The Three Charms

by Brian Spielbauer

  Erol and Gile rested only for a moment, breathing deeply. They took stock of themselves and each drank deeply from the cool stream. Erol scanned the battle field before him, seeing the army approaching Herrog’s from the rear. “A new army!” Erol announced. Gile also wondered where they had come from. Hope began to grow in their hearts and their strength grew resolute to see a tomorrow.

  “I don’t know how we survived this long,” Erol said to Gile, who was trying to catch his breath from what they just endured. Usually after a battle, both of them would lay around for several days. They had no time for that. Erol asked Gile, “Are you ready?”

  Erol knew that dragons were incapable of smiling but he thought he saw the slightest grin grow on the dragon’s face. He was ready.

  Gile stood and roared himself to action. The sound raced across the battle field, music to Telon’s rising hope. Erol joined Telon’s forces in the desperate surge to break free. Though limping badly, anger would carry him through to the end.

  Herrog’s forces were stout, determined to keep Telon’s army from breaking free. The seething demon stood between Telon and freedom, denying him the path. Telon looked to Dorir, Coral, Sandor, Cergon, Arlow and Bryon. Erol and Gile also just arrived, as Telon ordered, “I want the men, dwarves of Tunder Bin and the harpies to break to the right. The rest to the left. Stay clear of Herrog if at all possible. After you break free, head to the ice as best you can. Some of us have to live to see another day!”

  “Who comes to save us?” Dorir asked, trying to get a better look.

  “I have no idea,” Telon answered, “but I hope to live long enough to find out.”

  They took their orders and charged, leaving only Gile and Erol still there with Telon. The ogre and dragon bore many wounds and burns and were breathing heavily from their battles that day. “Erol and Gile, you have already fought amazingly today and saved many lives. I must ask you one more time to carry the load.”

  Erol knew it would be their job to attack the demon Herrog, delaying him at all costs. He looked to Gile, who was also up for the challenge.

  “All right then, let’s go!” Telon said, seeing their look of acceptance. They turned to see someone they did not expect. As they began their attack toward the demon that denied their path, Kyrie strode through many of the enemy as though they weren’t there, his own magic at work keeping them at bay. Telon, still riding Bramble with Elard at his side, with Erol and Gile, charged the demon also from the other side. Telon was certain the newly arrived force was merely a mirage of Kyrie’s magic. If so, he hoped it would not disappear if Kyrie fell.

  Herrog saw the forces of Tunder Bin splitting but also Kyrie stalking him with the few others charging. He first needed to deal with them and he was eager to do so.

  Gile, running at full speed, outpaced Erol and beat Kyrie to Herrog. He brewed his own best shot of fire and launched it toward Herrog. His flame torched the demon, who relished in it as if taking a bath.

  Gile did not cease his run but continued his death charge even as Herrog countered Gile with his own flame, which began pushing back Giles’s fire. The noise tore at many tender ears, the sound of demons screaming in torture as the two flames battled for supremacy. Herrog’s was the stronger, pushing back and consuming the flames of Gile. As the two fires met, they burst as if in constant explosion, melting each other to the ground, igniting everything they touched into instant inferno. The ground and several of Herrog’s stoutest guard incinerated on contact with the decimating fire.

  While Gile was losing, the battling fires allowed him the time to get within range and he was just about to burst into the demon. Erol picked up two large boulders, hurling them toward Herrog and then armed himself with two more, using them as a shield against the flame.

  Kyrie, hardly healed from his injuries but seeing the battle unfold as he walked slowly across the plain, slowly stalked the evil demon. His determination would not let him pass into the next world without his moment’s dual with Herrog. Kyrie knew if he didn’t act, all would soon be lost. He sought to buy time and hope some of his friends were able to escape. While his body was nearly broken, his spirit was still strong and his magic bitter. He used his last energies on the demon that caused him so much ruin in his life and for his people.

  Just as the battling flames reached Gile, the dragon reached Herrog. Gile was fully grown dragon and his girth every bit equal to that of the demon. Gile exploded into flame and fire as he plunged into the creature that always was and always would be. Gile instantly perished in that contact but the force of his body knocked the demon back, almost to the ground as he staggered to catch his balance. The two boulders thrown by Erol also followed Gile’s hit and met their target, again making the demon give ground, stepping back yet again.

  Kyrie saw his chance, with Herrog distracted by the two blows and he too attacked the demon, leaping at his neck. Herrog shot fire at the gargoyle, igniting him. Kyrie’s magic did not stop at his death and continued toward Herrog even as Erol closed in on his charge. Herrog braced for the impact as he shot his redirected flame at Erol, who still carried the boulders as a shield.

  The rocks melted at the heat but with the last of the rock still there, Erol rammed into the demon. He knocked Herrog clean off his feet. Herrog landed indignantly on the ground with a quake that caused many of his forces to fall. The frozen ground beneath him instantly melted, with the snow and ice turning into lightning fog. The magic of Kyrie served to further hold the demon down as it wrapped around the demon’s mighty frame. Herrog struggled to break free. The few precious moment’s distraction allowed the forces of Telon to fight hard for freedom as they passed his evil body by.

  Erol stepped hard on the boulders that still lay on Herrog as he went, crushing down on the delayed demon. All knew that killing the demon was not a possibility and that soon he would again be in the battle, angry as ever.

  “Fight for your freedom!” Telon yelled to his tattered force as he led the escape anew. They rushed past many of the fallen forces of evil, breaking through the first wave of Herrog’s trolls, goblins and Tolltier. The reward was to encounter the second line of the enemy that was pinned between the newly arrived army and Telon’s forces. Much to his surprise and hope, the army beyond did not disappear when Kyrie passed, as they continued their march to the battle. They pinched Herrog’s army, which still outnumbered the armies of good, between them.

  Erol’s pain at the loss of his father and closest friend drove him forward. He sorrowfully trudged on, stomping many an enemy in his path and several that weren’t. His hate for the enemy was never greater and it equaled the pain of his loss.

  King Arlow, seeing the terrifying events repeating from several years prior, had no interest in leaving his land again. He rallied several of his men and charged a brigade of trolls who were murdering many of the escaping army.

  “Come to me! We will sweep the refuse from our land! For Calonia!” he barked as he rushed the trolls with far too few men behind him. Bryon saw from a distance but could not reach his father to aid him.

  Arlow charged hard, both he and his men were full of courage and grit. The trolls saw them early and pulled back to strengthen their line. The men formed a wedge and struck deep, with Arlow driving his mighty blade through the first troll, splitting the line in two. The impact threw him from his horse but he quickly regained his feet and blade, fighting feverishly with the evil that surrounded him.

  His men stayed on horse, at least until the trolls were able to sweep them off their steeds. While his hearty men were able to take several of the trolls down, Arlow soon stood alone against three of the stoutest trolls ever sired. His men and their horses dead, the smaller scavengers of war feasted on their remains just a few feet away. Arlow did not blink or step back, resolute as to the path of his death.

  The trolls closed in on all sides, with Arlow caught in the middle with no way out and no desire to leave. His long sword was all the help he needed to defy his foes. Arlow charg
ed the one before him even as the one behind lurched toward the King. Arlow ducked the swing of the one he attacked and came up hard under the beast’s gut. The slice relieving the taught skin of much of the pressure applied from within and its innards spilled onto the hardened snow below. The hot mess releasing steam as it hit the ground. A putrid smell also rose but one that only served to sharpen the senses of the exhausted King.

  The troll began to fall forward, several vital organs sliced through. Arlow barely dodged the timbering girth and quickly scampered to the top of the fallen foe. He stood alone again, now facing only two. “Next!” he taunted his foe. He did not wait but rushed another. He dove from the carcass, swinging the still sharp blade at the neck of the troll to his right. No target had ever been more thoroughly hit, the full arteries of the troll released, they gushed endless amounts of the dark purple blood that coursed through its vile veins.

  Arlow clung to its chest, as it collapsed back toward the ground. He delivered a few more wicked stabs before the beast hit the frozen tundra, ensuring the death of his wicked foe. He pulled his sword to see the last of the three bringing its nasty club down on him. Arlow leaned to the right just in time to avoid death but the club rocked his left side. His arm was broken and several ribs crushed. He screamed in anguish but had not time for reprieve as the troll raised the club again. With only one good arm, he half whirled, half lurched forward and heaved his sword at the extended monster. His trusted blade dug deep into the chest of the troll, who already was bringing the club down again.

  The massive trunk of wood glanced off Arlow’s head, dizzying the King. The troll fell forward toward him and in doing so drove the King’s sword completely through it. Arlow stood next to the three fallen trolls, the point of his sword protruded from the back of the last. He had no way to retrieve it. He looked upon the field of battle and saw that, despite his men and his valiant fight with the trolls, their small victory served little help in the entire battle. “At least we bought time,” he muttered to himself, as the thought of finding a weapon to fight to his death grew in his head.

  High above, the last drake witnessed Arlow’s bravery and victory over Herrog’s best trolls. As the master willed it to do, the drake descended on the triumphant King of Men below. Arlow never heard it, never saw it and never suspected the attack from behind. So ferociously silent and fast was the attack, that Arlow was still in the process of bending to look for a weapon as he was crunched and swallowed whole by the flying beast of Herrog. Arlow, King of men, in an instant, was gone. Bryon could only watch, with no chance to aid his father.

  Chapter 31: Escape

  Skyler and his band pushed hard toward the break, carving though the enemy from behind. Their hope grew, as did everyone’s, at the sight of the new army. Only Skyler truly suspected who it might be as they rushed past the fallen demon and sliced through the front lines. They had come so far, but the last short distance could prove the hardest to gain.

  A Tolltier slowed Meril’s charge, as it landed hard in front of him. The beast savagely attacked and Meril did all he could to counter the constant swinging claws, each one threatening to take his head off.

  “Help!” Meril screamed, dodging the continuous attack, barely able to defend himself.

  Skyler saw his friend’s peril and veered his direction to help. Kylee too turned to help and thrust his spear into the unprotected side of the Tolltier, sending it into further rage. The beast backhanded Kylee, sending him sprawling across the field. Then it turned and once more brought both of his hands down on Meril, who had not the strength to block the blow. Meril was smothered to the ground and did not move. Skyler leapt off the back of Taylor, who had just skewered another troll, and launched himself high through the air.

  The Tolltier went to dismember Meril’s beaten body but Skyler would not have it. He raised his sword as he soared through the projectile filled air and came down through the skull of the Tolltier with all his force. He drove his blade straight through its head, the sharp point protruding from the other side. He felt the blade delay twice as it hit the bones in the dome of his enemy and eventually the blade broke.

  Skyler rolled on the ground, with an attacking goblin close at hand. He picked up Meril’s sword, ducking under the goblin attack, driving the sword through the soft fat belly of the greasy goblin.

  He turned and knelt by Meril, who was dead. He cried out in rage and picked up an axe that lay near, as many weapons and bodies littered the entire valley floor. What was just a few days ago a clean valley of glistening snow now saw two battles in less than two days, with several thousand perishing in that time. Skyler began hacking wildly at the dead Tolltier, the blood of the beast flying everywhere and drenching him. He cared not. Skyler was mad with gory anger, and the mutilation continued with each hate-filled slash of dead flesh. So disgusting was his rage and wild anger that no enemy dared to approach him.

  Taylor ran to him, “Skyler, we need to go!” He tried to pull his friend from the misery that took him but Skyler ignored the attempts. He stopped gashing the bodies only long enough to shove Taylor to the ground before continuing the slashing. He wandered aimlessly around the field, with no shortage of targets to mar and mutilate. Taylor finally grabbed him again, tearing the axe from his hands. “Kylee and Balthar are badly injured. We need to get them to safety. Help me!”

  Skyler looked to the field and saw Shalkar defending the injured Balthar and the body of Kylee laying unprotected on the blood-stained ground. The need of his remaining friends bringing him back to his senses.

  “You get Shalkar and Balthar, I will get Kylee. Meet me at the cave by the elf village!” Taylor took his order and got Shalkar and Balthar to safety. Skyler delivered a death blow to a troll and helped the dazed Kylee to his feet. They turned to see several Tolltier denying their path of escape. With neither weapon nor the energy to carry or wield one, the two just stood to await the inevitable onslaught.

  A dwarf, one Skyler knew well, arrived newly to the battle. The mighty warrior had come with the new army and Skyler watched in admiration as the spinning sword and axe feistily took the vicious Tolltier apart. The ferocity of the three Tolltier was strong as ever, but the sheer will of the whirling warrior seemed to dim their presence. The mask and cloak of the Dragon Glades gave away her identity, bringing tears of worry and admiration from Skyler.

  Two of the Tolltier she murdered, the other actually scattered out of fear. It was a cowardice act from the wicked creature. For the dwarves and Kylee, the battle was over, with another one of their members lost.

  Ambrosia rushed to Skyler’s aid, flipping her mask up under her cloak. “Are you hurt,” she asked. Her voice full of relief that she had found him in time. She wrapped her arms around him, her fear that she would never see him again slowly abating. To Kylee’s surprise, Ambrosia let go of Skyler for a moment to give him a hug. He was glad to see his friend and Ambrosia back together again and hoped to one day find someone that felt the same for him.

  “What are you doing here?” Skyler asked, not at all unhappy she disobeyed the order.

  “When the new army arrived, I joined them. We came to save you and if we stay too long, it will be for naught. We need to go!” Ambrosia compelled, pulling Skyler forward.

  The battle still raged and Skyler took a quick look back to the battle field behind them. There was still a large battle going on and he could see the multitudes of enemy Ambrosia waded through to arrive just in time. He could not have been more thankful as they left the field and made their way to the cave.

  Fractions of Telon’s army were able to break through the fight, reaching the far more rested dwarf troops on the other side. The harpies who arrived with the new army, led by Angelica, were able to take control of the skies. They lifted many injured soldiers past the enemy lines after slaughtering most of the winged Tolltier that remained. Even those wicked beasts grew tired after fighting all day and the fresh warriors of harpies had their way with their exhausted foe.

>   After breaking through, those that were lucky enough to make it anyway, the beleaguered forces met up with the newly arrived army. Together they turned and retreated toward the abandoned village by the sea. Herrog’s forces chased them and were still very strong and eager for battle. One of the chimeras continued its reckless murdering rampage, killing many that ran before it. One drake also still lived and slowed the harpies from flying the wounded out, for they had no way to defend themselves against so large a beast.

  In this manner, Telon and his forces were completely scattered as they fled. Many searched for any hole or cave they could find to escape the onslaught, as they were too tired or injured to continue. What once was a force of close to five thousand with the arrival of the new army, as now only a few hundred.

  Herrog discarded the last of Kyrie’s magic. He stood and saw the battle field of destruction before him and the mass of the dead and dying. He couldn’t have been more proud of his work. While he was disappointed that Telon escaped, the knowledge that Telon’s army was in ruin brought him comfort.

  “Run and hide for now! We will come for you! We will exterminate you from the land and all will be mine!” Herrog hissed. He knew it would only be a matter of time before his forces covered the entire land of Lemuria. They would search every crack and crevice along the way, finding every hiding creature and rid them from his land. After the cleanse was complete, he would start over again. The thought of the terrified remnants of Telon’s army hiding for years, fearful of the death that sought them every day, seemed almost a better alternative to his immediate plan of death for them. He was content.

  Herrog took himself to the battle, appearing with his forces who were chasing what was left of the rag tag army. He laughed a deep growl, the sight of the arrogant dwarves fleeing like scared ants before him. His special amusement was seeing Bryon’s men scattering from their own land for the second time. He closed his eyes, calling from deep within his body, willing the arrival of his last special surprise for his rudely escaping guests.