The Awakening

by Joe Jackson

  Once he was up several feet, Starlenia grabbed the ranger’s foot and used him as a ladder. Before he could even voice surprise or complaint, she was up top. Leighandra marveled at the way the shorter woman moved, and exchanged shocked glances with the paladins. Galadon went after Delkantar, but Max waited.

  “You go first. I will remain in case anything else should come upon us from the rear,” he said, nodding toward the wall.

  It was an arduous climb for how relatively short it was, but once Leighandra got within reach of the lip, the two men up top hoisted her up. Leighandra looked down once she was safely up, and after glancing back the way they’d come, Max at last joined the rest of them.

  This place is deathly quiet, she thought.

  “We’re still underground,” Starlenia commented, leaning out a nearby doorway and looking about. “We need to at least get up to the entry level before we’ll find anyone, I think.”

  “Which way do we go?” Galadon prompted.

  Delkantar and Starlenia both pointed at the same time. “Follow the trail of gore.”

  Galadon went and looked back and forth along the trail and to the drop-off into the escape tunnel. “Is all this going to the escape tunnel, or did it come from there?”

  Delkantar grimaced. “Looks like both. Hard to know how the undead got up here from the tunnel, but it looks like some of them did, and maybe chased that gnoll woman until she fell? There’s no telling what we’re going to find ahead.”

  “Let me go ahead, unless you wish to scout first,” Max offered, and the ranger gestured for him to take the lead. The luranar paladin sniffed twice, and then set off along the way. The keep had been abandoned for some time, and the lower level was devoid of anything useful, only bits of broken wood and old canvas lying about in heaps here and there. The trail of blood and other gross fluids was easy to follow, and Leighandra imagined between sight and smell, Max could bring them right to the thick of whatever undead remained.

  “Do these trails mean what I think they do?” Leighandra asked.

  Delkantar nodded. “It’s possible some of the prisoners managed to climb out of the tunnel but died up here one way or another. And they must have chased that gnoll woman to the tunnel, where she fell. I’m half-tempted to say the gnolls got what was coming to them after leaving those people to die, but…”

  “We are far from having all the facts,” Max confirmed without a glance.

  They ascended to the main level. Max crouched at the top corner and looked both ways. He gave the air a couple of appraising sniffs, but then turned back to Starlenia and Delkantar. “I cannot tell which way to go from here. Wait…,” he amended, his ears flicking to his left before he turned that way. “I can hear crying this way.”

  Max had his sword in hand before he’d even fully straightened out, and he waved for the others to follow him. Leighandra was leery of summoning light sources now, when they might face sentient adversaries, but the inner keep was dark and her human companions needed to be able to see. She was surprised, but only a little bit, when her arcane power instead ignited torches along the walls that had extinguished due to neglect at some point. Considering that, she wondered if the gnolls had been using them before the zombies invaded the keep from below.

  She was tempted to think the same way as Delkantar, something along the lines of serves them right, but only for a moment before she, too, could hear the crying. If she was correct and there was a demon in the keep, the gnolls could be victims in all of this. Would they have killed the prisoners normally? She was tempted to think yes, but she’d seen and learned so much about gnolls in the last few days that she had to give them the benefit of the doubt for now.

  Max has faith in the gnolls, and his opinion is worthy.

  The hallways were long and seemingly pointless to a degree. Leighandra understood it was a defensive tactic of some kind, to force invaders to bunch up close and deep, all the better for defensive actions to use their numbers against them. If the gnolls had prepared any such defenses, however, they’d either failed or already been used to little effect. The doors leading into the inner sections of the keep were few and located mostly on what she figured were the north and south sides.

  Max hesitated for just a moment when he rounded the corner ahead, and then he charged forward with a snarl. Leighandra held her breath and prepared for the sight before her once she reached the corner with the others. There, walking uselessly into a secured door, were a trio of zombies, all bloodied flesh and crusted wounds. There were broken limbs and other deformities, but the undead hardly seemed aware of their limitations. Leighandra was simply glad that they had thus far proven to be easily disabled. If that changed, they’d have to be dismembered just to disable them, and Leighandra wasn’t sure she had the stomach for too much of that.

  Max hesitated again when he got close and the zombies turned on him. “Wait; these are townsfolk and travelers. Should we–”

  “Not anymore, they’re not,” Starlenia declared, dashing past him. She sliced one zombie at the knee deeply enough that its leg came apart, and she didn’t even break stride as she went for the next in the small group.

  The luranar paladin sighed but did what had to be done, joining his companions in cutting down the undead. “Scout the hallways and see if there are more,” he said when the deed was done. He then turned, rapped sharply on the door, and called something in the gnoll tongue.

  The crying quieted, and a curious voice called back in the guttural tongue of the hyena-folk. Max spoke back and forth with them a couple of times, and soon, the door was opened a crack, revealing a snarling visage higher up than Leighandra was expecting. Starlenia’s observation about the female gnoll in the tunnel wasn’t based solely on her own size; this gnoll had to be at least seven feet tall. The gnoll was surprised when she saw Max, but there was no mistaking when she noted the golden bands on his upper arm and she snarled again.

  He held his hand up soothingly and said something that ended with the name Roltek. The chronicler resolved to try to learn the languages of the wolf- and hyena-folk, all the better to help negotiate in these circumstances. Whatever Max was saying, it was in soothing tones, and he kept making gentle hand gestures while he spoke. Still, the gnoll female made no move to open the door, and Leighandra could see she had her considerable weight propped against it to keep the group from rushing in.

  A little hyena-like countenance appeared around the edge of the door lower down, and Leighandra knelt and greeted the pup. “Hello, little one. Don’t be frightened.”

  The gnoll woman looked at Leighandra, then back at Max, and at last she opened the door. The massive gnoll female strode out with one pup in her arms, the other holding on to her tail. Galadon backed up to give her plenty of room, making sure to keep his weapon facing away and as non-threatening as possible. The gnoll spoke to Max again, and the luranar nodded.

  “She will follow me to the tunnel and safety,” he said. “The clan matriarch is somewhere on the upper level, and Roltek should be there as well. Go that way and see what you can find. I will return when I have led this one and the others on this level to safety.”

  “How are you going to get them down the wall?” Galadon asked.

  “There was a ladder among the debris down below. It should be sufficient to at least lessen the drop required.”

  The human started to respond, but then chuckled. “I guess you can see a lot better in the dark than we can. Be careful, my friend.”

  Galadon set forward to find the stairway up, and Leighandra went with him after waving farewell to the gnoll child. She lit the torches with her arcane power whenever the hallways were dark, and she and Galadon passed several other doors. They left those to Max; he would be able to speak with any other remaining gnoll women and convince them it was time to leave. The chronicler suspected the source of the problem lay upstairs, whether it was the clan matriarch herself or some demon or possessed creature pressing the gnolls into service.

  Starlen
ia and Delkantar were just starting to creep up the stairs when Leighandra and Galadon reached them. With their group getting smaller at every turn, they ascended as quietly as they could to the upper level of the keep. Here, the torches were already lit and well-tended, and the hallways were clear of any wandering undead. Leighandra glanced at Delkantar and Starlenia as the last thought crossed her mind. By the stains and ichor upon them, she guessed they’d found and eliminated several more zombies.

  Starlenia dove back into the stairwell just before a bright flash lit up the corridor, and everyone’s hair stood on end. There was no mistaking the scent of ozone; they had found an arcanist of some kind, no doubt the person behind this current issue – or at least one of them.

  Delkantar took the bow from across his back and strung it quickly. He nocked an arrow and gestured toward the corner with his head. Starlenia nodded before creeping up to the corner, and then she rolled across the hallway. She bumped into solid wall but then turned and ran in the direction the lightning strike had come from.

  The responding bolt missed her, but not by much, and the woman let out a hiss of pain as the flash of heat passed over her. Delkantar leaned around the corner, aimed, and fired in the span of just a few heartbeats. With the rogue taking point and the ranger providing a distraction, Galadon rushed around the corner and charged as well. Leighandra approached the corner and looked around cautiously for some way to assist without charging at a practiced wizard.

  She noted the metal sconces for the torches and reached into her soul for the arcane song again. All she had to do was make a slight alteration to the brackets to turn them into makeshift lightning rods. That would at least eliminate one of their enemy’s methods. She then focused on the arrow Delkantar had nocked, and began to heat up the metal head. He saw the glow after a moment and half-smiled at the chronicler before he leaned around the corner and fired again.

  There was a whining groan a moment later, and Leighandra assumed his shot had struck home. Galadon bellowed as he bore down on their enemy, and Leighandra finally left cover and made her way after her companions. Starlenia was hobbling, her right leg injured by something, and Galadon had a number of little burns all over his armor. But they were closing in on their quarry, and Leighandra got a good look at this first, if not ultimate, culprit.

  She was almost disappointed to find it was another gnoll. The creature barely dodged a killing stroke by Galadon, and it threw away Delkantar’s arrow before it ran off down the adjoining corridor. Leighandra gave chase with her companions, even passing Starlenia, whose leg finally refused to take her any farther. The chronicler was tempted to stop and aid her friend, but Galadon was the one facing their enemy alone, and she had to rectify that first.

  When she rounded the corner, the paladin swept the gnoll’s legs out from under it with his greatsword, and the creature spilled to the floor and skidded several feet. It turned onto its back and started to unleash its arcane wrath, but Galadon stabbed it hard through the shoulder, eliciting a howling yap of pain. He then repeated the attack on its other shoulder, rendering the spellcasting gnoll all but helpless.

  “We need Max to speak to this one,” Galadon said when Leighandra reached his side. The creature started to speak, but Galadon pressed the tip of his blade into the underside of its snout. “Just keep quiet. Speak one word of a spell and I’ll skewer you.”

  “Starlenia’s hurt pretty badly. What did it do to you two?” Leighandra asked.

  “Struck us with some arcane trickery, I don’t know exactly what. I’ve got burns up my arm and down my back, I think. She took a number of hits in the leg from what I saw. Keeping her from killing this fool may be a feat.”

  Delkantar appeared around the corner behind them with his bow drawn, but he set the arrow back in his quiver when he saw their enemy was down. He drew his blades instead, and paused only to glance at the fallen gnoll before he continued on to see what else was about.

  “What do you make of this?” Leighandra said, and Galadon followed her gaze to the gnoll’s legs. “I’ve never seen a gnoll with legs like this before.”

  “Maybe it’s a Caerumach? Max will know. Starlenia, are you all right?” he called as the rogue finally rounded the corner.

  “Just… working out the kinks it left in my legs,” she said through her teeth, limping up to where they were. “You get him talking yet?”

  “I don’t want him casting any spells. We’ll wait for Max; he can ask the questions. Do you want to keep him down while I go with Delkantar?”

  “Sure, but be careful. If there’s more wizards, we could be in a lot of trouble.”

  “I’ll stay with Starlenia,” Leighandra said, and the knight nodded and set off after their other companion. The chronicler looked to the Okonashai woman. “Don’t kill him.”

  Starlenia had a couple of short swords in her hands, but she snorted. “Wouldn’t dream of it. For all I know, this is Max’s friend and he’s just an idiot.”

  “What do you make of the legs?”

  Starlenia blinked a few times as she took in the gnoll’s legs, fashioned more like those of an elf, human, or even their luranar companion. Gnolls typically had bent legs like a canine, but this creature was different. As Leighandra waited for an answer, she realized the possibility of it being a Caerumach was wrong, too; Kas’Yari was a Caerumach, and he still had the bent legs common to other gnolls. This was something wholly different.

  “It’s the demon,” Starlenia said. “It’s one of those underworld breeds… the hyena-types. I forget what they’re called, but our people still whisper tales of them at times. Haunting stories about how they hide out among gnoll tribes and steal children to eat when the moon is full. Oh, don’t look at me like that; I’m not an idiot. But there’s always a little bit of truth behind any legend, and I think we’ve caught us a hyena demon.”

  “Mallasti,” the creature rasped.

  Starlenia knelt on its chest so swiftly, Leighandra would’ve sworn she’d fallen. The rogue put one of her blades to the creature’s throat. “Keep your mouth closed. I promise you, if you hurt me or my friends again, I’ll make a cloak out of your hide – while you’re still alive.”

  The sounds of a melee came from around the corner, and the hyena demon smiled up at the rogue. “You can hold me, or you can save your friends. But you cannot do both.”

  “I can kill you and then go save my friends,” Starlenia said. “Leighandra, go see if they need help; this fool had better hope they don’t need mine.”

  The chronicler nodded and made all due haste to the corner. When she glanced around it, she could see her friends fighting gnolls. Once she got closer, she saw that wasn’t quite right; they were fighting gnoll zombies. And these were larger gnolls – females. She swallowed hard, simply hoping they wouldn’t be forced to strike down zombie children, gnolls or otherwise.

  She ran forward and began landing strikes of opportunity with her saber work. Her blade wasn’t made for hacking and hewing, not the way Galadon’s was. Delkantar’s swords were up to the task, so Leighandra set to hamstringing and going for tendons and joints to slow down and cripple the zombies. She wasn’t sure why it worked on them when the animating force could raise skeletons with no flesh at all, but she didn’t waste the time thinking about it for now. They had nearly a dozen large, brawny zombies to deal with. She could worry about details later.

  Leighandra was just putting the finishing touches on dismantling a gnoll ankle when a massive, furry paw clubbed her from behind. She hit the floor and skidded toward the wall, but kicked off of it to slide behind her counterparts for safety. From that vantage point, though, Leighandra saw it between her two allies, and her heart nearly stopped. Shambling out between the females was a gnoll child, its cloudy eyes saying plainly that it, too, had been killed and raised by the necromantic power cursing the continent.

  Who could do such a thing? she wondered, getting back to her feet. She was surprised when she heard a snarl, and even more so when she re
alized it had come from her. She didn’t move to re-engage the zombies, but turned and ran back to the corner. Starlenia was still holding the mallasti at sword-point, and Leighandra let out a biting half-sob, half-growl as she dashed down the hall and put her sword to the creature’s throat.

  “Why?” she demanded. “Why kill the gnolls when they were working for you?”

  The hyena demon’s dispassionate golden eyes turned her way. “Why not?” it asked. “These creatures are beyond pathetic. Too stupid to follow the simplest plans, far too concerned with mating and clawing for every scrap of land and food they can find. They are filthy, stupid, and primitive enough that they thought I might sully myself to mate with one of them. They are more useful dead than alive, but then only barely.”

  “You killed their children…”

  The mallasti started to reply, but there was a squelch as the chronicler’s saber bit through the base of its jaw and up into its skull. It twitched a couple of times, but the life left its eyes quickly and its last breath came out in a shuddering sigh. Leighandra wasn’t even sure how long she stood there with her blade pressed into its flesh, and was only vaguely aware of the incredulous stare of her Okonashai companion. It wasn’t until Starlenia hobbled off to see to their friends that Leighandra blinked and really saw what she’d done.

  Leighandra dropped her saber to the floor and sat down, wrapping her arms around her knees. She watched the body to see if it would rise under the necromantic curse, but it was either unaffected or her stab had rendered such impossible. She didn’t even realize she was crying until the drops started to patter here and there on her tunic. She could hear the sounds of battle around the corner, but it didn’t sound like her friends needed her help just then, and she knew she wouldn’t be able to kill a child, undead or not.