“Two elves wandering my facility, one going around stabbing all of my failed experiments, the other throwing fire around as if he was a great wizard of Pirth. Hmm, you wouldn’t be the famous Mr. Finneus Burgeon, would you?” said Mashda, offering an ingratiating smile to us.

Uncle Finneus offered the man an elegant bow. “To think that my name has traveled to even visitors of my great city. I am honored.”

Mashda, at least I assumed it was him, chuckled. “A very good friend warned me that one of the only elves in the city liked to wander around and stick his nose into things that weren’t his business. He said even if I was careful, I needed to keep an eye out for you. I had forgotten the advice until my children started dying at your hands. Why are you here, Mr. Burgeon? This is not within the city proper. Has someone hired you to find me? You need not answer, I have already discovered my brother’s presence in the city. Everything you’re doing I understand, but where do we go from here, Mr. Burgeon? Are you planning on capturing me and taking me to my brother? Do you think you can?”

Uncle Finneus tapped a finger on his lip, as he shifted from side to side on his toes. “That is a difficult question to answer, Mashda. Do you mind me calling you Mashda?”

“Please,” replied the man.

“Well,” continued my uncle, “It’s a difficult question to answer, Mashda, as we are outnumbered here. So, it would not be easy to capture you and take you to your brother even if I wanted to. On the other hand, even with all of your guards, it does not appear that you are confident in catching us either. If you did, you would have attacked as soon as the door opened, instead of talking with us.”

Mashda smiled, “Did you not think that perhaps I wanted to talk to the people hunting me first? And even if I struggle to capture you, are you so confident that your nephew will survive this encounter if it comes down to it? What will his poor mother say?”

Uncle Finneus shrugged, while I swallowed down my fear. After all, I had barely survived the attacks of a single Narjee warrior, what would happen with thirty of the cursed warriors and another twenty of the creatures attacking us? Mashda laughed at my uncle’s shrug. “Do you think you can make it out alive? I have more than just the warriors by my side.”

As he spoke, more monsters began to appear from behind him. Uncle Finneus shrugged again in reply and smiled back at the man, “The future is uncertain no matter the odds, Mashda. And I like my odds. As for my nephew, well, his mother and the council of elves have already tossed him out on his head. I only hope he dies a good death. I would hate to see a creature of my blood die like a shriveling coward.” Uncle Finneus turned and winked at me, “Better to die to the beat of your own heart than lose a life without meaning, aye Bartholomew?”

I didn’t know what to say to that, but the fire in my soul was screaming for blood. “Brother, it has been too long since we last met,” said a grumbling voice.

I felt my body relax as it was easy to recognize the voice. I had to listen to it for well over four hours today, I had better recognize it.

Mashda whirled in the direction the voice had come from, “So, you’ve caught up. I guess I have Mr. Burgeon to thank for that.”

“Please, if I called you Mashda, you must call me Finneus,” said my uncle, offering a slight bow to the man.

Garnachi and his group of twenty warriors appeared as if by smoke. The older human offered a deep bow to Uncle Finneus, “Thank you for the runner, Finneus. He led me straight to the entrance of these salt mines.”

Uncle Finneus nodded back to his friend, “I’m happy you were able to make it. Your timing is impeccable as always. It looked a little troubling. If you had not shown up, poor Bartholomew might have died.”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Mashda appeared annoyed to see the situation move from his control and interrupted the conversation, “Brother, did you just come to converse with your friend?”

Garnachi turned to Mashda, with a sad expression on his face, “Mashda, always the one who needed to be the center of attention. Even at the end, you beg for all eyes to be on you.”

Mashda’s calm demeanor cracked just like that, “You think I will die here? Look how old you have become, brother. Yet here I am, in my prime, with power you have not begun to fathom. I am above you and the cursed people that serve you. I…”

He stopped speaking mid-sentence as Garnachi moved at inhuman speed. Faster than I had seen even my uncle go when he fought the Troll King. The old man moved past the few monsters and guards that could have blocked his way, then leaping, brought down his spear straight for Mashda’s skull.

Mashda raised his arm and a shield of darkness bloomed. The spear came down. It slowed briefly when it clashed with the darkness as if passing through water, then continued downward. It buried itself deep into Mashda’s head.

Pandemonium broke out as Mashda collapsed onto the ground. His creatures screamed in anguish and began attacking both friend and foe. The Narjee warriors who had served Mashda threw themselves at Garnachi without care for their lives. They acted as if the death of his killer would somehow bring Mashda back.

“Bartholomew,” yelled Uncle Finneus making me focus on him, “Attack the monsters. Burn them. Burn them as best you can. We have to kill them all. None of them can escape.”

Gripping my staff, I took a deep breath and summoned my flame. I yelled at it to shape itself into a spear. Once it had formed, I launched it at one of the monsters that looked like an insectoid. I released my control over the flame and watched as it crashed into the creature. The monster turned, somehow making eye contact with me, and screamed. I took an involuntary step back, there was so much hatred within that scream. With flames licking at its carapace, it charged towards me.

I took another deep breath and called for the flame to burn like the intensity of a star. The fire grew offended for whatever reason, putting a mental strain on me. I ignored its rudeness and fought through, demanding it burn hotter. The fire seemed to want to think about it. As it did, the monster grew closer and closer. Eventually, the fire agreed, and I formed another, hotter, flame spear. I finished it, right as the monster was upon me. Feeling terror, I threw the spear at its gaping maw.

Relief crashed into me in the shape of weird fluids, as the creature fell apart. I took in a shuddering breath and then promptly threw up. I growled at my flame to burn everything off. Flame surrounded me for a second, cooking and burning away everything but the clothes on my back. I took another breath of cave air, then looked for another creature to attack.

As I turned to find another creature to kill, a sword pierced through my left arm right below my deltoid and bounced off my humerus. The pain caused me to scream and move away. The sword came out, which made me scream again and blood began to fall. I yelled for the flame, using all of my pain and anger at being attacked. The world flashed white as I burned everything around me in an instant.

I couldn’t tell if it was my screaming, or someone else, but in the end, the man was lying on the ground dead, burnt, and beaten. I saw the shape of the dead man’s shadow, burnt to the ground. So hot was my flame. Perhaps it wasn’t residue, but the real shadow, which had just forgotten to travel with him into the underworld.

Such thoughts passed by as my body began to shake. Blood was still pooling out of me, and the pain in my arm started to throb with every third beat of my heart. I took another deep breath. It didn’t do anything to help me, so I called my flame. Pushing the fire into my right palm, I used it to apply pressure onto my left arm. I sat there waiting for my blood to cook. While waiting, I watched the battle to calm my nerves.

I caught glimpses of Uncle Finneus here and there, as he darted around, leaving wounded and dying enemies in his wake. I also saw Garnachi surrounded by a team of enemy Narjee. The warrior killed with every stab of his spear. But for every man who fell, a new wound would appear on the old man’s bloodstained body.

It took a while before the water started to steam, and my blood coagulated. I then tore my under-shirt and wrapped it around the wound for a little more protection. Picking up my staff, I called for another fire spear. I planned on shooting it into the group that was attacking Garnachi, but another creature appeared out of nowhere charging towards me.

This monster was made of a horse and some other monstrous creature I was unable to identify. Whatever it was, it must have been born with more teeth than an Oceanic shark has in its lifetime. I threw myself out of the way of the creature as it galloped past. I landed on my left shoulder and screamed from the pain as waves of agony ran up my arm.

I changed the scream into a growl, and raised the staff in my right arm, sending two fireballs at the creature. The horse monster gnashed its teeth and promptly caught on fire. To my left side, I saw a Narjee move towards me with a spear. Even as the horse creature was charging.

I immediately created a ring of fire to surround me. The horse shied away from the flame, but the warrior did not even slow. He drew close and leaped. I grinned, and pulled all the fire into a single point, before sending it into the air at the man. Somehow, he dodged the attack even in midair. Not having enough concentration to burn him like I did the other Narjee warrior, I flipped my staff upside down and drove the end toward the man’s neck. I felt a soft crunch as it went through his trachea.

I yanked the staff out and was already creating a fireball. The creature reared, bringing its front hooves down with enough force to turn me into a paste. I rolled on the ground, narrowly missing death. Leaping to my feet, with my staff still in hand, I called for the fire. The mental strain was difficult to handle. But it was not unbearable, I could handle it. Growling, I created two fire spears and threw them at the creature. One went into the gnashing maw of teeth and that was the end of the creature.

I let go of my staff and took a seat on the ground. For better or worse, I was done. If there be another enemy Narjee to have survived and wanted to kill me, so be it. I looked around, but only saw corpses.