"I cannot but feel we pawns bear some connection to this place," Bryce said.
"Aye," Gilroy replied. He was the quiet sort.
Darien thought silently to herself. Despite the vastness of the Everfall, she felt entrapped. She couldn't help but feel a sense of dread. The sleepless dead didn't help either.
So she nearly screamed when Zillah grabbed her arm.
"Look, Arisen," the pawn said, "There's something in the darkness."
"What?" Darien looked ahead. She didn't see anything, but heard what sounded like breathing. The undead's moaning she knew, being a mixture of growls, sighs and broken words. What Darien heard was something entirely different.
She crept forward and followed the curvature of the path, holding out her lantern. Darien prepped herself for anything. Ahead, a large hulk crouched in the middle of the path. It was larger than them, but smaller than a Cyclops. She couldn't' see it clearly, but it seemed to be feasting on something.
Darien looked around for any way to move around the beast, but all the openings on the left side of the path were barred by thick gates. It mattered not, for the thing ahead got silent. The lights from her lantern gleamed off two red eyes. The beast rose, and it made a noise of something between gurgle and a growl. It was humanoid, but considerably bigger, with dark grey and black skin. It had long arms and thick legs. Among its back, knees and elbows were short warts that resembled stubby horns.
Darien stepped back. "What is that?"
"'Tis an ogre," Bryce said quietly as if the creature hadn't yet seen them. "I suggest caution, Arisen. The sight of women excites it."
Darien frowned at the pawn. What the hell does that mean? The beast snarled. It dropped a half-eaten corpse to the ground Darien hadn't noticed before. Its mouth partway opened, revealing large, uneven teeth.
It came at them.
Darien and the pawns scattered. She threw herself to the right and rolled into the side of the pillar. She jumped to her feet. The ogre swung one of its massive arms toward Gilroy, who was tossed back into the wall. Then it spun toward Zillah who notched an arrow and aimed. The beast came, moving incredibly fast for something its size. The pawn fired the arrow that pierced into the ogre's cheek. The beast fell forward, and Zillah safely leapt over its head, landing on its back.
Darien rushed forward and swung her sword down toward the head, but the ogre suddenly sat up. Her weapon clashed against the ground. The monster punched out once, hitting Darien's shield and knocking her back. She stared up at the dark ceiling while bells rung in her head.
Bryce sat her up. She saw his lips moving, but couldn't comprehend what he was saying. The mage raised his staff, and the air above him shifted and compressed into light blue spears of ice. The frozen projectiles shot forward. Darien tried following them with her eyes, and found them impaled into the ogre's arms.
She shook her head. Sound was coming back. The ogre spun wildly, and tried reaching for Zillah who was on its back. Darien stood and shook her sword once. She ran forward, and ducked beneath the ogre's arm, stabbing her sword into the creature's leg. The blade didn't go deep, but the beast glared at her. Darien pulled her sword out and backpedalled. The ogre raised its arms and came toward her.
Darien caught Zillah's eyes, the pawn still on the back of the beast. She saw the pawn raise her arms, bloody daggers in both hands, and bring them down on the back neck. The ogre stopped and reached behind its neck, grabbing Zillah in its large hand. The pawn struggled, using her one free arm to pound her fist on its thick skin.
The ogre snarled, and turned its back toward them. It started trudging away. Darien's eyes widened and she rushed forward, nearly falling over herself. Bryce shouted something. Darien released her shield and it clanked on the ground behind her. She gripped her sword reverse grip and lunged at the beast's back. The hardened warts made it easy for Darien to climb. She found one of Zillah's daggers still embedded in the back.
The ogre stared down at the pawn wriggling in its grasp. The red lights that made up its eyes gleamed. Darien stabbed her sword into its neck. She felt the beast convulse. She gripped the sword hilt and applied as much pressure as she could on it, felling the blade slip in deeper. The ogre dropped Zillah who fell onto her hands and knees. Darien wrenched the sword, not pulling it out but trying to move it within the wound. The ogre made a gurgling noise and shook its shoulders. Darien grabbed the dagger stuck in the back, pulled it out, and stabbed again. The ogre lurched back, but stayed on its feet.
Darien saw Bryce casting the ice spell from around the ogre's shoulder. She didn't see Gilroy standing before the beast, trying to calculate his next attack, or her pawn who unsteadily got to her feet.
"Wait!" Zillah shouted.
The spears of ice shot forward. Darien felt the impact on the ogre. It stepped back. They both fell. Darien's mind was slow to the event happening. She was falling. In midair. Gripping the weapons still in the beast. She felt her feet lift away from the ogre.
Darien cursed and shut her eyes before impact. The wind was knocked from her lungs. Something broke, cracked in the fall. I'm dead, she thought. Darien kept still.
"Master!" Someone – Zillah – screamed, "Master! Open your eyes!"
Darien raised her head and hissed between clenched teeth. She opened one eye slowly, then the other. She was laying on top of the damned beast. The ogre was one its stomach, and she, safely upon its back. Darien realized that she still held tightly to the hilt of her and Zillah's weapons. She released them, feeling the stiffness in her fingers.
The pawns were shouting from above. Dairen felt a whimper escape her lips that turned into a quiet, dry laughter. I've either the worse luck, or the best.
She slid off the ogre. It was definitely dead. By the time the pawns safely made it to her, Darien had pulled the weapons out of the ogre's flesh, and was recounting the strange creatures she had managed to fight in the past couple weeks. She stood, resting her back against the ogre's thigh, not to gloat, but because she wasn't sure she could keep herself up.
Zillah was the first to her. "Arisen!" the pawn said, "are you unharmed?"
"The dragon, a Cyclops, goblins," Darien said, counting with her fingers. "The walking dead. And an ogre." She looked at the pawn. "Am I missing anything?"
Zillah stared at her for a long time. "A hydra?"
Darien laughed dryly, again. She was getting good at it. "Ah, of course." She stood on her own, and held out Zillah's dagger. "You forgot this."
The pawn took the weapon. Darien couldn't gleam anything from her companion's face, as usual.
Zillah lifted the discarded shield in front of Darien. "You forgot this," the pawn said.
The fighter felt herself smile. She retrieved her shield and slid her arm through the braces. The pawns looked around the bottom floor. It was mainly bare, save for the rubble scattered about the ground. An eerie, blue light illuminated the area, radiating off the ornate platform centered on the floor. Long, narrow cracks in the stone ground also seeped with the light.
Darien moved toward the altar and knelt before it. Upon inspection, she realized it was more like a circular, metal plate. She could fit her fingers between the bottom edge and the stone floor. The light source was somewhere beneath it. She also felt a draft, realizing that there must have been a large opening, another room or cavern, beneath the platform.
Darien looked up. On the other side of the platform was a fanged and eyeless worm. She blinked. A fanged worm. The thing was of red, slimy skin with purple veins along its sides. It drooled from its wide mouth, framed with spiked teeth.
Maker's breath. m"Zillah?" Darien said.
"Arisen."
Darien caught the alarm in the pawn's voice. She stood and slowly turned around. The pawns all head their backs to her, weapons drawn. Five of the same worms circled the party. They had risen from the floor itself; the ground they were rooted in was distorted with a sickly yellow light. Magick, of some sort.
"Zillah?" Darien said. "Anyone?"
"I haven't the faintest clue, Arisen." Bryce replied.
"I have a bad feeling," Gilroy added.
Suddenly two of the creatures before them started glowing, and made a strange, stinging sound. Darien recognized the spell, and raised her shield before the fire balls could hit her. The pawns moved, striking the beasts. Zillah closed the distance between the nearest, and slashed it like lightning. Her daggers left gashes, but the monster curled down toward her. She jumped back and stabbed her right dagger into the top of its head. The creature hit the ground, and wriggled. It wormed back into the strange portal it rose from and disappeared.
Darien jumped in front of Bryce with her shield, blocking the orbs of white light that another worm shot out. She didn't feel the impact of them, but felt her arm burn with electricity that bit her skin. Darien stepped sideways and Bryce released a volley of fireballs toward the beast. Its head sizzled and it dropped to the ground. Gilroy brought the broadsword down onto the worm while it squirmed. The impact made a squelchy sound and something crunched beneath his weapon.
Darien gave the area a quick look around. She saw three of the worms rise the ground.
"There's no end to the beasts!" Zillah shouted. She jumped back from the loud bite of the monster.
"We need to go," Darien said. She shouted, "Get back! We are leaving this place!"
She moved backwards until she saw all the pawns turn and follow. They ran up the staircase and followed the upward slope of the path. Darien felt her lungs already start to burn, but she kept running. The pawns kept pace with her, neither falling behind nor going ahead. Before them, more worms appeared. Darien kept her shield up as she ran. Before they could cast, she and the pawns were on them. She nearly decapitated one, and the "head" severed in its retreat.
Bryce didn't seem to have time to cast anything before they continued their retreat. Darien heard the same, piercing sound of the worm behind them casting a spell. Then she heard a deep grunt. Darien skidded to a stop and spun around. Gilroy had fallen onto his stomach. She ran back to him and blocked the incoming assault of magick. Darien stood above him and looked down. A sliver of ice stuck out from the back of his leg, already beginning to melt into the wound. An arrow flew past her and struck the worm in the neck.
Darien pulled out the icy arrow from his leg, and grabbed Gilroy's arm, lifting him to his feet. The warrior hissed and limped along. Another creature slithered into existence near them. Bryce and Zillah fought back. Darien saw the yellow light materialized near her. Before a monster rose from it, she ran to it and stabbed her sword downward into the wormhole. She was surprised when her weapon went through the floor with no resistance, and she felt the blade pierce through flesh. In the next moment, her sword snapped loudly. She had lost most of blade in whatever realm the creature originated from. She swore.
Gilroy shouted. Darien turned to see his shoulder gripped between the maws of a worm. Bryce whipped out his staff, smacking the beast. The creature released its bite and slithered back into its portal.
Darien came to the pawns' sides. Gilroy was bleeding from rows of puncture wounds near his neck, and he left behind bloody footprints. Darien went to grab his arm, and was surprised when he grabbed her wrist. He wasn't moving. Blood dribbled from his wound onto Darien's cloak.
"Go, Arisen," he said.
Darien looked up at Zillah, who had her back turned to them. The pawn fired an arrow toward the nearest monster.
"Zillah," Darien said, "help me."
The strider turned around and went to grab Gilroy's other arm. He looked at her, and Zillah stopped. She turned to Darien.
"We must leave, Arisen."
"We are not-"
"Arisen," Gilroy said.
Darien looked at him.
"Leave me." He stood on his own, hefting the flat of his sword onto his shoulder, and looked down at her. Darien saw the wounds along his neck and shoulder. He was covered in his blood, but he had stopped bleeding. "May we meet again."
He let go of her, leaving a bracelet of his blood around her wrist. Darien fought for something to say, something to strengthen his resolve. But the words were lost to her. She wrenched herself away, turning her back on him. She gestured to Zillah and Bryce, and they all started running. Her breathing was heavy, but she could hear the battle behind them; Gilroy shouting and the sounds of inhuman spell-casting. Darien felt like she was dying, but she pumped her arms and kept her eyes down while she ran.
They passed through the hallway, up the staircase, and finally burst into the wine cellar. Darien leaned forward and steadied herself with her hands on her knees. It took all her willpower to keep from vomiting. The tips of Barnaby's shoes came into her vision.
"Arisen," the pawn said, "what happened?" He placed his hands on her shoulders and looked down at her.
She stood up straight and put her hands behind head. If she had a heart, it'd be thundering in her chest. The absence of it was wrong. Darien glanced at Zillah.
Her pawn seemed, too, out of breath, but she reported the events of their journey.
Barnaby didn't seem surprised at the mention of the walking dead or the ogre, but he titled his head slightly when Zillah went into strange light and the worms.
"A light in the furthest depths, you say," he said quietly, "I see…In truth, even we pawns know precious little of the Everfall."
"And those worms?" Darien inquired from the seat next to the table. Zillah sat beside her, arms resting on the table and face turned down, but her eyes were on the guildmaster.
"The way you detailed them and the method in which they manipulated their surroundings...They aren't unlike depictions of a beast called the Evil Eye."
Darien ignored the mage who was examining her shield arm. There were dark marks where the braces had been. Barnaby poured all three of them mugs of water, which Darien took gratefully.
"Elaborate, if you will," she said.
Barnaby crossed the room. He took a book off the table there and returned with it. He flipped through the pages and, when he found the right one, placed it in front of Darien.
She didn't know what she was supposed to be seeing. The words were faded from age. The right page had a drawing of what seemed to be an eye with numerous tendrils stemming from it. Each stem had an open mouth with sharp, cartoonish teeth.
She looked up at Barnaby. "This means nothing to me."
He looked at the book. "Legend has it that dragons who are defeated channel their remaining strength and energy into their eye. In time, that eye becomes the creature you encountered today."
"There is a monster like lurking beneath Gran Soren?" Darien's voice raised, but she kept it from shaking. "Is that not a problem?"
"It is, Arisen, but I do not believe its existence will be a danger to Gran Soren or the pawns here. You faced only the tentacles. Its body is likely trapped in the Everfall."
Perhaps it didn't give chase because it was satisfied with consuming Gilroy. She looked at Bryce, but she found no trace of anger or sadness in his face.
He looked back at her, emotionless. "Your wounds will heal, soon, Arisen."
"Nevertheless, we shall redouble our efforts here, and keep vigilant for further signs of change." Barnaby said, bowing. "Arisen, you have my deepest gratitude."
Darien stared into the empty mug in her hands. She felt like she accomplished nothing.
Darien walked over to the edge of the wheat field and took a deep breath. She appreciated the openness around her, and the sky above. Calm exhaustion weighed heavy in her chest. Zillah stood beside her, staring straight ahead. The pawn was quiet. Darien ran her hand through her hair and glanced at her companion. She dreaded whatever thought was in strider's head.
"Zillah?" Darien said.
The pawn looked at her. "Yes?"
"Is there something on your mind? You've been quiet since we left the Everfall."
"There is much on my mind, Arisen. Mainly, your methods in battle."
Darien looked away, frowned, then back at the pawn. "Excuse me?"
Zillah didn't miss a heartbeat. "We pawns are given life through the Arisen. We are your shadow, a legion to command. We are your allies and defenders."
Darien had to look away. Her pawn: one blue eye and one brown, both devoid of will. Zillah's lifelessness made it harder for the fighter to hear what she had to say. She felt like she was being scolded.
"I know," Darien said, trying to keep her head up. "I should have – Gilroy. Damn." She turned her entire body toward the pawn and forced herself to make eye contact. "I shouldn't have left him."
Zillah leaned back slightly. A soft breeze pushed the pawn's bangs across her eyes. She didn't seem to notice.
"Arisen," the pawn said slowly, "I apologize if I failed to explained myself, and have led you to this conclusion. No, I am not bothered that we left Gilroy behind. I am concerned that it took so long for you to do so."
Darien stared at the pawn.
Zillah continued. "When we fought the ogre, you risked your life to save mine. 'Tis was unnecessary. Might I remind you that pawns do not die. We simply return to the rift. But you, Master, your life is at stake, and is not of the same worth as ours."
Darien realized her mouth was open, and shut it. The words she needed was lost. She wished Quina was there. She would know what to say.
Darien scratched the back of her neck, then looked at her wrist. She remembered the tight grip of the warrior pawn. She remembered not wanting to leave him, but not wanting to die either. His blood was dry and caked on her wrist from when he grabbed her. It was still there.
She said, "I'll rue the day I measure someone's life disposable." Then she looked up at the pawn and grinned. "Even if they name themselves pawns."
Zillah went to give another lecture but Darien punched her in the shoulder. It seemed to completely throw off the pawn.
"Arisen-"
Darien spun around and started back toward the path to the Urban Quarter. "I've naught more to say until we replace my sword." She waved the stubby weapon over her shoulder and kept walking.
Zillah's shoulders slumped and she slowly shook her head. She caught up to Darien and followed silently behind.