The Keystaff Chronicles - Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Breaker gritted his teeth in pain as he pulled a piece of tree bark out of his arm. The flesh around the wound was slightly swollen, and from the unusually painful sting, he could tell that the tree bark was poisonous. But since his race had high natural resistance to toxins, Breaker was not too concerned. And for having fallen out of the sky, he supposed that things could have been a great deal worse. For one thing, if they hadn’t bee flying so low, he would have ended up a greasy spot on the hard earth when Azarielle’s flying contraption exploded.

Rising to his feet and drawing his arcane breakers, the gray elf glanced around for his companions. He was surrounded by the diseased trees that they had glimpsed from above, and the blood-colored sap that flowed from the trees stank of rotting refuse. And that unholy red haze floating all around this cursed land made it difficult to see very far into the distance.

Still, the small change in the air current behind him warned him that he was no longer alone, and his body moved before his mind was even conscious of issuing a command. He spun around to face his foe, and found himself wryly amused at his earlier concern for the lack for ghouls. He needn’t have worried for the wretched creatures, for indeed they were faring quite well. In fact, four such creatures were now sprinting towards him, their arms outstretched and quite obviously intent on snapping his neck.

Ghouls were damned creatures whose bodies were held together by insidious Art and animated with evil intent. They could not be killed, if that was the right word to use, by normal weapons. But Breaker’s knives were crafted with the sole purpose of severing Arcane weaves, and when he sank his blade into the first ghoul’s heart, he had the distinct sensation of something seeping out of the creature’s body before the wretched thing fell over and became quite thoroughly dead.

The second ghoul sung at him wildly with one arm, the other having rotted away ages ago, emitting a strange gurgling sound from vocal chords that had not completed failed. It was accompanied by a third ghoul who must have been a warrior in life, for the creature struck at his vital spots repeatedly with a rusty sword. Breaker blocked the overhand chop from the third ghoul with his knives crossed, and sent the second ghoul stumbling backwards with a powerful kick to its face. Then, he pushed the third ghoul back, and slashed open the creature’s throat.

Apparently, having its windpipe severed was not enough to stop the ghoul, for it promptly struck Bracer a glancing blow to the side of the slayer’s shoulder, entirely unfazed by the new smile it now sported across its neck. Breaker took the hit with a grimace, so that he could plunge his other weapon through the creature’s temple and straight into its brain.

Before he could pull his weapons out, he felt hands wrap around his ankle. Leaving his one knife still buried in third ghoul’s hand, he dropped to the ground and buried his knife into the head of the fourth ghoul just as the creature was about to bite him. Though he was not as familiar with the history of Aztur as his other three companions, he did know that ghouls could spread the Bleeding Rot Plague with their bite. If he had been bitten, he would die horribly at best or become a ghoul himself. The thought of his soul, even though he didn’t know if he believed in the existence of a soul, the possibility of being trapped in a rotting body forever was... unpleasant.

By this time, the second ghoul was coming at him again, swinging wildly with its one arm. He ducked the frantic but unpracticed blows and finished off the creature with a quick thrust to the heart.

A sudden, familiar scream sent him running through the forest full speed. Like a shadow, Breaker slipped between the trees, sailing over exposed roots and ducking under low-hanging branches as if it were all an intricate, choreographed dance. That terrified scream had been from Ofeera, and from the light humming of his knives, he knew that either she or something else was using Arcane power.

Ofeera was not far from where he had fallen, and Luthien was with him. The knight was not faring well though, doubled over and clutching at his at his wound, blood flowing from his mouth. Ofeera stood over him with her hands extended, her lips moving in prayer, obviously trying to sustain the glowing blue shield that separated the two of them from the monsters.

She hadn’t fared too badly, all things considered. There were no wounds no her body, but the unmoving remains of several ghouls lay scattered about her. She’d taken care of them with her holy power, no doubt, because from the look of things, Luthien did not look quite capable of doing anything.

When she spotted him, Ofeera practically sobbed with relief, “Breaker! Luthien’s poisoned!”

The ghouls, who had been focused solely on the healer and knight, turned around to look at him. With a wry smile, Breaker launched himself at the nearest creature, aiming straight away from the heart. “I will keep them off you, my lady.”

Ofeera prayed for the cleansing power of Abihayil and hurled it, in the shape of two bolts of pure blue light at the ghouls closest to her. The wretched monsters toppled over without so much as a whimper, and after ascertaining that they would not move again, Ofeera quickly rushed over to where Luthien lay doubled over.

The knight thrown a shield up around them when they were falling, but the power that had destroyed Azarielle’s flying contraption had wreaked havoc with his power again. Halfway through the trees, the shield had simply disappeared, and because he had been trying his best to shield her with his own body, he had been cut open by the branches.

And, the diseased trees were poisonous.

The moment she had come to her senses, she had felt the toxins invading her body. Immediately, she had begun to pray, and because the scratches she received were relatively minor, it had not been long before she was able to cleanse and knit her wounds. Luthien, who had landed beside her, had not been so fortunate. One of the branches had pierced his side, digging deep into the flesh, and though she could sense the knight trying to heal himself as she had been doing, she knew that he was struggling.

And when she had gone to help him, the ghouls had come out from between the trees.

For just one moment, when she first beheld the horror of the lumbering dead and sensed the tortured souls trapped within the decayed bodies, she had screamed. She had almost fainted in fact. But, a strange calm had overcome her along with the knowledge that she had to protect Luthien, and instead of cowering, she had found her lips moving in prayer.

The cursed ghouls had proven to be very weak against her holy power, and within only a few moments, she had been able to bring several of the creatures down. And now, she had to help Luthien less he died.

Her limbs trembled like leaves in the wind as she knelt down next to the knight. It was a miracle from Abihayil himself that she was still able to function. Her mind was in turmoil, and she didn’t really know how she could help Luthien when she could barely concentrate. Surrounded by ghouls, in a forest of diseased trees…

Luthien’s forehead was covered in a sheen of sweat, and his face was twisted into a grimace of pain. He clutched at his side, which oozed a putrid black substance from a long jagged wound. The flesh around the wound was swollen and discolored, and despite the flickering glow of Luthien’s own healing power, she could feel that the poison was spreading.

All thoughts of ghouls fled her mind, and the sound of battle became no more than a background noise as she laid her hands on his wound. His eyes opened just a crack, and he gave her a weak nod of thanks as her cool blue power flooded into his body. Ofeera smiled back faintly and turned her attention inwards. Though their features were identical, Luthien and Lucien had such different expressions. She had never seen Lucien in pain, or Lucien sad… really, she had never seen Lucien wear any expression other than a carefree smile.

Closing her eyes, Lucien’s charming smile still floating in her mind, Ofeera sent Abihayil’s cleansing power flowing through Luthien. She could feel the toxin, a dark virulent thing that killed whatever it touched, trying to spread from where the young knight had been pierced. Luthien’s golden power held the toxins at bay. The Knights of Elad were trained as healers, but first and foremost they were holy warriors. Luthien was quite powerful, but he lacked Ofeera’s training, and against this unfamiliar toxin, all he could do was to keep it from spreading too quickly.

Ofeera allowed her power to glide over the toxin. It writhed like a slick serpent, wriggling wildly as it sought to break through the shield. Once upon a time, this venomous substance had been nothing more than tree sap. But when the Bleeding Rot Plague had floated through the land, it had stricken plant life just as it had humans and animals. Most of the trees withered away, but some that didn’t became gnarled, diseased, parodies of themselves that oozed this fetid, poisonous sap.

A twisted, ancient power, filled with jealous rage and hatred that seemed undiminished by the passage of time pulsed through the toxin. Recognizing that this evil power was what was harming Luthien, the young woman quickly prayed to the Eternal Father that she be given the strength to purify it. Then, focusing her powers, the young woman unleashed it all at once, blowing the dark power away like wind blowing away dead leaves.

Luthien’s eyes widened as a jolt went through his body. It felt as if a lightning bolt had just gone off inside of him, followed by a soothing flood of warmth that made him feel like he was relaxing in a hot spring. The swelling around his wound diminishing rapidly, and though he still bled, it was red blood and not that sickly black substance. He turned to regard the healer appraisingly. Though wasn’t particularly fond of the sensation of lightning running through his body, it had been quite effective. This particular style of healing was something he might have attributed to Azarielle rather than the gentle Ofeera. Perhaps there were enough similarities between the two young women to warrant their obvious but unusual friendship.

Noticing that he was awake, Ofeera smiled with great relief and opened her mouth to ask if he was feeling well.

“Look out!” Luthien yelled, staring beyond her with alarm in his blue eyes.

The healer spun around, her heart pounding in her throat, just in time to see a ghoul being engulfed by red gold flames that looked as if they had bloomed from the ground.

“Hey, Sir Slayer, I think you missed one.”

“Azarielle!” Ofeera gasped.

“Ofeera, I hate to be a nag, but you really need to practice holding up a shield at the same time you heal someone,” the young mage remarked as twirled a thin, long wand in her hand. “You very nearly became that poor fellow’s snack.” Aside from a thin scratch across her cheekbone, the young woman did not look particularly worse for the wear.

“I mean, I know you are a very good healer and everything, but I am quite certain you haven’t gotten quite to the Uncrowned King’s level with, oh what do you call it, auto-resurrecting,” she continued as she pointed her wand at another ghoul. The unfortunate creature burst into flames and toppled over before it managed to take two steps. “Can either of you heal the Bleeding Rot Plague by any chance? These creatures still have souls inside their corpses.”

Luthien rose to his feet, and drew his sword. “All I can do is grant these wretched creatures rest! By the mercy of Abihayil the Eternal Father, rest!” The three ghouls closest to him instantly fell over, as if they were marionettes that had their strings cut.

“Well that was easy,” Azarielle remarked wryly.

The knight gave her an unappreciative look as he took on two more ghouls, kicking back the first that reached out for him and then slicing the second with a powerful sweep of his blade. To his great surprise, the ghoul that slashed apart did not stop moving. In fact, the both pieces of the damned wretch came crawling towards him.

“Head blow or heart blow,” Breaker shouted at him from in between opponents, moving so quickly that he appeared like a black blur.

“Or sever the arcane power that’s animating them,” Azarielle replied.

Luthien did not need to be told twice. He plunged his sword into the half ghoul’s heart and watched both pieces of the creature become still. And when the first ghoul made a wild leap for him, the young knight easily dodged the clumsy attack and plunged his glowing sword into the creature’s skull.

When no other ghoul came at him, the young knight surveyed the situation. Breaker danced between the ghouls like a black butterfly of death. His black swathed form was surrounded by the silvery arcs gleaming knives, bringing true death to the ghouls wherever he went. Ofeera and Azarielle stood next to one another, the mage no doubt, watching out for her friend. The healer was doing quite well, all things considered. Thought her face was ashen, and her eyes wide with fear, she was not petrified by all that was happening around her, and with her prayers, she laid the ghouls to rest. As for Azarielle, the mage was torching the ghouls, methodically, raising her wand, pointing, and then setting those unfortunate creatures ablaze.

Unlike Ofeera, Azarielle’s face showed no fear. Her face was very much devoid of emotion, to the point where it seemed like sculpture. But, there was peculiar gleam in her golden eyes that made the young knight believe that she was seething underneath her expressionless exterior.

He did not have time to worry about the mage though. Ghouls continued to emerge from thickets of the forest. Although most of these unfortunate creatures were easy enough to dispatch, he knew that his companions would not be able to continue this battle forever. What’s more, if any of them get bitten, even once, they would most assuredly become infected by the lethal plague and die a most painful death.

But they weren’t too far from the Everstar Spire. He could glimpse its hazy outline in the distance, half a day’s walk from were now.

“Azarielle, can you clear a path for us and create a distraction?” Luthien shouted at the mage. “We need to move!”

“Alright,” Azarielle lifted up her wand and began to murmur under her breath. The wand in her hand began to glow with a bright red-gold light until it was so bright that none of the companions could look upon it. Tongues of fire curled around the glowing wand, and around Azarielle’s fingers, bathing her in bright a ruby light. The young woman threw her wand with one sharply uttered command, and the wand transformed into a fiery comet. It blazed through the air towards the ghouls blocking the way to the spire, trailing bright sparks and flames that burned everything in its path.

“Breaker! Look out!” Ofeera gasped, when she saw that the gray elf was in line of Azarielle’s deadly missile.

Sensing danger, the elven slayer leaped aside just as the comet crashed into the group of ghouls he had been fighting, consuming them instantly in the giant firestorm that followed. Azarielle’s red gold flames seemed to have a life of their own, leaping from ghoul to ghoul in a macabre game of tag. And the ghouls caught by the fire were burned to nothingness in mere moments, as if they had been doused in oil or some other flammable substance.

Breaker gave the mage a murderous glare, to which she responded, “It’s Ghoul Fire. It only burns ghouls. You’ll notice I have not burned the forest around us down yet. Pretty good though right? It’s a new trick I picked up from Elucielle Gwenevar’s journal. Well, picked up is not the right word, cannibalized, would probably be more accurate. She could…”

“Azarielle, behind you!” Luthien yelled.

The ghoul thrust his arm through Azarielle the spot where the young mage had been standing and blinked in confusion when it found itself staring at empty air. Azarielle materialized behind the hapless creature and spoke a single quiet word. Luthien recognized the word for eternal sleep in the Arcane language, and watched as the ghoul crumpled to the ground.

“He is from the Rising Sun Empire,” Azarielle said, looking at Luthien with an oddly sorrowful voice. “One of Empire’s experiments.”

“What?” the knight blinked at her in incomprehension.

“There was a brand on his forehead that marked him as a prisoner of the Empire. I told you that the Empire will periodically test the potency of the Fog by throwing some of its prisoners or slaves into the Forsaken Lands when the Fog passes through. Of course, because he’s from the Empire, he has not heard of the Uncrowned King or the Eternal Father. And so, he ended up a ghoul for the glory of the Emperor of Peace and Prosperity.”

Azarielle’s usually cheery voice was cold and bitter as the north wind. Without offering another word of explanation, she crouched down onto the ground, laid her fingers flat against the hard earth and began to chant. A shiver went up Luthien’s spine as a ground beneath his feet began to ripple like water.

“What are you all waiting for?” Azarielle asked. “I am giving you your distraction now. This place is going to turn into a nice quicksand pick in a few seconds so unless you known how to fly, I’d start running.”

This time, none of the companions bothered to argue with the mage. Breaker scooped up Ofeera in his arms, and with Luthien following determinedly behind them, the two dashed through the fiery path that Azarielle had created with her wand. Behind them, they heard the first of several ominous bubbling sounds.