The Nightstone

by Wil Ogden

  Without the hope of the Archmage taking and protecting the gem, the only alternative was the inevitable battle. The Vulak had backed away from the city again. Only a handful of archers could hit them at that distance, and they were saving their arrows for when targets might have tactical value. Well over a hundred demons were concealed among the enemy. Sheillene and the Sorcerers and Wizards had been striking at the foul creatures whenever one became visible.

  Bryan, Marc, Tara and Thomas came down to join Pantros. “The Vulak have started moving their Siege Towers closer to the city. The Wizards are unable to keep one burning without concentrating and the flame arrows are not doing anything,” Bryan said. “The Vulak used green wood.”

  Thomas said, “Mirica and a couple other Sorcerers have the power to blow them over, but that only worked twice and now the Vulak have braced them with ropes.”

  “Didn’t Lucian say something about having a Wizard that would turn the tide of the battle?” Tara asked.

  “He did, but he also said that Wizard might be too dangerous to expose to battle,” Thomas said. “Wizards, it seems, come with nasty side-effects, such as exploding and leveling buildings or anything else around them. If the Vulak are getting ready to attack, and it looks like they are, I do hope that Lucian’s secret weapon will be able to help us. Sheillene and the archers are on the wall and she is worried they won’t have enough arrows.”

  “We don’t,” Sheillene came up behind Thomas. “I was coming down to warn you that the Vulak have started an attack. They are launching stones into the city, but the sung marble construction of all the buildings seems to be mostly undamaged. When the stones hit people, it’s bad, though. You guys should stay inside.”

  “Shouldn’t you be on the wall?” Thomas asked.

  “Now that the Vulak are closing, any archer can hit them.” Sheillene said with a shrug. “They have their orders. I am staying down here to keep Pantros and his gem safe.”

  “You don’t think Bryan and I can handle it?” Marc asked.

  “I didn’t know you would be down here,” Sheillene said. “But even so, adding my bow to your blades can only improve his odds of surviving.”

  “I’m fifty feet below ground and there is only one stairwell up from here. I think we can defend that,” Pantros said. “The only real risk to me here is dying of boredom.”

  “You have a neat stack of books there,” Thomas pointed to the desk in Pantros’ sitting room. “How could you be bored?”

  “I don’t read Abvi,” Pantros said. “I did find an interesting picture.” He went to the desk and retrieved a book titled ‘The History of the Sword by Col.V.Venusheart’. “There’s a picture of a sword here,” He opened the book to a marked page and showed everyone the drawing of the sword on that page. “Look Familiar?”

  Bryan gasped. “That’s my sword!” he said. “Well it’s the blade of my sword. My guard, hilt and pommel are just plain iron. That’s a fancy mold or carving and clearly some kind of huge gem in the pommel.”

  “The Blade of the Baron?” Sheillene read. “That would be a proper translation but the dialect of the book is over twenty thousand years old. “It says the blade is of human origin, making that blade over twenty five thousand years old.”

  “And not a spot of rust,” Bryan said. “I already know it’s enchanted.”

  Sheillene continued to translate the text near the picture. “It says here that the sword was disassembled because the combined enchantments on the various parts made a weapon that would cut an armored horse in half. It’s also too heavy for an Abvi to carry, which explains why it was disassembled. At that time humans with potent swords would be a threat to the Abvi nation.”

  “You mean nations?” Pantros said. “I thought there were four: Melnith, Grenlith, Valencia and Rahvenna.”

  Sheillene then explained, “Twenty five thousand years ago there was one and it was called ‘Enlith’. That country stretched across the continent from one ocean to the other. Relarch didn’t exist; there were no humans because the Abvi had purged them around that time.”

  “Why did they…” Pantros started to ask about the Purge when a crashing sound echoed through the dungeon. Snarled battle cries filled the halls. Dust filled the air and Bryan picked up his sword and rushed out of the room. Abvi Guards were yelling, but Pantros still didn’t speak enough of the language to understand them.

  “Vulak!” Sheillene snarled. She stood and strung her bow.

  Marc beat her to the hallway and chased after Bryan.

  “I suppose I shouldn’t let them have all the fun,” Pantros said. He reached in his shirt and pulled out the Nightstone. He placed it in Tara’s hands and then drew his sword. He didn’t try to explain to Tara what she should do before following the others into the dust filled hall.

  Deeper into the dungeons a wall had collapsed revealing a tunnel behind it. The tunnel was filled with Vulak, all pushing and shoving to get through the hole. Once through the hole they met Bryan and Marc. Marc’s swords were knocking the Vulak weapons aside and occasionally striking at the Vulak. Bryan’s sword lay on the floor behind him, as he simply grabbed any part of a Vulak he could. He then twisted whatever he’d grabbed and tossed the Vulak into the nearest wall.

  Pantros heard the bowstring snaps and shafts appeared in the chests of the rushing Vulak. He knew better than to try to find a place in the fight between Bryan and Marc. The scar on his ear reminded him not to get between Sheillene and her targets and she had claimed the gap between the giants, though from ten paces back.

  “You need to get into that mine,” Sheillene said. “We need to push them back and collapse the tunnel.”

  *That one, on the floor over there, it’s still breathing,” his sword said.

  Pantros looked around and saw one of the Vulak starting to roll to his feet. Pantros thrust his sword through the Vulak’s heart.

  *It’s not the most honorable kill,* the sword said. *But we can’t afford to have Vulak standing up behind us. The Vulak would not be so kind to you if your positions were reversed. They’d break your legs, then your hands, then give you a gut wound, the kind that will kill you slowly and painfully.*

  Bryan picked up a Vulak and swung it around then flung it back into the tunnel knocking a few others to the ground. Marc took the opening to step into the tunnel and Bryan followed after. The tunnel was wide and braced. The Vulak had spent time building the mine. Marc and Bryan could stand side by side with enough distance between them to fight and more than enough for Sheillene to shoot through. Pantros accepted the job of delivering the Coup-de-Grace on any Vulak that managed to survive as the two giants pushed into the tunnel.

  “Hey Pan, Bring my sword with us,” Bryan said. “If this widens out, I’ll need it.”

  Pantros picked up his friend’s sword. It weighed as much as a feast day turkey. He could hold it in one hand, but couldn’t swing it effectively with both. So he held it in his left hand by the ricasso with the blade nearly dragging behind him. He could still use his rapier to finish off the occasional enemy. Fewer survived for the giants to step over once Bryan had a wall right next to him to crush the Vulak against.

  “Someone went for help, right?” Pantros asked Sheillene.

  “I hope so,” Sheillene said. “I can re-use my arrows, but not always and I will run out and I will tire. And one of those Vulak might get lucky against the two big guys up front.

  “I can help if you tire,” Prince Aven said as he approached from behind. “I can also heal so any Vulak would have to get extremely lucky.” He nodded behind him to a cluster of Abvi. “And, just in case, I brought forty of my best soldiers.”

  Aven held a staff of gnarled wood that he held out and touched to Bryan’s back. Pantros hadn’t realized his friend had slowed until Aven’s touch clearly revitalized him. The same action on Marc provoked many Vulak Screams. Soon it was evident that they were no longer pushing the Vulak back but were chasing them out of the tunnel.

  “Sword!” Bryan s
houted.

  Pantros realized they were fighting under a twilight sky and handed Bryan the huge sword. The Vulak again surged towards them coming in from all sides. They were in a clearing half a mile from the city walls and they were surrounded.

  “I just need a moment,” Aven said. “I can use my magic to seal the tunnel, but it will take time to channel the amount of power I need.”

  “You’ll have all the time you need, Tempest,” Bryan said, swinging his sword clean through a charging Vulak.

  Aven’s soldiers spread around the tunnel’s opening, helping them defend the prince.

  CHAPTER 30: SHEILLENE

  BARDS TALE

  My name is Sheillene and I am your narrator. I don’t usually tell my tales as if they are about me, but this next part is very important to whom I became. While we travelled through the tunnel, each time I shot an arrow, there was the chance the Vulak could fall on it and break it. I recovered the ones I could and, by necessity, reused them. When we finally emerged from the tunnel, I’d run out of arrows. I slung my bow across my back and drew my sword.

  Vulak fear Abvi organization. They didn’t really engage the prince’s soldiers more than stand just outside spear reach. But Marc and Bryan were not Abvi. The Vulak crowded towards them. The irony is that though the Abvi soldiers were highly disciplined, far fewer Vulak would have died if they’d tried to press through them than died trying to take down Marc or Bryan.

  I stood with the two large men, but I lost track of Pantros, most of the time. Occasionally, I’d see him lunging among a cluster of Vulak and then darting back to the cover of the Abvi shield wall.

  I still maintain that Marc is part ogre, though he vehemently denies it. Still, I am constantly surprised whenever I see him fight. I expect him to chop and hack using brute strength to power through the enemy’s blocks. He does not play that way. Every movement of his swords is a precision dance. No blow he threw was ever blocked by a Vulak. His blades seemed to find a way around every parry or through every opening in his opponents defense.

  Bryan, on the other hand, though clearly trained in the art of sword fighting, relied heavily on his mass and strength. I saw him cleave more than one iron shield in half.

  Eventually, it seemed the Vulak had learned to fear the three of us. I include myself because while the two giants were killing a Vulak with every heartbeat, I was at least dropping one with every breath. I am exaggerating a little, but we were killing a lot of Vulak. They’d noticed and they stopped pressing toward us.

  A Vulak dressed in the most ornate leather armor I’d ever seen stepped forward from their retreating lines. He drew a pair of swords and gestured at Marc. Around us, the battle had paused. I could see some Vulak regrouping and others moving away. I don’t know to this day what that Vulak had hoped to accomplish, though I’ve learned there is a particular vanity among sword fighters who duel so I understand why Marc, surrounded by the enemy, accepted the challenge.

  The Vulak screamed an order and every other Vulak in the area backed away, but all kept their eyes on where that Vulak and Marc met on the field. For a moment, the world was silent as the two swordfighters circled, sizing each other up. Vulak are a little bigger than Abvi, but nowhere near Marc’s size. I can only imagine the Vulak was thinking Marc would be lumbering. Just looking at Marc, I would never engage such a being in close combat. That Vulak must have been confident in his swordplay.

  As duels go, this one was fast. The Vulak had skill. He was the first warrior I ever saw parry one of Marc’s blows. In fact he parried three. Marc threw five. When the Vulak fell, Marc knelt beside him and said, “You fought bravely; may you be among the warriors in your paradise.”

  Bryan poked me with the tip of his sword. I’m sure he didn’t mean to harm me, but that sword is sharp and he did draw blood through the side of my armor. It was little more than a needle prick, but it got my attention. Bryan then pointed off through the ranks of Vulak at a large winged creature moving towards us, pushing, almost herding, a wave of fresh Vulak in our direction.

  “Now!” Prince Aven shouted. “Get back in the mine. It’s closing!”

  The fresh Vulak were moving too fast and Marc and Bryan insisted on being the last through. I wasn’t about to leave them behind. Five of the Princes guards were still outside the mine with us when the stone around the tunnel flowed together.

  “Where I come from, we would call this a bad situation,” Marc said.

  Bryan laughed then said, “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere where this would be good.”

  The prince’s guards gathered close to us. One of them said, “It was an honor fighting at your side, milady and my lords. If we are to die in battle, it honors us to do so in the company of such heroes.”

  If we’d had more time, I’d have told them that they were heroes too, but I was focused on the Vulak surging around us. These were more organized and all of the same clan. They were a uniform style of armor and fought in formations.

  “We won’t last long if we play this defensive,” Bryan said. “Stick with me, I’m going to be moving around and changing direction. Our only hope is to not let them plan a way to overwhelm us.”

  “You’re suggesting we might survive?” Marc asked.

  “Well, I will,” Bryan said. “Stick with me and you might also.”

  I’ll say this: I am not fond of the idea of actual death. We Abvi don’t die like the other races, we transcend. We believe that death before we achieve the completeness that leads to transcendence is a true end of our souls. I wasn’t one of those who would have been happy to die as long as it was a heroic death. However, I knew Bryan and if anyone would make it out of an army of Vulak alive, it would be him.

  Bryan started running towards a unit of Vulak advancing as a shield wall. We were all behind him. Just before he hit the shields, he rolled into a somersault and came to his feet under the bottom edges of the shields, throwing them upward and bowling the Vulak aside. Marc just threw the Vulak he encountered aside. I am not a big person, even for an Abvi, I’m a bit on the wiry side. I just stayed behind Marc and parried any attack that came at us. There weren’t many. The other Abvi advanced in loose formation behind us, but kept up. They did a great job of keeping anyone from closing on our rear flank. Once we were in the middle of the Vulak unit, Bryan started swinging his huge sword. We all took that as the cue to lay into whatever Vulak was near us. For a dozen or so breaths we laid waste to any Vulak within our weapons reach.

  “Moving!” Bryan shouted then rushed through a gap in the enemy and hit another unit, pressing into the middle of that unit and tearing through them as if they were stalks of wheat. The rest of us were right at his side, doing the same.

  But, stalks of wheat don’t swing back. By the fourth unit of Vulak, somehow none of us had fallen but each of us had at least one bleeding wound and several minor scrapes. Then we found ourselves in a gap in the enemy forces. No Vulak came near us. We weren’t puzzled though, we knew why. Bryan stood in front of a demon.

  The creature was half again as tall as him and carried a foul looking axe of black metal.

  The demon made a low grunting noise that I recognized as a chuckle. “Foolish creature, your mortal steel cannot harm me or my kind.” The demon swung his axe, and Bryan blocked, severing the haft of the demon’s weapon but the force of the blow also knocked Bryan’s sword away. The creature then swiped at Bryan with his claws, cutting deep into the man’s chest. Bryan stepped up and punched the demon hard, causing it to stagger. Then the demon thrust the remaining haft of his weapon towards Bryan. Bryan grabbed it, yanking it from the demon’s hand. He then spun impaling the demon’s thigh straight through.

  “Who’s foolish now?” Bryan asked.

  The demon snorted than brought both of his hands down hard on Bryans shoulder. I heard the snap and two bones jutted from Bryans shoulder as he fell to the ground. I assumed he was dead. I saw Bryan’s sword lying on the ground and dove for it. It was heavy. I could lift it, but I wa
sn’t going to swing it more than once.

  Marc had already been charging to join the fight but got there too late to help Bryan. Marc’s swords hit the demon hard enough to cause the demon to flinch, but not hard enough to penetrate the creature’s armor or even scratch the monster’s blood-red skin. The demon stepped up and grabbed Marc around the waist, lifting him into the air.

  Marc dropped his swords and tried to tear free of the demon’s grip.

  “Behind you!” I shouted and held out Bryan’s sword.

  Marc reached back and took the huge weapon by one hand. He swung out and wide. As the blade rolled around, I heard the crunch as the demon squeezed Marc crushing his spine. But Marc’s wrap-around blow was already on course. It cut deep into the demon’s back, severing both wings and nearly cutting through the demon’s torso. They both fell and neither moved.

  “Archers, left flank,” One of the guards yelled. Half a dozen Vulak with crossbows leveled towards us were only ten steps away.

  Three of the bows were aimed at me. I closed my eyes and prayed to Temistar to see me as complete. If I could transcend at that moment I’d go on. My prayers were not answered.

  “Get ‘em!” I heard Bryan’s voice and saw the big man stagger towards the archers, one arm hanging useless by his side. I followed behind him and the other Abvi were behind me. Just two paces from the Vulak, I heard the bowstrings snap and Bryan spun as he fell into the Vulak archers. I could see all six quarrels sticking out of his chest and I could tell by his eyes he was already dead. Even in death, Bryan killed two more Vulak when he fell on them. It was my blade, inspired by the two giants’ sacrifice that cut down the rest of the archers. But, I was fighting blind with rage; I didn’t see the spear skirmishers flank us. A sharp pain shot through my hip and I fell. As I lay on my back, I saw the spear come at me, but couldn’t defend against it as it tore into my belly, through to the ground below me. He left me impaled and looked me in the eye. I was spitting blood but couldn’t even find the strength to spit on the vile creature. He pulled a knife from his belt then leaned down and cut my left ear off. I can say I wasn’t in enough pain not to be able to feel more, and that hurt.