(oh, and here's a short installment)
Sagiro’s Story Hour, Part 167
For hours still, the battle rages.
The Company and its allies regroup in the air above the body of the dragon. Below them a hundred smaller skirmishes are rejoined as the dragon-fear subsides. It’s still impossible to tell which side has the upper hand.
Dranko flies over to Royce who is hovering alone, staring at the horizon. In answer to the half-orc’s unspoken question, Royce says quietly,
“They’re all gone. Killed. Dead. That…wolf thing… it was too much for us. Every time we killed one the rest grew stronger, and there were so many… so many. One of them bit Brassel’s arm right off his body. And Sparrow… my beloved Sparrow…”
“Aw, c’mon,” says Dranko. “Morningstar is a powerful priestess of Ell. If you ask, she can bring Sparrow back from the dead.”
Royce looks up at Dranko, tears rolling down his cheeks.
“No. She has told me many times, that if she died she wanted to stay dead. I argued with her often, but she was insistent. No, she’s… gone. Gone. It hardly seems worth fighting now.”
“Look,” says Dranko. “I’m sorry that your wife was killed. But I’ll bet she wouldn’t have wanted you to stand here crying and feeling sorry for yourself. There are still people down there fighting, and I’ll bet a lot of them have lost people close to them too.”
Royce looks up and stares daggers at Dranko for a moment before turning and flying away. Ernie flies up to Dranko as Royce departs.
“Dranko, how about next time you let me comfort the grieving.”
“Er… yeah, I guess I should. Damn.”
A few healing spells later and the Company is ready to go again, albeit with most of their magical resources spent. But in the absence of other perilous threats, their new task is lighter on danger and heavier on glory. They swoop down on a battle where fifteen Charagan soldiers are hard beset by a superior force Naradawk’s troops. In short order the melee is turned into a rout, with allies cheering and enemies quickly deceased. But before the grateful kingdom soldiers can finish heaping thanks and praise on the Company, the heroes again take to the sky in search of another battle to turn.
And so goes the day.
The carnage is terrible. The sound of crows competes with the screams of warriors. Everywhere are the bodies of fallen soldiers, hundreds upon hundreds. Archers dart through the trees looking for stray arrows; their quivers are spent. Healing tents are overwhelmed. The miserable groans of the wounded fill the air.
And yet, for the people of the Kingdom of Charagan, even among the injured it is a day of great joy. By mid-afternoon it is clear that the defenses have held and that the enemy has failed, unable to bring forward a strong enough force. Bloody and bone-tired, the Company surveys the battlefield from above and realizes that nowhere in sight is their assistance sorely needed. The go back to where Thomas waits in the
rope trick and relieve him of his duty. Then flying low above the trees they head back toward the Shadow Chaser.
En route Dranko pulls up short with a sharp intake of breath. Below him through some gaps in the canopy he sees the tattered shreds of a Delioch healing tent. Fearing the worst he descends, and seeing the worst, he mourns. Fourteen clerics of Delioch lie dead including the skeptical Brother Nolman, who has died clutching a mace rather than a bandage. Over twenty patients have also died. Dranko curses as he looks for survivors and finds none. Kay spends a few minutes examining the trampled ground, and guesses that the enemy must have appeared practically inside the tent itself. Even with guards, the healers never had a chance.
Hardly knowing what to say, Flicker offers Dranko words of sympathy.
“War sucks.”
Dranko nods, tears in his eyes. Together the Company resumes their flight to General Anabrook’s headquarters back in Verdshane.
* *
There are signs that a ferocious battle took place at the Shadow Chaser as well. Bodies are strewn thick on the ground, and among them are over twenty corpses of giant gnarled spiders. The Company goes inside, where the chaos is barely more controlled. Runners and advisors are coming in and out in a steady stream delivering reports to a cadre of colonels, who in turn make their reports to Anabrook. Morningstar looks around and notes that there are bloodstains on the
inside walls of the inn.
Minya comes out of the kitchen with a tray of water cups, but puts it down hastily when she sees Morningstar. She runs over and embraces Morningstar in a crushing hug.
“Oh, I’m so glad you’re alive! I… I wanted to see you again, so I could thank you. Those spiders that attacked us… they could disappear in one place and reappear in another. That’s how they got inside my inn! One minute we can hear the fighting outside, and the next thing I know there’s spiders in here with us! I ran into the kitchen to hide but one of them followed me. I tried hitting it with a frying pan but it was too quick and it… oh, it was horrid! I almost passed out, and I would have died… I know I would have… but for that healing potion you gave to me. Thanks be to you and your goddess, Morningstar. A soldier came in soon after and spitted the foul thing, but that potion saved my life.”
Morningstar just smiles and returns the embrace.
Corporal Edridge approaches the Company, sporting a slight limp.
“What more can we do assist?” asks Ernie.
“I think for now, the best thing you can do is stay here, help guard the Shadow Chaser. If we get any reports we may ask you to go out again, but…”
He grimaces.
“…I think you’ve earned some rest. Why I don’t see about getting you something to drink.”
Gratefully the Company sits down at a table, weary to the very core. And through the afternoon and evening they continue to rest, listening as reports come in of victories, of prisoners taken, of comrades lost. Before nightfall they retrieve the body of the red-armored woman and bring it to an upstairs storeroom, setting it carefully in a corner and finding a soldier to stand guard at the door.
And one more piece of good news starts to make its way through the ranks of soldiers milling about. It seems that some high-ranking officer (probably General Anabrook herself) received a
sending from the Balani Peninsula. Two hours after Aravis erased the planar gate, the Delfirian forces down south started a rapid retreating action from dozens of their most forward positions. It’s too early to tell if they’re giving up altogether, but the rumor is that the Bederen have presented such a large threat on the Kivian front that the Delfirians are being forced to withdraw from Charagan in order to defend their own kingdom.
Despite the chaos, the aching muscles, the sadness of loss and the elation of victory, none of the Company has any difficulty falling asleep that night.
…to be continued…
