The Chronicles of Rapina
Chapter 16, Defeat in Darkness
Rapina yawned as she sat on a large chair in the necromancer's dinning hall. She was reading here only because she knew Thane would walk through the hall on his way from his scrying chamber to the kitchen. She had finished cleaning and knew from the water clock above the mantle that dawn would be coming in about three hours.
Thane wiped the sweat off his brow and wandered by Rapina into the kitchen.
Rapina followed. "You didn't say anything, is something wrong?"
"Yes, that damned half-elven archer. Every time I expend the power to look into my magic pool for a glance at the battlefield, he's knocked the skulls off a few more of my archers. My minions tried another burning tree, but this time the pirates saw it sooner and set it immediately aflame. They concentrated on the skeletons on only one side, and the tree fell down just short of the hill. Thanks to Kent, the remaining skeletons lifted it and tried to land it as they had the other, but it went over on an angle. Its swath only reaches about half way up the hill."
"My troops are nearly gone. The pirates might storm out of their camp and kill the skeleton archers that are left, but for the fact that Kent has the remaining troops crawling around in the ditch poking their heads up and firing at different locations around the ditch so that it appears as though there are more archers than there really are. I've quite a few headless archers, but I don't dare have them set their skulls on the edge of the ditch. Your Arzeal would shoot them off with one arrow to the skull. I believe the pirates will eventually run out of arrows, but we too are running low."
"You mean you've lost?" Rapina could not help that her voice brightened slightly.
Thane chuckled, "You sound so disappointed that I have not wiped the infamous Red Jack and all his men off the face of Ifreann, but I must win. I am not getting any younger, and I've cast the spells I have a thousand times. I can practically do them in my sleep! I need access to greater wizardry and to be initiated into Mortaebius' inner circle. This battle has been tiresome and draining on my resources. I've used up all of the skeletons and animation scrolls I had saved up over the years and I've still come up short.
It appears that I will have to make a personal appearance if I am to deliver Red Jack to the authorities in chains, which reminds me, I'd better bring manacles. I'll bolster my forces with some additional arrows, my household guards and the skeletons remaining in the tomb. With the addition of a little magic, my final back-up plan should be far more lethal than it would have been without me, and I have a most interesting surrogate to draw the archer's arrows." ---
"Arr, it's been a long, evil night. Only a couple hours left until dawn. How're we doin' Arzeal?"
"Not well sir. We don't have more than four score arrows left, and a quarter of those are in my own quiver. Half of the remainder we got from the enemy by pulling them out of the ground in the fort and out of our own men. The bright side is, I think the enemy is low on arrows as well. They've been firing fewer and fewer as the hours passed. I think I've made a dent in their numbers too, although skulless skeletons cannot really be counted as dead, being headless seems to ruin them for good archery."
"Aye," the captain chuckled. We 'ave ye ta thank for most o' the headlesses, but they aren't the only ones with wounded. I've ne'r seen a sorrier lot o' pirates. We could break out o' the fort on one side, an see if we could best th' boneys hand ta hand, but I'm afraid there'd not be enough able-bodied left ta make us some bloody rafts ta get the hell outa here."
"Arzeal nodded. True, and we'll not escape with our wounded unless we can make it until dawn. The thing that bothers me is, if the enemy has anything left to throw at us, chances are we'll be seeing it soon."
"Aye."
Slasher cupped his hand to his hear. "Cap'n I think ye better take a look this way, I'm hearin' mail."
Tense minutes passed as the pirates strained their eyes, trying to see what they were hearing.
"Son o' a bitch! You men get that catapult over here."
Riding in from the East in a loose wedge formation on black, leather-clad skeletal horses were nine black-robed horseman.
"Damn it! Look at the one in th' front, 'is eyes're glowin' red like embers an look at the size of 'im, 'es got ta be eight foot tall. 'Is shield would make a good table top 'an th' skeleton horse 'e's ridin' must 'ave won prizes when she warr alive fer bein' the biggest draft nag around. Th' other two horses are near as big, an' th' riders are big, but nothin' like their leader. Give 'em hell in arrows as they approach, men."
Behind the horsemen marching double-time were 18 troops in bronze plate mail with halberds or two-handed swords.
"Heavy armor, I don't like it. Arzeal, how many o' them incendiary arrows have ye got left?" the captain asked.
"Three sir," said Arzeal.
"Get the horsemen on either side o' the big guy, then see if ye can nail Ol' Red-Eyes w' the catapult. Save one o' those flame arrows fer emergency use," the captain ordered.
Arzeal grinned and peaked his head up from the wall. A couple enemy arrows sang though the air, but neither hit the half-elf as he loosed two shafts.
The robed figures on either side of the giant burst into flames.
The pirates cheered, but the cheer was short-lived as the riders threw off their thick cowls, and with them, most of the flaming resin. Underneath the cowls the pirates saw skeletons clad in leather with metal helmets and breast plates. Astonishingly, they seemed to have enough sense to pat out the remaining flames.
The riders picked up their pace and thundered towards the ditch around the fort. The mail-clad warriors behind them broke into a run. They did not have far to go, for the dark cowls had allowed them to approach relatively close to the camp, in spite of the sound of their mail.
"Damn cowls. Spend are arrows, this is it boys! Catapult, loose when ready! Keep low an' snatch up th' arrows the enemy shoots inta camp!" the captain ordered.
Arzeal released the catapult arm, then gritted his teeth as the rock flew. Slam! The catapult stone crashed into the giant's shield, knocking him off his horse.
"Yeahhhss!" The pirates yelled in triumph.
"Damn!" The captain watched as Ol' Red Eyes threw his ruined shield aside drew a two-handed sword with one hand and ran to remount his horse. "Crank it mates!"
The pirates at the catapult cranked like maniacs.
The pirate archers let loose with a hail of arrows, many of them piercing the breast plates of the oncoming skeleton cavalrymen, but piercing plate on a man was much more telling than piercing plate on a monstrosity of bone. The cavalry kept coming.
The first horseman reached the ditch, jumped it and thundered up the hill where the pine tree had burned the fort's spears to ash. The other's followed, save the fourth horse. It jumped into the ditch and lied down out of sight.
"What's with that fourth cavalryman? Archers, keep doin' what ye're doin. Logan, prepare ta raise pikes an' defend th' wall, but keep low an' don't raise pikes till those horses are in pikein' range."
Arzeal said a silent prayer and let loose with another catapult stone. Damn! The stone went wide of the huge warrior as he remounted his skeletal horse and jumped the ditch in a single bound following the rest of the cavalry.
At the last second, Logan's men raised pikes, the lead rider could not stop in time. He crashed into the pike, snapping it and falling from his skeleton horse. The horse itself was pierced in three places but it was not broken. It pushed forward threatening to overwhelm the men.
"Push left men, flip the beast off its hooves."
The pirates wrestled with the stupid bag of bones, and then cheered as it went over.
The next skeleton rider tried to jump the first but went down when the first horse kicked the second horse's legs as it was trying to regain its footing. The cavalry charge was broken!
"If this is all ye've got, we'll carve yer hoard Ol' Red Eyes!" the captain bellowed
A welter of weighty curses roared up from the fighting men as they defended the fort.
A wounded pirate whimpered and was silent.
The mailed troops arrived at the ditch, many with a few arrows sticking out of them. They jumped in and spread around, surrounding the fort.
As the pirates fought to keep several skeleton horses and riders out of the fort, they were taken by a horrible surprise.
"Aaaaiiiii!" From the center of the fort in the depression where the wounded were kept out of harms way, a man screamed.
The captain glanced at the wounded and his face contorted into a grimace of horror.
five ghouls and three shadows burst from the ground in several locations.
Ghouls! Grab a spear! The captain himself bent to grab a spear, then suddenly the lights went out. "Damn it Arzeal I can't see! What's happinin'" Captain Red Jack hollered.
Blinded Pirates screamed as the ghouls and shadows attacked from within the camp.
"Sir, I'm blind as well! Arzeal scrambled for the parapet wall bumping past a few men and receiving a horrible chill to the belly as he went to the West, the side opposite the cavalry charge. He could see nothing, the darkness around him was as thick and black as old ink. Logan can you see?"
"Nay! but the riders can! I don't know if I'm cuttin' me own men or th' enemy. Uhhhhh!"
Screams and paralyzed yelps erupted all over the camp as the ghouls and shadows slashed and chilled their way through the blinded pirates.
Kent sensed the presence and life force of Captain Red Jack as the pirate captain whirled his bladed spear around and around, turning frequently to fend off unseen enemies. Kent dropped to a crawl, his grossly bloated belly dragging on the ground. The screams of the pirates covered any sound he made. Suddenly Kent lunged; he sunk both sets of his claws through the captain's pants just above the boots as he bit the captain's knee cap.
Aaargh! ghoulish claws pierced his skin behind one knee and a welter of fear surged up the pirate captain's leg. No! he growled, resisting the fell magic. The captain raised his spear and brought it down, but before it struck flesh, teeth and claws sunk into the other leg sending a double-blast of fear up the captain's spine. Red Jack froze in horror, he could not move!
Kent poked his prize several times making sure the fear had taken hold of him. He pushed the captain down and made for the next pirate.
Arzeal jumped the parapet wall. Keeping low he squeezed between the spears and headed downhill as fast as he could. An arrow grazed his side and another stuck in his boot before he could again see. Positioned around the ditch were skeleton archers. At least half had set ruined skulls in the dirt at the edge of the ditch, while their bodies fired from behind. A glance back at the camp confirmed his suspicion - magical darkness.
The archer moved nimbly down hill, jumping through the spears, loosing a shaft each time he landed. With each shot the skull of an enemy archer splintered or was knocked back into the ditch. Arzeal could see the mailed troopers moving to surround the fort. The half-elf jumped into the area cleared by the enemy's second flaming pine tree and took off at a dead run. Five of the cavalrymen had broken off their attack and were now circling around the base of the hill, just outside the first ring of spears. Arzeal reached the bottom of the hill and sprinted between two circling horsemen, one was Ol' Red-Eyes himself. The half-elf took the ditch in a single leap with two enormous cavalry not far behind. An arrow pierced his quiver and stuck into his back, but Arzeal was running for his life, he could barely feel the pain.
The horses gained with every step, Arzeal ran faster than he'd ever run before. There was a warrior on either side of him and blades were coming to end his life when, somehow, Arzeal ran under the limb of a large oak that had been too big for the men to spend the time cutting when they were clearing for the fort. Arzeal went down as the tip of a giant sword snagged his quiver and gashed his back, then there was an explosion of splintering bones and wood as the oak defended its elven child.
The fall had snapped the arrow in his back and half pulled it out. The archer rolled out of his fall and came up standing, bow in hand. The heads and necks of both skeletal horses had been removed, and Red-Eyes' taller horse had a sundered chest and shoulders, it's hind legs tried to move but were useless without forelegs. Red-Eyes had been unhorsed once again. Arzeal watched in horror as the giant stood and grabbed his sword. The other horse had lost its head, and it's rider had lost both its head and shoulders.
Arzeal pulled the arrow tip from his back as the giant warrior stood. The half-elf loosed a shaft into the giant's kneecap and took off running while Red-Eyes retrieved his sword. Arzeal made it to the edge of the forest West of the camp and darted into the trees, sticking to heavy foliage. He could hear limbs snapping as the juggernaut behind him crashed through the forest in hot pursuit. The archer veered South. After a few minutes, he ran through an area where some timber had been cut in the making of the fort and its bon fires. He knew about where he was. The half elf sheathed his bow and scooped up an eight-foot section of a tree that was being cut into logs of firewood for the bon fires when evening had forced the cutting to a halt.
Arzeal remembered how the pirates' cook, Fishy, had lost his legs. The archer hid behind a large tree, and when the giant skeleton thundered through the clearing towards him, the half elf swung the heavy length of timber at the skeleton's nearest knee. The skeleton's huge sword swished just above Arzeal's hunched head, embedding itself fully six inches into the tree as the skeleton's knee snapped with the combined force of the giant's forward momentum and Arzeal's frantic whole-body swing. Arzeal darted around back of the tree as the huge skeleton went down. When he came around behind it, he saw the creature was still hanging onto its sword, although the sword was still embedded in the tree. The archer wasted no time. He brought his length of firewood down on the giant's shoulder, just outside the breast plate. There was a crunch and the monstrosity's right arm, still grasping the sword, was severed from its shoulder.
The archer tossed the log aside and scrambled for a smaller one that he could swing more rapidly. At seven feet long and two to three inches in diameter, it was still a huge club. The skeleton had just managed to flop its way around so that its left arm could grasp its sword when Arzeal brought the new club slamming into the side of its neck, but the neck held. Arzeal jumped but still his boot and some of the skin of his foot was carved right off. The skeleton had incredible speed and strength. The archer countered with a swing to the giant's wrist. It's grip was broken, but its wrist was not. Arzeal stood on the sword and swung again, breaking the wrist to flinders.
The nimble half elf raced around the giant as it flipped and stumbled, trying to reach him in spite of missing half it's right leg, it's right arm and its left hand. Arzeal had a hunch. He pulled his sheath knife, darted in and jumped on the creature's back. The skeleton bucked like a bronco, but the archer severed the strap of its helm before being tossed off and rolling away. Another deft swing of the club and the monster's steel helmet flew from its skull. Its Red ember eyes stared blankly at the half elf as he darted in to club the creature's skull, once, twice, thrice... Cracks began forming, and on the seventh blow Arzeal blew the giant's mighty cranium apart. Arzeal smiled.
The skull had been carefully sectioned off just below the eyes by a stout piece of tar-paper. The ember effect was caused by the pattern of ink stains within the top half of the creature's skull. The intricate pattern of black and white inside the skull reflected the light of a clear crystal mage-light set and screwed into the skull between the eyes just above the nasal hole. Every angle one looked at the red glass eyes produced different reflections, and movement of the head changed the pattern seen and made the eyes seem to flicker like embers. Arzeal carefully unscrewed the mage light and slipped it into his pouch. He could hear his mates scream off to the Northeast. Arzeal sighed, hefted his original eight-foot length of wood and headed South.
The half-elf staggered the fifty paces remaining before reaching the lagoon, and then he slipped into the water behind the log. Beneath the water, he kicked as strongly as he could, but the pain in his back was growing.
Thane peeked over the edge of the ditch with a commandeered skeleton's shield in hand. It was very dark but a spell of life-vision had fixed that. Thane now saw the world in much the same way as did his skeletons and ghouls, the amount of life force emanating from each object distinguishing it from others.
The ghouls were proving most decisive within the magical darkness, but Thane worried about the accursed half-elven archer. A stroke of luck or wit had preserved the archer from the two cavalry Thane had spared to hunt him, and he knew his most powerful skeleton had taken off after the half-elf, but there were too many things that could go wrong.
Shadows, come to me! You, come here, Thane pointed to one of the remaining 5 cavalry.
The three shadows the necromancer had summoned to help Kent emerged from the magical darkness and came down the hill where the spears had been burned away.
"I am unsure if the cavalry I sent after the half-elven archer succeeded in their task. I fear he may escape."
Thane concentrated as he muttered arcane words. Shadows, being composed of vapors, were not heavy creatures. The infusion of only a small amount of magic allowed them to walk on water.
"You three shadows climb up on the horse. Skeleton, take these shadows to the cove then return here. Shadows, check the water in case he swam for it. I have temporarily reduced your weight so you can walk on water. If you see life force on the water, you will run to it and feed. Now go." ---
Rapina must have fallen asleep in the large chair at the head of the necromancer's dining hall. She was awakened when the parlor door opened. Thane was accompanied by three of his household guards, their shiny breastplates now dented and salted with arrow holes.
Thane looked exhausted. Even though he had only had to cast a few spells, the animation and scrying earlier on had nearly drained him of energy. He had ridden safely enough inside a special "coach" he had made long ago within the leather-clad rib cage of one of the large horses. He had been in the forth horse, the one that had been positioned in the middle of the cavalry wedge and had lied down in the ditch rather than joining the charge.
Rapina lifted an eybrow.
A smile crept over the necromancer's lips.
"You won?"
"A few simple spells, a fine performance by Kent and his ghouls, and I have won the night. The pirates fought well, at first, but the darkness I brought down on them soon had them screaming and whining like whipped dogs in the face of Kent's comrades in death. The dread Captain Red Jack has been strip-searched, clothed in simple garb and soundly manacled in a cell. Thane smiled proudly, I beat him. I will be a lowly undertaker no more."
Rapina shed a tear, all the men she had known had been destroyed, all for the vanity and ambition of a single man. Yet Rapina saw the other side as well. Red Jack's men had lived to kill, and now death had claimed them. Somehow a humble priest had conquered an army of bloodthirsty pirates. Rapina sniffled.
"Mortaebius is the lord of death, girl. The pirates flirted with him for many years, now they've met him face to face."
"Rapina sniffed and nodded. If I never knew them, I might be worshipping you as a hero, Guardian Thane, but I did know them, and a few of them, especially some of the recruits, they could have been good men under other circumstances."
"Alas, other circumstances... Go on to bed and cry yourself to sleep, milady. If it's any consolation, I let your half-elf get away."
"You did?"
Thane nodded. "He successfully ran, and I chose not to send anything to hunt him. I was more interested in containing the pirates within the fort. He swam for it. I have no idea where he is." Thane's kindly smile hid a mighty lie.
"Oh thank you, thank you, Thane. Rapina hugged the necromancer in genuine gratitude. "Arzeal was the best man Jack had. He taught me to fence and to defend myself against bigger, stronger men."
Thane took a deep breath as the young woman's breasts pillowed against his chest. A single hand signal from the necromancer, and his guards halted the lifting of their swords. They were about to cut Rapina down for assaulting their master.
Rapina released the necromancer, who looked a bit flushed. "What happened to the group I was originally with?"
"Mmmm, they killed the skeletons Kent triggered and tried to track you, but Kent left them a false trail -twice. Such a brilliant ghoul, he will go far. A few of them must have survived, because the pirate dead in the mausoleum had been chopped to bits when I arrived to pick up the mailed skeletons to help in the final stage of the battle. I'm not sure where the grave robbers have gotten to. That's something I will look into. For now, I must rest for a moment, then try to drag enough power out of myself to activate my magic pool and report to my superior, however briefly. Go to bed and I will see you this afternoon."
Rapina nodded and went to her room. She heard the lock turn shortly after she entered.
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This ends Defeat in Darkness, Chapter 16 of The Chronicles of Rapina.
The story continues in Chapter 17, A Captain in Chains.