A few days have gone by and as it seems a small part of the initial group made the journey to the top of Skadowep. Alu helps Damy make the final climb. She rises on top and her face is clearly riddled with emotions. Primarily anger. She takes no time to rest and instantly launches herself forward trying to tackle the back of the blue mutant. He barely feels the force and turns around slowly to find the cause of the disturbance.
“You brute ! Why the fuck did you do that?” Damy screams at him.
He plays dumb and smiles. “What did Sabur do now?”
“You threw a person off the cliff! To his death! For no reason whatsoever! ” she continues blasting him.
His face turns serious. “Da Bonepool clan does not accept weakness dwarf-whore. Especially crying and flapping chicken.”
“He asked for your help! He trusted you and you fucking dropped him!”
“What did YOU do about it? What did any of you do about it? Nothing. Nothing! Now stand aside before great Sabur takes another life.”
He was right. He did murder that panicked man, but what he says is true. She did nothing about it. He has no clue, none of them have any, but she could have surely saved that man. She could have spread her shrouded wings, revealing her true ancestry and she could have caught him. At the time she was positioned below the incident, and she had plenty of time to react. Her wings wouldn’t hold for much, but it would be enough to secure the man and herself back to the mountainside. In that distressful moment, Damy quietly realizes that she would leave a stranger die to keep her secret.
Moira steps between the two. “You have proven your might warrior. You have also proven your moronism.”
“Huh?” Sabur’s confused. Maybe he doesn’t know what a moron is.
Moira continues condescendingly. “Well let me teach the great Sabur of the Bonepool clan a lesson most important about battle, about war. There might be no honor for the weak, but there is use for them. Logic dictates that a sum of people must die in battle… and it would be better if those that do, are the weak ones.”
Sabur stoops and scratches his head. Then he, unknowingly in a comedic way, repeats himself. “Huh?”
For the first time since her arrival here, Moira’s zen breaks. She gets close to Sabur’s face and using her arms she makes gestures to force the mutant’s unwilling understanding. “To die in battle, the weak ones must survive the trip. Fuck it, maybe this you’ll get …There is no better shield than a LIVE one !”
Alesander sneers. Next to him, Lifespill speaks up and seconds Moira.“She’s … kinda … right. Our venture here basically just started and here we are less than the half we started at the keep. Don’t let me start again on what dragonsprites can muster.”
Indeed, only nine adventurers are left. Damy the bard, Alu the monk, Moira the assassin, Alesander the knight, Lifespill the hunter, Sabur the barbarian, Rohem, Bohan the twin sorcerers from Gobarai and Tydurn the stout hammerer from Undarog. Some changed their mind early, some did late. Some of them forked to a different path, some of them fell victim to the avalanche and some of them didn’t make the climb.
Tydurn, the brown braid dwarf from the subterranean dwarven megalopolis, approaches the blue mutant and mutters. “Hey big guy. Why did you call her dwarf-whore?”
“She fucks dwarves. Maybe she fucks you too.” The mutant answers while looking at his sides searching for his flask.
Tydurn’s cheeks turn red. He grabs Sabur’s flask hanging from the other side the mutant’s searching and starts gulping.
“Hey!” Sabur yells at him and grabs the flask back from the dwarf’s hands. He points at the dwarf with his monstrous finger “Next time you do that, you become Sabur’s shield.”
The group agrees to lay down and rest for an hour. Most of them spend the time consuming rations listening to the human hunter yapping about different variations of the monsters they might encounter on their way, while the sun begins to hide itself amongst the icy hills. The entrance to the shrine awaits them on the other side of the mountain and by the time they get there, night and her minions will be on the lookout.
Not a minute later than the agreed upon hour, Alesander rallies the group, and the final hike begins. Thanks to Alu’s mystifying link to nature and Lifespill’s tracking abilities, plus his experience with the arctic climate, the group skids through the path around the mountain. Damy tries to avoid being in Sabur’s line of sight, so she stays behind where the last to follow are the twin sorcerers. They appear to be failing in casting a spell that would provide artificial light for them, as the mote appears for a few seconds and then goes away. One dressed in red, the other in blue, both with wands in hand and scrolls wrapped with cloth on their sides, cease their spellcasting and speak hurryingly in some esoteric arcane code as she approaches.
“It’s Rohem … and Bohan right ?” she awkwardly points at them and asks.
“Actually, the other way around, but still you got the names right !” Bohan says.
“And you are the famous bard from Kanalica with the piercing lungs.” Rohem adds.
Bewildered by her inner turmoil, for a moment she thinks that maybe those two are talking about her true identity. Maybe it wasn’t as secret as she thought, maybe reality has been skewed for her. She fails to hide her confusion but before she gets a chance to respond Rohem continues. “Piercing in a good way! … that was supposed to be a compliment. I apologize if, for any reason, I troubled you. We spent some time in the Academy of Kanalica and we got a chance to listen to your beautiful performances a couple of times in the past.”
“They should have showered you in gold miss Joe, if you ask me. Instead, they cancelled your shows because you bruised some lord’s son. Damn shame.” Bohan exclaims.
Damy smiles. “So, you know about that too? Maybe you should have spent more time in the study.”
Bohan and Rohem both blush in sync. Still smiling she looks forward and speaks. “Let’s hope your sparse studies and my … skills, prove their worth in this case.”
After some troubleless hike, the group reaches a point where the path narrows around the precipice of the mountain. The sun has fully submerged into the earth and the need for artificial light brings forth flaming torches.
Lifespill turns around and speaks loudly. “This is it. According to the map, the shrine awaits us at the end of the precipice. There used to be metal rings and ropes attached on the cliffs, but maybe avalanches broke em or pulled them down. We should go one by one and keep some distance between us. Take careful steps everyone.”
“Sabur the strongest goes first!” the mutant says.
None challenges Sabur and everyone, one by one, starts to follow. Lastly the twins cast a levitation spell on themselves shamelessly cheating the hazards and while they gather the venomous eyes of the group, Bohan explains that it works only on them two. “If we could, we would make you guys levitate too! It doesn’t show but it’s a really hard spell to concentrate on.”
Before the blue color dressed sorcerer finishes his explanation while hovering above the darkness below, a rock the size of the mutant, without a sound violently drops on his head breaking the spell and dropping poor Bohan onto his doom.
“BOHAN!” his brother cries.
“Above us! Dragonsprites!” Lifespill yells.
A few dozen feet above Damy’s location, another huge rock is let go from the tiny hands of a flying small creature resembling a humanoid resembling a dragon. Just before it hits the edge of the precipice, Alesander pulls her forward saving her life at the last moment. No time for gratitude as the ground collapses after the rock crushes on top of it and two more Dragonsprites appear hovering with rocks between their arms. Moira yells “Run!”
Everyone hastens, except for Rohem who drowned in tears speaks arcane words with such hatred that turns his pupils to embers. His lips finally seal and through his palms a sphere of burning hot lava is hurled towards the initial hovering dragonsprite. The creature tries to avoid it but as soon as it nears it, the elemental energy explodes. The spell’s target turns to ash and the other flying dragonsprites get knocked around by the aftermath. One loses its rock, which falls in front of Sabur taking away a big part of the path. Sabur quickly builds some momentum and easily jumps to the other side. Behind him, Tydurn looks at his short legs and shakes his head. Everyone else is waiting for him to move forward lunging spells, shooting and loading their bows and crossbows, trying to deal with the flying monsters.
As an arrow from Moira’s shortbow drills a hole into a dragonsprite’s right wing she yells at Lifespill. “All that knowledge and still you didn’t tell us about them flying?”
Amongst the chaos the hunter finds the time to respond. “First time I see Dragonsprites fly! Actually, first time I see Dragonsprites, period. My mentor said that in contrast to their ancestry, Dragonsprites lack wings as a punishment for past treacheries towards their masters.”
“Shut it! We need to move ! Tydurn stop stalling and make the jump !” Alesander yells at the dwarf while more flying dragonsprites appear from the darkness.
Tydurn is scared shitless. He would gladly die in battle but making an impossible jump to his death is a no-no according to his list. Suddenly, he feels the warm touch from someone behind him and quickly turns around going for his handaxe. Before he gets a chance to raise his weapon, he surprisingly stares at Alu’s serene face.
“Don’t worry proud Undarogian. The wind tonight will be your friend. I will make sure of that.” Alu attempts to ease the dwarf’s mind and then begins a prayer.
The air starts to feel lighter around Tydurn and as he gathers his confidence back, he looks at his companions and says “Fuck it!” before he starts running forward.
As Tydurn steps on the edge of the collapsed path and lifts his body forward a gust of wind accompanies him and helps him complete the jump. However, the wind quickly dissipates as a ray of crystal ice, hurled by the dragonsprites, pierces through Alu’s back and interrupts her prayer. Tydurn fails to land to the other side, but at the last moment grabs the edges of some protruding rocks below the collapsed area. He starts to slip but soon enough a large and hairy blue arm comes to his rescue and pulls him up.
Tydurn thanks his savior who in return laughs and showcases his rotten teeth. “Wise Sabur don’t leave his shield behind.”
The group successfully passes by the collapsed area and quickly lead the dragonsprites outside the narrow precipice, toward the shrine’s entrance. Unfavored by the gods of luck and fate, there the enemy increases in size as a sizeable patrolling group of wingless dragonsprites joins the battle. Sabur at the head of the group, starts cleaving through the wingless ones like butter but soon enough he tires himself and gets overrun falling to his knees. Tydurn and Alesander try to hold the swarm back with their shields while the ones behind them are still dealing with the winged ones. Damy with her rapier in hand begins singing a melody that magically surrounds the group, bolstering their spirits and then traveling toward the swarm of Dragonsprites, hypnotizing them, lulling them and rendering some of them unconscious.
“GRAAAAAAHH” Sabur screams in rage, raising himself from the ground and forcing a wave of dragonsprites to fly into the air and then vehemently splash on top the crystallized snow.
Lifespill and Moira keep shooting arrows and bolts at the flying ones, avoiding rays of frost, while Alu is improvising a plan to force them out of their altitude advantage. She quickly fashions a weird noose at the end of her rope pool and then climbs on top of a tall rock next to the edge of the precipice. Acrobatically she dodges the creatures’ attacks while spinning the rope behind her to gather momentum for the right time. Swoosh! She expertly throws the rope, and it grapples around the closest dragonsprite’s chest. She tries to pull it toward her but the creature resists. She pauses for a second closing her eyes and then whispers. “Mother … immerse me in your bright sky’s clouds and white guardians’ feathers. So, your children may endure another cycle and witness your brother’s triumphant rise once again.” She opens her eyes, ties the rope around her arms and then lunges forward into the black void.
Alu, now light as a water droplet, slowly falls and as soon as the rope tightens, the Dragonsprite descends a few feet but then manages to hold its altitude by flapping its wings a little harder. A couple of arrows pierce its scaly skin, wounding it and halting its magical bombardment. She pushes her legs forward at the direction of another flying dragonsprite, and then pulls them backward beginning to swing below the hooked creature. She swings once, then twice, then thrice speaking loudly this time. “Mother … now bathe me in your strongest stones and the pressures of your ocean’s depths!”. The fourth time Alu swings, she raises her body high toward the second creature. She reaches close to it and then her slim ankles lock around its head. The second Dragonsprite loses its balance and is now completely under Alu’s control struggling to breath. With one of the creatures trapped under her control and the other incapable to fly through her supernaturally increased weight, the dragonsprites lose their ability to fly and land on the battlefield.
Impressed by the monk’s feat, Lifespill drops his crossbow and unsheathes his handaxes running and yelling toward the landed enemies. Before he manages to approach the location, the dark elf magically teleports behind them through the shadows and stabs the first one to his demise. Alu quickly unentangles herself from the rope and the grappled creature, but before it gets its chance to escape back into the air, the hunter’s perfectly sharpened edged blades cut through the creature’s scale-armored neck.
The last remaining flying dragonsprite flees within the shrine while the group has started to gain the upper hand in this battle. Sabur continues decimating the frontline next to Alexander and Tydurn. In the back the remaining group is now free to focus on supporting the front with magical spells and chants while others are spotting and focusing on key enemies ahead.
Suddenly, cries are heard coming from within the shrine and soon enough myriads of new dragonsprite soldiers appear next to the gate, some of them armored in chain mail and some of them mounted on wyrmwolves.
Alexander yells. “They’re too many. Sabur get back here!”
“Sabur don’t run, never!” the mutant yells back and continues fighting and moving through.
Meanwhile, Rohem standing at the back of the group has been tirelessly casting one flaming bolt after another furiously toward the army of the dragonsprites since the beginning. Exhausted now, his spells begin to lose their potency and ultimately their accuracy as his last one almost burns Moira’s left arm. Noticing the large group next to the shrine’s gate beginning to march toward them, hugely outnumbering them this time, Rohem also notices the despair into his comrades’ eyes. It was an impossible mission. After all, the reward is promised to be equal to godhood.
“I am not going to die here.” Moira says.
While she seemingly considers abandoning the battle, the dark elf looks at Rohem and sees that his skin is magically glistening in fiery red colors. Damy notices it too. He touches his chest with one hand and with the other he magically draws a ghostly wall between the group and the marching dragonsprites. Sabur is the first one to charge through the ghost wall, who afterwards starts to glisten in red too.
Damy realizes what is happening and yells. “Everyone … stand back!”
The marching dragonsprites clash with Sabur. He withstands their force at first but soon drops on the ground and the creatures stomp over him.
“Listen.” Rohem’s serious voice interrupts the troubling moment. Everyone looks at him. “Please, follow through and finish this. Make it worthwhile for both of us. Me and Bohan.”
His tragic words echo through the group’s head while the dragonsprite army swiftly moves through the ghost wall as if it’s not there for them. As they escape its ghostly presence, their skin starts to gloat in red. Like the shakey flame of a candle, a candle that spells doom when its wax completely melts.
Without tears in his eyes this time, Rohem waits until the last creature passes through the wall and whispers. “For you brother.” He presses his chest with all of his strength and then flickers his other hand. Just before the first get a chance to clash their weapons with Alesander’s and Tydurn’s shields, every single glowing dragonsprite combusts into abominable flames.
Half a minute later, the wall has disappeared, the dragonsprites turned to ash and the fully charred body of the sorcerer who used his own heart as an arcane focus to cast this spectacular arcana quivers at the ground in cruel pain. The shrine’s gate lies open and unguarded for the lucky ones still alive.
Sinwhale stories 