The Beginnings Omnibus: Beginnings 1, 2, 3 & Legend of Ashenclaw novella (Realm of Ashenclaw Beginnings Saga)

by Gary F. Vanucci

  “Who has your gem now?” Elec asked, ignoring everything else.

  “The one they call Grubb,” Orngoth explained. “He is a strong and terrible orc that wears the symbol of the orc clan on his chest. Bonemasher mark.”

  Elec saw the Inquisitor and Saeunn huddled together. Rose had also regained her balance, as well as her weapons, and stood with arms crossed, impatiently waiting for the conversation to end.

  “We will help you find your gem,” Elec said, truly intending to help this creature recover its obviously sentimental item. “I swear it.”

  Garius nodded his approval before disappearing once more behind the doorway, tending the young priest’s wounds. Rose and Saeunn both returned to Elec’s side and regarded the half-ogre, and the partially opened door twenty paces ahead.

  “Strong grip,” Rose admitted to the huge half-ogre, tapping her own hand to indicate her meaning. She was about to walk off, but stopped suddenly. “And I like your helmet,” she said, forcing a smile and pointing to the ram-horned helmet sitting low on his brow. “It reminds me of something…a better time and a better place.”

  “That one is Rose,” Elec said, introducing her to Orngoth. Then, he held his hand nearest Saeunn and introduced her to the half-ogre too. “This is Saeunn…she is a barbarian, like you I’d say,” he added bowing low to Orngoth.

  Orngoth stood silently, moving slowly toward the doorway that stood only ten or so paces from him now, barely listening to the elf’s introductions. It seemed to Elec that his only thought was to regain his gem from this ‘Grubb’ that now held it.

  “I am barbarian, yes,” was the only thing he said, staring intently at the door. Suddenly the door began to open and torch-light filtered into the passage as a shrouded figure appeared.

  Orngoth charged.

  Elec and Rose looked to one another as Saeunn charged in after him, weapon drawn, her wild hair flowing freely behind her as she did.

  “Garius! To battle!” Elec yelled as he and Rose pursued the two barbarians into the room.

  Orngoth plowed into the unfortunate orc who’d happened to open the door, creating a sound resembling something like dried wood being snapped in two, rather than something made of flesh and bone. Its body simply crumbled under the massive impact of the barbarian’s charge. The sound boomed through the cavernous expanse as all commotion within came to a halt and the room grew silent. Orngoth looked down at the orc to inspect him and then, recognizing that he was not his target, continued on.

  Rose and Elec followed after Saeunn. Elec entered the interior of the chamber and stood stunned at the sights beyond the door. Treasure lay scattered everywhere in the vast cavern, easily spanning one hundred paces in all directions. It also housed more than a few clusters of mineral deposits and rock formations that seemed to divide the space a bit, where the water dripped into the cavern from above, creating puddles that surrounded them. This room was not carved out by hands, Elec noted specifically, and was like the outer caverns they had encountered, left in their natural state for one reason or another.

  He also could see urns and chests spilling over with copper and silver coins. It was an odd sight for sure.

  Most notably, however, was that the room was also filled with scores of goblinoids, who readied weapons and leveled hateful glares upon them as they entered.

  Elec quaffed potion after potion anxiously, believing he would need every advantage he could muster in the coming battle.

  He listened as Orngoth roared, breaking the lengthy bout of silence.

  The half-ogre seemed intent on heading in one particular direction as he followed Orngoth’s stare. Elec briefly saw the half-ogre’s intended target—a huge and powerful orc at the far end of the cavern, who disappeared behind one of the many rock formations.

  Elec readied Daegnar Giruth and Wyrm’s Fang and prepared himself for the battle of a lifetime. One he hoped he would be able to talk about some day in the near future.

  Chapter 27

  There was a sickening sound of bones cracking and then the room grew silent. Grubb looked away from his shaman and the two remaining overlords and turned to see a large and familiar brute in the distance.

  Orngoth!

  He recognized him immediately and smiled wickedly since he yet held the gem that Orngoth desired so deeply. There were others with the half-ogre though, whom Grubb did not recognize—two women and an elf. Not much of a threat, he measured as he considered the space was teeming with scores of orcs and goblins. Playfully stroking his thick goatee, he slammed his helmet onto his head.

  “What orders?” Overlord Grank asked, brandishing his broadsword and shield.

  “Kill them all…except for the ogre. I want him alive,” he directed. “Do not kill him or whoever is responsible will die by my own blade!”

  More than four score goblinoids moved to intercept the figures that entered. Both Overlords Tsor and Grank waited and watched, wanting to choose the proper time at which to strike.

  Grubb led them all behind a wide expanse of stone columns that offered them both cover and a solid vantage point. He saw a goblin holding two worgs on a chain that was spiked into the ground. As the goblin reached for the spike to release them, Grubb stayed his arm.

  “Release them on my command…not yet,” he instructed the goblin and turned away.

  “Wait here for now,” Grubb advised Shaman Tukk, grabbing his arm to steady him as he had too had begun to move forward. The shaman nodded his acceptance and began a few preparations of his own.

  Garius mouthed an invocation to once more open a path to the regenerative plane that would allow him to use the life force he’d been storing within him to heal the acolyte. He released that power into the injured man, all but expending every ounce of holy energy he had left within him. Thaurion’s limp form accepted the healing surge, rejuvenating his body and closing the huge wound on his forehead, ceasing the blood flow altogether.

  Not long after, Thaurion slowly opened his eyes, looking startled as he fell off the cot. He backed away from Garius, looking very out of sorts. He finally recognized the man’s armor and iconography adorning him as belonging to the Faceless Knights of Order. He stood slowly and then bowed low before the Inquisitor.

  “Thank The Shimmering One you found us!” Thaurion exclaimed, relieved that the Inquisitor was here to help. “I thought us doomed for sure!”

  “Us?!” cried Garius. “Then there are more of you? Alive?”

  “Yes! Alana is alive and well…Rolf is also alive, but badly injured and needs help,” Thaurion explained. He remembered the horrid doppelganger that lay dead in the cell in the garb of Niomir, but did not mention it out of fear of the consequences.

  “They are in a cell back this way,” he said, trying to force Garius down the corridor. But the Inquisitor had heard the distant and familiar sound of battle and held the apprentice up for a minute, grabbing his arm and glancing in the direction of the fighting.

  “And the amulet? Do you have it?” Garius asked, drawing a puzzled look from Thaurion. “The amulet?! Do you have it?” Garius asked more forcefully, grasping the acolyte by his shoulder and forcing him to face him. The distinct sound of steel on steel echoed in the distance, growing louder. “Never mind, it will have to wait. I am needed elsewhere” he said with frustration and moved off toward the conflict. “Inform the others that help has arrived!” Garius called after him as he donned his helmet, and rushed off to aid his companions. Thaurion stared after the Inquisitor as he disappeared.

  Garius opened the door wide and witnessed a scene of what could only be described as pure chaos.

  To his left, Orngoth stood with several goblinoids hanging from his arms and legs as he wildly swung his club. He was a pure and unstoppable engine of destruction, managing to plow through the orcs and goblins with such ferocity and power, it seemed he was blessed with the strength of a god himself.

  To his right, Elec and Rose were intercepting attackers and systematically taking them down as they
swarmed and attempted to overrun them. They worked back and forth using the rock formations and their cunning to direct their enemies where they wanted. They valiantly and shrewdly fought them off, their blades maneuvering in such a way as to defy reality. The speed at which the two of them were parrying and striking blows upon their enemies was improbable. The two worked well together, he admired silently.

  Meanwhile, at the center of the room, Saeunn had made her way to the rear of the crowd, running past all manner of treasure as she did so. She swung her mighty greatsword to and fro, literally taking whatever flesh and bones she could with every potent swing. She looked like both a beautiful and ferocious warrior—nay, barbarian. The god of war—and her own father—would certainly be proud of this one.

  She pressed on, holding the upper hand and forcing several goblinoids backward, toward the rear wall. Her blonde hair, mottled with specks of blood, was flying wildly in the air and her tattoo-covered arms swung with the combined might of all of Chansuk’s ancestors!

  Garius decided that Elec and Rose were in most need of help and realized he needed to stem the constant flow of enemies or his two companions would surely be beaten. They shredded goblinoids at every turn or pass of their weapons, but as one dropped, another moved to replace it. He feared that the sheer number of enemies surrounding them would ravage them sooner than later.

  Garius strode into the room and picked a spot where the bulk of the goblinoids huddled, waiting for their turn to approach. He concentrated and mouthed a prayer, extending his arms toward them. In response, a huge area in the back of the room was engulfed in a wave of necromantic substance as a portal to the degenerative plane opened around them.

  A ripple of dark energy quickly drained their souls, reducing a score or more of orcs and goblins to lifeless husks. More of them ran wildly about, looking to escape. It provoked utter confusion amongst the goblinoids and the attack drove a wedge directly between the main forces, dividing them.

  Elec and Rose never stopped, but they noted the necromantic wrath of The Reaper as it sundered the enemy at the rear section of the room between columns of stone. The distraction proved to be a major boon as the two of them cut down goblinoids at an even faster pace. There were very few left once the necromantic energy dissipated.

  Garius was now standing within the quickly dissolving field of the spell and his body was absorbing the life force of the deceased. He was sent to his knees as the power shot through him. After a minute, he slowly regained his footing, his face still masked by his helmet. His entire body convulsed as a black aura emanated from him, shifting to a deep purple, before disappearing all together inside of him. Garius felt the life force as it begin to shift inside of him, infusing him with divine energy that made the Inquisitor so unique.

  He noticed that standing before him was an orc with a skin tone that resembled more red than pink, white tufts of hair on its body, and an unusually large, antlered helmet on its head. It had a bone-fashioned staff that oddly resembled the spine of a large humanoid. Garius believed the creature to be some kind of witch doctor or shaman to the orcs. It held its staff out toward him and began speaking some kind of incantation in the goblinoid tongue that he could not understand, leveling the staff at him just as he managed to stand once again.

  A bolt of molten fire shot out of the staff, hitting him square in the chest and sending him flying several paces to land hard on his right side. Garius thanked the makers of his magical armor as he shook off the blow and regained his footing. He noted a scorch mark that appeared just below the white skull emblem on his red breastplate.

  Garius glanced over at the shaman, who was uttering more guttural sounds and held the staff in one hand while touching the wall of the cave with his other. His rose-colored skin began to take on a stony quality, making it seem as though his very flesh had taken on the properties of the cave walls.

  Then another incantation followed as the shaman’s figure began to reshape slightly, becoming more muscular and round. He had become barrel-chested, with more hair sprouting out of the already heavily-haired skin and its features became more animalistic.

  The shaman was calling upon bestial spirits to aid him!

  Garius began a prayer himself, invoking a blessing to The Champion, the god of war, as the more primal and savage orc began to shuffle toward him. In answer to his prayers, he became instantly infused with divine strength. His adrenaline spiked and his muscles expanded slightly, his armor adjusting magically with the transformation.

  He was clearly larger now and even more powerful than before beneath his plated armor. He removed The Repentant from his back, infusing it with holy energy, as only an Inquisitor of the Faceless Knights could. The runes flooded over with divine might and the hammer’s head shone brightly.

  Garius met the first blow head on from the bone-hewn staff, erupting in a loud and thunderous impact that rung out within the spacious cavern as the two engaged in a divinely driven death duel.

  Saeunn waded through the mass of goblinoids, chopping them down, smashing through their shields and other defenses as if they posed no protection against her attacks—for they surely did not this day. Saeunn’s tattooed, brawny arms flexed and corded over and again with each swing of her greatsword in an efficient and remarkable display of skill and strength.

  She was completely consumed by her bloodlust now as she recalled what these orcs had done to her people. She was heeding the Call of The Champion!

  She soon stood in a bloody heap of goblin and orc flesh, waiting for two heavily armored orcs in the rear to approach. Their attire indicated to Saeunn that they might be officers of the Bonemasher clan as they proceeded in unison to attack her. She spit and bid them to come, roaring in hatred and wanting to exact her vengeance. “You too, shall fall this day!” she shrieked. “For Chansuk!”

  These orcs were well trained in the martial arts and employed the use of small shields. One employed a broadsword, while the other held a heavy mace in his hand. One swung high, while the other swung low in tandem in an attempt to finish her quickly. She tensed her thigh muscles and sprang straight up in the air, timing her leap. She flew effortlessly through the air and jammed the tip of her weapon hard into the ground.

  Using the heavy blade as an anchor, she managed to avoid both of the orcs’ weapons as their strikes hit the flat of her blade instead. She released her grip on her weapon and vaulted her body behind the orc with the broadsword. She landed expertly and with great balance, kicking out hard with her right boot. The force of that kick blasted him into the other orc, knocking them both down.

  In one swift motion she yanked the great blade from its standing point and swung it in a wide arc that was meant to cleave through the both of them. Instead, it skewered only one, scoring a devastating hit and causing that one to lurch backward as it clutched its stomach. It looked down in disbelief as its innards spewed forth and out the fresh hole in its belly.

  Only one orc remained.

  Rose and Elec continued to battle as the orcs came at them. The two of them had cuts all over their arms and chests, but all superficial. They had waded through the bulk of the goblinoids and only a few remained.

  Suddenly, there came a low and deadly growl from behind Rose. She turned to see Elec staring into the face of not one, but two dire wolves!

  “Move!” Elec cried and shoved Rose out of the way, sensing the worgs were ready to spring. Rose fell forward and then simultaneously dove into a shadow. Elec was left alone unexpectedly with the two worgs.

  The elf rolled backward and stabbed up as one worg passed over him, adjusting his roll to his right. He used the tip of Daegnar Giruth to guide the worg, forcing the huge beast down and to his left where Wyrm’s Fang waited. The sharp blade penetrated the worg’s left flank and stained the cavern floor with its blood.

  Then he felt a sharp sting as the second worg’s teeth bit into his left calf and pulled him down in the process. The wounded worg jumped and landed directly on top of Elec and he ha
d to maneuver hastily in order to avoid his adversary’s sharp teeth.

  Down and again it snapped its fierce jaws at him as he fought both worgs off repeatedly until one of them finally managed a solid bite again, this time on his left forearm, causing him to drop Wyrm’s Fang in the process. He grimaced as the pain shot through him. Luckily, one of his potions was taking effect and clotting his wound in response, but it did nothing for the pain or numbness radiating up his arm.

  He quickly jabbed up with the hilt of Daegnar Giruth and smacked the worg in the jaw as hard as he could, knocking a few of its teeth loose and causing the worg to recoil enough for him to roll backward. The other worg had started to charge him. Elec noticed they were getting close to the rear wall of the cavern, just ten paces away. He quickly reached into his belt and removed a special elixir, one in a very tiny, spherical package.

  The worg was now in midair as Elec steadied himself and tossed the mixture. As expected, the worg opened its giant maw. Elec’s shot was accurate and the flask landed in its mouth. As the beast hurtled through the air to land on him, Elec timed his roll to catch the beast with both of his legs, somersaulting backward as he did. He continued his momentum into a heave that sent the beast flying through the air many paces away. He managed to curl up, awaiting the ensuing result.

  The beast literally exploded upon impact with the wall as worg remnants flew everywhere.

  The other wounded worg was upon him again, teeth dripping with saliva and its gleaming red eyes delivering an evil gaze.

  Rose has abandoned me!? Elec speculated.

  He was hurt and weaponless, he realized, as he’d dropped Daegnar Giruth somewhere along the course of his tumble. He flinched in anticipation of the inevitable sting of the worg’s bite once again.