[Mkguild] Plain & Simple part 15

[Chris]

*************************


   In the side street near the town center true pandemonium reigned. The
creature was tossing horses, men, wagons and pieces of buildings about
with equal abandon. Thomas saw soldiers, laborers and civilians running
about in panic. A group of twenty soldiers were fleeing from the
creature.

   The Duke raced past his fleeing soldiers and when he was about a
hundred feet ahead he stopped, spun around in place and stood as
straight and tall as possible. Thomas stood up to his full height waving
sword and shield over his head. “WHERE ARE YOU BASTARDS GOING?” he
shouted to his retreating soldiers.

 “YOU WORTHLESS PILES OF SHIT COWARDS! STAND YOUR GROUND OR I’LL KILL
YOU ALL MYSELF!” From the dukes lips let loose a stream of curses so
foul that it would have made the crudest solider blush. The ground
seemed to shake and the grass seemed to shrivel up and turn brown with
his words.

   Stunned and amazed by such words coming from Duke Thomas’s lips a
soldier stopped. Then a second and then more came to a halt.

   “FORM UP IN A LINE!” Thomas ordered as he galloped back and forth.
“FORM UP IN A LINE!” "You want your children to be safe?  Get back in
line!"

   The Duke galloped into the midst of a group of fleeing archers.
“STOP! OR I’LL KILL YOU MYSELF!” he shouted. The stallion lashed out
with his shield and the flat of his blade sending two archers tumbling
to the pavement. The rest halted. Too afraid of the war horse to
disobey. 

"What'll you think of yourself tomorrow?" Thomas pointed his sword at
the archers and then at the creature which was slowly advancing on them.
“SHOOT AT IT YOU COWARDS!”

   He was met with silence and no movement of any sort either towards or
away from the monster.

   “NOW!” He bellowed.

   One grizzled and gray haired woman whose cuff markings showed her to
be a sergeant stiffened and nodded. “Well, you heard the Duke,” she said
in a soft voice that seemed to carry over all the noise and mayhem.
“FORM RANKS ON ME! FORM RANKS ON ME! FORM RANKS ON ME” the woman shouted
in a voice ringing with command. With surprising speed the archers
turned towards the creature and formed a ragged line.

   The monster was some two hundred feet away when the sergeant shouted
“SHOOT!” and a volley of arrows arched through the air and clattered
down around and onto the monster.

   Thomas saw the flying stone block a moment before it hit him. The
stallion was sent flying through the air to land amidst dirt and debris.
He tumbled over and over before coming to rest against a tall mound of
dirt.


*******************


   George found a group of fifty soldiers nervously standing in the town
square. Half were archers the rest carried spears. The jackal pointed at
the captain who stood up as he approached. “Hillary bring your people,”
he barked. He pointed where a ballista rested in one corner. Its crew
clustered around. “You too!” Then George turned and trotted off as the
soldiers scrambled to follow after him.

   There was a loud rumble and a jet of flames shot up into the night
sky.

   “HUSTLE!” George shouted and they all broke into a dead run.


*************************


   The acid hissed and bubbled as it washed over him covering Nestorius
completely. Clouds of vile smelling and poisonous gas filled the air
around him. The feline shook his hands and the acid dripped off of him
and onto the wet stones beneath him. Hissing and bubbling with each drop
as the clouds of gas quickly dissipated. The stones beneath him were
eaten away but the lion mage was unharmed. Not even the collar of his
shirt had been touched by the acid.

   “A simple apprentice’s trick,” he commented derisively. His opponent
was standing in a pool of water about ankle deep. Floating on top of the
water was a thick layer of algae. Nestorius moved his hands in small
circles and then pulled them towards the roof. The algae around his
enemy’s feet suddenly reared up quickly towering high over the mage’s
head before dropping down and enveloping the man completely.

   The man shaped pile of algae shivered for a moment then quickly
turned brown and dropped to the floor revealing the mage again. He
looked a little more soiled then before but otherwise unhurt.

   The man held both hands together as he spoke the words of a spell.
Then he slowly drew his hands apart. As he did so a bone colored line
appeared and stretched between the hands. As the distance between the
two got bigger so did this strange rod grow longer. In moments it was
over three feet long and looked like a spear. Holding this odd spear in
one hand the mage cocked his arm back and threw it at Nestorius. The
spear flew with unnatural speed at the feline straight at his heart.

   Nestorius casually held up his hand and the spear was deflected down
and came to a rest just short of the lion. It’s point was buried deeply
into the bricks. He spared the weapon a close look and noted it was made
of bone.

   The Keeper pointed to a spot on the floor and pronounced a short
incantation. The floor erupted into a shower of dirt and rocks that flew
straight at his enemy with lightening speed. The rocks, much to the
feline’s disappointment simply bounced off his opponent like drops of
water on a stone wall.

   The man didn’t seem to notice the hail of deadly stones and chanted
softly and threw something into the water which started boiling and
bubbling like some fetid soup. From this roiling water figures started
to appear, rising slowly and silently and the only sound was the
splashing of water as muck and debris dripped from them. In moments a
half dozen skeletons were standing in front of him. Some were ancient,
covered with slime and algae. Polluted water dripped from rusted and
corroded weapons. Others looked younger and Nestorius recognized at
least one lutin among the undead. The skeletons started to move towards
him and the feline had to act fast.

   “Just as I thought! A necromancer!” Nestorius snarled. “I will enjoy
killing you!”


****************


   George slowed to a walk as he drew his cutlass and oversized dagger.
Close behind him followed two columns of soldiers. One was all of
archers, the others carried ten foot long spears. 

   In front of George was chaos. The creature was in the center of the
street and slowly moving towards him. Between him and the monster was a
ragged line of archers who were slowly backing away from it one step at
a time. The shower of arrows they were raining down on the creature
seemed to have no effect at all.

   “We’ll fight it here,” George barked. He pointed to a tall reptile
morph standing at the front of the line of spear wielding soldiers.
“Mark. Spears form two ranks in the center of the street in front of
those archers. Give them some breathing room.”

   “SPEARS FORWARD AT THE DOUBLE!” the reptile shouted. “Two ranks.
Protect those archers.”

   George then turned to the archers with Hillary at their front.
“Archers split. Half on either side behind cover. Put at least a squad
above ground level.”

   “Ranks one and two split,” Hillary ordered as she raised her own bow.
“One left, two right. Find what cover you can. Phil take your squad onto
the roof of that building,” she said and pointed to a half finished wood
building.

   “And me?” Amelia asked.

   “Help the archers,” George ordered.

   With the precision and speed of long years of training and combat
experience the spearman trotted through the loose line of archers who
stopped shooting for a moment. The spearman halted some twenty feet in
front and closed ranks coming together shoulder to shoulder and leveling
their spears at the monstrous thing in front of them.

   Amelia moved up to the archers who stood behind the spears and walked
along in front of them. As she passed each archer the woman reached out
and touched the bow they were using and the head of the arrow in the
weapon burst into flames. “Shoot fast. That spell won’t last long,” she
shouted over the mayhem. In moments a shower of flaming arrows arced
through the air and rained down on the creature. The woman nocked an
arrow in her own bow but this one did not burst into flames. Instead the
metal head turned green and dripped acid onto the pavement beneath her
feet.


*************


   The feline mage looked at the advancing undead and shook his head.
“How unimaginative. Couldn’t you summon something better?” he said
sarcastically. “Of course not. You used too much power on that thing up
above,” he said and pointed up towards the ceiling.

   Nestorius mentally gathered the power he needed and channeled it,
shaping it the way he needed. He pulled his lips back revealing a muzzle
filled with long, large sharp teeth. A low guttural growl escaped him.
He pulled his head back and let loose with a leonine roar that made the
ground shake and sent the rocks, mud and water flying away from him in a
massive wave. The shockwave reached the skeletons and they exploded, the
bones flying in all directions.

   The mage’s eyes narrowed and he glared at the feline in anger. He
punched his fist at Nestorius and a score of points of blood red light
appeared on his hand and raced across the cistern to where the feline
mage stood.

   Nestorius shouted out a few words and brought his arm up to block his
face. From the water beneath him a mass of algae rose up and took the
shape of a massive flat disk over two feet wide. The points of red light
thumped into the algae shield and winked out of existence with loud
hisses.

   “How amateurish,” the feline wizard snarled and started his own
spell.

   The ground around the human mage suddenly heaved up as solid brick
and stone flowed liked water and shifted into a massive maw with fist
sized teeth. Water dripped from the stony teeth like blood from the
muzzle of a rabid wolf. The stony jaws started to close around the man,
threatening to cut him in half.

   The mage extended his hands and the skin turned darker and took on
the hue of steel. The fingers quickly melted together forming a long,
sharp blade where his hands had once been. He slashed down with these
hand blades and the stone jaws shattered into thousands of fragments.

   The human raised his hands towards the roof and wiggled his fingers.
Above the roots that dangled down started to move and grow of their own
accord. A dozen massive roots wrapped themselves around Nestorius. They
started to tighten around the lion.

   The plants were really starting to squeeze and he was having trouble
breathing. Nestorius concentrated and in moments acid started to seep
from the feline burning through his clothes and onto the vines. To his
dismay the acid simply dripped off the vines without effecting them at
all. Whatever these things were, no longer were they mere animated
plants. 

   The vines were cutting into his flesh and he could feel his ribs
starting to crack under the strain. Desperate he called up a spell that
was sure would destroy these vile vines and everything else nearby. “BUL
NELTOLA!” he shouted with the last of his breath. His whole body burst
into flames covering him from muzzle to tail destroying the last
tattered bits of his clothes.

   To his horror and anger the vines didn’t burn but grew tighter still.
He gathered all his remaining strength and channeled it into the spell,
The flames roared with the rumble of an attacking dragon and the light
flooded the entire chamber like an exploding star blinding him. The
water boiled and sizzled as the weeds and roots burnt to a crisp and
smoke filled the air.

   The vines seemed unfazed by the flames at first and kept up their
death grip but then they started to loosen and finally dropped off! He
was free!!


**************


   Dazed and confused Thomas stood up unsteadily. A dozen knights
clustered close to him and two helped him upright.

   “Are you all right my Lord?” a knight asked in a worried tone.

   “I’m fine. I just need a moment to recover.” His chest hurt and he
was sure he had several broken ribs. The breastplate he had been wearing
was shattered and he quickly undid the buckles holding the pieces on and
he stripped off the rest of his ruined armor.

   His head started to clear and Thomas looked around. A score of
soldiers with their spears leveled at the creature stood rock still in
its path. It roared with a voice like waves crashing against the
shoreline. Stagnant water and dead fish washed around their feet but the
spear points did not waver. The monster snarled and gurgled but came to
a stop. A single spear wielding person was nothing but an annoyance but
a score of them was not so simple to kill. The monster found itself
facing a wall of razor sharp points wielded by people who knew how to
use them and were not scared. Instead they pushed forward aggressively
jabbing and poking at it, looking for a weak spot. One spear found its
mark and the creature screamed in pain and backed away for a moment.


   Right behind the spearman were the archers he had rallied earlier.
They were showering the monster with a steady rain of flaming arrows.
People were shouting and screaming as others ran about in panic. The
monster was tossing rocks, stones and other debris as it bellowed and
roared.

   In the middle of all this mayhem was George. The jackal was standing
behind the spears but in front of the archers. He was barking orders to
both groups and shouting insults at the monster equally.

   Thomas walked over to where George was standing. The old bandit
seemed to be enjoying himself, he certainly didn’t seem worried.

   “You look awful,” George commented. “How do you feel?”

   “I’ll live. How goes the battle?”

   George shrugged. “Mixed. We haven’t killed it but we have stopped it
for the moment. It keeps coming this way and hasn’t changed directions.
I think it’s after you Thomas.”

   The Duke nodded slowly. “It’s nice to be wanted,” he said
sarcastically. Thomas looked to his left and right and towering above
him were the tall, ragged walls of ruined buildings. The walls had not
been rebuilt or even reinforced and he had an idea. The street was
narrow here and the monster had no choice as to where it would walk. “We
can use that obsession.”

  Thomas pointed to a cluster of people huddled against the wall on his
right. “Get behind that wall and when I tell you push it over.”

   No one moved. Instead they just stood there too dazed and shocked to
respond.

   Thomas snorted and shook his head sending his mane flapping as he
stomped his hooves. “MOVE!” That sent the people scrambling to carry out
his orders.

   “I see your idea,” George said to the stallion. “MARK! AMELIA” George
shouted in a voice that carried over the noise and bedlam. “SLOW BACK
STEP WITHDRAWAL TOWARDS THE DUKE!”

   Slowly and without breaking formation the line of spear wielding
soldiers started moving backward one step at a time.

   The creature lunged forward seeing the withdrawal as a sign of
weakness but it was met with a wall of spear points as sharp and as
expertly wielded as before. Slowly the little band of soldiers moved
backward. They were jabbing and poking at the creature as it lunged at
them as it tossed whatever was within reach.

   It seemed to take forever before the monster had come far enough down
the street and into the right place.

   “NOW!” Thomas shouted. “NOW THE WALL! THE WALL!”

   There was no reaction for a moment but then the wall started to move.
Swaying back and forth ever so slightly but then with wider and wider
arcs. The wall seemed to wobble for a moment and Thomas was afraid it
would fall the wrong way. Then slowly, almost gracefully it pitched
forward and dropped down. The massive pile of masonry fell onto the
creature like a meteor falling from the heavens.

   WHOOMP!! The ground leaped and shook, knocking everyone down and a
second wall followed its brethren and toppled down onto the creature.

   The silence that followed was profound. No one moved or spoke as
clouds of debris filled the air making everyone choke and cough. Then
the mound of rubble heaved and an ominous shape started to pull itself
clear.

   “FINISH IT NOW!” George shouted as he rushed towards the mound.
“Before it frees itself!”

   Everyone rushed forward shouting and screaming as they raced to where
the monster lay trapped. 

   Thomas looked around and found his sword. He picked up and examined
it. The weapon looked small in his hoof like hands. It was a little
scratched and dented but was still in good shape. Just like he was.

   A knight took the stallion by the arm. "We cannot spare you, milord!
Stay back with the archers!" he warned.

   The Duke shook his head. “My life means nothing if my people are
dead.” Thomas gathered his strength and tried to ignore the pain that
came from everywhere in his body. He couldn’t spare time to worry about
himself. His people were in trouble. Thomas galloped forward and swung
the blade high over his head before bringing it down onto the monster
with a loud thump that jarred his whole body. Around him the soldiers
and knights swarmed stabbing, slashing and bashing the creature. He kept
attacking, driving the blade down again and again. It seemed like
forever before he realized that the monster had stopped moving.

   “THAT’S ENOUGH!” he whinnied. “It’s dead. It’s dead,” he repeated as
if to reassure himself that it was really true.

   End part 15

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