Well, I'm up to chapter 3 now. I haven't had many reviews, but it doesn't really matter. So far what I've heard was all good. (I'm talking for a while here, so I recommend that you begin reading the chapter and skip my mutterings).
Of course, I do need help with these things, so any suggestions about what should happen would be appreciated by me a lot. Also, if you want any character (created by you, or even you) in this fic, don't hesitate to ask. I'd be more than glad to put anybody in (I've done it before). Anyway, here's my first effort. R&R please, thanks.
Note: Right. This is a bit embarrassing… I'm afraid that I won't be able to include anyone in this chapter despite me saying so due to the circumstances that the chapter starts (In the middle of a cave surrounded by undead. Not a great place to meet people). But believe me, I will include people at the first available chance.
Dedication: To William King, for all the inspiration.
Inspiration: I've just realised that my fic would be non-existent if it wasn't for certain things that had inspired me. First and foremost, I get ideas from books I once read by a bloke called William (or Bill) King. Ulli the Dwarf is based on Gotrek Gurnisson from his book. Adolphus Fell is loosely based on Felix Jaeger. Also, Anomen is inspired by a person of the same name in a Pc game called Baldur's Gate II. Krell is based on a creature created by my friend that he wears printed on his shirt when he goes to his Heavy Metal gigs. I know strange people. Ah well. The beginning of chapter 3 is based on the film 'the mummy' (well, the massacre of shambling undead anyway). Well, anyway, here's chapter three. R&R. Thanks.
Greater Evasion
Part three, Eyes of Krell"I vividly remember that exact moment when Krell faded away and the intense feeling of despair that I felt. But there was no time to rest before our ordeal, as Krell's legions approached the evaders. It was the first time in my life that I believed that I wouldn't live to see sunlight again."
From the diary of Anomen Redwood, hobbiton press.
Ulli Runecarver gripped his axe tightly and laughed. Adolphus Fell and Anomen Redwood didn't laugh, but didn't seem to have to same faces full of despair that were worn by Bongo and Drondee Templewob. Their utter terror wasn't surprising, considering what they faced.
Before them shambled almost thirty or so skeletons. These things were raised by the Undead Lord Krell from his previous army. Ulli almost felt a prang of sadness as he thought of those warriors pulled from their tombs to serve their master once more. However now they were cruel mockeries of men. Created only by dark magic. The dwarf snarled, Krell was undisputedly evil. By raising his army he robbed his warriors of all of their former honour. Ulli knew that this was a terrible thing. Sending the creatures crashing down to earth again was pretty much the most merciful thing to do. The protection runes carved onto his axe glowed so much they were almost blinding. The horde was nearly upon them now. Unlike most undead, these creatures insanely muttered to themselves. Ulli tried to block out the sound of their ravings.
He looked at the apparent leader of the skeletons. Perhaps Krell's Lieutenant in his mortal days, this thing defiantly seemed to have status amongst the other undead. Unlike the others it wore sagging scraps of chainmail armour and a wide brimmed steel helmet, like Krell, the thing's eyes glowed a hellish green. A longsword was in a sheath by its side. In its hand, however, it held a small violin-type instrument. It pranced around tauntingly, playing a fast, yet haunting tune. Ulli felt his senses dulled by the music. He decided to act quickly.
"Die, foul Demon!" He yelled and jumped at the leader. He landed in front of it and swung his axe. Still playing its instrument, the skeletal creature jumped out of the weapon's path with incredible speed. A path seemed to form through the mass of skeletons and the undead musician-leader danced and played straight to the back of the group of skeletons. Ulli charged after it, but the gap soon closed. Ulli felt damp blood on him as the skeletons surrounded him and clawed at his flesh. The mass of bones around him was so tight that Ulli had no room to swing his axe. With a snarl, he smashed a gauntleted hand into the face of a skeleton, turning the things skull to powder. He kicked out his foot, taking off the shins of another. The disabled skeleton gripped his feet tightly. Ulli felt pain and cut after cut appeared on his body. The Dwarf was a mighty warrior, but his recklessness of trying to catch the leader seemed to be his downfall. Still, lashing out, Ulli's vision slowly went black.
* * * *
Adolphus Fell watched in horror as his Dwarven companion was swamped by the skeletal legions. He knew that the Dwarf was incredibly strong and resistant to pain and death, but sheer weight of numbers could destroy anything, there were so many creatures in the swarm that they had lost sight of Ulli. Fell looked over at his companions, the hobbits seemed rooted to the spot with fear. It was up to him and Anomen to save the day. He gestured to his companion, and both of them hurled themselves into the maelstrom of carnage.
Fell's sword flickered through the air. Anomen's warhammer smashed across in massive arcs. Severed and splintered bones flew all around them as the skeletons were decimated. A faint squeal behind them indicated that the hobbits had overcome their fear and had dived into the fray. To their credit, the hobbits were both nimble and strangely good with their weapons. And soon they had cut a swath through the skeletons and uncovered Ulli.
The great Dwarf was alive. Barely. His axe was still clenched in his hand. Blood flowed free over his body. He bled from virtually hundreds of cuts and gashes. His eyes flickered open. He slowly got to his feet and surveyed the carnage around him. He managed a laugh.
"Call that a fight?" He boomed, "I've had more dangerous haircuts!"
Fell started to laugh, and was cut short when the skeleton leader sliced its sword towards his head. Instinctively, Fell parried the blow and thrust his own sword out at the creature. With alarming speed, the thing parried, used its sword to twist Fell's own away, and slashed out again. Fell dodged, and swung out with all his might, their swords connected and the sheer force drove the hand off the skeleton. Fell spinned his blade and tried to finish the thing with short, sharp jabs. The thing dodged his attacks again and again. Fell gasped as the severed hand of the creature crawled along towards it, the thing effortlessly picked it up and with a flash of purple light, the hand was connected again, still holding the sword. In one swift movement it sheathed its sword, picked up its instrument and danced back. As it played, what was left of the horde re-animated. Many were beyond repair, but with flashes of purple light, arms linked to shoulders, legs linked to hips, and heads linked to necks. In seconds, half the skeleton hoard crawled to its feet. The other half were beyond repair and their remains lay still, dead for the last time.
Even so, the resurrected hoard, now entering their third lives, looked bad. Many of them had missing limbs. Many had only half a hip. One skeleton was teetering around as it had no ribcage, and its shoulders were balanced only on its spine. Fell remembered slicing out the skeleton's ribs.
"Right." Ulli said, "Get them. Again."
* * * *
Bongo Templewob ducked the flailing arms of the skeleton warrior. Looking up, he saw that the thing only had half a skull, evidently it was caved in by one of the evaders. The thing wasn't armed, but after seeing the state of Ulli the hobbit knew well to keep well out of reach. The undead minion once again leapt forwards into Bongo. Terrified, Bongo lashed out. His shortsword struck the skeleton. Bones splintered. Still the thing kept going. Panicking, Bongo launched himself at the skeleton. The creature carried an unearthly strength, but was so frail and thin that it was knocked off-balance by the hobbit. The thing crashed into the ground, shattering to pieces. Bongo had barely got up when another skeleton, one with no ribcage jumped at him, wobbling horribly. Bongo neatly sliced its skull from its neck. The head flew up, spinning around, before landing on the things bony shoulders and with a flash of purple, the things head was back where it was meant to be. But the reappearance of the head seemed too much for the skeleton. With a horrible cracking sound its spine bent right over and cracked. At this, the entire thing fell apart. Bongo almost heard a sigh of relief come from the bones, as the spirit of the warrior trapped inside his own skeleton was finally released of the curse.
Looking around, Bongo was happy to see that the skeletal army had been 'laid to rest', as Ulli, Anomen and Adolphus had careered through it. Only the leader remained. It seemed uncaring to the carnage around it. It cackled manically.
"Ah. Flesh-creature. So much flesh. Yes. Tonight we will feast. Feast upon the souls of the living."
"I've just about had enough of you!" Ulli roared, and sprinted towards the leader. The thing drew its sword and stood completely still. At the last moment, when Ulli raised his axe. The thing moved. Quicker than the eye could follow, the creature danced around Ulli, its sword glittered off the small amount of light in the cave that was most likely caused by the things glowing green eyes. The thing was so fast, that the gashed caused by its sword on Ulli simply seemed to appear. Almost bellowing with pain, Ulli spun around with his axe. Bongo heard a cracking sound and suddenly the blur around Ulli stopped. The skeleton leader wobbled around, half of its ribs missing, a strange grating sound was coming out of its mouth. Seizing his chance, Anomen Redwood rushed forward and smashed the things skull with its axe. The glowing light abruptly stopped. The cave was plunged into total darkness.
Suddenly there was light again. White light. Bongo almost screamed, rising out of the skeleton's bones was some sort of transparent man. He was wearing full plate armour, like the skeleton's, but less decomposed. The sword he carried also matched the one carried by the undead creature. It took Bongo a little while to notice it, but it soon became clear. This was his ghost.
"I thank you," The ghost said, in an oddly Echoey voice that reminded the hobbit of a radiant glow. "My name is Faust. Please understand that I mean you no harm. The pitiful thing that you destroyed was the remains of myself. In life, I was one of Krell's main advisors. But it went too far when Krell declared his allegiance to a mysterious Warlord who had forged a ring in which he used to attempt utter domination of Middle Earth. Myself and my regiment were amongst the few that turned against him, what he was doing was terrible. He ordered myself and all of my troops to be buried alive in these caves. We were raised as mindless abominations only a few months ago to serve him in undeath. Please understand that we had no say in this. He used our bodies and infected our souls. Creating an army of warriors with sworn loyalty to him. Now you have freed us, but I sense that Krell still roams these dungeons. Many of his advisors helped him in his foul crusade in life, and he has rewarded them by granting them immense powers. Many of them have left their bones behind and their souls have warped them into things more powerful. I beseech you to rid the land of Krell. If he lives on, Middle Earth will surely fall. Thank you.
With one final sigh of relief, the ghost faded away, freed from his curse. Ulli muttered a prayer in dwarfish. He later told the evaders that the word Faust was Dwarven for 'destroyer'. The ghost was surely a good warrior.
* * * *
Five hours later, the evaders were walking down a tight passageway in the cave, weapons drawn. Drondee led the group, carrying his lantern. They stopped as they entered a large room.
Drondee Templewob gasped in utter shock. This was an actual room, carved from the rock, unearthly light lit the room and there was a large table. There were plates, knifes, forks, glasses and a deep crimson tablecloth over it. Sitting at the table were twenty or so skeletons. Rigid, with no signs of life… or unlife, a it were. At the foot of the table there was a large throne-like chair. Sitting in it was a suit of plate armour with no apparent occupant. It was dull black. The helmet had two small metal wings at the sides. Dragon wings.
"We were loyal." A high, shrill voice suddenly echoed from around them, "Faust defied our master. We didn't. We did his exact bidding. My group were his prize bodyguard. I was their leader. I still am. My name is Rerhear. Lord Krell treated me like a son. He raised Faust and his legion as mere skeletons with no mind. They deserved nothing more. My master told us that we were granted a safe chance in afterlife. And far more power. We died at this table, we awaited death. We embraced it. You can forget about the bodies of my minions. They were bestowed a much better future. They fuelled me. The fuelled me with their souls. I am now more powerful than I ever could have been. Die, mortals."
Not unlike when Faust's spirit was being released from his bones, Rerhear's seemed to be pouring out of the black armour. Only it was grey, not white. The swirl erupted into a cyclone. In the rings of grey mist, Drondee could see a humanoid creature writhing around inside it. It uttered a blood-curdling scream and most of the mists parted. With now just a small veil over it, the hobbit could see the features of a young man. He was bald, and wore rich-clothes of the fashion that hadn't been used since… well, thousands of years ago. The thing glowed a fait purple, but with the green eyes that Faust had. The eyes of Krell.
Suddenly, the spectre moved its hands and a large pink vortex appeared from it. Like a waterfall, the power erupted from its arms. Suddenly Drondee understood why Rerhear had talked of his soldiers fuelling his powers. Inside the whirlpool of power heading towards them. The hobbit could see about twenty faces staring at him. They had the look of intense agony on their faces.
"I know this spell!" Anomen said suddenly, "Its called soul drain, its sucks the life out of whoever it hits."
'I am going to die.' Drondee thought as the life-sapping spell headed towards him.
END OF PART III
Ah, the end of another chapter. I really enjoy writing this fic. Might get a bit too violent though. Ah well. R&R. Thanks for reading.