The Doomed Bastards: Reckoning (story complete)

[Lazybones]

Chapter 64

THE VANGUARD


“That was too easy,” Dar said.

Kiron looked up at him, an incredulous expression flitting across his features before he schooled them under iron discipline. Both men were covered in blood, some of it their own, but most belonging to the huge carcass that steamed hot and foul in the late afternoon air.

Dar heard people coming down the rough slope behind them, and turned to see Allera at their head. “Everyone all right?” he yelled up to her.

“Petronia suffered a broken collarbone, and one of the dwarven sappers had his skull cracked,” the healer reported. “But they’re all right.” She didn’t have to check Dar and Kiron; a mass heal had preceded her down the hill, even as the creature’s death struggles had come to an end.

A slight rush of air announced the arrival of Mehlaraine, who descended on the wings of a fly spell to land gently beside him. “Just the one?” she asked.

“For now,” he said, quietly. He looked up, scanning the dozens of faces that looked down at him from the emplacements atop the surrounding hills. More foot soldiers were approaching, but what happened here was already finished. One more of the ravager’s spawn slain.

This was just a warm-up, Dar thought, the words grim within his mind.

The debriefing went smoothly, with Dar’s battle commanders, representing all three races gathered at the site, reporting their perspective on what had happened.

Just about everything had gone according to plan. The creature had emerged from the Well seriously injured, whether from Amurru’s delaying action or from the half-dozen glyphs of warding that the priests of the Father had placed within the shaft. The dwarven sappers had set up a series of deadfalls, and the creature’s ascent had been hindered by hundred-pound slabs of rock that had fallen on it from above. They had failed to dislodge the creature from the walls of the shaft, however, and Dar was partly relieved that the attacks had only enraged it to push ahead faster. The smart tactic would have been for the creature to pause until its natural regenerative abilities healed the wounds it had suffered in its escape from the vault. At least that was one area where they seemed to have an advantage over the things; they were pure, raw destruction, and not possessed of fine nuance.

The creature had certainly seemed pissed when it had finally emerged from the top of the shaft. Just to make sure, several more explosive glyphs had gone off around it, blasting it with shards of rock and tongues of fire, but doing little in the way of serious hurt to it.

That’s when a dozen massive bolts, fired by the scorpions on the surrounding hilltops, had slammed down into it. Most of the missiles struck it, but nearly all simply shattered—shattered!—on its dark red hide. The thing’s skin was tougher than a dragon’s scales, a fact that Dar had learned through hard experience. But two of the shafts had penetrated, and the creature had certainly felt those. Each of the steel heads had a long groove down the center, into which enough purple worm poison had been poured to slay a whole cavalry troop’s worth of horses. That had been a contribution of Alzoun and the church of Dagos, along with the flaming burst arrows that had begun lancing into the creature from the emplaced archers. Most of those had likewise had little or no effect, but one flashed into a bright spurt of flame as it hit the creature’s head right at the corner of its jaw, and another vanished into the creature’s left nostril.

Dar never did learn which of the two had come from Selanthas’s bow, but he knew that one of them almost certainly had.

The creature had hesitated, just for a moment, looking for foes close at hand, confused by the attacks coming at it from all directions. But its indecision had come to a sudden end as Sultheros had blasted it with a streak of lightning that had briefly silhouetted its entire body in a raging nimbus of blue sparks. That made its decision; the creature had launched itself forward, straight for the hill where the elf had taken up position.

That had been part of the plan as well, but they’d underestimated the creature’s speed. It ignored the traps that had been set for it, even as long wooden stakes had pierced its legs and stuck in its lower body, and flashes of yellow fire erupted where it stepped. The steep slope of the hill barely slowed it, its claws digging deep into the bare rocks as it shot up toward its tormentors, intent only on rending these little creatures that had dared to challenge it. Arrows and bolts continued to strike it, and a lighter barrage of spells from the flying wizards above, but while the assault wore at it, none of the wounds it suffered were serious enough to slow it.

And then it reached the summit, where the defenders were waiting.

The creature knocked down the outer edge of the emplacement with its first surge, ignoring the long pikes that stabbed deep into its chest, the reinforced shafts snapping as though they were toothpicks. Petronia, who’d set one of the pikes, went down, clutching her shoulder. More missiles struck, including another scorpion missile, fired at point blank range into the juncture where the creature’s neck connected to its armored body. Shards of rock from the shattered barricade were blasted into the defenders, pinging off their armor; a dwarf went down as a rock the size of a grapefruit caromed off his forehead.

The creature turned, looking for Sultheros, who stood calmly not ten paces away, flanked by Selanthas and one of the elven rangers he’d brought from Aelvenmarr. But before it could spring at the elf, Dar and Kiron rose up from behind the ruins of the barricade and struck.

Both blades bit deep, Justice carving through ridged flesh like a butcher’s knife, while Kiron’s sword of fiery red brilliant energy tore off its foremost left leg, severing it clean from the spawn’s body. The creature let out a scream that had shattered the night and rang in the ears of those present for minutes after. Unbalanced, it was hit by a barrage of arrows and then a freezing sphere, tossed almost casually by Sultheros. The globe hit the creature in the head and exploded, engulfing it in a torrent of utter cold. Crystals of ice formed and were shattered by the thing’s desperate movements, and accompanied it as it toppled over backward and plummeted back down the slope.

It had been a dramatic moment, but forewarned by Dar, the defenders had not let up. The scorpion crews continued to shoot it with their heavy bolts as quickly as they could reload, while Dar and Kiron had shot down the hill after it, each of them nearly falling in their hasty descent. Magic missiles streaked down from the wizards hovering above, but even with all the wounds it had suffered, still the thing was starting to stir again as Dar and Kiron reached it. But fortunately Dar had learned how to stop the spawn from regenerating. It was a messy business, destroying the brain that resided deep within that armored skull, but shortly, less than one minute after the creature had first emerged from the shaft, it had been finished.

Once the last of them had recounted the tale, the gathered men, dwarves, and elves paused, letting the moment of what they had just witnessed settle around them. They had beaten the ravager spawn, but that had only been a minor foe in comparison to what still waited below. More allies were on the way, and they had a few surprises left to them, but would it be enough?

“Swap out the front-line teams; send those who have finished two shifts back to the rear camp, and make sure those who are on the night watch get an hour’s rest at the relief tent, in shifts. I want everyone to be ready.”

There was a chorus of assents through the assembled group.

Dar looked at Dalvev Gorr. The dwarf’s face was as craggy as the hills on which his team had spent the last few days working, but Dar had seen the man work from dawn to dusk since his arrival two days ago, pushing his team to do likewise, even after a forced march from the small dwarven outpost in the foothills of the Galerr Mountains leagues distant to the southwest. The dwarves were as hard as the iron they worked, and Dar was glad to have them.

“When will you have that onager finished, Gorr?”

“We’ll have the thrower done by midnight, general,” the dwarf said simply, as though another night without sleep were a trivial matter, not worthy of mention.

Dar nodded and turned to the elven wizard. “And you, archmage?”

“With the dawn, I will teleport back to Aelvenmarr and bring more rangers back, along with more supplies. It will be modest; we only have a handful of bags of holding left among the aelfinn.”

“Whatever you bring will help,” Dar said. He shifted his eyes to Maricela. “The wardings?”

“We will refresh those that we can now,” the priestess said. “The rest, in the morning.”

Dar would have preferred not to wait, but the priests of the Father prayed for spells with the coming of the dawn, and needed rest even for that. Some of the priests would sleep on the front lines with the men on watch, but they would sleep.

“All right,” he told them all. “Set watches and get some rest. I have a feeling we’re all going to need it.”

 

[Nightbreeze]

Awesome. But with their luck, the Ravager will be coming one hour before down (or midnight)

 

[GrolloStoutfoam]

No, they'll be fully prepared. You have to meet the end of the world on your feet, with steel in hand, and howling your defiance to the gods.

 

[Lazybones]

No, they'll be fully prepared. You have to meet the end of the world on your feet, with steel in hand, and howling your defiance to the gods.

Now, Grollo, I know you've been a long time reader of this story...

* * * * *

Chapter 65

SHORT NOTICE


The next sending came in the deep hours before dawn, when the horizon to the east had not yet begun to brighten with the light of the coming day. Even the wind had died down, until a preternatural hush had fallen over the hill country.

Dar shot up out of his rude cot in the back of the forward shelter. Even asleep, his hand had found the hilt of Justice, and the blade came half out of his sheath before he realized where he was.

Allera, caught in an even deeper sleep beside him, nevertheless stirred at his sudden movement. “Is it...” she began, blinking to clear the sleep from her eyes.

But Dar was already on his feet. Reaching down to grab his armor, lying in a neat pile at the foot of the cot, he drew the attention of the small knot of men in the outer “room” of the shelter, warming their hands around the small camp stove where a pot of coffee was constantly kept ready for men taking a break from a long shift in the emplacements. Several soldiers rose, knowing or guessing the significance of Dar’s sudden awakening.

He confirmed it a moment later. “Sound the alert,” he said, “And send a runner to the rear camp. We’ve got company coming.”

He slid his breastplate on over the chainmail vest he’d slept in. Allera was there to help him with the straps, and started efficiently fastening his greaves to his limbs even as he adjusted the fit of the heavy armor against his body.

“Is this it?” she asked, lifting the heavy shoulder plates up to him, so he could fasten them to his breastplate. The armor shone brilliantly in the light of the torches, flickering almost like something alive.

“The prison has collapsed,” he said. “The Ravager hasn’t stirred from its slumber yet, but there are three spawn heading our way. Amurru said it would delay them as long as it could.”

Allera nodded. “Are you ready?” he asked her.

She reached up and touched his face, then handed him his helmet. Justice went last, the sword fitting against his hip like a part of him.

Only a few short minutes had passed since Dar had woken, but by the time he emerged from the tent and started up toward the crest, the emplacement above was abuzz with activity. Kiron was there, but Maricela had gone back to the rear camp for rest, and would not be along for a few minutes at least. The would have heard the horn sounding the alert, but it would take a little time for them to reach their positions on the front lines.

“How long until... until the big one wakes?” Allera asked, as they made their way up the steep slope. A rope had been strung to help those coming down, and Dar was making use of it, not trusting his eyes in the poor light cast by his torch.

“I don’t know, angel,” he said, pulling himself up the last stretch of trail with a grunt of effort. Kiron was there at once. “Report,” he said, as the knight saluted him with a fist to his chest.

“Everyone’s in place,” Kiron said. “The engines are ready, and the elves...”

He trailed off, and Dar turned to see them approaching from further along the crest. Mehlaraine was already flying, a long pike with a silver head clutched in one hand. The elves had taken shelter in a magical space created by the archmage; they could not have gotten more rest than the other troops, and had gotten no more time to prepare, but they looked calm, collected, and ready. The archmage merely met Dar’s gaze and nodded; he knew the plan and his place in it, and had suggested some of the improvements himself. His apprentice, standing at his shoulder, seemed slightly less composed, smoothing out the front of her robe with a slight nervous motion of her slender fingers.

“The reinforcements from the camp will be here in a few minutes,” Kiron went on.

“Let’s hope we have that long,” he said. He updated the others on what he’d told Allera earlier, and then moved to the forward emplacement, stepping up behind the wall of spikes to give him a clear view of the valley below.

There was enough light to see; they’d placed everburning torches in a wide ring around the dark entrance to Rappan Athuk, enough for them to clearly see anything larger than a cat that stirred in the area. There were more torches on the ridges, but those were kept hooded, to preserve the night vision of the defenders. To Dar’s eyes the forms moving on the other hilltops were vague shadows, flickering things that may or may not have been real.

His eyes were drawn almost inexorably to his far right, to another shadow jutting out from the edge of the ridge about twenty paces distant from his current position. He couldn’t make out Duke Aerim’s face, but he could feel the weight of the man’s stare, answering his gaze with cold equanimity. He could also feel Allera’s disapproval, but his wife did not say anything.

Aerim had taken advantage of the distraction caused by the first ravager spawn’s attack to attempt escape. Even with one arm and part of a leg missing, he’d broken free of his bonds, disabled the fully able soldier watching him, and fled a good fifty yards before he’d been spotted, using a spear as a crutch. The soldier had lived, although it might have been a close thing if they hadn’t had clerics close at hand. Aerim had been unapologetic, and had not complained even when the arrow that had finally taken him down was yanked from the meat of his right thigh. Dar wasn’t sure what he’d hoped to accomplish, given that he’d nearly collapsed the last time he’d been taken away from Rappan Athuk. Was that what he wanted, a simple release? He’d been tempted to give it to him, but something beyond Allera’s disapproval had stayed his hand.

Well, he wasn’t going anywhere now. The Duke had been chained to a pair of wooden beams as thick around as Dar’s waist, buried almost half of their lengths into the packed earth of the hilltop. The dwarves had initially started building a watchtower there, before Dar had directed them instead to focus on the siege engines. Given a month, the man might have been able to work his way free, but short of sacrificing his remaining arm and leg, he wasn’t going to escape in the near future.

A sudden flurry of movement around him drew Dar’s attention away from the prisoner, back down toward the pit in the valley below. Stepping forward, Dar motioned those nearby to silence. Fifty sets of eyes focused as one on the dark opening. The surrounding torches flickered slightly, although the wind remained utterly calm.

Then they heard the noise. A dull roar, filtered up through the ground, slowly building, a noise of frustrated rage, accompanying a promise of violence.

“It begins,” Sultheros said, his voice oddly calm.

 

[GrolloStoutfoam]

Now, Grollo, I know you've been a long time reader of this story...

Ok, so it would be the way I would want to meet the end of the world.

 

[Lazybones]

Chapter 66

IT BEGINS


Dar made a motion to Kalen, who lifted a torch affixed to a long pole, waving it above his head to alert those on the other hills. The action was unnecessary; it was impossible to miss the coming of the ravager spawn.

Sultheros touched Dar on the shoulder; the general felt a sudden flush of magical energy that faded within a few seconds. The elf then rose into the air and streaked out over the valley, followed by his apprentice Callyse, and then, to Dar’s brief surprise, Jalla Calestin. Mehlaraine was already aloft, the silvered head of her pike gleaming off the light of the torches.

The elven archmage drew ahead of the women as he dropped to about a hundred feet above the shaft leading down to the Well. He moved his hands, speaking words that faded over the distance separating him from the others. A small bead of red light appeared in one hand; he dropped this, watching as it descended swiftly and vanished into the opening.

The delayed blast fireball exploded in a violent burst, and a plume of liquid fire erupted out of the hole. The flames accompanied the snarling, darting form of one of the ravager spawn, which hurled itself into the air, clawing and snapping at the elf. Even with its strength, however, it could not jump that high, and it flipped over as it arced back down toward the ground, landing on all six of its feet about fifteen paces away from the opening of the shaft. A second spawn, its face blackened with char from the blast, was already emerging, slightly more cautious than the first as it gripped the edges of the shaft and scanned the area. It hesitated only a moment, but it was suddenly thrust forward as a third spawn pushed out past it, snarling as it extracted itself from the shaft.

The defenders were already unleashing their fire into the things. Arrows and bolts lanced out of the night from the surrounding hilltops, but the three huge monsters barely seemed to notice them. They were not quite so dismissive of the scorpion bolts, but the initial volley was unlucky, scoring no hits. The long shafts of the missiles snapped as the steel heads were deflected by the monsters’ dense hides, or they spun harmlessly away as the creatures twisted and turned, moving with a speed that was amazing for things of their size.

Lightning flared from above, as Callyse shot one of the creatures with a lightning bolt from a wand. Hovering thirty feet away, Jalla Calestin added a fireball that briefly flared around all three of the creatures, inflicting slight damage upon them. The plan involved focusing as much as their attacks as possible on a single creature until it was taken down, and then shifting to the next target. But the ravager spawn did not wait for that plan to come to fruition, and they were already moving, their claws churning up great plumes of dirt and stones as they sought out targets.

The first tracked Sultheros’s movements with its eyes as the elf drew back slowly toward the hilltop where Dar’s command resided. The elf was almost invisible in the night sky, and well out of the creature’s reach, but the spawn’s keen senses had no difficulty keeping him in view. Taking heavy fire from the hilltop, including several well-placed shots from Selanthas that stung at the tender flesh around its nostrils and eyes, it picked up speed as it followed the path that the first ravager spawn had taken less than twelve hours previously. The defenders, including Dar and Kiron and his knights, were waiting for it, but this time the odds were much less in their favor. While the clerics had refreshed some of the glyphs of warding within the shaft, they’d not had a chance to rest and recover more spells, and the dwarves had not had the time to reset their traps. Still, holy and arcane magic continued to pour into the beast as it surged up the hill. Callyse hit it with another lightning bolt, followed by a pair of scorching rays from Jalla Calestin. Maricela had not yet arrived, but the few lesser clerics among the defenders added a ray of scorching light and a sound burst that did not seem to faze the creature in the slightest.

Sultheros summoned his own magic again as the lead spawn approached the summit, and the protruding forest of stakes that had not managed to slow its slain brother. But this time, a large chunk of the hillside gave way under its claws, and the spawn fell in an avalanche of stones and dirt back down toward its base. But the rockslide was more than just that, as the plume of debris coalesced into a vaguely humanoid form that landed squarely atop the creature, crushing the spawn beneath almost fifty thousand pounds of rock. That would have killed almost anything, but the spawn was merely stunned, and as the earth elemental pulled itself up, its huge fists coming up to further punish the foe, the creature twisted its head almost full around, seizing the elemental in its massive jaws.

The second spawn had been drawn to the right of the first by a series of hits from the dwarven sappers entrenched in the emplaced position where the huge onager rested. The dwarves had mounted a number of heavy arbalests almost as big as they were on the embankment that sheltered their position, and had added a pair of small spring-operated launchers that sent pots of alchemist’s fire arcing into the ground at the creature’s feet. Neither the bolts nor the blazing flames really hurt the creature, but they drew its attention, enough to draw it forward in a violent charge that shook the ground. The dwarves somehow managed to stand their ground in the face of that surge, and even managed another volley of the burning pots, one of which struck the creature’s left shoulder, leaving it trailing a stream of blazing fire in its wake. The logs and stones of the emplacement shook as the creature neared, and the crossbowmen dropped down behind the shelter of the low wall, a move that looked to be of dubious help against such a terrible foe.

The dwarves manning the onager held their ground, watching with stoic expressions until the thing was almost on top of them. Then they slammed their hammers against the stays holding the huge central wheel in place. The tension released, the stubby throwing arm spun in a blur, picking up speed as it turned on the wheel’s axis. The ravager spawn launched itself up over the embankment at the same moment that the last dwarf still standing threw another lever, and the heavy retaining arm of the catapult shot up into position, stopping the throwing arm on its next traverse, and launching the contents of its basket into the face of the spawn. Those contents—twenty razor-sharp disks of black adamantine, ruined the features of the creature in an instant, pulping one of its eyes, shearing away a dozen black teeth, and burying themselves in its thick hide. The monster, far from being mortally wounded even by that devastating attack, was nevertheless driven into a mad frenzy, and it hurled itself upon the engine, tearing and crushing. The onager was transformed into kindling in the blink of an eye, and two of the five dwarves were instantly killed. The sappers were no cowards, but were smart enough to know that standing their ground here would result only in death. They fled, another of their number dying as the creature shredded him with a flailing claw. The spawn, half blind and seriously injured, spent another few moments tearing up the emplacement, then started looking around for something else to kill.

“We have to intervene!” Allera yelled, but Dar shook his head. “Wait for the big one!” he yelled, even as he leaned out over the now-gaping cliff, firing his heavy bow down into the violence below. Sultheros’s summoning had come just in time, but it had shorn off the front of their entrenchment, and Dar and Kiron had come close to following the creature back down the hill. Everyone who could hold a bow was firing now, and with the sheer volume of fire some of the shots were telling. But the spawn were incredibly resilient, and Dar knew that they were fighting the creatures’ regenerative powers, hoping to overcome them before they could simply tear the Camarians and their allies apart.

He caught a glimpse of the third spawn as it surged up one of the other hills, which was held by another group of dwarves, bolstered by a handful of Camarian legionaries. The spawn’s furor was explained by the scorpion bolt jutting from its left shoulder. Like the others it had no difficulty with the steep ascent, but its climb was made difficult by the traps laid by the dwarven sappers. Boulders the size of horses tumbled down onto the creature, smashing off the spawn with loud thunks. One dwarf leaned precariously over the edge and dropped a large cask directly onto the creature’s head, which shattered into a bright flare of white fire that engulfed the spawn. The monster, enraged and blinded by the attack, hurled itself upward into the defenders. The dwarf that had thrown the cask was knocked flying, toppling over the edge and bouncing down the steep cliff before landing in a limp heap at its bottom. The Camarians were there to meet the creature, stabbing it with their long spears, but it was the abrupt collapse of the ledge at the top of the cliff that saved them, sending the spawn back down in a rough trip that copied the fall of its brother a few moments ago. One of the legionaries followed it, screaming before his helmet was intercepted by a jutting boulder.

The first spawn, despite the disadvantage of its position, had managed to push itself up and out from under the elemental, ignoring the powerful slams that the summoned creature rained down against its head and neck. Shrieking in a red fury, the spawn seized hold of the elemental with its claws and teeth, and tore it apart in a display of raw strength.

Even as huge clods that had been part of the elemental were falling to the ground, the spawn was shooting up through them, back up the hill once more. Twin bolts of lightning from Sultheros and Callyse flared around its head, casting it in grim relief for an instant before the discharges faded. Magic missiles from Jalla peppered its back, but the tiny bolts seemed almost like gnats as they vanished against its hide. More mundane missiles shot down from above, stabbing into its body at point-blank range, and at that distance a few penetrated. But the creature was beyond feeling pain, and this time it would not be denied.

Allera threw up a repulsion spell, hoping to forestall it, but the thing went right through it without slowing. Time seemed to slow as the spawn surged through a wild cloud of swirling dust, whizzing arrows, and raucous sound. A scorpion loaded too quickly broke as it was fired, sending the bolt arcing high into the air across the valley.

The spawn surged toward the summit; forty feet away, thirty, twenty. Finally, as its claws bit into the summit, Dar roared a challenge and leapt off the cliff to meet it. Its jaws twisted sideways and snapped around his torso, but he was already driving the sword forward, through its left eye, into the brain. Justice flared white in his hand, then was yanked from his grip as the monster spasmed.

Creature and man fell together. The spawn’s jaws clenched and then sprung open, dropping Dar to roll down the cliff after it. Fortunately the spawn’s multiple trips up and down the cliff had sheared away most of the larger boulders, but landing on its body was hardly softer than landing on the packed earth around it. The spawn died faster than its brethren had before, its limbs clenching once, then falling still.

“Damn it, I am getting too freaking old for this crap,” Dar said, grimacing as he tried to get up. His helmet had vanished, and he could feel blood trickling down the side of his head. His hair clung to his scalp, soaked with sweat and blood, and coated in a thick layer of dust and dirt that likewise lay in a patina over his armor and clothes. He started looking for the creature’s head, to recover his sword, but his attention was drawn back up the ridge by Allera’s shouting his name.

“DAR!”

The fighter looked around for the threat, but realized that it wasn’t he who was in danger. As the dust whirled around him he caught sight of the second spawn, climbing the southern face of the hill, approaching the position he’d just vacated from its flank. He could just hear the yells of the defenders as they shifted to meet the new threat, but then the monster reached the crest, and everything devolved into a confused, violent melee.

One down, Dar thought, all too aware that this was still the warm-up, and that even now the Ravager itself was likely rising out of its aeons-long slumber, ready for a snack after its long rest.

 

[Lazybones]

Chapter 67

DESPERATE MEASURES


Allera’s heart froze in her chest as she watched Dar go over the edge with the spawn, lost in a welter of slashing limbs and falling rock. Sultheros had empowered him with a fly spell at the start of the battle, but the creature had snared him in its jaws, and Allera could not see through the clouds of dust that were raised by its violent passage down the cliff. She leaned out over the battlement, and might have followed him down the cliff, had not Petronia lunged and grabbed onto her from behind.

“DAR!” she yelled, but she doubted he’d be able to hear her over the ongoing clatter of stones that continued to fall from the damaged cliff face. So she summoned her magic, flinging it blindly down the cliff, and felt a vast thrill of relief as she sensed the tiny white glow that was Dar’s life force. He was wounded, but not as badly as she’d feared, and that white flame of her inner perception grew stronger as she poured healing power into it.

Shouts from the defenders nearby drew her attention around, in time to spot the second spawn that was making its way up the cliff on the south face of the hill. Men and dwarves were shifting to meet the new threat, and she heard Kiron yelling orders as he ran along the ridge, Aldos and Qatarn at his heels. Above them, she could just see Sultheros and the other wizards floating closer. She was also aware of the battle going on with the third spawn on the next hill over, but she could not spare any more attention for them right now. And over everything, pounding in the front of her mind was a glowing nodule of power held ready for release. She wanted to free it now, but knew that Dar was right, and that this was only the initial phase of the battle. Assuming any of them survived to greet the Ravager itself.

The spawn reached the crest and pulled itself over, snapping off wooden stakes as though they were mere splinters. Flames ran down one flank where one of the dwarven fire-pots had struck it, and near a dozen arrows peppered its crimson hide. Selanthas had stepped up atop the low wall that fronted the scorpion emplacement, and was firing as fast as he could reload, each shot striking the spawn. He was aiming for the vital spots, eyes and nostrils and the softer flesh inside its slitted ears and gaping jaws, but thus far his assault, and the shots of his allies, seemed barely felt by the raging creature. The scorpion unleashed a bolt at close range that drove into the center of its chest, but the long missile simply shattered on impact, the bent steel head clattering to the ground to be trampled under the creature’s huge claws.

As the creature gained the ridge the defenders engaged it directly, thrusting spears and other long weapons into its body. Again the attacks seemed to do little but distract the creature. It seized a dwarf in its jaws, cutting off his screams with a noisy crunch of its jaws. Half of the hapless sapper went down its gullet; the other half was flung aside, landing at the feet of Duke Aerim, who could only watch from his prison, not ten paces away from where the spawn was working its way through the defenders.

More flashes of magical energy flared down from above, driving the creature into even greater paroxysms of rage. It rose up on its hind legs, snapping at the air, but the wizards had wisely kept their altitude high enough to avoid any reprisals from below. That immunity was not sovereign; the Camarians knew that the creature could change form, but Amurru had told them that the transformation into a shape capable of flight took upwards of a full minute, during which time the creature would be vulnerable to concentrated assault.

As it was, however, the spawn did not lack for targets upon the ground. It dug its claws into a stone-lined trench, ripping out a ten-foot swatch of hillside, along with the two legionaries manning it. Both men perished messily, along with a third who was almost accidentally impaled by a sudden outward thrust of one of the creature’s legs. All six of its limbs terminated in four curving black claws as sharp as adamantine daggers, and those cut through stone, wood, and steel plate alike indiscriminately. The remaining defenders quailed before that assault and began to fall back.

Then Kiron and his knights reached the line, and threw themselves into the breach. The monster saw them coming and lunged to meet the young knight-captain, but Kiron dodged those deadly teeth, taking a glancing hit that nearly dislocated his shoulder. The epic magical blade given to them by Amurru flared into power, a five-foot shaft of ruby brilliant energy hissing from the long golden hilt at the knight’s call. He threw himself forward before the creature could follow up on its attack, slicing the blade across the bottom of the spawn’s jaw.

Here was finally a weapon against which the spawn’s otherwordly resistances proved to be of no avail. The red blade carved a deep gouge in the creature’s jaw, and eager blood that was just as bright sprayed out in a fan that hissed as it splattered on the knight’s breastplate. The attacks by Aldos, Qatarn, and Petronia were of little matter, as far as the creature was concerned, for here was a foe that could really hurt it.

Unfortunately for Kiron, that worked both ways. He held his ground, knowing what was coming even as he lifted the brilliant energy sword again, and the full fury of the ravager spawn descended upon him.

 

[Lazybones]

Chapter 68

PAIN AND TORMENT


There was nowhere to go, even if he had decided to try to escape. Kiron's sword flashed red as he lifted it before his face, casting the monster’s features into grim red relief. The ravager spawn seemed to move in a blur as it lunged at him, black claws and gaping jaws converging on his head.

There was a blue flash, and then an odd and sudden silence. A pulse passed through him, and for a moment his entire body thrummed with the intensity of it. But somehow, he was not crushed or torn apart, as he’d expected.

It took him several long moments to realize why he was not dead. As the chaos receded he found himself staring straight into the gullet of the beast, its jaws stretched unnaturally wide in front of him, frozen in mid-air, nearly close enough for him to reach out and touch one of the dagger-shaped teeth. A transparent blue aura separated him from the creature, and as he looked around he realized it was a bubble, a sphere of force that had appeared around him right as the creature had launched its attack. Protected by the resilient sphere, the creature could not harm him. Amurru had warned that the touch of the creatures could disrupt magic, but apparently this spell—it had to be Sutheros who had cast it, none of their other mages were powerful enough for magic of this sort—was durable enough to withstand the spawn’s attack.

The spawn was belatedly realizing this as well. It unclenched its jaws and then leapt forward, perhaps believing that sheer mass could rupture the sphere. Kiron flinched as the weight of the creature settled upon him, but the magical globe held, and it suddenly grew dark as the weight of the thing settled around him. He could just see out from under the sides of its body by bending low, but could not discern what was happening at the forefront of the battle. Both cursing and thanking the magic that held him safe, he waited to find out what would happen.

And then, so suddenly that he started in surprise, the creature was past him, and he could see again. The monster’s hindquarters were close enough to touch, its rear limbs half-folded around the sphere. He could not hear the sounds of battle from within the globe of force, but he had no doubt that his companions were engaged in desperate battle with it.

Kiron was ready a second later, when the sphere abruptly vanished. The epic sword danced like a switch in his hand, slicing half-through one hind leg, tearing through the second on his backswing, and then vanishing forward as he planted his feet and thrust the entire length of the blade into the monster’s bung-hole.

The ravager spawn’s reaction was rather... intense. Its body contorted improbably as it rose up into the air, its crippled rear legs spasming underneath it. As the damaged limbs collapsed it fell heavily to the side, slamming hard into the wooden frame to which Duke Aerim was bound. The impact sundered the wooden stakes and nearly did the same to the Duke, who was flung roughly to the ground, part of one of the sundered shafts still attached to him by his chains.

Kiron was down; the spawn’s flailings had crushed his left leg, and blood oozed down his left side where its claws had penetrated deep through his armor into his body. But power flooded into him as Allera unleashed another mass cure, and his pains receded, fading into the background of tumult and chaos of battle. Petronia offered him a hand, which he took gratefully, staggering back to his feet. He’d lost the sword, which was probably still embedded deep in the body of the spawn.

The ravager spawn had been seriously injured, but it still had fight left in it, and it used its four intact legs to drag itself back onto its belly. Turning its eyes on the battered defenders, it issued a roar of pure malevolence that promised an accounting for its hurts.

An armored form shot up over the lip of the ridge, and flew headlong at the spawn. Corath Dar held Justice in both hands, the sword trailing long tendrils of ravager blood behind him as he continued to pick up speed. With his armor shining with a brilliance that went beyond the reflected lights from the hilltop, he seemed almost an avenging angel, intent upon the destruction of his foe.

But the spawn was not about to accept its fate meekly. Digging its foreclaws into the stony knobs of the ridge, it lunged forward and seized the diving fighter in a single snap of its jaws. Dar was too big a morsel to swallow easily, but pinned in its mouth, which engulfed him almost from shoulders to knees, he could not effectively strike back. He still held Justice, but his swordarm was trapped between two black teeth, the blade jutting out from the creature’s mouth like a toothpick.

Kiron and the others rushed forward to Dar’s aid, but before they could get close enough to rejoin the melee, the ravager spawn convulsed suddenly. Its jaws snapped open, hurling its prisoner free, as it roared again in pain. In twisted onto its side, the motion revealing Duke Aerim, who pulled free of the spawn in a cascade of blood and gore that splattered over his entire body. In his right hand the brilliant energy sword flared bright; somehow the Duke had managed to tear himself free, get over to the spawn while it was distracted with Dar, and seize the weapon embedded in the ravager’s body. The ravager’s struggles were growing weaker, now; blood poured from its abused hindquarters as from a fallen decanter. He lifted the sword to strike again, but in its last violent throes one of the ravager’s legs smashed into the ancient warrior’s body, launching him into the air. He fell hard onto his back in front of the knights, still conscious but more than a little dazed. Kiron made a motion, and two legionaries hastened to take custody of the man, reclaiming the sword before Aerim could recover enough to use it against them.

The knight ordered his remaining forces forward again, but there was no immediate need. Freed from the ravager spawn’s jaws, Dar had recovered in mid-air, using the still-effective fly spell to spin and dart forward once more. The spawn could not react again in time, but it snapped its head up, trying to knock its attacker aside. There was a blur of steel and then Dar was past. Blood flashed in an arc above the spawn’s head, and then it toppled back, its skull shorn nearly in two by the critical hit. After having put up such a violent fight, it died quickly, landing in a heap without so much as a tremor shaking its body.

“Make sure of it!” Kiron yelled, gesturing for Petronia to use her axe. A number of legionaries and dwarven sappers were still in the area, but most had either fled or been killed by the creature’s rush. Three dwarves were still trying to work the scorpion, but the engine had been damaged in the fray, and they were having difficulty getting another bolt into the mechanism.

Dar spiraled around and landed beside Kiron. “That’s two,” he said. The two men looked out into the night at the far hill, where the third spawn had ascended. The hillside was cloaked in darkness, now, the torches that had been set there either knocked down or snuffed by the creature’s ability to disrupt magic. Nothing moved, although anything could have been lying in the deep shadows along the crest. There was no indication that the twenty humans and dwarves that had occupied the fortifications atop the hill yet lived.

“There!” Kiron yelled, pointing toward the gap between two of the hills, off to the west.

Even without light, it wasn’t hard to mark the passage of the ravager spawn, once they knew where to look. The creature seemed to be moving off, although its course would take it close to the secondary camp, Dar noticed at once. Maricela and the other reinforcements would be coming that way; maybe the creature had already detected them, and identified them as its next victims. Dar hadn’t ever seen one of the ravager’s brood retreat from a fight, so the alternative seemed more plausible.

Kiron had seen it too. “We have to stop it!” he yelled.

 

[Richard Rawen]

Excellent fights, though it would be great to see the Duke come back to the Light...

Lots of great action, really enjoying the story, thanks LB!

 

[Lazybones]

Excellent fights, though it would be great to see the Duke come back to the Light...

Well, we definitely haven't seen the last of him!

I'm only about 6 chapters ahead at the moment, and while I'm approaching the end of the story, there's still one big scene left to write. I am not going to have much time to write next week, but I'm going to try to bank enough posts so that I can continue with the update-every-weekday strategy through the end.

* * * * *

Chapter 69

THE LAST SPAWN


The spawn had already come under attack; the flying wizards had engaged it, but even Dar could see that their magic had been largely depleted. Magic missiles and lightning bolts from wands flared in the night, and Dar caught sight of Mehlaraine, flying low over it, thrusting down with her pike into the creature’s back. The spawn paid little heed to any of the attacks, trudging forward with singleminded intensity. Whatever wounds it had suffered thus far had likely been healed already, either by its innate regenerative power or via its nasty ability to absorb the life energy of the foes it destroyed.

“I’m on it,” he said, but before he could fly off again, Allera grabbed onto his arm. “You’re seriously hurt,” she said, invoking a heal spell to purge his injuries. As the healing magic poured into him, she said, “I held onto it; there was nothing else I could do.” It was clear from the look on her face that it had been difficult; Dar knew that she felt the loss of every dead human, dwarf, and elf around them as a painful wound.

“It will fall upon you,” he told her, and then shot out into the night again, barely clearing the ruined battlements before diving down the face of the hill toward the retreating spawn. Behind him Kiron was shouting orders, but Dar knew that nothing that the knight did would likely affect the rest of this battle. An arrow from Selanthas passed him, dropping in an arc that intersected with the black slab of the monster. But then the creature turned into a dell between two parallel ridges, taking it out of sight of the defenders around Rappan Athuk.

Dar followed it, picking up more speed as he descended. They had to finish this, and quickly; he had no idea how much time they had left, but doubted that it would be very much. He lifted Justice, and picked his spot, right in the back of the ravager spawn’s skull.

But before he could attack, the night came alive ahead of him.

Lightning flashed down into the gorge. But this was no mere lightning bolt from a wand; the surging currents of an empowered chain lightning filled the space between the ridges with blazes of power. Even more than fifty feet away, Dar could feel his skin tingling from it. The spawn felt it more acutely, rising up on its forelegs, uttering a scream of pain and rage.

A white lance of power streaked down and struck it in the throat, followed by a second, and then a third. The archer was a strange creature, a merging of a woman’s body with that of a snake, with broad feathered wings that kept it aloft in a steady beat. It carried a white longbow that formed arrows of pure energy with each draw.

A short distance away, Dar saw a squat, pudgy black man, riding a flying carpet barely big enough to support him, drift down and point to the walls of the canyon. A rumbling accompanied a sudden collapse of the cliff walls, as rubble poured down toward the spawn. The plumes of debris took on shape, and Dar saw that the wizard had summoned a pair of earth elementals, each the size of a small cottage. But as the light of another white arrow flashed he saw that the outlines of the things were twisted, strange, pseudonatural reflections of the elemental forces that he’d seen and fought numerous times in his storied career. But the creatures, whatever they were, engaged the spawn with vigor, putting their ponderous weight to advantage as they descended upon it from both sides.

The spawn reacted with predictable violence, lashing the elemental with its claws, while it took a massive bite out of its shoulder with its black teeth. The elemental, for all its pseudonatural resistances, was not able to withstand that amount of damage, and it collapsed in a heap of rubble. The other elemental smashed its fists into the spawn’s back, but while the impacts were strong enough to collapse a stone wall, the creature merely twisted around to face the second threat. It tore a claw across the elemental’s belly, sending fist-sized clods of earth flying. It looked very likely that the second summons would not long outlast the first.

But the attack of the pseudonatural elementals had distracted it long enough for the casters above to get in another sequence of attacks. Dar found himself an observer as another series of magical bolts from Sultheros and his companions tore home, but that was trivial compared to what followed. Dar now saw the source of the lightning that had landed moments ago, as a robed figure descended from the night skies, her robe dancing wildly around her. Letellia had replaced her cloth mask, but Dar knew her, even before she lifted the silver staff, and invoked another powerful spell. This time he saw the blue flashes build from his hands, swirling up and down the length of the staff, growing in intensity until she plunged the end downward. The bolt slammed down into the spawn’s skull, and Dar could see the echoing glow flickering from its eyes, tendrils of energy flaring out from its teeth as the chain lightning full discharged. The fighter could smell the odor of roasted flesh, and for a brief moment he felt an odd sympathy for the thing, tormented by enemies that it could not reach.

Then he saw the light ahead, moments before a small column of armed men appeared along the trail ahead. Maricela was at their head, holding up her burning mace, its light glinting off the breastplates and steel spearheads of the legionaries.

The spawn saw it too. As the elemental lunged at it again, it lifted a claw and seized it by the chest. The elemental had to weigh thousands of pounds, but the spawn dashed it to the ground, its substance collapsing as the black claws tightened on its frame. The spawn was already surging forward, projecting all of its fury and frustration at this new target, one it could reach, a foe it could tear to pieces, and feed upon.