Fit for Battle

Aurei and Eleazar realize they have survived, while King Haroldris rallies his forces to face the upcoming onslaught.

13.

Fit for Battle

Aurei was still screaming when they materialized in the empty church sanctuary in Westmark and for a long moment she glanced around wide-eyed in fear, before remembering the Autocaster Ring.  

They were sprawled out at the front of the church, but Eleazar was moving and rolled clear of her to sit up with a stunned look on his face.

“Aurei?” He asked glancing down at her.   She could do nothing but lay there on her back, trembling and crying.  

“Aurei, you’re alright, sweetheart, you’re alright.”   He leaned over and she tightly embraced him, sobbing harshly.   For a long time they sat there on the floor as she wept and he gently rocked her, stroking her long hair.

 

“Laz… what happened?  That was a Light of Yesh… wasn’t it?”  She finally asked after calming down enough to speak.

“It was St. Kinnis; I’m not sure how he got there, but he used the last Light of Yesh against Soric.”

“Is… is he… dead?”

Eleazar wasn’t sure who she was asking about; Soric or Kinnis, but he knew in his heart that the answer was the same.

“Yes, love, they both are dead.”

She burst into fresh tears, but gained control quickly.

 

“St. Kinnis, dead; because of me.”   She said with self-recrimination in her voice.

“No, sweetheart.”

“It’s true, Laz!   How could I have been so foolish?”

“Shh!  It’s no time to analyze everything now.”

“Was it the ring that brought us here?   The Autocaster ring?”

“Yes, or we’d both be dead.”

“Yesh, preserve me!  St. Kinnis is dead!   Because of me!”

“Aurei, don’t do that!   He was brought to help you… and me.   It was Yesh’s plan.”

“No… no, I killed him, Laz.   I went off foolishly with Chal and Alleania… Laz, they were Vampires!   And… a-and…”

“Your parents; I know, sweetheart.”

“How?   How could you know that, Laz?   And how did you ever find me?!”

“We figured out who they were when a servant girl saw you with them.   It was your cousins Sophia and Khord that enabled me to get to you.   Khord brought a helm of teleportation to me.”

“Where are they, now?   Sophia and Khord, I mean.”

“Khord vanished as soon as he gave the helm to me, but they were watching your battle.   My heavens, Aurei, you are so fortunate that you didn’t get killed!”

 

Aurei recounted to him the battle with the Arch Lich before he arrived and the more he heard the more horrified at how precarious her situation had been.

 

“I guess Chal is dead, Laz; Soric took his body when he dematerialized and went back to his coffin.   I don’t know about Alleania; I’m not sure where her coffin was located.”

“If it was in the castle of Soric, I doubt she survives.”

 

Aurei nodded, suffering from conflicting emotions at the thought of the Vampire lady dying.

Suddenly she remembered the situation in King’s Reach just before she left with Chal and Alleania.

“Yesh, save me, Laz, I just remembered; the Necromancer’s Guild was about to attack King’s Reach!   What happened?”

 

It was Eleazar’s turn to recount the events that had transpired and by the end of his tale Aurei was on her feet, with a frantic look in her eyes, “Laz, we’ve got to get back there and help them!”

“How?   The teleportation helm that Khord gave me only works once a day.”

Aurei began to pace, “There has to be a way!”

“Are there any wizards in town that know a teleportation spell?”

“No, not that I know of.   Think, Laz, think!   We’ve GOT to help them!”   She turned and glanced up at the Cross of Pain over the altar of the church, “Please, Yesh, have mercy!”

But instead of a miracle, it was an idea that popped into her head; Sophia!   She had eavesdropped on them before and had come to their rescue, perhaps she was watching in her crystal ball now!

 

“Sophia!   Sophia, help us!  Please!  Your mother and all of King’s Reach are in terrible danger!”  Aurei began waving her hands in the air as if to get someone’s attention and for a few terrible moments, Eleazar thought she had totally lost her mind.

“Sophia, if you’re watching us; we need to get to King’s Reach, immediately!   Sophia!”  Aurei was almost screaming now.  

Eleazar didn’t know what to do to calm her.   As far as he knew, no crystal ball projected sound to those watching.  

“Aurei, she can’t hear you!”

“She’s got to hear me, Laz!   She was watching me earlier, you said!   Even if she can’t hear me, maybe she can see me!   Sophia!   Help us, Sophia!   Yesh, have mercy on us and on King’s Reach!”  

 

 

***

 

In the capital city of Northmarch, Hell was breaking loose.   The King had mustered about 300 into a band that gathered in a battle formation on the lawn bordering the royal lake.  

 

The number was horribly small for a city the size of King’s Reach, but it was all that could reach him before the airships released their vile companies of undead.  

 

As the women and children cowered either in the caves or scattered across the city in their homes, Haroldris IV, King of Northmarch stood with his small force, watching as the undead massed into an unruly army of about 3,000 and advanced upon them.

“Most of them are Zombies, Your Majesty.”  Aeric told the King as he surveyed their advancing opponents, “I’d estimate two thirds of them are zombies with some animated skeletons.”

“That still leaves 50 score more threatening us.”  Thorm added.

“All are a threat, Master Thorm, if they break away from us and spread throughout the city.   We must keep them focused against us!”  

Haroldris spoke loudly to his force, “My friends, behold, the forces of the undead are marshaled against us.   Before you, see those who have haunted our fair Kingdom and caused fear, pain and death to those whom we love."

"Our tormentors stand before us, intending to destroy us and everything we hold dear.   Shall we cower in fear against them?”

A roaring “NO!” spread through the lines.

“DO WE NOT TRUST IN YESH?!”   Haroldris screamed, working himself into a fury.

“YES!  YESH THE HOLY!   YESH THE HOLY!”

“THEN IN THE NAME OF THE HOLY ONE, I BID YOU TO BE NOT AFRAID THIS DAY!  BE STRONG AND COURAGEOUS, FOR BEHOLD, OUR ENEMY REVEALS HIMSELF AT LAST AND WE WILL NOT BE MOVED!”

Another roar rocked the lines.

Haroldris raised his great sword over his head.

“FOR OUR FAMILIES!  FOR OUR NATION!  FOR OUR GOD!”

“YESH THE HOLY!  YESH THE HOLY!” The King’s forces shouted; the name of God filling them with courage.  

As those in the line raised weapons and shields, there came the crackling of arcane energy from just in front of the advancing enemy.   The undead stopped and looked on expectantly, as a doorway of flaming fire opened in mid air and two fiendish forms swept through.  

The first was large; about nine feet tall with the head, wings and torso of a huge black bat.   His arms were long and ended in terrible talons, whereas his legs and feet were those of a goat.   He spread his wings wide and through the doorway behind him came a company of beings that were the size of men, but seemed to be a combination of Dragon and man.  

 

“Yesh, preserve us!”  Zeatt cried out when she saw them, “Vallex the Great!   Demon Lord of Dragons!   Those with him are the Anthrodracoi - the Dragonmen of legend.”

 

Vallex looked around at the small forces marshaled against him and uttered a piercing screech.  

 

As awful as his cry was, it was his smaller companion that stirred up fear in those defending King’s Reach.

 

He was wrapped in a tattered, flowing grey-black death shroud; a form slightly taller than an average man.   His skeletal hands clutched a long grey scythe though much of the remainder his form was concealed by the shroud.

 

The blue flicker of light in the dull white sockets of a skull hidden within the shadows of a hood revealed the figure of the most feared of nightmares.  

He was called by many names, all in nervous whispers; Torvus Messorem, Thantus, and Malach Hamavet the humans called him, Gúrcrith-tegi, he was known among the Elves, and the Drow of the Underdark named him Elginn-Belbau.  He was the giver of death, he that swings the scythe, the angel of the grave, the stealer of life; the grim reaper.  

 

A murmur of fear passed like a wave through the host of Haroldris upon seeing him.   But he too was not alone, for behind him marched a company of animated skeletons, all carrying scythes. 

 

“Reapers.” Rori whispered to those near her, her face bloodless in horror, “They are his servants.   If their blades touch you, it can cause death!”

 

“Do not be afraid!”  Zeatt said loudly in a confident voice, quoting Yesh, “Do not fear he that takes your life, for your soul bears my name if you believe in me, and none can wrest it from my hand.”

 

As the undead forces and their demon allies formed ranks against them, Haroldris added a quote from Yesh, “Scattered like chaff upon the harvest winds is he that fears for his life, but as the sun rises, so shall he that trusts in me.  Do not fear that which is perishable, for that which is eternal dwells in your soul and cannot perish.” 

 

“And though death rages against me, I shall not be moved, I shall not be moved, for He that is Holy consumes death!”  Thorm quoted in a deep voice.

 

“And Yesh answered them, saying, ‘All that is arcane will yield to the divine.  God shall not be moved!'”  Alis said, her voice filling with emotion, “Trust in Yesh, the Holy One!”

Her words were taken up by those standing before the demonic forces.
“Yesh the Holy!  Yesh the Holy!” Their battle cry sounded, filling their hearts with strength as the storm prepared to break.

 

Reviews

[Elina]

"Is there any wizards..." Is should be "are."
"...and looked on expectedly..." I believe your wanting "expectantly" rather than "expectedly."

I quite liked this chapter. Particularly the last section of it; the rallying of the troops.

[Eddie Davis]

Thank you, I'm hoping you can enjoy it in spite of my horrendous spelling errors.