Shock and Awe

Aurei takes on the crew of the Necromancer's Guild Airship

53.

Shock and Awe

 

They descended quite a bit quicker with the extra weight, but it was a safe speed and the three were too excited to care much anyway.   It took only seconds for the fall but they were ready and they landed hard, but on their feet, on the rear quarterdeck of the huge vessel.  

 

Immediately they sprang into action.   The King began untying the Mooring rope from his waist.   But Eleazar and Aurei didn’t see any of this, for they were immediately noticed by a deck full of undead, charging toward the quarterdeck stairs to get to them.

The thought of Alis and Aeric as captives on the vessel mixed in her mind with her own memory of her own brief captivity on a smaller craft.   The day that Sir Alvis had been taken and that Brother Darv had died.   So many had died due to the Necromancer’s Guild.  

A rage came over her.   She turned to Eleazar, standing beside her with the Holy Avenger Great Sword drawn.

 

“I’ll divert them from the King!”  She said and before he could reply, she had drawn her Drow longsword with one hand and Egregie with the other.   The Holy Sword immediately lit the area around her from midnight to the light of an overcast day.   With a smile at the man she loved, she ran to the edge of the quarterdeck and leapt over the side, into the mass of undead that were bottlenecked at the bottom of the quarterdeck stairway.

***

 

She fell onto them like a leaping panther, her fall slowed by the Ring of Nitthum.  Before any of the undead on the craft even realized what she had done, she was in the midst of them.   A moment later a pair of zombies lay dead, followed by a ghoul and a Wight.   One of the lesser Vampires aboard the craft lunged at her, but fell to the deck engulfed in yellow magic flames from her Holy Sword.   A ghost moved through the mass of undead in its way, reaching out to strike the foolhardy Drow girl.  

Her Drow longsword found it, yet it passed through the  non-corporeal form.   But before the ghost could get its hand on her, Egergie’s blade slid across the ghost’s torso.   The ghost flinched in pain and disappeared with a slight popping sound.   

A ghast leapt over the side of the stairwell, onto her back, but instead of knocking her down, she just snapped her body around and he was flung free, to have her Drow longsword sever him in half.

With the strength of a giant given by the magic belt, Aurei swung both of her swords in furious arcs all around her.

From every side, the undead were sent flying, many consumed in yellow flames.

“Go back to Hell from where you came!”  She screamed in rage as she charged forward into them.

Another Vampire jumped at her and her swords chopped the creature’s head from his neck from two different sides.   It exploded into a ball of yellow flames.  

Another ghoul charged her on the stairs and she used her foot to push him back.   Her enchanted strength sent him crashing into the undead behind him, knocking them down.

She fell upon them with a banshee-like scream, her swords pulled out wide as she brought destruction down upon them.

Fear filled the eyes of the creatures as she cut and thrust, slashed and pounded them back.   They fell lifeless at her feet and she rushed forward, blades spinning.

Suddenly before her stood a tall skeleton engulfed in an eerie green glow and wearing what once had been some sort of mage’s robe.   It spun a quarterstaff at her face and a green blast of energy slammed into her, throwing her violently into the side of the quarterdeck with such force that the wall of the deck cracked upon impact.

Pain flowed over her, but it only fueled her rage and as the creature brought the staff around again to strike her, she parried the blow with her Drow sword.   The green glow engulfed her sword and sword arm, filling her with numbing pain, but she savagely brought the Holy sword down onto the creature’s arm, severing it.   She kicked out at the reanimated skeleton, her blow sending it back into a twin that was behind it.   Both fell to the ground, the rear-most creature raising his staff to deliver another bolt of energy at her.

But it never got the chance, for she swung Egregie down full force, smashing through the skull of the being in front, then through the rear-most creature’s staff, which exploded in a ball of green energy, as her sword continued its path into the second undead thing’s skull.

Something jumped on her back, clawing at her armor as it attempted to find a way to get to her neck.   Dropping her Drow sword, she grabbed the creature and lifted him over her head by the neck, to slam him into the deck of the airship.   It was another lesser Vampire that looked at her in terror as it tried to dematerialize into mist.   But he wasn’t fast enough and Aurei’s Holy Sword sent his head rolling across the deck.  

Scooping up her Drow longsword, she spun all around, surprised to see all the undead on the deck backing away from her.  She now stood on the main deck, challenging any of them to advance at her.  

“Cowards!”  She taunted, and a hand on her shoulder made her spin around to find Eleazar jumping back, nearly knocking Haroldris down as she turned.

“Wow!”  The half-Drow said with an admiring grin.

Aurei shrugged, “I like this girdle, and I LOVE this Holy Sword!”

“You’ll need it.”  A deep, evil voice said from somewhere behind the mass of undead that were giving her -for the moment- plenty of room.   “But first, finish with my children.   Attack them!”

At the sound of the voice, the undead that filled the large deck advanced quickly upon them.    The three Paladins fanned out, forming a wedge as they waited for the creatures to attack.

 

King Haroldris’ great sword burst into flames as the undead approached, and it seemed to draw them to him like moths to flame.   He waited as they rushed toward him, but sprang into action as they closed in.   Seconds later, ghouls, zombies, wights and other animated corpses began to litter the deck of the ship around him.   Eleazar also waited for the undead to approach him and raised his great sword as if displaying the weapon for them to see.  They were nearly upon him when he shouted, “In the name of Yesh, BE GONE!”

Light seemed to consume the first 10 undead creatures, all which screamed in agony as they disappeared as if vapor.   Those behind them paused, and at that moment Eleazar charged forward with a roar, his great sword twirling through the air.    Four fell dead on the first swing of his sword, two more on the return stroke.  

 

By then, Aurei’s own adversaries were upon her and she went into action, ducking under an undead Ogre’s club and slicing his legs out from under him with the Drow sword as she chopped the top of his head with the Holy Sword.   A skeleton wearing plate mail advanced quickly and blocked her attacks with a dented shield.   It swung skillfully at her legs with its sword, but she easily deflected the blows, and then surprised it with a sudden lunge against its shield, toppling it over with the brute force supplied by the giant strength that the magic belt gave her.   Egregie swept across its torso, ending the creature’s un-life.   A ball of energy moved against her and she swiped at it with her sword.   The ball ducked and rushed her, but she sidestepped it and batted at it with her swords.  

Again the thing dipped and dodged, only to shoot itself at her.   This time Egregie’s blade caught the edge of it and it popped like a bubble, leaving the odor of sulfur in the air.  

Two robed attackers moved against her and she realized both were not undead but Necromancers a moment before one swung a quarterstaff at her head.   She instinctively blocked with both swords, but as her blades contacted the staff, blue electricity shot all over her, causing her to jerk and spasm for an instant.   The other Necromancer took advantage of the stunned moment and slammed his quarterstaff against the front of her helmet, missing her face by inches.   There was a release of great force and she was knocked to her knees on the deck from the impact.  

 

Before she could do anything, Eleazar was suddenly there beside her, swinging his terrible sword across in a deadly arc.   The second Necromancer tried to block with the staff of force, but the half-Drow’s strength had been enhanced by his own magic belt and the sword crashed through the staff with an explosion of magical energy, then cut deep into his forehead.   The first mage rammed his staff into Eleazar’s chest and again electricity shot forth, stunning the knight and sending him backwards onto the deck.

But Aurei had recovered by now and her swipe disemboweled the wizard, who fell over dead.   Before she could turn to check on Eleazar, a missile of energy hit her in the chest and knocked her back, though she kept her footing.   Three mages were advancing upon her, each carrying wands.   She prepared to charge them when there came the sound of a roaring wind and the three Necromancers were thrown backwards by a gale force wintery blast.   Glancing over her shoulder, Aurei saw Sir Alvis, standing on the roof of the bridge of the Autumn Maid, wielding the ice sword, while Lute, Pectros and Neal reeled in the ship by the mooring rope, up next to the Necromancer’s Guild craft.  

 

Aurei heard her Aunt chant in a yelling voice, the words, “Yesh the Holy!” and all the remaining undead on the deck were thrown off their feet from the Holy Word spell’s effect.   

“Help has arrived.”  She told Eleazar, extending her hand to help him to his feet.

Vinth was the first to leap across the gap between ships, racing forward with his sword drawn to assist the King.   A wight tried to intercept him but the Orc bashed him with his shield and plunged his sword into the creature’s chest as he raced past.  

Meanwhile, Rori, who had joined Alvis on the roof of the bridge, pointed the Magic Missile wand at one of the three mages that had been knocked down by Alvis’ wintery blast.   A blue missile of energy shot forth and hit the mage in the head, killing him.  

 

The two mages next to him raised their wands, aiming at Rori, but the first one found a Dwarven axe embedded in his stomach and curled over in death as the axe sailed free and spun backwards in a magical arc to Thorm, who now jumped the narrowing gap to the Necromancer’s craft.  

The other mage shot a bolt at Rori, which hit her in the mid-section, knocking her back against Sir Alvis.   The Knight Commander gently helped her stand and laid hands on her, restoring her to health.   By then Vinth had engaged the mage, who soon lay dead from a couple of blows by the Orc’s sword.  

As Vinth, Thorm and Zeatt rushed to join them by the quarterdeck, the three Paladins heard the sound of mocking laughter coming from somewhere behind the greatly thinned line of undead that stood across the deck from them.

“You’ve done well, cutting most of my children down.   Now I present you with a bigger challenge.”

Suddenly a huge hulking shape loomed over them on deck.   Even in the enchanted darkness around the craft, the giant-sized form seemed pitch black, as if it were made-up of thick shadows.   The silhouette-like form raised up to probably 15 feet in height, with great bat wings of shadow spread out behind it.    It looked like the shadow of some terrible demon, and its hands ended in long talons.   Aurei felt the overwhelming sense of evil and turned to Eleazar and Haroldris, who, by their expressions, felt it too.

“Shadow demon.”   Zeatt explained as she quickly chanted a protection spell around them.   Lute, Pectros, and Neal now were running across the deck to join them, while Sir Alvis and Rori stayed on board the Autumn Maid and focused their energies on keeping some of the lesser undead still moving on the deck, from flanking the others.  

The shadow demon spread its wings and soared over the throng of undead in front of it, to swoop down upon them with its talons raised to strike.

 

 

Reviews

[Erin Winter]

I feel like the name of this chapter is entirely too appropriate.

[Eddie Davis]

Thanks, Erin, I got the idea from the term that was applied to our army's attack during Desert Storm.