THE FOOTSTEPS OF EVIL

CHAPTER 11 Sister's to the Slaughter

Together, Maiyan the Amazon and Telindhra the Rogue, silently slipped around the corner and entered a large room. Keeping to the shadows, the pair quietly stalked in, and split up. Telindhra made her way to the left while Maiyan to the right. Seeing that the room was indeed completely deserted, they motioned to the next rogue, a Rogue lieutenant named Quanintas, who then motioned to the others behind her. She then entered the room, followed by Arc deQuester the Paladin, Jorg the Barbarian and the other nineteen rogues that made up the strike team under Arc's command. For almost two hours the company had been stalking the corridors of the first, then second level of the Catacombs, silently circumnavigating the patrols of Corrupted Rogues and other hellish minions of Andariel.

The company had been studious in avoiding the many clashes and conflicts that had sprung up all around this level of the Catacombs. Three hours earlier Arc had opened the Town Portal that allowed hundreds of Rogues to sally forth into these Catacombs underneath the Cathedral of their ancestral Monastery. Following the warriors had come a group of Priestesses, lead by Akara herself, High Priestess of the Order. This conclave of priestesses immediately invoked their most powerful magic to seal the entrance to the Catacomb, effectively cutting the Corrupted Rogue garrison, and Andariel herself, from any aid that may come from her army of hell minions. Despite being outnumbered by their twisted sisters, the Rogues were running a solid campaign, beating back their evil brethren and taking possession of most of this upper level.

However, it is blatantly clear to all that their bid to take the Catacombs, and even the Monastery was a folly. Kashya, war leader of the Rogues, had summoned almost the entire force of the remaining good Rogues, leaving the fortified camp that acted as their headquarters stripped to a skeleton defending force. And even then, this attack might not have enough to defeat the fiends in the Catacombs, even without the Demon Queen Andariel. Even now Andariel had commanded her Corrupted Rogues prepared for another huge offensive against the good Rogues who had taken the first level. The last desperate offensive of a badly weakened foe, the good Rogues had left themselves vulnerable to utter annihilation.

Unbeknownst to Andariel, this offensive was merely a feint. Even now Arc led his strike company secretly through the Catacombs towards the main objective of this attack: Andariel herself. Accompanied by his companions, Telindhra, Jorg and Maiyan, and supported by a patrol of twenty rogues highly skilled in moving quickly and silently through enemy lines, their mission was to make their was down to the fourth and final level of the Catacombs, into Andariel's personal stronghold, then challenge and destroy the Demon Queen. The Amazon Maiyan, the only one of the four that had not known the ultimate goal of the assault on the Catacombs, had outwardly seemed unimpressed at the ambitious and reckless move made up the Rogues. She had only said, "Well, if nothing else, the little sisters can gamble with the best."

By accessing a small chimney above a sacrificial altar on the second floor, an hour ago the company had managed to reach the second floor of the Catacombs without using the main stairwell, which was heavily guarded by good Rogues at the top, and evil ones below. Now they were close to reaching the second flight of stairs, down to the third level. It was this point that could break this mission, for though the third level should be practically deserted with most of the garrison poised to attack the first level, this flight of stairs would also undoubtably be guarded.

The two scouts, Maiyan and Telindhra moved cautiously into a short corridor that led to the next room. In this next room lay the stairs down so they were both extremely wary for signs of guard. To their surprise, the room lay empty. As Telindhra motioned the company forward, Maiyan silently stole down the stairs to catch a glimpse of what guards may lay at the bottom.

Soon, the company stood poised at the top of the stairs, ready to rush down at the sound of discovery. Maiyan returned, equally silently and whispered to Arc. "There are five." She quickly described where they stood, one on the left, two on the right, two in the centre of the room.

He motioned forward six of the best Rogues. Mainly using hand gestures and a few whispered comments, he relayed his orders. Take them by surprise. You three, follow Telindhra and feather the two in the centre. You two, follow Maiyan and take the two on the right, you, follow Quanintas, take the one on the left. Quietly, he gestured by cutting his finger across his throat, take them from behind.

Arc despised having to sent others to kill, but he knew that even his magically enhanced chainmail would still make some noise, though only the barest whisper. And though a master swordsman, trained for honorable combat, Arc himself was ill trained at the art of killing quietly and from behind.

Each of the Rogues accompanying Arc was armed with the long bow that was the hallmark weapon for the Rogue order, and multiple quivers of arrows. But these could be dropped in an instant, and each Rogue was also equipped with a short sword and a three-pronged parrying dagger for close combat. It was these daggers that half the company drew as the group of nine noiselessly made their way down the stairs. Then there was a muted twang and the hiss of arrows streaking through the air and thudding into their targets. Arc motioned and the rest of the party followed. The Rogues who dispatched the others by dagger had not even made a noise.

Once again Arc's command started off. The stairs came down into a large room with a door opposite the stairs. But as the strike team was only half way across the room, the door opened. Ill luck would have it that at that moment, on the other side of that door was a large patrol of evil Rogues, accompanied by giant spiders called Arachnids and vampire sorcerers called Banished. Originally heading towards the stairs in order to join the attack on the upper level, the patrol was alerted to trouble by the sound of arrows thudding home. Now they flung to door open and charged into the room as one.

Always wary, Arc's command weren't taken by surprise. From the second the door swung open, arrows left quivers and were drawn back in bows. The first twisted Rogues cleared the door only to be pin-cushioned by a score of arrows. However these Corrupt Rogues were well drilled in battle and there was no hesitation at the sudden death of those in front. More Rogues poured into the room before they could be held back by archers or warriors. The frontmost good Rogues dropped their bows and leapt to engage with hastily drawn melee weapons.

Still acting as a scout, Telindhra found herself at the front of the strike command. From the instant her first arrow left her bow, she knew it would be the last. Her evil sisters were pouring through, and a bow was poor defense against a sword. Besides, if she were to held battle Andariel, she would need her bow, and she did not want to risk it in deflecting a sword.

Telindhra dropped her bow and drew forth the dagger and sword given to her when the rest of the Rogues joined the four. From the moment she barely deflected a sword thrust with her parrying dagger and returned with a clumsy slash with the sword, that was caught on a buckler, Telindhra new she was in trouble.

Not using his Aura powers before then, as he did not with the visual aura to give him away, Arc now reached inward and called forth the paladin signature power. Acting in a split second, he only had time to call forth the most basic of auras. He patterned his chi in a simple pattern, one that increased the physical might of him and his companions. Once accomplished, he drew his sword and prepared himself for combat.

And not a moment too soon. Even a split second in combat can be far too long to let one's guard down, and this one almost cost Arc. Even as he drew his sword a huge Arachnid, as long as a man is tall and weighing more than three times that of a man, leapt towards him with frightening power and speed. From the door it had leapt high and long, flying over the head of more than a few combatants and hurling itself eight-legs first, clearly planning to land onto of him.

Eighteen years of age, Telindhra was one of the most promising young Rogues left. Already she was one of the most skilled with the bow in the camp, only slightly behind Kashya and a few of the other veteran Rogues. She was also well versed in hunting and woodcraft, and could stalk through the forests and plains as well as any ten years her senior. Her presence here, in a crack team of Rogues, all of whom where veteran warriors, most almost twice her age, was testimony of her burgeoning skills.

However, in hand to hand combat, her skills were adequate at best. Not that she was lacking in talent, but merely because her studies had not yet concentrated on that area properly. Though skilled, she was still young, and prior to the incident of sneaking from the camp to attack a lair of monsters in the company of Arc deQuester, she had been expected to serve in the archers company for years yet, never coming close to battle if it could be helped. Thus she had only the basic of close combat training, and this fighting with two weapons style was completely new to her.

Desperately hurling himself backwards, Arc threw himself into a backward roll, coming up to his knees. The Arachnid had already landed with surprising agility and had skittered forward, until it was almost on top of him. As the giant insect's head rammed into his shield, Arc dropped his sword to prop himself up, for he knew that to let the spider on top of him was to die. Again and again, the Arachnid reared forward to bite the harried paladin, and again and again Arc blocked the giant spider with his shield. Drawing a dagger from his belt he lashed out, scoring hits, but his dagger could not pierce the hard carapace of the Arachnid.

Drawing his concentration inwards, Arc initiated well practiced exercised to calm his thoughts to fight the panic and revulsion the Arachnid was causing him this close up, and calmly waited for his opportunity. It came at the next strike as the Arachnid again threw itself at him. Instead of blocking it with the flat of his shield, he turned it and delivered a giant shield bash that connected with the Arachnid's head straight between the eyes. Rearing up on four legs in pain, the Arachnid shrieked and brought itself down heavily, trying to crush the soft human with it's huge bulk. But Arc had anticipated this move and, grabbing his fallen sword, wedged it between the floor and the spider's falling body. The Arachnid's own momentum drove the sword clean through the insect's body, killing it instantly. Sticky fluid gushed out of the body, covering Arc in a thick yellowish liquid.

Pushing the corpse away and rolling to his feet, he cursed all insects to a wretched flaming death.

Telindhra knew her situation was getting bleak as her blocks and parries became more awkward and late. She had given up attempting to use the parrying dagger to block after a missed block cut a deep line of red across her arm. Another small gash featured across her forehead and her ribs ached from a swift knee that had come crashing into her belly. She had not even had the opportunity to attack since that first slash.

A final desperate ploy came to her as she leapt back from a slash that missed her breast by an inch. She came back to stand in a fighter's crouch, her sword held outstretched and her dagger held near her head like a torch. She knew she looked ridiculous, holding that foolish pose like a ten year old boy playing war. By her face was stony and composed, looking at her opponent right in the eyes.

The corrupted Rogue opposite Telindhra laughed mockingly, seeing this young girl caught up but fancies and posing like a fool. With practiced precision the she lashed out with her own sword, knocking Telindhra's outstretched sword out of her hand and clear across the room.

Telindhra expected this and even welcomed it. Once, speaking to an amateur 'magician', one who entertained children with sleight of hand tricks, this entertainer remarked that the secret to trickery was to mask your real movements by presenting another, flamboyant one. As the Rogue knocked her sword away, Telindhra fell back on what she knew. She specialized in the bow, as did many Rogues, but was also skilled with throwing spears and knives. Never taking her eyes off the Corrupt Rogue's face, her left hand whipped down, throwing her parrying dagger. Knowing her opponent was quick with her shield, she instead targeted a place that would be impossible to defend. The thrown dagger slammed into the Rogue's ankle penetrating clean through the joint and protruding through the other side of her foot.

The Rogue gave an agonised yell, one that was prematurely cut off by a powerful front kick delivered by Telindhra that solidly connected with the Rogue's chest. Stumbling backwards, each shuffled step blinding agony, the Rogue fell heavily against the wall, dropping her sword. Picking it up, Telindhra wasted no time in burying it in her evil sister's heart.

Arc looked around, taking stock. Three of his Rogues lay burnt and lifeless, thanks to the fiery spells of the pair of Banished. Another writhed on the floor thanks to the insidious venom of another Arachnid. Another was laying severely wounded from a sword blow.

As for the other side, the enemy had entered the room with little more than half the good Rogue's numbers in their corrupted sisters, but also there were four Arachnids and a pair of Banished. Six of the Corrupt Rogues lay dead, from arrow or blade. The pair of magic wielding undead proved their most potent from a range, and now were to busy fending off attacks to wield too powerful magics. And all four of the thrice cursed Arachnids were dead, for which he was exceedingly grateful.

Now he moved through the room, turning the tide on individual duels with a hamstringing blow or a blade to the back. Though it was hardly honorable combat, the party was close to their goal and could not afford to risk the mission at this late stage.

Soon the battle was over, most Rogues picking up their dropped bows or helping those wounded. Arc reached in again and patterned his inner chi, his life energy, to another familiar one, one that gave off a light blue light and slowly helping those around to regain strength and heal wounds.

Telindhra approached, having retrieved her weapons, and coming close to Arc, remarked loudly "Phew! You smell like you've been bathing in the latrines, oh glorious leader." Most of the other Rogues had also noted the sorry state that the paladin was in and laughed. "This was supposed to be a surprise attack, but now she'll be able to smell us coming before we even reach the fourth level!"

Arc scowled briefly before shrugging good-naturedly. "It's a secret weapon. After smelling these noxious fumes, she'll leave without a fight. Even the fires of hell undoubtably are more pleasant that this foul stench."

After a brief rest aided by Arc's healing Aura, most of the wounded felt recovered enough to press on, though some were still weak. Only one had to be left behind, as there was no point bringing wounded along where they were headed. The Rogue, bleeding heavily from a major wound to the side, lay in the corner, still clutching her bow with an arrow raised, grimly determined to make any who came this way pay dearly.

Two corridors and four rooms later they found a well. After all had drunk deeply, Arc splashed water all over himself using an upturned helm as a bucket, and cleaned himself off. Dripping wet but no longer sticky and gruesomely smelling, Arc was exceedingly grateful for the second time that day. With a huge sigh of relief Arc lead his strike team off, towards the final stairway which would lead them to Andariel's lair.