"Uprising" continues...
The wails of the Mortem could be heard throughout the entirety of Grimas Moenia, as dusk finally settled in and the sun had finally settled down. The dark red sky of night was not an encouraging sight for these three. The second wave of enemies came soon enough, but not all were of the Mortem. Men, too, wielding jagged swords and axes, wearing battered pieces of armor—these were the living members of the Church of Blood, with an intense violence to match their devilish insanity. Bradshaw exhaled quickly as he shot a swift arrow at the closest charging opponent's neck, making the foe fall.
"They're inside the keep!" one male citizen cried, "We're doomed!"
Hallmek gripped his sword hard and rushed forward at the approaching hordes, hoping to dispel the citizen's fearful prediction. One of the hissing Mortem dove at Hallmek, but he ducked and, then, pointed his sword upward, just as the fiend was over him. The Mortem was still on his sword when Hallmek lifted it up and threw it off the blade at three more, who didn't dodge in time.
Two evil men used Hallmek's throwing attack as an opportunity to move in and strike at him: they'd assumed that he was winded from such a maneuver. However, those enemies realized their folly as Hallmek defeated them with a single, swift attack: he'd slashed one horizontally and rounded the motion into a downward vertical strike for the second. They fell, never to live to underestimate him again.
So distracted by the chaos was Hallmek that he didn't notice a boulder—roughly six meters in diameter, probably launched from a catapult outside the city—soar over the main hall. Even though he did catch sight of the incoming rock when it was dangerously close, it would've landed on Hallmek and flattened him, had Jaspus not leapt forward and point his palm at it, crying, "Azarath, Metrion, Vaserix!" and it was enveloped in a strange black light, halting inches away from Hallmek's head by some invisible force.
Hallmek looked at Jaspus in wondrous bewilderment, and Jaspus seemed to be strained there as he stood, as if he were holding the rock himself without actually touching it. Jaspus then waved at the rock and it floated away from Hallmek and was set down innocently.
One of the Mortem snarled and leapt at Hallmek to tear him apart with its deadly claws, but it was impeded by an arrow met in the face: Bradshaw had taken action in spite of Hallmek's momentary hesitation. This act inspired Hallmek to jump back into the frenzy of the battle and charge at the Mortem with rage. The Mortem were foolish not to run.
Jaspus, meanwhile, jumped back and had stood next to Bradshaw. He said, "The mechanism for this gate must be somewhere else, since we haven't opened it yet. My guess is up there," he pointed to a platform upwards of the courtyard with an obtuse lever, like a scout's outpost. "I'll go and activate the control."
Bradshaw nodded and Hallmek shouted back from the battle, "Don't take too long!"
After chuckling momentarily to himself, Jaspus became serious and took on a countenance of terrible serenity. He was focusing, utilizing the same power that he'd used to stop the boulder. However, this time, Jaspus levitated himself slowly into the air and hovered to the platform to deal with the mechanism that would open the stone gate.
Too soon after Jaspus left was Bradshaw thrown back into battle. Mortem were crawling along the walls of the courtyard, closing in, but this was not the primary concern Bradshaw had: he was worried about those crawling around Hallmek, surrounding him. Hallmek, of course, was too distracted by a rather tall and burly Mortem, one who wielded a battleaxe well. Hallmek cut through the wood just below the blade, transforming the deadly weapon into a mere quarterstaff, and then wheeled around and thrust his sword behind him, impaling the giant Mortem.
Mortem reaching for Hallmek's feet were soon covered in arrows, convulsing and collapsing into death. Hallmek looked to see Bradshaw's handiwork and smiled gratefully. More men of the Blood came, and the two were forced to prepare a defense yet again.
Luckily, the stone gate began to lift. Jaspus had succeeded! The remaining citizens hurried into the tunnels, so both Hallmek and Bradshaw agreed that it was time to go. Unfortunately, another boulder was launched into the sky, aiming at their courtyard. Hallmek gulped, since this one was nearly twelve meters in diameter, and without Jaspus to stop it, the rock would surely kill them both. But, the rock was fired a little too high and missed the two warriors completely; instead, it found a home in the entrance where the stone gate used to be, also forcing additional rocks from the mountain to come down, piling on top, blocking their exit.
No sooner had Jaspus descended back down to them that he laid eyes upon the wreckage, looking shocked and confounded, "Another boulder?"
Hallmek nodded grimly, "Right into the gate. We're stuck."
"There's a passage below us," said Bradshaw hastily, "that leads to the exit Hallmek and I were originally going to take. If we could just carve through these enemy troops, we could make our way out of this area and down there."
"Directly below us?" asked Jaspus. "Hang on."
Suddenly, Hallmek witnessed another strange phenomenon produced by Jaspus: the ground beneath their feet became enveloped in the same black light as before. Slowly, the three descended into it, as though they were actually passing through the floor itself. Hallmek's mind went back to the three words pronounced by Jaspus before—"Azarath, Metrion, Vaserix"—and he began to wonder if these words had summoned some extraordinary power for Jaspus to use: in this case, to make a quick and painless escape.
Inside the underground passage, Hallmek and Bradshaw soon felt ground beneath their feet again and, without a word, Bradshaw began leading them on their way. He'd seen more of these wonders than Hallmek, so he questioned them considerably less. Hallmek, however, deeply desired to make good on the boy's promised time for questions and find out who or what this Jaspus "of the Vaserix" was.
Bradshaw guided his two companions through the passage until they were forced to go up a ramp of rubble, formed by the battle. Now on a rooftop that was barely standing, the three watched the sky for a moment as catapult shots soared across it like gigantic shooting-stars. Bradshaw saw a wooden ladder to his right that descended into the sewers—this would be their exit—but to his left, beyond two pillars, was the greater part of the rooftop, and there stood a foe, spoiling for a fight.
He was not of the Mortem, nor was a common member of the Blood; he was something of greater evil. In an ominous ensemble, he was bald, topless, but each of his hands and forearms were wrapped in brown leather, and he was clothed in coal-colored breeches for his legs and feet. His skin was albino white, sickly pale, having eyes of yellowish-green. In his hands he carried two scimitars—thin, curved swords—stained with blood that dripped into his grip. On his forehead were two long, serrated, crooked horns that protruded upwards: the tips dripped with blood, too, as though used as weapons.
"I'll hold him off as long as I can," Bradshaw commanded, "you get into the sewers! Go!"
Running at the horned-foe, Bradshaw prepared to engage him in combat. Just then, a catapult shot struck one of the pillars and made it collapse on top of the other, creating enough ruins to seal Bradshaw off from his companions. Hallmek saw that the catapults had launched fire into the air, and he decided that now was the time to escape. Tugging at Jaspus' cloak, Hallmek urged him go first down the ladder into the vertical shaft. Hallmek followed close behind.
As Jaspus climbed down, he saw that this vertical shaft was littered with spikes and, further down, there was another level before the sewers. Here sat a large man in the shade, hidden from complete view. He seemed to have a smile engrained on his face, and he appeared to be in some kind of trance. Jaspus stopped and spoke out to him, "Hey! There're enemy forces coming! You'd better get moving!" But the man made no reply.
Hallmek glanced upwards and saw that several Mortem were preparing to climb down the ladder to challenge him and Jaspus, so he kicked the youth to get moving quickly.
However, the weight of the Mortem was too great for the ladder to bear, and it snapped. Jaspus and Hallmek dropped the rest of the way down, landing on their backs in the murky waters of Grimas Moenia's sewers. The Mortem from above were caught on spikes of the shaft, but only one landed with the two Azarathians—and Hallmek was quick to end its existence with a stab to the throat.
A loud crash rang out from up above, and Hallmek looked to see falling rocks and debris close up the shaft. He and Jaspus promptly rolled out of the way of the incoming debris' path and, after a moment of quiet, sensing that no more enemies or obstacles would beset them, they stood up and walked away from the huge pile of rubble, instead towards the light at the end of the sewer tunnel.
TO BE CONTINUED