Legends of Belariath
A Bard`s Memory of Empire
The 26th Year of The Ilfirian Empire
August 18 2008
Adonte Part 2
The Palace is Under Attack
The forest was cool and a soft breeze made the tree leaves stir, as a sprinkle of rain brought the forest alive. There was a scattering of people throughout the forest, some looking for herbs, others doing their daily chores, and a few just walking through the forest.
Suddenly the ground moved with tremors and the tree branches snapped sending limbs falling down in jagged pieces. A roar that was deafening came from near the palace as Adonte’s apprentice Ferarra came with one intention, to destroy the palace as Adonte commanded.
Gwyneth was out riding Nightstar heading down the path into the forest seeking out a particular herb to gather. She knew where the herb grew the best and stopped suddenly hearing the beast. Dismounting she looked around, and cast a message spell to StormWind that there was trouble at the castle. She seen the Hydra, and moved to the dense part of the forest watching it pass by. Not long after, she grabbed Night’s reins and mounted up heading back to the castle.
StormWind an Imperial Guard caught the message from Gwyn and swore his alliance and help messaging her back.
"Dar`vhet! Alright little one, I am on my way!"
He grabbed his green and black Imperial Guard cloak from his pack and threw it over his shoulders. With a quick check on his weapons he cast messages to each of his units… he needed help at the palace.
Menhir was in the courtyard of the Icespire Citadel and headed towards the main gates with the massive creature, Craven. The Jhore was trained from a hatchling by the Bronze Drak Sen, and the only constraint on the creature was a series of ropes, not the normal leather muzzles most wore.
Methodically Alta Nova patrolled the main road with her partner. For some reason she did not hear the roar, maybe it was deafened by the kiss she gave Vorzheva. That kiss would soon end when the Hydra stomped through the forest knocking trees aside with its six ugly heads snapping, sniffing, and heading towards the palace window.
A crash of glass was heard and shards were sent in and out of the palace. Small spear like shards stuck into the wood and the ground outside.
Karram was in the palace courtyard tracking the beast by its spirit. He pointed his staff at it and bellowed loudly.
"You broke the bridge, now I stop you!”
He rang the Imperial Guard bell loud, the sound traveled through the courtyard and into the forest.
The student of Adonte; Ferarra stood six feet tall with long black hair. She wanted to please her teacher Adonte. Her assignment to destroy the palace and kill anyone who got in the way would be done. Watching the beast slap its snout against another window, glass shards landed in back of Karram.
Up on the hill by the palace Ferarra laughed at Karram trying to stop her and spat out nastily back at him not backing down one bit.
"You insignificant insect do you really think you can stop the hydra?"
She reached to her belt and grabbed three vials throwing them in front of her.
Sorgram heard a familiar voice and he moved toward Karram who was always seeking trouble. He wondered what he would have to pull the old man out of this time.
Karram tossed the staff away, lifting his hands a blue bow of energy appeared and an arrow pointed straight at The Hydra.
“Bring it!"
In the back outer wall of the palace ramparts Dowjin Quin leaned against the wall sipping his fire wine when he felt the tremors shake the earth under his feet. He spat the wine from his mouth seeing the huge beast that destroyed the window.
There was a sprinkling of activity; Menhir was outside the heavy gates of the Citadel where the sound of the creature was. Even the animals in the forest became quiet and headed for cover. His Jhore paused after incessant sniffing, and turned its head in the direction of the window being smashed. Merrshan was in the same vicinity and slowed down looking up at the direction of breaking glass, and the silhouette of the creature was seen. He rode up swiftly to investigate and help.
Greywind was off doing arcane experiments on magical cloth and received the message from Gwyn. He lifted his head in white wolven form, eyes narrowing and setting his vision on the wall opposite him. He glowed with a blue light of pure magic and a glacial energy collected between his fingertips. He was amidst a ritual but was concerned enough to send a message to Menhir to please go and keep Gwyn safe.
Greywind’s message- "Menhir... I cannot leave, and Gwyn may be in danger. Go, please, and see to her safety. You should find her at the palace."
Kisses could be deceiving when passion mounted enough to shield one’s mind from anything else going on, but the Imperial Guard Vorzheva stopped kissing Alta when the message drifted through her mind breaking a passionate link to the other Imperial Guard.
"I'm being called to the Palace as I'm needed an' I'm sure ye will be too."
A very pissed off Alta Nova screamed out her frustrations in being interrupted and followed Vorzheva to see what was happening and as they reached their destination a very disturbing sight was seen.
Where the vials spilled; the magical fluid cracked the earth and skeletons slowly crept out pulling themselves from the depths of the earth. Yellowed skulls with hollowed sockets opened, and green flames and smoke billowed out of their mouths. When they stood upon the cracked earth each held a different weapon in hand. There were five skeletons about to join the Hydra who stomped her commands. Not for a minute did the Hydra forget attacking Karram and its tail swiped side to side in anger.
Sorgram moved into view as Karram attacked, and sighed as he seen the woman and the other skeletons behind it. Loathe joined; hearing the ringing of the bells and made her way to where the others were gathered.
StormWind gathered his things and stopped for a second to say a prayer to his god before heading towards the palace. They had to fight more than the hydra and the skeletons… Adonte was in back of all this.
Dowjin_Qui ran up to help calling out, "Karram, Sorgram, Why am I not surprised?"
He stepped forward with a toothy grin and red eyes of fire, drawing his longsword out of its harness Dowjin was intent on settling this and supporting his old war-buddies. The cracking of the earth stopped him in his tracks.
Undead?
Dowjin never faced undead before and a snarl broke from his lips facing the skeletal swordsman, not backing down. With a vicious swing he stepped forward and took a strike at the skeleton hard across its spine. His strike missed and altered the other two skeletons to turn and look his way. One raised its sword and the other an axe to slice at him, and the third aimed maliciously with its bow and arrow, but that arrow was aimed at Karram.
More backup appeared quickly as StormWind neared the palace, hearing the sounds of battle drawing his flail from his belt, and called out a prayer to the goddess.
”Sheara guide my hand.... may I feel the crushing of bone under my feet.”
Ferarra watched them and a slow smirk came to her lips. Her teacher was a fire mage, but she was an aeromancer preparing her spell to cast lightning at Dowjin and his friends.
“Eat this you insignificant toad!”
Gwyneth waited and followed her Master stepping from the brush, and she readied prayers for healing slipping in place behind him.
Menhir rode the Jhore murmuring commands in drak tongue, that raspy hiss of a language very familiar to the Jhore. He guided him by command, and the eight foot long, six foot high, seven hundred pound creature crushed the undergrowth beneath its feet while following Gwyneth.
The Hydra roared loudly, all six heads whipping around. The leg that was hit by the spirit weapon stomped into the ground hard. Three heads lowered and darted out to snap at Karram. A slash of the tail whipped in the air towards Sorgram as he approached.
From a distance Alta Nova crept out aiming a fire bolt at one of its heads. The battle ensued as Cyarra rode her stallion hard feeling the tremors of the earth preparing her sling to down the Hydra.
Blood splashed to the ground when Dowjin readied his greatsword once again this time the blade wielded overhead as lightning bolts crashed down around him. Ferarra lightning spells sprayed dangerous bolts around those fighting.
Swords slashed and stabbed at the Hydra and orders were barked out to keep everyone aware of what might hit them.
Karram yelled out to Sorgram, “Burn the archer, and Dowjin keep that bone-bag busy!”
Sorgram ducked the huge tail thrashing at him and lobbed a fire bolt at the undead archer.
"I'll draw them away!"
He roared back to Karram. "If you get a clear shot on the bitch, take it!"
Imperial Guard Lloathe tromped forward, drawing her sword ready to fight. She proceeded carefully taking in what her enemies were, mages, skeletons and a big ass lizard made her pray to Kirva before her sword swept forward to severe the skeleton archer’s neck.
Oh the battle had begun, but not before Merrshan and Sutara heard reports of a beast coming onto shore.
Merrshan positioned himself above the Hydra beast and plunged his sword to pierce through its body. Merrshan cursed as the sword scraped and deflected off the hard scales of the hydra. He slid down the beast’s side and stabbed repeatedly at its flank hoping that the scales were softer near its belly.
The silver and crimson haired Moriel Sutara, rode the gold beast Jhore towards the Hydra and let a fire bolt release upon the multi-headed beast.
A crash of metal hit the skeleton’s sword when StormWind quickly sent two messages one to Gywn and one to Vorzheva telling them both they had the enemies caught between them.
Ferarra; shrewd as she was looked at Gwyneth.
“Well little slave you appear strong let us see how strong you are.”
She fired a spell at Gywn while the skeletons began to protect the Hydra.
Dowjin never gave up, and retreated to make the skeleton follow him. His sword was made of pure bone, ivory in color and the tip drew a line into the earth. When the skeleton distanced itself from the others he raised his sword to hit the skeleton’s shoulder smashing it to pieces.
“Dowjin!”
Sorgram screamed as he saw Dowjin being picked up and lashed out with a whip of azure fire to strike the head that held his brother’s scale. 'By the Fire, let him be.'
The palace roof caved in as the Hydra released a roar after being struck by one of the party. One of its head’s crashed through the roof and two of its other heads snapped at each other in confusion before trying to catch Karram between its jaws. This wasn’t an ordinary battle and it drew many unexpected protectors of the palace to join in battle.
It was fast and furious a fight that had everyone trying to kill the undead and the beast at the same time. Gwyneth was kept busy trying to heal Karram softly changing as the blades clashed around her sending a deafening sound of steel against bone. Crunching sounds were all around them as splinters of bone were sent this way and that.
The Hydra stumbled and roared, wounds opening up all over its body thanks to Karram's efforts. It stumbled backwards again, shaking off a Drak from the bottom of its foot.
Loathe swung her sword amputating a skeleton’s arm onto the palace’s grounds and her cries rang through the forest to Kirva.
"Blood and Souls for Kirva!"
StormWind continued to swing his flail at the Hydera hoping someone else would concentrate on destroying the wind witch Ferarra.
Ferarra reached into her belt and pulled out another vial throwing it to the ground in front of her and four more skeletons appeared. Gywn was busy trying to revive Dowjin who was unconscious on the ground, and Cyarra tried to heal him further.
With Dowjin down the Hydra chewed on him spitting out from its mouth his taste. Cyarra bent down at the discarded Dowjin and tried healing him. She laid her hands upon the downed drak and whispered to him.
“Dowjin we need you, come back to us.”
Between Cyarra and Gwyn, Dowjin came to life and slowly rested into an unconscious state.
Seeing what happened threw Karram into a fury, and he viciously attacked Ferarra throwing a spirit spear at her chest hoping she would die a miserable death.
The bloody battle had some fallen keeping the healers very busy trying to heal, and yet the wind witch Ferarra was the one they had to worry about. She was much stronger than they realized.
Sutara’s instincts kicked in, plush lips turned into a frown as she watched Ferarra. She knew she wasn’t Adonte and called out to Marduk to attack while screaming at the air witch.
"Where the fuck is the ghost-bitch?" she yelled, looking to the other fighters seeing a losing battle.
Ferarra watched the destruction with an evil grin on her face. The hole in the palace roof gaped above her as she turned her head to see roofing fall within the palace. Just as she turned her head to look, an arrow with a parchment attached plunged into the wall of the palace wall behind her.
There was something supernatural with this battle. Skeletons despite their rigid and fleshless bodies were not slowed down and were able to evade attacks.
Merrshan was ready to parry the skeleton's sword, but another skeleton surprised him with its spear. As the arrows flew over their heads he quickly reacted and followed it picking up the parchment from the arrow imbedded in the wall.
The text on the parchment stated.
"I am a friend …pick one person to be in charge and seek me out in the inn."
Minutes later Tarin came forth to help them just as Cyrarra fell injured trying to heal her legs enough to get up and run off with a severe limp. Just as she ran by with the skeleton behind her Sorgram rolled to the ground and swiped the skeleton with his tail.
Lloathe waited for the attack from the Hydra not dodging it, but instead took the blunt force of its snap and moved forward with her flaming sword to stab the Hydra in the eye.
Ferarra began to retreat back towards the forest and insult Sutara.
“You are an abomination!”
Just as the insult spilled from her lips she readied a spell of lightnight at her.
The Hydra stumbled and roared, wounds opening up all over its body thanks to Karram's efforts. It stumbled backwards again, shaking off a flat drak from the bottom of its foot.
StormWind was struck by one of the skeletons with an axe, and turned on his heel laughing like a maniac, fury coursing through his body and his eyes flashed with purple. Tarin was readied and after receiving a message to help, he packed many supplies, ointments and bandages, in case he was needed to assist in helping the injured.
Lloathe was injured and he offered his help. Kneeling beside her he placed his hand on her shoulder, letting the healing light seep into her wounds.
“I am here to help.”
Ferarra stumbled from a strike and spell hitting her as the skeletons tumbled and fell. Some had limbs missing, and many skeletons were damaged. She was injured herself and retreated back towards the forest knowing Adonte would punish her for the failure and loss of the magnificent beast the Hydra.
One skeleton wobbled on its boney legs as Merrshan came down from the sky and literally crushed the undead being under his booted feet. A snapping and crunching sound echoed through the forest bringing Alexia Lacroix to hurry up the trail in search for her master.
A Cry Pierces the Woods:
From the skies came L’aquera the Emperor’s companion. The flash of gold against the stark night brought the Mephos with L’aquera upon his back bitching about the destruction around her home. Those beautiful silver eyes narrowed with fury, and she directed the Mephos to land in the courtyard by the Imperial Guard quarters.
"What the fardon hell are they doing? Having wild parties?"
She was dressed in leather and had thick leather straps in hand as reins. Throwing them aside she slid off to the ground.
L`aquera traveled to the ruined grounds and looked up at the caved in roof of the palace. Everyone fighting, fallen or injured ran around like chickens with their heads cut off… or would be soon enough.
“WHAT the FARDON hells happened to my HOME?"
Pissed didn't cut it, she nabbed the first green colored guard that ran by and screamed in his face.
"Send someone right this fucking minute to fix the inside up so we don't fardon well get rained on. Get the maids in there to clean up… And go get Tabera out of the fucking cell."
All while the battle was going on Tabera paced back and forth in her cell. She had been told that she was in big trouble for having robbed the palace, but she wasn't told what was in store for her or when she would be released.
Tabera… Poor thief of a girl.. She would not like what was about to happen to her no doubt. But then again, L`aquera wasn't some warm cuddly elf.
Karram was close enough to reach the Emperor’s companion’s hearing.
“L`aquera see the dead body of Dowjin? See the dead hydra? That was us defending your home.”
"No shit, really Karram? I missed a fardon dragon sized Hydra? Oh my fucking Goddess below. I'm blind!"
She was her typically sarcastic self, beautiful silver orbs snapping with rage looking at the damage caused and then to the downed drak sen…well to what was left of him.
"Somebody get a healer that’s fresh, to clean him up and heal him, and get him to the temple of Ishtar. I can't see him wanting Gaea or Kirva."
"Anyone else hurt?"
Sorgram moved toward the form of the silver drak. Kneeling down beside the corpse, he said a prayer over the body.
“Karram, we will need to take him to the Temple and begin preparations.”
There was one remaining skeleton, and Sutura knew it didn’t have a chance. Moving to the Imperial Guards she hooked onto the fallen Hydra with her J’hore and pulled it far enough away from the castle at a safe distance.
Bells Began to Ring:
Tabera heard footsteps. It was the first thing she heard, rather than the sounds of screaming and hollering, and those bells. Those damn bells. Ears pivoted to listen, thinking maybe they would come for her. The door clicked... things were looking up! She sprang towards the door, only to have it swing open, and a guard came in to kick her to the floor and slapping cuffs on her wrists harshly before groping the catgirl lewdly. When lifted, she was told that she was in deep trouble, the royal consort was asking for her.
"Ya mean... L… L`aquera?"
Oh no, the girl thought, she was certain to be made an example of and be lit on fire and left to burn as a warning to other thieves.
L`aquera’s wrath was soon to be dealt.