The Sanctuary Series: Volume 02 - Avenger

by Robert J. Crane

  She shook her head. “The only effective strategy we found was to send an elite corps of our strongest fighters and let them deal with it.”

  She paused, pondering. “If the lot of you possessed better armor, that gave you more strength, speed and dexterity, I would suggest you wear it into the water for this battle.” She shook her head. “As it is, I must suggest that you don't. You will be more mobile without it.”

  “So now I have to swim, do battle with a giant eel, and I get to do it without the protection of my armor?” Terian shook his head. “This keeps getting better and better.” He reached up and began to unstrap his breastplate.

  They took off their armor in relative silence. “You should take off your armor as well, Alaric,” Vara said, more gently than usual.

  “Although it looks battered, this armor has more power than you realize, old friend,” the Ghost said with a smile, then returned to a conversation with Curatio.

  “Giving the ladies of Sanctuary a real thrill here,” Terian grumbled as he dropped his breastplate.

  Vara rolled her eyes. “Speaking for the ladies of Sanctuary... no, no you are not.”

  Cyrus was first to finish removing his armor and slipped the short sword into his belt. “Are we ready?”

  “Never,” Terian replied.

  “Everyone else ready, then?” Cyrus asked. “Perhaps our two paladins would consent to lead the way, since they are armored and we are not.”

  Vara nodded, as did Alaric, who took the lead, walking into the water until it reached his waist.

  “Hold!” came a shout from the shore. Niamh moved forward, casting a spell as she walked. A faint glow of light ran across all of them. “That should give you protection from the deep; you'll be able to see and won't have to worry about drowning while you're down there.”

  “Yeah, the last thing I want to worry about when facing a giant eel is the thought that I might not be able to see him coming to kill me, followed by the thought that I might also drown,” Terian deadpanned.

  They proceeded into the water, walking across the shoals until the water reached over their heads, submerging themselves and swimming into the depths. Cyrus could feel the chill creep through him as the water crawled up his skin, and the inevitable shock of cold when he plunged in over his head was almost painful.

  Niamh's spell aided their sight, giving light in the murky water beyond where the twilight from above failed to reach. Cyrus looked over to see Vara, swimming confidently, not seeming to be weighed down at all by the metal armor that encased her body.

  Her body...

  He shook the thought out of his head as he drifted to the bottom of the lake. There was no movement but for the group around him as his bare feet settled for a moment on the lakebed. He felt the mud between his toes and kicked off, swimming a few feet over the bottom.

  Menlos and Thad swam to one side of him while Terian and Cass stuck to another. Vara and Alaric stood upon the lakebed, allowing their armor's weight to keep them down while looking in all directions. As Cyrus looked up, he could not see the light of the surface; Niamh's spell was all that was allowing them to see in the depths. Thank Bellarum for her, he thought.

  A sudden movement caught his attention as Terian began to flail in the water. Cyrus looked past the dark elf, who was pointing into the distance, and a shadow began to slide out of the murk, slipping through the water.

  The eel was long; perhaps a hundred feet or more in length, and even at this distance Cyrus could see the yellow eyes. A ridge ran the length of its back, scaled spikes sticking out every few feet, reminding him of Ashan'agar. He tried to speak, to warn the others, but only bubbles came out.

  Fortunately, Terian's flailing caught the attention of the party. Alaric and Vara kicked off the lakebed as the eel closed, jaws open in anticipation of a meal as it darted toward Terian. A blast of concussive force exploded through the water, knocking the eel off course. Alaric's hand was outstretched and another wave of power burst through the water toward the eel, radiating a trail behind it. The eel staggered again, giving Thad time to clutch onto the side of its neck.

  Thad's sword moved up and down slowly, and Terian joined him, grabbing onto a gill for leverage and moving his axe in a sawing motion along the side of the eel, which whipped its tail, trying to avoid Alaric, who sent another burst through the water but this time missed.

  Blood began to cloud the waters around them as the eel struggled. It turned and swept toward Vara, who brought her sword around and held it straight for the eel to run onto as it charged at her, clamping down with its jaws.

  Bubbles streamed from Vara's mouth as the eel bit down on her. Her sword found its mark inside the eel's mouth and the head whipped around in pain, crimson clouding the water around him. It became so dense that Cyrus could not tell if it was coming from Vara or the eel.

  He swam toward the battle and reached it just as Vara thrashed away from the fiend, blood trailing behind her. Alaric's hand raised and the trail of blood that followed her stopped as she turned to join him and Cyrus. The eel circled, and Menlos sprung from behind some weeds and clamped on behind one of the eel's gills, joining Terian and Thad in holding on while it jerked to shake them off.

  Cy gestured to Alaric and Vara and the three of them spread out as the eel came around at them again. This time it streamed through the water toward Cyrus, who rolled out of the way, catching a glancing blow from the eel's teeth as it slid by and giving it only a small cut in return.

  The head jackknifed more quickly than he could have anticipated, and swirled around in a spiral, coiling in the water and clenching onto his midsection. Cyrus felt the skin rip and tear as the eel caught hold of him. He drove his sword into its upper lip, but a vicious jerk from the eel forced him to surrender his grip. Vara grabbed onto the eel and buried her sword in its side.

  It began to struggle and its teeth released him. Cyrus felt himself fall out of the jaws of the monster, and looked up to see Menlos had opened up the gill. It thrashed about, sending Thad and Terian clear of it. Menlos and Vara held on as she continued to cut down the belly, but she was finally forced by a whip of the tail to let go.

  The eel thrashed once more and Menlos fell back along the body as it darted off at high speed, slicing through the water with him attached to it. It came around at them again, yellow eyes enraged and pulsating with the power that a god had bestowed. A feeling like a thousand gentle touches ran along Cyrus's belly as Alaric cast a spell that healed his wound.

  Cass intercepted the eel halfway to them, swimming out from where he had been lurking to plunge his sword into its tail. Another shadowy figure joined him, a thin body grabbing onto the tail with speed that Cyrus could scarcely believe. Small blades sprung from the figure's hands, cutting off almost ten feet of the tail.

  The figure released the eel, which turned and struck; the figure dodged, and through the murkiness Cyrus realized it was Aisling. The eel missed again with another strike aimed at her, but her blades found its right eye, and she rolled into its blind side, plunging both daggers into its neck and riding along with it as it moved through the water toward Cy and the others.

  Without the last part of its tail, it moved slower, allowing Cass, Thad and Terian to grab hold and continue their attacks. Blood flowed from dozens of open wounds on the beast. Cyrus swam at the jaws, open wide and coming at him again. He could see his sword jutting from the eel's face and grasped for it as it moved to bite him.

  His fingers brushed the edge of it and he felt the barest touch of the teeth against his skin before the eel went slack. He pulled his sword from its lip and looked in the remaining eye to find it lifeless; the yellow was already fading and the body drifted past him to the lakebed. It came to rest and the members of his group departed from it one by one, save for Menlos who could be seen through a cloud of blood, still stabbing away without mercy.

  Cyrus swam up, breaking the surface and taking a deep breath for the first time in over an hour. Another head sprang
up beside him, and he looked to see a matted blond ponytail hanging over Vara's shoulder. She turned toward him and spoke. “That went rather smoothly, don't you think?” The trace of a smile on her face was the only sign that she might have been joking.

  He smiled. “Could have gone worse. I should get some of that armor that increases your strength because I don't ever want to fight a battle like that again.”

  “It does hurt, doesn't it?” she asked as other heads broke the surface around them.

  “Can you imagine how many spell casters we would have lost to that thing?” Terian said in amazement. “It would have taken out half our army, easy.”

  “And now you can see the peril we face,” Vara said, grim. “We use time tested and proven strategies against these creatures. Those who faced them for the first time with no knowledge had much uglier results. It took almost two years of expeditions, twice a week, before Amarath's Raiders became the first to conquer the Trials of Purgatory.” Her gaze fell, down toward the water. “We lost over a hundred members to permanent deaths during that time, because of this Realm.”

  “And replaced them with a hundred more willing bodies, I'm sure,” Terian added. “It's not like any of the big three have a shortage of volunteers.”

  “Indeed not,” Vara agreed. “Especially since in the year after Amarath's Raiders conquered the Trials for the first time, every member received a portion of the spoils – to the tune of over a million gold pieces each.” Seriousness filled her eyes. “But it does not diminish the sacrifice of those we lost in the process of conquering it for the first time.”

  “Is everyone accounted for?” Cyrus's eyes searched and saw Aisling's head bobbing in the water a few feet from Menlos. He was rewarded with a tight smile from the dark elf. “Thank you for your help, Aisling. You were invaluable.”

  The dark elf nodded. “I... decided to try something different... than what everyone else was doing, sitting on the shore.” Her eyes found Cyrus's and she looked away again.

  “Why were you here?” Vara snapped. “I did not hear your name mentioned as one who would be facing the eel.”

  “I apologize,” Aisling said without a hint of remorse or sincerity. “Won't happen again.”

  “Now, Vara, there's no need to get upset with one of our guildmates simply because she wanted to be of service in battle,” Alaric chided. “Quite the opposite, in fact.”

  “Martial discipline be damned, then,” Vara muttered under her breath. “Very well, she can help us drag the corpse of the eel to the shore.”

  “I'm sorry, what?” Aisling's white eyebrow was cocked in confusion.

  “It's valuable, and we'll be selling off parts of it for gold.”

  “I didn't realize we were doing that,” Aisling said with a frown.

  “Larana has been harvesting the useful parts of the creatures we felled, and this eel is no exception. But first,” Vara said with a vicious smile, “we drag it to the edge of the lake.”

  “This thing is heavy,” Terian complained for the first time as they broke the surface of the water near the shore. It had taken over an hour to get the corpse even this far, where their feet rested on the shoals below.

  “Our guildmates will help when we get closer,” Cyrus said. “Oh, look, here comes one now.” He pointed to a figure heading toward them.

  “That's not one of ours,” Vara said.

  “Damn you and your elven eyesight,” Cyrus said as he squinted, barely able to make out the Gatekeeper's robes as the Realm's guardian strode across the water to them.

  “Another challenge bested,” he called out upon reaching earshot. “I suppose I should be impressed? I am not.” He halted and looked down at them from his vantage point, sneering.

  “You can open the gate and leave now,” Cyrus said.

  “Unfortunately for you, I do not respond to your commands except when I choose to,” the Gatekeeper replied with a thin smile. “I have things to say to each of you before I depart.

  “I know the hearts of each of you, the fears that consume you, the things that wake you in the night.” He cast a glance at Cyrus, who remained impassive as he hefted the remains of the eel with his shoulder and pushed. “I know the sins in your past that you wish you could forget. Some, of course, I am... intimately familiar with.” At this, the sneer turned into a vicious smile.

  “You.” He turned to Aisling. “You, who claim to be fearless and invulnerable – but we two know the truth, the reason you cling to everything and everyone you can get your hands on, until they become too close – and see your vulnerability, and you leave before they can exploit it.” His head turned to Vara. “It's funny that you detest her, since you and she are different sides of the same coin.”

  “You're a mighty one, aren't you?” Thad said. “Trying to poke at the sensitive spots in people. Fine, then. Have at me, coward.”

  The Gatekeeper laughed. “Coward? You would call me coward? That is amusing. You, a man who has run from danger –”

  Thad began to redden. “Shut up!”

  “– at every turn –”

  “SHUT UP!”

  “Did she cry when you left her behind?” the Gatekeeper asked in a mock whine. “Did you hear her sobs as you left her to die? To save your own skin?”

  “I didn't...” Thad's voice was barely above a whisper; he had dropped his burden and was beginning to shake, face pale.

  Terian looked as though he wanted to say something, but remained silent. Cass, too, did not speak, while Vara and Aisling kept their heads down. Menlos's head remained under the water. Cyrus looked around and found himself staring at the Gatekeeper, who returned his gaze with cold amusement. “All right, then,” Cyrus said. “What have you got to say to me, you heaping pile of troll dung?”

  “I would have had kind words for you, about your destiny, about your strength, about how you could become the greatest Warlord ever seen in Arkaria. But instead, let's revisit the death of your best friend, shall we?”

  Cyrus felt a fire fill him. “Yes, let's. Narstron died in the dark catacombs of Enterra, at the hands of the goblins. We were betrayed by someone from within our own Alliance, and I swore vengeance.”

  “A vengeance you have yet to deliver.”

  Cyrus's eyes burned as he looked at the Gatekeeper. “'Yet' being the key word in that statement.”

  “When it comes to vengeance, 'deliver' is the key word. Your poor, dwarven friend, left to die alone... he was alive, you recall, when they took him... how do you think he died? Do you think it was painful? Do you think he kept his courage to the end? Or do you think he screamed and begged for mercy that would never be shown?” A twinkle lit the eye of the Gatekeeper, coupled with a smile that could only be described as sadistic. “Because I know.”

  “So do I,” Cyrus said with a calm realization. He could see Narstron's face in his mind's eye, the last image of him being dragged off by the hands of a hundred goblins. “He lived like a warrior. He died like a warrior. And everything else you have to say is lies. I will deliver vengeance in the time of my choosing.”

  The Gatekeeper turned back to Vara. “It would appear your fears are justified. Listen to him sit there and plot his vengeance; he's an animal, and he will turn on you, just like –”

  “ENOUGH!” Alaric's voice crackled through the air with raw anger. “Cease your prattle, Gatekeeper, or I shall force you to do so.”

  The Gatekeeper's amused smile did not fade as he stopped speaking. With a wide, exaggerated bow, he spoke once more. “Oh, Lord Garaunt, perhaps I should start on you...”

  “Perhaps you would do well to remember who I am, and obey my command.”

  “I am the Hand of the Gods now, Alaric,” the Gatekeeper said, a look of indignity appearing on his face. “You would not dare.”

  Alaric's helmet masked his expression, but as he stepped forward in the shallow water to look up at the Gatekeeper, the Gatekeeper took a step back. “And when has invoking them ever stopped me in the past?”

>   The Gatekeeper's sallow face hardened, and his look turned to anger. “I have opened the gate before you to the island of fire, but I will return when you are not watching, Alaric. You cannot shepherd them all, and I will claim some for my own amusement – because I can.”

  “You will interfere no more.” Alaric's helm came off in his hand, and his sword was drawn. “And you damned well know it. Go, fool.” He waved his hand. “Your amusement is to be found elsewhere, lest we find out how strong the Hand of the Gods really is.”

  “In the interest of civility and of fulfilling my role as Gatekeeper, I will depart,” he said with a dark look. “But do not think I do this because I am afraid of any reprisal you may summon.”

  “I know what you fear, Gatekeeper,” Alaric said darkly. “You claim to know all, but I know your soul. I know your sins. Never forget that.”

  The Gatekeeper folded in on himself once more and vanished. Silence filled the air around them as Alaric donned his helm and strode through the shallows back to the corpse of the eel. With a nod at the others, he lifted once more.

  “So, is anyone going to say anything about what just happened, or are we going to pretend it didn't?” Menlos said, voice betraying his curiosity.

  “I should be fine with never mentioning it again,” Thad said.

  “I applaud your courage, Thad,” Alaric said. “To stand up to him and take his abuse to remove one of your comrades from his fire is an act of great courage.”

  “I agree,” Vara said in a hushed tone. “I found myself unable to speak, paralyzed by the memory of previous conversations I have had with him.”

  “Me too,” echoed Terian.

  “If I had thought for a moment we could have attacked him physically, I would have been less reticent to insert myself in the conversation,” Cass said with a shake of his head. “I dislike verbal jousting. It's a coward's means to avoid combat.”

  Alaric shook his head. “He would have welcomed the opportunity. As mentioned, he is the Hand of the Gods, and he has powers far beyond anything else we would face in this Realm.”