Chapter Two Part II

Seridon notched an arrow, and sent it hurdling towards the Kalbarc with a twang. The beast stumbled to the ground, and with a clamber tried to reach for his sword. With a second shot, another arrow whistled through air and hit the Kalbarc in the back of the head. Tharituer—as history knew him as—landed on top of the body and rolled across the ground puffing a cloud of smoke in his wake. Seridon bent down to take a close look at him. His eyes had gone a brilliant white and the trailing greasy hair laid smelt with blood. A spark of fortune shone out; he still lived.

Pleased, he knelt down and sheathed his bow. Gingerly, he leant forward and prepared to lift Tharituer. As Seridon’s hands touched him, he cried in pain. He body started to whine and then he froze. His back arched up and his eyes burst open. An immense stream of blue light shone out and threw Seridon back against the wall of the room, blinding him with crumbled brick and dust. The majesty of the beams hit the ceiling and black dust slowly drifted around the room. The room shimmered back down to the weak flames that fluttered from the wall-mounted torches.

The man began to moan and wail. His head turned side to side across the ground and the grubby face stirred with a yowl. The sweat that dribbled down his head gently mirrored the light. When he winced up and saw Seridon leaning against the wall, he staggered back and grabbed the dead Kalbarc’s sword. His panting splutters were audible from the other end of the room. “Who… who are you?” He carped.

Seridon stared in awe for a few moments before responding. “My name is Seridon, head of the Elven guard.” He bowed and forced a weak smile. “It is an honour to meet you, Tharituer.”

Aedomir looked the elf up and down. “Tharituer? I am Aedomir Fortongue!” The elf dropped his face in shock. He had very clean and well-groomed attire. His head dangled black flaxen hair down his towering body.

Seridon paced over to Aedomir slowly, narrowing his eyes. “Good lord! I—” His voice was cut off by a stampede of heavy feet. Aedomir froze and saw his skin turning pallid. The mass of weight above the ceiling sent brickwork plunging onto the ground overhead. “Can you walk?” Aedomir hurried up and ran to alcove in the wall. He glared out and ran back in.

“Come on, there’s not much time!” They leapt out of the door and staggered into a narrow passage. Two stairways escalated up. One lit up with luminous orange beams, while the other lay in a blanket of shadow. “Quickly!” They dashed into the darkness and propped their backs up against the crumbling stairway. They saw a group of around fifty Kalbarcs scurry into the room, followed by a tall marauder. The Kalbarcs whined at the sight that greeted them while the latter roared into the air. Seridon gasped and his body began to tremble. A beast turned and glared at them. “Oh no.”

They spun on the spot and hastened their ascent up the stairs. “We can’t take them all out,” He panted. “Let’s get out quickly!”

Aedomir whipped his head round and stared forward. “You lead the way. But I think we should hurry up.” They passed the final step and leapt around the corner.

Seridon looked startled. He quickened his pace and froze at a three-way ending. “How the hell should I know?”

Aedomir turned on the spot and shot a sharp glance down a corridor. “Let’s go this way!” They swept around and charged down the right hand passage. The sheet of jet black shadow that enveloped the way offered a good hideout for them. After a few seconds they glanced back at the crossing. The marauder stood between the three. He slowly turned his head around and sniffed violently. Then, he looked down the opposite passage and roared at it. The entire swarm of Kalbarcs scurried around the corner out of site. “When you think they’re thick… So incredibly thick…” Aedomir thought he saw Seridon smile, but in such light lacking conditions any emotion could have strung its way onto his face.

A light flickered before Aedomir’s eyes. He gasped in horror and fell to the ground.

“Aedomir!” Seridon whispered. “Aedomir, are you OK?” He looked around through the darkness. He couldn’t see anything but something screeched aloud. “Aedomir!”

Aedomir on the floor, head in hands, had an already fully conscious mind. But he couldn’t stop his fright from peeking. He knew the way out. He feared the way out. He feared because he knew. How did he know? He knew how. A shuddering tremble overtook him. Under his breath he muttered thanks to the shade for hiding his fear from Seridon. He stood up and faced the darkness. “I know the way out,” he said, and moved closer to what he thought lay the free world.

#

In due course, they reached the final chamber, desolate with emptiness and age. Seridon kept quiet, neither had spoken a word of the events prior. Across the end of the room, the wall—festooned with cracks and mucus—bore a thick wooden door. All this could be seen by the slits of light that beamed in through the open windows, and luminous chandelier with six burning candles high up on the ceiling.

Each pressing footstep rang a loud echo that strung the decaying walls. As they walked almost identically paced towards the central chandelier, they heard a hiss. They slowed their pace attentively and shot one another a weary glance. A bellowing roar shook the ground, bringing a spray of dust with it. Together, Aedomir and Seridon looked up at the roof. The chandelier.

It got bigger and bigger, faster and faster. Aedomir threw himself to the left and Seridon sent himself cascading to the right. The chandelier smashed into the ground and shattered to pieces. Shrapnel span towards Aedomir and he flipped his head back in self-preservation. A piece sliced past over his head. Seridon was not so fortunate. Whilst he scrambled to stand back up, a burning wooden splinter ripped through his cape and slashed his arm. He cried as the burning poison flamed his skin. He fell down and started to fumble with his sleeve.

Aedomir looked round and caught a glimpse of the passage they had come from. A major host of Kalbarcs piled out towards Aedomir and Seridon. The latter of these two quickly realised that these ravaging swarms would be the least of their worries. Seridon glared round to the roof. Tearing through the ceiling was a great, fiery-scaled dragon.