Runefell: Crossroads

by Shawn Sodman

  With one hand still holding her head back by her hair, he uses his other hand to pull her necklace out from underneath her robe. He looks at all the different colored beads around her neck. While most of the beads are white, he notices a dozen silver beads.

  “Silver beads?” questions Chance as he releases her hair. “So, you are a healer then.”

  “It is my specialty,” she replies. Chance spots three blue beads and smiles. “What are you smiling about?” she asks.

  “Three blue beads?” Chance asks as he lets go of the necklace.

  “Yes, three,” Kristieana replies, with a confused tone. “What is wrong with that?” She adds sounding a bit offended.

  “Nothing, I just figured...” Chance doesn't finish realizing that what he was about to say could be considered highly offensive.

  “You figured what?” Kristieana asks angrily, “That I would have claimed more men? Is that what you thought?” Kristieana breaks free from Chance's embrace. She steps back and glares at him awaiting an explanation.

  Chance searches carefully for the right words. “You are clearly beautiful,” he says, “and you most certainly are not timid. I doubt many men would deny a claim by you. I mean no offense, but yes, I am a little surprised that you only have three.”

  “If you must know,” Kristieana replies, “Most men are not worth claiming.” She then smiles and teases, “Just like you, I have no intention of adding you to my claims.”

  “I see,” Chance says with a grin. “So you just intend to lay with me without any claim.”

  Kristieana, now smiles, and asks, “There is no code against that is there?”

  “No, there isn't,” Chance replies. Then thinking a bit Chance realizes that he has to tell her who he really is. “There is something I have to tell you.” He finally says.

  “Oh, and what it that?” She asks as she lightly runs her fingers through his hair.

  “I have to tell you who I really am,” he replies.

  She smiles and grabs his shirt. She turns him around and pushes him on to the bed and says, “Don't tell me who you are. Show me.”

  The words of Kristieana seem to take Chance off guard as he asks, “What did you say?” Kristieana stops and looks at him. It is clear to her that something is wrong. Chance stands up and slowly walks to the window.

  “Did I say something wrong?” She asks, sounding concerned.

  Chance doesn't immediately answer her. He stands there for a moment as if his mind is far away. “It's nothing,” he finally manages to say. He turns back to the beautiful red haired woman and continues, “It just that I have heard that said before...long ago.”

  “Oh,” Kristieana replies, “I am sorry.” She walks over to him and takes his hand and asks, “Then tell me, Kyle, what is your real name?”

  But before Chance can speak, they are interrupted with the sound of a loud bell from outside. Chance quickly opens the window. He hears the sound of a watchman calling out “Orcneas! Orcneas are attacking!”

  Chance turns to warn Kristieana, who is already pulling her cloak over her head before disappearing. He hears her voice say, “Come on! We have to help.”

  “Go!” Chance says, as he looks out the window, “I will go this way.” Chance leaps down onto a roof only a few feet from the window. He changes into the eagle and begins to fly. He looks down and can see two guards holding the rear gate to the town closed. On the other side of the giant swinging gate are a few dozen orcneas. Chance lands next to a small building on the edge of town near the gate. The house sits on a small hill and Chance is able to see the gate clearly. He changes back into his elven form as he tries to stay hidden in the darkness along the building's side.

  Chapter 16

  First Blood

  From out of the Inn the seven sisters appear with others from inside. Sven of the North is with them. He draws out his massive great sword. They make their way to the gate and position themselves around the gate entrance. The half circle formation is made up of townsfolk with various weapons including picks and hammers. Only a few have swords. Mixed in among them are the amazons. Their fine weapons and armor make them stand out from the rest.

  Evelena yells to the others, “Here they come. Everyone get ready! Lyra, take point and get ready to blind them with the flash spell, then fall back immediately. Everyone else, be ready to cover your eyes or look away when I give the signal!” The townsfolk listen and nod at Evelena's orders.

  “Just tell me when,” Lyra says as she starts to walk toward the gate. After two steps she disappears, becoming invisible.

  Gelana, with her dark hair pulled back from her face, stands ready with her spear in one hand and her shield in the other. Rehma eagerly awaits with a sword in each hand. Yentroc concentrates and a dark mist begins to take form in her right hand. It takes the form of a sphere and gives off a faint dark glow. Kel'ana has her bow drawn and has her eyes closed tight awaiting Lyra's flash spell. Ja'noa prepares a very large ball of lightning that requires both hands to hold. Evelena stands right in the middle, she summons a large stone sphere in her hands and waits.

  The two guards can no longer hold back the enemy from the other side. They run back and take formation with the others as the gate bursts open.

  “Now, Lyra!” Evelena yells.

  Lyra yells, “Cover!” A split second later a bright flash comes from the center of the half circle formation. Most cover their eyes as they were told. Only a few townsfolk are caught off guard. The entire front line of orcneas stop dead in their tracks and are blinded by the incredibly bright flash of light. Lyra runs back to the line and as she passes Evelena she says, “I am clear.”

  “Good work,” Evelena tells her. Evelena then yells, “Fire!” Evelena releases her stone sphere hitting an orcnea square in the chest. The impact is as if he had been hit by a small catapult. Not only does it kill the orcnea, it knocks it back into two others, knocking them to the ground.

  Gelana throws her spear and it finds its mark straight into the heart of the nearest orcnea. She then quickly draws her sword and awaits the final order to move in.

  The orcneas that were behind the front lines try to push through the blinded orcneas in the front. One breaks though and is struck down by Ja'noa's lightning bolt. Across her chest, Ja'noa wears a leather sash holding six throwing daggers. In an instant she quick-draws one of the daggers and throws it, wounding an orcnea.

  The orcnea grabs the dagger, and as he pulls it out he is finished off by an arrow fired from Kel'ana's bow. Yentroc fires her spell at an orcnea that has pushed its way through. The orcnea sees it coming and drops to the ground. While the orcnea escapes the effects of the spell, the blinded orcnea behind him does not as the spell strikes him. The orcnea clutches his chest as the dark bolt takes his life.

  Other orcneas begin to push through and they begin to advance into the middle of the semi-circle defense. Rehma is very anxious and says under her breath, “Come on. Give the order.”

  Evelena yells out the command that Rehma has been waiting for. “Attack!”

  Rehma charges quickly and engages the first orcnea she can. The orcnea is caught off guard by her aggressiveness. Rehma spins around and ducks down low. This maneuver confuses the orcnea who was prepared to block with his shield at chest level. Rehma is able to easily thrust both of her swords up and into the orcnea's gut. She stands up and pulls her swords from the orcnea. He falls to his knees and Rehma makes sure he is dead as she slashes the orcnea across his reddish-orange neck. Blood spatters onto Rehma from her first kill.

  Chance anxiously watches in the distance as the battle unfolds. Suddenly he hears a voice behind him. “Aren’t you going to help them?” Kristieana asks.

  Chance quickly turns to see her standing there. “I didn't hear you there,” he says as he turns back to watch the battle.

  “You can fight can't you? Or is all that fancy armor just for show?” She asks.

  Chance sighs, knowing that he is going to have to explain who he real
ly is. “I have been known to slay a few orcneas,” he finally answers.

  “Still, you could help,” she says.

  Chance puts out his hand and closes his eyes. He opens them again and when he raises his hand a fire comes up from the ground beneath an orcnea.

  “Did you do that?” Kristieana asks.

  “No,” Chance lies. With another movement of his hand the fire begins to move and follow the orcnea as it tries to flee. Even though the flame is not as powerful as a fireball, the orcnea soon falls and Chance moves the fire to another target.

  “You are doing that,” she says, “but we are thirty or forty paces away. How is that possible?”

  “I have been told that I am not too bad with fire spells,” Chance answers as he continues to help from a distance. “They are doing quite well,” he says. “I am impressed. They seem to be very organized”

  “Well,” Kristieana says, “I did help train them.”

  They watch together as Evelena blocks an orcnea's attack with her shield. She then lifts the shield quickly pushing the orcnea off balance as she slashes the orcnea with her sword. Gelana also uses her shield to her advantage bashing it against an orcnea's head.

  Just behind the front lines of the melee, Ja'noa throws her last dagger, killing a charging orcnea. She reaches for another not realizing she is out. An orcnea charges her with a large two handed mace. She rolls to the side dodging the orcnea's wild swing. Drawing two short swords from her back she stands up as the orcnea comes at her again. She dodges again barely avoiding the hit. She then tries to parry the next attack but her sword is knocked from her hand by the large mace. The orcnea begins to swing again, and Ja'noa ducks and rolls toward it. When she comes out of her roll she finds herself right next to the red creature. She tries to swing her sword but she is too close. The orcnea grabs her wrist and tries to throw her to the ground, but Ja'noa rolls and ends up on her feet. The orcnea readies for another swing with his mace but before he can swing his weapon Ja'noa's eyes glow blue, and lightening shoots forth from them. The orcnea is shocked to his knees before falling face down in the snow. Holding her injured hand from the attempted parry, she falls back to catch her breath.

  Also behind the front lines Kel'ana shoots arrow after arrow into the orcneas. While she is not as powerful as Rehma or Gelana, her speed is uncanny and her aim is steady. Shot after shot she wounds each of her targets only to quickly notch another arrow to finish it off. One orcnea closes in on her unnoticed. She only manages to see it out of the corner of her eye as the orcnea swings a two handed ax at her. Kel'ana barely manages to get out of the way. With her bow still in her left hand, she casts a spell with her right. Her hand begins to glow with a light blue aura. When the orcnea swings again she is waiting. She leaps out of the way and grabs the orcnea's arm. The touch of her hand freezes the orcnea's arm, and as the orcnea stumbles back in pain she then casts another ice spell. This spell creates a large, sharp icicle. She releases it and it hits the orcnea with the same precision as her arrows. The orcnea is killed as Kel'ana takes a few steps back and readies her bow again to resume her attacks.

  In the heat of the battle and on the front line, Rehma swings her swords at an orcnea. The orcnea blocks the attack with his shield. Rehma continues to advance as the orcnea retreats. Rehma soon finds herself surrounded by orcneas. She quickly turns her swords in her hands to a reverse grip. Then as she takes a step backwards, she thrusts her swords behind her striking the orcnea that has flanked her. An orcnea to her left swings and misses as she dodges. The orcnea to her right seizes the opportunity to strike her with his mace. It hits her right shoulder and forces her to drop the sword in her right hand. She quickly turns to face him. Swinging her left sword she catches the orcnea right across the throat. With two more orcneas close by, Rehma is still in danger.

  Gelana, seeing that her sister is in trouble, steps forward with her shield and blocks an incoming attack that is intended for Rehma. Chance's flames engulf the other orcnea and it flees.

  “Careful with those flames, Kel'ana!” Gelana yells.

  “It's not me,” Kel'ana says.

  Rehma backs up as Gelana places herself in between the orcneas and her injured sister. Yentroc runs over to Rehma and says, “Hold still, I'll heal you.” Yentroc hands glow white and she places them on Rehma's shoulder.

  Rehma looks to Yentroc and says, “Thank you.” She then draws her larger two handed sword from her back and grips it tightly. She rejoins the front line and stands next to Gelana as they continue the fight.

  While all of this is happening, the town folk are doing the best they can against the raiders. One man is stabbed in his right thigh and falls to the ground. The orcnea that stabbed him tries to finish him off but before he can, Sven grabs the orcnea by the neck and pulls him back, throwing him into the fire that Chance is still moving around the battlefield.

  Off in the distance Chance and Kristieana sill watch as Chance moves the fire once again to help the inn keeper who has become surrounded but three orcneas. The dwarven inn keeper swings his ax at one of the orcneas just as the fire from Chance chases another away. Sven steps in and almost cleaves the third orcnea in two with his sword.

  “I can only count six of the girls,” Chance says sounding concerned.

  “Lyra is probably still invisible,” Kristieana replies.

  Kristieana's theory is correct. Lyra has managed to sneak around the orcnea lines while staying invisible. The orcneas that were blinded earlier are now starting to see clearly. Lyra is making sure that one by one she is disabling them as she hits them on the backs of their heads with her staff. During this a bigger threat comes out of the darkness.

  Chance and Kristieana watch as a huge ogre standing as tall as a single level building emerges from the cold dark night. “By the gods!” Kristieana gasps.

  Lyra becomes aware of the threat when she hears the giant beast taking a deep breath of air behind her. She slowly turns around to see the ogre, as big around as a five hundred year old oak, sniffing the air for Lyra's scent. The ogre cannot see her but it can smell her. Lyra freezes fear. The ogre takes one final deep breath before it lets out a loud roar and swings his massive fist sweeping the entire area in front of him.

  Lyra is sent flying, and as she hits the ground she almost loses consciousness. Her spell is broken now and she is visible again. Even though the last of the orcneas are slain, this massive beast stands before them and Lyra is directly in its path.

  “Lyra!” Evelena calls to her.

  Lyra can barely move. To her the world is spinning. She can barely make out the giant ogre as it takes a step towards her. Yentroc launches another Dark Bolt at it but it doesn't have any affect. Kel'ana shoots it with three arrows that only harmlessly stick into it. Ja'noa shoots a lightning bolt at it. This does make the beast flinch, but it still closes in on Lyra.

  Sven, yells to the ogre, “Here! You ugly beast,” but the ogre ignores Sven and puts its two fists together and prepares to crush Lyra with a powerful blow.

  Suddenly a huge ball of fire strikes the ogre. The brute survives the massive blast but is hurt badly and is stunned. Evelena looks behind her to see who cast the spell. She sees Chance pulling his cloak back over his head. He steps back into the shadows where Kristieana is hiding.

  Rehma and Gelana close in on the ogre and begin to stab fiercely into the giant threat. Kel'ana now releases a large ice sphere at its head. The scorched beast falls to the ground. Sven finally reaches the ogre and makes sure it is no longer a threat by taking his sword and removing its head.

  Kristieana stares at Chance in amazement. “Who are you?” She asks.

  The question goes unanswered as Chance turns and walks along the far side of the building out of site from the others.

  Though the battle is done, the scene is a chaotic one. Many of the town’s people are injured, but surprisingly none have died. Because of this the mood seems to be a positive one as the town has successfully defended itself from the orcnea
attack.

  Yentroc quickly runs over to Lyra and casts the healing spell on her. “Lyra, can you hear me?” she asks.

  Lyra groans as she brushes her brown hair from her face and opens her eyes. She asks Yentroc, “What...happened?”

  Yentroc sighs with relief. She then smiles and jokingly says to Lyra, “Well, there was this festival...”

  Gelana then continues to have fun with her and says, “And you had way too much to drink.”

  “Ugh,” Lyra says, “I hope I at least had fun.”

  Everyone laughs as Evelena looks over to where Chance had been. When she doesn't see him she looks carefully around at the crowds of people.

  Kel'ana walks up to Rehma and says, “Hey, Rehma?”

  “What?” Rehma asks.

  “You dropped something,” Kel’ana says as she hands Rehma her sword that she dropped earlier in the battle.

  “Thanks,” Rehma says with a smile.

  Kel'ana then walks over to Ja'noa and says, “Ja'noa?”

  “I know,” Ja'noa answers putting her hand out.

  “You dropped something,” Kel'ana says anyway handing her the short sword that was knocked from her hand.

  Now they all laugh even louder, as Ja'noa says, “Kel'ana, you always say, 'you dropped something.'”

  “Well,” Kel'ana explains with a smile, “it's always true.”

  “So, Evelena,” Rehma says with a smile. “When do we get our honor beads?”

  “Is that all you are worried about?” Evelena asks with a sigh.

  Sven asks, “What are you talking about?”

  Lyra holds out her necklace to him and says, “See this? Each bead is a token of honor. The different color beads stand for different achievements. Red ones, are for kills in combat. Evelena is in charge of awarding those.”