***
The rumble of thunder shook the ravine walls. Brief cracks of lightning lit up the purple clouds from deep within, casting terrible shadows across spires of rocks that dotted the valley.
“There are no signs of minion movement on the valley floor, Emaranthe.” Ivo glanced to his left at the small, hooded figure with pale braids. She didn’t look up. “What do you suppose they are waiting for up there?”
“Us,” she rasped. “They know we’re here.”
Ivo and Jaeger frowned. Only Jadeth continued to ride, humming lightly, as if the world wasn’t trying to end all around them.
They halted the stallions at the path at the bottom of the cliffs. Cut in a narrow ribbon in the ravine wall, the trail was a lengthy ride up dozens up tight switchbacks. The sky cast purple shadows all over, making visibility poor at best, even though it was barely noon.
“We should walk. They are at the head of the trail. No generals, only minions so far. Skeletons.” Jadeth said. She slid from her horse, keeping watch on the distant plateau the trail led to. Only her Eideili Elf eyes could see at that distance. She shoved her stallion away and it loped back toward the river bed behind them. The others followed suit. They knew better than to not trust her judgment
“Let’s go,” Emaranthe said. She slid her staff from the shadows at her back. Ghostly flames hovered, glowed, almost in anticipation.
Ivo freed his shield and sword with a growl and slammed them together. The sound cracked and echoed like a war cry off the cliffs.
Jaeger mimicked his brother. The axe swung in a deadly arc as he smashed shield to weapon. Dust stirred on a vigilant wind, staining the sky red for the moment. The dust settled with an absent command from Ivo that turned the wind away for a split second.
Jadeth hovered to the rear, her huge hammer shouldered, glowing an iridescent green, as she studied the trail.
“We’re ready,” she hissed, her ears flattening.
They moved as one unit, without having to strategize or plan. The formation was as natural as breathing, and after decades of companionship it was to be expected. The rocky trail raced up the cliff, steep and twisting, but they covered the miles at a steady run, weapons and shields readied.
They neared the top and halted. Jadeth made her way to the rim and dropped into a crouch to survey the lower plateau.
“About twenty, skeletons. They are milling about, on guard. No generals,” she hissed down to the others. Mindless creations like zombie skeletons usually had a puppeteer. “The mines appear to be more to the north and further up from here.”
“Twenty? Pfft. I can eat them for breakfast,” Jaeger snorted and gripped his axe until the leather of his gauntlet creaked under the strain. “Ready?”
Everyone looked to Emaranthe. Her lips twisted into a small, crooked, smile. She closed her eyes.
Flames erupted from her staff, engulfing it in a layer of heat. The flames slithered and curled, twisting and crackling up her outstretched arm to spread over her shoulders, head, and body. The inky gloom around them cringed away from the unnatural shield of fire.
Her eyes snapped open.
“Ready.” Emaranthe's voice echoed, magnified from within the skin of crackling flames.
Ivo spun on his heel and leaped the edge onto the plateau in a blur of motion. Jaeger followed on his heels. Emaranthe glided over the edge, staff aloft, fire burning furiously. Jadeth leaped after them and swung her hammer in a huge circular arc over her head. The weapon radiated an eerie green aura.
Ivo let out a howling roar. The ground beneath them shuddered. The undead jerked in reaction and turned eyeless skulls toward him. Their gaping jaws unhinged as they screamed back in fury. Shredded strips of clothing clung to filthy, moldering bone as they surged forward in a horrible mass of death.
The tide of skeletons reached Ivo and Jaeger simultaneously. The brothers swung their weapons in heaving arcs, connecting with decay and bone so hard that skulls shattered and bone exploded. Grunting with fury, Ivo shouted at the skeletons again, gaining their attention. Using the distraction, Jaeger swung his axe high with both hands and decapitated half a dozen with a snarl. Bits of grimy bone rained all around.
Heat burned behind the two men with little warning. Together they ducked just in time to escape a blast of fire that swept mere inches over their heads. The fireball engulfed the line of approaching minions, sending flaming bone and rags rocketing.
“A little close there you know!” Jaeger snapped over his shoulder as he cleaved the nearest skeleton. A decrepit arm sailed past to land at Jadeth’s feet. She didn’t take notice, but swayed her hammer. The green glow pulsed every so often and her gaze remained focused on the battle.
Emaranthe heaved her staff into the sky. The air warped and bent. A shockwave buckled the ground beneath their feet and a rumble filled the air. Flaming rocks rained down from the clouds trailing smoke and heat waves. They slammed into the remaining skeletons. Pummeled and burning, they didn’t seem to know whom to attack. Using their confusion to end it, Ivo swung his huge sword in a singing arc and sent bone and rags clattering across the plateau.
Both men sank into a wary crouch, waiting. Sweat stung their eyes as they scanned the landscape. No more skeletons staggered from the shadows of the plateau, but both knew that being complacent was like to being dead. Again.
Emaranthe sighed. The flaming debris flickered into nothingness as a sharp gust of wind pushed aside the smoke and fumes.
“Too bad it isn’t that easy, is it?” She shot a look at the inky sky and surveyed the plateau wearily. Towering rock formations dotted the plateau and a narrow dirt trail wound now to the north and upwards, toward the mines. The smell of dust, smoke, and death was pungent.
She stabbed the end of her staff into the rocky dirt and leaned on it for a long moment, her head bowed and blonde braids trailing almost to the ground. A dry breeze, hot and fitful, dragged one over her face. She ignored it, but stared down at the gruesome chunks of bone and filth at her feet.
“We need to keep going,” Ivo gripped her arm gently, startling her upright. Wide eyes blinked foggily up at him. “Are you all right?”
“Yes. Let’s go,” Emaranthe stared down the narrow path, uneasiness cramping her stomach. A peal of thunder shook the ground and their teeth rattled. “Death awaits us.”
Chapter Three
The Immortals Part One: Shadows & Starstone Page 4
