No Longer Alone
Okay, next chapter's up. At least the delay wasn't for a month this time.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
The air was suffocating.
Blasts of gas and steam emitted from natural vents all over the craggy surface of the mountain they were now traversing, covering the area in thick clouds of noxious fumes that stung their eyes and made breathing difficult.
The terrain was uneven and rocky, loose pebbles and jagged holes littering the entirety of the winding path into the depths. Progress was constantly slowed as carts, wagons and horses got themselves stuck in the loose ash and people slipped and stumbled on the treacherous roads.
To make matters worse, the same gases which hurt their lungs also severely reduced visibility – it was somewhat like trying to see underwater, Amelia thought – if the water was lime-green and smelt vaguely of badly burnt cooking.
"If this is what a volcano is like, I don't see much worth coming here for." She muttered sourly.
"I can't say I'm a fan either." Franz said in reply. "But apparently the farmers like it. The ash from the place is supposed to help the plants grow. That's why this region is so fertile."
"What? This place is a hellhole! How could it possibly help plants to grow?"
Franz shrugged. "You'd have to ask someone who's studied this sort of thing. All I know it that it really does work that way."
Conversation soon petered put again as both of them – along with the rest of the army – focused their efforts on keeping up with Ephraim . The king had charged forward like a man possessed, and by now had outpaced all but the hardiest of the soldiers in the army. Glancing up, Amelia caught sight of Tana swooping forward – the shifting air currents made flight extremely risky - but apparently the princess of Frelia had found something important enough to risk taking to the skies for.
As they rounded the next corner, Amelia noted first that the next sretch of land was noticeably wider – and for that matter it appeared far easier to traverse, at least at first glance. The area was largely free of obstacles – aside from a few large, smooth boulders that lined the edges of the place, almost on the edge of the crevices from which the hot air spewed.
King Ephraim was there too, apparently having slowed down at long last. His head was bowed, his brow furrowed as he was obviously pondering something. Next to him stood the princess of Rausten, a sombre expression on her face.
"Did something happen here?" She said softly, almost to herself.
Franz didn't respond – Amelia half doubted he'd heard her in the first place, but when she glanced over at him she noticed that he was staring at the ground around them with a puzzled frown.
"Franz? What's…" She trailed off as her gaze was drawn to the floor too. As she observed it more closely, she began to see that there were a multitude of strange curves and waves across the floor. She was at a loss to identify the cause of those marks – if pressed, she might have hazarded that someone was writhing on the floor, but-
A sharp intake of breath from several other soldiers only heightened her growing unease, but the root cause of it remained annoyingly out of reach. Nevertheless, she brought her lance into a battle-ready position – if it turned out to be a precipitate action on her part, then it'd only leave her looking embarrassed. Better than if she'd remained complacent and turned out to be wrong about that.
A sharp crackling noise sounded – indistinct over the murmur of dozens of knights in the vicinity, but still clear enough to be heard. Instantly Amelia's head turned, her eyes seeking the source of the sound.
One of the boulders at the edge of the chamber was rocking slightly, shifting back and forth. The soldiers closest to it had noticed and begun backing away, looks of alarm clearly etched on their faces.
Hairline cracks snaked their way across the 'boulder', although by now there could be no doubt as to its true nature. Just as she heard the faint ringing sound of Franz drawing his sword from beside her, the egg finally cracked open, its occupant tumbling to the blackened earth in a mass of writhing scales.
Franz had never paid much attention to lectures and discussions on the individual breeds of Fiends that served under the Demon King – he'd figured that for all their supposed unholy means of origins, they fought like almost anything else – either physically or with magic. In retrospect this had led to several of the Fiends surprising him – chiefly the Gwyllgis with their insane speeds, but by and large he'd been able to get by.
Even then there was no way of mistaking the serpentine creature that now pulled itself upright for anything other than what it truly was.
A Gorgon. One of the Demon King's deadliest minions. And ominous cracking sounds from the rest of the eggs dotting the landscape were any indication, it was going to be joined by more of its brood very shortly after. In a complete defiance of nature's normal processes, the newly-hatched Gorgon appeared to already be fully grown as well as quite clearly hostile.
"Form up!" He heard Lord Ephraim's shouted commands. "Mobile units, target the eggs that haven't hatched yet. Don't let more of those things get loose!"
He shared a brief glance with Amelia, and then they were galloping towards the nearest of the egg clusters, his blade sweeping out to strike at the thick shell. For all their imposing bulks the shell was surprisingly fragile, and it crumbled under his assault.
Following up behind him, Amelia thrust her weapon deep into the insides of the egg, cutting deep into the embryo. After a slight pause she yanked her lance – now slick with a translucent yellow fluid – out, guiding Fort a few steps further away. They both tensed, but there were no stirrings nor screech of anger – whatever was inside was now dead.
Unfortunately, their efforts were far outstripped by the sheer number of eggs in the vicinity that were still hatching, spilling more and more of the serpentine monstrosities onto the battlefield. And to add insult to injury, all too familiar howls and screeches heralded the arrival of other types of fiends – Gargoyles, Baels, and Mogalls chief amongst the reinforcements. Looking at the circumstances, the conclusion was pretty easy to draw.
"It's a trap." He muttered to Amelia, who nodded grimly.
"No way all those Gorgon eggs just all began to hatch when we came here." She agreed. As she drove Fort forward, stabbing deep into another intact egg – one of the last remaining ones in the area. "So," she continued as she backed away again, keeping a wary eye out for the circling Gargoyles. "What now? Do we try to break through? Or form a defensive line or something?"
"Not our call." Franz reminded her. "We just need to do whatever the commanders tell us – until then I guess killing as many of these things as possible would seem a safe assumption on our course of action."
"Heh. 'Safe'." Amelia said softly as the both of them wheeled around to meet the charge of a Bael. The humongous spider screeched as it neared them, it's slavering fangs poised to bite down upon the small humans.
Jerking Sophia into action – his subconscious mind noting once more that her response was just a fraction of a second slower than Neige's – he managed to evade the charging tackle. Amelia had broken to the other side at the same time and was now riding perilously close to the edge of a fissure in the blackened earth.
As the overgrown spider attempted to manoeuvre itself to strike at either of the two knights again, Franz slashed at the creature with his blade. Back in Taizel the monster's been incredibly tough and resistant to all but the mightiest of strikes, and so he gritted his teeth, bracing himself for the jarring sensation he knew would follow. But the blade bit deep into the side of the Fiend, drawing both blood and a scream of rage from the giant beast.
And then he was past the Bael, but as he guided Sophia around for a second pass, a volley of fireballs from the mages slammed into the Bael, blasting it apart before it had a chance to attack again.
Franz shook his head and turned back to the battle. He supposed the sudden ease he was enjoying when facing down the forces of darkness owed a fair bit to the Knight's Crest. Well, good for him. Pushing the matter from his mind, he turned to meet the next wave of monstrosities – noting unhappily as he did so that the Gorgons were tearing through their front lines like ire through dry grass.
And out of the corner of his eye, he saw Amelia atop Fort, charging straight at the closest – and easily the largest – of the Gorgons.
Amelia was willing to admit that her rash act to challenge the snake-monster head-on might not have been the best of ideas, but the creature had noticed her first, and had only been temporarily waylaid by a soldier leaping at it with an axe. A single sweep of one of its long whiplike arms (ending in what looked uncomfortably like perfect replicas of snake heads) sent the soldier flying and crashing to the ground in the tumbled heap of limbs and armour. Not having many other options, the lancer had used the distraction to close the distance and to hopefully get the first strike in.
She was also unhappily aware of the fact that she had no estimation whatsoever of what the creature was capable of. It appeared to be rather well-versed in melee combat, but she was also pretty certain that she'd seen it throwing about some sort of dark magic a moment earlier.
As she moved within striking range, she thrust forward with her lance, only for the snake-monster to bat it aside irritably. The strength behind the blow was unbelievable – Amelia was barely able to prevent her weapon from being knocked out of her grasp. And she was reasonably certain the only reason she'd been able achieve that was due to her newfound strength.
Just then, the snake-monster's other hand began to pulse, a deep purple glow forming in the centre of its grasp. Acting on instinct, she jerked Fort to the side – and the world around her vanished in roaring darkness, an unearthly howl whipping through the air. For a moment Amelia was absolutely certain she'd been hit, but after a moment she realized that everything still seemed to be in good working order. Twisting around in her seat, she saw the ground behind her had had a huge swathe gouged out from it, a testament to the destructive power of whatever it was the serpent had unleashed.
It was then that she noticed a thin cut near the 'elbow' of the monster's hand, from which black blood dribbled down its scales, and Franz behind the monster, swinging his mount around. Another part of her mind noted that his blade had the same dark blood on it that now flowed from the creature's wound. The glancing blow had apparently been enough to knock the creature's aim off.
Making a note to thank him later, she wheeled around, ready to confront the beast again, but apparently the snake had taken offense at Franz's challenge and it was now focusing its beady eyes on the knight. It struck out with its claws again, and Franz was barely able to fend off its blows with his sword. Abruptly one darting strike got through and Franz lurched back, twin gashes on his shoulder, his right spaulder completely ruined.
The snake creature let out a screech of triumph, just as Amelia plunged her weapon into the creature's back in the approximate location where she hoped its heart was (she was subsequently to discover that the monsters had at least three of them each). More of the thick blood spurted out, some of it spilling onto her arm with an unpleasant burning sensation and the serpent reared back with a scream of pain and rage. It whirled, the 'fangs' on its hands slashing at Amelia, but her grip on the lance saved her as she was pulled along with it, meaning that she still at the back of the beast and a lot closer to where Franz was. On the downside, she had been yanked unceremoniously from her seat on Sophia, causing jolts of pain to shoot through her legs. Aiming a careful kick at the creature's scaled back, she managed to gather enough momentum to yank her weapon from the beast's back, tumbling unceremoniously to the earth.
Pulling herself into a sitting position, she glared up at the snake. Although wounded, it was still obviously capable of doing much more damage. As if to emphasize the point, it reared back again, sizing up its opponents more carefully this time.
Franz rode up beside her, holding his sword in his good arm. The monster shifted stances, diving the one on horseback to be the greater threat, and hissed out a challenge. Both of them charged at each other, and Amelia got a brief impression of confused shouting and the clash of steel against scale, and then suddenly Franz was on the ground again, his expression a mix between anger and exasperation. However, several more blade marks across the serpent's chest indicated that the monster hadn't gotten things entirely its way.
More enraged than ever, the serpent leered forward with a primal scream, and Amelia noticed a strange gleam in its eye that could mean nothing good. Throwing herself forward, she tackled Franz out of the way… almost. She could feel a wave of dark energy enveloping her left, but she shook it off, noting that it didn't feel particularly painful. In fact, her arm wasn't feeling much of anything at all…
She let out a gasp of horror as she turned to look at her arm. Everything below her shoulder was stone. Trying not to scream, she tried to force her hand to move, to form itself into a fist, to make her fingers twitch and bend. Something. Anything.
Nothing.
"Amelia!"
Franz's cry was enough to snap her back to reality of the situation, and she started, staring wildly at the beast. For the first time, it appeared to be showing signs of fatigue, it slumping over instead of continuing its rage fueled assault.
Now or never. Forcing down the horror at what the beast had inflicted on her, she raised her lance, trying her best to get into an attacking stance with only one good arm. Beside her, Franz moved up as well, his own weapon reflecting the fiery redness of the cavern around them.
As one they struck blows deep into the chest of the serpent and the creature screamed again – this time, in mortal agony. Jerking away from them, it collapsed to the ground, waving its arms feebly as it bled out the last of its life.
It was only then that Amelia realized that she had been holding in her breath, and she let it out with a long sigh. A moment later, she felt Franz hand on her shoulder. The one which could still feel.
"C'mon," he said, urgency in his voice. "We've got to find you a healer quickly." As he spoke, he stooped to retrieve Amelia's dropped lance.
She shook her head and reached for the weapon. "I can… I can carry it. You… your arm's wounded."
"And your arm is stone." He replied. There was a pause as neither of them spoke. "Come on." He finally said. And Amelia followed.
Franz smiled as he settled himself by Amelia's bed. "How's your arm?" He asked softly.
"Good." She raised the limb in question, flexing her fingers. "It's still a little stiff, but Father Moulder says it should wear off by tomorrow." She shifted her gaze. "And yours?"
"Already healed. Pretty standard wound, really." Franz shrugged. "Natasha didn't have any trouble with it."
They had managed to win the latest battle, although with heavy casualties. The upshot of it was that the army was simply not prepared to continue moving until the next day at the least, and they were grounded in the middle of the mountain. Franz had heard rumours that Lord Ephraim had charged off alone into the mountains in the belief that he'd spotted the Demon King, and had shortly returned looking like he'd seen a ghost, but Franz honestly didn't have a clue what that was all about. What could have been more shocking than finding out that the Demon King had taken over the body of the crown prince of Grado?
The tent had been filtered, a large cloth hung over the entrance and soaked in water, blocking out the worst of the noxious fumes – the upshot being that it was terribly stuffy in the cramped interior. All in all, Franz decided, it was marginally preferable to going back outside.
Besides, keeping Amelia company was about as pleasant a way to pass the time as any. The medics had ordered strict bed rest for all those inflicted with the Gorgon's petrifying spells until it could be ascertained that there were no untoward side effects, so there wasn't a lot that she could do aside from waiting.
After a while, Amelia shifted under her covers, turning her head to look at Franz. "Hey, Franz."
"Yeah?"
"Back then, back when we fighting the Gorgon… thing," she paused. A smile quirked one side of her mouth. "We work pretty well together, didn't we?"
He chuckled slightly and nodded. "Yes," he said. "Yes, we do."
Chapter End
Apologies for the short chapter, but at least it came up pretty fast.
I hope you enjoyed it. Please review.
