Realm of the Dead, page 25
part #1 of Empire Paladin Series
“So you’re the battering ram?” Atrael stated flatly.
“In a manner of speaking, I suppose that’s a good way to put it,” replied Camila.
“And should we be lucky enough to reach Vhaldrynn, you’ll keep us safe like some guardian angel,” Talitha said with a touch of sarcasm in her voice.
“I will destroy any enemy that comes to Vhaldrynn’s aid. We cannot afford to be overwhelmed once we reach him. All the more reason that you and Atrael need to kill him as fast as you can.”
“Atrael and I shall make short work of him,” Talitha declared confidently.
“Do not underestimate him,” warned Camila. “He is a master swordsman and highly skilled at martial combat. Attack with everything you have and just put an end to him.”
“His death will be swift, Camila,” Atrael replied. “Just keep everything else off of us.”
“That shall not be a problem,” Camila promised.
* * *
Several hours passed with the tension mounting with every minute. The fingers on Camila’s hand had begun to ache so tightly did she grip the handle of her warhammer. Opening and flexing her hands, she attempted to relieve the tendons. She closed her eyes and tried to breathe slowly to calm the clamor of her nerves.
A growing sound in the distance did not at first seem ominous. It was a rustling, whispering noise like stalks of wheat rubbing against each other. It mingled subtly with the sighing of the breeze.
It was the sight of the undead army that chilled the paladins’ blood. Silver, cold pinpoints of light issued from each of the corpses eyes. This hideous spectacle of thousands upon thousands of glittering orbs advancing through the night nearly shook the paladins’ resolve. There seemed to be no end to them, like stars of the underworld.
Camila swept her gaze over the advancing horde and was momentarily perplexed by what looked to be glittering pinpoints of light that marched nearer to the ground. Were those undead dogs or other animals of some sort? Then she realized what they were. Children. So many children. Camila retched. The horror of those children having been slaughtered and turned into undead nearly caused her to collapse. She did not believe she could witness anything more hideous.
And then she did. It was the corpse of a half-naked woman. The woman was—or had been—pregnant, her massive swollen belly shining in the moonlight. And something was moving within that belly. Camila thought she could discern something pressing against that belly, trying to get out. She could stand it no longer. She looked hurriedly away. But not before she saw—or thought she saw—a tiny hand rip through the belly and two small glittering pinpoints of light peering from the hole within the swollen abdomen. She dared not look back again to confirm that hideous sight.
Vhaldrynn must be stopped. The evil he has wrought is beyond comprehension.
The soldiers at the chokepoint near the southern end of the valley must have seen the advancing army as they quickly lit up their bonfires to provide a clear field of vision. Longbow men loosed flaming arrows out over the advancing undead host. The light from the flaming arrows provided an even more horrific view of their enemy. Relentless. Mindless. Corpses of all manner with no other purpose than to end all life. They were the rotting bodies of farmers, soldiers, paladins, women, children, nobles, servants; the makeup of this unholy army was indiscriminate. They carried as great a variety of weapons ranging from everyday tools such as pitchforks, shovels, mallets, and wooden stakes; to typical military arms such as swords, spears, and axes. Whatever could serve as an instrument of death, the undead carried it.
The three paladins watched as the horrors marched over the valley floor beneath them, the companions so still in their observation they might have been turned to stone.
Talitha drew in a sharp intake of breath. “Oh my God, Camila! He’s raised a hideous, massive army. How can any stand against him? With every person he slays, he gains another to add to his battalions.”
“He is overconfident and believes no danger can come to him,” Camila replied. “We must be patient. We must wait for the right time.”
The paladins watched the Risen Dead continue to march past their hideout.
* * *
Lord Markkus Toure was riding up and down his defenses reassuring his soldiers and ordering last minute preparations. He could see the terror and fear in the soldiers’ eyes as they viewed the oncoming army of death. It was all he and Commander Perdain could do to keep the soldiers from bolting in terror.
Fausta was teleporting around and conversing with each of her sorcerers. She was either completely insane or had not the capacity for fear because she was nearly bursting with excitement at finally being able to unleash all of her magical powers.
“When they fill the choke point, rain hell upon them…and I mean that literally,” she instructed her fellow spellcasters. “Well, you can rain whatever you want upon them; ice, sleet, lightning, boulder-size hail…just make sure it kills them! Well…,” she paused thinking, “…kills them again!”
Wild-eyed, she continued to teleport around in a small area, the loud thunderclaps of air displacement sounding like containers of an alchemist’s firepowder exploding. Fausta was so eager for battle to begin that her red hair began to crackle with flashes of lightning.
* * *
The Risen Dead reached the southern end of the valley and began to ascend the slopes. Archers loosed more flaming arrows into their midst lighting the corpses clothes and their dried-out bones afire. Scores of undead became walking torches and were reduced to ash. Catapults and ballista launched boulders and flaming oil into the mass of undead. Sorcerers conjured fireballs and sent down bolts of lightning from the sky to blast undead into cinders. The fresher corpses burst like putrid fruit sending rotting fluids in all directions.
The battle was joined.
* * *
Camila put an arm around Talitha’s shoulders. She could feel her friend trembling slightly. Camila wanted so much to hug her and reassure her that everything would turn out fine.
“Talitha, when we kill Vhaldrynn, I want you to promise me something.”
“What is it, Camila?”
“I want you to promise me that if I should…if I lose control to the demon within me…promise me you will do what is necessary.”
Talitha looked into Camila’s eyes and knew exactly what Camila meant. “I will do what needs to be done, Camila,” she whispered to her friend.
“Thank you, Talitha.”
Camila returned her gaze to the raging battle.
* * *
The chokepoint seemed to be filled sufficiently with enemy, at least to Fausta’s estimation. She began a firestorm above the seething masses that brought a multitude of comet-like spheres of fire down onto the undead. The other sorcerers, taking her cue, began magic storms of their own, hailstorms, blizzards, storms of lightning, ice storms; a veritable pummeling of magic upon the Risen Dead. Corpses fully engulfed in fire marched onward and caused other undead to catch fire as well. It was the most glorious sight Fausta had ever seen.
* * *
Vhaldrynn rode in the midst of his army near the rear. As he saw the storms of magic begin to take shape over his frontal assault, his façade of supreme confidence began to crack. Scowling he beckoned Irina Antal over to him. “Those wizards are taking a huge toll on our numbers. Would you and your warlocks and the necromancers be so kind as to deal with them?”
Irina grinned with eager anticipation. “Vhal, you know that there’s nothing more that we demon-summoners enjoy than killing wizards. It will be our pleasure.” She gathered up her comrades and they began to make their way towards the sorcerers’ positions.
Vhaldrynn turned to a tall, burly, broad-shouldered corpse riding next to him. “Lord Arkon, I think it would be most fitting if you led the bulk of this army to overrun their position at the southern end. Such a perfect irony, don’t you agree?”
Ian Arkon only made a rasping noise in response. He rode from Vhaldrynn with a sea of undead at his back.
Vhaldrynn had to admit that he admired this challenge to his army of dead. It would be short-lived, but still commendable in its attempt.
* * *
Camila saw the break in forces of the Risen Dead. Fausta and her sorcerers were unleashing all manner of magic just as Camila had requested. Vhaldrynn, who was not bold enough to ride at the front of his army, had appeared near the back of it, just as Camila figured he would. Now his minions were thinning out from around him and rushing towards the southern end of the valley. They meant to storm over the defensive barricades and bulwarks.
“Now’s our chance,” Camila declared. “We won’t have another!”
She led her charger out of the cave. Talitha and Atrael followed. Camila clasped a hand to Talitha’s and her other hand to one of Atrael’s.
“Remember, stay close to me and when we are upon Vhaldrynn, put an end to him. Do not hesitate.”
Her friends nodded in understanding.
The paladins mounted on their chargers. Camila’s warhammer began to glow with its radiant, holy light. She spurred her horse towards the undead army below using the light of her hammer to guide her way. Behind her, the weapons of her comrades, Talitha’s shining sword and Atrael’s gleaming mace shone forth with their own radiant, holy lights. The paladins appeared like three blazing spheres of righteous holy fire descending down the slope of the valley.
* * *
An ethereal presence burst forth from the heavens to witness the paladins’ charging into the fray. Camila would have recognized it as the same heavenly being that had spoken to her by the lake shore. The angel began to sing up into the heavens, singing as if an unseen audience resided above.
* * *
Camila neared the edges of the undead forces and swung her warhammer like a holy scythe into their midst. It burst through corpse upon corpse turning each into flaming ash. Again, she brought it around in great arcing swings to knock them aside as she might bundles of straw. Talitha and Atrael rode close behind her, swinging their own weapons out into the teeming masses and sweeping corpses aside like dead weeds.
They rode straight as arrows towards Lord Vhaldrynn Malleus.
* * *
Vhaldrynn saw them out of the corner of his eye. Startled and caught off-guard by the sight of the charging paladins, he jerked at the reins of his horse unsure of how to react. Who could possibly be so bold or so foolish? Did they believe they could reach him through the mass of dead soldiers surrounding him? Did they believe themselves to be like mythic heroes out of some misbegotten legend? This farce of a desperate, last stand had become all the more amusing.
Vhaldrynn directed the forces about him to destroy the oncoming attackers. They would soon realize the ridiculousness of this brash and foolhardy tactic.
Instead, it was to Vhaldrynn’s surprise when his minions simply parted aside for the charging paladin at the point position; the zombies seeming to shrink back from the rider almost as if in fear. Vhaldrynn’s masses of undead should have brought the leader down with minimal effort and then made short work of the others. Rather, his soldiers were being brushed aside like vapors of fog.
Still the riders came toward him, their weapons cutting and tearing through his army. He realized the inevitable. Dismounting from his black stallion, he unsheathed his two gleaming short-swords. They began to glow with cold silver light like the glimmerings that issued forth from the eyes of his corpse army.
“I was beginning to believe there were no challenges left,” he said to himself as he slashed his blades through the air in eager anticipation.
* * *
Faster and faster the three paladins rode, urging even greater speed from their chargers. In the heavens above, the ethereal being of light continued to sing, its divine voice building and intensifying as if to provide the paladins with greater fortitude.
They were now a hundred yards from Vhaldrynn. Camila put spurs to her charger and sent forth another blast of holy light from her warhammer. She was turning so many corpses into ash that she was nearly covered in it. Still she swung and still the undead burst into pieces of dead flesh and rotting guts.
They were fifty yards from Vhaldrynn when Atrael’s warhorse stumbled and fell out from under him.
Chapter 44: FIGHTS TO THE DEATHS
Fausta’s eyes were as wide as saucers behind the lenses of her spectacles. Her hair was standing straight out from her head crackling with brilliant, magical energy. She looked as though she had completely lost her mind. Uttering phrases of some ancient incantation, she raised her hands high above her head, the wand in one hand making intricate signs in the air. A fireball began to form in the sky above the wild-eyed mage. It grew larger and larger and began to illuminate the entire battlefield so great was this sphere of fire. Still Fausta muttered incantations and still the ball of fire grew until it seemed like a miniature sun.
Fausta was sweating with the exertion and effort of focusing the spell. She gazed up into her fiery creation and her mouth quivered. “It’s so beautiful!” she cried out. “It’s glorious! It’s magnificent!” she shrieked in unbridled ecstasy.
Fausta looked back at the battlefield below her and made a heaving motion towards the valley below. The massive fireball, which was now the size of a siege tower, hurtled downward into the Risen Dead. It rolled like a boulder of molten lava burning a tremendous swath through the enemy.
Tears welled up in Fausta’s eyes. They were like the tears of seeing a long-lost, loved one.
* * *
Atrael felt his horse’s right foreleg give way before the steed stumbled and fell to the ground. Knowing that he was going to be thrown, Atrael heaved himself to the right of the horse so that it would not tumble onto him. He hit the ground with teeth-shattering force and rolled to reduce the shock of the impact. Raising his mace high over his head, he slammed it to the ground causing an explosion of holy light that seared through the oncoming undead like a blast of wind through a pile of dead leaves. Well aware that the Risen Dead would be upon him in an instant, he sprang to his feet and ran in the wake of his charging companions. Swinging his mace like a man battling death itself—because it was pretty close to that—he knocked corpses aside that sought to grasp him and bring him down.
Atrael saw Talitha look back. “Don’t stop!” he yelled. “Keep going!” He was not sure if they heard him, but his friends continued the charge.
* * *
Talitha saw Atrael fall from his horse. She glanced back to see him gain his feet and continue running after them. Fighting every ounce of her being to whip her mount around to ride to his aid, she held her steed steady in Camila’s wake. They were so close to Vhaldrynn that they could not stop now, not for anything. She heard Atrael yell out, but dared not look back again fearing that she might see him taken down by the undead minions.
Vhaldrynn was waiting for them. He stood with two gleaming swords by his side. He seemed quite eager for the coming fight.
Both Camila and Talitha swung their weapons at him which he deftly deflected. As they charged by him, he crouched and slashed at the legs of their mounts. Camila jumped off the side of her charger just as Talitha did the same. Their horses, sinew and tendons slashed, lost their balance as their legs buckled.
Sword in hand, Talitha slashed and struck at Vhaldrynn as he dodged and gave ground knocking aside her strikes. Risen dead were converging on the raised knoll of ground that Vhaldrynn had positioned himself upon; rushing to the aid of their master.
“Kill him!” yelled Camila. She swept her warhammer into a group of advancing undead turning them into ashen cinders.
Having full confidence that her friend would keep any zombies off of her, Talitha began to cut and slash at Vhaldrynn with earnest. He was extremely adept at deflecting her swings and staying just out of the arc of her weapon. Camila had been correct, he was an expert swordsman.
Talitha continued to press when suddenly Vhaldrynn stepped inside her swing knocking her sword hand aside. He swung up towards her head with his other sword which she deflected at the last instant by instinctively bringing up her buckler shield. Vhaldrynn then brought his knee into Talitha’s midsection doubling her over and knocking her backward. Talitha fell onto her back gasping and struggling for breath. Vhaldrynn stepped over her and brought a sword down for a fatal strike.
The sword never found its mark.
A gleaming mace flew through the air and struck Vhaldrynn in the shoulder knocking him backward and crashing to the ground. Talitha knew of only one paladin with a mace like that. She looked over to see Atrael coming up the slope of the hilltop. Undead were at his heels, but he was alive.
Thank God he’s alive!
* * *
Fausta could not take her eyes off the massive flaming sphere she’d conjured. She did not even want to blink so that she would not miss an instant of its spectacular, blazing beauty. It was then that she saw a most disturbing sight.
Demons!
Demons were racing towards her in the path that the fire sphere had burnt through the army of undead. They were unscathed, unconcerned with Fausta’s fiery masterpiece.
“Demons!” she raged. “I hate demons! Why do they have to come from a place that consists entirely of fire and thus cannot be burned? That should not be allowed. Fire burns everything and they should burn too!” She clenched her fists and stamped her feet in anger.
A huge, dog-like demon, which looked vaguely like a cross between a mastiff and a rhinoceros with five legs, came bounding up the embankment towards Fausta.
Fausta shrieked in terror, whirled about, and began to run as fast as she could. Attempting to slow the demon’s hideous speed, she conjured huge, solid, blocks of ice and walls of earth to place in its path. The demon-dog burst through each magically-created barrier as though they were made of parchment. Fausta screamed and began using her teleportation spell.
