Dogan graciously took Alistair’s final potion of rejuvenation and chugged it down. This was their one brief respite before battle, so they had to make it count. Dogan had said the previous attacks had been a test of their defenses. This one would surely be the end. They could only hope, anyway.

Alistair still felt the warm tingle of his own potion as he stood there transformed. They were standing at the edge of the village, waiting for the dullahan’s final play. Despite their differences, the paladins had managed to get along well in the trial of combat. Since they only had each other on the battlefield, there was no other choice.

“Do you have a plan?” Alistair asked. They’d said many things to the villagers, much of it to bring them hope. Alone now, he wanted the truth from the senior warrior.

“Hm, a fine question,” said Dogan, nodding his head. “There are two schools of thought here.” He gestured toward the village. “First is, we keep fighting off these waves as long as we can. This is us relying on help arriving, or the dullahan running out of soldiers. Neither of which seems likely.” Then he pointed further into the mist. “Second is, we defend until we catch sight of the dullahan and then pursue it with all our might. A risky play, something I don’t take lightly being a supposed champion of ‘Prudence’, but one with our best chance of survival.”

“‘Our’ best?” Alistair repeated it, his tone was wary. “Does that include the villagers as well?”

“Neither plan is ideal,” Dogan admitted, shrugging his shoulders. It was impossible to decipher the summoner’s true feelings on the matter. “But Bredon will fall if we fall, so we should take the road that ensures our survival. That part seems fairly straightforward to me at least.” He pressed a finger against his forehead. “Don’t let your feelings for them get in the way of strategy, Alistair. Maybe the Aegis taught you differently, what with your ‘Charity’ and all, but the longer you live the more lives you can save along the way. Think about that.”

“I just don’t see why we can’t do both.” Alistair tightened his grip on the pike, struggling with his own emotions. “What if I hold here and you—”

“Don’t even think about it,” Dogan interrupted him. “It’ll be a sure way of getting us both killed if we separate. As much as I’m reluctant to admit it, I’m not that strong. No, we will have to work together, just as we did last time. We kill the dullahan, and the rest of the undead will wither away. If we do it fast enough, then the village might still be saved.”

Alistair gritted his teeth. It hurt especially because he knew the man had a point. The worst part was, this made him question everything about his journey so far. If he’d worked harder, trained more, and killed stronger creatures, could he have been strong enough to make both options work? The answer eluded him, and Alistair hated himself for it.

Dogan, seemingly satisfied with his defense of the plan, returned his attention to the fog. He summoned his two copies just as he’d done before. This time, however, Alistair watched as he went up to each of them and instilled them with something. From the palm of his hand, Dogan created an orb of some kind and inserted it into the chest of his copies, his hand passing through their bodies like they were made of the air itself.

“Captured essences,” he explained, noticing Alistair’s stare. “Instead of summoning them as creatures, I can use them to enhance my doppelgangers. It allows them to mimic a shard of the enemy’s powers. A handy trick that’s gotten me out of trouble before.” Dogan took a step back to admire his handiwork. The clone bodies didn’t outwardly change, so Alistair could only guess what powers they were given.

Their wait was suddenly interrupted by the familiar wailing of the undead. The battlecry droned in their ears and seemed to surround them from everywhere at once. A normal man might have ran away simply at the sound of it, but they were no normal men. Battle had hardened them against these simple methods of intimidation.

Dogan readied another summon pet for battle. The last one had been a wraith, but this time he brought out something new. Alistair recognized the dog-like creature as a Cu-shey, a fae being.

“Caught this one on the outskirts of Gàradh Liant, over in Vessy,” Dogan said, his chest puffed out with pride. “The wraith was my most recent catch so I’ve mostly been using it. Let’s see how a hound does against these things.”

The first wave of enemies soon emerged from the fog. More shamblers, slow and stumbling. Alistair stepped forward and lanced through one of their heads. He’d gotten better at killing them, especially with their weaknesses in mind. One by one he popped them easily from range. There weren’t as many from before, and what ones he missed, Dogan and his copies easily finished off.

Before the last shambler even fell, large shadows came charging out of the gray mist—more zombified orcs. The first wave had been a mere appetizer, this one was the entree. Still, the paladins had the speed advantage as these undead creatures struggled to run like they did when they were alive.

Alistair activated his Inspire ability and let it sweep through his allies. The two lines crashed against one another with Alistair opening with another direct strike to an orc’s decaying snout. Despite its damage resistance, not even the orcs could survive a well-aimed headshot, and the creature collapsed to the ground. This one had been wielding a shield, one made of both iron and wood, and Alistair took it for himself. It wasn’t perfect, but he needed something to make use of his new Dig In power. Already he could feel his body get a little tougher as the magic activated around him.

Dogan’s smaller size allowed him to weave around blows that Alistair would have to block or tank. He used his copies to expertly grab the attention of an enemy while he’d run around the back and cut it down to size with a few well-placed slices. Alistair watched in silent amazement as one copy was struck with an axe, only for the attack to slip through its body like it was nothing. It reminded him of the wraith's ability to phase through some attacks. The essence must have passed that ability onto the clone.

Behind the orcs, more wight skeletons made their appearance. They were led by not one, but three guardians this time. These elites towered over their brethren and acted as effective commanders, directing the skeletons to surround the paladins and cut off any attempt at retreat.

Dogan whistled and his green hound went dashing forward and into the fog. Moments later it leaped onto the back of one of the wight guardians. Before the creature could even attempt to grab it, the mighty jaws of the fae wrapped around its neck. Through its armor even, the fragile bones of the guardian’s neck were crushed and its body fell apart. The wights under its command faltered for a moment before they were directed forward by a different leader.

Alistair blocked a vicious strike from an encroaching wight while he speared through another orc. This attack didn’t kill the hulking thing, but it did manage to activate his Knockout stun and keep it from moving. The red giant used this opportunity to sweep his pike around and smash the offending skeleton into pieces. With a twirl of his wrist, he decapitated the vulnerable orc and finished it off. Perfectly timed, as a wight guardian stepped forward to challenge him, surrounded by a loose formation of its fellow undead.

“Well, come on then!” Alistair beat against his shield with the pike, taunting the guardian forward. He didn’t even need the Living Shield to force it to meet the challenge. A sliver of its former warrior pride must have surfaced because it abandoned its fellows and broke into a sprint toward the Aegis.

That’s right, come and get it.

He went for an aimed strike toward the creature’s armored head. This one had a better reaction time than the shamblers, and it successfully blocked with its own shield. What the guardian hadn’t counted on was the sudden effect of Alistair’s Internal Damage ability. It was so surprised that the wight slowed its charge. This gave Alistair the chance to advance forward. It attempted to strike him with its sword, but he easily repelled the strike with his shield. With his superior height and strength, Alistair loomed over the creature that still had both its arms occupied. A quick strike to its bony shin from the paladin’s armored foot made it collapse to one knee.

Alistair finished it off with a solid bash to the head from the underside of his shield.

This moment of victory remained short-lived as the smaller wights surrounded and struck him with their blades. They chipped away at Alistair’s vitality, even with all of his resistances. He retreated back behind the safety of his shield and did his best to gain distance again. A few sweeping strikes with his pike and he managed to get himself some space, but only for a moment.

In the distance, he watched as Dogan dueled against the last wight guardian. While his copies fended off the lesser foes, the summoner took the leader on, trading blow after blow. Sparks flew as shields blocked vicious sword slashes. Both had a measure of talent in sword-fighting, something Alistair severely lacked. It was humbling to watch the two, even if for a moment.

Alistair was forced to look away when the enemy surged at him again. The skeletons were cautious things when he didn’t have his Living Shield working. They fanned out around him and boxed him in, shields at the ready. When they came at him, they moved as a group to divide his attention. They knew his shield could only block them one at a time, so they’d ensure he suffered at least some damage with their numbers advantage.

What they didn’t consider, and perhaps they simply couldn’t comprehend it, was that the Aegis could suffer their attacks, unlike a normal human. Alistair blocked one with his shield, struck at another with his pike, and allowed a third to graze him with its crusted blade. If the creature could still express emotion with its skull, Alistair wanted to believe it would’ve been surprised by the paladin's failure to even flinch from the strike. He wrenched his pike free from its friend’s head, and then brushed the other attacker aside with a sweep of the staff. The one blocked by his shield was soon finished off, and he readied himself to repeat the maneuver with the next wave.

Suddenly, an otherworldly howl rang out through the battlefield. It was enough to make even the unliving pause a moment. The Cu-shey was obscured by mist, but Alistair could tell the sound was coming from somewhere deeper in.

“It’s the dullahan, Alistair!” Dogan called out over the din of battle. He sidestepped the final guardian and made to dash into the fog, calling his copies to him. “We must pursue it before the hound loses its scent! Come!”

Alistair found himself paralyzed at that moment with indecision. He’d hoped that the enemy number would have dwindled by the time the dullahan had been found, if it was meant to appear at all. Yet more skeletons continued to march out of the fog as if they were spawned directly from it. If they abandoned the line now, the town would be in danger.

As if to accentuate this point, he watched as another batch of guardian wights emerged and made for the village entrance. If he waited much longer, he’d be cut off from Dogan anyway. And if Dogan fell, he’d have no chance of victory on his own.

The wight guardian that had fought Dogan approached Alistair’s position first. It attempted to block the paladin off from his friend. In fact, it seemed the creatures were completely fine with ignoring Dogan, who’d already disappeared to chase the dullahan. This couldn’t be a coincidence, he decided. They were actively trying to divide them.

Alistair ran forward, right at the guardian. He blew through the smaller wights that had been trying to fence him in, pushing a couple to the ground. The guardian reacted by shifting to a defensive posture, shield at the ready and its body hidden behind it. It soon found that it lacked the strength to suffer the brunt of an Aegis’s weight, and the wight fell over to the ground when Alistair crashed into it. Before it could make to defend itself, he forced his pike through the creature’s head.

Some of the wights closest to him turned to face him, but Alistair realized the guardians and the majority of the skeletons were focused on the village instead of him. He weighed his options and decided he had only one course of action. Alistair popped his Living Shield ability and let it race through the enemy ranks. The wight guardians, being elites, could successfully ignore the urge to attack him. Their common brethren, however, weren’t so fortunate and they turned midstep to run at the paladin.

The Cu-shey howled again, and he could tell it was getting further away. He had to get moving or else he’d lose the trail. Alistair cautiously backed into the mist, his heart pained at the thought of abandoning the defense. The majority of the wights were on him, but the guardians seemed content to ignore him and he watched as they stalked into the village. It took everything he had to ignore them and run into the mist after Dogan.

I’ve got to kill the dullahan, and fast!

----------------------------------------

Alistair ran deeper into enemy territory and made a horrifying discovery. What had just yesterday been tilled fields of growing summer crops had turned into more swampland. The dullahan had been busy. He was growing to hate this creature more and more. Its threat was more than just strength in combat but also its ability to spread corruption wherever it went.

He ran for a while and realized he was only getting himself more lost. The wights and their bones rattled in the near distance, still chasing him. If he stopped for a moment they would catch him, surely. But if he kept running he might lose his way entirely.

Another howl, the third and final one from the Cu-shey, was enough to get him back on track. Alistair ran as fast as he could, his heavy feet splashing in the muddy water below. Soon he was rewarded with the sound of battle up ahead. What shocked him was he could instantly recognize the sound of a galloping steed. Could they have received help from the outside?

Alistair soon had his answer. It wasn’t good.

Dogan and his copies were scattered in the middle of knee-deep swamp water. Surrounding them was a unit of knights, all of them decked in blackened armor. These helmed warriors rode steeds made straight from a nightmare. They were creatures made of bone and gnawed flesh, only held together by the magic binding the undead warriors riding atop them.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Leading this pack was none other than the dullahan itself. Alistair didn’t need the Sight to identify it. The creature lacked a head between its shoulders, instead preferring to hold its helm in one hand with a lance in the other. It had a powerful, dark aura surrounding it that marked it as a leader.

The undead creatures being on horseback completely ruined the paladins' advantage in mobility. It was all Dogan could do but dodge and block what attacks he could, but before long he’d be overwhelmed. Alistair leaped into action and joined the fray. Simply by his size he was able to attract the attention of enemy cavalry, and a few of them split off to face the newcomer.

Alistair recognized these weren’t just wights with better armor. These undead knights still retained their habits from when they were alive. They expertly couched their lances and maintained a perfect speed with which to run him through, all while staying in tight formation. He braced himself as he would have as a man-at-arms, shield at the ready with his pike extended. His Dig In ability once again activated now that he’d stopped moving so fast, and he felt his armor go up.

The enemy bravely kept at him despite Alistair’s prepared stance. He found this reminiscent of the fight outside of Adelgard, against the redcaps with Sir Manus and his knights. Just like the Earl, these undead knights still had the reach advantage with their lances over his pike. Alistair could only hope he fared better than the fae creatures did that day.

In the blink of an eye the enemy were already too close. Their lances made contact with his shield inches before his pike could brush the nearest undead steed. The sheer force of the attack pushed him back. Lances hit him in the shield, the shoulder, and even his chest and they shattered just as a normal lance would on impact.

Somehow, he managed to stay standing, thanks in no small part to the Aegis’s unique hardiness. This sturdiness allowed his pike to remain steady even as he took the brunt of the charge, and it managed to strike one of the skeletal horses and take it down from the legs. The enemy rider was sent flying to the ground, sinking below the surface of the water.

Alistair took advantage of this moment of reprieve as the remaining two riders traveled past him. He went over to the fallen enemy as the evil knight emerged from the murky swamp and sent his pike through its armored back. The creature uttered a breathless scream and its body seemed to collapse into itself from the decisive strike. All that remained was an empty husk of armor and its twisted shield, all of it resting at his feet.

He barely had time to bask in the victory as the enemy knights came at him again, this time with swords. Not only that, but from out of the mist came a small army of wights on foot. They were the ones he’d gathered from before with his Living Shield. Together, the two groups could completely tie him down and keep him from helping Dogan in his fight with the dullahan. One glance that way and he could see it still wasn’t going well. They needed to get the damn thing off its horse.

The knights pressed down on him and Alistair managed to spear one of them right off the saddle. He felt the bite of steel as the other one got past his guard and sliced his shoulder. Still, another rider down was worth the damage. His vitality was a resource to be spent, and he’d take a trade with one of the elites happily. Still, he had to contend with the wights on foot now.

Alistair's cold iron pike never seemed to falter no matter how many times he thrust it into an enemy’s shield. Their archaic design was no match for a fae-powered weapon. Alistair watched with satisfaction as his attack pierced the enemy’s feeble guard and smashed the skeleton behind it. Alas, three more would take its place as he found himself progressively surrounded.

He heard the yelp of the Cu-shey and turned to witness it die at the hands of the dullahan, speared through with its lance. The spirit creature dissipated and left Dogan with just one copy still alive fighting alongside him. They’d managed to take out the mounted bodyguards, but the dullahan was just too fast for Dogan to tie down alone.

The wights continued to surround Alistair, commanded now by the last remaining knight. It had stopped trying to charge him and instead sat behind the wall of wights, directing them with its sword toward the red giant. They obeyed without the need for any exchange of words, the entire unit working as one perfect machine.

Alistair attempted another sweeping strike to clear through the wave, but they were wise to him. A couple fell, only for four more to take their place and cut off any attempt he might have made to escape their encirclement. Soon, they’d be so close that he would find it difficult to fully extend and swing his pike around.

He needed a plan, and he needed one now.

The Aegis’s biggest strength was its ability to power through fights with sheer resistance to damage. This was ultimately going to turn into a fight of attrition, and he simply didn’t have the attack power to finish all of these wights off. Not in a reasonable amount of time anyway. And Dogan wouldn’t survive that long either.

So, Alistair decided he’d had enough of this ‘Divide and Conquer’ tactic the dullahan had employed.

Alistair activated his Adaptive Armor ability and once again chose Physical Damage to protect him from the enemy’s blades. Under the effects of this enhanced resistance, his armor glowed and thickened itself. He ran forward, straight toward the enemy line that was closest to Dogan and the dullahan. They of course tried to tighten up and brace for a charge, but even two ranks deep they couldn’t physically stop the Aegis’s weight barreling down on them. He stepped over and through them like they were nothing, their blades striking against his armor like mosquito bites on skin.

He heard the quickened splashing of water as the last remaining knight attempted to head him off from its master. It came around at him from the flank, right in his periphery. The undead knight held its sword aloft, preparing for another quick downstab across the small of Alistair’s back.

Using his shield like a projectile, Alistair threw it directly at the knight. The undead cavalryman had been going too fast to avoid such an attack, and the heavy object struck it across the chest. While its undead horse kept going, the rider fell into the marshy depths. Alistair finished the knight off with a carefully aimed downstab. From its body he looted the much nicer shield the bodyguards had been using, and then continued on his way to the dullahan.

With the knight dead, Alistair noticed the wights that once been focused on him were now running away, deeper into the mist. Perhaps retreating, but just as likely they were headed toward the village. Alistair’s stomach sunk from sheer dread. They were running out of time!

Dogan had managed to free the dullahan of its lance, and now the creature wielded a similarly crooked sword made of barbed, serrated steel. The paladin and his final copy were struggling to knock the enemy leader down as it rode around them in circles. It would feint to keep them guessing when it would actually come in for a charge, and it looked like Dogan had grown exhausted.

But now it was just the dullahan and the two paladins. It lacked any fodder to protect it or buy more time. The creature seemed to realize this as Alistair made its approach and it made another charge on Dogan before the red giant could get closer. It struck Dogan’s last copy, and despite an attempt to phase through the attack, the dullahan’s magical blade fought through the ghostly ability and landed a killing blow.

Alistair got in closer and went to stab the dullahan before it could run off again. It somehow managed to weave its body around his thrust. For a headless creature the dullahan maintained awareness quite well. Dogan wasn’t about to let the moment go to waste though, and he plunged his blade into the skeletal steed’s skull. Between the two of them, they managed to bring the dullahan down as the horse crumpled beneath it.

Faster than either of them could believe, the headless knight was already on its feet before they could get close. Closer now to the dullahan, Alistair realized it was near as tall as he was. The dullahan took its detached head and settled it on the spot where its neck might have been, and somehow the head managed to float there. With a hand now free, it wielded shield and blade perfectly like a knight would.

The dullahan waved its blade at them. “Come on then,” it said. Somehow it managed to speak without lips or lungs, and it sounded every bit as disturbing as Alistair would have expected a spirit to. “I’ll destroy the both of you for my master, Arkas.”

“Quiet you!” Dogan certainly had the will to continue, but he sounded exhausted. Looked it too, with his body swaying from side to side. “Come on, Alistair.” They shared a glance. “Let’s finish this thing off.”

He didn’t need to say it twice. Alistair pressed forward, eager to put an end to this. A quick thrust of his pike was easily blocked by the dullahan. With incredible speed it closed the distance with Alistair and stabbed at him. Alistair tried to block with his shield, but with a slight adjustment the attack wove through his guard and stabbed him through the chest.

Whatever confidence Alistair had in his added defense melted away when the attack viciously damaged his vitality. The blade the dullahan used was clearly enchanted with magic, much more than that of a normal wight’s weapon, and it ignored his physical damage resistance with ease. More than that, the large creature had impressive mobility and reflexes even on foot. It maneuvered in the swamp without any struggle, and the dullahan’s armor didn’t seem to slow it down much either.

Dogan came at it from the side, but it had already removed its sword from Alistair’s gut and readied itself. It blocked the summoner’s slow sword slash with ease, batting the blade away with its shield. It was all Dogan could do but block as the dullahan brought its blade down over his head.

Alistair growled from the pain and brought his pike around in a sweeping attack. Again the dullahan blocked it, somehow sensing the attack before it could hit a blind spot from behind. Like the last one though, Alistair knew he was hurting it with his Internal Damage ability overcoming the shield.

The fight went on for a while that way. Dogan and Alistair held on by a thread as the dullahan worked its way through their vitality and defenses. Every strike they managed to get on the enemy leader led to a sacrifice of health and the suffering of pain on their part. But still, they fought on knowing that to falter and give in to exhaustion would mean certain death.

And their efforts were rewarded. For as skilled as the dullahan was, and as powerful as it was made from the magic coursing through it, between two paladins it was slowly overwhelmed. Slowly being the keyword. Alistair lost count of the minutes as the battle of attrition went on. By the end of it, there was little skill involved as they lacked the energy to do anything but swing their weapons.

Alistair wasn’t sure which one of them exactly landed the killing blow. He only noticed the battle was over when the dullahan finally took a knee. The soul inside of the armor seeped out like black ink from the joints. Dogan threw an arm out and used his Essence Capture ability to suck this energy into himself. It seemed to restore him, if only a bit.

Given a moment to breathe, Alistair took in their surroundings. The paladins both looked like a mess, their armor resembled cheese with all the holes and bits broken off from the dullahan’s attacks. Around them, the fog started to lift now that the offending dullahan was gone. The swamp at their feet began to shift back into normal ground, the water soaking into muddied grass.

“Finally.” Dogan fell to one knee and struggled to catch his breath. Alistair wasn’t far behind him, his own body nearly ready to give out beneath him.

They watched as the dullahan’s armored shell disappeared into nothingness. In its wake, the corpse was replaced with two items. Alistair instantly recognized one as the Aegis’s shield that had been meant as his reward. The other piece was some sort of amulet that he had to assume was a summoner artifact for Dogan.

The paladins made their way over to collect the loot as quickly as they could. As soon as Alistair picked up the shield, he realized just how large it was. It was easily as tall as he was, a true tower shield. The blueish-white surface of its front was so reflective it almost resembled a mirror. Floral patterns burnished in gold were scattered around its surface, and more gold acted as banding around its curved edge.

Rook’s Tower Shield of Reflection

Tower Shield | Aegis Only

This shield was designed for a defender to level the playing field with powerful opponents. Every hit the shield sustains, it stores a portion of the mitigated damage. When ‘charged’, the Rook can unleash this built up damage in the form of a shield bash attack.

Being an artifact item, the shield cannot be destroyed apart from exceptional means.

Through use, it can develop additional properties.

While Alistair absorbed the information presented to him, he also noticed he received a considerable boost of renown. This must have been what Dogan had mentioned before, where killing a leader type was enough to earn a sizable renown reward, even without a quest. It was enough to make him universally ‘Familiar’ and ‘Well Known’ specifically in the duchy of Isen. The summoner seemed absorbed in his own reward, so much so the man didn’t even bother to brag or gloat further about their accomplishment.

Quest

Wind’s Test of Mettle

Complete!

Wind Mantle Progression Unlocked!

Level 1

Active Ability

(Wind), Elemental Blast

Launch a concentrated blast of wind at a distant enemy.

Considered as ‘Magical’ and ‘Physical Bludgeoning’ damage.

Has a chance of inflicting knockback.

Wind Mantle

Unique Trait

Flight

Wind mantle users can naturally levitate and even fly for certain distances, as long as they have enough vitality.

As the user increases their mantle level, Flight’s drain on vitality will be reduced.

Alistair felt a rush of adrenaline go through him. His chest felt oddly light, the pain he’d once been feeling now ebbing away. All from the sensation of unlocking a second relic mantle. It made him feel a rare sense of pride. So caught up in the excitement of it, he accidentally switched out of Aegis and into Wind.

The vertigo for the first inter-armor transformation was intense. He went from being a red eight-foot tall giant to a six-something green knight in the blink of an eye. Alistair knelt to catch his breath, all the while marveling at the strange new armor he now wore as a second skin.

That lightness in Alistair’s chest didn’t seem to go away. In fact it now spread to the rest of his body. For a moment he wondered if he’d gotten sick, or maybe the fight with the dullahan had permanently harmed him. But he slowly started to realize that this is what Wind was supposed to feel like, and that he was floating a few inches off the ground. To fly, he didn’t need to summon any wind or make a motion with his hands. All he had to do was imagine himself floating, and his body did the rest for him.

“You look like you’re having fun.” Dogan had managed to back onto his own two feet, the trinket wrapped around his neck. He almost sounded jealous of Alistair’s new ability, a hint of attitude in his voice. “We should probably head back to the village now, don’t you think?”

All sense of elation faded from Alistair as he was brought back to the real world. He fell in a heap back to the ground as all of his strength seemed to leave him. His heartbeat quickened, a chill ran up his spine, and he felt an overwhelming sense of terror as his mind raced to the worst possibility.

The village…

They had to get back right away! Surely they must have beat the dullahan in time. He was just overreacting thanks to the Aegis’s influence on him.

Surely.