The Dungeon Con: One Foot in the Grave ( Hank Grave Book 1): One Foot in the Grave (Hank Grave series)

by Marty Myers

  Meanwhile, Apostaphus had caught his opponent off guard with his first swing and had cut it deeply across its head and shoulder. He then finished it off with a second swing while it stood stunned in pain and surprise. Clarionides had managed a less decisive blow to his demonic foe, but had still wounded it and distracted it from going after more villagers. The fourth demon chanted something vulgar sounding and cast infernal bolts that caught Clarionides full on. He screamed out in pain and anger and turned toward this new opponent.

  Francis saw all this as the demon on the ground stood back up and looked around. It didn’t immediately spot her amongst the melee and took off instead towards Apostaphus. It got within ten feet and stopped to spit out a big ball of hellfire that streaked over and struck him from behind. Francis was aghast at seeing the flames engulf her friend. They burned bright red with copious blackish oily smoke belching forth from the impact. She screamed in anguish but as the smoke cleared away Apostaphus still stood there fully intact if slightly singed in the street. Meanwhile, the raiders had not been idle. They had gotten torches from somewhere and were busy trying to light the houses on fire.

  Francis focused her mind and cast a quick bolt of divine energies at the demon who had burnt Apostaphus. It was as fast and true as a ray of light and everywhere it touched the demon fried and sizzled like bacon in a hot skillet. It screamed and dropped to the ground yelling and cussing as it rolled around writhing in the dirt. Clarion was busy fending off two demons, one was in hand to hand with him biting and clawing at his robes. It had managed to get right up to him when he had turned upon the other demon who had struck him. He finally jammed his sword straight down into where the demon’s neck and shoulder met and with a jerk the beast screamed and died. The second demon had kept casting infernal bolts on him regardless of his fellow demon’s whereabouts. He had taken three or four of them by this point and felt fairly unwell. Apostaphus came to his aid by flying over and attempting to decapitate the last demon. The blow barely missed as the demon stopped casting and ducked away from the sword swing. It looked around at the two angels and the state of its fellow demons and then ran for it towards the Morgrum raiders.

  Francis meanwhile had turned her attention to the rest of the village and the raiders. She cast a protection against harm and tried to expand it to cover the whole village but she wasn’t able to get it to expand so fast or so far, so instead she anchored it to herself and continued pouring energy into it as she walked chanting into the village. She had just reached the outskirts when one of the raiders stepped out from behind a building to the left and ran at her. Francis was momentarily frozen as the big man barreled down on her with his ax raised. Then he hit her protective barrier and just like the demon earlier had, he came to a lurching halt and almost fell. He didn’t, however, appear to take any actual damage from his coming in contact with it. She too was stopped in her tracks since the barrier was anchored on her. The warrior immediately began cursing and hacking at her defenses which she could feel eroding under his murderous onslaught. Luckily it wasn’t painful the way the demons contact with her shield had been.

  Francis hollered for Apostaphus, who changed course and came over to Francis to plant himself between her and the raider. “ Leave this place now and we will let you go in peace,” he said to the man. The raider’s eyes got wide and round then suddenly they filled with an inky blackness and a voice unlike any mans came forth. “ The Darkness will devour your Light angel as he has extinguished all others before you. Your’s too will be blown out as a torch is put out in a fierce gale.” Then he screamed his defiance and frantically hacked at the barrier in front of him with redoubled strength. Clarionides meanwhile swooped from building to building putting out the fires and taking occasional swings of his sword down onto the raiders who were ducking and cursing at him.

  Francis didn’t know what to do when she was actually in this situation. Countless hours role-playing had not really prepared her for life and death battles in real life melee combat against other people. Even fighting the demons with magic had been so much easier to deal with mentally than this. She could not bring herself to cast a divine bolt at these men and burn them. She knew they probably deserved it, but knowing and doing are two very different things.

  Apostaphus, however, had fought the Darkness and his followers for countless millennia, through Darkness and Light, in the Heavens and even in the Hells. He had given the man a chance to repent and retreat which he had not taken instead, he had opened himself to be possessed by one of the Dark’s formless spirits. He stepped out from Francis’s protections and swiftly struck at the raider with his sword. The man parried the blow with his ax, stepped back a step and then swung at the angel. Apostaphus dodged to the right letting the ax swing wide and stabbed him in the gut. He sank the blade deep and stepped close enough the raider couldn’t bring his ax back in time to land one last blow. Instead, he stood there for a moment before sagging back and then falling to the ground as the blackness drained out of his eyes.

  The last demon took this opportunity to disappear in a belch of brimstone from amongst the Raiders front line. The other raiders cried out in rage and charged across the village. They only took a few steps before Clarionides and Apostaphus divine bolts tore through them and finished the fight. Francis stood behind Apostaphus who’s broad back and wings were shielding her from the sight she knew must be there of the dead raiders cut down and laying in the dirt. She began to shake and cry as the reaction set in. He turned to her and took her in his arms to comfort her. “ Francis they chose to come here and hurt these people. They were with those demons and would have killed everyone here if given the chance,” Apostiphus said. “ I know your right,” she cried, “it’s just so awful actually being here and experiencing it myself. I don’t, I just don’t know how. I just need some time. Okay, I’m going to.” She broke down then and cried some more in his arms.

  The villagers saw all this and were in shock. Not just from the sudden assault of the demons and the forces of Darkness. But also upon seeing the angels appear and fight them off with this strange woman. And now not only were they seeing and hearing them, although they couldn’t understand the angelic tongue. They were also seeing one of the angels embrace the woman, talking to her and comforting her. Such a thing had not happened in living memory, only a cleric or a saint could even see and hear an angel normally outside of the churches and temples.

  Clarionides went to the villagers who had been hurt and healed them of their wounds, but he could not save the man who had died taking an ax to his back. He then watched the exchange between his fellow angel and Francis and saw the reaction of the villagers. He tried speaking to them and then switched to the common tongue when he saw they couldn’t understand him. “ It is over, praise be to the Lords of Light, the Darkness has passed,” he said. A very old man in the crowd hesitantly looked at the angel before them and answered their savior “ Praise be the Lords of Light and their angels.”

  Apostaphus led Francis over to the villagers. “ Do any of you know why they came here and attacked your village?” There were a few shaken heads, but they were all too intimidated to say much. Finally, the same old man said. “ Nay angel, they just arrived almost as you did suddenly and from nowhere. Mayhap they came from the Gallows Fields as it is a fell place not far from here.” “ I doubt they came from there,” Apostaphus said, “for I bring glad tidings. This woman here is Saint Francis and she and I were upon those very plains yesterday when she did perform such a miracle in healing that the fell curse of the barren land has been raised entirely and the ground grows green and fertile there once more. It is replenished and no longer afflicted with the mark of the Darkness that has cursed it for so long. Go and see for yourself when you are ready.”

  At this news, many were astounded and did not know what to think. They looked in awe at Francis, at her flawless skin and healthy perfect face and form and could not much doubt the angel’s words. Francis meanwhile realized she could not un
derstand what the people were saying. She spoke the angel’s tongue but not whatever language these people spoke. She looked over at the crumpled form of the dead villager and the women weeping by him and began to cry again.

  When Apostaphus was done talking she asked him if there was any way to learn the local language. He said, “ I can give it to you through our bond and you will know it always or I could cast a spell which will allow you to understand all the common tongues in the land for a day or two until it wears off.” Francis said can you give me this language and then teach me the other spell later?” He agreed and placed a hand upon her head. There was a strange glow in his palm and a slight pinch like the beginnings of a headache which faded into the feeling of having remembered something. Then Francis began understanding everything the villagers said. Again the villagers were surprised the woman had spoken in the angel’s tongue and the angel had touched her and bestowed some kind of blessing. Truly she must be a saint they thought.

  She walked over to the woman crying next to the dead man and said, “ I am sorry we didn’t arrive in time to save him.” The woman looked up at Francis and then turned back to the body. After a while more villagers came out of their houses and began dragging the bodies of the Morgrum Raiders out of the village. While a couple older women came over and talked to the weeping woman into letting them help began preparing him for burial. Apostaphus came over to Francis and asked her, “ will you join us in cleansing the village where the demons were slain to keep any of the Darkness from taking root here and blighting it. We could do this without your help but it will be stronger with it and it will be good for you to learn how to do this.” Francis agreed and the angels led her in a long cleansing of the stains of dark and demonic essence the battle and deaths had left behind. By the time they were done they had managed to completely wipe away their traces upon the village. When it was done she felt better than she had expected as if some of the feelings of terror and sorrow had gone away with the cleansing of the negative energies.

  She looked up and noticed many of the villagers were watching her and the angels which were still visible from their altercation with the raiders. An old man she had seen talking to Apostaphus before slowly approached her. “ Francis we want to thank you for you and the angels’ help, you three have saved the village.” “ We wish we could have saved everyone,” Francis said. She motioned to her companions and they came closer. “ This is Apostaphus and this is Clarionides,” she said. The old man’s eyes widened at hearing their names spoken.

  “ I am named Lock, I am the village elder here. We of Boaden village would like to humbly ask you if you would join us in laying our fellow villager Marlow to rest now. Will you please join us,” he asked? Francis could only nod as she and the angels followed the villagers as they carried the man’s cloth-wrapped form out to the other side of the village to where a small graveyard stood. Someone had come ahead and dug out a grave for the man’s body while they had cleansed the village. Lock and the weeping woman stood at the head of the grave as the men who had carried him out here lowered him into the ground. The Angels sang a song of passing and rest that comforted all who heard it and when it was done each villager stepped to the grave and spoke a few words about what they would remember about Marlow. His widow spoke last of her husband’s quiet kindness and unwavering love. They then left the graveyard in ones and twos to return to the village as the men who had carried him there filled in the grave.

  The villagers mostly returned to their homes. Francis looked lost for a moment when they stood back in the village. “ They will go home and prepare food to take over to Marlow’s widow,” Lock said. Some will stay and keep her company if she wishes it.” Francis was moved by the simple ceremony. She still felt sadness but the ceremony had been a positive experience in a way too. She also thought about the raiders and wondered where they had been drug off to, but couldn’t bring herself to ask.

  Now she was at a loss as to what to do. She didn’t feel like staying here but didn’t want to be rude and just leave either. So she asked Apostaphus. “ what should we do now? I think we should perform the Protection from Harm ritual here Francis before we leave,” he said. “ Because we still don’t know why the forces of Darkness attacked here. And since one of the demons escaped, if we leave here they could return and attack again after we leave. A barrier against harm could last three or four days if we really put effort into casting it. That will keep them from doing harm here for now. Then maybe we can find the angel who’s area this is in that time and warn them to keep watch here in case of trouble.” They all agreed that that was a good plan.

  Francis looked at the Elder, “would it be alright with you and the villagers, she asked him?” “ That would be wonderful Francis. We can’t thank you three enough for thinking about our welfare.” “ Francis, for the protection to be as strong as possible I want you to lead it and Locke to participate too,” Apostaphus said. With two mortals asking for our aid and two angels complying the ritual should be potent and well balanced. Lock being the elder here and staying behind with it will help it to be strong and last longer as well. First, pick a spot in the center of the village and anchor it to something there.”

  Francis walked over and her intuition kicked in. She got another flash of an image of madam Farsi in her mind holding a seed. She knelt down in the little village square and pulled out an apple seed from her pocket. She could see it was still brimming with energy from its trip through the celestial choirs summoning. She hadn’t thought about that when she had eaten the whole apple earlier. But now she realized that not only had she eaten a hyper-energized apple but that since then she had forgotten all about being hungry. That was a bit worry some, even though she didn’t feel bad she would have to ask Apostaphus to look at her later.

  Right now her intuition was telling her to plant the seed and use it as the anchor point for the Protection ritual. She decided to go with it. If what she did was wrong she figured, Apostaphus would see it and they could start over. She dug a little hole and dropped the seed in, then she focused on the seed and began the chant. As she got back to her feet using her staff a burst of energy from it sank into the ground and buoyed the forming of the expanding protection sphere. Francis and the angels sang the chant as they walked out in three of the directions with Locke walking the fourth. They each arrived out at the village boundaries at about the same time and continued to chant for a minute until the barrier settled in place and firmed up.

  Lock was stunned as the words flowed forth from him, He was moved by the spirit to join in. He was almost sure he might have heard the protections chanted before as a child when he had attended church in a larger village with his mother, but he had never cast this or anything before this. He could feel some force within him connecting him to the other three as they sang. He also felt a fourth point in the center in the ground where Francis had knelt at the beginning of the ritual. He didn’t know what she had done there but he had seen a light come from her staff when she arose and began the chant. He also sensed and could see the faint light of the protection’s energy all around the village. He was amazed this had happened. He had heard before that sometimes people heard the calling of the Light to become a priest or cleric or to serve the church. But he had never known anyone who had had it happen to them.

  When Francis and the angels walked up to him he was so distracted that for a moment he didn’t even notice them. “Congratulations,” Apostaphus said, “ I thought you had the potential when you spoke to me earlier but it rarely awakens in this age. You should now be able to watch over the people here better and to call to us should you need help.” Apostaphus, Clarionides, and Francis all congratulated Locke and showed him several of the basic chants of healing and protection. “ If you need us you can call upon us. The other angels of the lesser host feel the same way,” Apostaphus said, “ If Darkness threatens the people, we angels want to be called upon but the ban limits what we can do.”

  When they were done Fran
cis asked Apostaphus to look her over and see if eating the apple had had any effect on her. Apostaphus looked with his soul sight into Francis, he was intimately familiar with her physical and spiritual well being from the long bonding process during their journey across the heavens. He could see the apple inside her was emitting quite a bit of celestial energies as it was digested, but they didn’t seem to be doing anything harmful as they were being soaked up into the core of her essence and replenishing the substantial amount of mystical energy she had expended in the last couple days. “ Francis you look just fine, this one apple seems to be agreeing with you. I don’t think I would make a habit of eating them though as too much might overload a person’s core essence and throw off the balance. Especially if their essence didn’t match the lights energies then it could be very bad for someone to eat one. You, on the other hand, having gone through the exact same process that energized the apple are completely in tune with the energies it is giving off as your body digests it.”