Chapter Fifteen: More Strange Happenings
Melmond, shortly after the others left for Elfland. . .
Valon had been busy aiding the townspeople repairing the damage done first by the vampire, then by the earthquake that had been a result of the earth Orb being revived. It was nearing dark so he decided to quit for the day, heading back to Irlis' house where they were staying while Thol and Melira recovered from their wounds.
When he couldn't find Keza or Tor, he went looking for Almus. He found him replacing the door to Thol's room ten minutes later.
"Almus," he said as he approached. "Where is everyone? And what happened to the door?" he asked, worried.
Almus spent the next five minutes telling him about Thol's awakening and the others leaving for Elfland. Valon's face paled when he realized that he had failed to diagnose the seriousness of Melira's poisoning.
"I see that I have made a grave error. Perhaps I'd better brush up on my medical training upon the success of our quest," Valon said, his face crestfallen.
"You'd better start working on your excuses now," Almus suggested.
Valon gave him a questioning look.
"From the way he was acting earlier, I'm sure Thollatos is going to want a word with you upon his return and his words tend to be accompanied by lightning bolts when he starts getting angry," Almus explained.
Valon became even paler as he realized that Almus was correct. Thol was one of the last people in the world he wanted angry with him. "Perhaps I'd better get thinking," he said gravely.
About an hours later, Goro showed up and noticed that Valon was frowning irritably at the piece of parchment he was hovering over. Goro raised an eyebrow and questioned him as to what the problem was.
"Not now, Goro! I'm trying to save my skin right at this moment!" the normally calm red mage shouted.
Goro turned to Almus to be filled in. After hearing what had happened and the reason he was furiously attacking the piece of parchment, he turned back to Valon and commented, "You'd better hope she lives or Thol's going to kill you regardless of what you say."
"If Melira dies, then we'll have more then just Thol's rage to worry about," Valon managed to say in his rage of thought.
Goro frowned. "What do you mean by that?" he asked, not understanding exactly what he was talking about as he was still struggling with the effects of the Lich's last spell when the others were discussing the subject back in the Earth Cave.
"If one of us dies, we will ultimately fail our quest and the world will perish as a result."
"Why is that exactly?" Goro asked, curious to know more of the prophecy that had lead him to this point.
"Each of us needs to do something before the quest is over. If we fail to do these things then our quest will also fail. That was one of the things stated in the beginning of the prophecy."
"What would happen if one of us dies after their task is complete? Will we still fail?"
"Yes. I do not know the reason for this however. The prophecy simply says this: Beware! For if but one of the Warriors of Light shalt fall before the completion of the Divine Quest, so shalt the powers of Light fail and the world cast into darkness and Chaos, for each hath a task and the tasks of the Warriors of Light are many, and the tasks of the Warriors of Light are One."
"The tasks are many, the tasks are one," Goro repeated with a frown. "That makes no sense, Valon. What does it mean?"
"I know not, save that we have a great many things to do and we must complete them all without losing a member or the planet is finished," Valon said seriously. He had forgotten all about the parchment that he had been slaving over a moment ago as he spoke of the prophecy.
"Do you have any idea what these tasks are?"
"Not all of them. The names the prophecy calls us by has something to do with them I figure. I am called 'The Beholder', referring of course to the one who will educate his comrades about the propecy. As I know the prophecy well, it is obvious that one of my tasks, probably my main task, is to instruct you five in the prophecy, to behold it if you will."
"Yes, I see. It does sort of make sense, doesn't it?"
"Indeed. When everything is over, we'll probably find that the entire thing makes perfect sense."
"Unless we fail."
"There is always that of course, but I am confident that we will succeed in the end. Why would the prophecy fail after being right for so long?"
"Good point, but you said that the prophecy is incomplete. Who's to say we aren't destined to fail?"
"I don't know. If we were destined to fail, then I don't think there would have been a prophecy at all. There would be no point to it in that case."
Goro sat thoughtfully for a moment. "You know what I think?" he mused. "I think that we are neither destined to fail or succeed, rather that the prophecy is guiding us to a point in time where our actions will decide whether we succeed or fail. As you said, if we were destined to fail then there would be no need for a prophecy. Wouldn't it be the same if we were destined to succeed?"
Valon took that in and though it through, his eyes widening in realization. "Why, Goro, you are absolutely right. It has to be that way. You're a treasure. You've managed to solve a mystery that I have been working on for years in the space of minutes."
"Perhaps that is one of my tasks."
"I believe it probably is."
The two sat in wonder as the vague prophecy that drove them onward suddenly began to make sense. . . .
* * * *
It had been four days since they had arrived in Elfland. Melira was finally showing signs of waking up which took a load off Thol's mind. Though he had plenty of time to cool down since their departure, he was still seriously considering roasting Valon over an open flame for a few days for his carelessness.
He was nearing the end of the dwarfish book he was reading, leaning on his left elbow as his right one was injured in the last monster attack. The barricade had aided them greatly in repelling the attacks, as did Runarel and his archers. Thol figured that once the barricade was completed, the city would be nearly unassailable.
He sighed as he finished the book and put it down. He had nothing to occupy his time with now that he was done reading it. Thinking that he might ask Arastari if he could borrow an elfish book, he headed for the kings quarters. He was half way there when he changed his mind and decided to go see Melira instead. As he usually did when he went to visit her, he sat in the chair next to her bed and stared at her. As usual, he could only do so for a few minutes before the guilt ate away at him. He couldn't help thinking that it was his fault that she was hurt even though he knew that it could have happened to any of them.
He had stood up and went over to the window to look out over the city. From his vantage point, he could see the work being done on the barricade. They had already, in the four days since they had decided to construct it, encased the entire eastern side of the city and were now halfway done the north section. He had to hand it to the elves. They were good workers.
He had been standing there for maybe ten minutes when a noise behind him stirred him out of his reverie. He spun about and saw that Melira was moving.
"Melira!" he cried out as he rushed back to the bed. He unconsciously took her hand as he reached her bedside.
"Thol?" she said as her eyes focused and she became more aware. "What happened? I feel like I've been asleep for days."
"You have been. You were poisoned when the Lich attacked you. If I hadn't rushed you here as soon as I woke up, you would have died."
"The Lich. Is it. . ." she said, trailing off.
"Yeah. They managed to kill it somehow. I never got a chance to ask them how yet. I've been more worried about you."
She managed a weak smile at that. "How sweet of you," she said softly.
He didn't have a reply for that one.
"How are you doing, Thol? If I remember correctly, you got hurt pretty bad as well," she asked.
"Well I won't be doing any cartwheels for awhile, but I'm okay," he replied. She giggled at that causing his eyebrow to go up. "What's so funny?"
"It's just that I can't imagine you doing cartwheels," she managed to say after getting a hold of herself.
Thol frowned for a second then grinned foolishly, realizing how ridiculous he would look doing a cartwheel. "You're right. I can't imagine it either."
They lapsed into silence for a few seconds, simply looking at each other. Melira finally broke the silence with a question.
"When are they going to let me out of here?"
"Beats me. They had a look at me and said that I shouldn't be up and about yet, let alone fighting monsters," he said casually, forgetting that she knew nothing of the attacks on the city.
Her smile faded suddenly being replaced by a look of concern.
"Monsters? What are you talking about?"
Thol realized then that she didn't know. "Monsters have been attacking the city periodically since we arrived last week. We've managed to hold them off without incurring any serious injuries yet and the barricade that is being built is a great help."
"Where exactly are we anyway?" she asked.
"Elfland. It was the closest city I could think of that had healers of decent skill."
"Are the others here too?"
"All except Goro and Valon. We didn't have the time to go find them before we left. We just barely got you here in time as it was."
"Did I really come that close to dieing?" she asked, suddenly very frightened.
"Yes. You have no idea how worried I was," Thol replied in a somber tone.
They lapsed into silence again, each thinking similar thoughts.
"So," Melira said eventually. "What did I miss?"
They both laughed. . . .
* * * *
Somewhere far to the north, farther then any of them had ever traveled, a great beast stirred from its slumber.
"Report," bellowed the roaring voice.
"Those cursed elves have erected a barricade. My monsters cannot even get close to the city now. They wipe them out with arrows before they get close," said the voice of Kary.
"And you? How have you silly sea creatures faired?"
"They have had no success. The Light Warriors still live," replied the gurgly voice.
There was a tense moment of silence. "You pathetic imbeciles! You only have to kill one of them! How is it that they all still live?"
"They are too strong! Please, let us try again!" Kary pleaded.
"Yes! We will send our strongest monsters this time! They will not fail us, I promise!" added the gurgly voice.
The roaring voice snorted in disgust. "One last chance for both of you, then you'll both be on your own and I'll deal with them myself," it said, its psychic ether dissolving.
"What are we going to do?" Kary asked after the voice had left.
"We'll each send out our best like we promised. If they fail, it doesn't matter. I have sent my best creature to stop them. They will not get to Crescent Lake!" the gurgly voice said, breaking off contact. . . .
* * * *
Keza laughed for what seemed like the fiftieth time in the last hour. He found Tor's frustration at the incompetence of the elves quite amusing. He did have to give him credit however. He did manage to get a few of them using a sword with enough skill that they might be able to defend themselves from an imp attack.
He finally gave up his hopeless quest and joined Keza over where he was sitting.
"Having fun?" Keza asked as he approached.
"No. I'm not supposed to be having fun. I'm supposed to be teaching them close range combat. I don't like to say it, but elves just aren't built for it," Tor replied seriously.
"I could have told you that. I does make it a little easier to steal things from them I must say."
Tor gave him a disgusted look. "Don't tell me you've started that again?"
"No, no. I've kept my word thus far. I haven't taken anything I don't plan on giving back."
"Keza!" Tor admonished.
"What? I'm just borrowing it," he replied, spreading his hand in innocence.
"Alright. What was it?"
"Thol's dagger," Keza replied, taking the aforementioned object out of his belt.
"Thol carries a dagger?" Tor asked, confounded.
It was Keza's turn to give a disgusted look. "You mean you traveled with him for that long and you didn't know he carried a dagger?"
"Well I've never seen him use it."
"I can believe that. This thing is in nearly perfect condition, but I recognize the model to be fairly old. At least five years."
"You know what he's going to do to you if he finds out you took it right?"
"Don't worry. I'll have it back to him in due time."
"Well that's good, but you still should have asked him if you could use it."
Keza just shrugged.
"Speaking of Thol, we should go see where he is."
"Good idea," Keza said, concealing the dagger he had 'borrowed' from Thol.
After finding him missing from his room, they asked around to find out his whereabouts. They learned from a guard that he was in Melira's room, so they went straight there.
Tor entered first, and started speaking before he was even in the room. "Thol, we've been looking for you. I'm glad you-" he said, stopping as he finally looked up.
Keza stepped in beside him. "What's the hol-" and he too stopped.
"Melira!" they both exclaimed at once, rushing to her bedside.
"How are you feeling?" Tor asked as he fell down to his knees beside the bed.
"A little weak. Thol tells me that I've been sleeping for quite awhile."
"Yes, it has been quite awhile since you've been awake last," Keza commented, standing just behind Tor. "You had us all worried for a little while. Good thing Thol woke up when he did, else you'd be a goner."
Melira smiled and looked over at Thol. "Yes, he told me about that too," she said strangely. Thol managed to look embarrassed and looked away.
"Did he tell you what's been happening here in Elfland?" Tor asked.
"Yes, he just finished doing that before you two got here. How is everything going anyway?"
"Most excellent. The barricade has held off every attack since the east wall has been completed," Tor said proudly, as if he himself had built it.
Melira was about to comment on that when a guard burst into the room in a panic.
"Light Warriors! The barricade has been breached! There's too many of them! We need your help!"
Tor stood up and left the room in an instant, Keza close behind him. Thol was about to get up and follow them when Melira stopped him.
"Thol!" she said, grabbing his arm. "You can go out there! You said yourself that you're not healthy enough to be fighting monsters!"
"Melira, I'm sure they could have handled the previous attacks without me, but if they managed to break through the barricade then they are definitely going to need my help. I'll be fine. I haven't been hurt very much yet," he said to her, preparing to leave again.
"Thol! Please be careful! If you get hurt I'll never forgive you!" she said.
"I won't. Trust me," he said, finally getting out of the room.
He ran to catch up with his friends and quite quickly found himself winded. She might be right, he thought. Maybe I shouldn't be doing this. When he finally did make it to the barricade, he could see why the things had managed to get through. In addition to their shear numbers, there were also a lot of creatures that he had never seen before, including a few a pair of dragons with red scales. Seeing them as the greatest threat, he immediately cast an ice spell on the two of them.
The spell connected solidly and the dragons howled. Much to Thol's discomfort, both of the large creatures suddenly turned their attention to him.
"Ah shit," he said under his breath. He started casting another ice spell as the two beasts plowed over their comrades in their charge toward him. He released the spell causing one of them to stumble and fall over, knocking over a pair of frost giants in the process. The other dragon was only slightly staggered and resumed its charge seconds later. "Damn it!" Thol yelled, taking out his staff knowing full well that it wouldn't even put a mark on the dragons hide.
The dragon ducked its head down and opened its massive jaws as it neared him, thinking to devour the annoying mage whole. Thol was frantically looking back and forth for someway out of his impending doom and having no luck. The dragon howled in triumph as in closed in.
At the last possible second, Thol dived in between the dragons head and left foreleg. The creature angled to the side, snapping its jaws shut and attempted to change directions in mid-charge only to end up tripping over its own feet and tail. Thol was nearly crushed in the process but wasn't going to waste any time celebrating the fact that he wasn't a stain on the dragon's scales. He got up as fast as possible and began another ice spell as he ran back into the fray of monsters. He released the spell the instant the dragon started getting up which promptly knocked it back down again, giving him more time to get lost in the crowd of monsters.
Running in between a group of Cerberus and a group of elfish guards, he narrowly missed being boiled alive and shot with a storm of arrows, but he knew he was only seconds away from losing the dragon, which was only now just getting to its feet. Plowing his way through a second group of elves, he found himself face to face with the pair of frost giants that the other dragon had fallen over.
"This, I can handle," he said to himself as he prepared to cast his high-level fire spell.
Tor, on the other side of the battle, was contending with the other dragon, which had been rather seriously injured in its fall, breaking one of its wings. Being fully armored, he didn't have as much trouble as Thol in close quarters. His shield protected him from the occasional fire blast so all he really had to worry about was being caught in its great maw or being bashed by its tail.
The thing did managed to catch him once with its tail, sending him flying right into an agama, killing it instantly, but he had managed to get his shield up in time and wasn't hurt at all, so he was back on his feet seconds, charging at the dragon again. They pounded on each other for a little longer when Tor managed to score a blow to the things underside where the scales where weaker. The thing staggered back, crying out in pain and Tor used it to his advantage, taking a swing at the dragon's neck. His swing was a mighty one that severed its head cleanly. The great beast collapsed on a group of ogres that had wandered into the town during the commotion and had carelessly got too close.
He paused to catch his breath for a moment when Keza ran by, unarmed, with a frost giant close behind him.
"A little help!" he yelled as he whipped by.
Tor readied his sword and wound up. The giant, not paying any attention to him at all, continued to pursue Keza. It fell abruptly as Tor swung his sword in a great arch just as the thing ran by, severing its head just as he had done to the dragon.
Keza ran back to the giant's corpse and pulled out his short sword, which had apparently been lodged in the beast during the battle. "Thanks!" he said to Tor, and then he whipped off back into battle, not wasting any time.
He continued running in and out of battles, never staying in one place too long, causing damage whenever he could and avoiding the remaining dragon like the plague. He even managed to assist Thol in his battle, leaping off the back of one of the ogres that had stumbled into the battle, severing the frost giant's bicep and tearing at its knee as he went by. Thol took the opportunity to strike at its neck as its leg buckled. The snap confirmed that his blow was on target and the subsequent falling of the beast to the ground only added to that confirmation.
Thol nodded at his handy work and thought, Maybe that idiot thief can be useful after all. Just then, he heard a rumbling and a growl behind him. He turned quickly and saw the dragon bearing down on him again. "Already?" he said in a pained voice. He just had enough time to dive out of the way, the dragon missing him by only inches, but was still thrown off his feet, his staff taking an aerial tour of the battlefield. More out of reflex then thought, he grabbed a hold of one of the dragons horns and was hauled into the air as the thing stood.
Holding on for dear life now, he was tossed around violently as the dragon tried to shake him off. Managing to swing himself on top, Thol went for his – "Where in the Hell is my knife?" he yelled. Realizing where it must have gone, he stared cursing. "You damned, good for nothing thief!" he yelled as the dragon started to shake its head again.
Knowing that he wouldn't be able to hold on forever, he had to think of something to get himself down from his current position that didn't involve him flying through the air such as the dragon had planned for him. He was about to put a plan into action when the thing suddenly reared up on its hind legs and began pawing at its face. Thol leapt from the things neck, still holding on to one of its horns with his left hand, narrowly avoiding being clawed to death, only to find himself swinging toward its tooth infested mouth.
The dragon clamped down and, to Thol's relief, only got a mouthful of robes. Having only seconds before the dragon would either claw at him again or get a bigger bite of him, he quickly detonated a lightning spell right in front of the things eyes, blinding it. What he hadn't expected was for it to be knocked off balance from the spell, as he suddenly found himself plummeting toward the earth as the dragon toppled backward.
Both dragon and mage hit the ground hard, the dragon releasing its hold on most of his robes when they hit. Thol rolled a bit away from the dragon when he landed and was struggling to get up. His wounds from the Lich battle had been seriously aggravated by the fall and he knew that he wouldn't be able to keep this up for much longer.
Luckily, the rest of the battle was coming to a close around them and a few of the elves were now concentrating on taking out the dragon. A couple of them dragged Thol out of the way and left him with the company of a hydra corpse.
The battle was soon over after that. All that remained once the dragon was brought down was a small pack of frost wolves and a few straggling ogres. Tor walked over to where Thol was and handed him his staff, which he had apparently found at some point.
"You alright?" he asked.
"You try wrestling with a dragon and see how you feel after," he said sarcastically, taking back his staff.
"Well I killed the other one by myself and I'm still in once piece," Tor said seriously.
"Oh shut up," Thol replied.
"Well that was a fun little battle," Keza said as he walked up to join the two of them.
"You!" Thol yelled as he seen him. He got up suddenly as if he wasn't injured at all and moved threateningly towards the young thief.
"What did I do?" he asked, hiding behind Tor.
"You took my knife, you little bastard!" Thol yelled as he took a swing around Tor and just missing Keza by a hair. "Do you realize that I could have gotten out of that unscathed if I you hadn't taken it!"
"Tor! Make him stop!" Keza pleaded as he cowered away from Thol's staff swings.
Tor groaned inwardly and struggled to hold back Thol. . . .
* * * *
After Thol had given up trying to kill Keza and he had in turn given the knife back to Thol, they went about assessing the damage done to the barricade and surrounding buildings and counting the number of injured and dead. Right off the start, it was obvious that the dragon corpses were going to be a problem. After that was determined and all the wounded had been removed from the area, the elves went about the grizzly work of hacking the dragons into pieces and carting them off deep into the woods so that they wouldn't cause a plague.
The damage done to the barricade was severe. Nearly the whole of the eastern wall had been damaged in one way or another, making the rebuilding of that part a priority. All work on the other sections would have to be put on hold for the time being.
Seeing that they could do no more, the three Light Warriors returned to the palace. Tor and Thol decided to go see Melira again, Keza wisely deciding that it would be best to avoid Thol for the next few days.
Thol had to use his staff as a walking stick due to his abrupt meeting with the ground only moments before and he knew he was going to be feeling it pretty bad the next morning.
After a thorough recounting of the battle and a lengthy speech about irresponsibility from Melira, which had Tor stifling a grin the whole time, the ageing mage who had restored Melira's health informed them that she needed time to rest and that they had to leave.
Tor was still trying to suppress a grin as they left.
"What the Hell are you grinning at, moron?" Thol asked irritably.
"You two sound like a married couple, is all," Tor said chuckling.
Thol's eyes narrowed. "Tor, you've got about five seconds before I make you regret that you were ever born. I suggest you be gone from my sight by then," he said gravely.
He was. . . .
* * * *
It had been a few days since Melira had woken up. The nice old mage suggested that she stay in bed for a couple of days yet and to get as much rest as she could. Their visiting time was cut in half due to that proclamation, but if it meant that she could be up and moving again sooner, the others were okay with it.
Thol had finally got around to getting the elfish book he had set out to get the other day and was relaxing in his room with it. Since the day the dragons and other monsters had attacked, there had been only a few skirmishes on the eastern wall and even then, the number of monsters was limited, so they had plenty of time to relax.
There was a knock at the door just as he had finished a page. "Enter," he said.
It was Tor. "Good morning, Thol."
"Tor," Thol replied. "Do you need something?"
"Well I figured now that Melira is getting better that maybe we should start getting the ship sea worth again."
Thol pondered that for a moment. "Yeah. I guess you could get working on that. If you need anything further, just ask," he said, returning to his book.
"Right. I'll go find Keza and we'll get to that right away," Tor replied as he turned to leave.
Thol had already gone back to his book and didn't hear a word he had said.
It must have been some time later, judging by the number of pages he had gone through, that there was another knock at the door.
"Enter," he said again.
He was rather surprised to find that it was Melira who had knocked. He put the book down and went over to her immediately.
"Melira! What are you doing out of bed so soon?" he asked, leading her over to the couch.
She smiled. "I'm sure if you can go out and fight dragons when you should be resting then I can get up and walk around a bit," she replied.
Thol managed to look a little sheepish about that. "Uh, so what brings you here?" he asked as they sat down.
"I was getting lonely sitting in that room all by myself. Besides, do I really need a reason to come and see you?" she asked, almost shyly.
"Well no, but. . ." Thol replied, not being able to think of what to say. They spent an awkward moment just sitting and looking at each other. "So. How are you feeling?" Thol asked eventually.
"I'm so bored! All this sitting around is a far cry from battling undead overlords."
"Well I should hope so, but I'll tell you what. When we get to Crescent Lake, and after I'm done with the council, I'll show you around. There's things you have to see to believe at the academy garden."
She smiled widely at that. "Will you? Oh, Thol. You're such a sweetheart," she said, looking at him with blind adoration.
Again, he couldn't think of anything to say. She had been saying things like that to him since she had woke up and he didn't know what to make of it. It was then he noticed how close she was to him. Without knowing why, he brought his hand, ungloved for once, to stroke her cheek.
A jolt of pure exultation shot through her as his fingers brushed her skin and she wished with all her heart that she could see his eyes in that moment. "Thol," she said quietly in a shaky voice. "I. . ." she faltered, unable to say what she wanted to say. "I love you," she finally managed to say, so quietly she wasn't even sure she said it at all.
He heard it nonetheless. For a moment all he could do was stare at her in shock. Finally, without saying a word, he leaned forward and kissed her. . . .
* * * *
Somewhere, amongst a mass of darkness and chaos, something shapeless raged in anger and hatred, for all it could do was hate. But more then anything, I hated the two who have finally become united. And so it continued to hate, more then ever. . . .
* * * *
Tor glanced at the parchment in his hands one more time as he tried in vain to figure it out. They had found it in the hold of the ship, none of them being able to identify it. Knowing Thol was really good at that kind of stuff, he was bringing it to him. The parchment bothered him though, for he felt as if he could almost make out what it was trying to say. Keza has said the same thing when he looked it over, making him wonder.
So engrossed was he in the parchment that he neglected to knock when he reached Thol's room. "Thol, we foun-" he began as he entered. He froze as he noticed that they were locked in a passionate embrace, which they had quickly broken when he had entered.
Melira had blushed furiously and looked down at her lap kind of shyly, a small smile of triumph on her face nonetheless. Thol on the other hand was no doubt using every ounce of will power not to blast his friend off the face of the planet.
"Sorry. I'll come back la-" Tor began. He was cut off suddenly as Thol lost that battle against his anger and sent a bolt of lightning after him. Tor dived behind the wall at the last second, closing the door in the process. He stood and let out a deep breath, thanking the gods that he had been so lucky not to get hit. He smiled suddenly and said, "It's about time."
He dusted himself off and returned to the ship with the parchment. . . .
* * * *
The next day found Thol casually strolling through the city, smiling slightly for once in his life. Try as he might, he couldn't stay mad at Tor for very long. After he had 'dismissed' him from his room, he and Melira had a long talk which eventually ended with them staring at each other with nothing but physical contact for communication. She eventually had to return to her room and when the kind old mage found out that she had left her bed without permission, he demanded that she remain in bed an extra day and that she get as much rest as possibly. That meaning that she wasn't allowed to have visitors.
His wandering eventually led him to the only section of the barricade that wasn't solidly blocked off. The city gates. There seemed to be some sort of argument occurring between the guards and some visitors, so he strolled over to see what it was about.
As he neared, he immediately recognized the visitors. They were mages from Crescent Lake.
"Look, elf. All we came for is a shipment of silver equipment for the academy," said the black mage who was apparently in charge of the group.
"I'm sorry, but without the proper papers, I am not permitted to let you into the city at this time without the king's approval."
"King? You haven't had a king in years! And what's with this ridiculous wall? Are you having a war with someone?" the mage complained.
"Look, sir. If you can't show me the proper papers, I'll have to ask you to return to South Port," the elf guard replied.
Thol took this opportunity to intervene. "Excuse me, honorable guard, but I'll vouch for them. Please let them enter."
The guards turned. "Master Thollatos," the one guard said as they all bowed. "We will do as you requested, for to disobey you would be to disobey our king." The guard turned back to the mages. "By word of Master Thollatos, you may enter. And I apologize once again for denying you entrance. I am merely doing my job."
"Yes, whatever," the mage said, eyeing Thol carefully. "Let's go," he said to the others behind him. They entered the city, the lead mage stopping before Thol. "It seems I should know you."
"Most from Crescent Lake do. If not, I'm sure you know my father," Thol replied.
The mage looked at him. Sudden realization crossed his face. "You? Master Runtos' son?" he asked in wonder.
"Very good. May I ask your name?"
"Tharka, senior mage at the academy. You're a legend back home," he commented.
"Yes, I know," he said, a little bitterly. "Look, in return for granting you access to the city, I want you to do something for me."
"Anything you ask, Master Thollatos," Tharka replied.
"Don't call me that. I am still technically only a junior mage. Anyway, I want you to inform the council that we will be arriving within a month."
"We, Mas- Uh, Thollatos?"
"The Light Warriors to be more specific. I'm sure the dreary old council will recognize the name. Thanks so much. Run along now," he said to the overwhelmed mage.
Tharka jolted from his trance and stumbled over a few formalities, then rushed to catch up to the others.
Thol laughed out loud when he was gone. The guard looked at him and asked, "May I ask why you found that encounter so funny, sir?"
"Of course, my good man. You see, back in Crescent Lake everyone is afraid of me for a variety of reasons. I've been away for many years and I find it quite amusing that they still act that way at the mention on my name. I'm sure the whole Light Warriors thing shook him a bit too," he said after he got a hold of himself.
Thol headed back to the castle then. His encounter with the mages of his hometown got him thinking of the inevitable conflict that was going to occur once they reached Crescent Lake. The council was obviously going to reprimand him for leaving the academy without notifying them first. They were also going to want to know about their activities as the Light Warriors and a bunch of things he couldn't even begin to think of. He was definitely not looking forward to returning home. . . .
* * * *
They stayed another three days before the old mage finally released Melira from his care. They left North Port later that afternoon, anxious to get back to Melmond. The sea voyage took about a week, as they weren't rushing as they had been on the way there. They were surprised to find the docks in the same or worse condition they had been when they left. Keza in particular was upset by the scene.
"The ship," Tor commented as they landed. "It looks like it hasn't received any attention at all."
Thol glanced at it as well. "Yes, it does look that way," he said gravely.
"Can you feel anything? You know, like when the vampire came trough here," Keza asked, the worry evident in his voice.
Thol scanned the area. "Nothing like that. Something else did this."
They four of them walked in silence, each alert to anything out of the ordinary. As they reached sight of the town, they understood why the dock was in such a state of disrepair. Over half of the city lay in waste and it looked like the rest of it was deserted. Keza let out a cry of anguish as he set sight of it.
Things looked even worse once they were inside. There were unburied corpses, both monster and human, littering the streets and decrepit buildings. Thol bent down to get a closer look at the monsters. They were obviously sea creatures and from the varying states of decay on the different corpses, it was evident that there was more then one attack.
Tor bent down beside him. "Well?" he asked.
"Looks like there have been repeated attacks coming from the sea. Sound familiar to you?" Thol replied.
"Elfland, only the monsters came from the mountains."
Thol nodded. "Let's see if we can find anyone," he said, getting up.
They cautiously moved through what was left of the town, all the while looking for any signs of life. They eventually came to the town square, which used to be the most populous area. Now it lay in shambles, though most of the buildings were still standing on the eastern side.
As they passed one of the buildings, Melira inhaled sharply. "Thol! There are people in there!" she said, pointing at the nearest building.
Thol glanced over to scrutinize the building. "I don't see anything," he said eventually.
"No, I can feel them," she said. "There is life in that building, a lot of it."
Tor looked the building over. "The structure looks fairly intact. If I were to hide the surviving populous of a town, this would be one of the places that I'd do it in."
Thol scanned the building himself, but he couldn't feel life like Melira could. He felt something else however. "Valon. He's in there. Let's go," he said, striding over to the building.
As they approached, a voice echoed from the darkness in the main passage.
"Halt!" said the voice. "Who goes there?"
"The Light Warriors. Let us in," Tor called.
There was some muffled conversation and a bit of shuffling about. Two tired looking men stepped out of the shadows and walked up to them.
"We're glad to see you. As you can see, we've had a difficult time since you've left," the man on the right said.
"Do you know what's causing it?" Thol asked.
"No. They just crawled out of the sea and started attacking one day after you had gone. None of us can come up with a reason."
"This sounds a little too much like what's happening in Elfland," Thol commented. "Tell me, how many survivors do you have in there?"
"Only about a quarter of the population I'm afraid. They attacked so suddenly," the man on the left said sadly.
Keza stepped forward with a worried look on his face. "Irlis?" he asked.
"She's alright, though the old man who was helping her was killed in the first attack," the right man said.
"I see," Keza said sadly. "Poor Jamos. He didn't deserve to die that way."
"I don't mean to be rude, but I think we should get inside where it's safe. We've been lucky since we've started hiding in here, but there's no telling when the monsters will show up again," said the man on the left.
"Right. We need to talk to the other two anyway," Thol replied.
A man led them deeper into the building where he said Goro and Valon were waiting. As they passed through the rooms and halls, they saw the poor shape the survivors of the city were in. Thol looked over a Melira who had a pained expression on her face. He wordlessly took her hand in a small gesture of comfort.
The entered a small room that was lit by weak torchlight where a haggard looking Valon sat pouring over a scroll that way laying on a rickety table. He turned at the sound of their footsteps and stood immediately.
"I was starting to get worried," he said as they approached each other.
"I see you've been having some problems here as well," Thol replied.
"You too?"
Thol nodded.
"Perhaps we'd better bring each other up-to-date," Valon suggested.
After Thol and Tor explained the situation in Elfland as best as they could, including their theories as to why they attacks were happening.
"There's something wrong with all of this. I've been through the prophecy from one end to the other looking for some sigh that this was going to happen, but there's nothing. We definitely have to get to Lukahn and find out what he has seen. I'm sorry. I just can't find a reason for all of this," Valon said.
"It's not your fault. You're not the one who had the visions after all," Thol replied. "Tell us what happened here now."
"It started a few days after you had all left. At first, they were just minor attacks, ones that were easily dealt with, but they started getting more frequent and vicious and people started dying. Soon there was barely enough people left to continue with the repairs. The last attack was the largest yet. There were too many of them for us to hold the entire city, Goro and I tried our best, but we eventually had to fall back. It was then that we gather whom we could and held up in here. We managed to prevent them from getting in and they eventually just left. We've been here ever since waiting to see if there would be another attack."
There was silence in the room for a moment as they all took that in.
"Sounds like you've had a stressful time," Thol said eventually.
"You have no idea, but then again, you just might," Valon replied.
"Where is Goro anyway?" Melira asked.
"He's been working hard to help the people of the city. I believe he is looking after the children right now," Valon replied. "He's near exhaustion, but he just keeps going."
"He always has been selfless. I guess it goes with his teachings," Melira commented.
"How are you holding up?" Keza asked of Valon, noting his weary appearance.
"I've been up all night reading through the few scrolls I have containing Lukahn's prophecy, searching for clues to these attacks. I know I should get some rest, but I won't be able to until I find a reason."
Thol was about to ask another question when a series of shouts rang out from the entrance. Almus, his armor showing signs that he had been in fierce battles, burst in.
"Monsters attacking!"
"Damn it!" Thol yelled. He glanced over at Melira. "Stay here. You're in no condition for battle yet."
"Neither are you," she commented.
"Maybe, but I've had more recovery time then you, don't worry about me."
"Alright, but be careful," she said. She gave him a hurried kiss before he joined the others.
Valon was looking at him with a raised eyebrow. Thol noticed and said in a deadly tone, "You have something to say, red mage?"
"No, nothing," Valon replied, speeding up to catch up with Tor who was just running through the doors now. Thol was right behind him.
Neither mage bothered to see what sort of monsters they were facing as they both unleashed powerful fire spells as soon as they were clear of the fortifications. It turned out that they were being attacked by sea creatures, though none of them had ever seen the likes of these.
Tor rushed directly into the battle as he always did, coming to the aid of Almus who was struggling with a group of naga-like creatures. He beheaded one and faced off against two more of the things, taking a stab at one. He was forced to jump to the side as the second one lunged for him as he was struggling to free his sword from the first one. Almus slashed at its flank as to distract it and found himself under the attention of three of the beasts now. The distraction had proved useful, however, as Tor sliced the third one in half and immediately attacked one of the others.
Keza was aiding the weary Valon over on the opposite side of the field with a swarm of different colored sahags, some of which were casting strange spells. Being the fresher of the two, Keza was actually doing the most damage at the moment. Valon had to rely on his weapon only as he had already exhausted his magic energy with his initial fire spell. They fought side by side trying to finish off the spell wielding sahags first, but the red toned ones were almost always in the way and had to be dealt with first. Finally, one, then the other magic casting creatures went down, sending the lesser sahags fleeing for the sea.
Thol was on his own about midway between the two other groups blasting away at overgrown lobsters, giant sea spiders and the occasional sea troll. He was forced to use his staff when a group of sahags attacked him just as he flooded a group of lobsters with fire. Lucky for him, there were only the normal kind of sahags in the group and not the spell wielding kind. He quickly dispersed them with a lightning spell and refocused his attention to the horde of monsters being lead by the sea trolls.
Tor and Almus had finally finished off all the nagas and turned to help Thol in his battle. Valon and Keza joined them moments later. The monsters soon fell to the onslaught and the Light Warriors had a moment to regroup.
"Where did they come from?" Tor asked, knowing that there was nothing like them in normal waters.
Thol shook his head and leaned heavily on his staff, trying to catch his breath after casting so many spells in a row. "I've never seen or heard of things like these before," he said after awhile.
Almus suddenly snapped into battle stance again. "More coming!" he yelled as he noticed a second group of monsters coming for the building.
Thol started swearing profusely as they moved to head off the attack. The group seemed to be comprised of the same types of monsters as before, but with the addition of strange looking masses with a pair of large, unblinking eyes on top of them similar to the things that had attacked them on the way to Elfland, only larger and meaner.
The five of them fought fiercely, but in the end they were over whelmed and pushed back into the building. The monsters began breaking into the building in various places. Screams could be heard coming from deeper inside and they just hoped that no one would be seriously hurt. . . .
* * * *
He knew that the building was under attack, but he was the only one around to watch the children. When he heard the impact against the wall and the board cracking, Goro was into battle stance in an instant. The wall imploded to reveal a sea troll and a trio of red sahags.
Goro rushed forward and delivered a spirited kick to the troll that sent it flying back trough the hole it just created in the wall. The sahags were on him as soon as he landed but he managed to beat two of them back, the third only delivering a glancing blow. He was able to finish off two of the three sahags before the troll recovered its wits and attacked again. Goro used the things own momentum and sent it reeling into the last sahag, causing both creatures to be knocked to the floor. He didn't give them a chance to regain their footing as he leapt as the two, pinning the sahag to the floor with the knee of one leg and thrust kicking the other. The troll flew across the room where the children screamed and fled from its path. He finished off the sahag with a simple twist of his knee.
With the sahags out of the way, he could now focus solely on the troll. He was almost a blur as he stepped up to the now standing troll and unleashed a striking combination. The troll could do little to defend itself and ended up sinking to one knee when Goro placed a kick to its leg. It proved to be fatal, though unavoidable, mistake. Goro brought the same leg he struck the trolls knee with up and executed a crushing crescent kick to the trolls throat, snapping its neck. The troll fell to the ground and twitched a few times before remaining still.
He took a deep breath and stared at the fallen troll, wondering how the others were fairing. . . .
* * * *
The others had ended up separating in order to protect the citizens of Melmond. Keza had just arrived in time to save a group from an attacking lobster horde. He was currently trying to calm Irlis, who was in the room during the attack.
Tor and Almus stayed at the main entrance where the main stream of monsters was still coming from. They were able to keep the monsters back so far without sustaining any serious injuries, but they were both tiring rapidly.
"They're starting to thin out!" Almus yelled over the noise of the battle.
"Good!" Tor replied. "Hopefully the other monsters are too!"
Thol had gone to check on Melira and ended up being ambushed by a large pack of sea spiders. They were soon joined by a group of lobsters and a pair of eyes and he was hard pressed to keep them all back. Cursing mentally, he was forced to use a second high level fire spell to clear the room. Finishing off the one spider that lived through the blast with his staff, he sealed off the hole in the wall with a well placed ice spell and continued to look for Melira, cursing the monsters every step of the way.
Valon ran into Goro just as another troll wormed its way into the room. The red mage leaped into battle with all the strength he had left and between the two of them, they finished off the monster quickly.
"How fairs the rest of the building?" Goro asked.
"The others are taking care of it. Tor and Almus are holding off the most of them."
"The others are back? When did they get here?"
"Just before the attack. Melira is okay now."
"Good. I was worried for awhile."
"The monsters seem to be thinning out. I'll stay here and help."
"Right." Goro replied. . . .
* * * *
Ten minutes later, the monsters had been defeated. The remaining townspeople had gathered in the common room and were having a rather heated argument. The Light Warriors had just entered when a woman who appeared to be in her late twenties stood up and started yelling at a middle aged man who looked like he was their leader.
"I don't care who they are!" the woman yelled. "They have to go!"
"Yes! The monsters were attracted by them. We were fine until they showed up!" another man yelled.
"Please listen to reason. If it wasn't for them, many more of us would be dead!" the middle aged man implored.
"Yes. I am unable to hold them all off myself," Almus added.
"You wouldn't need to hold anything off if they left. They're the ones who brought this upon us!" the woman yelled again.
Keza walked up to Irlis who was standing on the edge of the crowd with a sad look on her face. "What's this about?" he asked.
"They want you and the others to leave. They think that you've brought the monsters with you," she said sadly.
"That's ridiculous!" Keza exclaimed.
Thol frowned. "No. They're probably right."
He was rewarded with a questioning stare from his companions.
Thol sighed. "I'm sure there are other creatures out there just like the Lich who have control of lesser creatures. They must be able to tell where we are. They're afraid that we'll destroy them as we have Lich, so they're trying to finish us before we have a chance."
His speech had caught the attention of the crowd, their faces showed anger and betrayal; each convinced that the Light Warriors had brought the monsters on purpose.
"You see! That proves it!" the woman yelled. "They brought those monsters here and they knew what was going to happen!"
"That's absurd!" the leader yelled. "If they had known, they would never have even come here!"
"But the masked one just said. . ." the other man began.
"If it makes any difference, I was just guessing," Thol replied, icily.
"Right. You're just saying that so we'll let you stay and bring more monsters to wipe us all out!" said the woman.
"Now hold on! None of us would ever. . ." Tor said, stepping forward. He was clearly beginning to get irritated with the woman.
"Forget it! Just get out of here!" the man said.
"Do you even know who they are?" the leader asked, his tone frustrated.
"It doesn't matter. Think of the safety of the children!" the woman said.
"Yeah! Get out of . . ." the man began.
"Enough!" Thol yelled, startling even his traveling companions with the volume. His tone left no room for arguement. "We'll leave," he said. Wasting no time, he immediately turned and left the room.
Keza looked at Irlis. She just mouthed the words 'I'm sorry' and bowed her head in sadness. Keza nodded and followed the others out, saying nothing to his fellow townspeople.
Outside the city, the others waited for Keza to catch up. When he arrived, he commented, "Well, that went wonderfully."
"That's quite a voice you have, Thol. I didn't know you could be so authoritive," Tor said.
Thol snorted as if disgusted. "I learned it from my father. He tried to use it on me many times, without much luck I might add."
"So where are we to go now?" Valon asked of Thol.
"As much as I dislike the idea, we'll go to Crescent Lake. There are some things we have to ask the council. We should also consider speaking with Lukahn. I'm sure the effort will do us nothing but good," he replied.
"Alright. Hopefully the monsters didn't damage the ship when they attacked," Tor said. "At any rate, let's be off."
They were walking for only a minute when a shout from behind stopped them.
"Wait!"
They turned to see who it was.
"Irlis! What are you doing?" Keza demanded of his friend.
"I'm going with you. There's nothing here for me now," she said.
"You can't come! It'll be dangerous!" Keza replied.
"I don't care. I'm not going back there again!" she said fiercely.
"Irlis!" Keza exclaimed in frustration.
Tor chuckled slightly. "Forget it, Keza. You'll never win this argument. I'm sure she'll be just fine with you to look after her."
Keza sighed in defeat. "Alright. You can come," he said, rather dejectedly.
"Thank you," she said pleasantly.
Keza looked at his companions. "Thanks for helping out guys," he said sarcastically. "What did I do to deserve being ganged up on?" he asked, mostly to himself.
"It's probably your face. You look like someone you wouldn't want to trust," Thol said mockingly. "You know, like a thief or something."
"Thol!" Melira admonished, grinning in spite of her words.
Keza turned to Tor. "You see?" he said, then sighed theatrically. "No one understands me."
"No one wants t- Ohff!" Thol began to say before receiving an elbow to the ribs from Melira.
The others could only laugh at the two as they knew that as much as Thol claimed to dislike the thief, they were actually good friends as it was made obvious by their spiteful bickering.
They arrived at the port to find only superficial damage to the boat. After a few quick repairs, they set off to Crescent Lake. . . .
* * * *