Chương 11: The Shadow Serves Shoul

True to expectations, the last two scouts returned about twenty minutes later, holding the torches made from broken spear shafts, toting what scrap iron they could, although most they'd probably piled near the road and someone with a horse would be sent to pick it up in the future. At least, that's what they thought. They made it to the entry door, making loud footsteps, enough to wake even a sleepy sentry, but weren't challenged as they did so.

The first one stepped inside, torchlight filling the space, and saw the sentry laid out on the floor, head tilted to the side and eyes closed as he looked at the ceiling. It took a moment longer for him to register the blood, and by then, the man outside had already dropped. - Sound Bubble up! - Deuce /told her, and Tiya screamed as she charged the last man. Shock and surprise did the job as she came out of nowhere, axe already in motion, and hacked into his torch arm.

Enchanted steel bit in, and he shrieked as bone gave way and his forearm went spinning away, taking the torch with it. Didn't affect her vision at all, she noticed, as the man backed up, trying to flee, shouting desperately to raise the alarm. Deuce was standing right there, a stick in his hand, and with extreme elegance caught the man's rear foot and raised it up smoothly. The bandit crashed to the ground loudly, but no sounds spread.

Tiya recovered, took a long step forward and stretched out as the man crashed to the floor. Before he could recover, her axe came down on the back of his head and split it open. A quiver went through him, and there was silence. She cut the man's purse off his belt with the edge of her axe, the cut so fine it glided through the leather knots.

Without comment, she also took his knife, shortsword, and a decently strong bow with her as she went back outside, Deuce tagging along with her to watch as she bundled up their loot and simply left it on the ground next to the building, to be snatched up as they left rather than weigh them down.

"What are we looking at?" she asked, as he clambered up her arm and back to his riding place. -No one else in there save the priest, who is some sort of huntsman, and the creature dwelling behind an altar there, probably bound to the place. If it was free to move, it could clear out this entire area in a matter of days, if not hours.

- She'd seen monsters who could carve their way through ready platoons of soldiers, things breathing fire and acid and lightning and transforming vapors and choking poison, so she was totally ready to believe that.

"What do I do?" she asked calmly. -Go down, shoot the huntsman, and run away, - he /replied.

"That's it?" she had to ask, automatically moving to draw her short bow and nock an arrow. -Well, I'm going to enchant the arrow to flame as you launch it, but yes, pretty much that's it. - She was pacing forward across the creaky floor, but the Bubble around her contained all the sounds she made, so she wasn't worried. -Take it slow and easy, and you can ignore the Glyphs on the walls when the Shadow races after you. -"That's my boy!"

she said, stomping through the room with scattered chairs and stumps sitting around it, none in good shape. It was obviously used as a gathering place for the brigands, complete with stacks and piles of food and supplies in one corner, the edge of a tarp thrown back.

"Still used as a storm shelter, I see…" -The locals know better than to investigate what's in the hillside. - Given just looking at it gave her the shivers, that was understandable.

"It won't be able to see us, like we can it?" she asked hesitantly. -Very few undead have lifesense or can see living auras. They have natural darkvision good to a certain range, but we're going to be sneaky. Careful of the steps now, they're pretty worn and uneven, and made to creak loudly. - Which meant nothing. Tiya stepped down them with care and quiet, moving slowly to draw minimum attention from any watcher, although she didn't have to fear making any sounds herself with the Bubble up.

Then she was down the steps and sliding along close to the wall, the floor uneven but manageable, and no traps to be seen.

"Trapped?" she had to ask. -Twice. Cut the strings to them. - She nodded once in relief. -Okay, just ahead and around the bend. The door should be open just enough to give you a shot. - So it was, the door in better shape than anything she'd seen so far. She could see some very faint runes glowing on the stones around the bend, right where something coming through the door would not be able to see when they rushed around the corner.

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. There the man was, standing before the altar… and something of all black, a darkness that was not natural, was roiling and churning on the other side of it. It just looked like it was made of ink, two glowing red eyes moving around in some unevenly balancing form that might have been a face, limbs reaching and flowing back to the main form as it loomed over the kneeling man. A blackness greater than darkness.

Tiya grit her teeth, wishing she was strong enough to walk on out there and take the fight to the thing, but that wasn't going to happen. Instead, she lined up her shot through the half-open door, drawing it back… and a tiny hand touched the arrow, the tip instantly igniting in fire. She didn't need him to say anything, and released instantly as the Shadow's eyes jerked up at the display of fire.

The arrow drove out, the pointed yarting shaft punching into the leathers directly above the man's ass, where they'd be the thinnest. She could have tried for a head shot, but Deuce said he was enchanting the arrow, so why go for a kill shot? Thus the arrow streaked out, and buried itself in the kneeling man's buttocks before he was aware of the intrusion. Fire exploded from the arrow, blasting through the man and incinerating flesh and bone in a horrifying display of magical intensity.

The man's side and the whole of his right leg was charred to ash in a second. He barely had time to scream in agony before he was falling over dead in shock, smoking brightly. And the Shadow was coming their way at incredible speed! Tiya was running before the man fell over, bouncing around the turn, pounding for distance over the uneven stones. It wasn't far to the steps, only thirty feet or so, but the Shadow was coming so fast, could she even make it to the stairs?

Then Light filled the tunnel, even as the flood of darkness that was the Shadow turned the corner and came between the two Glyphs Shaped into the stone at knee height. The creature's lunge was swallowed in fire and light, and she somehow heard the warbling, sepulchral scream as it was devoured before her eyes could turn back to watch it as she glided to a stop. The Glyphs on the wall were gone, and the whole corridor was blasted an intense white, almost shining to her Devilsight.

Mist filled the corridor to waist-height, but the stone in all directions had been blasted to whiteness, with no sign of the Shadow remaining. -Very dead. Let's go look at its lair, then we'll vivify the dead. - Turning them all into white dust and powder, making the ground white, setting up this heavy mist, and all of it would be gone in the morning, leaving nothing behind to become undead. No bodies to clean up was always nice.

The huntsman's armor was actually pretty nice, or would have been if half of it wasn't reduced to ash. She picked a good knife off him, a fairly heavy purse, the rings on his fingers, chain to his (un)holy symbol, and then went looking for other stuff of value as Deuce set him en vivus, and him and his nice boots would all Burn down in mistflame. The real wealth was underneath the altar.

She watched as Deuce ritually de-Consecrated it, breaking its link to darkness and evil and stuff with glowing Light and ambient arias of Heavenly energy, cracking the molded thing into multiple pieces she had much less problem throwing aside to get at the treasury below it. There were two spells on it. She had problems seeing them until Deuce pointed out their soft glows, and where to look to find the anchor points of the spells.

He Dispelled them without effort, and then another spell Knocked it open, bypassing the key while they stepped back. A hissing stream of poisonous gas jetted up out of the thing, and was promptly set on fire with a burst of flame from Deuce's tiny hand. They both waited for a moment before pressing forward to look at their spoils.

He waved his tiny hand before her, and the mace of black iron, the amulet, and several of the scattered coins all lit up with different colors of lights, including several coins that were a distinctly dark reddish-black.

"The coins are Cursed." His hands came together in another prayer, calling down the boons of the gods who could not actually answer to wipe away the punishment for those daring to steal their treasure. Another gesture brought up a Disk for them to heap the coins, both free and in small sacks, up onto, taking the weight and allowing them to get out of there without slowing down. They left as smoothly as they came, Deuce making sure there were no secret doors or anything leading to deeper secrets.

The loot outside went on the pile, they made their way up to Clopper, and then headed south once more.

They only stopped to rest toward the morning. The families of the missing men would now be doubly worried when no one came back and there was no word, doubtless sending out runners and hunters to find out what was wrong. The white spots faded away with the morning sun, as did all the Buffs that Deuce had laid out for the two of them. As they performed the Salute to Aru together, Deuce fell back into his natural form of a baby wrapped up in the same blanket that had made his clothes.

Then it was time to rest in a cul-de-sac out of sight of any looking for them, leaving their loot out on a spare blanket to go through when their rest was done. Tiya dozed off with Deuce on her chest, pleasantly warm as always after his feeding and cleaning. In the end, regardless of all his gifts, he was still a baby, still needed her for moments like this, and she would be there for him. The sun was high when they finally stirred together.

Deuce stirred, magic swirling from where he lay on the extra Disk, and he slowly rose in brownie form back to his feet. -Checking the area, - he /told her calmly, his knee-high form zipping over to the edge of the blocking hills and poking around to give the area a thorough scan. -I see nothing, but we can probably safely assume that heading to the next town is going to be a bad idea. - Tiya nodded agreement as her son trotted quietly and quickly back down the draw.

"Clans will stick together, and any group working the road here will have family at both towns, just to cover themselves. If they don't just try to attack us, they'll lean on the law and try to get us locked up and declared outlaw for some fabricated reason." -Going around them will take time, but we are not actually in all that much of a hurry, - Deuce /admitted. -And we should go over our spoils. -