Daveth tumbled from his ledge, hit the stony ground below, and spasmed as if in pain. He didn’t scream or make a sound, which worried Audra.
What worried her more was the skeleton that stood on the precarious lip of the ash-gray crater in the middle of the jungle, grinning down at her with the inevitability of mortality. A bluish violet metal plate had been bolted to its skull just above the brow ridge, a mark of power etched in it that flickered painfully in her eyes.
Her first arrow had taken it in the chest, but it had uselessly lodged in a ribcage bereft of organs. Her second arrow lodged in its eye socket; it reached up and indifferently dragged the shaft from its head, the arrow crumbling to dust at its touch.
In its other fleshless hand it carried a sword perhaps as old as it was. It was scarred, pitted, and chipped with a brutal, jagged edge that looked especially useful for tearing flesh.
Audra backed up a step and shucked her bow and drew her hatchets. She didn’t want to fight the thing at all, it radiated a fearful malevolence, but her commander was at her feet, unmoving. She didn’t dare take her eyes off the thing to even check his condition.
The skeleton took one step off the edge of the crater and clattered in a loose rolling fall to land on the ground beside her.
She knew this was the perfect time to act. She just needed to step forward and bury her hatchet in its skull as it struggled to rise, but she was paralyzed with terror. The thing practically glowed with a horrible malignance; a lone sprig of grass struggling to find some purchase of life in between the edges of the rocks withered into nothingness before her eyes.
It rose to its full height, taking up its sword. It was roughly as tall as Aldric. The empty eyesockets seemed to swallow her in their inescapable endless dark.
A thought trickled through her fear, nonsensical, so that is what the Void of Oblivion looks like and then the thing drew back a bony fist and slugged her. She staggered back, tripping over Daveth, who let out a grunt.
It followed through its punch perfectly, swinging its brutal sword where it expected her to be and she shivered and its dread intelligence. Fortunately she was able to bring her hatchet up in time to catch the blade; the impact knumbed her arm to the elbow. Still, she remembered Jonan’s trick of using the hatchet’s edge to hook an opponent’s blade; she yanked with all her strength and the blade hit the ground with a clatter. She staggered backwards with the force of her jerk, but kept her footing.
The skeleton swung again at her, but Audra skipped nimbly away. Her counterattack sheared through the bones in its fist and lodged in its wrist. It didn’t seem inconvenienced by this in the slightest, so Audra swung with her other hatchet and buried the spike in its temple.
The skeleton went down, taking her hatchet with it, a faint miasma leaking from the hole in its skull.
Daveth groaned to her left and heaved himself to a sitting position. His gaze flickered from Audra to the skeleton
“-” Whatever he was going to say choked in his throat as the skeleton wrenched the hatchet out of its arm and head.
“Awww fuck!” Audra cried in despair.
Violet flames bloomed in the terrible darkness of its eyes and it glared at the elf with terrible awareness, a presence that forced the air from her lungs and sapped the strength from her limbs. The jaw moved, waggling, she could hear a soundless mocking laughter, delighting in her despair.
Daveth lunged to his feet, a sword in his fist. He swung and missed, his footing uncertain, and the blade of his sword passed harmlessly by the skeleton’s skull.
Audra pulled out a dagger and stared at it dully; there was no way the little blade could be any use in a fight. She’d have to get closer than she wanted. She didn’t want to get closer, she wanted to run the fuck away.
The skeleton took a moment to look from Audra to Daveth and back again. Then, strangely, it turned and looked up towards the crater’s edge.
Daveth swung again, bringing his blade down in and overhead chop that obliterated the shoulder, shattered the collarbone, and sheared through the ribcage, clipping off the edge of it’s pelvic bone.
The skeleton swung back, fist flickering light lightning, and slugged daveth across the jaw with its remaining hand. Blood flew from Daveth’s mouth in a gaudy splash of vibrant color against the dull landscape.
Daveth slumped to the ground, his sword slipping from his nerveless fingers.
The blade was longer than what Audra was used to, but she scooped up the sword anyway and swung at the skeleton with all of her power behind the blow. She swung the heavy blade in a wide arc, from the hip. The blade sheared through the spinal column of the undead thing, bisecting it in two.
Audra kicked Daveth with her boot.
“Wake up, Commander!” She shouted, out of breath and on the verge of hysterics. The skeleton was down but not defeated, it crawled towards her inexorably, dragging itself towards her with its one remaining hand, fingerbones splintering on the stone.
Daveth’s eyes opened, and he struggled to roll over. As he did his hand came down on the remaining shoulder of the skeleton and his massive hand clenched, shattering the shoulderblade. He tore the skeleton’s arm off and forced himself to his feet as the limbless skeleton gnashed its teeth and writhed on the ground impotently. Fury radiated from it, a power that did not like to be defied or thwarted.
Daveth stomped on the spine, shattering the ribs and sending the skull of the thing clattering over the edge of the gorge, its jaw clicking as it gnashed its teeth.
“Audra.” Daveth called out to the elven woman, but his jaw was numb and his mouth filled with blood. He spat to clear his mouth. The thing hit like a brick wall.
Audra turned to him, and stumbled over to him, and wrapping her arms around him, she burst into tears.
Daveth awkwardly patted her. His other arm still wasn’t working right.
“We need to get out of here.” Daveth urged her. “Grab the weapons. Let’s try to get across the bridge.”
“That thing...” Audra sobbed in numb relief.
“Audra, we need to get out of here. Get back to the city.” he warned, eyeing the edge of the crater. Dreading the arrival of more of the skeletal warriors. The severed pelvis flailed and kicked its legs uselessly against the ground. How did you kill something that was already dead?
Audra wasn’t budging, so he grabbed her by the back of her leather vest and peeled her off of him so that he could bend down and awkwardly begin picking up the sword he’d dropped, one of Audra’s hatchets that hadn’t gone over the edge of the chasm with the skeleton, and the skeleton’s own sword, which instantly numbed his hand as he shoved the blade into the pouch at his waist.
Audra whipped around and stared up at the crater.
“I can hear- Oh Daveth, we have to go-!” She urged, and Daveth nodded.
“You’ll have to help me across the bridge. I’ve lost an arm and...” he tried to flex the hand that he’d picked up the skeleton’s sword with. It moved limply, with no grip strength. “My other hand isn’t doing so hot, either.”
She ran to the makeshift bridge of chains and rope webbing, and then ran back to him as he staggered towards her.
“They’re coming Daveth, they’re coming-” she urged, and he nodded. He could hear them, too.
“You could leave me behind.” He offered.
“I can’t do that!” She spat, and he gave her a bloody grin from a face that was purpling with bruises.
“Sure you can. You just go, and you don’t look back.” He struggled onto the chain-bridge and took a few lurching steps.
“Fuck, everything hurts.” He cursed, and spat blood again.
“My pack’s in the wagon.” Audra offered. “I’ve got a healing potion in there.”
“Pffft.” Daveth’s scoff was marked by another muttered curse of pain. “Damn things are just ground up plants mixed with booze.”
“It’s better than nothing.” Audra offered, and he chuckled.
“Might numb the pain a bit.” he muttered.
They shuffled across the bridge slowly.
“Keep going forward, Audra.” He kept nudging her. “Don’t look back.”
Something in his tone sent icy sweat sliding down her back. “Why not?” She asked in a voice that tried to be light and conversational.
“Less talking, more walking.” He replied, and she twisted around and tried to peer past his massive bulk.
“Fuck are you doing? Keep going.” He urged, and then grimaced. “Gimme a sec. Keep going. Hand’s giving me problems.” He struggled to pull out the surviving hatchet of Audra’s with his limp hand. His useless arm flopped.
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“It’s all a question of timing.” he muttered to himself, and then barked sharply at Audra. “Move your ass, woman!” She trotted a few feet further ahead and turned back; Daveth was struggling to manipulate one of her hatchets. The chains thrummed and vibrated and the bridge swayed, a tenuous thread across an impenetrable drop. She trotted further across the bridge, and as she reached the other side she looked back. Several skeletons were on the bridge with Daveth.
Things happened very quickly. Daveth did something and one of the handrail-chains snapped, sending a couple skeletons into the abyss. The chain that they were using as a footpath snapped then, and several more skeletons were sent spinning into the seemingly bottomless gorge.
“Go, Audra!” Daveth yelled, and she struggled with her need to help him and the need to follow orders.
She still had to make it across that river teeming with demon fish. She had to get back to the city, find Captain Aldric and report what happened. She cut the traces that freed her mount from the cart, and eyed Davth’s massive warhorse as it unconcernedly nibbled on some of the jungle’s vegetation. Should she take it with her? Should she leave it behind, in case he survived?
She’d head back to the Seal. She’d talk to Aldric, get him to come out here-
The final chain snapped.
Audra pulled her packs from the cart. She hadn’t anticipated needing a saddle since she was driving a cart, so she hung her packs from her shoulders and took up the reins to her horse. She clicked and whistled at Daveth’s horse, but it didn’t so much as look her way. She was too tired and drained to use magic to compel it to follow her, either. She turned her horse and urged it into a fast trot, back to camp.
*****
All things considered, Aldric was having a pretty good time. Moore, the useless Anglish bureaucrat had allowed him to take the useless militia and drill them into somewhat competent soldiers.
If Aldric had his way, when the Seal left Metzcal, they’d leave with him, too. The Seventh Seal, with double its normal fighting strength, four hundred sellswords. Daveth could take his two hundred, Aldric would have his, and previously inaccessible or impossible jobs would open up to them. Coin would flow, instead of trickle. More coin meant better equipment. More jobs would mean a bigger reputation. A bigger reputation would keep slack-jawed city lords from kicking them out every time they happened by. They’d grow their name, but they’d stick to their principles. Bandit hunting. Monster hunting. Protecting villages, not ‘pacifying’ them. He would do what the Anglish Empire could not.
Well, he could at least indulge his dream, at least. Likely some asshole would do for him the way he’d done for so many others, and the Seventh Seal’s war banner would end up in someone elses’ trophy room.
“Morden.” Aldric called the man, who strode over immediately. Morden had been born with a truly unfortunate face; he looked every part the villainous warlord. It didn’t help much that didn’t have much in the way of moral reservations. Not an idea man, but would happily follow orders as long as he was paid.
Morden saluted indifferently. Not for lack of discipline, but because Aldric thought all the genuflecting and chest rapping and all of that was a ridiculous waste of time. There was a time and a place for that sort of thing, and that time and place was for reviews and drills. In the field, saluting was meaningless. They knew their jobs.
“Where’s Daveth?” Aldric asked. “I want to run some ideas by him.” Actually, he wanted to see how much T’Keela the man could take before he keeled over, but given the last time the giant had gotten blindingly drunk, it probably wasn’t a good idea at all. Still, he could indulge his dreams.
“I saw him head out on patrol with Audra three days ago.” Morden replied.
“Mmm. Did he take the scout files with him?”
Morden shook his head.
Aldric blew out a heavy sigh. “What do you think? They fucking yet?”
Morden snickered. “I’ve seen Audra sneak into his tent a few times.” He wiggled his hand. “I give it a 60/40.”
Aldric snickered back. He didn’t care about fraternization in the ranks as long as there wasn’t any blatant favoritism or pregnancy. The battlefield was no place for children, born or otherwise.
“Tell me, Do we have a mage that can scry?”
Morden gave him a baffled look. “I got no fuckin’ clue.”
“Don’t you think we ought to know?” Aldric asked, and Morden shrugged. Mages were mages.
Aldric sighed. “Find a mage that can do some scrying. Have them find Daveth, report back to me where he’s at.”
Morden nodded and hurried off. Aldric was going to need to take a closer look at his mage situation if they intended to go much further. Combat mages were worth their weight in diamonds and emeralds, construction mages were always fucking useful as shit, all he had was a small handful of apprentice mages with a list of unknown skills. Aldric tacked that on his “to do” list, and headed over to Moore’s place to take a look at the maps of Metzcal, despite the fact that nobody had bothered updating them since the War of Liberation.
Once the jungle had been completely pushed back from the original capital, they’d likely find the original roads, or at least the start. With a properly trained militia providing support and protection to the lumberjacks and farmers and the like, more people could move in, and with more people, they’d be able to reclaim the cities lost to time.
Aldric wanted to be long gone before any of that happened. He hadn’t heard any leads for new work since taking up this job, but he was optimistic. All he needed to do was show proof that the beastmen in question were dead and the job would be considered complete.
*****
Daveth had lost consciousness when the bridge had snapped and he’d slammed into the wall of the chasm, but the fact that he was awake seemed to be the only good news. He was hopelessly tangled in the ropes and chains that made up the bridge he and Audra had constructed. There was no telling when either the chains or the rope would break, he’d lost the use of his entire right arm, and partial use of his left hand. Whatever else those skeletons were, it seemed they and whatever in the crater that spawned them weren’t fans of intruders. It was like their entire existence was poison for the living.
He looked up at the clifftop and the distance he’d have to try and climb and sighed, then he turned and looked down at the skeletal warrior that was similarly entangled, but further down.
“You, my bony friend, are going to be a pain in the ass, aren’t you?” He muttered, and tested his grip strength on the ropes experimentally.
Death for the living.
He glanced down, startled, at the skeleton. Certainly they’d moved with what appeared to be a relentless malignant intelligence but-
He forced the thought down. Didn’t matter. What did matter was climbing this tangled mess. If he pushed with his feet and entangled his arms in the roping, he might be able to brute force his way up.
He pushed with his feet and wrapped his arms in the ropes, making sure he stayed thoroughly entangled. Until his arms started working properly again, he’d have to do the best he could with his feet.
He pulled with his one good arm, pushed with his feet, was able to climb a bit. The numbness from his hand was fading; that was a good sign. The burning pain of exertion settled into his thighs, calves and lower back.
“Think just about everything hurts.” He muttered, staunchly ignoring the struggling skeleton behind him. It was unquestionably a race. Daveth had to make it up to the top and cut the mass of chain and rope free before the skeleton caught up to him.
If asked on any normal day if Daveth could make an ascent like the one was making, after some consideration he’d likely remark, “it wouldn’t be pretty, but I think I could do it.” He told himself this as he hauled himself up, foothold by foothold. He didn’t look back. He figured that if the skeleton was going to get him, it would. His best bet was to focus on climbing.
*****
Audra had reached the river, but she had a problem- she had no bait for the demon fish. She had a couple of options; she could head upstream or downstream to an easier spot to cross, she could dash across and hope she could make it across quickly enough to avoid losing her horse, or she could head back the way she came.
Daveth had snagged her bow when she was still in shock from fighting that horror; one of her hatchets had gone into the chasm, buried in the skull of that thing, the other was also in Daveth’s possession. All she had was a dagger and an extra quiver of arrows she’d stashed in the wagon.
She fretted, moving up and down the riverbank, edging her horses’ hooves into the water and backing off swiftly. She couldn’t see if there were any of the fish in the water.
She headed upriver and found a massive dead tree that had fallen across the river at some point in the past. Water slid over the trunk in a thin sheet only an inch or so deep. She could make it. So thinking, she trotted across the river, keeping her head on a swivel for anything to come crashing out of the underbrush at her.
*****
Daveth’s useless arm tingled, burned, and itched maddeningly. Sweat ran into his eyes as he climbed. He’d gotten so used to his arm not working that when it suddenly swung up and grabbed a tangle of rope he was shocked. He tested it; he didn’t have the strength to pull himself up with it, but it certainly felt like his strength was returning, which was a good thing, because he was certain the skeleton was closing in on him inexorably.
He dipped in his pouch for Audra's hatchet and chopped away some of the rope; he felt it slide and give way under his feet. He didn’t have the leverage to prize open one of the chain links like he did when the bridge was actually up, but if he managed to make it to the top then there wouldn’t be a problem.
He reached the top and pulled himself up and over the edge and allowed himself a moment to breathe, just a second, just a moment to just lay on the ground and do nothing- but he rolled over and pushed himself up and wedged the spike in one of the chain links and twisted.
The link squeaked and broke with a brittle snap; the chain slithered down the side of the gorge like a snake, dragged by its own weight. He threw himself at the second chain and levered that one open; down in the gorge he could feel a frustrated howl of unmitigated rage and a sense of renewed determination.
Daveth threw himself at the third chain, but the skeleton pulled itself up and over the edge of the cliff. It’s eyesockets were filled with violet fire.
Death for the living!
Daveth hurled the hatchet in his hand at it; it lodged in the thing’s ribcage. The thing mocked him with silent laughter as the hatchet corroded away to rust.
Daveth drew a sword from his belt pouch; the skeleton marched on him and swatted it away. He threw himself in a roll towards his horse and shouted,
“Growler! Flame!”
A double jet of fire blasted out from the horses’ nostrils and enveloped the skeleton in immolating flame.
As the jet of fire died back, Daveth grimaced in frustration; the fire hadn’t done anything except to set it on fire, which didn’t seem to inconvenience it in the slightest. Daveth hauled himself into the saddle and urged his horse in a gallop.
The skeleton was strong, smart, and seemingly unaffected by fire. If he alone couldn’t kill the thing, then his allies combined could.
He could hear the thing chasing him. It was still on fire, he could hear it popping and crackling as the skeleton raced behind him.
His horse was a golem. It still thought of itself as a horse, still behaved in every way like a horse, but under the layer of living flesh and hide was a sophisticated machine with a magical core in its chest. Theoretically, it could run forever. How long could a burning skeleton run?
Daveth glanced behind him; the skeleton was right behind him, bony legs pumping, arms swinging.
Bows and arrows clearly didn’t work. Swords sort of worked. A mace had a shorter range of movement, but was brutal in crushing damage. He needed reach, he decided.
He pulled out the polearm he’d grabbed in Ankar Set and swung it behind hima roar of flame slammed into the skeleton again, and this time it faltered, tripped and tumbled, rolling over and over.
Zakal!
Tiny burning embers sifted down from the polearm; Daveth wasn’t aware that the thing had a magical power dwelling in it.
You think to use Zakal against me?!
Daveth reined in his horse. “I just might.”
The burning skeleton raised its blazing arms to the sky, and the metal plate in the thing’s skull flashed a brilliant purple for a second.
We’ll see about that.
The skeleton crumbled away to dust and ash, and Daveth prodded the remains carefully with the long-bladed polearm. With no response from the remains, Daveth hefted the weapon. “Well, now I know what to call you.”