//------------------------------// // Battle 1 : The Grimleal // Story: A Frozen Rose: The Nightmare War. // by Selene Moonlilly //------------------------------// “If ya all value ya lives then release the men ya have captured and give us that manakete girl!” A giant of a man dressed in the furs of different Lugaz demanded from outside of the fort. He held a beast of an axe that had an head about the size of a small child in one hand while he pointed at me with his other hand. Standing around him were another eight bandits all wielding iron axes.“ I will even overlook the coin ya cost us from disrupting our fur gathering operations if ya comply all nice like.” I felt my anger start to boil at the reminder that these people skin and sell the fur of sapient species.‘No must not let my anger get the better of me.’ I thought as I tried to calm down. I then recalled some of the recently introduced memories I had acquired. Now, remember class, in our line of work we must not allow ourselves to succumb to anger as that will pollute whatever love you have collected and make it unusable. So I am going to teach you several ways to lessen your anger. “Yeah, as nice of an offer as that sounds I am going to ask you to blow it out your backside. There is no way in Tartarus that we would just hand you the boss!” I heard Angel's voice say snapping me out of the memory. “Don't say we didn't give ya a chance.” the giant bandit replied. He then gestured to the shadows behind him. Out of the darkness came two robed figures. The robes that they wore were black with a familiar purple six-eyed design on them. ‘Well, crap.’ I thought, my eyes widening in surprise as the taller of the two pulled their hood down to reveal a middle-aged human male with shaggy green hair and beard. “Are you sure you will not release the mortal form of the Bride of Grima into our care?” The man asked which caused me to groan loudly. “Great, these nuts again,” I muttered under my breath. At this Edge looked to me then back to the man. “I do not know who this Bride of Grima you speak of is but I will not hand anyone over to you. It does not speak well of your intentions when you appear in the presence of bandits.” Edge replied with a hint of disdain. “It saddens me that you refuse to see reason and decide to stand in the way of our holy mission. The rules governing the Grimleal is clear.” The robbed man said while surrounded by a purple light. “Though your mortal form will perish here, rejoice in the fact that your soul will be reborn in the new world.” As soon as he finished saying that a gate materialized in front of him. The gate looked to be made of black iron and had the symbol of Grima on the doors, three eyes to a door. The doors opened revealing a vortex of purple light. Shambling out of the light was a horde of undead. “Edge, Stone you two stay here with me to keep those things from getting in the front entrance.” I heard Stygian order. “Angel I want you to guard the prisoners but keep an ear out for a call in case we need your help at one of the entrances. Rose, I need you to go to the secondary entrance where Summer is waiting and help her get any of those things that make their way to it.” I nodded in confirmation and ran to the other entrance. There I found Summer already dealing with the summoned undead. She was firing arrow after arrow into the horde swarming into the entrance. Wasting no time I pulled my obsidian dagger out of its sheath and rushed forward to meet an undead swordsman. The swordsman took a swing at me as I got close but missed as I quickly dodged to the side. I then jabbed my dagger up into its chin, the enchantment in the dagger sending it back to where it came from. Right after the creature dissolved into a purple smoke, I saw an axe coming straight for my head out of the smoke. “I hate Risen!” I exclaimed as I raised my dagger to deflect the downward traveling axe to the side. The blow caused my hand to go numb with the supernatural strength behind it. As soon as I deflected the blow, an arrow flew over me and punctured the undead axe wielder’s face causing it to also dissipate into smoke. “What are zese Risen you speak of Matron Rose? We fight zombies summoned by necromancer of frost clan no?” Summermoon asked in confusion as she drew another arrow back on her bow. “Well, not exactly,” I replied as I dodged to the side to avoid the risen tiger Lugaz. Summer released her arrow at the undead tiger hitting it in its left eye. The tiger roared in pain as a purple smoke leaked from the wound. As it turned its focus on to Summer I put my empty left hand onto the thing’s back. Concentrating I poured a bit of my power into it freezing it solid. I then brought my dagger down on its head shattering it. “ Zombies are created when a vengeful spirit possesses a dead body. They are more often feral due to the bodies they inhabit rate of decay. Risen are enslaved souls given a physical form by the power of the fel dragon Grima. They retain all of the skills and abilities they had in life, which makes them all the more dangerous.” I explained as I brought up my left hand and formed a shield of ice in front of myself. Just as it finished forming I felt three impacts in rapid succession. I heard the twang of Summer’s bow followed by a thud. I dropped the shield only to see three axe-wielding risen rushing toward the gateway. Thinking fast I concentrated on the ground just in front of them. When they reached the area I was concentrating on I activated my trap. A dozen sharp spikes of ice rose from the ground and impaled the three. After they dissipated into smoke I melted the spikes and set the trap up again. Rigging it to activate when any source of fel magic passed over it. “That should hold them for a bit,” I said to myself then looked back to Summer. “How is your arrow supply doing?” She reaches behind herself with her free hand and bumps the bottom of her quiver which causes the arrows in it to rattle. “ I have seven left.” She answered. “Angel get your furry but over here!” I yelled at the top of my lungs. I heard my trap activate again so I reset it. “You called boss?” Angel said from right behind me. I looked over my shoulder at him. “Yes, I need you to cover the entrance here while I make some arrows for Summer. I have a trap set up but I need to concentrate if I am to make functional arrows out of ice.” I ordered without waiting for a response I walked over to where Summer was. “Summer can you give me one of your arrows please?” “Sure, but what do you need it for?” She asked as she handed me an arrow. I sat down as I went about examining its weight, length, and solidness. “I need it because contrary to what people think, making weapon constructs with magic isn't just willing it to be. You have to know about what you are making.” I started to explain as I heard my trap go off yet again. Out the corner of my eye, I saw Summer ready another arrow. “Weight, density, length, sharpness, and balance all need to be considered otherwise you could have a weapon that shatters on the first strike or is too heavy to wield effectively. Like everything else it takes knowledge to create.” I then finished examining the arrow and put it back into her quiver. “Yeah, that's right come to your re-death.” I heard Angel say as he went about killing any risen that came into the room. I then focused on making arrows one at a time. ‘Damn I hate doing it this way but there really isn't a choice.’ I thought as I made more of the arrows. Fifteen minutes passed with me making arrows to the sounds of Angel fighting. By this time Summer had run out of arrows. “Here are sixty arrows hopefully that is enough,” I said as I handed over the bundle. Just then I heard Angel cry out in pain. I turn to see him back in his humanoid for holding his right arm to his side where blood was leaking. In the hallway was something that sent my blood cold. There in front of me stood a figure dressed head to toe in faded bronze armor. Giant Black bat-like wings spread from it’s back. The figure held a bronze spear in its right hand and a round shield also made of bronze in the left. The tip of the spear had flesh blood dripping off it. The figure turned to me and I could see red glowing eyes from the slits in the helmet. “You will come with me Bride of Grima.” It said in a deep masculine voice that was hauntingly familiar though I couldn't quite remember where I had heard it before. ‘Where have I heard that voice?’ I mused to myself. ‘No I have more important things to worry about, like getting Angel healed.’ I berated myself. “Summer, take Angel to Stygian and get that wound of his looked at, I will hold this thing here,” I said never taking my eyes off of the figure. “As you command matron.” Summer said as I heard her walk over to Angel and help him walk out of the room. The figure in front of me didn't move a muscle to stop them, which worried me as I was pretty sure that it was a risen. The fact that it didn't attack blindly and could talk didn't bode well for me. That combination meant one of two things. One: That this was a Dreadlord, one of the highest level of risen or Two: This was the newest avatar of Grima. “That was quite chivalrous of you to not attack them as they retreated,” I commented as I watched the figure closely looking for any moment. “They are of no concern. My mission is to bring you to the head priest anything else is immaterial.” It said in a dispassionate manner. At that moment I noticed something at its feet. “Now come along, the master is waiting.” “Yeah, I am going to have to say no. I really have no interest in bringing Grima back let alone marrying him.” I replied as I reached out with my magic and reset my trap which was directly under the figure. The moment I did ice spikes shot out from the trap only to shatter upon impact with the thing's armor. ‘Shit! That is magic absorbing armor.’ I thought right before I had to dodge the spear tip coming at me. I danced to the left and as the spear paused me I touched the shaft and put a little of my essence into the wood. The weapon retracted as the creature charged forward with its shield trying to hit me in the face with it. I quickly bent over backward and felt the wind caused by the shield passing by where my head had been seconds earlier on my face. I quickly rolled to the right as it’s spear came at my prone body. ‘Shit this is bad. I don't have a weapon to pierce his armor and my magic will just bounce off it. If I could just get a little time I could transform and just crush the thing in my claws but it is not letting up.’ I thought as I dodged another spear thrust. ‘ Hold on for another twenty minutes help is on the way!' I heard a voice in my head say. ‘Great as if I didn't have enough trouble just dealing with this Dreadlord now I am hearing voices in my head again.’ I thought as said dreadlord thrust it's spear at me yet again. This time I was able to touch the shaft of it once more. ‘Okay, one more time should do it.’ The dreadlord continued its assault undeterred by the fact I was dodging every thrust of its spear and swing of its shield. I just kept dodging as it kept attacking. This went on for fifteen minutes with no opening presenting itself. ‘Damn just need one more touch but he isn't giving me a chance to do it safely. I really hate to do this but I need to risk it.’ I thought as I pulled my dagger out again. I waited until it attacked with the spear again then deflected it down to the ground and I rushed forward and with my free hand brushed the shaft of the spear before I was backhanded with the dreadlord’s shield the blow sending me flying Into the wall behind me. I felt agonizing pain from my wings as I heard a sickening crunch. I slowly got up to my feet every move sending pain throughout my body. I could hear the dripping sound of blood as it leaked from my wings. I looked at the Dreadlord and saw that it no longer held a spear in its hand. The dreadlord looked at me. “Yield. You can not hope to win in your condition.” It said as shadows coalesced in its free hand. The shadows took the form of a scythe and hardened to a black crystal. I groaned in irritation. ‘Well, at least I bought myself a couple of minutes to transform.’ I thought as I reached into my pocket to find it empty. ‘Wait where is it? I know it was in this pocket.’ “Looking for this?” a voice said from my right. I looked and saw the smaller of the Grimleal standing there with their hand stretched forward. In their hand rested my dragonstone. “How did you get that?” I asked in disbelief as I felt my wounds start to knit together thanks to my renewal ability. “I know that you have not gotten close enough to steal it from me physically or I would have smelled you.” “You would be surprised how useful an altered teleport spell can be. Just a little tweaking and then you can teleport objects to yourself even if you can't see them,” they said in excitement. They then turned to the dreadlord. “Boss has ordered a retreat. Apparently, the army of Queen Chrysalis is on the way.” “No we have her.” the dreadlord said as it started coming closer to me. “Sorry but the order came from the head priest so we have to leave now.” the grimleal said as they cast a spell and both of them disappeared. As soon as they did I dropped to the floor in exhaustion. ‘I have definitely let my skills slip if I having trouble with that dreadlord.’ I berated myself as I heard footsteps approach me. I looked up to see Stone’s face above mine. “You seem a little worse for wear. You okay?” He asked with concern. I shook my head. “No I really am not, I just had my ass handed to me.” I answered tiredly as recovering from such a wound really took it out of me.“So are we done?” I asked. “Yes, a division of Chrysalis’ army has arrived and is cleaning up what little is left of the bandits. Though the Grimleal priest got away.” Stone said. I let out a yawn as I listened. Stone the quite suddenly bent down and then picked me up like I was little kid. “Come let's get you to bed,” he said as he carried me towards the wagons. I was about to protest but my eyes had trouble staying open. Soon I was asleep.