by C Woodward
Teltar whispered, “I’m going to quickly look around.” I nodded and took a look at the weapons the dead guys carried; a broad sword, a club, and a knife. Hmm, the knife might come in handy, so I took that and joined Teltar.
We glanced around and saw nothing else useful here. I was hoping for a barrel of lantern oil, but no such luck. I guess I wouldn’t be burning anything. Teltar blew out the lantern and placed it on the ground. I followed him out of the room and into a hallway. We turned to the right and saw a two doorways on the left-hand side. The first opened into a large room with cots and bed rolls and another door on the other side. That last door smelled like food had been cooked there recently. After a few more steps, we reached a stairway on the left side leading upward. We stopped and thought for a moment.
I whispered, “Wait, didn’t one of them mention Talestria being locked away in the basement?” I swung around and returned to the hallway. Teltar watched me and then followed. We went past the storage room and saw a doorway on each side. On the right side were more beds and the like. The other was a smaller, empty room and I wasn’t sure of its use. I turned a corner past the smaller room, and went down a short hallway and found stairs leading downward. Ah ha!
I crept down and saw a faint glow of light from a lantern. We saw a series of stone cells closed off with old, rusted iron bars. I spotted two men, one in a dark robe and another who looked like the first guys we met. The man in the black robe spoke, “Master Njyak would prefer if you cooperate.”
A female voice spoke, “Why should I share my knowledge with a stupid necromancer like him!” My heart rejoiced as I recognized the voice. It was Talestria! She was alive and from her tone, she was healthy enough to argue.
The robed man spoke again, “I am not afraid of you. You are without your powers, but if you will provide what we need, we can arrange for your powers to be restored.” “Do you take me for a fool?!” Talestria yelled back. “I know very well that once you idiots get what you want, you won’t follow through with your promises!”
The other man laughed and hit the bars with his club, “No need to get testy!”
The black robed man chuckled, “Very well. Once Master Njyak makes use of your sweetheart’s soul, we will just dispose of you, as well!”
Talestria laughed in a sadistic manner, “What makes you think you can do that?”
The other guy spoke to the man in the black robe, “Wait, I thought Forren is using the soul.”
The man in the black robe cleared his throat, “Yes, of course. Njyak will be doing the ritual for Forren. That is what I mean.”
Talestria laughed, “Even an idiot could tell you are lying!”
The man in the black robe yelled back, “Silence! Enough of your trickery!”
Teltar looked at me and whispered, “I’ll wait here and watch your back.” I smiled and slowly advanced toward them. I felt happy just knowing Talestria was so close. “You know what, she doesn’t need to use her legs. Break them!” The man in the black robe ordered the other guy. The other guy chuckled, opened her cell door and lifted his club.
My jaw dropped and anger rushed through me. I gritted my teeth and ran toward the cell. Both men saw me. The man with the club turned to me as I jammed my blade into his gut. His eyes grew wide and he gasped loudly. I stared into his eyes and twisted the blade.
“What?! It can’t be!” the man in the black robe cried as I turned and shoved him against the other cell wall. I gripped his throat with my left hand and stared at him. He grabbed my arm, trying to break free. My blood was boiling and I tightened my grip. I continued staring into his eyes and spoke softly, “You won’t dare to harm Talestria.” I stared him down and choked him to death.
I took a deep breath. “Blake?” Talestria said. I froze for a moment. When I turned around, there she was; chained to the floor, dirty and with visible bruises. I pulled off my helmet and ran to her. Tears filled my eyes as I knelt down and held her. She wasn’t able to move her arms but she was overjoyed. I gently brushed her hair away from her face. I saw a bruise on her forehead and a few scrapes. Any makeup she had on was smeared down her face from crying. My eyes welled up seeing what she went through. Her eyes sparkled as she smiled at me. “Blake.” she muttered right before I closed my eyes and pressed my lips against hers. I held her head up and stayed that way for a minute.
I felt a tap on my shoulder. I opened my eyes and saw a large sword with a key balanced from the tip. Teltar cleared his throat. I smiled and grabbed the key and worked at unlocking Talestria’s chains. Teltar mumbled to himself and walked away. Talestria and I looked at each other and chuckled. Teltar wasn’t a fan of this sort of thing but I didn’t care. Talestria wrapped her arms around me as soon as her hands were free. I held her close. “I am so happy you are here.” she said quietly.
I closed my eyes and felt tears moving down my face again, “I know.” We embraced for awhile without uttering a word. Teltar cleared his throat again. I looked back and wiped my tears. Talestria stood up and handed me my helmet. She smiled, “Looks like the fight isn’t over.” I smiled and put my helmet on. She stretched her back, “You go and destroy Forren and that Blood Witch.”
I pulled off the mouthpiece of my helmet and said, “Will you be alright?”
She smiled, “Of course. You are here.”
I glanced at Teltar and then said to Talestria, “In the storage room upstairs, at the back wall, you can slide along the wall which will lead outside.” Talestria raised a brow, “I might not be much of a fighter.” She bent down and grabbed the club from the dead man, “But, I can still fight.”
I placed my hand under her chin, “I thought I almost lost you. I don’t want to chance it.”
Talestria stared at me, “I still have some powers.” I nodded, “It might be harder to hold you back than fight the Blood Witch. Come with us, but stay in the shadows.” Talestria nodded and put her hands around my head and kissed me hard. I didn’t expect that.
Talestria and I walked back up the stairs with Teltar. We saw no signs of life down the hall. We went to the supply room. I ran in and retrieved a broad sword. Talestria looked at me as I handed it to her. I smiled, “It should be better than a club.” She gave me a grin. Teltar poked me and signaled to keep moving.
We walked up the stairs and could hear the rain falling outside. Right at the top of the stairs we crouched down and scanned outside. There was a short, wide tower to the left with lights on the roof. To the right was a gate house and we could see several figures standing on top of it. To the right was a building that rose higher than the gate house and on its top was another tower that wasn’t as wide as the left tower but was quite a bit taller. I could see lights glowing from small openings around the taller tower. There were a few torches flickering in the courtyard which will make it very hard to sneak by without being seen. Teltar whispered, “I count six on top of the gate house, not sure about the top of the left tower.”
I sized-up the situation. I didn’t see any lights on the right tower, just inside it. So it was clear that Forren was there, but I could see plenty of lights on top of the left tower. Teltar pulled me down just in time to miss a few men walking by. Oh crap, they had a patrol out now. After they walked by I whispered, “If we are going to get the other guys to help, we should try to tackle the left tower.”
Teltar nodded and whispered back, “That’s the defense tower, and any trap they have set will be on top of that.”
Talestria whispered, “What about the patrol?” I peeked out and looked around. I could see two men walking into the left tower and three more scattered around. They were in obvious areas with under some cover from the rain. Near us a lit torch hung. Teltar slowly took it down and shoved it upside down onto the wet floor. I could see one of the guys pointing in our direction and another walking toward us. I signaled Talestria and Teltar to get against the wall and back to the stairs. I knelt down and waited for the man to get close. He saw me just as I grabbed him and shoved him down the s
tairs. He fell head first and stopped moving. Teltar put his finger on the man’s throat, and gave me a nod.
I took off my helmet and whispered, “I’m going to take out the other guy.”
Talestria whispered, “Good luck.” I smiled at her, went up the stairs and causally started walking. It was too dark from the rain clouds so only see slight shapes were visible. I thought my helmet stood out too much, so I took it off. I made an obvious shrug and jogged toward a figure by the tower. He called to me, “What was it?” I took out my knife and quickly ran toward him. He looked surprised as he noticed that I wasn’t his friend. “Hey?” he muttered right before I jammed the knife between his ribs. I quickly pulled him inside. I didn’t want the other guys to think anything fishy was going on.
After I placed the guy inside the doorway I looked around. Good thing no one else was in this room. I glanced back where Teltar and Talestria were. I couldn’t see them in their hiding place and I shrugged. It wouldn’t work for them to follow me. I put my helmet on and retrieved my knife and then went deeper into the tower. It had a spiral, stone staircase that looked like it went all the way up. I saw faint light as I climbed the stairway. I marched upward, feeling pretty pumped. When I got closer to the top, I heard voices.
“How much longer?” one whined.
Another spoke, “I don’t know, I hate standing out in the rain waiting for them.”
A third guy yawned, “Complaining about it won’t make the night go by any faster!” The first one complained, “They are not coming tonight, I don’t see why we have to waste our time.”
The third one snapped back, “Someone has to stay up here and man the siege weapons!”
The second one chuckled, “Yeah, yeah! These things look nasty. I can’t wait to fire these down at them!” One of them laughed. So, this was the trap. I took a few more steps forward and peeked in; there were four men. There were two siege or barricade weapons which looked like a bunch of large crossbows on top of each other. Each held a large amount of arrows which would be dispersed down the front gate, and with two of them we would become pin cushions. There was a man standing next to each weapon and two more men with torches waited closer to the edge of the tower. Now the tricky part was to take these guys down without alarming others. I took a deep breath and grabbed my weapons.
I had an idea which was the best I could come up with on the spot. I quietly walked down the stairs a little bit so they couldn’t see me from above. I spoke in a low voice, “Hey, can one of you guys help me?”
One of them replied, “What? Help with what?”
I spoke again in the fake voice, “Just come down here and help me, I’m losing my grip!” “Alright! Sheesh!” I could hear him trudging down the stairs. I felt almost giddy. Just as he came into view, I grabbed him and pulled him onto my knife. He didn’t utter a word. I silently lowered him down on the stairs and walked back up. Only three now.
I didn’t think my trick would work a second time. I saw the three looking right at me. Oh, crap. “What the…?!” one of them said loudly. I climbed the stairs and charged the nearest guy. I made a quick swing with my axe and slashed at his torso. He slumped to the ground with a loud grunt. Another shouted a vulgarity as he saw his buddy go down. I grabbed the blade end of my knife and threw it at the guy. I hit him but with the handle. I really suck at knife-throwing.
The other fellow grabbed a torch and yelled, “Help!” I ran toward the torch light and shoved the guy back. He lost his balance and fell off the tower, screaming. Screw stealth now. The other guy panicked and ran around the siege weapon and down the stairs. I followed him. I only just grabbed his arm and pulled him to the ground. I jammed my blade into him and all was quiet again. I heard yelling coming from the gatehouse and expected to see more guys approaching the tower. A lightbulb burst over my head as I got an idea. I pushed one of the siege weapons around and pointed it toward the gatehouse. It took me a moment to adjust it so it was pointing in that direction. I peeked over the wall and saw arrows coming at me.
I lowered my head and heard arrows buzzing by me. I franticly looked around and hit a lever. The siege weapon snapped and jolted back a little. I then heard screams as the impact of several arrows came raining down on them. I peeked over and saw most of them either dead or shot but alive. I moved the other siege weapon around and turned it away from the entry way. At that moment I remembered my scroll. I pulled it out and reached for the torch. I read the strange words to trigger the spell. The scroll turned to ash and shot out a good size fireball into the sky. I hoped it would be enough.
I climbed down from the tower and faced two men with swords drawn. I smacked the blade of one away and shoved him back. He fell on his buddy which gave me time to move in and slash at him. The other fell back and dropped his sword along the side of the stairway. I heaved him with my foot and both he and the other guy went over the side. Only one was alive to scream. I jogged down the steps and finally reached the bottom level. I rested up by taking a few deep breaths. From the corner of my eye, I saw something swirling really fast at me.
I parried it. It was the scythe blade. It was her! The Blood Witch stood about ten feet away. When a flash of lightning hit, it revealed her twisted mask for a split second. She pulled her weapon back and stood in a ready stance. Rain was pouring down hard now but neither one of us cared. I could feel the anger and hatred seething from her. She let out a maniacal laugh and jumped at me. I stepped in and parried. She stared at me with her cold eyes, and I returned the stare. She changed her footing and twisted her body around. With great speed, she spun around and took a swing at my neck. I turned and blocked it with my blade. It looked like I could keep up with her now.
She advanced and swung twice with her weapon. I tilted my head back and dodged the first strike and then blocked the second. I moved forward and swung at her. She arched her body back and avoided the hit. She is really fast! I came in again to attack; she blocked with the handle of her weapon. I gritted my teeth and pressed forward. Her side-step caused my weapon to slide by and I almost lost my footing. It was a nice try but I knew that trick. I moved with her movements. Her arms shook as I was able to over-power her. I have her, now!
She yelled out a loud “Ha!” The handle of her weapon detached and revealed the chain. My blade sunk in and she spun the chain around my axe. A moment later it was completely entangled. She stepped back and pulled. I leaned back and resisted. She laughed as her weapon started to glow. Oh no, not good! A buzzing sound filled the air and a jolt of electricity flowed from her weapon into me. It wasn’t as painful as I remembered but I remembered the scroll that Bolam made for me. It was now in effect. I let out a war cry and rammed her. My shoulder clipped her and knocked her back. She didn’t expect that!
She quickly jumped to her feet and backed up. I could hear her chanting again and saw a dull red glow coming from her hands. My axe was lying on the ground. She jerked her weapon back and my axe slid away from me. Her left hand shot out a dark beam at me. The beam faded before it hit my armor. The white trim of my armor started to glow a bit. I chuckled, “Nice try.” She appeared shocked and retracted her weapon. Now, she was still armed, and I wasn’t.
She let out a blood-curdling scream as she came at me again. I could only back up and try to avoid her swings. I heard the buzzing sound of her weapon which was still charged with magic. She became more frantic with her attacks and glanced one off my armor which gave me a mild jolt. I grabbed the blade of her weapon with my left, my armored hand. I felt a pulsating pain but I knew I could handle it.
I pulled back my right fist and punched her in the face. There was an aura of protection on her but the enchantment on my armor nullified it. She leaned her head back, but still caught a good deal of the force of my punch. That felt good!
She lost her grip on her weapon and fell back onto the wet ground. I stared at her and brought my leg back to give her a well-deserved kick. Something thin but heavy hit me hard on the left side and pushed me far to the
right. I crashed hard to the ground and felt a lot of pain where the blow hit me. The weapon didn’t go through the armor but the force was enough to knock the wind out of me. I slowly turned my head and saw a huge figure in heavy plate-armor standing over me. It was too big to be a human and held an axe that was too heavy for a human to carry. I heard laughter and saw a smaller figure walking into view. It was Forren!
I coughed, but was too winded to utter a word. Forren wore a fancy breastplate and grey-colored clothing. He was balding with a large mustache under which I saw a smug grin. “Well done!” he clapped. He paced a little and spoke with an arrogant tone, “You evaded my trap and even freed the witch Talestria. I am indeed impressed.”
He glanced over at the Blood Witch, who stood glaring at me. He turned to her, “Nice job, Janauntrus. Now go fetch me his love.” He turned to his well-armored ogre bodyguard and tilted his head toward me, “Graag!” The ogre walked over to me and easily picked me up.
Graag hurled me back on the ground. This time, he made sure I was facing Forren and weighed me down with his iron boot on my chest. Forren smiled and then looked behind him. A few of his goons shoved Talestria down next to me. She blurted out some profanities just before a goon smacked her on the side of her head. I gritted my teeth as they grabbed her roughly and pulled her back by her hair. As Forren glided his hand along her face, she tried to bite him. He pulled his hand back and laughed, “She certainly has spirit!”
I glanced over and saw Teltar further away, pinned to the ground, as well. Forren took a few steps closer to me and looked at Talestria, and then at me, “Now, I am going to give you a choice.” He took out a fancy dagger and pointed it at Talestria, “You will give me what I want or I will thrust this into her!”
