by F. P. Spirit
“See…we caught you…easy. We do…same with…all Ironfist clan!”
Gilstench’s face screwed up in anger. It was a fearsome sight, but he did his best to remain calm on the outside. Inside, his blood had turned to ice.
“My clan not weak!” the bugbear barked at him. “Gilstench stupid. Gilstench should die. But Ironfist clan strong!”
Glo was unnerved by the fierceness of the outburst. Luckily, the bugbear did not seem to notice. It was probably not used to reading expressions on the face of its prey. It took him a moment to find his voice again, but then he prodded the creature.
“You…sure?”
Gilstench snarled and then began spouting hotly, “We have three warriors, tougher than me. And two mages. We live in the great keep on top of the mountain. And we grow. We have families. Young ones get big and strong. One day we will have more warriors.”
It is working! There were five more adult male bugbears, and they were living in the keep on top of Stone Hill with their families. Were there just the bugbears up there? He decided to push Gilstench just a bit more.
“That all?” he said, doing his best to keep his voice even.
“No,” Gilstench said with a growl. “There is Wizard in keep. Telvar his name. He great wizard. He teach great magic to Bilehack and Curdlemung. They become great, too!”
Another wizard? That caught him by surprise. Glo felt suddenly uneasy.
“What…kind…magic?”
“Dark magic. Undead magic. Bugbears guard keep during day. Undead do job at night. Ironfist magic great.”
Undead? That’s not good. This “little job” of mapping out the keep had just become far more dangerous. Glo stood back for a moment, trying to think. He gazed around at the others, but except for some raised eyebrows and questioning looks, no one said anything. Well, there was no hope for it. Right now they needed to do something with Gilstench.
Glo stepped forward. “Maybe…Ironfist…great, but Gilstench…not. What we…do with…you?”
“Gilstench must die!” With a sudden great heave, he broke his ropes and launched his huge frame right at Glo.
The young elf froze in his tracks as the bugbear hurtled toward him. Suddenly, something hit him hard in the side, knocking him down. Glo slammed into the ground, the world spinning around him.
“You okay?”
Glo opened his eyes, his vision fuzzy. He turned his head and saw two familiar forms standing over him, one dressed mostly in black, the other in white.
“Sorry about that,” Seth apologized. “I thought it better if I tackled you before the bugbear did.”
Glo grimaced, his hand going to the back of his head. Yes, that was right. The bugbear had lunged at him, but something else had knocked into him first. Glo managed a half smile. “Can’t argue with that. So where’d he go?”
His vision finally cleared. He glanced around and caught sight of three figures running away from them. The lead figure was clearly ahead of the other two. It was Gilstench! Lloyd and Titan were in hot pursuit.
“They’re almost to the cliff,” Aksel said ominously.
Glo sprang up and took off after the others. At that point, the bugbear reached the cliff. Before anyone could stop him, the creature leapt off into midair and disappeared over the rim. Lloyd and Titan stopped short just at the cliff’s edge. They stood there staring down into the pass. Glo, Seth, and Aksel reached them shortly thereafter. Neither warrior had moved, transfixed by what they saw below.
“You might not want to look,” Titan warned them, but Glo chose to anyway.
At the bottom of the narrow ravine he saw a dreadful sight. Gilstench had landed in the pit trap the bugbears set up in the road. He’d fallen through and was now impaled on spikes at the bottom of the pit, his large body still convulsing. The onlookers stood there, aghast at the sight. Abruptly, Brundon appeared beside them.
“I heard the commotion…” he began, then stopped as he gazed down into the ravine. “Oooo, that’s gotta hurt.”
Seth’s lips formed into a half twisted smile. “I guess he got the point.”
Glo raised an eyebrow. Lloyd and Titan both groaned. Only Brundon seemed to find the comment amusing, responding with a short closed-mouth laugh.
Aksel could not help commenting. “Really?”
Seth merely stood there with a devilish smirk.
It suddenly dawned on Glo that the others didn’t know what the bugbear had told him. He motioned for them to back away from the cliff and then repeated what he’d learned.
When he finished, Aksel was the first to speak. “It sounds like they have a little mini-army up there at the keep.”
Brundon’s face had gone somewhat pale. “And I’m really not thrilled with all this talk of undead.”
Glo couldn’t have agreed more, but he had further concerns. “What worries me more is this wizard, Telvar. If he is teaching the bugbears how to make undead, he is much more experienced than I. That could prove to be a problem.”
The group fell silent as they contemplated their next move. Aksel was the first to speak once more. “Well, we’ve come this far. I wouldn’t want to turn back now. Let’s take a vote.”
Lloyd immediately voted for going ahead, as did Titan. Seth said he would go if everyone else wanted to.
Brundon let out a deep sigh. “Might as well. There’s obviously no stopping you, and without me to guide you, there’s no telling what you might run into up there. Plus, I don’t think I could tear Titan away from the battle now.”
They all smiled at that. Glo felt he was starting to understand Brundon. He was smug and egotistical at times, but he would stand by you in a pinch. Now he could see why Titan stayed with him.
All eyes turned to Glo. Aksel cocked his head as he stared at him. “Well?”
Glo had mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, he didn’t want to disappoint his friends. On the other hand, this wizard, Telvar, had him very afraid. He pictured his father, Amrod, giving yet another lecture about the dangers of the outside world. The vision suddenly shifted to the last time he saw his mother, Aerandir. They stood amidst the colossal roughhewn pillars that marked the perimeter of the city. The mystic runes engraved into the columns glowed with a soft light, signifying that the magic that kept the city hidden was still in place.
She had stood there, a forlorn look on her otherwise unmarred face. Her long black hair, blown by the gentle breeze, partially covered those piercing green eyes as she stared at her only child for the last time. “Remember to use what we have taught you,” she had said to him.
“How so?” he responded, his own emotions threatening to get the best of him.
“Use your mind. It is your greatest asset. Think things through before running headlong into anything.”
“I will.” They clasped hands one final time.
The image faded, and Glo was again standing amongst his friends. They all still stared at him, waiting for his decision. He had indeed promised his mother he would be careful, but what they were about to do was exactly why he had left Cairthrellon in the first place. He had set out to befriend the other races and to use his magic out here in the world, where it was most needed. This was an opportunity to do both. Glo took a deep breath, his mind finally made up. “I’m in.”
Aksel nodded his approval. “Then it’s settled. We’ll wait until nightfall. Maybe we can sneak into the ruins after dark. As Glo said, that wizard could be trouble. Facing undead might be the lesser of two evils.”
Seth wore an impish grin. “I thought undead were more evil than bugbears.”
Aksel glared at his halfling friend. “It’s a figure of speech.”
Seth’s face took on an innocent cast. “Geez. Can’t you take a joke?” When Aksel did not respond, he continued. “Anyway, I’m going to go down and cover up th
at pit with the bugbear’s body in it. It’s late in the day and with any luck, none of his clan will come looking for him before dark.”
With that, Seth disappeared into the woods. Meanwhile, Brundon searched for a place to set up camp. He returned shortly, having found a glade a little ways south of the path. The party relocated there and had a short, cold dinner while they waited for night to fall.
Stone Hill
It took dark magic—Necromancy—to animate a skeleton
There’s five of them…coming this way,” Brundon said between gasps. He had been scouting ahead up the trail.
“Five what?” Seth asked the breathless tracker.
“Skeletons…”
“Animated skeletons…” Glo mused aloud. This little expedition was getting weirder and weirder.
Seth snickered. “I’d say that qualifies as undead.”
Aksel ignored the halfling. “How far behind are they?”
“About…10 minutes. Figured, the faster…I got back down…the more time…we would have to…prepare.”
Aksel nodded. “Good thinking.”
Seth’s voice grew concerned. “Do you think they saw you?”
“I don’t…think so. They seem to be moving in…some kind of formation, almost as if it were a routine patrol.”
Aksel’s hand went to his chin as he mulled things over. “Then let’s set up an ambush of our own.”
The companions had already traveled halfway up the mountain. The tree line ended here, the upper half of the hillside mostly bare except for a few patches of vegetation. It was about two hours after sunset, the edge of the moon just rising in the east, casting its pale silvery light across the dark mountainside.
Glo half listened as the others outlined their plan. It took dark magic—Necromancy—to animate a skeleton. That dark art was not practiced by the elves of Cairthrellon, but Amrod made sure they covered the subject thoroughly. A necromancer used negative arcane energy to gather undead minions. The more powerful the practitioner, the more undead creatures they could gather to their side. Worse, any who fell in the necromancer’s vicinity would become part of those undead forces. A powerful practitioner of this art could have a veritable army of undead to command. If there was a weakness to be exploited against them, it was in their minions. They were usually mindless, following their master’s orders to the exclusion of all else. Also, different types of undead creatures had specific vulnerabilities. Skeletons, for instance, were very susceptible to blunt weapons like hammers and clubs that would crack and break their bones. Glo’s mind snapped back to the present as he realized the others had finished their strategizing.
“…and Glo and I will hang back here,” Aksel ended. “So, what does everyone think?”
“I think that just might work,” Brundon agreed, a hit of approval in his voice.
“We’ll be ready,” Lloyd and Titan said simultaneously. The two warriors tightened their grips on their weapons, their eyes shining with childlike exuberance.
Seth sounded impatient. “Let’s just get going already.”
He was right; they really didn’t have much time. Aksel nodded. Seth and Brundon took off immediately, disappearing into the night.
Lloyd and Titan doffed their backpacks and rummaged through them. When Lloyd stood back up, he held a war hammer in each hand. The weapons looked like two steel mallets with large square heads and long cylindrical handles. Titan withdrew a mace from her pack. It consisted of a long handle with a heavy-metal spiked ball at the other end. She hefted it in her right hand. “This should do the trick nicely.”
The two warriors headed up the path about ten paces, admiring each other’s weapons the entire way. At that point the pair spread out, giving each other room to work. Everyone was in position. Now it was up to their quarry to spring the trap.
The night grew still as they waited for the band of skeletons to appear. The only sounds came from the soft chirping of crickets. Stars twinkled fervently against the inky backdrop of the crystal clear sky. The moon, now above the eastern horizon, threw long pale shadows against the otherwise dark hillside. Had they not been awaiting the arrival of undead creatures, it would have been a beautiful evening.
What is taking them so long? Glo wondered. He stared up the hillside, but the trail disappeared around an outcropping of rocks. Nevertheless, the young elf continued to strain his eyes until he saw movement around the bend. A group of stick-like figures came into view, and as he continued to watch, they moved down the path toward them.
“There they are,” he whispered with a nervous twitch of his eye.
“Let them come to us,” Aksel said in a calm tone.
Not turning, Lloyd and Titan murmured in acknowledgement.
As the figures came closer, their features became more apparent. They were definitely skeletons, their white bones gleaming in the moonlight in stark contrast to the dark hillside. The skulls bobbed up and down on thin boney necks. The jaws opened and closed as they ambled along, as if having a soundless discussion. Their arms and legs swung in strange disjointed movements, resembling puppets held upright from some giant invisible master in the sky. Each skeleton wielded a wickedly curved sword, brandishing it about as they walked as if hacking unseen enemies to their left and right. The entire scene was eerie and unreal.
Despite all of his training and studies, the sight of actual undead creatures sent a shiver up Glo’s spine. He glanced around at the others, but they were all staring up the path. Abruptly, the lead skeleton halted, the rest of the creatures stopping short behind it. It pointed its sword downhill at Lloyd and Titan, and a strange chattering commenced between the creatures, a ghostly conversation. No one moved. The chattering suddenly stopped, then as one the skeletons rushed down the hill, bones clattering and blades swinging wildly in the air.
The skeletons closed the gap.
“Wait for it,” Aksel said.
They drew nearer.
“Wait for it.”
When the skeletons were only a few yards away, a voice cried out in the night. “Now!”
A rope rose up across the trail in front of the charging monsters. It pulled tight across their path, the two lead creatures hitting the cord at full speed. They tripped and plunged headlong into the ground. The three remaining skeletons could not stop in time and also tripped, landing on top of the others.
That was brilliant! Somehow Seth and Brundon managed to lay out a rope across the path without anyone seeing them, and pulled it at just the right moment.
Glo glanced at Aksel. “Was that part of the plan?”
“No,” Aksel said, his voice filled with astonishment.
Lloyd fell into a battle stance, adjusting the grip on his hammers, as the skeletons rushed forward. He had packed them for situations like these, when swords would be virtually useless. It was something he had learned from his father—every enemy, no matter how strong, always had some kind of weakness. For example, an enemy who could turn aside a sword might be bludgeoned effectively. To that end, he was instructed in many different types of weapons.
Lloyd stood his ground, hammers ready, as the skeletons closed in. A quick glance to his right showed Titan ready as well, mace in one hand, shield in the other. The warrior impressed him—she knew a lot about weapons and fighting techniques. He looked forward to battling beside her. He was also impressed with Aksel. The gnome’s plan of drawing the creatures in and having Seth and Brundon flank them from behind was an excellent strategy.
Lloyd studied the skeletons as they rushed downhill. He had been taught to assess his opponents first, to study their movements and determine their weaknesses. He had done so against the huge orc in Bendenwoods and won him that battle. He observed that the skeletons were not skilled fighters. They held their swords too tightly, brandishing them about as if cutting down weeds. Their movements ha
d no finesse or purpose, and as close as they stood, the skeletons could trip each other with a single misstep.
The skeletons were drawing near now. Aksel’s voice rang out behind them. “Wait for it.”
The skeletons drew even closer.
“Wait for it.”
They were nearly on top of them. Lloyd prepared for his first blow when a cry rang out in the night. “Now!”
The lead skeletons suddenly tumbled headlong to the ground a few yards in front of him. The trailing skeletons went plummeting after them and ended up in a heap of tangled bones.
Lloyd hesitated for a split second then launched himself uphill toward the pile of fallen enemies. As he charged forward, he caught a glint of bright silver out the corner of his eye. Lloyd smiled grimly, knowing that Titan was at his side.
As the two warriors closed in, the fallen skeletons clambered around, trying to disentangle themselves. The creatures on top of the pile were just beginning to rise when Lloyd and Titan plowed into them.
Lloyd planted his feet and swung his twin hammers in two heavy blows, each smashing into a separate skeleton. The creature on his left went down in a heap of broken bones and lay there twitching on the ground. The skeleton on his right lost its sword arm, its blade flying along with it.
Lloyd drew back his arm and sent another devastating blow into the creature. The large hammer smashed through its torso, splitting the boney body in half. Only the bottom of the skeleton was still intact.
Lloyd was elated at first, but to his surprise, instead of falling over, the half skeleton began to walk around. It wandered aimlessly about the trail, still searching for an enemy to fight. The bizarre sight made the young man pause, but then he tore his eyes away, surveying the battlefield around him.
Seth and Brundon were up the trail watching the battle. Beside him, Titan bashed a headless skeleton to pieces with her mace and metallic shield. Abruptly, he heard a shout from downhill.
