Thomas, twelve knights of the Red Stallion and forty of the Duke’s Household Guard stood in the center of the town square. Thomas stood rock still, his tail flicking back and forth was the only sign of his nervousness. He would have preferred to be with George or even Misha in the middle of the action but common sense meant staying right where he was. It was better to stand still then to race around in the dark senselessly. Also he was in the center of the fortress and next to the only working well present. Whatever trouble was happening elsewhere would eventually find it’s way here.
When trouble finally reached the equine nobleman it was almost a relief from the waiting.
The creature was in the middle of the street smashing a group of wagons and tossing the pieces randomly in all directions. The reeking smell of dead fish and stagnant water was everywhere.
“What is it?” George asked casually from a doorway some hundred yards away.
“The exact classification escapes me,” Nestorius answered. He was standing on the other side of the doorway from George. They were still close enough that the lion’s wards protected them both. Kneeling a few feet behind the lion was Amelia with an arrow nocked in her bow. The young woman was dressed in chain mail armor. Dangling from her belt was a short sword in a leather scabbard.
George shot the mage a hard glance. “I’ll do with a general idea of what it is. Why does it smell like dead fish and stagnant water?”
“Because it’s from the ocean,” the feline answered.
The jackal shot the lion another hard gaze. “I understand that part. Is it undead or a demon?” George asked in cold tones.
“Undead.”
“Undead? If that is what it looks like dead what did it look like when it was alive?” Amelia asked nervously.
“Probably nothing like that,” the mage answered. “Some necromancers get creative.”
George shook his head. “I hate when mages get creative.”
“With great power does not always come the wisdom needed to use it properly,” Nestorius answered and shook his head.
The creature had finished with the wagons and was smashing though several buildings tossing stones and wood beams like a child having a temper tantrum.
The jackal morph nodded in agreement. “All too true. About our unwanted guest. Someone had to have summoned that thing.”
“Yes,” the lion answered. “And from close by. A summoning this powerful does not last long.”
“Locate this mage and kill him,” the jackal snarled.
The mage shook his head, his mane tossing about. “That won’t ending the summoning. It will stay till it’s time is up or it’s task is accomplished.”
“I know that, but it will keep that mage from summoning more trouble.”
The lion nodded in agreement.
Nestorius spoke the words of the incantation as his hands moved in the complex gestures needed to shape the magic. Soon his senses were enhanced as he looked further and further out until he located what he was seeking. “The well. The mages in the well.”
“He’s probably trying to summon something else,” George shouted. “Where is this well?”
The feline pointed past the monster. “The other side of that.”
George nodded. “Of course,” he said sarcastically. “Why should it be easy?”
The small group backed down the street putting some distance between them and the monster.
The old scout pointed to a ruined building off to one side. “You hide there and I’ll draw that thing past you and further down the street.”
The lion mage nodded. “Understood.”
“I’ll kill the monster, you kill the mage who summoned it.”
Nestorius turned to Amelia. “You go with George,” the lion ordered the woman.
She shook her head. “No. You’ll need me.”
“I do but George needs you more. He’ll need your bow and your magic more then I do.”
“But . . .”
Netorius gently closed the woman’s mouth with one massive, clawed finger. The sharp talon barely touching her skin. “No arguments on this. I can defeat this mage. I have fought his kind before. But George will need your help in defeating that summoning. He cannot do so with sword and spear alone. He needs your magic.” He tenderly kissed the woman and she passionately returned the kiss. She ran her hands thru his thick mane.
“Be careful honey,” she said softly.
“I will. You take care as well. I want you back alive and unharmed.”
Calmly George walked up the street and past the spot where the mage was hiding without a glance in lion’s direction. He didn’t risk even the slightest chance of giving away Nestorius’ hiding place. Amelia, at his request waited further up the street out of sight.
Quickly he came upon the monster which was in a small street, ripping up the paving stones and throwing the massive blocks at random. George pointed his cutlass at the creature. “Your head will look good on my wall as a trophy.”
“I will kill all of you!” the creature roared. “I’ll drown you and crush your . . .”
BRAP!!!!!!!!! George accompanied the rude noise he had made with an even ruder hand gesture. “You talk too much,” he said in a calm voice.
The creature let out a roar of rage and a blast of fetid wind rolled over the jackal.
Without hesitating George turned and bolted up the street running fast but not too fast. He wanted the creature to follow him.
The monster roared with delight and eagerly chased after.
Nestorius watched George run up the street as the massive creature followed afterward. He huddled in the shadow of a massive rock and pulled the invisibility spell closer around him.
The massive monster moved slowly and ponderously up the street. With each step the monster left pools of filthy, stagnant water. Quickly the thing was even with his hiding spot and the rank stench of stagnant sea water and dead fish assaulted his sensitive feline nose.
With a great deal of relief he heard the creature move up the street without pausing. He also heard George taunting it, luring it further and further away from the mages hiding place. Nestorius was surprised by the variety of the curses the jackal used as was well the different languages.
Slipping quietly down the street Nestorius moved toward his target. There in the middle of the town square was the well marked only by a large hole in the ground surrounded by a pool of water.
The filthy water was stagnant and smelled downright vile. As he slogged through, wishing fervently that he could turn off his sense of smell, he nearly gagged when he accidentally kicked a dead, rotting fish. It split apart, trailing gelatinous goo around his ankle, though that was hard to tell apart from the slimy, clinging seaweed and decaying vegetation that blanketed the soupy mess. He stopped next to the hole and peered downward. All he could see was a deep, profoundly dark hole. He did pick up the faint sound of chanting.
“You going down there?”
Looking up he found a fellow animal morph Keeper standing there. The exact species was unknown to him but seemed to be some sort of bear.
“Yes I am. I have a mage to kill,” he answered.
Panno looked down the hole. “Whoever is chanting down there isn’t alone. I can hear several things moving around down there.”
Nestorius shrugged. “That mage needs to be stopped. He probably has a guard. No sensible mage goes into battle alone.”
“You’re here alone,” Panno commented.
“If I had any sense would I be in this awful place, standing ankle deep in a pool of stagnant water and dead fish?”
Panno looked around at the ruined and shattered buildings that surrounded the square they were standing in. “This used to be a nice town. A nice place to live and raise a family.”
“And it will be again. Once I get rid of him,” the feline said and pointed down the hole. The mage spoke some words softly as he moved his hands in circles close to the ground. A disk of shimmering blue light appeared and hovered a few inches above the pavement.
Nestorius stepped lightly on the disk which easily carried his weight.
Silently the disk with it’s feline passenger floated over the hole and paused there for a moment. The mage started chanting and moving his arms and hands in complex gestures through the air. His entire body started to glow with a green light that enveloped him completely, down to the tip of his long tail. Then slowly and gracefully the feline started to descend into the hole.
“Good luck!” Panno called softly to the mage as he disappeared down into the darkness.
“Thank you!” Nestorius said just before his head vanished into the hole.
The walls of the well were close, rubbing against the feline but he ignored the annoyance and prepared himself for the battle ahead. After a few moments the stone walls of the well fell away and he was floating in open space. Nestorius had expected the well to be dark but there was a faint glow coming from the walls lighting up the chamber he was in. He had a brief moment to take in the massive brick lined cistern he was in before the first spell slammed into him.
In the side street near the town center true pandemonium reigned. The creature was tossing horses, men, wagons and pieces of buildings about with equal abandon. Thomas saw soldiers, laborers and civilians running about in panic. A group of twenty soldiers were fleeing from the creature.
The Duke raced past his fleeing soldiers and when he was about a hundred feet ahead he stopped, spun around in place and stood as straight and tall as possible. Thomas stood up to his full height waving sword and shield over his head. “WHERE ARE YOU BASTARDS GOING?” he shouted to his retreating soldiers.
“YOU WORTHLESS PILES OF SHIT COWARDS! STAND YOUR GROUND OR I’LL KILL YOU ALL MYSELF!” From the dukes lips let loose a stream of curses so foul that it would have made the crudest solider blush. The ground seemed to shake and the grass seemed to shrivel up and turn brown with his words.
Stunned and amazed by such words coming from Duke Thomas’s lips a soldier stopped. Then a second and then more came to a halt.
“FORM UP IN A LINE!” Thomas ordered as he galloped back and forth. “FORM UP IN A LINE!” "You want your children to be safe? Get back in line!"
The Duke galloped into the midst of a group of fleeing archers. “STOP! OR I’LL KILL YOU MYSELF!” he shouted. The stallion lashed out with his shield and the flat of his blade sending two archers tumbling to the pavement. The rest halted. Too afraid of the war horse to disobey.
"What'll you think of yourself tomorrow?" Thomas pointed his sword at the archers and then at the creature which was slowly advancing on them. “SHOOT AT IT YOU COWARDS!”
He was met with silence and no movement of any sort either towards or away from the monster.
“NOW!” He bellowed.
One grizzled and gray haired woman whose cuff markings showed her to be a sergeant stiffened and nodded. “Well, you heard the Duke,” she said in a soft voice that seemed to carry over all the noise and mayhem. “FORM RANKS ON ME! FORM RANKS ON ME! FORM RANKS ON ME” the woman shouted in a voice ringing with command. With surprising speed the archers turned towards the creature and formed a ragged line.
The monster was some two hundred feet away when the sergeant shouted “SHOOT!” and a volley of arrows arched through the air and clattered down around and onto the monster.
Thomas saw the flying stone block a moment before it hit him. The stallion was sent flying through the air to land amidst dirt and debris. He tumbled over and over before coming to rest against a tall mound of dirt.
George found a group of fifty soldiers nervously standing in the town square. Half were archers the rest carried spears. The jackal pointed at the captain who stood up as he approached. “Hillary bring your people,” he barked. He pointed where a ballista rested in one corner. Its crew clustered around. “You too!” Then George turned and trotted off as the soldiers scrambled to follow after him.
There was a loud rumble and a jet of flames shot up into the night sky.
“HUSTLE!” George shouted and they all broke into a dead run.
The acid hissed and bubbled as it washed over him covering Nestorius completely. Clouds of vile smelling and poisonous gas filled the air around him. The feline shook his hands and the acid dripped off of him and onto the wet stones beneath him. Hissing and bubbling with each drop as the clouds of gas quickly dissipated. The stones beneath him were eaten away but the lion mage was unharmed. Not even the collar of his shirt had been touched by the acid.
“A simple apprentice’s trick,” he commented derisively. His opponent was standing in a pool of water about ankle deep. Floating on top of the water was a thick layer of algae. Nestorius moved his hands in small circles and then pulled them towards the roof. The algae around his enemy’s feet suddenly reared up quickly towering high over the mage’s head before dropping down and enveloping the man completely.
The man shaped pile of algae shivered for a moment then quickly turned brown and dropped to the floor revealing the mage again. He looked a little more soiled then before but otherwise unhurt.
The man held both hands together as he spoke the words of a spell. Then he slowly drew his hands apart. As he did so a bone colored line appeared and stretched between the hands. As the distance between the two got bigger so did this strange rod grow longer. In moments it was over three feet long and looked like a spear. Holding this odd spear in one hand the mage cocked his arm back and threw it at Nestorius. The spear flew with unnatural speed at the feline straight at his heart.
Nestorius casually held up his hand and the spear was deflected down and came to a rest just short of the lion. It’s point was buried deeply into the bricks. He spared the weapon a close look and noted it was made of bone.
The Keeper pointed to a spot on the floor and pronounced a short incantation. The floor erupted into a shower of dirt and rocks that flew straight at his enemy with lightening speed. The rocks, much to the feline’s disappointment simply bounced off his opponent like drops of water on a stone wall.
The man didn’t seem to notice the hail of deadly stones and chanted softly and threw something into the water which started boiling and bubbling like some fetid soup. From this roiling water figures started to appear, rising slowly and silently and the only sound was the splashing of water as muck and debris dripped from them. In moments a half dozen skeletons were standing in front of him. Some were ancient, covered with slime and algae. Polluted water dripped from rusted and corroded weapons. Others looked younger and Nestorius recognized at least one lutin among the undead. The skeletons started to move towards him and the feline had to act fast.
“Just as I thought! A necromancer!” Nestorius snarled. “I will enjoy killing you!”
George slowed to a walk as he drew his cutlass and oversized dagger. Close behind him followed two columns of soldiers. One was all of archers, the others carried ten foot long spears.
In front of George was chaos. The creature was in the center of the street and slowly moving towards him. Between him and the monster was a ragged line of archers who were slowly backing away from it one step at a time. The shower of arrows they were raining down on the creature seemed to have no effect at all.
“We’ll fight it here,” George barked. He pointed to a tall reptile morph standing at the front of the line of spear wielding soldiers. “Mark. Spears form two ranks in the center of the street in front of those archers. Give them some breathing room.”
“SPEARS FORWARD AT THE DOUBLE!” the reptile shouted. “Two ranks. Protect those archers.”
George then turned to the archers with Hillary at their front. “Archers split. Half on either side behind cover. Put at least a squad above ground level.”
“Ranks one and two split,” Hillary ordered as she raised her own bow. “One left, two right. Find what cover you can. Phil take your squad onto the roof of that building,” she said and pointed to a half finished wood building.
“And me?” Amelia asked.
“Help the archers,” George ordered.
With the precision and speed of long years of training and combat experience the spearman trotted through the loose line of archers who stopped shooting for a moment. The spearman halted some twenty feet in front and closed ranks coming together shoulder to shoulder and leveling their spears at the monstrous thing in front of them.
Amelia moved up to the archers who stood behind the spears and walked along in front of them. As she passed each archer the woman reached out and touched the bow they were using and the head of the arrow in the weapon burst into flames. “Shoot fast. That spell won’t last long,” she shouted over the mayhem. In moments a shower of flaming arrows arced through the air and rained down on the creature. The woman nocked an arrow in her own bow but this one did not burst into flames. Instead the metal head turned green and dripped acid onto the pavement beneath her feet.
The feline mage looked at the advancing undead and shook his head. “How unimaginative. Couldn’t you summon something better?” he said sarcastically. “Of course not. You used too much power on that thing up above,” he said and pointed up towards the ceiling.
Nestorius mentally gathered the power he needed and channeled it, shaping it the way he needed. He pulled his lips back revealing a muzzle filled with long, large sharp teeth. A low guttural growl escaped him. He pulled his head back and let loose with a leonine roar that made the ground shake and sent the rocks, mud and water flying away from him in a massive wave. The shockwave reached the skeletons and they exploded, the bones flying in all directions.
The mage’s eyes narrowed and he glared at the feline in anger. He punched his fist at Nestorius and a score of points of blood red light appeared on his hand and raced across the cistern to where the feline mage stood.
Nestorius shouted out a few words and brought his arm up to block his face. From the water beneath him a mass of algae rose up and took the shape of a massive flat disk over two feet wide. The points of red light thumped into the algae shield and winked out of existence with loud hisses.
“How amateurish,” the feline wizard snarled and started his own spell.
The ground around the human mage suddenly heaved up as solid brick and stone flowed liked water and shifted into a massive maw with fist sized teeth. Water dripped from the stony teeth like blood from the muzzle of a rabid wolf. The stony jaws started to close around the man, threatening to cut him in half.
The mage extended his hands and the skin turned darker and took on the hue of steel. The fingers quickly melted together forming a long, sharp blade where his hands had once been. He slashed down with these hand blades and the stone jaws shattered into thousands of fragments.
The human raised his hands towards the roof and wiggled his fingers. Above the roots that dangled down started to move and grow of their own accord. A dozen massive roots wrapped themselves around Nestorius. They started to tighten around the lion.
The plants were really starting to squeeze and he was having trouble breathing. Nestorius concentrated and in moments acid started to seep from the feline burning through his clothes and onto the vines. To his dismay the acid simply dripped off the vines without effecting them at all. Whatever these things were, no longer were they mere animated plants.
The vines were cutting into his flesh and he could feel his ribs starting to crack under the strain. Desperate he called up a spell that was sure would destroy these vile vines and everything else nearby. “BUL NELTOLA!” he shouted with the last of his breath. His whole body burst into flames covering him from muzzle to tail destroying the last tattered bits of his clothes.
To his horror and anger the vines didn’t burn but grew tighter still. He gathered all his remaining strength and channeled it into the spell, The flames roared with the rumble of an attacking dragon and the light flooded the entire chamber like an exploding star blinding him. The water boiled and sizzled as the weeds and roots burnt to a crisp and smoke filled the air.
The vines seemed unfazed by the flames at first and kept up their death grip but then they started to loosen and finally dropped off! He was free!!
Dazed and confused Thomas stood up unsteadily. A dozen knights clustered close to him and two helped him upright.
“Are you all right my Lord?” a knight asked in a worried tone.
“I’m fine. I just need a moment to recover.” His chest hurt and he was sure he had several broken ribs. The breastplate he had been wearing was shattered and he quickly undid the buckles holding the pieces on and he stripped off the rest of his ruined armor.
His head started to clear and Thomas looked around. A score of soldiers with their spears leveled at the creature stood rock still in its path. It roared with a voice like waves crashing against the shoreline. Stagnant water and dead fish washed around their feet but the spear points did not waver. The monster snarled and gurgled but came to a stop. A single spear wielding person was nothing but an annoyance but a score of them was not so simple to kill. The monster found itself facing a wall of razor sharp points wielded by people who knew how to use them and were not scared. Instead they pushed forward aggressively jabbing and poking at it, looking for a weak spot. One spear found its mark and the creature screamed in pain and backed away for a moment.
Right behind the spearman were the archers he had rallied earlier. They were showering the monster with a steady rain of flaming arrows. People were shouting and screaming as others ran about in panic. The monster was tossing rocks, stones and other debris as it bellowed and roared.
In the middle of all this mayhem was George. The jackal was standing behind the spears but in front of the archers. He was barking orders to both groups and shouting insults at the monster equally.
Thomas walked over to where George was standing. The old bandit seemed to be enjoying himself, he certainly didn’t seem worried.
“You look awful,” George commented. “How do you feel?”
“I’ll live. How goes the battle?”
George shrugged. “Mixed. We haven’t killed it but we have stopped it for the moment. It keeps coming this way and hasn’t changed directions. I think it’s after you Thomas.”
The Duke nodded slowly. “It’s nice to be wanted,” he said sarcastically. Thomas looked to his left and right and towering above him were the tall, ragged walls of ruined buildings. The walls had not been rebuilt or even reinforced and he had an idea. The street was narrow here and the monster had no choice as to where it would walk. “We can use that obsession.”
Thomas pointed to a cluster of people huddled against the wall on his right. “Get behind that wall and when I tell you push it over.”
No one moved. Instead they just stood there too dazed and shocked to respond.
Thomas snorted and shook his head sending his mane flapping as he stomped his hooves. “MOVE!” That sent the people scrambling to carry out his orders.
“I see your idea,” George said to the stallion. “MARK! AMELIA” George shouted in a voice that carried over the noise and bedlam. “SLOW BACK STEP WITHDRAWAL TOWARDS THE DUKE!”
Slowly and without breaking formation the line of spear wielding soldiers started moving backward one step at a time.
The creature lunged forward seeing the withdrawal as a sign of weakness but it was met with a wall of spear points as sharp and as expertly wielded as before. Slowly the little band of soldiers moved backward. They were jabbing and poking at the creature as it lunged at them as it tossed whatever was within reach.
It seemed to take forever before the monster had come far enough down the street and into the right place.
“NOW!” Thomas shouted. “NOW THE WALL! THE WALL!”
There was no reaction for a moment but then the wall started to move. Swaying back and forth ever so slightly but then with wider and wider arcs. The wall seemed to wobble for a moment and Thomas was afraid it would fall the wrong way. Then slowly, almost gracefully it pitched forward and dropped down. The massive pile of masonry fell onto the creature like a meteor falling from the heavens.
WHOOMP!! The ground leaped and shook, knocking everyone down and a second wall followed its brethren and toppled down onto the creature.
The silence that followed was profound. No one moved or spoke as clouds of debris filled the air making everyone choke and cough. Then the mound of rubble heaved and an ominous shape started to pull itself clear.
“FINISH IT NOW!” George shouted as he rushed towards the mound. “Before it frees itself!”
Everyone rushed forward shouting and screaming as they raced to where the monster lay trapped.
Thomas looked around and found his sword. He picked up and examined it. The weapon looked small in his hoof like hands. It was a little scratched and dented but was still in good shape. Just like he was.
A knight took the stallion by the arm. "We cannot spare you, milord! Stay back with the archers!" he warned.
The Duke shook his head. “My life means nothing if my people are dead.” Thomas gathered his strength and tried to ignore the pain that came from everywhere in his body. He couldn’t spare time to worry about himself. His people were in trouble. Thomas galloped forward and swung the blade high over his head before bringing it down onto the monster with a loud thump that jarred his whole body. Around him the soldiers and knights swarmed stabbing, slashing and bashing the creature. He kept attacking, driving the blade down again and again. It seemed like forever before he realized that the monster had stopped moving.
“THAT’S ENOUGH!” he whinnied. “It’s dead. It’s dead,” he repeated as if to reassure himself that it was really true.
Nestorius slumped to the floor as the last of his strength fled him. He lay on the stone floor of the cistern letting it’s cool dampness seep into his body and draining away the massive heat that filled him.
Suddenly a massive wall of water splashed down onto him and he cried out at the shock of the ice cold striking him. He heard the water sizzle and boil off of his body and into steam. Thick clouds of steam filled the vast chamber. More and more water was poured onto him until it finally stopped boiling off. The steam dissipated almost as quickly as it had been created.
Someone knelt over the mage. “Are you all right?” Panno asked. “You look better. At least I finally got those flames to go out.”
“What?” Nestorius asked confused as his strength started to return to him.
“You were covered in this strange, purple flame,” the blacksmith explained.
“Thank you!” Nestorius whispered softly. He lay there letting the water and the cool stone soak into him.
“The mage?” the feline asked.
“Dead,” Panno answered and pointed off to the right. “At least I think he is. He stopped moving after I stuck my spear through him a few times.”
Nestorius looked in the direction Panno was pointing and he saw a man’s body sprawled on the floor about a hundred feet away. Even from this distance the mage could tell that his opponent appeared dead.
The beardog examined the mage closely. “I don’t see any burns on you. Your fur isn’t even singed but you are covered with soot.”
Even with the thin light available Nestorius could see that Panno was right. His fur was now completely coal black leaving not a single trace of it’s real tan coloring.
Panno ran his fingers through the wet and bedraggled fur Nestorius’ mane. Then he rubbed the mage’s arm with considerable vigor. “This black color isn’t coming off.”
“What?” the mage asked still a little dazed from the fight.
The beardog morph held up the felines arm so that Nestorius could see it more easily. Then he poured water onto the arm and the water flowed over the already wet fur easily without effecting the black coloring in the least. “I don’t know what this black is but it isn’t soot or ash.”
The lion morph examined the fur on his arm closely. “That is not a coloring ON my fur and skin. It IS the color of my fur and skin.”
“How? Will it change back?”
The lion shrugged. “Unknown. I’d need to do more research and examination but I’m too tired right now.”
“Let’s get you back up into the night air. You’ll feel better.”
Suddenly the mage felt power stirring nearby and he turned to where his opponent’s body lay. It wasn’t there. He muttered a loud curse and started casting a spell.
“He was dead!” Panno snarled.
“Being dead has never stopped a mage before,” the feline countered as his hands started to glow. He pointed both hands to where the body had been and the glow raced from him and settled onto the floor in the shape of a sprawled body. The glowing figure lay there for a moment then slowly fell apart, breaking down into thousands of tiny points of light. The lights spread out into a loose mob that slowly moved across the floor.
“What is that? Panno said pointing to the golden points making their way across the floor. “What did he become?”
The lion shrugged. “Insects I think. Probably something flesh eating.”
Carefully the two followed the glowing horde at a distance as it made it’s way deeper into the cistern. The water was deeper here and soon they were wading thru hip deep water. The glowing figure moved onward as the walls closed in around them till they could easily touch both at the same time.
Up ahead the glow seemed to hesitate for a moment then disappeared completely.
The two rushed forward trying to find out what had happened and to follow. At some time in the past this passage continued to outside the fortress but no longer. At the end of the tunnel there was just a wall of tumbled rock and earth. His enemy had found the countless small cracks in the rubble to escape through but they were all too small for them to follow.
“Will he be back?” Panno asked nervously.
The feline shook his head. “Not any time soon. He used the last of his power to escape. You sticking him with that spear a few times didn’t help him either. When I’ve regained my strength I’ll ward off this place as well. He will not get in here again so easily.”
Slowly the two made their way back to the place where they had entered the cistern. “You do realize that you are naked?” Panno commented. The water was shallower here, merely small pools amidst large areas of muck. It revealed the muck and mud that covered most of the mages body.
The mage nodded. “I know,” he said in cold tones as he tried to avoid stepping in the more vile looking pools.
“I have some clothes that might fit you,” Panno said. “At least a loincloth and some shoes.”
“I would be grateful for the help. And fresh water to clean up with.”
Panno wrinkled his nose. “We both need a good scrubbing to get this awful smell out.”
“I have special soaps and shampoos that will help,” Nestorius commented.
The blacksmith looked at the mage for a moment. “I get the hint that you have been wading thru muck and mud before.”
“This muck is actually pleasant compared to the vile things I have walked, waded and had to swim through.”
Panno waved a hand at the mage and shook his head. “I do NOT want to know more details. Some things are best left unsaid.”
“I always seem to wind up covered with some vile and noxious substances and reeking. It is one of the minor downsides of being a mage,” the feline explained.
The beardog looked at the skeletons that lay heaped in the corner where Nestorius spell had thrown them. “They deserve a better resting place that this old hole in the ground.”
The two walked over to the bones. Panno got close but Nestorius stayed a few steps behind.
“I wonder who they were?” Panno asked.
The mage looked at the bones. “Some are definitely rather recent. Probably people killed in the siege. Others were a lot older. I remember at least one was wearing the armor of a Suielman legionnaire.”
Panno knelt down ignoring the muck and started gather all the bones together. He would have to come back later to remove them all but he could at least get them out of the mud.
He picked up each bone and brushed off the muck and filth before putting it into his knapsack. One of the objects he picked up was too heavy and too long to be a bone. Panno wiped the filth off and was rewarded with the sight of metal and wood devoid of corrosion or wear. “This doesn’t have any rust on it. Could it be magic?”
“Let me see it,” the mage asked and Panno deposited it into his outstretched hands.
“It seems the fates have decided to reward your good deed Panno,” the lion replied. “This is a fine bit of magic here.”
“What is it?” Panno asked.
The lion examined Panno’s find. It was a metal and wood tube about two feet long with caps on both ends. “There is magic here of some power. It looks like a map or document carrier.”
“I wonder what’s in it?” Panno asked as he leaned close.
“Documents and maps probably,” was the answer.
The beardog stared at the mage for a moment. “I was hoping for a more detailed answer.”
Nestorius shrugs. “I cannot tell. The seals are still intact so whatever is inside is also intact. But this dank, wet hole is not the place.”
George looked at the pile of stone, bricks and gore. Gingerly he patted Thomas on the shoulder being sure to miss the many bandages and bruises. “You did well Thomas. Very well.”
The duke nodded slowly. “Thank you but I only had a small part. It was your planning and leadership that won this battle.”
“Phooey. You led these people brilliantly. Lord Thomas.”
‘Lord Thomas’ George had said. The first time he had really properly
addressed the Duke. George had just paid Thomas a high compliment. “Thank
you George.”
Nestorius came up the street walking slowly. He calmly detoured around the wreckage
and dead bodies that lay everywhere without seeming to notice any of it. The
lion morph was dressed solely in a long, blue loincloth, a pair of simple sandals
and nothing else. He bowed deeply to Duke Thomas. “Lord Thomas. The last
of the abominations are gone.”
Thomas returned the bow. “Good. I have had enough of these assaults.”
“How did they get in?” George asked not taking note of the lion being mostly naked and colored jet back.
“We closed off all the tunnels the Lutins had dug but we forgot those the Seuilman themselves built,” Nestorius explained.
“I thought we got all of those tunnels,” George commented calmly.
“We missed one,” the mage countered and shrugged. “It was bound to happen. Old towns like this are usually riddled with forgotten places tucked into odd corners.”
George nodded in agreement. “What of the mage? Is he dead?”
“I killed him but he refused to stay dead,” Nestorius answered.
George shook his head. “Just like a mage to not play by the rules.”
“He is gone Sire,” the feline mage said. “And will not be back for a long time. Later I might pursue him and finish our duel but not today.”
Amelia rushed forward and wrapped her arms around the lion. She hugged him tightly and placed her head on his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and they kissed passionately.
“Are you all right?” Amelia asked concerned as she examined his body carefully. Running her hands over his leonine form gently.
“I’m fine. Worn and tired but all right.”
“Why are you naked and colored as black as coal?” the woman asked.
“Unexpected side effect of a spell,” he explained. “And I am not entirely naked,” he added sounding a little upset.
“At least you aren’t covered with oatmeal this time,” she commented. Amelia ran her fingers through his black mane. “Will it come off?”
He shrugged. “I’m not certain.”
“I think the black makes you look sexy!” she commented and kissed him on the muzzle.
“I think the fact he’s naked makes him sexy looking,” someone joked.
“I think!” Thomas said calmly. “If he came through a battle with a mage and all he lost was his dignity then that is a great victory.”
George nodded slowly. “Any battle you survive is a victory.”
“We did more then survive,” Thomas said. “This was a clear victory!”
The building was still far from done. The plaster over the new brick walls was still wet in some places. But the walls themselves were strong and the roof overhead was of new timber and slate and would weather the years well. The forge itself looked far better then when they had first seen it. The debris had been cleared away and the damage carefully repaired. The flooring underneath their paws had been relayed with brick and tightly mortared. Panno had been forced to wait impatiently for a week for the mortar to dry before they could walk on it. The wait had been well worth it as the new floor was level and strong.
Panno fussed over the coal they received and he and Matthew spent a long time arraigning the coal in just the right places in the forge and then placing the tinder and kindling over that. Finally everything looked correct to Panno. The beardog placed a small piece of kindling and placed it on the floor in front of the forge. He knelt next to the small pile and took two pieces of flint from his pocket. He struck the two pieces of flint together producing a small spray of sparks onto the tinder. He struck them again and again until the tinder started to smoke. He very gently blew onto the tinder until the smoke gave way to open flames.
The blacksmith took the now burning tinder and placed it in the forge making sure there was plenty of tinder and coal touching it. The fire took hold and spread slowly till all the tinder was alight. The beardog took a small bellows and pumped on it fanning the flames. After a few minutes the tinder burned away and the fire died down but it did not die. Instead in a dozen small spots the coal glowed. That glow grew in strength as the rest of the coal caught alight. Soon the entire forge was alight and a warmth and bright orange glow filled the forge. That glow and warmth quickly spread throughout the entire room and then through the walls and ceiling and into the rest of the building.
“That’s nice,” Amanda said as she wrapped her arms around Panno.
The bull nodded his head and extended his hands out to feel the warmth even more. “It does feel good!” Matthew commented.
Panno wrapped his arms around his wife and kissed her. “It’s good to be home.”
The lion carefully removed the rolled up sheets of paper and parchment from the tube and laid them gently on the table. There was over a score of documents in the pile.
The beardog peered at the documents closely. “They look new!” Panno commented. “Not even a smudge of dirt on them.”
The lion nodded. “The tube itself contains preservation magic of considerable power. Whoever produced it wanted these documents protected at all costs.”
Nestorius slowly unrolled a parchment document and was rewarded with a large map. “A complete map of the Seuilman fortress including all the underground spaces!” he said cheerfully. “This will be most helpful!”
He unrolled another one and it revealed itself to be a map of considerable size, over two feet long. The mage and the smith peered at it closely.
“Looks like a map of the valley,” Panno said. He pointed to a line of inverted arrows. “See that is the ridge line just north of Iron Mines.” His hand moved to the top of the map where a dark black line went from one side to the other. “That’s Giant’s dike.”
“Very interesting!” Nestorius purred. “I have never seen a map of the valley from this period that was so complete.”
The next parchment was only slightly smaller then the last one. “This is the map of a city. One of good size.” The lion pointed to the center of the map. “There is the basilica where the government was conducted from.”
“Which city is it?” Panno asked.
The lion traced a long talon along a word written in black ink at the top of the paper. “Camulodunum. This is a map of the city of Camulodunum.”
“Camulodunum?” Where was that?” Panno asked with a puzzled look on his face. “There’s nothing that large here in the valley.”
“Not now but in the past there was. Today all this is ruins,” the lion said sweeping his hands across the map. “And covered by the forest called Haunted woods.”
“You mean those woods were once a city? This city?” Panno asked amazed tapping the map with a hand. “I’d heard stories about the ruins in there but I never knew they were true! Amazing!”
The feline nodded slowly. “The Lutins destroyed it utterly.” Nestorius examined the city map closely. “This is a complete map of the city. Perhaps the only one in existence. Very few records of any sort survived the sacking of the city. These might be all that survived.”
“That’s sad.” Panno said shaking his head. “Such a fine city and the only thing left is some rubble and a few sheets of paper.”
“Time is often harsh with the little things we make. Someday we might reclaim that place. Just as we reclaimed this place and the city will grow again from the ruins,” the lion said wistfully. “But no time soon.” He looked at Panno calmly. “A full examination will take a long time. Months, perhaps years. I will pay you three thousand gold pieces for the contents of this case right now. And I promise more if they prove more valuable later as I examine them.”
Misha and his troops returned just after dawn. The troops moving up the road in two long columns with Misha at their head. They all moved with the slow, weary gait of a tired soldiers coming back from a long campaign.
George and Thomas were standing near the gate to the fortress waiting and watching as the group slowly came towards them. He noted many were bandaged and several were being carried on stretchers. He also saw several large human shaped bundles being gently carried on other stretchers. That sight made the jackal morph look the left of him where a long line of cloth wrapped bodies was laid carefully in front of the gate.
Misha’s ears perked up and his tail wagged slightly when he caught sight of George. The fox pointed to those carrying the bundles and then to the long line of dead. Without a word the soldiers gently placed their burdens in the line of the dead. The bodies joining their brethren. All would be solemnly laid to rest in the cemetery before nightfall.
When he was a few steps away Misha stopped in front of George and Thomas and bowed deeply.
“Report,” George barked.
“The ambush went off perfectly. We killed over two hundred and thirty Lutins, a ogre and a score of humans. The rest scattered and ran.”
“The cost?” George asked.
“Four dead and a dozen wounded. What did it cost us here?" Misha asked.
George pointed to the line of cloth wrapped bodies laid carefully near the gate. “We lost a lost of good people."
Misha looked at the bodies and shook his head slowly as his tail and ears drooped.
"But we held,” George commented softly.
“Yes, we held,” Thomas added. “And that means a lot fewer good people will be joining them."
Misha nodded slowly. "Yes. Thankfully. They died a good death. An honorable one.”
"And one day Nasoj will fall, and our dead will rest in peace while children play in the fields without fear,” Thomas intoned in a firm voice.
"Until then, we keep fighting,” George added.
Thomas and the fox scout nodded in unison. "Agreed,” Misha added.
“But for now, I think I'll settle for a drink,” George pointed to Thomas. “You're buying.”
“Thomas was startled by the temerity of the statement, and then they all starts laughing. "Mercenary."
Two weeks later
The hall was far from finished. The walls were unpainted, bearing only the initial coat of plaster. The floors still needed more sanding before being waxed and varnished. But warm, cheery fires burned brightly in the four fireplaces scattered around the hall. Tables and chairs all as new as the hall filled the room giving the hundred people in it places to sit, eat and drink. All of which they did with great abandon.
“It was a fine ceremony,” Misha said sipping his drink.
George nodded. “Not overdone like too many.”
“Thomas has always been less ostentatious then other nobles,” Misha commented. “But it was sincere. The Duke truly meant what he said.”
“That was good. I am tired of nobles who say one thing but do another.” The jackal took a long drink and nodded his head. “I like this Duke he’s a fine leader.”
Misha understood that George was paying the Horse Duke a very high compliment. Few earned praise like that from the old bandit.
George stood up and the noisy crowd in front of him quieted down. The hall in front of him was filled with over a hundred people – the scouts that he commanded. “We’ve done very well!” George said to the crowd. “We’ve taken a fortress by storm and reclaimed some of OUR land. We made Nasoj respond to OUR attacks. We ATTACKED HIM! We burned the Lutins homes and drove them out.”
The group broke out into cheering and George had to stop for a moment till the shouts had died down.
“We killed over a thousand Lutins!” George said proudly. “We are supposed to get five gold per kill. Thomas only gave us one gold each. But we don’t mind.” The scout leader pointed to his cuff. On it was sewn a gold bow. The emblem of the new scout branch!
The group broke out into raucous cheering and clapping and stamping their feet. George let them celebrate for a moment before holding up his hand. The group fell silent instantly.
“I only have 3 standing orders. KILL! SMASH! And drive them from our land!” The room exploded into cheering and whistling and clapping.
George held up his cup to Nestorius who was seated next to him. The lion looked regal dressed all in blue and gold. His fur was still as black as it had been that night in the cistern. Far from making him look odd it actually made him look more formidable and ominous. Good things for a mage and a nobleman. Seated next to him was Amelia. The woman was wearing a gown of the finest silk dyed a deep, rich blue. “I congratulate on being appointed commander of this fortress! I can think of no one better.”
The lion nodded his head and stood up. “I congratulate you on being named Scout Commander. “I do wish to proudly announce that Amelia is expecting our first child!”
“She’s pregnant? Already?” Misha shouted. “You two didn’t waste any time! I knew you wanted a family but this is fast!”
George quieted all the laughter with a wave of the hand. “Congratulations. New lands to command, a new fortress to finish, a new home to live in and a new life to nurture and raise. A fine future.”
A murmur of agreement ran through the room.
Misha stood up, holding a mug. “To the future!”