed.”
“Can you disarm it?” Gallif asked.
“No,” he shook his head, but he was not ashamed. “These kinds of traps are permanent traps. Once set they either get tripped or, eventually, decay and then the acid leaks out and still burns anything. Very nasty. Follow in my footsteps exactly.”
Luvin went to the area he had explored and made a very small line in the dirt. He took a large step over it and then drew another line on the opposite side of the plate and warned them to be careful crossing.
Only ten feet away Luvin found another acid trap and twenty feet from that he found a third. There were a variety of traps at irregular intervals along the tunnel and were closer together the nearer they got to the temple area. The only trap they failed to clear was a small and relatively harmless trap that Pate set off. There was a sudden shower of skulls circling around him, but Gallif reached in and pulled him away before the illusion faded. Luvin kept quiet and didn’t scorn him for the mistake. He knew that tension was pretty high at this point and they had all been scared for a second.
Before long they could hear movement ahead of them. The tunnel was narrowing and Luvin suggested that they crawl the rest of the way. He informed Gallif that there were no traps ahead, so she confidently led them on.
She paused briefly as they approached the mouth of the tunnel. There was no sound at all coming from the temple other than the crackling of torches hanging off at some distance. She moved close enough that she could get a view of the area outside and understood instantly why Luvin had chosen this irregular tunnel to hide. He joined her at the cave mouth, and they looked out at the freakish church.
