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Soul Blaze
22. Lights guard against darkness

22. Lights guard against darkness

Although they had a taurses and a horse with them, it did not help move faster through the thick forest. The fact that Indres had walked in this direction before helped only a little. On the other hand, the beasts of burden allowed them to take more supplies, and the men in armor did not get tired so quickly. Of course, it was also the only way a lame magic user could move fast enough.

"Ranger Riggi, how are we doing?" the oldest of the temple guards called to Indres, who walked ahead.

"Ser Baern, we're moving quickly, but I don't think we'll reach our destination before mid-afternoon." He replied as one would speak to an officer in the army.

All present had military experience, including the senior temple guard, who was a Lights guard – a trained knight and giver of blessings. This position was higher than that of a common knight or selesti, so the choice of a leader seemed natural, even not counting in his noble status.

"Then we must go even faster." Baern spoke with confidence.

"It... may tire us out before the fight, sir." The hunter replied carefully.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of it." The Lights guard announced and raised his staff.

As usual, when healers and blessers used their abilities, his voice changed, expressing power and connection to The Unseen. When the sacred words were spoken, the stone at the end of the staff glowed. The shadows under the canopy grew weaker, and Indres felt a surge of strength and energy. Moreover, it seemed that he was not alone in feeling this effect. The other hunter and the soldier, who were also travelling on foot, looked fresher and stood up straighter.

"Now let's hurry! If you feel your strength failing again, tell me!" Baern urged in his normal voice.

"Yes, sir."

Indres wasn't thrilled about using the spirit force before the battle started, but he also didn't know how much the Lights guard had in reserve. He and the others had no right to complain, they could only be grateful that someone so powerful had agreed to help, and with two weapons bearers, or scutifers coming along. Although technically the two youngest Temple guards were not yet nobles, their manners and demeanor suggested they are born in nobility, so Indres tried to show the proper respect in their conversations.

Thanks to Baern's blessing, the group began to move faster, reaching the tower by noon. The Lights guard insisted on this, believing that the dark power would be weakest in the south. Although Indres agreed with this logic, the fast pace created more noise and did not allow him to scout his surroundings as carefully as the hunter would have liked. It was also true that spawns and other dangerous creatures usually prowled around at night, so that was not critical.

The blessing of the Lights guard lasted for quite some time, but he had to call it twice more before the group reached the valley with the gloomy tower.

"There is still some time before noon. Great." Baern announced.

One of his companions had shown the Lights guard a small tool that Indres recognized as a crystal timepiece, a semi-magical device that counted time. Indres glared at the other hunter, who was walking in back of group. Both eyes turned to the sky, where the sun was directly overhead, with the thought, "Isn't it obvious?" Of course, they didn't say it aloud.

"Ser, should we rest to regain our strength?" Indres decided to ask the leader of the group.

"Are you feeling tired? Was the blessing not effective enough?" Baern furrowed his brows.

"Physically, it's fine. But perhaps it would be good to renew the spirit power." Hunter implied.

In the heat of summer, it was customary to use magic to cool off when travelling, such as freezing some water in a leather bag, as they had done the first two days on the road. Generally, however, if a fight was imminent, it was customary to conserve the spirit power. Even if everyday magic did not require much strength, in battle even a tiny amount could be a matter of life and death.

"Don't worry ranger, I still have enough." Baern replied with a confident smile.

Indres thought that too patronizing, but he didn't comment. He also decided not to point out that the Temple guards as well as the magic user had not been shy about using household magic today. In the army, when Indres was serving, such a thing before battle would made his sergeant spit fire.

"Yes, Indres, we are not so weak as to lose our strength from something so small." Vern added from behind with his usual smug smirk.

The two younger temple guards gave the thin man a disapproving look. Apparently, they were not pleased that someone from the common people considered himself similar to them. The acolytes of magic were not fully-fledged mages and therefore did not belong to the nobles.

Noble-born and noble wannabes... The Eternal One, protect us, Indres sighed to himself.

On the other hand, in the army too, nobles often did what they wanted. Indres decided to just put it out of his mind and concentrate on what lay ahead.

Although it had been about a month, the clearing with the tower in the middle of it looked almost exactly the same as before. The spawns' bodies seemed even more decomposed than before, the dark spots around them on the ground slightly larger. The undead as well as the strange wraith were not noticeable, but of course that didn't mean they weren't here. Remembering what had happened, the hunter now had the impression that the tower's grey figure was ominous and unnatural.

"A corrupted place, no doubt." The Lights guard said quietly, standing next to Indres while the others took care of the riding beasts.

Indres could only agree, but did not speak. Resting the tip of his staff on the ground, the Temple Guardian began to silently recite something to himself. Clean-shaven, with short hair and a handsome appearance, Endrea Baern looked like a model knight, used to solving problems with the blade of a spear or sword rather than the blessings of heaven. The darker skin tone and violet pupils of his eyes suggested the origins of the vilari highborn origin.

The crystal at the tip of the staff sparkled a little, but without spectacular effects. Indres did notice that Baern's eyes brightened, no, they radiated a little light. The glittering eyes studied the tower intently until the man's face crumbled.

"The curse is in the walls too; I can't see what's inside... Stronger than I'd like... I also see traces of magic under the dead spawns. Apparently, the undead are hiding under the bodies again, just like you told me." The Lights guard spoke slowly.

Indres judged that the temple guard could see The Unseen, so could only nod.

Meanwhile, the other members of the group arrived. Indres removed battle bow from his shoulder and made sure the heavy arrows were in his grasp, ready.

"Basically, nothing changes. We will act as it was decided." Baern announced after a moment, when his eyes regained their normal appearance.

"Ser."

"Yes, sir."

The others confirmed their agreement in a voice or with a nod of the head.

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"Rangers, take up positions in the cover of the trees, but not too far from each other and here. Save your arrows, only attack if we're not managing or I call out loud. Call word: rangers." The group commander started giving orders.

Indres and Erwan nodded.

"The guard man will stay with the beasts, ready to rush to the aid of the rangers or the assault group should the need arise. Code word: backup."

Ascar also confirmed that he understood. Although this role seemed less prestigious, someone had to take care of the rear and serve as reinforcements. Like Indres, the village watchman had served before, so he knew how important it was.

"The rest of us will go forward, test the enemy's reaction. Acolyte Gesur, are you ready?" Baern looked up at the thin man.

Vern Gesur, the proud village 'mage', didn't look very confident now. Indres saw no fear, rather a grim memory on the man's face.

"Yes, sir." Acolyte confirmed with a nod of head.

"Tedot, Pival, right, left. Standard circle." The two weapons bearers were given orders only they understood.

The young temple guards also showed that they understood and clenched their fists twice on their chests. The metal face masks, conseras, detached from their fasteners, allowing the two to attach the masks to their helmets, completely covering faces. The temple star was now in place of the face, except for the slits for eyes and breathing.

"We don't know how strong the power is here. If I give the order to retreat, do it at once! All clear?" this instruction and warning was meant for everyone.

All the men seriously declared that they understood.

"The Eternal Father and all the Holy ones are with us! Forward with courage!" Baern ended the briefing with an encouragement and attached the same mask to his helmet.

All prepared, they set off to do their duty.

Three temple guards and one battle magic acolyte behind them slowly emerged from the shadows of the trees and headed towards the tower. Baern walked in front, with staff in his hand, while his bearers of arms held spears right and left. As on the previous occasion, the undead did not react until someone moved through the clearing. Unlike Indres, Baern did not think of going to the stairs on the south side of the tower. When he reached the halfway point of the tower, the Temple Guardian stuck his staff in the ground and spoke in a supernatural voice that vibrated across the entire area. As the crystal glowed, the ground around the knight also brightened. Indres even thought that the grass was greener and rose higher.

Around the Baern, about five meters in diameter, a brighter area had emerged, blessed with a spirit of light. This will be the first line of defense.

"Acolyte Gesur!" the Lights guard called out.

"Yes, sir!" Vern stepped forward.

He raised his hand and summoned magic, which ignited the corpse of the nearest spawn. Everyone froze for a moment, waiting to see if there would be any reaction, but nothing happened.

"Go on!" Baern ordered.

The magic acolyte continued to send flames towards the spawn corpses around. Soon more than ten bonfires were blazing in the clearing.

Then something happened.

Just as Indres remembered, the corpses began to move, some that were in flames as well as others.

"Acolyte! Back!"

Vern obeyed and retreated behind the backs of the temple guards. The Undead soldiers meanwhile rose to their feet and turned to face the invaders. One of them, who had crawled out from beneath a charred corpse, was also ablaze. As the remains of the skin disappeared, the burning skeleton took a few steps forward when it lost one arm, the skull, and then collapsed completely to the ground. Indres also noticed that not all the dead under the burning skeletons got to their feet. Although these monsters were magical, the fire was able to cause them serious damage.

However, Indres noticed that more than twenty unharmed and armed undead were attacking the temple guards. The archer's instincts urged him to take the opportunity to destroy these easy targets, but he restrained himself. After all, Indres' help was not needed. The two younger temple guards used their spears to expertly strike down the physically fragile skeletons. Some managed to get closer, but their spears and swords could not seriously harm the men in full armor. Indres was also under the impression that the circle on the ground created by the Lights guard was also having a negative effect on the enemies.

Suddenly the last five undead stopped and began to retreat. The four-man did not move and remained in the middle of the circle. Indres checked his surroundings in case the enemy wanted to sneak up on those in the cover of the trees, but neither he nor his other two companions saw anything dangerous nearby.

When the walking skeletons had retreated to the tower, Indres sensed something strange, as if hidden, angry whispers were coming from the grey building. The words were unintelligible, but the man felt a cold hatred in those sounds.

A dark, living shadow appeared on the wall of the tower, giving the impression that it was emerging from it, or seeping through. From a distance it could not be seen, but the hunter had no doubt that this shadow had two eye-like pale lights and a sinister aura about it.

Indres heard Baern begin to invoke a new blessing in his voice as the dark shadow began to move towards the temple guards and the magic acolyte. The crystal of the staff shone again; this time much brighter. The new light stopped the wraith for a moment, and it even retreated. But then it began to expand and grow larger, until the mist-like shadow reached the height of two people, and thickened as well, more like a black liquid that sought to drown the four people in the circle of light, overwhelming them, blocking out the sun and casting a true shadow overhead.

*ZA-ZA-ZA-ZA!*

A strange sound came from this phenomenon, like the flow of water or the weariness of the earth, yet full of hidden desperate voices, as if carrying drowning people with it. Despite the fact that Indres was several tens of meters away from the apparition, he felt its power. Goosebumps covered his skin, as if the sun was no longer warming him, the colors all around him were fading, even the sky seemed to be turning grey, as if the sun no longer existed.

Vern fell to the ground, terrified, and raised his hands for protection. The Lights guard, true to his title, began to call out blessings in the ancient language again, his voice still clear and strong. The two younger temple guards, too, though with spears in their hands, began to invoke blessings of their own, as far as Indres could make out.

Baern's armor seemed to ignite in white flames that reached towards the black mass and pushed it back and aside. The black water-like mass seemed to begin to evaporate from the white flames, at least some of it becoming something like mist or smoke again, but then gathering itself back together to attack anew.

Indres had forgotten for the moment to observe his surroundings; men’s attention was fixed on the battle in the clearing. The man had taken part in army expeditions several times to eliminate the undead that sometimes turned up after particularly nasty battles, but this was different. A true death curse, a powerful black magic against which simple soldiers and common magic users were utterly powerless.

Five times the black mass tried to cover the temple guards and five times it was pushed back. Indres had the impression that it was getting smaller, so there was hope of victory. Apparently, the dark force, ghost or whatever it was also realized that it was not going to succeed with the current method, so it retreated back towards the tower, the thick mass becoming more like a mist that was spreading in the area around the tower.

Indres felt the cold receding and the colors returning. He took a deep breath to calm himself.

Thank the Eternal for saving us previously, the hunter did not want to think what would have happened if he tried to wrestle with that.

"Stay alert! Nothing is over yet!" Baern warned.

He turned out to be right. The black mist settled on the ground, seemed to be sucked into it, but not only that. Some of the mist seemed to envelop the remaining undead soldiers, who had been standing calmly by the tower wall all this time. All five suddenly came together to embrace each other, against all sense. No, it was as if an invisible force had pulled them together into one point, one mass. It was as if the bones of all five were beginning to blend together. Meanwhile, something also began to move on the ground around them. Indres' observant eye spotted something greyish-pale skipping along the ground towards the five undead.

They are bones! The bones of the other skeletons! The hunter realized.

Sure enough, arm and leg bones, ribs, and several skulls, without any visible force save for the black mist around them, rolled towards a tangle of bones that quickly grew larger.

"Acolyte! Crush it!" the Lights guard shouted.

Vern, still on the ground, did not seem to understand or to want to follow this command. One of the younger temple guards helped the thin man to his feet and pushed him closer to the enemy. At this prompting, the acolyte finally got hold of himself and summoned powerful fire magic, the same as that demonstrated at his wedding and later in the battle against the spawns at the gate.

*BAM!*

Although the flames reached the bone pile, the black mass materialized again, smothering much of the force of the attack. The bones, meanwhile, began to form a sort of body with many joints.

"Again!" Baern ordered.

He also summoned a new blessing himself, which in the form of a beam of light struck the mass of bones, but was unable to stop it.

*BAM!*

*BAM!*

Vern managed to send the magic against the bones two more times before they all finished coming together. The huge body formed from the mass of bones unfolded, revealing a shape similar to a human, but with four arms and dozens of skulls in all directions where a head should be. The bones looked fused together or held together by magic. Dark power flowed like smoke around this hideous formation, protecting the bones from the power of magic and the Light. Pale flames burned in the eye sockets of each head cup, while the fingernails of the hands were replaced by sword and spear blades of undead.

The towering bone monster took a step towards the men in the middle of the clearing.

"Archers!" The Lights guard shouted.

Indres raised war bow.

It was his turn to engage in battle.

***