by Hans Bezdek
Sloane figured this was the first real fight many of Kutarm’s men had seen. Most towns he conquered gave in through sieges or by just being overrun by more men. Now that they were having to face a militia that wasn’t backing down, it was too much for some of them to take. Sloane couldn’t believe it, but it looked like they were actually going to reach Stedforge. They’d be able to help Zeke before long. She couldn’t help but smile.
“Demons!” cried out voices to their right flank.
Sloane’s smile dropped as she saw a mass of black figures tearing through the side of the Linsuk Resistance. Fighters were flung left and right as the evil creatures pressed into them, their otherworldly screeches beginning to fill the air. The Resistance had done surprisingly well against Kutarm’s forces so far but against the added threat of demons? This was going to be hopeless.
“W-What do we do?” asked Delvin, clenching his mace to his body.
“I don’t know,” admitted Sloane. “I don’t know if we’re going to win this, but if we retreat then Zeke is as good as dead.”
Retreating now would also mean all the sacrifice that was made so far was for nothing. Even more would die as they fell back, and Sloane wasn’t confident that the demons and Kutarm’s men would stop pressing. There was no way to get out of this. They would have to take down as many as they could with them.
One of the demons was nearing them, causing the Resistance fighters to part and back off. Kriket jumped out at the demon from behind it, digging his blades into the creature. Sloane could see him wince with pain as he used both arms, quickly jumping back as the demon reared back to slash at him. The lizardman slipped, falling onto his back.
“No!” shouted Sloane, reaching for an arrow. By the time she muttered her incantation and got the shot off, she knew she wouldn’t be able to take the demon out before it got to Kriket. Still, she went through the motions of trying.
Right as the demon got into range to take a bite out of Kriket, a large battleaxe chopped into the center of the demon’s head. The dwarf holding the axe kicked the twitching demon off his weapon, helped Kriket up, then charge to the next demon.
“A dwarf?” marveled Sloane, lowering her bow.
“But I don’t remember seeing any in Burston,” said Delvin, scratching his head.
Battle cried rang out behind them and to their weakened flank, only these were much deeper in tone than before. Sloane watched in wonder as dwarves swarmed through the worried Burston fighters, running past them and towards the fight. One by one, the Burston Resistance joined the current of dwarves, and the battle was back on.
“I don’t understand,” said Sloane, shaking her head. “This must be-”
“Well if it isn’t Sloane,” came a woman’s voice behind her. “I told you we’d see each other again!”
Chapter 16
Zeke and Xylona watched as several of Kutarm’s guards talked with him. The crowd below them were unsure of what to do. It was obvious they wanted to go fight but also knew that leaving Lord Kutarm before he was finished speaking could be deadly. They didn’t have to worry for very long.
“The foolish Resistance has come to meet their fate!” declared Lord Kutarm, raising his Arcane Staff up. “Go now, and defeat them!”
The crowd roared with approval as they all pulled out their weapons and raised them up. They swarmed away from the tall building and towards the city gates. Zeke watched as Lord Kutarm disappeared from his balcony, his guards trailing behind him.
“He must be leaving to manage the battle from the platform on top of the wall,” explained Xylona. “We might be able to ambush him before he gets there!”
“But my Arcane Staff doesn’t work, remember?” asked Zeke.
“We’ve got to try something!” implored Xylona. “Perhaps your powers work under duress?”
While that was a possibility, that was not something Zeke wanted to find out.
“What is your captive doing?” asked Uriah. “Why are his hands not bound?”
Zeke and Xylona turned to find the three fae elders staring at them.
“I’ve got my prisoner under control, thank you very much,” said Xylona. “Now that the talk is over, I was just about to take him to-”
“I don’t care,” said Uriah, shaking his head. “Lord Kutarm has no more time for prisoners. Go ahead and kill the elf, then make your way to the battlefield. Your talents are better used out there than waiting around in the city.”
“Kill the elf?” mumbled Zeke, looking around to see if there was another one around. Of course there wasn’t.
“I-I can’t kill him,” said Xylona, trying to figure out a convincing reason she couldn’t. “Lord Kutarm would want to talk with-”
“Kill the elf,” repeated Uriah, his face turning darker. “This is a direct order from your elders. I promise to explain to Lord Kutarm after the battle that I told you to do so. You’ll have nothing to worry about.”
Xylona looked at Zeke. “Let’s hope the magic works.”
“What do you-” began Zeke, but the fae was already moving.
Xylona reached out, forming black circles around Uriah and the muscular elder’s necks. The two elders eyes’ widened as the circles clamped down. Uriah reached up to his neck, and the black magic started to flow from his neck into his hands.
“You dare challenge us!?” shouted Uriah, furious.
“Traitor!” screeched Elder Cynthia, reaching out towards Xylona. The tips of her fingers sparked, and then a burst of electricity shot out at the fae. Xylona narrowly jumped out of the way as the lightning crashed into the wall behind her, cracking it.
The remaining black circle around the muscular elder’s neck disappeared as Xylona lost her concentration, freeing the elder. The fae had a coughing fit as he fought for air. He looked up at Zeke, to Xylona, then back to Zeke. He then pulled out two daggers and ran for the elf.
Not good.
Zeke pulled out Lucky, holding the dagger out to try and keep the elder at bay. It didn’t work, and the elder began an onslaught of slashes at him. Zeke backpedaled as he tried to bring up his dagger to protect himself. Lucky lived up to its name once again, and the elf held his own against the rampaging fae.
Meanwhile, Xylona summoned two black spears into her hands. Cynthia shot another burst of electricity at her, this time finding her target. Xylona crossed the two magical spears in front of her, completely absorbing the damage.
“I’ve always known you’d betray us!” cried Cynthia, forming a spear of electricity and running at Xylona.
Xylona chucked one of the spears at Cynthia. The elder slashed it away and jumped at the traitor. Xylona brought her spear up in time to block the elder’s strike, the two using all their strength to try and push the other back. Cynthia proved to be slightly stronger, bringing the sparking spear closer and closer to her opponent’s face.
“Tell Gnarius hello,” sneered Cynthia.
Xylona smiled back at her. “I’m afraid I won’t have the opportunity quite yet.”
Cynthia raised an eyebrow. “Why are you smiling...?”
The elder jutted forward with a grunt, her summoned spear disappearing in an instant. Xylona lowered her spear and took a step back. The spear Cynthia had swatted away had come back. Unfortunately for the elder, she was in the way. The spear cut through her with ease and remained there as she fell over dead.
Zeke, lacking in boomerang-like magical spears, was not faring as well. The muscular elder had made a few quick jabs that caught him off guard, and the elf was gathering some painful cuts on his arms and chest. It was all he could do to keep himself on the defense. He needed to come up with another plan if he was going to win.
“Woah, woah, woah!” said Zeke, raising his hands and jumping back.
The elder paused, tilting his head to the side. “What?!”
Zeke hesitated. He hadn’t actually expected that to work.
“Do we really need to be doing this?” asked Zeke. “I mean, we don’t even know e
ach other’s name!”
“I don’t know the name of most beings I’ve killed,” shrugged the elder. “May we continue?”
“Uh…” said Zeke, searching for another option. When he glanced at his hands, it came to him. “Actually… I think it’s in your best interest to yield.”
The fae laughed. “I think you misunderstand how this fight is going. You have yet to land one shot on me, while I’ve been slowly whittling down your defenses.”
“True,” conceded Zeke. “But things have changed.”
“Ha!” barked the elder. “And what would that be?”
Zeke held his free hand out towards the fae. The familiar purple glow danced around his fingers, forming into a stable ball in his palm.
“This.”
Bright purple light filled the open balcony as a current of magic energy shot from Zeke’s hand into the center of the fae. The elder cried out in surprise as he was swept off his feet from the ray, sending him flying off the balcony and into one of the nearby buildings. The wall of the building collapsed as he was pushed through it, and the top for collapsed in on itself.
Zeke let the purple ray cease. He looked down at his hands and grinned. “Looks like Xylona was right after-”
A floating black macehead smacked into his face, sending him tumbling backward.
“Ow!” groaned Zeke, holding his nose. “What was that for?”
“You think we are a joke?!” cried out Uriah, glaring at the elf. The macehead floated back to the fae, hovering at the ready next to him along with five others. “We are no simple pushovers! We are the strongest of our people!”
“Why are you all so angry with me?!” shouted Zeke, getting to his feet. “You ordered me to be killed and don’t even know why I’m here! I should be the one that’s angry!”
“You’re working with a traitor,” spat Uriah. “I don’t need to know anything more!”
Zeke was infuriated that the fae elders didn’t even know they were trying to kill Lord Kutarm, but before he could tell Uriah it, the fae launched all six mace heads towards him.
Zeke sheathed Lucky, then brought both hands in front of him. A bubble of purple energy formed around him, keeping the mace heads from getting any closer. The six floated back to their master.
“What kind of magic is that?” demanded Uriah. “I’ve never encountered it before.”
“I wish I could tell you,” said Zeke, having no idea himself. The bubble of energy dissipated.
“You wish to defy me even more by withholding your secrets from me?!” barked Uriah.
“What?! No! I honestly don’t know what kind of magic it is!”
Uriah glared at him. Zeke felt like if he didn’t ask his question now, he’d never get a chance to.
“I’ve got to know, said Zeke, his tone serious. “What happened to your eye?”
Uriah brought the six mace heads together, forming a giant ball of black energy. Raising his hands towards it, the ball grew several times over.
Must have been a sore subject.
“H-Hey,” stammered Zeke. “C-Chill out!”
“Rah!” shouted Uriah sending the ball of dark energy at the elf.
Zeke brought his hands together, quickly forming a tiny ball of purple magic in his hands. Before the dark ball reached him, he flicked his own at it. The much smaller ball connected with the black mass, slowing it down but not stopping it. Zeke continued to feed magic into the ball from a distance but knew he wasn’t going to stop it. Deciding to risk it, he stepped around to his left. As he expected, the black ball continued to press in his direction. When Zeke knew he couldn’t hold it anymore, he released his energy from the ball.
The elf dropped to the floor as the ball of dark magic flew for him. He shielded himself with a bubble of purple energy, letting the black ball continue on past him. It crashed into the building holding up their balcony, exploding on impact.
“You idiot!” cried out Uriah, hitting the deck as the balcony disconnected from the crumbling building.
They all braced themselves as the platform crashed to the ground several stories below. Chunks of the balcony split apart, but most of the structure held surprisingly intact.
Zeke got to his feet, the purple shield dispersing. “That was a close one.”
“You could’ve killed us both!” growled Uriah, rising as well.
“I had it completely under control,” lied the elf. Then he remembered it wasn’t just the two of them. “Wait, where’s Xylona?!”
Uriah straightened as he frantically glanced around. It looked like the elder had forgotten about her, too. Unluckily for the elder, she hadn’t forgotten about him.
Xylona appeared behind Uriah, placing a hand on the back of his head.
“Oh, there she is!” smiled Zeke. “Good, she didn’t get crushed by the balcony.”
“Yeah, thanks for that,” she said sarcastically.
“X-Xylona,” stuttered Uriah, his hands raised up in surrender. “D-Don’t do anything r-rash.”
“I didn’t plan to,” she admitted. “I had no intention of killing the elders. I know that you’re being controlled in some way by Kutarm.”
Uriah visibly relaxed. “G-Good…”
“But then you mentioned killing Gnarius,” she said, glaring at the back of his head. “And all that changed.”
“W-Wait!” cried out Uriah, his eyes going wide.
Zeke felt a surge of power but didn’t see any magic. What he did see was Uriah’s eyes go blank, and the fae collapse on himself.
“W-What’d you do?” asked Zeke, a bit more fearful of his ally.
“I obliterated his mind,” she said matter-of-factly as she lowered her arm. “Ready to go find Kutarm?”
Zeke glanced down at Uriah’s corpse as he followed after Xylona. He made a mental note to never get on her bad side again.
Chapter 17
“I-Ivsaar?!” exclaimed Sloane.
The elf woman who led the Nurem Resistance fighters smiled at her. The elf had a new scar over her right cheek but otherwise looked just as she had when Sloane had fought alongside her weeks earlier.
“Looks like your people needed a little help,” smirked the elf. “Hope you don’t mind us crashing your party.”
“Not at all,” smiled Sloane.
“I see your gnome friend is still alive,” noted Ivsaar, looking around. “Where’s The Elf Thief? Did he ever get the Arcane Staff?”
“He did,” nodded Delvin. “He’s inside of Stedforge as we speak.”
“Funny how he never seems to be in the battle,” laughed Ivsaar. “I suppose taking out the head of the snake is more important, though.”
Kriket jogged over to them, eyeing the elf up and down. “What’s going on? Where did all these dwarves come from? And who’s this?”
“These are more from the Linsuk Resistance, but from Nurem,” explained Delvin. “When Zeke and I went after the Fourth Staff, Sloane hung back and fought with Ivsaar and the dwarves against Kutarm’s men.”
“We’re thankful for the help,” nodded Kriket.
“We’ve got to hurry and get to the gates,” said Sloane to Ivsaar. “Do you think you could get some of your men to help us push through?”
“Of course,” said Ivsaar, shouting at a few nearby dwarves to accompany them. “We’ll get you to the gates and keep Kutarm’s people from chasing after you.”
The group of dwarves formed a circle around Sloane and the others, then ran forward. Sloane kept her bow at the ready, taking shots at Kutarm’s men that got too close. While Sloane was putting in some work, she didn’t feel particularly needed. The dwarves of Nurem were tearing into their enemies with ease. While the rival humans were renewed with hope at the arrival of their demon allies, the dwarves were quickly breaking them of it.
Sloane’s group barreled into wave after wave of soldiers, taking out all that stood in their way. Kutarm’s men quickly realized that their height advantage over the dwarves didn’t amount for much. The dwarves
helping Sloane push forward weren’t afraid to fight dirty, taking out their opponent’s legs and going for what was precious between them. Occasionally one or two of the dwarves would get injured and have to fall back, but they were quickly replaced by others. The rest of the Linsuk Resistance looked to be rallying behind them.
Their group was making good progress. They were just a few lines of soldiers away from being able to reach the gates. Sloane noticed movement on the platform above the gates, and an imposing figure made his way to the front of it.
It could be no one but Lord Kutarm himself. Sloane relished the thought that he was watching his troops being pushed back. Even his demon reinforcements were struggling on the Resistance’s flanks. It was just a matter of time until the fight came to the streets of Stedforge, and to him.
The figure raised his Arcane Staff high above him. Dark mist started to pour out of it, slowly drifting down. It made its way to the ground between them and the gate, hovering a few feet over the earth for a moment before disappearing below. Lord Kutarm lowered his Staff and continued to watch the battle unfold.
“What was that about?” asked Delvin. “Was he trying to intimidate us?”
“I doubt it,” hissed Kriket. “We should be wary as we move forward. There’s no way he just did that to put on a show.”
They didn’t have to wait long to figure out why Kutarm had done that.
“Undead are springing up!” shouted Ivsaar.
Sloane looked ahead to see the elf was right. Kutarm’s men fled as arms of bone sprang out of the ground around them. The abominations were garbed in varying types of armor and weapons. Sloane was confused by the odd assortment at first but then realized what was the cause of it. Picking Stedforge as a place to gather his troops was no accident on Lord Kutarm’s part. He had centuries worth of failed invaders to resurrect and use for his own bidding. Who knew how many armies had failed to take over the city?
The undead began their slow crawl towards Sloane’s group. Sloane muttered her holy magic onto the arrows she shot, while Ivsaar carved through those that got too close with her twin blades. Delvin summoned demon illusions to stall and confused the undead approaching them from behind, while Kriket and the dwarves cut through the unsuspecting abominations. Even Delvin’s horse made quick work of any abominations that got near. While they were making quick work of the creatures, Sloane noticed that most of the Linsuk Resistance stopped following them. Both the dwarves and the humans seemed panicked by the undead.
