The Beginnings Omnibus: Beginnings 1, 2, 3 & Legend of Ashenclaw novella (Realm of Ashenclaw Beginnings Saga) (51 page)

Rose’s entire body seemed to light up. Her eyes shot open as the onset of divine energy infused her and visibly began closing the more serious wounds on her chest and leg. The arrows began to disintegrate under the might of the spell as the light exploded around her. Garius repeated the incantation once more, further healing her wounds and closing them completely, stopping the flow of blood that only a heartbeat ago, was staining the snow-covered ground.

Garius witnessed as Saeunn and Elec turned the corner. They slowly crossed the ground to them, fear and concern on their faces, assuming the worst.

“Is she…?” Elec asked, not finishing the sentence.

Saeunn stared at the blood that stained the ground where she rested and obviously thought the woman dead. Garius did not reply as he held her in his outstretched arms, monitoring her shallow breathing. Finally, she coughed and started to show signs of movement.

Rose opened her eyes and saw a concerned set of brown eyes staring back at her. Then she realized the source of those eyes and shoved herself away in a panic.

“What the f—!” she cried as she rolled out of Garius’s arms, and shifted to her knees. “What happened!? I remember the pain…and then…,” Rose began to explain, and then fell silent as she remembered the sting of the arrows. “How did..?”

 “Garius saved your life, it appears,” Elec finally answered as Garius retrieved his helmet and latched it on his belt, remaining stoic.

“How did you do that?” Saeunn asked, truly not knowing what had transpired.

“Let’s just say that I am able to heal, but only under the right circumstances,” he cryptically answered the barbarian. Then he turned to Rose and spoke to her, his eyes softening under her gaze. “You will be fine,” he stated caringly, trying but failing to hide his emotions. Then he abruptly changed the subject. “Some rest ought to do us all good. Let us get back to the caravan so I can continue trying to locate the holy symbols. We must be close.”

Saeunn and Elec exchanged concerned looks, shrugged, and then headed back toward the caravan.

“Garius,” Rose called to him. He turned, strode back to her and looked upon her, locking eyes with her again. “Help me to my feet, won’t you?” she asked, still kneeling in the snow. As he bent to help her up, she kissed him deeply. He kissed her back initially, but suddenly pushed her away.

“I cannot. Not now! We have much work to do and I must remain focused,” he said, admonishing her, before slowly walking off and back down the hill

Rose did not know what to make of that or even why she had done it!  She remained where she was, contemplating this and other events. Her mind had wandered back in time while she stood there and she recalled thoughts as she lay there dying.

Her thoughts ranged from her childhood as an orphan, to being abused as a prostitute in the streets of Oakhaven, to discovering her ability to enter the shadow realm, to the eventual revenge she inflicted on those that abused her. Then she thought of the Shadowhands and the current life she had carved out for herself in Oakhaven and wondered if she had made a huge mistake in coming along.

Doubt was fast consuming her thoughts.

Do I have feelings for Garius? Or is it simply a reaction to him saving my life and that I feel indebted to him?
She considered these thoughts and feelings for a long time before making her way back to the wagon.

 It was quite a while before she entered the caravan, where she headed slowly to her cot and lay down. She was sleeping within minutes, now realizing the full extent of her exhaustion.

The others went about their business, mending their wounds, tending to their armor, weapons and supplies as Garius disappeared outside. An hour passed and he returned to the caravan with still no sign of the acolyte’s presence.

Garius gazed upon the slumbering Rose and crept to his cot on the opposite side of the alcove, not wanting to wake her. She’d been through a lot and he needed them all to be sharp and focused in the coming days. He removed the rest of his armor and lay down to rest for the eve.

His last waking thoughts were a mishmash of uncertain sentiments, remorse and forbidden desires.

“Thank you for your herbal remedies,” Saeunn remarked absently to Elec as she examined her wound. Elec nodded and smiled back at her. “See what it has done?”

She craned her neck to show him where the wound on her head had once been deep and now showed signs of scabbing over.

Elec smiled and waited for her to go to sleep. He then removed the glowing ring from his belt pouch, entered his interdimensional lab space, and began frantically making more of his elixirs. After several hours passed and several new potions were created, he woke Saeunn for her watch.

Elec knew that Saeunn did not like being indoors, so she decided to do the remainder of her shift outside in the cold snow until the new day dawned. He watched her outside the entire rest of the evening until the dawn came.

After a careful trek through the tunnels on a lower level—the only other level they’d found thus far—the goblinoids passed several rooms where they’d trapped some of the undead monstrosities, spiking and otherwise barring the doors. They also avoided some traps, the ones they had managed
not
to spring, during their initial investigations on each level of the temple, before coming to a stop before a heavy wooden door. This type of door was commonplace on both of the hand-shaped floors of the temple, purposely hinged by knowledgeable craftsmen who bound them with iron strips to prevent swelling.

“This be the room that has the shiny treasures!” Grubb heard a hopeful goblin’s voice pipe up as he yanked the heavy, solid door open without much of an effort and peered inside. It was very dark, but he could see glints of shimmering bits and pieces from within reflecting off the light of the torches behind him.

“Get this room properly lit,” ordered the commander, adjusting his chainmail armor.

The room opened up into a spacious expanse as torches were placed in all available sconces, two on each of the four walls. The room was at least one hundred paces in each direction and contained a few tables and dozens of overturned chests and urns along the ground scattered all about. There were also a few shelving units or racks placed on three sides of the room, the nearest of which had treasures spilling onto the stone, while several others appeared empty. There were stalagmites that seemed to divide the room into sections. This area, for whatever reason, was left in a mostly-natural state.

Most importantly to the goblinoids, the chamber was host to all manner of treasure. Grubb entered and his eyes widened as he saw several ancient artworks of various shapes and sizes, and gleaming chalices and decanters of gold scattered about, among other things. He could see silver plates, jewelry, gems, pearls and coins of all kinds.

He also noticed a few bone remnants mixed in with the treasure which struck him as odd at first glance, but he did not give it much consideration. Grubb noted those and pointed them out to Shaman Tukk, who lifted his antlered helmet from his head, rubbed his bald scalp, replaced the helm, and then marched off to investigate.

The coins were mostly coppers that made up the bulk of them. There were also remnants of armors, weapons, boots, gloves and the like mixed in with the treasures.

Each bracket now housed a freshly burning torch, but the torchlight didn’t bathe the entire room in its luminescence due to its vast size. The light intermittently reflected from the various objects reflective exteriors, seeming to make the shadows dance around the room. The glinting coins had a mesmerizing effect on the goblinoids as more than a score of them dispersed to inventory the hoard. The torchlight reflected from not only the treasures, but also from various puddles along the outskirts of the room. Their presence seemed a little odd to Grubb, too, but then he recalled the natural pools on the floor above them, and so water found beneath might not seem out of place.

“Get the treasure appraised quickly so I can decide what is worth carrying out of here when the time comes,” Commander Grubb barked to his troops.

“Which should be soon?” He directed that question to Tukk but the shaman ignored him, continuing instead to study the bone remnants. The commander was handed a lighted oil lamp which he placed at his feet. Tukk was seen more clearly now, muttering to himself as he surveyed the bones. He looked up to regard the commander, acting as if he had just noticed him standing there.

“It shall be done, Mighty One,” Shaman Tukk responded as he held an unidentified bone relic in his hand and returned his attention to it. Perhaps he was trying to decipher the age of the bone or what creature it might have belonged to, Grubb assumed.

“I want as much of the treasure and as many of the trinkets we can carry scooped up and placed in sacks.” Grubb continued giving his instructions to the mass of orcs and goblins that were wading into the treasure piles, sifting through to begin the task of evaluating their findings. Many of the goblinoids were familiar with, and could estimate the value of the treasure quickly, but there were vast sums to sift through. Grubb realized that it might take quite a while to sort it all out.

After a reasonable investigation of the bone remnants, Shaman Tukk began his ritual to commune with the spirits. He held his staff in front of him and spoke an incantation that appeared very guttural in nature, even to the other orcs. After a brief, but energetic session that included more ranting in succession with various hand gestures, he suddenly stopped.

“Spirits tell me that the goblins made it to Chansuk, but the Chieftain did not take the news well,” Shaman Tukk reported. “Kelgarek seems unhappy with our delay. Also, there are murmurs that the Dark One grows impatient waiting for the prisoners Or something they might have with them? I cannot tell as the spirits are unclear in their manner.”

“We shall discuss this with the overlords then and devise a plan,” Grubb wisely ordered. “We may have to abandon our shelter and make our way through the storm in—” Grubb suddenly stopped talking and listened intently as he deciphered a low humming, which then ceased again without warning. “Did you hear that?”

 “No,” Shaman Tukk answered. “I must reconvene with the spirits. They seemed concerned about something else, too.”

Overlords Tsor and Grank joined up with Grubb to discuss the issues while a pair of the intimidating ograthi stood close by in a protective manner. They had become the enforcers for the orc overlords of late, making sure that all of the goblins and orcs followed their orders without hesitation. The conversation died away and was replaced by a noticeable humming noise coming from within the cavern.

Suddenly, there was a blood-curdling scream from one of the orcs at the rear of the chamber. Grubb spun but could not see anything from where he stood since several formations of stalagmites blocked his line of sight to that end of the cavern.

“The treasure is alive!” cried a voice in the southernmost corner. Then there was another shout and a goblinoid screamed, “The coins are moving!” Shaman Tukk and Commander Grubb began trying to decipher what they meant.

Then Grubb recalled an ancient insect that was rumored to greatly resemble a coin. The bug, a flesh eater, had a glinting and burnished exoskeleton, if he recalled the lore correctly. This was why they had not seen them at first as they were lying dormant within the copper coins, blending in with them.

“Carrion swarm,” Shaman Tukk grimly informed the group, acknowledging what Grubb was thinking. The orcs looked at one another, slightly puzzled, collectively ignorant of such a creature. “The carrion swarm,” he reiterated. “This is the danger of which the spirit warned!”

Grubb breathed deeply as he quickly tried to devise a way to combat them. At that moment, his gaze fell on a member of his legion that was covered by the insects. The tiny goblin’s entire right side was being devoured by the swarm, right in front of his eyes. Within a few dozen heartbeats, there was almost no sign that the goblin had ever existed. Grubb rapidly concluded that conventional methods of fighting would not work against these insects.

The humming of the swarm mixed with the sounds of many screaming goblins and orcs creating a deadly cacophony that echoed within the chamber.

“Fight them with fire as steel’s edge will not discourage them!” Shaman Tukk yelled out to the masses that were scrambling about in a panic.

“Use fist?” Overlord Tsor asked as he brandished his sword and gazed at it with a confused look.

“No, not flesh, clubs and torches, fire or stick! Blades will not hurt them,” responded the shaman. 

“They eat flesh and bone!” roared an orc that ran toward them, swinging wildly at the insects that were swarming around. They witnessed the death of the soldier as its bones were consumed, leaving only its armor, weapon and shield behind.

The group of leaders maneuvered themselves toward the rear of the room where the commotion had erupted, trying to get a better view. The humming grew louder as they neared the multitude of insects.

Overlord Nsobak, who had just recently achieved that status within the Bonemasher clan, was nearest one of the swarms that had attacked his troops. He pulled a torch off the wall and ran headlong toward the swarm, at the same time producing a specially-made oil flask from somewhere on his person. The orc overlord tossed the mixture directly into the center of the insects and then tossed the torch after it. The flames hit the flask and resulted in a rather large explosion, causing a cloud of fire and smoke to surround his immediate vicinity.

The resulting blaze killed a large portion of the swarm, but knocked Nsobak to the ground, burning him badly and dazing him in the process. Once sight returned to Grubb and the others, they saw that another swarm was beginning to overwhelm the overlord as he lay helpless from the blast. The treasure room soon echoed with the death throes of not only Nsobak, but several other goblins and orcs as well, who were all victims of these flesh-eating insects.

There were several orcs ablaze, mixed in with other orcs fighting with torches and anything else they could set fire to. Some even doused their clubs in oil to produce the necessary flames. The swarm looked like surrealistic clouds of flaming devastation, flying about in groups and attacking anything they could. Some of the swarm swept a pair of goblins off the ground, leaving only their armor and weapons in their wake.

Shaman Tukk gripped his staff tightly, moving close to the swarms now, and uttered an incantation. A mere heartbeat later, a large, twisted, flaming creature materialized. It looked to Shaman Tukk, who simply pointed at the carrion swarms and whispered something to it in another language that Grubb did not understand. The creature sped off immediately and hurled itself into a group of the insects, pounding and smashing at them, ignoring its own safety. The insects swarmed it over, burning themselves upon its exterior.

Both of the ograthi dropped their swords and scooped up a torch in one hand and a club in the other from fallen orcs. They waded into the fray, torches blazing and clubs swinging fearlessly at the insects, inspiring the goblins and orcs to do the same. The goblinoid mass overran the swarm with their torches and clubs, smashing and burning the insects as both the humming and the screaming diminished.

Overlords Tsor and Grank, the only two remaining, ran into the melee, lending moral support to the troops that may have had thoughts of retreating. The swarm continued to bear down on the goblinoids, but they pressed on, inspired by the overlords and the ograthi who joined in the battle.

Grubb watched the scene unfold, impressed that his force was so obedient and that they followed his commands without question. He turned suddenly to see Shaman Tukk’s bone staff pointed in his direction and a look of shock twisted his features.

“Move!” Tukk ordered him. Grubb obliged him, diving to the side awkwardly, not understanding what was happening. The orc commander was not a nimble creature by any means, and he hit the ground hard, his helm bouncing off the stone floor as he stumbled forward, a salvo of discord ringing in his skull as a result.

A loud and bright cone of fire shot forth, channeled through the shaman’s staff that completely fried the cloud of insects that had made its way to the commander’s rear flank. The shaman alertly perceived the glint of their metallic shells in the torchlight as they rushed toward him.

Grubb regained his footing and nodded his thanks to Tukk for saving his life. He shifted his helm back into place and rubbed a fresh abrasion on his forehead that was bleeding. He absently wiped the blood on his tunic that proudly displayed the Bonemasher icon, and tried to shake the cloudiness from his head.

Shaman Tukk nodded back an acknowledgement to Grubb, almost losing his own antlered helm in the process and lowering his staff once more. Grubb quickly regained his composure and he continued his supervision of the fight.

The tide of battle had shifted in the goblinoid’s favor as the carrion swarms were eventually incinerated and crushed into lifeless husks. Large shells of what remained were scattered all about the treasure in various states of disfigurement. The humming had stopped and the remaining goblinoids hurried to burn the remains.

Shaman Tukk’s flame spirit returned to his side, its ghostly, burning exterior swaying against the darkness, adding to its mystical nature. It stood silently next to the shaman, seeming to fade.