The Secrets of Starpoint Mountain

by Bill Albert

“Sometimes I think you make that stuff up,” Pate teased her.

  “Sometimes I do,” she said and did not let him see the smile on her face.

  The path leveled off and they walked steadily for another mile. They continued but soon had to hide as an orc patrol passed them. Before they could emerge, another patrol passed them. Interested in why there was such a break in the routine they followed the patrols when they were sure there were no others behind them.

  They moved as fast as they could and kept up with them, but the orcs were more familiar with the pitfalls and curves of the cave system and they soon started to fall behind. The patrol was finally out of sight and Gallif was tracking them.

  They traced their path into a series of caves that were off the main line and stopped when they heard combat up ahead. They could hear the definite snaps of swords colliding. Expecting there was another punishment session or practice going on they did not want to alarm any orcs or aquilus to their presence.

  They got to a turn in the cave and waited knowing the combat was very near. They could hear by the reduction in noise that it was nearly over. They stood against the rock wall and peeked out around the corner.

  They were both relieved to see Jakobus landing a fatal blow on an attacking orc. It dropped to the ground in a heap and they heard the death grunt of another that died out of their sight. At first it was as if Jakobus was turning to look at them, but it became obvious that he was speaking to someone just outside the mouth of the cave. Unable to wait any longer they started running to join their friends.

  They entered a large area that looked like it had been used to store food and clothes. Jakobus was in the center as they emerged; he could only stare at them in shock. Along the far wall Luvin had just finished off the last orc with his hammer and froze as he realized who had just entered. Neither of them spoke or even moved and both Gallif and Pate were stumped as to a reason. Their friends turned to a cave opposite the one they had emerged from.

  Gallif stood opposite them with her flame sword in hand. Another Gallif, a second Gallif, staring at them. Identical images.

  “Shifter,” Gallif yelled and moved to attack with her sword swinging. The other countered her move and they struggled briefly before Pate stepped in. He grabbed each of them firmly by the collar and pulled them apart. He did not release them but held them tight and looked at each of them.

  “Yes,” Pate said with distaste. “A shifter in our midst.”

  “Which is which?” Jakobus asked as he and Luvin joined them.

  “This one is the shifter,” Pate said shaking the Gallif he held in his left hand.

  “No,” that Gallif protested. “It isn’t me.”

  “It’s her,” the Gallif held by his right hand said. “I was with you coming down the cave.”

  “What’s the casting on the sword in my sheath?” Pate challenged the one on his left.

  “A flame sword,” she answered. “I found it for you after Spire was killed.”

  “No,” Gallif called. “That thing is reading my thoughts. I can feel it try and use me.”

  “Don’t let it confuse you,” Gallif said.

  Pate stopped and looked at them and they could see by the look on his face it was too late. His confidence in which one was which was fading away and he was unsure of how to proceed.

  “Can you cut them?” Jakobus asked. “As we detected before it was the smell of the blood that told the true identity.”

  “It’s not as easy as that,” Pate said sadly. “You can’t just scrape them to tell. You have to open them up.”

  “What do we do? How do we tell?” Jakobus asked and added a dwarven prayer.

  “I’ll tell you,” Luvin said from behind them.

  Both Pate and Jakobus nodded and Luvin came forward slowly. He faced one Gallif and looked deep in her eyes. He had known her longer than the others and had hoped there would be something that would give away her true nature. Unfortunately, there was none. Luvin looked at the other and then back again.

  Without saying a word, he reached under the leather skirt of the armor and pulled away a small red velvet bag with a black string. He held it gently, balanced it, and then looked again from one Gallif to the other. In a swift move he pulled the twelve-inch knife from her thigh and drove it straight through her heart. He knew he was right; he knew he had killed the shifter, but it still tugged at him to see her die. As the body dropped, he threw the velvet bag to the ground and wrapped his arms around the real Gallif tightly. Breathing heavily, he kissed her on the cheek and finally stood back.

  “How did you know?” Jakobus asked.

  “It managed to read your thoughts and shift into an exact replica,” he said looking deep into her green eyes. From his own armor he pulled out a small red velvet bag with a black string and held it to her. “You thought you still had this,” he said.

  Gallif realized she had been holding her breath and exhaled quickly. She took the bag from Luvin and replaced it under her armor before kissing him on the lips.

  The horrible smell of the shifter’s real blood was filling the room and they looked down on the lifeless body. Though the shape remained the same, the life and the power had gone. The armor was now normal brown leather and the flame on the sword had been extinguished.

  Unable to look at the body any more Gallif took Luvin by the hand and started to walk away. Pate looked at Luvin respectfully.

  “My father had faith in you from the start,” Pate said. “It took his son a bit longer.”

  Luvin looked him straight in the face and then nodded without saying a word.

  “Someone is coming,” Jakobus warned them.

  They all listened and could plainly hear a large group approaching up the same cave Gallif and Pate had come from.

  “Which way?” Gallif asked Luvin.

  “This,” he said and pointed off in one direction. “It’s night now and they never worked in this area at night. I’m not sure what’s between us and that shaft upward.”

  “But we know what’s behind us,” Gallif said quickly. “Go.”

  They were almost out of this storage area when the first of a pack of orcs entered. They didn’t look back as they ran, but they could tell by the barks and growls from behind that they had been spotted and were being followed.

  The path was fairly straight and even and Gallif and Pate took the lead to light the way with their swords. Despite everything the pack of orcs was gaining on them and they knew they had to turn and fight.

  “Luvin,” Gallif called as they ran. “Get right behind me. When I turn to make a stand open my backpack and grab the hammer inside.”

  “What?” he called back in confusion.

  “Just do what I say, dammit!”

  With the flame sword in her right hand she grabbed his arm with her left. She halted and swung around so he was directly behind her within easy access to the backpack. He reached in and grabbed the cast hammer. He did not take the time to study exactly what properties it had but got beside her ready to fight. He was as shocked as the rest of them to find that the orcs had stopped pursuing them.

  They had not lost them in the tunnel, nor had they given up. They had just stopped at one point and were howling at them.

  “What happened?” Gallif asked.

  “Look,” Jakobus spoke quickly. “There is something on the walls.”

  The walls of the cave where they had stopped were no longer just natural rock. They had been carefully carved with runes and other symbols in a complete circle. Jakobus took a few steps forward to look at the carvings closer. The orcs did not approach him but howled and jumped around excitedly.

  “Can you read it?” Gallif asked of Jakobus.

  “No,” he said. “They don’t look like any language or religious symbols I’ve ever seen. If this is some sort of orc language the discovery would change long held beliefs. Unfortunately, they mean nothing to me,” he said as he stood and rejoined them.

  “But they mean something to the
orcs,” Pate pointed at their opponents.

  “Yes,” Gallif admitted. “But look at their behavior. They’re not acting like we’ve escaped them. They look like they are teasing us.”

  The rest of the party looked at them and soon agreed with her observation. The orcs weren’t spitting or grunting at them like they normally would. They were howling, jumping up and down, and even patting each other on the back.

  “You said no one came past this point at night,” Gallif looked at Luvin. “Do you know why?”

  “No,” he admitted. “I never could make it past the storage area back there. They keep it pretty well-lit and occupied. I could just see this far.”

  Gallif looked at the direction they would need to head and said, “There are no torches on the walls at all here, either.”

  “Whatever’s there is bad enough to get the orcs to stop,” Jakobus said.

  “They were impressed by the color and light show at the temple,” Gallif reminded him. “We were not.”

  “Of course,” Jakobus agreed and nodded that he was ready to move forward.

  “You ready to go?” she asked Luvin.

  Luvin had been studying the hammer she had given him. He balanced it in his hand and noticed there was almost no weight to it at all. It was very easy to move, and he knew he could hit more often in combat.

  Gallif came up to him and gently put her hand in his. “Let’s go,” she whispered to him and they started walking up the tunnel.

  They kept looking back until they were out of sight of the taunting orcs. Once there Gallif took the lead with her flame sword in hand and Luvin directly behind her. Jakobus produced a torch for her to carry in her left. He followed Luvin with his weapon in one hand and a torch in the other while Pate brought up the rear with his flame sword burning bright. They had only gone a few feet when the trouble started.

  There was a light far ahead of them. Gallif came to a stop and held both the sword and the torch behind her to make sure it wasn’t a reflection. This light remained constant and didn’t flicker like a flame but as she stood still and watched she soon realized that it was moving towards them.

  “Jakobus, come here,” she ordered and stepped to one side as he joined her. “You’ve probably got more experience than any of us here. Do you recognize that?”

  “I think so,” he said after a while. “As you observed before it’s probably night outside now and as Luvin told us people have been inside Starpoint Mountain before.”

  The image was much closer, and they could make out the shape of a figure in a dark, almost black, cloak carrying a large red glowing sword. As the specter came closer they soon saw that despite the light they could see through the entire image.

  “People have died here,” Luvin whispered as he fought the fear.

  “And remained here,” Gallif said and took several steps forward. She tossed the torch at the approaching phantom hoping to distract it. As she suspected the torch passed through the figure and did no harm to it.

  The specter was only a few feet away from her and she took several swings to disturb its path. It halted briefly as she was close to the hood of the cloak and Jakobus stepped in with the shadow blade. The weapon hit the specter twice and it buckled and howled in pain, a howl loud enough they all shivered, but kept going. The specter’s red glowing sword flashed down at Jakobus, but he ducked, and it missed. Gallif was very close and the sword caught her in the shoulder, and she felt the burning sting of the specter’s strike.

  The specter kept moving and Luvin struck at it with his new weapon. The first strike hit and pushed it aside, but the second strike went wild. Pate came forward and brought his long sword down hard in an arc that should have split the specter in half, it harmlessly passed through. The specter had its own undead light and heat source, so the cast of the flame sword had no effect.

  Luvin stepped up and took two strikes at the figure. Being cooler the hammer and the shadow blade would do considerable damage. He struck it both times and the howl of pain echoed through the tunnel. It was so loud they stumbled as they tried to protect their ears and this time Jakobus was hit by the red sword. It connected with him in the mid-section, but he managed to make a hit and do twice as much damage to the tail of the specter’s cloak. The edges of the figure were now less defined, and its movements were noticeably slower.

  Pate saw what Gallif was doing and came forward with his long sword ready to attack. Gallif caught his movement and also approached with her sword. With the specter between them they were able to hold it in place while it took several wild swings at them that missed.

  Luvin took one side and started attacking with the hammer while Jakobus struck at it from the other side. Several times the red sword swung down in defense and Luvin’s attack was distorted. It took a few attacks at Jakobus, but his smaller size kept him out of reach.

  The four of them, working simultaneously, managed to keep the specter in place. Soon the edges had faded out and the movements were slow enough that they could be easily avoided. Even the scream of pain had weakened, and they were able to hold their concentration.

  With one final burst Luvin made two attacks dead center and the specter faded out of existence. They waited silent and unmoving for several seconds to make sure it was completely gone. When there was no sound or light other than their own, they quickly collected their torches and started moving along the incline of the tunnel.

  They broke into a trot and made good time for several minutes and then abruptly stopped when the tunnel leveled off. It was a flat, open area and dozens of undead were clawing their way out of the ground.

  “Revenants,” Jakobus called in surprise. They all knew that there had once been a terrible massacre here and the dead wanted revenge.

  Gallif cursed and yelled to try and get everyone through the open area. Pate had just crossed when they turned to look ahead and found it was already too late. There were at least a dozen revenants already out of the ground and coming towards them.

  Pate called for them to stand back a second and cast holding on the undead bodies. Half of the oncoming horde stopped in place, but the rest kept marching.

  Gallif advanced for combat, but Jakobus grabbed her arm, looked her in the face, and then pulled her back. He cut in front of her and, followed by Luvin, started to lead them through. She knew that in this case Jakobus and Luvin, with their ability at multiple attacks, were better suited in front but she still felt odd to be following.

  Jakobus and Luvin kept swinging and slowly were taking down the revenants. These undead had no weapons but their bodies were solid and strong and usually defeated their prey by crushing them either with their physical strength or large numbers.

  She heard a shout from Pate off to her side and turned to see a revenant had started to dig its way out of the rock wall next to him. A boney hand was tightly gripping his arm. She took the flame sword and slashed with all the strength she could muster. She hit the wrist exactly on target but only caused minimal damage. She swung again and again and it took six strikes to break the hand off. Even separated it held on to Pate, but its grip weakened, and it soon fell loose. After the bodies were broken up in combat the remains fell to the floor and finally sank under the rocks to where they were reassembled.

  Jakobus and Luvin had moved forward several paces and Gallif and Pate quickly joined them but kept their eyes open to prevent anyone from coming at them from behind. Several of the revenants that were held by Pate’s casting were still standing to one side. Those that could move were strong, but still moved slowly and Gallif finally pulled some of the held ones to the ground to block their way.

  Jakobus and Luvin were making slow headway. There were still five walking corpses directly in front of them in this group alone.

  A large revenant began to claw its way out of the wall near them. Pate was closest and started attacking it with his sword before it could completely emerge.

  Gallif grabbed one of the last revenants that was held and tried to t
ip it over. It was heavy and well balanced, so it was difficult to move. She leaned into it to get a tighter grip and a second later realized she had made a dangerous mistake. As the hold casting on it broke it wrapped its arms around her and started to squeeze. She tried to call but it had pulled her face too close to its chest and her voice was muffled. She desperately held her breath fearing that inhaling the smell of decayed flesh this close would make her sick and weaken her. She tried to swing back with the flame sword in her right hand, but with the position she was in she could only make some feeble hits on its legs. The grip on her shoulders was tighter and she knew the protection of the armor would only hold against so much pressure. She leveraged her body against the trunk of the revenant and managed to pry her left arm free. She quickly pulled the twelve-inch knife from the strap on her thigh and drove the point directly through the revenant’s neck. Its grip on her weakened, but she was still trapped. Without looking she reached up, pulled the knife from the body, and then jabbed it in hard again. She was relieved as its crushing grip on her lessened again. From behind her she heard Pate call to her to get down. She released her stance and let herself drop just before she felt the warm breeze of Pate’s flame sword crossed over her head and decapitated the revenant. He grabbed its arms and pulled them away from Gallif with so much strength the arm came completely off.

  Luvin had seen the attack and had turned to check if she was okay. She yelled for him to watch over his shoulder but it was too late. A revenant had burst out of the wall behind him and grabbed his left arm with the weapon in hand. Pate called for Luvin to drop and moved quickly. Luvin took the axe in his right hand and struck at the revenant’s leg and Pate destroyed it as he had the last one.

  She took a quick look back and saw that the revenant’s that they had destroyed earlier were already reformed and clawing to the surface.

  “We just have to stop them here,” Gallif said. “Let them come to us,” she spoke quickly. “Time for you to cast again,” she added.

  “I can think of one, but it could totally close the tunnel,” he said as he watched the revenant’s approach. “We’ll never be able to get out.”