Angry Birds

Aedric's group nears the Valley of Helios and are attacked by some of the mad wizard's creations.

38.

Angry Birds

 

 

It was nearly sundown when the weary band of travelers spotted an old, abandoned, but still solid, three- storey watchtower that the Faesidhe had built many centuries ago.

“It was probably raised to monitor anyone coming out of the mountain passes.”  Aedric theorized as they approached it.

 

It stood on a tall foothill only a handful of miles away from the mountains and - according to a map they had been given in Tarmard by Mathlyn- about 3/4ths of a day’s ride from the Vale of Helios.

“Why would they abandon the tower?”   Snoe asked her husband as they peered at the square stone structure.

“I don’t know - I wasn’t privy to many of the decisions my father made, but I know that a handful of the western watchtowers were abandoned when I was young.   The people were told that there was no longer a threat that warranted them, but I had heard stories from time to time that occasionally strange beasts would attack them.”

“Oh, wonderful.”  Mutt groaned upon hearing this.

“Well, they weren’t attacked often, Mutt, but I heard that it happened from time to time.”

“Helios’ creatures.”  Amala commented, almost as if she knew for certain.  

“Have you heard of similar tales, Lady Amala?”   Mattleos tried to engage the Drow woman who had not spoken much but had just ridden quietly behind Gamel throughout the day.

“I’ve heard just rumors too.    Strange and terrible creatures that come out of the mountains.    That is probably why this area seems so wild and uncivilized.”

“Well, there is plenty of room in the watchtower for our horses as well.”   Gamel replied as he dismounted near the front gate.  

“What if the entrance is locked?”  Sintore asked, so Gamel went up the stairs to the keep’s steel-reinforced doors and pushed against them.   To everyone’s relief, they opened with a loud squeal from rusty hinges.

Inside it was dark and musty smelling, but seemed safe and warm.   They led the horses into the lower level, which had been originally set up as a stable.   Aaron pushed the gate closed and was about to bar it with the rusty iron rod he found resting against the wall near the door, when he noticed something.

“Look at this”, Aaron motioned to the others, pointing at the thick wood of the gate, “These indentations and holes look like a huge woodpecker was at work.”

“They are all over the wood parts of this door.” Allea informed them as she examined it, “The steel reinforcements kept the wood from splintering.   I’ve never seen a woodpecker do something like this to wood of this type.”

“Maybe it wasn’t a woodpecker.”  Amala said rather mysteriously.

“Well then, what was it?”   Gamel asked his sister, but she just shrugged with a slight smile at him.

“There are also some lesser holes in the stone.”   Aedric mentioned as he scrutinized the walls near the door, “The holes are not deep, but it looks like whatever made it is strong enough to try to get through solid stone.”

“All we have to look for is a huge woodpecker with a badly bent beak.”   Mutt joked, trying to relieve the nerves of those around him.

“Hopefully he’s not around anymore.”  Snoe commented, “But as it is almost dark, perhaps we should get inside… just in case.”

 

It was a suggestion that they all agreed with, so Gamel and Aaron shut the pock-marked door and secured the bar.

“There!   Safe and sound.”   The Drow Paladin exclaimed while the others lit several dry torches found in sconces set into the walls.

 

A few minutes later they had their horses unsaddled and fed.   Aedric led the group up the metal ladder through an open trapdoor to the watchtower’s main barracks area.    They placed the torches into sconces here and looked around.  

 

It was a typical watchtower barracks and from the sparseness of the rooms it had been completely cleared out and abandoned long ago.    There were three rooms on this level, a main barracks, an officer’s quarters and a small mess hall.

“Well, at least we’ll be warm and secure up here.” Gamel said, plopping down on the floor,  “I’d suggest we eat something and get some sleep early - we have another day of riding tomorrow and who knows what is waiting for us in Helios’ valley.”  

Everyone agreed, and soon they had all made spots to sleep in the barracks area.    The Faesidhe had left a few dry pieces of wood near the room’s fireplace, so in no time they had a pleasant fire going as they all sat and ate their dinner.

“So what have you heard about Helios Valley?”   Aaron asked Mattleos as they ate.

“Well, just that it was not a place you’d want to wander into alone.    You’d hear stories about horrible monsters that seemed to be part one type of animal and yet also part of another.    Supposedly creatures the Wizard was experimenting upon that escaped or something like that.”

“Wonderful!   Do you have any examples?”  Mutt asked, always eager to know what awaited him.

“I don’t know if any of it was real or not, as there were a lot of stories about that place, but I do remember hearing a story as a child about a herd… or maybe you’d call it a pack - I don’t know… of these creatures that were like horses, but they had the heads of alligators and long lizard-like tails.   They were said to live in the valley and would attack anyone out in the open at night.”

“Alligator horses?”  Allea asked, looking more than a bit uneasy.

Mattleos shrugged, “That’s what I heard.”

At the far end of the room, where she rested with her head against the wall and her eyes closed, Amala spoke up, “There are also a type of monkey-like creatures there.   They are pitch-black in color and live in the trees, but they have wings like a bat and will swoop down at night on sleeping people or beasts and drink their blood.   Their bite turns a person or an animal crazy and they will foam at the mouth and will go into a rage until they finally collapse from exhaustion and die.”

“Where did you hear that?”   Snoe asked her sister, still very uneasy about how she was acting.    Amala just shrugged and didn’t say anything more.

“Maybe we should have someone keeping watch on the roof - we’re only a day’s ride from the valley.”   Sintore suggested, “I’d volunteer to take the first watch.”

“That might not be a bad idea.   There are six of us men, so I’d say an hour and a half each would be fair, that way all of us can get some rest.”    Aedric said, and soon they had assigned an order of watch.    The sun had completely set by the time Sintore had finished his meal and climbed up to the parapetted roof to begin his shift.

“I’ll wake you in an hour and a half.”   He told Aedric as he disappeared through the trapdoor.

 

They all sacked out for the night in two groups " the women nearest the fire and the men in a line behind them.    Aedric was awake, thinking about the next day when he heard movement and looked up to see Snoe’s red eyes as she pulled back the wool cloak he was using as a blanket and slid down beside him.

“Sorry.” She whispered to him, nestling close to him, “I just wanted to talk to you for a little while.”

Though they all wore heavy clothing for warmth, he could feel her body heat as she pressed against him and he found himself enjoying the feeling.

“What did you want to talk about?”   He asked his new wife, finding his thoughts now wandering off into future private rendezvous with her.

“I don’t think that is really Amala.”   She whispered into his ear, obviously afraid of her sister hearing the conversation, “I’ve been watching her, Aedric, and something’s just not right about her.”

“Such as?”

“For starters; look how she is acting toward Gamel.    She’s been flirting with him all day.   Her own brother!   She never acted so odd.    She seems more… feminine, I guess.   You know how Amala was - she was a dedicated tomboy.”

“Yes, that is very weird.   But she did say she hit her head - perhaps this is why she’s not herself.”

“She’s acting as if she isn’t really Amala.   I don’t think she is, in fact.    I know she looks like her and seems to know things like Amala did, but…”  She trailed off, glancing fearfully over her shoulder in the direction where she lay sleeping.

“A Doppelganger?”   Aedric whispered into her ear and Snoe just raised her eyebrows to indicate this is what she also feared.

“What do we do if she is one?”   The albino Drow finally asked.

“We need to be careful, sweetheart.   Doppelgangers are telepaths and she’d know we were on to her.”

“Yes, but how do we hide our thoughts from her?”

“I don’t know.    I doubt she could read all of our thoughts at the same time, so maybe if we stay away from her.”

“I know Gamel thinks the same thing, Aedric.    He’s about ready to confront her.   What did she do with my sister?”   Snoe’s eyes began to fill with tears.

“No, no, don’t do that!”   He hugged her close to him, wiping a tear from her cheek, “I doubt she would have been able to overcome your sister.    Amala is a master of the sword, Snoe.”

“Then why is this double here?   Maybe the Faesidhe actually still have her and they put a Doppelganger in her place.”

“For what reason?”

“So we wouldn’t know that they had actually killed her!”   Snoe began crying, burying her face in Aedric’s shoulder.    He hugged her close to him, patting her back as she trembled and wept.

“Snoe… sweetheart, listen to me, please.    You have a strong bond with your sister.   You knew she was in trouble in the woods.   Search your heart, my love.   Do you honestly feel she is dead?”

He held his breath, hoping this technique would not backfire on him.   For a few moments his wife stared blankly ahead, as if trying to feel the life of her older sister. 

 Finally, Snoe began to very slowly smile, “No… no, you are right.   She’s not dead!   I don’t know how I know it!   You’re right - I know she’s alive!”   Smiling broadly now, she leaned in and grabbed both sides of his face and kissed him passionately.   

It was a brief kiss, but Aedric was electrified by it and had to ward off a desire to finally consummate their marriage right there.

“Not yet,” She whispered, pulling her lips away from him.  Her red eyes glowed brilliantly in the dark and by this he knew that she was experiencing the same desire he felt.   “So what do we do about her?   Shall we confront her and see if she’ll tell us what she’s done with Amala, or do we keep up this ruse for now?”

He had just opened his mouth to respond when a horrid scream filled the room.    Immediately everyone jumped to their feet in alarm.   

“From the roof!”   Mattleos yelled, racing over to the ladder that led upwards.

“Yesh, preserve us!   Sintore is up there!”   Allea exclaimed as she ran after the Sylvan Elf.

In only a moment all of them were gathered around the ladder and Aedric pushed Allea back out of the way then followed after his cousin, with Aaron and Gamel right behind him.  

Mattleos threw open the trap door only to have a huge talon strike him fiercely on the head.   The blow sent Mattleos tumbling off the ladder, almost knocking Aedric off with him.

They could hear Sintore still screaming hysterically, but the talon that had struck Mattleos was still clawing through the opening,  searching for something to grab.

“Aedric: sword!”  Aaron yelled to him as he nudged him with the hilt of a long sword.   Aedric grabbed the grip and in the light from the room’s fireplace, began swiping at the shadowy claw.

His sword connected with the talon, but to his surprise, the blow was deflected as if it had contacted metal.

Yet the talon was pulled back through the hatch, followed immediately by the sound of the flapping of a huge pair of wings.   Aedric rushed through the opening, holding the point of the sword before him.

The sight he beheld when his head popped through the trapdoor opening was almost surreal.    In the moonlight was a nightmare creature, as large as an elephant, covered with strange scale-like skin, yet with scattered feathers poking through between the scales.

The creature held Sintore’s limp body in a huge owl-like beak.   Its powerful wings were entirely covered with feathers and it took flight off the parapet, though it glanced back at Aedric.

The eyes were reptilian, but glowed a demonic red, causing Aedric’s blood to go cold.   The creature soared off toward the west, before the young King could react.  

“What is it?   Is Sintore dead?”   Gamel yelled up to him as Aedric numbly climbed onto the roof, stepping in a pool of the squire’s blood.

“Too slow,” He whispered to himself in chastisement, “I was too slow to save him.”

Aaron and Gamel now joined him on the roof, wide-eyed in horror at the quantity of blood there.

Before either knight could say anything to Aedric, there came an odd squawking sound above them accompanied by a furious flapping of wings as something slightly larger than a human landed very ungracefully on the roof in front of them.  

It was different than the huge owl-like creature that had killed Sintore.   It looked to be part bird, with strong black wings and scattered crow-like feathers, but something had been mixed in its ancestry to form the beast.   The body was covered with odd scales like the first creature, though of a smaller size.    It had the head of either an alligator or crocodile on a long swan’s neck.   A short lizard’s tail ended in an almost comical tuff of tail feathers, but its legs were that of a large flightless bird, with wicked looking talons.   

Immediately the creature made a hissing squawk and snapped at Gamel while buffeting him with his wings.    The Drow knight swung his sword while he dodged the alligator-like snout.   His blade chopped deep into the beast’s wing, which caused it to screech in pain.   

Aedric thrust the point of his sword where the monster’s skinny neck met its massive skull, but its scales deflected the blade.   Aaron, who had given Aedric his sword while still on the ladder, stabbed with his dagger at the monster’s chest, but it too was deflected by the creature’s odd scales.

Before Aedric could strike again, another beast seemed to just drop out of the sky onto his back.   He fell to the roof of the Guardhouse with it raking his shoulders with its claws and snapping at his head with the beak of a parrot.

It was all he could do to keep his head out of the creature’s maw,  but he finally was able to thrust Aaron’s sword down the throat of the monster.   It gurgled horribly, spitting blood all over him as it staggered backwards then toppled over the parapet before he could even get a good look at it.

By now three other  gruesome monstrosities had landed on the roof.    Each was different in size and appearance in terrible and bizarre ways, but they all seemed to be some insane combination of reptile and bird.   All were extraordinarily aggressive and apparently starved for flesh.

Aedric had no time to examine his wounds or wonder at the origins of the bird monsters as he, Aaron and Gamel fought frantically for their lives.

The scales of the brutes were keeping their swords from doing much damage, forcing the three knights backwards.

But suddenly there was a flash of light and a burst of energy knocked one of the creatures backwards while the others paused in surprise.    Up through the trapdoor came Allea, already preparing to cast another spell, with  Snoe behind her holding both of her swords.

The Albino girl immediately attacked one of the bird monsters nearest to her, wisely poking out one of its eyes before it could react to her attack.

Behind the two women was Mutt holding something in his hands.   

“Light beads!” He yelled, “Close your eyes!”

An instant later the Goblin threw a handful of the magic glass baubles onto the roof.   Thankfully, all of his companions heeded his warning and tightly closed their eyes a moment before the night was overwhelmed with blinding white light.

The creatures were stunned, yet before Aedric and the other knights could attack the monsters, they found the two women and the goblin nearly pushing them to the trapdoor.

“We’ve got them!” Gamel protested, but Allea, who was pushing her cousin forward, pointed off in the distance.    In the silver glow of the moon, a large flock of black forms flew purposefully toward the watchtower.

“Yesh, have mercy!”   Aaron exclaimed as he saw them too, “Come on everyone, we’ve got to get downstairs quickly!”

Aedric guarded them as they rushed down the ladder, but the four monsters on the roof were rapidly regaining their sight as their fellow creatures approached.    All at once, Aedric felt hands grab his legs and waist then yank him backwards and down the ladder.  

He nearly fell, catching himself on the second rung from the top as he dropped Aaron’s sword to catch himself.    Snoe and Mutt had pulled him through just in time, for as the Goblin swung the door shut, he was jolted off the ladder from the impact of a powerful beak ramming into the wood and partially splintering it.  

Aaron grabbed the goblin by the scuff of his neck then gently dropped him to the floor.   Mutt nodded in thanks, then ran over to check on Mattleos, who was slowly getting to his feet while holding his head.

 

“What are those things?!” Allea asked as they quickly went down the ladder.   Above them some of the monsters were pecking and scratching at the damaged trapdoor with their sharp beaks and talons, but for now the reinforced door held.

“Part bird, part reptile,” Aedric told her as he watched the hatch creak and groan under the attack from the beasts.

“Helios’ creations.”  Mattleos commented as he hobbled over to them. 

“They were all jumbled in appearance.   Some were large, some were man-sized, but they all had scales or bony growths on their skin.   It was like they were wearing armor.”   Aedric told his cousin while Allea chanted a spell over the Sylvan Elf.   A moment later Mattleos was covered with a warm pinkish light.    It faded quickly and he turned to the half-Drow, “Thank you, lady Allea.   I didn’t know you were a Cleric.”

She smiled somewhat like Snoe and shrugged, “My Mom taught me some spells.”

“Who taught you that Magic Missile spell you used up there?   That isn’t a Cleric spell!”  Aedric asked her as a few small pieces of wood fell from the trapdoor.

“My sister Sophia taught me a few of her spells too.”

“You can cast both types of spells?   Impressive!”   Mattleos complimented her and she blushed for an instant.

More wood began to fall from the trapdoor.

“Not good, gentlemen!”  Mutt said nervously watching the door being destroyed.

“What are we going to do?”  Snoe asked, glancing around the room, “Hey!   Where is Amala?”

They all turned and glanced around the room, but the girl wasn’t there.   Gamel ran into the other two rooms on the floor, calling her name, but she was gone. 

“I KNEW that wasn’t her!”  Snoe told her brother as she began examining Aedric’s wounds.

“I’m alright, sweetheart.” He murmured to his wife, but his shoulders and back were burning as if they were dipped in acid.

“They are horrible, Aedric!   Yesh, preserve you; they look like deep sword wounds!   Lay hands on yourself right now!”

“But Gamel and Aaron are also injured-“

“- And they are Paladins as well and can heal themselves!   Lay hands on yourself before your wounds get infected.”

He hesitated and she gave him a very stern look that convinced him to do as she said.    A moment later the wounds were much smaller and looked as if they had occurred a week before.   She examined them closely and nodded, “Good enough for now.”

She glanced over at Aaron and Gamel and they quickly healed themselves as well.   

There came a loud crack and with an explosion of wood, the trapdoor gave way.   They dove out of the way as the debris fell, and with it came one of the smaller of the bird monsters.   It tumbled down the ladder, managing to use its wings to slow it enough to land with a somewhat hard jolt, at their feet.  

They attacked it at once, coming at it from all sides.    Aedric, Snoe, Aaron, Mattleos, and Gamel all struck from different angles.   Although it possessed the same thick scale-like texture as the others, at least one of their swords seemed to injure it.  

The creature squawked loudly, snapping at them with a head that resembled a large snake.   Gamel deflected the snapping bite with his sword while the rest of them continued to chop at it.   Finally it collapsed to the floor, dead.

Mutt and Allea were monitoring what was going on at the top of the trapdoor while the others were finishing off the bird monster.   

The flock on the roof was trying to get through the trapdoor opening, but many were too large to squeeze through.   That didn’t keep them from trying, however, and there was a jumble of wings, beaks and talons waving and clawing in the air.  

“One of the larger beasts may be able to rip some of the roof stones free.” Mutt said to the girl while the others joined them.

“They’re relentless, they won’t stop until they find a way to get to us.”   Allea turned to address everyone, “We’ve got to find some place safe.”

Aedric was about to suggest that they all go down into the lower level for safety when the sounds of their horses whinnying caused them all to race to the trapdoor that led to the lower level.

They could hear the creaking of the stable doors opening and Aedric threw open the trapdoor to catch a glimpse of a figure walking out of the stable into the night.

“Amala?”  Snoe thought aloud.

“What is she doing, going out there?”   Gamel asked, “We’ve got to get her back in here and get that door closed before those creatures see her!”

Aedric was already halfway down the ladder, with Gamel and Snoe right behind him when a low, moaning sound began to fill the night.

 “What in the world is that?” Gamel asked as the sound grew louder and stronger.   It sounded both like the wind and a woman in terrible agony.   A gut-wrenching wail that just kept growing in volume and intensity.    Aedric felt his head begin to spin and could not hear anything more.   He had the sense of falling, and then all went dark.

 

***

 

His head was throbbing and his ears rang loudly, but Aedric slowly began to regain consciousness.  He was aware of someone lying next to him and someone else was sprawled on top of him.    He could not yet open his eyes, but through the ringing he heard a snorting sound and felt the cold nose of a horse nudging him.  

As best as he could tell, the moaning sound had ended and finally he forced his heavy eyelids open, which caused his forehead to throb with pain.   One of their horses was examining him where he laid at the bottom of the ladder in the stable level.    

On top of him was Snoe, unconscious, but thankfully breathing.   To his right was Gamel, lying on his stomach, but also breathing.    He had no idea where the others were.

He forced himself to sit up, almost passing out again due to the throbbing of his head.   He held it with both of his hands in the sitting position until the room no longer spun, then carefully leaned over and nudged Snoe.  

She came awake the same way that he had, as did Gamel.   By the time they were sitting up, he had recovered enough to stand on very shaky legs and look around.   

It was early morning and a heavy frost covered the ground.   The twin doors to the outside were wide open, yet all of their horses were still tethered in the stable.

Staggering like a drunk, Aedric went outside to look around.   He was surprised to see several bodies of the bizarre bird monsters littering the ground around the tower.

When he returned to the stable, Snoe and her brother were both standing on wobbling knees.

“Are they gone?”  Snoe asked.

“Better then that - they’re dead.”

“That sound killed them.”   Gamel commented.

“I can hear the others waking up on the second floor.”  Snoe informed them, and then he too could hear the sounds of groans and mumbled speech as they regained consciousness.

Half an hour later they were all sitting in the barracks room of the watchtower.    Amala - or whatever she was- was gone, but the rest of them were alive and (aside from cuts, bumps and bruises) well.

“How long were we unconscious?” Allea asked as she rubbed her forehead.  

“I’m guessing about six hours.”  Aedric replied, wrinkling his nose at the pair of dead bird monsters that had fallen to their deaths through the opening of the roof trapdoor.

“They’re all dead up there - about eight of the horrid things.”  Mutt told them as he slowly descended the rooftop ladder after having a look. 

“It had to be that ear-piercing scream that killed them.”  Aaron theorized.   “But Amala is gone.”

“That wasn’t her.” Snoe told him, “I knew it wasn’t her.   In fact, I will bet she was the source of that terrible screech.”

“So where is she, then?”   Gamel wondered.

“She’s not far away, but do not worry, for she is an ally.  It is her who killed the bird mutants.” A male voice said from one end of the room and they all jumped when they looked over to see a tall Drow man leaning against the wall.

“Khord?” Allea asked, recognizing her brother-in-law.

“Yes, it’s me.   Hello, everyone.   I’d ask you how you were, but I can see for myself that you are not doing well.   I am very sorry about your squire, Gamel.   It was a horrible way to die.”

“Khord, thank Yesh you are here, maybe you can tell us-“ Allea was silenced when Khord raised his hand for her to wait.

“I wish I could tell all of you more information, but Yesh has greatly restricted and dictated exactly what I am to say to you, and I must follow His words exactly.    I can tell you that Amala and Carn are both safe elsewhere.   Now please listen, as I will be recalled as soon as I have delivered this message to you.”

 

He moved across the room and opened up a scroll, cleared his throat and then began to read.

“These are the words of the Lord Yesh to you who are journeying to the Vale of Helios:    Great and terrible forces are at work beneath your very feet.   Your task is urgent and the danger very dire.   When you obtain the spellbook of Helios, journey to Tarmard and there you will find the path to take.    Do not be afraid, for your cause is just.”

As soon as Khord finished speaking these words, he looked up and simply vanished.

They all just looked at each other for a few moments, before Aedric stood up with a sigh, “Well, I guess we need to prepare to leave for the Vale of Helios.”

 

Reviews

[Elina]

"...three storey watchtower that the Faesidhe..." You may want to add a hyphen: "three-storey"
"By now three other of the gruesome monstrosities..." You can probably leave out "of the."
"...threw a handful of the magic glass babbles..." I think you were wanting "bobbles" here. ?
"...a large flock of black forms flew purposely..." Perhaps "purposefully" rather than "purposely."

[Eddie Davis]

Thanks, Elina, I'll make the corrections tomorrow. There are a total of 42 chapters in this book, so the end is near. I've only done 10 chapters thus far on book 3 'The Hope of the People', but now that I have my computer problems fixed (I hope!) I should get going again on it. I hate to leave you hanging at the end of this book until the third one is finished, but unless you want to read a really rough draft of the chapters I've finished so far (and sometimes I make revisions), then it may be several months before it is finished. Right now I'm shooting for the first of September.