Passage to Glory: Part Two of the Redemption Cycle

by J. R. Lawrence

  “Fustua,” she said earnestly, crouching low to him, “there is no better way. There is none.”

  “Then go!” he cried to her, tears cleansing the blood from his face; tears both from his own eyes and Juanna’s. “They come! Here I have fallen! Here I die!”

  His efforts were then spent, all the energy he had remaining from battles past won, Fustua of Grundagg died in the streets of Grundagg. The bodies of comrades lay about him, cut down by his sword and the sword of his captain in the defense of one another. However, Juanna was left to face the remaining forces of Grundagg as they came marching down the street for her and Yaldaa, her last companion.

  The ranger had shot down those who blocked Juanna and Fustua from escaping down the street to the gate of their city, and was now shooting darts into those who gathered to destroy them while they marched. She saw Fustua fall, a friend to her as much as Juanna, but kept her tears back until the fighting would be over. At the moment, she needed to make Juanna’s path out of the city clear.

  Dropping from the rooftop Yaldaa called out to Juanna. “Captain, this way is empty of soldiers! Come, follow me!” and turning she sped down an alley winding toward the city wall. Juanna, pausing only to replace the sword of a Grundagg soldier with Fustua’s, followed Yaldaa’s lead.

  Lady Grundagg motioned to several soldiers preparing to march after Juanna and Yaldaa, and they turned to obey whatever command their matron gave them. “The killer of lord Grundagg remains in the citadel, and is a major threat to the foundation of this city. He must, therefore, die this day.”

  The guards saluted her with their swords, and marching by they passed beyond the citadel doors as they opened on approach. Their intention, if followed exactly, was to slay their own captain.

  12

  An Order of Extermination

  They keep coming!

  Dril’ead fought vigorously with his single scimitar, dodging in and out of his opponents attacks as he searched for an opening through which he might at last defeat him or her; but it seemed that with every Swildagg soldier he slew, two more rose to take his or her place. They kept coming, but from where Dril could not say. However, he could only guess by way of the passage these soldiers took that the aristocracy of Swildagg somehow had overthrown the rule of Grundagg in that land. Whatever the reasons or cause, they were coming to rid him at last from that world.

  But he couldn’t help wondering that if Swildagg could overthrow Grundagg, how long would it take of them to cast down the foundations of his own city. He wondered, therefore, if Vulzdagg already fallen.

  No, he told himself with stubborn determination, they are stronger than Swildagg will assume. They will outlast them. They will outwit the treacherous cause of Swildagg. They must!

  With this last thought he plunged his sword into the exposed heart of a Swildagg officer, throwing his combatant into the others charging up the tunnel. He stepped back in a readied stance, gripping the hilt of his scimitar in both hands, and then could see his own reflection looking back at him from the bloodied blade. Alighted by the bioluminescent glow of the plant life in the stream behind him, Dril’ead Vulzdagg saw the eyes of a warrior staring back at him through the blood caked on the adamant steel.

  Remember, Dril’ead, it is where you shall stand that the enemy cannot touch you.

  Dril’ead narrowed his eyes intensely on their reflection before him. Where, then, do I stand?

  A face suddenly came into the passage before him, his own shadow thrown across the face of the new comer as he came up the tunnel, and subconsciously he mouthed the name of Jastrum Swildagg. The prince of Swildagg walked forward with his soldiers marching on either side of him, weapons readied in his hands as well as theirs.

  A smile, cruel and menacing, creased Jastrum’s face as his glare fell upon Dril’ead. “How, in all the realms of this accursed world, have you come to be here, I wonder . . . You!” he commanded suddenly, looking to a soldier at his side, “Go and inform your noble leaders that Dril’ead Vulzdagg has been resurrected!”

  “Wait,” Dril said to them, “Such information may be invalid after this duel.”

  Jastrum cocked his head to the side in thought, and the soldier at his side looked to him and then back to Dril as he waited for the confirmation of his order.

  “You challenge me, then?” Jastrum said, his smile fading to be replaced with an ominous expression.

  “With utmost respect,” Dril’ead replied, nodding his head.

  “Then,” Jastrum said, narrowing his eyes suspiciously on the Vulzdagg, “I accept. I have been undefeated thus far, having battled with numerous warriors counting themselves among the most skilled, and have stepped out unscathed so far.”

  Jastrum Swildagg stepped into his own fighting stance, unsheathing his scimitar from its scabbard at his side to raise it between himself and Dril’s weapon. They held their gaze upon one another, a passionate fire of hate trickling from Jastrum’s expression into Dril’ead’s mentality, and the Vulzdagg visibly shuddered.

  “Your sword is stained with blood,” Jastrum said coldly, “The blood of my people.”

  And then he leapt upon Dril’ead’s blade with an outburst of furry.

  *****

  Eldrean and Elemni turned from where they dismissed Jastrum and a number of their troops into a passage to their side, and walked onward toward the city gates of Grundagg to fulfill their errand appointed by the Shadow Queen herself through Alastra and Gorroth. Tyla remained at Swildagg, assembling an army to march against Vulzdagg when the hour of their downfall would at last come, and fulfill an order, also given by the mouth pieces of the Shadow Queen, of extermination.

  The path opened wide to reveal an enormous cavern, behind them the chasm of the Shadow Realms opened the way into he higher level of that world, and Grundagg’s walls rose in great stalagmite spires in the spectrum before them. The city was quiet, and the silence was unlike any dreaded hush that ever fell over the place in times past, and it unnerved the Swildagg nobles approaching the sealed gates across the causeway.

  Raising a hand toward the doors on the other end of the bridge, Eldrean said in a loud voice, “Greetings to the citizens of Grundagg! We are Swildagg, and Swildagg comes to visit your lord and your lady!”

  The doors seemed to shudder behind her words, and a moment following they opened inward to reveal a host of Grundagg warriors standing in tight rank as if to oppose them. However, the lady of Grundagg herself marched forward to greet them at the end of the causeway with outstretched arms. Swildagg, hesitating only for a second, continued forward to enter the city of Grundagg.

  Elemni followed close beside his mother, and looking into the city street he noticed that the bodies of Grundagg soldiers were being removed from the pathway to the citadel. Some people, however, stood round a single corpse lying in the bloodstained city square, their heads bowed as if in mourning.

  “I understand that you have come to unite us unto the Shadow Queen,” the matron of Grundagg said to them as they came to the end of the causeway, leading their troops behind them. “I must, therefore, beg your forgiveness in this dreadful hour. It appears that the inhabitants of Grundagg are not as willing to subjection as they should be, and the force of my power has dispelled them elsewhere.”

  “I see the dead of your people in your own streets,” Elemni said to her suddenly. “Has a revolution broken out amongst these people? Must the wrath of the Shadow Queen come so soon, and also upon all the inhabitants of Grundagg?”

  “It has been dispelled, I can assure you,” the matron of Grundagg said, bowing before the two Swildagg nobles. “Her wrath may come, but only upon those who have fled this city or are to be handed over into her keeping. The inhabitants of Grundagg shall bow to her wishes nonetheless.”

  Eldrean raise her jaw at the city before her. “We shall see,” she said, and then pushing past the matron of Grundagg she raised her arms toward the ranks of soldiers standing in the city square. “Bow down, citizens of Grundagg!
Bow before the ambassadors of the Shadow Queen, and show to her your loyalty and subjection!”

  The Grundagg matron, to show an example to her people, lowered herself onto one knee with a bowed head before Elemni and Eldrean. All the soldiers did the same, one by one dropping to one knee before the nobles of the Swildagg Branch, and both Elemni and Eldrean smiled with delight.

  “Bring the traitors of the Shadow Queen,” Eldrean said to the city matron. “We will begin by showing these people the retribution of the Shadow Queen to those who go against her will.”

  The matron of Grundagg rose, though she bowed her head still to Eldrean Swildagg. “It shall be done,” she said. “However, we have only one of them in our keeping. The others have fled or perished, but the one we have may put up a fight yet.”

  “None can resist the Shadow Queen’s wrath,” Elemni said.

  Eldrean began walking up the street toward the citadel of Grundagg, Elemni and the Grundagg matron following beside her. “Tell me,” Eldrean said to the city matron, “Where is lord Hundarr at this hour?”

  “I regret to tell that the lord of Grundagg is dead,” the matron of Grundagg said. “It appears that the rebellion of a few of our people resulted in the death of several of my people, including lord Hundarr himself.”

  “He is dead,” Eldrean said, as if concluding of her remarks on the subject. “The rule of the Shadow Queen is paid for by the blood of some people, including traitors and humble followers alike. It is the way of the world in which we thrive.”

  The matron of Grundagg nodded absently as they walked toward the ranks of the Grundagg soldiers, still bowing themselves before the ambassadors of the Shadow Queen. They past by Fustua’s body without so much as a glance, the corpse lying still after the weapons that protruded from his body were removed.

  *****

  Dril’ead easily swept Jastrum’s attack aside, throwing the prince of Swildagg against the cavern wall with a simple right-hand parry, but turned in preparation for any strikes that the fast recovering Jastrum might attempt. However, as the foolhardy prince of Swildagg slammed into the wall of the cavern, he recognized the strength of his opponent as something far above what he had anticipated. Though, after he and paced round to stand back in his original position between Dril and the tunnel, Jastrum recovered and readied himself for the next assault.

  He dove straight in, driving the point of his blade directly at Dril’ead’s throat, but the lord of Vulzdagg swept the sword aside and struck with a counterattack swipe at Jastrum’s abdomen. The Swildagg stepped out of Dril’s reach, and swung his sword back round at Dril’ead’s head, but the Vulzdagg ducked bellow the attack and stepped forward to slam his shoulder into Jastrum’s belly. Jastrum, on the other hand, brought his fist down onto Dril’s neck with a powerful blow that knocked him down onto his face.

  Dril repented of his mistake, admitting that he misjudged Jastrum’s naïve attitude with an attack that could have killed him, and rolled out form under the Swildagg to come up onto a knee. His scimitar came up and caught Jastrum’s blade as it came upon him, and deflected the weapon with a ringing impact that resounded in the cavern, and Jastrum stumbled back before Dril’ead could enact a follow through attack.

  However, Dril did not intend to use any follow through attacks, but instead he rushed upon Jastrum to lock blades with the Swildagg for an extended moment. Near the stone bank of the glowing stream, Dril’ead saw the glint of steel as a dagger lay in plain view for either of their advantage; it appeared, though, that Jastrum had not noticed the idle weapon.

  Brining his foot up suddenly, Jastrum struck Dril in the kneecap with a solid kick. Not yet realizing the pain that was swelling among the nerves of his knee, Dril’ead did not hesitate to turn his shoulder into the Swildagg while his foot was off the wet ground, and Jastrum slipped onto his back in a hard landing. The knife, now that Jastrum was momentarily stunned, was available for Dril’s taking, and he stooped to the side to retrieve the weapon.

  The tangible sense of equal balance, two blades in the two hands of a fighter, was all that Dril’ead Vulzdagg required for a sense of security in his battles. He missed his sword, having lost it in his fight against Gorroth, and therefore longed for its company with his remaining scimitar. Needing two blades to win his fight, Dril’ead took the dagger that lay beside the luminescent stream; almost the steel seemed to glow with a pale radiance.

  He then turned round with scimitar and dagger in either hand, and faced the swinging blade of Jastrum Swildagg as he rushed him into the stream. The outward swipe of the sword forced Dril to lean back and away from its cutting path, and slipping into the water he was tripped by its rushing current and fell beneath the flow, Jastrum wasting no time as he leapt over his fallen opponent with a sword raised over his head.

  Fully submerged beneath the water he shut his eyes, though he could feel the plants that grew beneath the surface of the stream brush against his mesh armor, face and hands. Jastrum was above him, he knew, and was about to plunge his sword straight down and into Dril’ead’s stuck body; but Dril had lost his scimitar in his fall into the water, the weight of the weapon having drug itself free from his grasp. However, as he flexed his fingers, Dril found that he grasped still the hilt of the dagger.

  He heard a victorious cry erupt from Jastrum above him, and opening his eyes to see beyond the blinding light of the bioluminescent plants Dril saw the figure of the prince of Swildagg bend down to drive his sword into his heart. Though, the fighting spirit of the Vulzdagg captain of the basilisks had not left the lord of Vulzdagg, and Dril’ead sat upwards suddenly to stab the dagger into Jastrum’s gut.

  Jastrum’s sword came down behind Dril’ead only to splash into the water from his grasp, and Jastrum himself groaned in silent agony as he looked down at the blood seeping out from beneath the blade protruding through his mesh armor. Their eyes met briefly, and in them Dril saw a boiling hatred explode before being enveloped by nothing.

  “Dear Swildagg,” Dril’ead whispered as the corpse of Jastrum slipping backwards and from the daggers point to drop, “please forgive me of this sin, and any wrongs that my people have done against you.”

  The body fell into the stream with a splash, and the current of the stream took the corpse through the winding tunnel to wherever it met greater rivers, and then onward to where none can say or guess. The guards, however, stood motionless as they watched the body of their noble leader float away. And then, one by one, they turned their stunned expressions on Dril’ead.

  There were eight of them, each wearing a suit of Swildagg mesh armor. In their hands they gripped either an adamant scimitar or spear, though either way Dril knew he could not engage any more of his fellow beings in violence after his confrontation with Jastrum. He had not intended to kill Jastrum, but had thought only to put the prince of Swildagg to shame so that he might get away quickly. However, Dril’ead slew the prince of Swildagg, and would from that day forward remember never to draw any weapon against those he did not intend to harm.

  To Dril’s surprise, and to his relief, the guards of Swildagg lowered their heads as they turned away and departed down the passage behind them. Whether or not they told their noble masters of Dril’ead’s survival against Gorroth or Jastrum Swildagg, Dril could never know for certain.

  Although one thing was certain: his family was in danger.

  Rising gingerly to his feet, Dril’ead stood in the stream as he looked down the way Jastrum had gone. He felt a deep sickness in his stomach, the very thought of having slain a fellow member of the Urden’Dagg Tree a sickness in itself. Though, as he thought about it he realized that Jastrum would not have spared him, and if he had died in the place of the Swildagg prince there would be no hope of saving his people from their enclosing grasp.

  He strode up the stream in the direction Juanna and Fustua had gone, wanting to keep as far from any other Branch or its members as possible. All he needed, and all that he wanted, was a rest long awaiting him. It was exhaus
ting enough to live in such a world as this, to fight when all he wanted was to sleep.

  “It will come,” he told himself, almost promising his drifting mind. “The day will come when I shall at last lie down and rest, never to awaken back into this world, but rather pass on into the halls of my grandfathers and grandmothers. They await me; my father awaits me, and his father before him. I shall be welcomed as they were, and shall know my rest has come at last.”

  Looking to the path before him, though, Dril added, “That day is yet to come. First, I must win my seat among their glory.”

  He broke into a sudden sprint, charging up the waterway with splashing strides as the tunnel through which he guessed the two Grundagg’s had gone. He came to the opening of the passage, but stopped as he felt a strange urge to turn from that particular tunnel, and looking up the stream to his right he saw the purple of a spider-silk cloak flutter as it vanished behind the bend in the waterway.

  Turning then from the road to Grundagg, Dril’ead went after what he thought was a Follower passing up the stream, and he chased the specter until the passage in which he traversed began slopping upwards. The water splashed beside him on its thunderous way, and soon Dril was struggling to force his way against its powerful current to catch whoever beckoned for him to follow, and he wondered if it could be either of the two Grundagg’s still struggling to get back to their city.

  He glanced upward several times to see the shadow of a purple garb disappear round the next corner, always ascending upward before him, and each time he saw it the urgency to get to his people increased. He had to find them before Swildagg, and protect them from whatever harm the Swildagg Branch was to do to them. He had a foreboding feeling that the Branch was following an order of extermination, either given by the Urden’Dagg or themselves.