Greetings All
And so another week comes to an end! Not too bad. Enjoying a gardening book, and two clients asking me to work ont heir projects. Busy, busy, busy. Also considering writing up some DnD campaigns and turning them into short stories. Guess we'll see where my time takes us.
Anyway, murder, mayhem, and all that! Don't forget to read @zakludick's update in Part 92 to see where we are in this grand adventure!
If Robert and Mary were surprised to see a towering, flaming warrior casually strolling onto the battlefield with a screaming weapon, they didn’t show it. However, the men with them were shocked at the sheer size of the creature.
“Well now,” Robert twirled his moustache, “I guess I know what happened to the priests.”
“All of them?” whispered Mary, trying to avoid looking at the creature.
“Likely. Corruption ran deep it would seem.”
“I suspected Dorian wanted more power, but this…this I never thought him possible of.”
“You’d be surprised what humans are willing to do in order to get what they want.” Robert waved his hand to the battlefield.
Mary knew it was an insult meant for her, but she ignored it. She looked down at her children who were watching the creature. Each child had a different look on their face. Magna looked unbothered, and that bothered Mary. What had the poor child seen while she travelled with her uncle?
The queen snorted under her breath. Uncle, what a farce. She had to look away from Magna to look at her son. In all the years that she had watched her son grow, she never saw Adiran him. She had known Adiran for decades, even before she and Johnathan were wed. Not once did she suspect who he really was. When he had revealed it to her before their trip, she had been shocked. She had refused to listen, thinking the stress of losing his brother had caused madness. Yet, the more he spoke of things he should never have known, the more she realised he was who he truly said he was. Right down to telling her his favourite bedtime story and songs she used to sing. She hadn’t sung to the children since they were tiny.
Now, each stood before her, one a warrior, the other a survivor. The queen looked up as the flaming creature bellowed a challenge to the other creature across the field of battle.
“I don’t think there is much we can do at this point.” Said Adrian.
Robert peered around the queen to look at the prince, “Oh? What gives you that idea?”
“Those things won’t be taken down by us, not together. They will destroy each other, and the one left will be the one we’ll have to deal with.” Adrian looked at Robert, “If you truly believe this land can be saved, then you will have to join with us to bring it down.”
“I never said I thought this land can be saved.”
Adrian smiled a knowing smile and said nothing more as he returned his eyes to the battlefield.
Magna looked up at her mother, “I need to go down there.”
“No!” snapped Mary.
“Derric needs me.” Magna wasn’t shouting. She wasn’t panicking. She was stating facts and Mary wasn’t sure if she could stop the girl if she was truly determined.
Before she could give an answer, Mortis and Adiran joined them.
“That is the best I can do.” Said the Revenant as he looked over the field, “The rest is in the fates’ hands.”
“No. It’s in yours.” Said Adiran, “You woke when the family blood was spilt and the family blade hit the ground. If you were done, you’d be back in your tomb. No, it’s time you and the twins finish what you must.”
Mary glared at Adiran and was about to tell him what she thought of his plan, but she was interrupted by Robert who pointed to the battlefield. Mary looked up as the other creature lifted the dragon above its head and threw it to the ground. The roar of pain could be heard by all those within the castle.
“Derric is going to die if we don’t help him.” Magna’s voice was starting to break.
Mary opened her mouth to say no, but then she noticed the lifedrinkers returning to the walls and surrounding them. They faced her, lifted their weapons once, and then turned back to face a fresh wave of undead. Their walls were no longer undefended. She turned to start a discussion with her daughter but stopped when the undead knight wrapped his arms around her son and daughter, before leaping from the battlements.
Robert grabbed the queen as she rushed to go after them, “Don’t you dare! Your responsibility is to your people. They are devastated by what is occurring. If you quit the battlements, you may as well give the enemy the win. Lead, Your Majesty, and I’ll loan you my knights.”
“They should be on their way back.” Said Adiran as he waved his hand a few times.
Tendrils of coloured magic floated down to the three that had disappeared. He smiled sadly, “This is the best I can do for you brother and sister. May those of our line protect you, one way or another.”
He was surprised to suddenly find Mary hugging him around his neck. He allowed her this small comfort as he knew she would have to watch her children run into battle.
“Promise me that they’ll be okay.”
Adiran remained silent.
Derric felt bones crack as he was thrown to the ground, and he cried out in pain. He had lost track of Lucien some time ago. He could barely tell which way was up, but at least the thriving mass of undead wasn’t going to get closer to the castle. If only he had enough strength to get his wings working.
Millmor leapt from Derric’s body and dug his claws into the mass of undead. No matter how many hands he cut away, there were more trying to pull him into the mass. He needed to get Derric up and moving or he too would be added to the mass.
Leaping away, the Ghoul King, came to squat next to Derric’s head, “Boy, stay awake.”
Tired.
“I know, but you need to get up. Change into something smaller, I will carry you.”
Can’t…
Just as Millmor was starting to get desperate, a flaming polearm suddenly appeared in the chest of the beast before him. The next second, the mass of flesh was bowled over by what Millmor believed to be a sun. For the moment, they seemed to have been saved from adding to the creature’s biomass.
“Don’t just stand there!” came a screech from above.
Millmor looked up and saw the harpy woman, Helga, injured but alive, hanging in the air.
“Quit the field or you’ll be overrun. More undead are coming.”
Millmor ordered the ghouls to stop attacking the giant beast, and rather cover their retreat in hopes of having enough time to get Derric to transform back to his human form.
Will Derric manage to transform back? What was Mortis thinking? Who knows? Zak does, as it's his turn to take over!
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