V
"This is a much better pace. I don't actually feel like someone is trying to kill me."
"Well I'm glad you're happy, Wyszemir," Xaviar grumbled, throwing a cold glance over his shoulder at the necromancer. Wyszemir smiled a bit as he uncorked his waterskin and sat down against the edge of a long, low sandstone embankment jutting out of the desert.
"And stopping at midday," Wyszemir added, watching Snowhammer simply flop to the ground under the shade of the embankment. Tara took a seat just out of the sun's rays, and Stasya was already practically pushing herself into a small hole in the embankment's side to escape the heat. Even stoic Io moved in out of the sun, leaving Xaviar alone standing on a small, roughly square hunk of basalt just outside of the meager shade. "I am truly glad you have discovered the benefits of resting."
"And we were getting along so well," Snowhammer interjected, lying flat on his back with his eyes closed. After a second he sat up again, and caught a waterskin that Io tossed from their undead packhorse. "Can't we just pretend to like each other for a few minutes?"
"Xaviar, come in out of the sun and have a drink," Io stated simply, holding out a full waterskin for the paladin. Xaviar cast one last look to the desert to the north, but the only objects between the small band and the distant ridges were small sheets of basalt and sandstone half buried in the sand. Finally, the paladin took advantage of the shade, and retrieved the waterskin from the Amazon's outstretched hand. For a long moment the six travelers sat in silence, drinking their fill after their long morning march.
"You think we'll reach those ridges by the end of the day?" Snowhammer finally asked, breaking the silence. Wyszemir narrowed his eyes slightly, gazing out at their distant goal.
"We'll see," Io said, judging the distance for herself. Wyszemir smiled slightly at the Amazon's tactful dodge of the question.
"No," the necromancer said simply. "We'll need at least another day or so to reach the ridges. Especially with the heat building the way it is."
"The demons came out a long way to make their assault," Stasya commented idly.
"They don't have much of a choice," Xaviar explained. "There aren't any other natural defensible positions for a large group near the roads. If they had built a fortress, they would have been too obvious."
"Besides, I'm certain the demons had better ways of getting back to their lair than walking," Wyszemir added. "There are all kinds of magic that can quickly transport a group from one place to another."
"I wish we knew what they were," Tara said impatiently. "We're wasting time here."
"Ah, the impatience of youth," Wyszemir said wistfully, turning to the young sorceress. Tara rolled her eyes in disgust. "So tell me, spellcaster, what is it that drives you so hard to find these demons? We know that Xaviar would blindly chase a good cause across a desert, but what is it that motivates you?"
"My need to get this over with and get away from you," Tara replied coldly. Stasya laughed.
"She's been infected by Xaviar's holier-than-thou speeches," the assassin remarked, absently rubbing at something on the emerald pommel of her kris blade. "She's going to become a paladin, just like her hero."
"Better a paladin than an assassin," Tara stated, her words dripping with venom.
"Yes, but not nearly so profitable," Stasya countered with an obviously false smile.
"It's harder to tell how far off something is out here," Snowhammer said, trying to change the conversation before the two young women could come to blows. "Back in the north, you could tell how far off something was by taking stock of other landmarks between you and your goal. Here, there's really nothing to judge by. I don't know how the people out here do it."
"It takes a lot of practice," Io answered, seizing the opportunity to keep her companions from fighting. "That, and you just need to know the basic lay of the land, I guess."
"Did you hear something?" Stasya asked. Io turned back to her, confused, but before she could speak, a brilliant shock of lightning exploded on the embankment almost directly above the assassin.
Wyszemir turned quickly, already preparing his spells as a group of feline humanoids rushed over the embankment with sabers and javelins at the ready. The necromancer raised his shield in time to deflect one of the javelins, then threw off a spell of his own. Ghostly teeth exploded from the pale man's hand, streaking forward and ripping through the studded leather armor of the lead Saber Cat. With his immediate attacker slowed, Wyszemir turned quickly and threw off a second spell, this one to amplify the damage that the Saber Cats that were swarming in on Snowhammer. The barbarian's huge maul slammed down on one cat's head just as the spell took effect, and the feline's skull exploded under the force of the blow.
Two more Saber Cats rushed in on Wyszemir, joining their injured companion, but Stasya suddenly appeared in their way, ducking under one sweeping slash and gutting the injured feline with a swift strike of her own. The assassin backed off a step as she was struck in the side by another saber, but she had already bought Wyszemir more than enough time to conjure his golem back into existence. The clay construct growled slightly as it lumbered forward and slammed its fists down on one surprised raider, but Wyszemir had already abandoned his construct to its own instincts as he launched another flurry of teeth at the approaching Saber Cats. Stasya dropped back to the necromancer as he threw up his shield to block another javelin, casting out an arc of shocking energy around her to hold off the press of their attackers.
"We could really use one or two of your skeletal buddies!" the assassin shouted, blocking a jagged saber with her buckler and stabbing into a Saber Cat with her kris. The wounded raider fell back as the kris blade's poison coursed into its bloodstream, but two more Saber Cats were more than willing to fill the gap. Wyszemir glanced across the battlefield to make certain that Xaviar would not strike down his creations, but the paladin and Io were engaged in fierce combat of their own. Io fought with cool determination, showing no emotion as she impaled one Saber Cat and then and then launched a flurry of jabs through another pair, but Xaviar was a whirlwind of rage, driving back his enemies with a hail of powerful blows that could only come from a paladin's Zeal. The necromancer smiled and turned back to his enemies, blocking away another strike with his bone shield and pointing to a pair of the slain Saber Cats on the ground.
One skeleton rose from the bodies, casting off skin and flesh in a grisly pool of congealing blood, then another, each one wielding a short sword and carrying a round shield. Wyszemir pointed to a third fallen Saber Cat, and a third skeleton ripped free of its flesh, this one with its hands wreathed in crackling electricity. The necromancer considered adding a few more skeletons to his group of constructs, but Xaviar was already close to finishing off his group and the small group of reinforcements was already performing effectively. Stasya ducked through a pair of javelins and came up in front of another Saber Cat, ripping up through the feline's chest with her kris from its waist to its jaw. With the sudden ambush already drawing to a close, Wyszemir backed off a few steps, watching Xaviar tear through the last of his enemies with a thunderous vengeance. A series of ice bolts and ice blasts warded off a last group of Saber Cats, unleashed by Tara, while Snowhammer's devastating accuracy and skill with his maul was more than a match for even four of the feline raiders. A last sickening crack issued out from one last Saber Cat as Wyszemir's golem crushed its enemy's head in its hands, but as suddenly as it began, the ambush had ended. Two Saber Cats tried to scramble back over the embankment and flee, but Stasya drew her hand back and threw off a pair of crystalline shards that exploded into flame just in front of the Saber Cats. Snowhammer overtook them with a monstrous leap as they stalled, smashing his maul down on one even as he landed. Tara finished the last one with an ice blast before it could try to attack the barbarian. For a moment the battlefield fell silent but for the quiet crackle of lightning around the skeleton mage's hands.
"Well, that wasn't such a chore," Wyszemir said, smiling slightly and kicking one of the dead felines. Xaviar turned to the necromancer, glaring for a long moment as he saw the skeletons and golem awaiting their next orders.
"Dismiss them," the paladin snarled, gesturing with his grand scepter at the skeletons.
"Now I kept the skeletons to a minimum," the necromancer said, folding his arms across his chest. "I think we could use the extra sets of hands. Every expedition needs porters."
"The pack horse is enough," Xaviar stated. "Dismiss them."
"We were nearly ambushed by Saber Cats," Wyszemir said. Although he continued to lock eyes with Xaviar, he began addressing Io more than the paladin. "If not for Stasya's charged bolt trap, we may very well have been killed. I think the skeletons will make excellent sentries. Don't you, Io?"
Io hesitated for a long moment. Wyszemir easily saw what he had been aiming for in the Amazon's eyes as her tactical side argued the use of three tireless sentries with her emotional side.
"Dismiss them, or I will dismiss them for you," Xaviar warned. Wyszemir's grin became notably colder.
"Try," the necromancer challenged. Xaviar took a step forward, but Io pushed him back with one hand.
"One skeleton," the Amazon stated. "One skeleton, and the golem."
"No skeletons," Xaviar said.
"One skeleton," Io reiterated, turning to the paladin. "He's right about needing sentries. And it's not like they were human skeletons. So let it go."
"I don't like it, but right now we could use as many fighters as we can get," Snowhammer said. "Just one skeleton won't be too bad. Right?"
Xaviar glared at Io, furious. The Amazon expected some kind of barrage from the man, but the paladin simply turned and stalked off into the desert, taking up the journey to the ridges once more.
"Good riddance," Stasya said, pulling a pouch of gold coins from the belt of one of the Saber Cats.
"Get your things," Io stated curtly. "Break's over. We're leaving."
"But we haven't checked the bodies for go- I mean, for any healing potions," Stasya complained.
"Get up and let's get moving," Io ordered. The assassin stood, anger growing in her own eyes, but Wyszemir put a hand on her shoulder.
"Easy now," the necromancer said quietly. Io watched the pair for a moment, but then turned and started off into the desert. Snowhammer hesitated for a moment, but then followed the Amazon. Tara stayed close by the barbarian's side, casting a quick glance over her shoulder at Wyszemir and Stasya. "Now is not the time," the necromancer continued as the other four walked out of earshot. "There will be plenty of opportunities to gather the spoils of war later."
"There better be," Stasya grumbled. "Xaviar needs to have an accident."
"Not now," Wyszemir said. "He is simply… misguided."
"I'll misguide him," Stasya growled, clenching her hand around the hilt of her kris. Wyszemir chuckled.
"I bet you would," the necromancer said. Slowly he started after the group, calling his golem and all three skeletons to his side. "We'd better get moving, or they'll get too far ahead."
"Aren't you going to dismiss two of the skeletons?" Stasya asked, watching the necromancer and his entourage.
"When they ask me to again," Wyszemir replied nonchalantly. Stasya hesitated for a moment, then looked back to the fallen Saber Cats near her. A quick glance brought nothing of value to her attention, but as she turned to follow Wyszemir, a reddish gleam caught her eye. Kneeling down, the assassin quickly rifled the Saber Cat's sash, and came up with an ornate crimson jewel in a gold setting. Smiling at her find, Stasya tucked the jewel into her own sash and hurried after the rest of the band.
VI
"Okay, we're here. Where are the demons?"
"I would think they're using some caves in the rocks," Xaviar answered, a sharp edge to his voice. Stasya simply ignored the paladin as she looked up at the seemingly infinite number of chasms, trails, and sheer cliffs.
"I don't see any caves," the assassin noted, a bit of irritability in her own voice. Since the fight against the Saber Cats the previous day, only Tara and Snowhammer had made any conversation at all, speaking quietly together when they thought they might have been out of earshot. To Stasya, it was obvious that Snowhammer was keenly interested in bedding the sorceress, but Tara tactfully warded off any advances the barbarian had made. Io and Xaviar were no longer on speaking terms, and Wyszemir was naturally antisocial to begin with. "So, where are all your caravan hostages?"
"Why don't you go scout ahead a little bit?" Xaviar snapped, turning on the girl. Once again, Io stepped between the two before a fight could begin.
"We find the hostages, and then we can kill each other," Io said sternly, looking from one to the other. "Understood?"
Xaviar and Stasya traded cold glances, but each one turned away to regard the ridges again.
"I'll send my skeletons," Wyszemir suggested. With relations strained to the breaking point, no one had asked for the necromancer to dismiss any of his minions a second time, and Wyszemir had simply kept all three in his entourage. "They should be able to find any nearby caves or demonic lairs."
"We're being watched," Snowhammer suddenly put in, looking up at a particularly tall ridge. Stasya followed the barbarian's line of sight to a four armed, spindly form silhouetted against the late afternoon sun, but it disappeared in only moments.
"So much for surprise," the assassin said. "But we know we're in the right place."
"More or less," Snowhammer said. "We still don't know exactly where they're all hiding."
"We're not going to find out by just standing here," Tara noted, brushing past the barbarian and making her way through the rocks.
"I, uh, guess we'd better follow," Snowhammer said, shrugging his shoulders in confusion at the sorceress' impatience. Xaviar nodded.
"Watch for an ambush or a trap," the paladin warned. "Especially now that they know we're coming."
Snowhammer and Xaviar started into the rocks after Tara, and after another few seconds Io followed her three companions. Wyszemir took a step forward, then turned to Stasya.
"You might want to flank out," the necromancer suggested.
"Better than waiting in a line to die," Stasya agreed. Wyszemir nodded his agreement, then took his skeletons and golem and started up through the rocks after the rest of the band. Stasya waited once second more before she made her own way up through the rocks on the group's left, sheathing her kris and stealthily climbing through the boulders and crevices that covered the ridges. As she moved, she kept one eye on Wyszemir, trailing the rest of the small group, and one eye on the rocks around her. With their presence already known, the assassin was certain that it would only be a matter of time before they were attacked by the demons that made their home in the formations.
It took only a short amount of time for Stasya to begin finding the evidence of demons in the area. Nothing grew in the ridges except for the occasional, scraggly sagebrush, and what few animals she found had been killed and torn to pieces. Odd, unidentifiable footprints marred the sandy floors of crevices and fissures, while the sandstone had in some places been chipped or broken by the heavy clubs the Blunderbores favored. The assassin continued to creep through the jagged ridges, ready to face an enemy at any moment, but as she descended out of sight of the rest of the band and into a short fissure, Stasya found the demons' dumping ground.
Even Stasya, hardened by her career as a killer, could not help but stop and stare in revulsion at the scene before her. Flies hummed in the air, buzzing in contentment around a half dozen pikes that had been driven into the ground. Each pike impaled the remains of a human, most dressed as caravan guards or the city watch from Lut Gholein itself. More skeletons were scattered across the ground, some still dressed in the last tattered remains of long destroyed armor or robes. A terrible stench filled the air as Stasya took one hesitant step forward, nearly making her gag from the overwhelming odor of rotting flesh. The assassin put one hand over her nose and mouth and took another small step forward, trying to decide if it was worth trying to go through the morbid site or find another way around it.
A glitter made up her mind for her. Under a pile of bones, something glistened in a shaft of sunlight that pierced the rocks. Steeling her will, Stasya crept forward, keeping one hand over her mouth and one hand on the emerald hilt of her kris, her eyes darting from side to side to make certain that whatever had left this massacre site was not about to return. She stopped as she thought she heard some kind of bizarre chittering, but it died away before she could even be certain that her mind was not playing tricks on her. Several smooth, glistening stones lay half buried beneath the sand, but she could finally make out the glitter that had caught her attention in the first place. Putting the last of her fears aside and moving with more confidence, the assassin reached the skeleton and pushed the bones out of the way. A smile came to her face as she knelt down and picked a silver ring set with a glimmering opal out of the remains.
A wave of electricity suddenly boiled up out of the sand, catching the assassin completely by surprise and hurling her back a full ten feet. Smoking and stunned, Stasya stumbled back against the wall of the tiny canyon, trying to regain complete control of her body as the "stones" in the grave site began to rise up out of the sands. Huge beetles reared up out of the ground, bearing mandibles at least as long as the assassin's kris blade and sporting wicked hooks on their front two legs. Stasya turned to run back for the mouth of the canyon, but two of the huge insects were already in her way. Frantically the assassin spun around, but the beetles had already surrounded her on three sides, and behind her the crevice wall was a perfectly vertical, relatively smooth sheet of rock. As the beetles surrounded her, one, its carapace a brilliant blue that shimmered with an electric intensity, moved ahead of the group. Its huge, black compound eyes seemed to hold an angry glint as it regarded the human that had entered its territory.
"If you want the ring back, you can have it," Stasya offered, trying to buy time to make her muscles work properly. She could already feel the effects of her shock wearing off, but the assassin doubted she could take all of the Scarab Beetles surrounding her. The apparent leader took another step forward, then made a bizarre sound that the assassin could only guess was its language.
Then they all charged.
Stasya feinted left and then bolted right, hoping that she could open a hole in the beetles' line, but the insects did not fall for the trick for a second. The assassin lashed out quickly, her blade making solid contact with her first attacker, but the beetle's tough carapace deflected too much of the blow to allow her poisoned weapon to do its job. Electricity crackled around her as two more of the beetles discharged shock waves, but Stasya forced herself to stay on her feet as every muscle in her body twitched spasmodically. The assassin pushed forward, driving her kris to the hilt ion another beetle as she let out a shriek of pain, then spun and kicked out viciously to send another sprawling backwards on the sand. Ripping her blade free, Stasya spun and called upon her Psychic Hammer, hitting the apparent leader dead on and forcing it away from her. More electricity burned her from the left, but Stasya did not allow herself to worry about the pain as she whirled again and managed to block a potentially lethal claw strike on her right. With her vision blurring from the repeated shocks and still trying desperately to hold off multiple attackers, the assassin sent a Blade Sentinel flashing off to her right and focused her concentration on her left, praying that she would have enough strength to hold off at least four beetles and their powerful leader. She managed to deflect two claw strikes from the demonic insects on her left, but never saw their leader launch an assault of its own until it was far too late. The beetle's hooks dug into her thigh through her studded leather armor, dragging her to the ground with an agonizing scream. Even as she hit the ground the beetle leaned down over her, its mandibles ready to tear into her throat.
Stasya's shield suddenly moved almost of its own accord, putting itself directly in line with the Scarab Beetle's assault. The insect's mandibles screeched across the metal surface of her buckler as Stasya recognized a paladin's Defiance aiding her, buying the assassin enough time to stab forward with her kris blade. The beetle let out an ear piercing, pain filled shriek of its own, but its maddening chattering was lost in a disgusting cracking sound that came from one of Snowhammer's devastating leap attacks. As one Scarab Beetle fell to the ground, Xaviar found his way through and took up the fight for Stasya, while Wyszemir launched a barrage of teeth at more of the Scarab Beetles moving in on the group. Io hung back only a few feet as she hurled javelins at the insects, and Tara's ice blasts froze another pair of beetles in their tracks. At the other end of the canyon, Wyszemir's golem ponderously hammered away at a last Scarab Beetle, trampling the powdered remains of the necromancer's fallen skeletons. Practically straddling the assassin, Xaviar called upon his Vengeance once more, and a terrible shockwave of fire, ice, and electricity tore through the canyon as the paladin finally shattered the insect's exoskeleton and smashed its brains. Xaviar stumbled and nearly fell on top of the assassin, but managed to right himself at the last moment. The last of the electrical bursts faded out as Snowhammer and Tara combined to finish off the last Scarab Beetle, leaving a sharp tang of ozone in the air.
"Well, my skeletons are gone now," Wyszemir pointed out with a bit of a chuckle. The necromancer examined his badly battered golem, and shook his head. "Too bad about you too, boy," Wyszemir said. With a final pat to the broken construct's flat head, the golem faded back into the ground.
"Quite a miserable place you found, Stasya," Io remarked, appraising the now scorched remains of the humans. Tara nodded in agreement, wrinkling her nose in disgust. Xaviar turned and offered his hand to the bloody and battered Stasya. For a long moment the assassin stared up at him, trying to read the man's face, but she could still not figure out why he had so blatantly risked his life for her.
"Thank you," was all she could say.
"It's what paladins do," Xaviar explained simply. "Come on. Take my hand."
Stasya nodded wordlessly, still expecting something more from the paladin. As he lifted her back to her feet, Wyszemir came to her side, and held out a small healing potion.
"Got into a bit of a scrape, did we, dear?" the necromancer assumed.
"They ambushed me," Stasya informed him. Wyszemir smiled as he looked at the ring that the assassin still clutched in her shield hand.
"I'm certain," the necromancer said with a faint nod to her prize. Then he turned to the slain beetles, regarding the apparent leader with a bit of a wistful grin. "Ah, poor Dragonhack the Sharp. So terribly nasty, and yet so utterly killable. Nice shot, Xaviar."
"That thing has a name?" Snowhammer asked, surprised. Wyszemir looked up with amusement obvious on his face.
"I don't know if he picked it out, but the villagers in the eastern reaches of the Tamoe Highlands, where it borders the desert, gave him the name.," the death mage explained. "Some of these things do earn a name for themselves, even among the humans they terrorize."
"I think I heard of this one," Io added, casting away a javelin that had shattered against the tough carapace of one of the beetles. "A lot of villagers will rest easier, now that this demon has met its end."
"You think our Blunderbore friends might know we're here now?" Wyszemir inquired with a smirk, standing up from Dragonhack's putrid corpse. Xaviar nodded.
"If they somehow didn't know already, they couldn't have missed that fight," the paladin confirmed, hanging his scepter on his belt again.
"Well look at this," Snowhammer suddenly said, kneeling down where Stasya had originally found the silver ring. The rest of the group turned as the barbarian pulled a decaying wooden box from the sand, and then retrieved a suit of scale mail that somehow maintained its brilliant finish. "You don't mind if I keep this, do you? My ring mail's kind of ragged."
"I don't see why not," Xaviar said, looking around. "Unless anyone else has a problem with it?"
"I'll keep my chain mail," Io said. Tara shook her head, indicating that she would not take the armor either. Stasya appraised her ripped armor, then regarded the scale mail for a moment.
"A bit too heavy for me," she finally said.
"It's all yours," Xaviar said. He pulled a small scroll out of his pack, and handed it to the barbarian. "You might want to try this. With this armor's quality, it's bound to be magical."
"Thanks," Snowhammer said, taking the scroll. Stasya glanced down at her ring, wondering if she should ask for another of the scrolls to see if her own prize was magical, but thought better of it and simply tucked the ring away in her belt pouch.
"Well, while he does that, what do we do now?" Tara inquired. "Whether or not this bug was such a terrible threat, it's still not the one responsible for the caravan attack."
"No, but he did lead us to the right place," Io said, looking up. Wyszemir followed her line of sight, and nodded.
"That's the place," the necromancer confirmed. "I'd bet my life on it."
"What's the place?" Tara asked, looking from the Amazon to the necromancer.
"That little hole up there," Wyszemir said, pointing. Tara could make out a hole in the sandstone almost thirty feet above them. "The Blunderbores throw their garbage out that chute. Dragonhack and his Scarab Beetles will scavenge just as readily as they will kill fresh meat."
"So, how do we get up there?" Tara asked. Wyszemir turned to Stasya.
"Are you feeling well enough to climb yet?" the necromancer inquired.
"Ready as I'll ever be," the assassin replied. She handed her kris over to the necromancer, then examined the rock face for a moment. "Rope?"
"Ah, yes," Wyszemir said, turning back to the undead packhorse and removing a length of rope from the equipment. "Do be careful.," the necromancer said. "Let us know when you tie it off."
Stasya nodded, then turned to the rock face. Carefully the assassin began to climb up the sandstone, reaching the top with only one slight slip halfway up. Stasya disappeared for a moment inside the hole, then dropped the rope to the ground. The assassin signaled a thumbs up to the rest of her allies, then moved back inside the chute.
"Ladies first," Wyszemir offered, turning to Io. The Amazon simply frowned at him, then started the climb to the top. Snowhammer started up next, clad in his new scale mail, then Tara. Xaviar took hold of the rope next, then looked back to Wyszemir.
"What are you going to do with the pack horse?" the paladin inquired.
"Can't take it with us," Wyszemir replied. "I'll have it wait here. We already have all the potions, so that will not be a concern."
"Then we'll find it on the way out," Xaviar said. Wyszemir nodded.
"Your captives await your heroic rescue," the necromancer said, gesturing to the rope. Xaviar turned and started up the rope, leaving the necromancer at the bottom. Finally, Wyszemir took hold of the rope himself, and climbed up to the demons' garbage chute.
