The End of Time Chapter 9
Mountain of Danger
By Arsenal
Glenn checked his equipment once more. The seven other men behind him did likewise. Masamune rested in his sheath, a warm feeling coming from it. Mt.Denedaro was always so dangerous, especially after the pocket of Mystic resistance had taken residence there. The group was there to investigate the strength of these rebels. Glenn flexed his amphibian hand and then commanded the group to be off. The sooner they finished this task, the sooner he could return to his warm room in the castle, sitting in his chair with a warm cup of cider. The group started climbing the mountain. Glenn’s thoughts wandered as he climbed, faster than most. His frog form allowed him to jump up to some peaks.
Glenn remembered the fight as if it happened five minutes ago. Magus attacking him with his scythe endlessly, Glenn dodging, slashing Magus with Masamune whenever he could. The lightning, fire and ice coming in from all directions. It was a wonder Glenn landed that blow to Magus’s face to end the fight. Hell, it was a wonder that he could even stand against Magus at all. He defeated Magus, and the evil mage had dissipated before his eyes. Why hadn’t Glenn turned back to a human then? It didn’t matter though. Glenn had grown comfortable in this form and could live with this form for the rest of his life. Glenn came back to reality. On this mountain being unprepared meant certain death.
The trip was uneventful, nothing attacked, even the usual ogres. The group reached the waterfall and decided to take a rest. Glenn stood at the edge of the cliff, watching the water trickle down to form the pool he’d lain in years ago. Something seemed out of place, did he sense danger? He hadn’t time to confirm his gut feeling on his own. The ensuing attack confirmed his suspicions for him. A group of ogres jumped from the top of the waterfall ten feet up, landing on the cliff. There was about thirty of them to the eight men here. Glenn jumped back and threw a wall of water up. A few ogres made it through to meet the knights, war hammer meeting long sword. The fight lasted several minutes; one knight lay on the ground dying to the half dozen ogres. Glenn couldn’t hold the wall anymore, so he unsheathed Masamune and let the wall fall. Glenn jumped forward to the fight. He ducked inside the swing of a hammer and gutted the ogre. Jumping straight up Glenn avoided the blow from behind, landing his blade into the ogre’s back. Glenn pulled the blade free and jumped into another swing. This ogre was ready; he dropped his hammer and bear-hugged Glenn, squeezing the life out of him. A knight turned and threw a dagger into the ogre’s head, solving the problem. He turned back in time to see a hammer slam into his face. Glenn dropped, pulled the dagger free and whipped it into the killer’s face. Glenn quickly grabbed Masamune and jumped over the mob of fighters landing outside of the throng. Only three of the knights stood by now, and a dozen of the ogres lay dead or dying. Glenn waded in from the side, trying to help the pinned trio in the middle of the ogres. By the time he saw the trio again the last knight had just been struck in back, falling on the ground, not moving. There was only five ogres left of the original thirty. The group, two of them bleeding badly, approached Glenn. Glenn whipped out his tongue and reared one ogre in, throwing him off the cliff into the water twenty feet down. Glenn blocked the attack of the next ogre and jumped back, trapping the ogre in a bubble, again dropping it down the cliff. The last three realised they couldn’t beat the frog alone, so they advanced all at once. Glenn prepared himself. The three moved forward in one attack, the centre ogre heaving his hammer in a downward swing and the two at the side swinging across. Glenn recognised the attack and jumped in under the angle of the centre ogre’s swing, avoiding all the hammers. Masamune gutted this ogre and Glenn withdrew, back to his original position. The remaining pair of ogres went into frenzy, whipping their hammers anywhere, hoping they could crush the frog with their brute strength. Glenn avoided the whole mess and summoned a wave of water. The wave swept the two ogres off the cliff. The battle was finished.
Glenn checked the ogres to see if they were dead. One ogre had been knocked unconscious at the start of the battle. Glenn revived him with water from his canteen. Only one of the ogre’s eyes would open and his breath was uneven. Glenn knew that he would pass away soon.
“Where art thou from, filthy beast? Speak now lest I draw my blade to prove thy mortality.” Glenn demanded, with thick English accent.
The monster’s words were raspy as he forced them from his throat, “C . . . cave. Up . . . higher.”
“Who art thy master? Who has sent yourself to slay my companions and I?” But the ogre’s eye had closed and his breathing had stopped. The ogre had left this life to join his friends in the lowest levels of Hell. Glenn checked all the knights for any sign of life. Seeing none he retrieved he shovel from his pack and starting digging seven graves, his hands bleeding where his eyes refused. The knights were good friends of his. Glenn had one thing on his throughout the whole burial: vengeance. The next day he continued his journey up the mountain heading toward the Masamune’s Cave.
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