Camp was miserable. Elliot may have been good at setting up camp, and Ander may have been the hunter, but Flyte was the heart and soul of the group. They almost never talked. Their camp was fueled by anger, which didn't feed on pheasants and roasted quails. Anger feeds on happiness and produces hate.
Ander and Elliot had left right after Flyte's death. On their way out, people thanked them, but Ander paid them no mind. Flyte was the one who had saved them all. Their town would have been a charred blot on the map without Flyte, but where was his reward. The only thing Flyte got was a heroic death. Death, no matter how glorious, simply isn't as good as life.
Flyte told Ander about Dark Haven and the Black keep, so him and Elliot were going to get something that Honorious owned. "Elliot," Ander started. "We have to accept that Flyte is gone. We need to let go of our anger, because that is dragging us down to be as human as Honorious, just as twisted and wrong."
"I'm not angry, I'm just sad," Elliot said. "In half a week I've lost almost all of my friends, Honorious being one of them, and even though I've only known you for six days, you are my last friend. I mean, we've already fought against a whole siege party together."
"I've almost lost my purpose," Ander confessed. "First, I was going to kill the king, but I couldn't. Then I made my purpose defending Flyte, who I failed, and now all I've got is revenge, which will not last forever."
"Well, you're wrong about two things," Elliot said slowly. "One, you didn't fail Flyte. He knew what would happen if he killed the dragon. You changed him in the end and that made him happier than he ever would be as a lowlife, so Ander, you saved. Two, I think Flyte was the one defending you, he seemed so scared when the dragon blew up near you, despite him being stabbed."
Ander seemed glad to hear that. He had kept the sword, but they left the shield with Flyte. Ander also grabbed a bow. The closer they got to the castle, the more danger they were in. They started coming across random shadow boars or even a lone shade knight, but now they were seeing whole camps of Shades, and Elliot knew that Ander was prepared to slaughter those whole camps if it came down to it.
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Ander looked up from the shades and he saw it, the castle of kings, legendarily named Ithiles, the first Chraith king's name. In tales that same king had fought hoards of demons to keep his people safe in this stretch of the woods, and he claimed the land they built his castle on from tyrants. Ithilles was never able to see his castle, but many believe that he was buried in its central courtyard.
The legends said that the castle was on of the greatest sights to see in all of Riftgard, but Ander personally believed that was an understatement. The walls gleamed in the sunrise as if they were built specifically for beauty, but Ander could tell how strong the walls were from his experience. According to the ancient tales, not even a dragon could pass the walls, and Ander could tell why. They were built a sheer sixty feet up, and then the continued upwards past the first wall for an additional forty vertical feet with a slope of around two and every twenty feet there was an ingrown tower on the first vertical third of the outer wall, and then on the second vertical third of the outer wall there were ingrown towers in the areas between every other pair of the other ingrown towers.
In the ancient tales, the courtyard was filled with golden flowers surrounding the carved opaque crystal that was supposed to be Ithilles sepulcher.
Ander stopped when he saw the castle, which led to him being spotted by a shade, The shade screamed, signaling any heard them of Ander's presence. Each shade that heard that scream screamed as well.
Hearing the shade scream, Ander put an arrow through it. "Elliot, run," he shouted. As they ran Ander set his sword aflame. In their mad dash for the castle, Elliot and Ander unwittingly ran straight into a shade camp. At once all of the shades charged straight for the two of them.
Ander's blade spun from shade to shade as Ander used it to take them apart. Elliot's blade was only visible to those being stabbed by it. Together Ander and Elliot were able to kill the entire camp, but they were both tired.
They decided to continue running, but a slight bit slower. As they ran Ander noticed black vines climbing down Elliot's arms and shrinking into his hands. "Uh, Elliot" Ander began. "Maybe you shouldn't be so dependent on that black blade of yours. Here, take this one." Ander handed his stone blade to Elliot.
"If you say so Ander," Elliot replied, accepting the sword. As they got closer to the castle Ander could see thick steel gates surrounded by guards.
"Let's find another way in," Ander whispered. Elliot nodded in agreement.
"I know the perfect spot," Elliot whispered back to Ander. He led Ander to a high window, covered in long lines of thick vines. Elliot started climbing and Ander felt sick in his stomach. He swallowed his nervousness down and started climbing. Elliot and Ander both climbed very well until arrows started flying at them. Elliot, in an effort to dodge an arrow coming for his calf, fell off the vine. Ander caught him, and using the momentum, launched Elliot straight into the shade archers, and because their weapons fell down at impact Elliot was able to cut them down easily.
Elliot got into the castle walls, but Ander still had to climb. As he got closer, he could see bars on the windows. He climbed up and started the work of cutting them with Dancing Flame. When he finally got in, he was so wiped that he had to lay on the floor for a bit and take a breather. After a few minutes he got up and looked around, and he soon found Elliot. "Okay, so Honorious's old room two stories down," Elliot said.
"Let's do this," Ander followed Elliot through the labyrinthian corridors of the bright castle. Every part of the wall's interior looked the same. The pair of vengeful warriors descended two floors down.
Ander saw a shade starting to look their way, so he readied his bow. The shade saw him as he released the arrow, and more shades screamed at the sight of their falling brother.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
"Um, Elliot" Ander whispered. "We might want to run again." Elliot looked back and his eyes widened.
"Follow me," Elliot shouted. Elliot ran and Ander followed him. They ran into a room with a large metal door. The inside was badly burnt. "He must have known about Dark Haven," Elliot said as he felt his vengeance being pulled away from him. "He burned all of Honorious's things." Ander heard the shades banging on the door, so he set his sword aflame and stabbed through the door. The shades screamed as they turned into ash.
Ander opened the door and all of the shades had gone. Elliot and Ander both silently agreed to go through the gate on the bottom floor. As they headed down Ander noticed that no sound was audible from in the massive castle. He looked to Elliot and could tell that he was thinking of the day the castle was invaded.
The two of them, after about ten minutes, reached the bottom floor. Ander looked and saw that hundreds of shades surrounded the two of them.
"Let's split them up," Ander calmly said. Ander spotted five unlit braziers in a circle around them. He ran for the closest one, shoving shades out of the way. As he lit the brazier the shades backed out of the way. Ander stabbed his burning blade into the ground, further pushing the shades behind him. He then shot arrows through the flames lighting them one by one.
Elliot pulled his sword through the flame and further decimated the shades. Ander put some oil in a deerskin sack he made and kicked the brazier down towards the shades. He ran back, slashing at shades instead of shoving them.
The shades were in seemingly endless supply, and the two fighters kept killing them. Something shot Ander's stone arm. He looked up from the shorter shades and saw the shade of Borigan. Ander stepped back, dipped an arrow in oil, lit it on his sword, and shot it at him. Borigan released an arrow at the same time, and as Ander's arrow hit Borigan in the forehead Borigan's arrow lodged itself in Ander's hand. He screamed in pain and lit all of his arrows and threw the flaming arrows into the crowd, killing several unarmored shades.
"Hey Elliot," Ander yelled. "How many have you killed?"
"Fifty-six," Elliot yelled. "How about you?"
"Oh, about that," Ander rubbed his head, wincing as he remembered the arrow in his hand. "I've killed eighty-seven."
"How did you manage that?" Elliot yelled, confused.
"I've just got skills," Ander boasted. "And an arrow in my hand" Ander turned and saw Honorious, who he immediately punched in the face, again forgetting the arrow. Honorious reeled back, but then leapt over Ander to the middle of the two fighters. He raised his right hand and howled, and the shades surrounding the pair topped caring about the fire.
Ander poured oil on the floor. As he finished, he heard something that sounded like thunder, and as he turned, he found out why. Honorious not only had dark blades of soul sucking magic, he also had a morning star crackling with electricity. Ander lit the oil.
Honorious turned toward Ander, who knew what was about to happen. It was going to be magic weapon against magic weapon. Ander ran towards him weapon, raised. Honorious struck down towards him, and as the mace hit the ground, so did a bolt of lightning. How lightning struck in a roofed room, Ander couldn't tell.
Ander knew that morning stars designed like that were specifically forged to break swords, so he had to play it safe. Honorious tried to hit him on the side, which Ander reacted to by ducking and then kicking Honorious back. "I know you can do better than this, Ander Palenus," a voice was speaking in his head. "Show me." Honorious's mace somehow compressed into a spiked mace, and he held it towards Ander. The head of the mace suddenly shot off towards Ander. Things started moving in slower for Ander, and his blade glowed orange. He walked out of the way of the mace head and grabbed the chain behind it and pulled it. Next thing he knew Honorious was pulled into his flaming blade.
The roar was something Ander expected. The dragon was coming. Ander tossed the mace to Elliot, who grabbed it easily. The dragon was within sight, but someone was on top of it. The dragon reared up to rain fire down, so Ander grabbed a shade and held it up.
The person leapt off the dragon as it fired its black flames. Ander looked around, but he couldn't find the person. He decided that it was better to escape certain death than find a potential enemy. Ander continued killing shades.
"Hello," a disgusting voice said behind him. "Elliot, let's settle this like decent people. Actually, never mind." The man behind him shot flames at Elliot, who was getting more tired after every shot. "Ander Palenus probably wants to help now, but he already threw all of his arrows. the only one left is stuck in his hand, but not even he could take that out of himself." The mage stopped for a second. "I guess I'll make sure he can't help anyway. Iras!"
Elliot was slowed by the magic word, but it seemed to take no effect on Ander. He looked down and saw that his bade was glowing light blue. He looked up and saw the man raising a sickle. Ander twisted the hilt of his sword with both hands in opposing directions. The blade made a clicking noise and a blue radial wave shot out from it.
The man and all of his shades were slowed. Ander took the bow from his shoulders, and he took the arrow from his hand. He was wondering how he was going to shoot with a hole in his hand when his blade glowed red, and his skin started pulling itself together.
Ander raised the bow to hit the man's forearm and let go. The man screamed in slow motion and dropped the sickle. Ander ran for the sickle and as he passed the man, he grabbed the sickle. When he saw Elliot still being slowed down, he grabbed him too. Ander ran through the shades until he found a door.
He went inside only to find out that it was an armory. Ander took some supplies and a quiver of arrows and ran out again.
Slow shades were everywhere, and this castle was a maze, he had only been inside once after all. "Elliot," Ander said slowly. "Where is the exit?" Elliot pointed forward to the right. Ander ran, but the shades were starting to get faster and faster.
Ander tore through the shades, killing as many as he could. "Do you really believe that you can escape?" The man was flying towards them. "I am a god compared to you; you can't run from me." Shades started shooting arrows at them, and the man threw fire at them. Ander knew what to do.
Ander grabbed the mace from Elliot and pointed it at the strange man's face. he spun a small cylinder of metal that was at the top of the hilt, and seconds later the head shot off hitting the man directly in his face.
The man almost dropped from the sky. He yelled and blasted fire in a steady stream, burning everything in its path. Ander lost his grip on the sickle and shades shuffled around to the point that it disappeared before touching the ground, but the way to the entrance was clear. "Run," Ander screamed frantically. He and Elliot ran as fast as they could.
"Cut them off," the man screamed. He sounded like a shade with all of that screaming. The dragon landed right in their path. "YOU REALLY THOUGHT YOU COULD ESCAPE," the man's voice boomed until he landed next to them. He sneered and Ander felt a wave of anger crash through his sea of calm. He hit the man in the face with the hilt of his enchanted blade.
The man went out cold and his armies disappeared.
"Now's our chance, we can kill him," Elliot said to Ander.
"I doubt it," Ander said. "When I hit him with the mace, he got no scratches or broken bones. He's untouchable. Also killing such a defenseless man is even out of my range of honor-less things to do."
Ander looked, and he couldn't see the sickle anywhere, so him and Elliot left the darkened castle with no idea on how they could find a mage to wipe out the shades.