Chapter 21 - The Bigger They Are

  With manic glee, Teth’s blade sliced easily through the first couple of goblins as they scrambled back in surprise and tried to get away from him. His attacks were heavy and slow, but against the small green skinned monsters who had no weapons, nor any warning, they were brutal. He took out a couple more in the aftermath as Cal and Meliana descended, but as savage as the goblins were, they weren’t stupid. As soon as Teth landed and his blade hit down they were sounding the alarm. The ones who were out of Teth’s reach, rushing for weapons.

  Cal landed a moment after Teth did, dropping in front of him and raising his hands forward, his blade across his palm to focus his magic. Aiming towards the people in the cage he yelled “Viron!”

  A gout of flame burst forth, scorching all of the goblins between him and the prisoners. The plan was to get in and out, not to kill them all. He just needed a path in and then one back out again.

  Releasing the fire, he ran into it’s wake without even thinking. Cal felt the crunch of charred remains under his feet and kept his mouth closed to avoid the ash in the air. The smoke that swirled up from the burned corpses was pushed aside as he rushed in and leapt out the other side, bringing his sword down onto a goblin who had avoided his initial attack.

  As the commotion started, the people in the cage had gotten up and moved to the bars to see what was happening, hope was rekindling in their eyes, but they weren’t out yet. Behind Cal, Teth kept the majority of the goblins busy, wading into their number and slicing at them with wide, monstrous swings. The goblins, for their part, had leapt into the frey as well. Many of them had recovered weapons, and those that hadn’t were seeking them out.

  Meliana moved in beside Cal, slicing down another goblin and firing ice back towards Teth to help cover him.

  They reached the Cage quickly and Cal brought his sword to bear. “Get back.” He ordered them bringing the weapon up and slicing it down through the door. The one good thing about the cage being made of bones was that his sword could cut straight through. “All right, we’re going to get you out of here.” Cal said. “Just follow close behind me and we’ll-”

  “Watch out!” One of the prisoners yelled, pointing to the side.

  The fact that everything was going smoothly should have been a dead give-away to Cal that things were about to turn south. Nothing ever went according to plan, so why should this?

  They had surprised the goblins, made it to the prisoners and thrown them into disarray in mere moments. But creatures like goblins lived in adversity. They were quick to turn it around. Too quick. It also didn’t help that Cal had completely forgotten about the caravans that had been flipped by something massive.

  The troll that stepped out of the inner cave was that massive thing.

  It filled up the entrance to the back area, which was at least five times Cal’s height. It was built out of muscle and sinew with grey-brown skin and a head that looked too small for it’s body. At the end of it’s long arms were thin fingered hands, each of which ended in sharp, thin claws that were about the same length as Cal’s forearms. It was bald, save for a single braided lock at the top of it’s head that wobbled around as it moved.

  All around it’s mouth, and on it’s arms from the elbows down it was covered in what looked like the blood of the people that had died.

  It lumbered out of the inner cave, a massive club - that looked more like a tree trunk than a weapon built for purpose - was clutched in it’s hand. As soon as it saw Cal and Meliana, it swung the tree down towards them. The prisoners leapt back to the far end of their cage and Meliana grabbed Cal, pulling him away. The club slammed down into the front of the cage, smashing it but missing Cal and Meliana by the barest of margins.

  They landed hard but moved quickly to regain their footing before the goblins could descend upon them. Cal had hoped that they’d be in and out before the Goblins had had a chance to fight back, but Teth’s actions had forced them to improvise and blown those plans apart. Cal took a very quick look around and realised several things.

  One: they were surrounded.

  Two: the prisoners were safest right where they were until they either killed the goblins and the troll, or cleared a way out.

  Three: Teth was on the other side of the troll.

  Four: Kaila’s six skeletal beasts were the only things keeping their exit clear.

  And Five: the goblins had noticed all of that as well.

  There were goblins behind them, a troll ahead of them, civilians in danger and Kaila was likely to be overwhelmed.

  For a moment Cal froze.

  They were all going to die.

  He started breathing hard, glancing around in every direction.

  It was happening again.

  It was a repeat of the tomb.

  He should never have-

  Meliana slapped Cal across the face, grabbing him by the shoulder. “We can’t focus on the goblins with that troll there!” She yelled. “We need to kill that thing and then we back up Kaila. She’ll be fine for a few minutes. Did you see the size of those animals she summoned?”

  Cal looked back to Meliana and the resolve and determination in her eyes caught him in their gaze.

  “One thing at a time.” She said calmly. Her resolve transferred to him and he let out a slow breath. He nodded.

  She was right. If they tried to attack the goblins they’d be slowly wading though and the troll would have every opportunity to kill them. If they attacked the troll then the goblins would have to keep away from them or else risk being hit by the trolls club as it swung around.

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  His eyes flicked up to Kaila where several of the goblins were pulling down what looked like the skeleton of a huge bear. There were too many of them. It seemed like more had appeared since the fight had begun.

  They had to hurry.

  “Get the troll!” Meliana shouted at Teth.

  “Stay in close and the goblins will leave you alone!” Cal added. “Vosh!” He yelled, wiping his hand over his blade to light it up.

  The troll lumbered forward, looking between Cal and Meliana who were nearest to it, and Teth who was still engaged with some of the goblins. It turned to Cal and Meliana, then swung it’s club.

  Cal crouched down and leapt forward, twisting the balls of his feet slightly as he did so. Power rushed from his knees to his feet as his boots initiated and he was thrown up and over the swing. Cal’s magic jump sent him flying up towards the Troll’s head. It ducked aside but Cal still managed to land on its shoulder, stabbing his blade down into the flesh and bone to stabilise himself. Flame exploded out from the wound and the Troll roared in pain, stumbling to the side, towards Teth who had dealt with his goblins and was waiting for it.

  Faltering sideways with the motion of the troll’s fall, Cal managed to steady himself. He decided that he didn’t want to still be up there when it hit the ground and leapt from the beast, pulling the sword out as he did so. He rolled as he landed to lighten the force of the fall and keep from getting an injured., but still it hurt, sending a sharp pang from his shoulder across his chest.

  Landing inches from the goblins, he was forced to swipe with his sword as one of them lunged for him, a vicious looking bone dagger glinting in the fire light. He hit the weapon and forced the goblin back, giving him the opportunity to return to fighting the troll, just as Teth sank his blade into it’s calf. It roared in pain and moved to swing it’s club at the elekin. It was then that Cal noticed Meliana, legs astride the club and holding on tight.

  She raised a hand and a beam of ice shot out, freezing flesh and then scouring skin from muscle all the way up it’s arm as it shifted. It roared in pain again, dropping the club and Meliana.

  Teth pulled his sword from it’s leg and Cal leapt forward, sliding under the club as it fell and lighting the sword up again with a whispered ‘vosh’. He got his feet back under him and ran at the troll’s left leg. He leapt and spun, swiping with his sword and using the momentum to slice through the back of it’s ankle. The flames exploded out and the troll’s leg buckled, forcing it down to one knee.

  He finished the spin, facing the back of the Troll, but his eyes caught Meliana lying on her back where she had landed, fighting off five or six goblins. Cal cursed. Without the club, the goblins were free to get in closer to the Troll.

  He raised a hand and fired off three fire bullets in quick succession. The first flew over the head of a goblin who was trying to hold Meliana’s legs, distracting it long enough for her to free herself and kick it hard in the side of the face. The second hit one of the goblins in the shoulder, knocking it back and off of Meliana, but not killing it. The final shot hit the goblin that stood at her head, its arms being held by Meliana’s hands as it pushed a blade down at her face. It slammed into the side of it’s head, burning away half it’s face and destroying it’s brain. The sudden release of pressure let Meliana back up and she was able to free herself.

  Looking away from her Cal turned his attention back to where Kaila was fighting off the goblins, keeping them back from the door. She wasn’t doing well. There were only three skeletal forms left and she’d been backed into the doorway. If they didn’t hurry up, Cal felt that she’d be well within her rights to abandon them.

  Turning back to the Troll, happy that Meliana could handle herself and aware that they needed to get back to Kaila as soon as possible, Cal wanted to try to leap for its back. As soon as he turned however all he saw was the back of the troll’s massive clawed hand. It swung towards him and hit him hard in the chest and face, throwing him backwards, off his feet and straight into the back wall. He flew through the remaining bits of cage and into several of the prisoners.

  He hit his head against the wall and felt a warmth like blood spreading through his hair and moving slowly down towards his neck. He was too stunned to move for a moment as the prisoners helped him off of them and onto his feet. His eyes lingered for a moment on the troll. In those moments when he was unable to move, he watched as Meliana and Teth tried to take it down.

  It was reaching for Teth who was holding it’s hand at bay with his strength alone, sword discarded he held on with one hand on it’s thumb and the other on it’s index finger. It wanted to crush him but Teth wouldn’t let it.

  On it’s other side Meliana was firing her ice ray up at it’s face. Where it hit would freeze over and then as soon as it moved or twitched it’s flesh would shatter and expose the muscle beneath the skin. It was a brutal sight to behold. It tried to block her with it’s free hand and arm, but that hurt it as well.

  Cal forced himself away from the prisoners. It was almost down. A good strike against it’s head and they’d kill it. It was already stuck on one knee, he could jump up, but what if he missed? They needed to unbalance it. His eyes shot to Teth and he started moving, jogging and then running. “Teth!” He called. “Pull!”

  Nothing happened for a moment and then the big creature shifted, falling forwards towards Teth. It had been pushing with all its might against the much smaller man who wouldn’t move, and then suddenly the resistance was gone.

  It tried to steady it’s self but Cal didn’t let it. He crouched at the end of his run and then kicked off, twisting the balls of his feet as he did so, throwing himself into the air and aimed right for the top of it’s back. He held his hands forward as he flew through the air, aiming with his sword held in a reverse stance so that the pommel poked out in front of him and his other hand hovered behind the spot it pointed at. Power and fire built into a ball at the base of the sword with his other hand seemingly holding it in place. A meter from the creature’s back he yelled “Valiawen!” and pushed with his empty hand.

  The ball of fire exploded away from him. It wasn’t as much fire as his flame gout spell, but the force of the blast when it hit the troll was significantly more potent. It threw the beast forward, toppling it and threw Cal back into the air towards the ceiling.

  From the air Cal could see everything and it seemed to all happen in slow motion. Meliana rushed forward, understanding Cal’s expectations as only old friends could, to thrust her sword into the Troll’s eye as its head landed with a heavy thud on the ground.

  Teth was thrown backwards, against the wall and into a group of goblins, laughing the whole time.

  There were still about thirty goblins left in the cavern, but what none of Cal's companions had anticipated were the others that would come to help from outside. Kaila had retreated a little into the doorway so that they could only come from two directions and only two animals remained. A huge deer protecting her back against the goblins coming from outside, and a massive boar in front, but they were almost done for.

  He watched helplessly as she fell to her knees, covering her face when the deer was brought down and the goblins began to close in around her. He raised his hand to attack and help while still flying through the air, but he was moving too fast and missed his shot. He was forced to watch as the boar was destroyed and all of the goblins turned to kill her.

  Then he gulped in fear as she screamed her absolute terror to the world. Sickly green energy burst forth from her and suffused the floor. Nothing seemed to happen at first, but then…

  Little skeletal goblin arms burst up out of the ground and Kaila screamed again, covering her ears. The skeletal goblins pulled themselves free and lunged for the living ones. The living nearest her were too surprised to know what to do and were killed almost immediately. Unfortunately the show of necromantic power didn’t end there. As soon as the goblins were dead the green energy suffused them as well and they stood back up. They started killing those next to them, who were brought back as soon as they were killed.

  In a matter of moments Kaila went from surrounded by enemies to surrounded by her servants.

  A humanoid undead army.

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