by Bill Albert
“We are happy to inform you that all remains well inside Spring Field. We have examined all of the buildings in the capital city and all of us here are safe. We have also heard from some of our rescue teams and are excited to confirm that the great city of Atrexia is mostly unharmed. This has been a terrible, dark day in the history of our land, but as long as we stay calm and stand together, we will remain strong,” he read and waited for the applause to taper off before continuing.
“We have committed all of our resources to finding out who was responsible for this terror attack. Be assured that we will discover those who are to blame, and they will be punished. As some of you may have heard, a human female approached the gates a few days ago and claimed she knew who the terrorists were,” the School Master paused and looked at Aliala before continuing. “This female, who some of you have heard of as Gallif, has been taken care of inside Spring Field.” There was a gasp amongst the crowd at the thought of being a guest inside the most beautiful places any of them had ever heard of. “We have listened to her tale intently and believe she will help us reveal the true evil we face,” he continued and could feel the excitement and relief sweep through the room. “You should all be very proud of her courage and bravery and she will be well rewarded.” There was another wave of cheers from the anxious students and teachers.
“It is ever important,” he continued to read and slowed to express caution, “that we keep our eyes and ears open and do not let our defenses down. This time of crisis would be the perfect opportunity for those who act against us to strike. We have also heard of attack groups of aquilus striking whenever possible. There have also been signs that they may have something to do with the loss of our monument.” Even he was shaken by the thought but controlled his fear and kept talking. “Remember to report any unusual activity or suspicious behavior to militia officers or other Giant Lord Representatives. We will make sure you are protected and rewarded for your faith.” The School Master finished the proclamation to a roaring applause, and he could feel the confidence in the room rise at the thought of the blessed Giant Lords saving them.
“Now,” the School Master said wanting to keep control of the situation, “we must do our best to support the Giant lords in their efforts to punish the aquilus. To do this, and to aid this war on terror, we will dismiss our regular class schedule for the rest of the day.” There was a murmur of confusion amongst the students and he called for them to stay calm and let him finish. “But we are not dismissing you to go home yet,” he said. “When you leave this room please report to your teachers. Some of you, most of the older boys, will be taken to the south field for combat training and target practice. Others will be used to help put together packets you can take to your families. Thank you all and bless the Giant Lords,” he said, and everyone started exiting the room.
After she got into the hallway Aliala’s best friend, Saraso, caught up with her. Saraso was a human daughter of dark-skinned parents who was a grade above Aliala.
“Didn’t that seem a bit odd?” Aliala asked in a whisper.
“Which part?” Saraso whispered back.
“That the aquilus could take advantage of this to attack.”
“Well, there have been outbreaks of attacks from the heartless monsters before,” she pointed.
“You’re missing the point, Saraso,” Aliala said and rolled her eyes. “The way the proclamation said they may have something to do with bringing down Starpoint. That sounds like they are organized enough to plan something that big,” she said in a whisper so low that Saraso had to lean close to hear her words.
“You’re putting too much into it,” Saraso shook her head to dismiss the idea.
“We’ve always thought of the aquilus as animals that don’t really think. They just react like rats.”
“But remember what happened to Zetta last year with the wild dog that strayed to her farm? Animals can sense the fear.”
“But sensing fear and planning that are two different things,” Aliala said and looked around her to make sure no one else was listening.”
Saraso grabbed her arm and pulled her to a stop so fast it hurt. “Listen,” Saraso said firmly. “You are my best friend but you’re talking nonsense. Trust what they are saying. Have the Giant Lords ever lied to us before?”
Aliala froze and asked herself that question again. As long as she had lived, she had been glad that they were all under the protection of the benevolent Giant Lords. Until now there had been no attacks on their land since the Goblin Blood Lords decades earlier and she had always trusted their guidance. “No,” she finally admitted halfheartedly.
“Good, remember that,” Saraso said firmly.
“Maybe it’s just the way so much has happened,” Aliala’s shoulders dropped as she looked at Saraso. “Look at the way everyone has reacted about her staying at our farm overnight.”
“Yes,” her best friend said and patted her on the shoulder. “You have been a bit different since you met her. I didn’t realize one person could change so much,” she smiled, and they started walking hurriedly to catch up with the rest.
“All it takes is one,” Aliala said and they split up at an intersection and started running to their individual teachers.
As she ran, Aliala couldn’t stop the uneasiness in her thoughts. Nobody had ever questioned anything the Giant Lords had told them because they were always kind and truthful. For reasons she couldn’t explain that just didn’t seem right anymore.
BOOK TWO:
GRAVE WALKING
ELEVEN: GRAY SUN RISING
Gallif was awake several hours before the rest of her group. She had slept well but woke up early knowing that something was wrong. She couldn’t find a position inside the fortress walls to see the horizon, so she slowly began working her way up through the guard posts inside. Some of the guards protested saying she did not have the authority, but she stood her ground pointing out that since she had permission to enter the Burial Grounds she could move freely in the encampment. All but one let her through, and he insisted on following her but stayed inside the covered ladder when she went on to the top. It was dark and there was no protection on either side so one wrong slip would mean a sheer drop.
She walked along the moist surface, not bothered by the steady breeze, with her eyes fixed on the southern horizon. As she had suspected, a very nasty storm was coming in from the distant ocean. It wasn’t just the night that made the clouds so dark and foreboding; but the turmoil that was in the heavy air. The clouds were moving quite fast and she estimated the storm would arrive at their location less than an hour after dawn.
She was about to climb down the ladder when a flash of lighting caught her eye. She stood facing south and watched the unusual display of nature.
The lightening of this storm was like nothing she had ever seen before. Instead of sudden but powerful strikes from the air to the ground, this lightening was different. It erupted from places inside the clouds as thousands of smaller streaks blossomed outward before fading. It was as if the lightening itself was crawling along the belly of the clouds to reach the edges but couldn’t quite make it. The accompanying thunder was low and very weak, but the dance of nature was enough to worry her.
Gallif heard a voice not far away, but it took a moment to draw her attention away from the storm to the guard with who popped his head from the ladder.
“Miss,” he said again. “You have to come inside.”
She took one last look as more lightening crawled under the clouds before joining him. The guard closed the top hatch once she was inside and made sure it was secured tight.
“I’ve seen plenty of ocean storms before, miss, but never nothing like that. It scares me.”
“Me, too,” Gallif said and started downwards.
Just outside the base of the wall she found Jakobus and Blinks waiting for her.
“We’re getting everyone up,” Jakobus said. “I figured you’d want to get going as soon as possible.”
“You heard the storm approaching?” she asked.
“No, something else,” he said quietly shaking his head. He knelt down and laid his palms on the ground. They were all silent for a few moments and then he looked up. “Gallif, Blinks, please feel the ground.”
They repeated what he was doing and almost immediately Blinks let out a peculiar cheer.
“That’s odd. I mean, well, not odd, what’s the word I’m looking for? Odd, yes, that’s it,” he said with his eyes blinking so fast Gallif had to close hers to concentrate.
She ordered Blinks to stay quiet and leaned forward leaning all of her weight onto her hands pressed against the ground. She could feel a slight tremble beneath the surface. It wasn’t happening in short bursts as if it were ground effect thunder, but a steady pulse. Even her ability to read nature couldn’t tell her what this was. She opened her eyes and looked at Jakobus hoping the dwarven nature of living underground could explain the source. “I don’t know what it is,” she admitted.
Jakobus looked her straight in the eyes and she could see the worry on his face but wasn’t prepared for the way he described it. “It feels like something moving.”
***
Gallif checked the horses waiting for them to come together. She knew that Jakobus and Blinks were ready to go and wasn’t surprised to see Marassa up and ready to go. Luvin took some pushing to get him ready. His hair was mangled and his eyes were red, but she wasn’t sure if it was just lack of sleep that had left him so disheveled.
She asked several of the guards, but none of them could tell her where Acrufix had spent the night. They thought he had gone to one of the private rooms after spending several hours entertaining them with his adventures, but they could find no trace of him anywhere. She was starting to get angry when he suddenly was spotted coming out of the barn. He claimed that he had been in there for some time, but Gallif had been in there herself and had not seen him. She wanted to confront him and question his strange behavior, but the darker clouds in the sky and a rumble of thunder told her there was not enough time. The sky to the north was lighted and they could tell by the shadows that the sun was over the horizon and a cloud belt from the south was almost overhead.
Lyledge and his guards escorted them to the gate leaving the fortress and entering the thick forest of the Burial Grounds. This gate was very different from the outer entrance. It was much smaller and was adorned with tokens for several different gods. She quickly found a carved set of open hands, the symbol of her own god Tebiet, the dwarven god of nature and animals. This was the god her parents had worshipped and she had followed. Though it was unusual to worship gods from other races it was not unheard of or frowned upon. As she scanned the collection she was surprised to find tokens from some of the lesser known, impure gods. There was a jug for Putara, the dwarven god of ale, a wheel for Rosmoto, the human god of movement, and coins for Bushk, the human god of money. There were apples for Cide, the human god of reproduction beneath a trident for Dentel, the god of war and a club for Gageb, the god of power. Both Dentel and Gageb were pure gods of the giants with very few followers from other races. Gallif took a quick glance at the hands of Tebiet, patted them gently, then lead them into wild lands beyond.
***
With Marassa by her side Gallif lead them steadily along their journey. Just after entering the thick woods, she had drawn her flame sword and used it as a light to guide the rest. Jakobus lit up one of his own torches and gave another to Luvin to carry. Blinks travelled between the two of them and Acrufix stayed in the rear. Despite the bulky armor and face plate he moved quickly and Jakobus had to admit, only to himself, that he was impressed.
Each and every one of them kept glancing towards the sky whenever they had a moment. At first the brightness encouraged them, but they all soon realized it would not last. The combination of the thick growth around them, nearing the jagged mountains, and the clouds overhead quickly devoured the light. The yellow color of the dirt under the brown and green trees and bushes left a sickly hue.
With Gallif’s own talents at reading nature and Marassa’s experience at maps they travelled unimpeded for hours. Marassa finally informed them that she believed they were three hundred yards from the entrance to the caves. Jakobus and Blinks admitted how relieved they were but that was short lived as she informed them the path would get much worse as they would have to start climbing. Their anxiety increased when the path suddenly came to a stop. In front of them, and on their right, the trail was blocked by thick glistening vines. On their left were tree trunks and brush so dense they would be unable to pass through them.
“Oops,” Blinks spoke first as they all looked around. “Maybe we took a wrong turn somewhere. Should have gone this way and gone that. Maybe we even should have taken an up. Better up than down,” he said. “Bit odd those vines,” he mumbled as he walked to their right side. “Why do they shine?”
Gallif’s senses were alerting her and she stepped forward to examine them herself. She held the flame sword up to the vine and was surprised how quickly it shrunk back from the heat. “BACK!” Gallif yelled and started to move them in the direction they had come. “We have to go back right now!”
Before they could ask, several ear-splitting screeches broke the silence and they all drew their weapons as giant spiders descended on them. The glistening vines were actually parts of their deadly webs.
Gallif’s left hand went to her frost sword, but she decided not to draw it at the last second. There was not much room here and dual handed fighting would be difficult, so she swung the flame sword at the nearest spider and managed to slice in to one of its legs. The spider howled and snapped its jaws at her several times. Its teeth were dark and jagged, and its mouth was blood red. Gallif fought the urge to look away. She waved the sword again and used some of the flame to burn away the web and force the spider back. Out of the corner of her eye she saw one of the spiders drop to the ground. It was trying to bite at Marassa, but Jakobus made several direct attacks with his cast axe removed three of its legs.
Gallif saw the spider above her retreating until it was out of reach of the flame sword. She saw another one coming down rapidly and she went after it like lightening. This spider had its attention on Acrufix’s armor and didn’t see her approach. She drove the blade in hard and then pulled down and decapitated the spider before it could reach its target. She wasn’t sure if Acrufix had actually seen her or not; he quickly moved away. She saw that he was joining Luvin in an advance on another spider and decided to check back on Jakobus. He had killed the spider he had started on and she was looking up for more attackers when she felt something large and heavy press against her back. She turned to defend herself when she felt another heavy splash on her leg.
With the light of the flame sword she could see the remains of the spider she had decapitated. The body was seizing frantically, and the headless body spun in every direction as the legs kicked and shivered. The muscles had contracted around its web sac and were forcing the web material out in bursts. Gallif was the closest and another burst of web flew past her face. She could feel the web strands hardening and quickly tried to brush the one on her leg away before getting covered with more.
There was a sudden flash and the spider body burst into flames. It was intense enough that some of the web that had made up the wall started to burn away and give them room. As Marassa joined her, Gallif saw the other woman put her wand away. She pulled a knife from under her blurred cape and started brushing away some of the web from Gallif’s body. There wasn’t enough time to remove it all but enough that Gallif could slice back as another giant spider approached her from above. She leaned forward to protect Marassa and used the flame sword to hold this attacker off for several seconds. It tried to retreat but the fire had burned away so much of the web wall it could only go in one direction. This way took it back in Jakobus’s direction and between Gallif and the noble dwarf it was quickly destroyed.
They held their weapons in hand and s
tudied the web for more spiders. Breathing deeply their attention shot from shadow to shadow and any movement was quickly investigated. Sure, that there were no more coming Gallif looked down to make sure everyone was safe. Her eyes fell on Luvin leaning against the one of the tree trunks. His head was down, and blood was dripping from his left hand. In two steps she was next to him but the opposing shape of Acrufix had been faster and moved in front of her.
“Hold on, Luvin,” Acrufix said. From a pouch on his belt he pulled a rag and was quickly wrapping it around Luvin’s wrist. The cast armor was sealing over the three-inch wound in his arm and the blood flow was slowing. The healing properties of the cast would fix the damage, but he was still feeling the sting.
“Are you all right?” she asked him breathing rapidly.
“I’m fine,” he said quickly without looking up at her. “Luckily he was watching my back,” he said with a sneer and nodded at Acrufix.
“That should do it,” Acrufix said as he pulled the blood stain cloth away. “The bleeding has completely stopped, and you’ll be fine in a few minutes.”
“We can get through here,” they all turned to Jakobus’s voice. He had used his torch to burn away the rest of the web wall and there was plenty of space for them to pass through.
“I’m glad you are okay,” Gallif said to Luvin.
“Yeah, I’m sure,” he mumbled looking away. She was about to speak, but he suddenly turned and looked her straight in the face. “You’re leading this group. You’re supposed to be able to read nature. How come you didn’t see this until it was right on top of us?” he pointed at her.
“Because these aren’t natural,” Jakobus said and came forward. “These aren’t ordinary spiders and it’s not even their size that makes them that way. These are part of the Necression breed. Rare, ghostly animals the feed on only the flesh and blood of the dead.”
