Legends of Windemere: 02 - Prodigy of Rainbow Tower

by Charles E Yallowitz

  “Luke?” she asks in surprise.

  Luke’s voice is still a throaty growl of rage when he talks. “I’ve been having a bad day, so let’s get back to the ship before those things regroup. Nyx should be getting the halflings soon and then we’ll be leaving this city. Can you carry Aedyn?”

  “Yes, what happened to you? I’ve seen you angry, but this is just scary,” Kellia admits, gently hoisting Aedyn onto her back. She bends down for the priest’s staff as Luke checks the streets again. “I’m serious. This is going to give me nightmares.”

  “I’m just sick of people hurting my friends,” Luke snaps.

  “Well, Aedyn and I are very grateful that you arrived when you did,” she whispers, following him down the road.

  “It’s my job, Kellia,” Luke casually declares with a small nod. “As both your friend and your bodyguard, I have sworn to protect you.”

  Kellia smiles as her gore-covered rescuer leads them to the docks. They are less than a block away from the ship when hundreds of goblins pour out of the alleys around them. Luke is more than ready to fight again and the goblins snarl when they smell the damp goblin blood on his body. They are about to make a charge when a prismatic flood of raw magic pours through the streets of Hero’s Gate. Luke, Kellia, and a barely conscious Aedyn watch the entire pack of goblins drop dead before them.

  “What just happened?” Luke asks, stunned and confused.

  “They’re dead. They just dropped dead,” Kellia says in surprise.

  “Genocide,” Aedyn murmurs with the last of his strength. He promptly passes out and leaves his friends wondering what he meant.

  *****

  A slavering howl for flesh rises from every alley that Nimby leaps over. He races across the flat rooftops of the city as he keeps an eye out for signs of Kellia and Aedyn. The halfling can see the sails of the River Scout unfurl in the distance and its bellowing horn moans over the sound of the goblin swarm. It is a relief that the ship is ready to depart, but he is unable to enjoy that relief when he notices goblins clambering up to the rooftop ahead of him. Nimby doesn’t stop running and uses the face of one of the goblins to launch himself to another roof.

  “Dumb bastards,” Nimby grumbles. He lands on the next roof and gracefully rolls to his feet.

  The screeching behind him continues and he risks a look to see that the goblins are following him. Half of them make the leap across the alley while the others fall screaming to the ground. Another pack appears on the far side of the building before Nimby gets halfway across the roof. Gritting his teeth, the halfling turns to the street side of the building and continues to run even though he could never make the jump. The goblins are on his heels as he dives off the roof, twists in mid-air, and grabs the edge of the rooftop. Nimby smoothly swings himself through a broken window as the crazed predators tumble to the street. A symphony of crunches and snaps are heard from below as the goblins die on impact.

  “Too close,” he gasps, turning away from the window. Nimby stops short when he sees the room of death in front of him. The gnawed bones of a mother and her children are scattered about the nursery. Dolls are shredded and wooden toys are crushed beneath the stampede that broke through the front door. He represses his natural curiosity to examine an overturned crib for fear of what he may find underneath.

  In the hallway, Nimby can hear the sound of crashing dishes from the floor below him. Creeping to the edge of the stairs, he can see a trio of goblins scurrying from room to room. They are throwing everything to the ground while they hunt for scraps of food. One of them stops in the shadows long enough for Nimby to see its eyes have a glowing, purple coating over them. A hiss from another room startles the beast before its friends tumble into the hallway. They are fighting over a small mouse that one of them has sticking out of its mouth.

  Nimby looks back into the gore-filled nursery and feels his blood boil hotter than it has in years. A sadistic smile appears on his face as he draws his shortsword and climbs onto the polished banister. Balancing himself carefully, Nimby silently slides down toward the wrestling goblins. They catch his scent just as he sails off the banister and drives his shortsword into the chest of the one eating the mouse. He has some trouble pulling out his sword and gets it free moments before the other two goblins pounce on him. A quick twist of his body helps Nimby roll out from under the goblins. One of them tries to bite the halfling, but instead it bites through the arm of its friend. The injured goblin yelps in pain and immediately slashes its attacker across the face, leaving four deep gouges.

  “You beasts should work on your aim,” Nimby says as he backs toward the stairs “I mean you use teeth and claws. It isn’t like you’re aiming a bow.” One of the goblins leaps at his face, but he easily ducks under the creature. While the goblin passes overhead, Nimby makes an awkward slash of his shortsword, which slices the monster from groin to throat. It twitches in pain on the stairs before finally dying.

  “Give Kellia,” hisses the remaining goblin.

  “You know Kellia?” Nimby asks in surprise, his rage vanishing immediately.

  “Trinity order,” the goblin moans before it charges. It is a stumbling, half-hearted run that brings the monster face-first into Nimby’s weapon. The body is still falling to ground when Nimby starts moving to the ground floor.

  “I had a feeling that something was wrong. I know goblin swarms can get very feral and insane when they frenzy. They may stop talking or stop using weapons in this mindset, but they would never attack a city like Hero’s Gate,” Nimby says angrily, rushing down the stairs and toward the front door. “I can’t believe those maniacs are going to destroy an entire city to get what they want. I thought they would be more subtle than this.”

  He runs through the broken door and skids to a halt when he sees goblins all over the street. They are sniffing the ground and chewing on the remains of dead goblins until Nimby runs into their ranks. All of them look at the halfling greedily as if he is the greatest meat ever created. A happy screech runs through the crowd of predators as their prey feels a large lump grow in his throat.

  “It was a nice adventure while it lasted,” Nimby mutters under his breath.

  He sheaths his shortsword, closes his eyes, and waits for death. He is pleasantly surprised when he hears a burst of electricity erupt from his left. He opens his eyes to see lightning jumping from goblin to goblin as they fall before the powerful spell. Nimby stands still among the twitching bodies as he hears heavy footsteps approach him.

  “You okay?” Nyx asks, limping through the smoking corpses.

  “Thank you!” the halfling cries. He hugs her before she can stop him, but Nimby immediately pushes himself away. Blood covers his face as he spits the red liquid from his mouth.

  “Please be gentle with me,” Nyx warns him. She winces slightly with every breath that she takes. “I took an arrow through the side when we fought the bandits. Not to mention a few cuts from a troll’s friendly embrace. I took a healing potion, but it only minimized the bleeding. I think the wound reopened while Luke was carrying me back here.”

  “That explains why you look horrible and smell bad,” Nimby jokes with a nervous laugh.

  “The smell is something else. One of the trolls tried to bite my head off. He came a few inches away from succeeding before I blew him up. My hair is covered in troll spittle. Might even be some warrior chunks mixed in there,” Nyx rambles as she starts to fall over. “I feel so weak and dizzy. I’m just going to have a nap.”

  Nimby holds her right side, staring with concern at the pool of blood at his feet. “Lean on me, Nyx. There might be some healing potions in the house that I ran out of. So, is Luke on his way?”

  “Luke went to find Aedyn and Kellia. He told me to find you and Myilia,” the caster says with a little fear in her voice. “Is she okay? I don’t see her with you.”

  “Myilia is safe. I sent her to the ship before the attack. We were on the waterfall and saw it coming,” Nimby explains while looking aroun
d the street for anything that can help. “I tried to make a run for the gardens, but I couldn’t find Aedyn or Kellia when I got there. By the time I crossed the gardens, the goblins were already swarming into the city.” He suddenly feels Nyx start to tremble and coaxes her to walk. “Come on. We need to get you fixed up.”

  He leads her into the house and helps her to the only surviving chair in the ransacked kitchen. They can hear more goblins in the distance as Nimby rushes to find a potion. A box of empty vials is found near a knife drawer, but they have already been sucked dry. Bloody handprints are all over the counter with scraps of, what Nimby and Nyx assume was food, strewn across the surface. Nimby makes sure to avoid the puddles of drool that are still steaming on the floor from the slavering beasts that left them.

  “Give it up, Nimby. We have to get out of here,” Nyx groans.

  “The goblins are everywhere and you’re in no condition to battle through the main streets,” Nimby claims, his frustration growing. He climbs onto the counter to search the cupboards and carelessly hurls the remaining dishes to the floor.

  “There has to be another path to the docks,” Nyx counters.

  “That doesn’t mean we can reach it without a fight,” the halfling angrily says. “These things are silent when they want to be and you’re useless if we get jumped. We stay here and look for a potion.”

  “Don’t give me orders!” Nyx shouts with just a little more energy than she expected.

  Nimby shakes his head and stares at the bleeding wound. “I can’t believe Luke left you alone with this kind of injury. What was he thinking?”

  “It isn’t Luke’s fault. I told him that I was fine and I used an illusion spell to hide the severity of my wound,” Nyx admits in a soft voice. She stares at the floor when Nimby turns to look at her. “If he knew I was hurt this badly then he would have wasted time getting me to safety instead of finding Kellia and Aedyn. I couldn’t let him do that. Stop looking for a potion, Nimby! We have to get out of here now.”

  Nyx struggles to her feet and uses the wall to steady herself as she staggers to the doorway. Her breathing is ragged even though her facial expression is one of unbreakable determination. She doesn’t notice the streak of blood that is left on the wall behind her as she forces her body to keep moving.

  Nimby takes off his shirt and hands it to Nyx as he peers out the door. “Use my shirt as a bandage. Just press it to the wound as hard as you can. It shouldn’t cause a problem since you don’t need your hands to cast,” he whispers while scanning the streets. “Damn it. The goblins are already coming down the street. There are too many of them for me to handle alone. This doesn’t look good for us.”

  “They must be following the scent of my blood,” Nyx says, taking a trembling, unsteady step into the street. “Run to the ship, Nimby. I’ll hold them off here.”

  “You’re coming back with me!” Nimby shouts. He grabs her by the wrist and tries to pull the caster with him. The blood on her arm is too slick for him to get a solid grip, so she easily pulls it away.

  “Just run, Nimby,” Nyx groans with a weak smile. “Maybe I can hold them off until you send Luke or Fizzle for me. These things are only goblins after all.”

  “They’re more than simple goblins,” the halfling says, nervously shifting from foot to foot. “Trinity did something to them. Their eyes show signs of enchantment and one of them mentioned Kellia. Now stop being a hero and come with me.”

  Nyx ignores the halfling and launches a wide stream of acid at the incoming wave of goblins. Many of them are still melting as the next wave clambers over them. A wall of barbed spikes erupts from the ground, impaling many of the charging goblins. It is still not enough to stop the rest of the monsters as the smell of flowing blood drives them even more insane. They continue to advance even as Nyx hurls fireballs and fists of lightning into their ranks.

  “You’re still here,” growls the caster when she notices Nimby standing next to her.

  “Well, I really can’t go anywhere.”

  “Loyalty to your friends is not very thief-like.”

  “I’m not your typical thief. Also, there is nowhere for me to run.”

  Nyx turns her head to see another mob of goblins hungrily rushing in from the other end of the street. Hammers of fire soar toward both ends of the street and explode against the mobs of howling goblins. A puddle of blood is growing around Nyx’s feet as her wound opens up even more. Nimby reaches up to hold his shirt in place while Nyx continues to launch every spell that comes to her mind. The goblins explode and die in every direction, but the growing horde continues to advance.

  “They just keep coming. We have to duck into an alley and escape,” Nimby anxiously says.

  “They would follow. I have to keep casting,” Nyx whispers, her head beginning to feel light. Her legs give out and she falls to her knees in the puddle of blood. The sign of weakness is enough for the goblins to let go of all fear and charge with an air-rending screech.

  “I don’t want to die,” the caster groans.

  “You should have thought of that before you refused my plan of looking for a healing potion,” Nimby mutters in mild annoyance.

  Nyx looks up at the halfling in confusion. “Why are you still here?”

  “The same reason you are,” Nimby says, standing just outside of the pool of Nyx’s blood. “I’m just too stupid to give up. Guess this is where I’m going to die”

  The goblins are inches away when Nyx begins to convulse violently. Nimby makes a few slashes at the goblins before he is tackled to the ground. Claws and teeth begin to find his flesh and goblin limbs block his view of Nyx. It is a wonder that Nimby can even hear her voice over the noise of a fanged mouth chewing on his arm.

  “Goblins die!” she screams with all of her might. An immense tidal wave of raw magic explodes from her body and washes through the streets of Hero’s Gate like water freed from a dam. Goblins fall down dead everywhere as the powerful spell washes the city clean of the attackers.

  “Nyx?” Nimby asks as he crawls out from under a pile of corpses. He digs around a bigger pile of bodies until he finds her curled up in a ball and shivering. Wisps of magic continue to curl off her shuddering form even as she lies senseless among the cold bodies of her enemies. Somehow, she looks both peaceful and terrified in the midst of the devastation that she has created.

  11

  She lies in bed with nothing but bloody bandages and the cool sheet touching her bare skin. Nyx’s fingers are locked into twisted, talon-like curves without any sign that they will ever relax. She ignores her numb hands while her purple eyes stare blankly at the ceiling. The motion of the River Scout is nothing more than a distant rocking on the edge of her senses. An occasional shudder runs through her body as she begins to hear faint whispers from behind the closed door. Both are male, but her frozen mind refuses to let her do anything more than stare at the ceiling and listen to the voices. Nyx feels her eyes start to close and immediately opens them again before the memories of her last spell can return. Desperate to stay awake, she bites her lower lip and a trickle of blood mixes with the tears that stream down her face. Her sanity relies on staring at the ceiling and making sure that the wooden planks above her never fade into darkness. With a great effort of willpower, she reaches for her necklace and clutches it as tight as she can. The voices on the other side of the door are the only proof she has that she is still alive and not alone.

  “Just let me in to see how she is doing, Aedyn,” Luke whispers, his eyes locked on Nyx’s door. “It’s been two days since Hero’s Gate and I’m worried.”

  “I cannot let you in,” Aedyn replies in as low a voice as he can muster. The heavily bandaged priest sits in front of Nyx’s room with his staff across his lap.

  “Let me in, Aedyn,” Luke demands, crossing his arms. “It’s my fault that she’s in there. If I had thought it through, I would have realized that she was still injured. Just let me apologize to her.”

  “I understand how y
ou feel, but Nyx is in a delicate condition and she needs quiet. We were lucky that Nimby got her to the ship before she died. We were also lucky that Fritz was able to think up a way to counteract her blood loss. I thank you for giving your blood to her and not asking any question about the procedure,” Aedyn says, hoping to placate the stressed forest tracker. “Now, the ship’s doctor and I have given her all of the potions that her body can currently handle. She will be very weak until I can regain my strength and use my magic. Please be patient and give her all of the time she needs to heal naturally. Do not dwell on this accident and lose your focus. We need you to stay sharp.”

  “What is the extent of her injuries?” Luke asks, leaning against the far wall and sliding down to the floor across from Aedyn.

  “You are dwelling. Go to sleep like the others,” Aedyn politely instructs the warrior.

  “I’m leading this group, so I have a right to know,” Luke declares.

  “We treat you as our leader because you are the frontline fighter and the founder of our little group,” says the priest with a cold grin. “Yet, that does not mean you get what you want every time you ask for it. Just like any leader, you have to be given limits. As an expert healer, I outrank you in this situation and I request that you go to sleep. Any more arguing and I will make it an order.”

  Luke clenches his fists and gently punches the floor in frustration. “I can stay here as long as you can. If need be, I will sleep here and annoy you as soon as I wake up.”

  “I would not recommend staying in the hallway. Captain Higgs is in a pretty bad mood since he lost three sailors to the goblins. This has left the crew on edge and they are no longer happy about this journey,” Aedyn explains, remembering the funerals he performed when he first woke up. “It is best to just go back to your room and wait for tomorrow. I will watch over Nyx for the night and you will be the first to see her after I heal her tomorrow.”