That Horrible Moment Chapter 10
Was It Worth It?
By Donraj
The hill leveled out into
a plateau at the summit. The flat ground, made of bare stone, was about ten
feet across, each side dropping off into a steep cliff. As Gilliam clambered
up Drake was standing at the other side with his back turned, looking over
the landscape below. Knowing better then to hope the alert dragoon had not
noticed him, Gilliam
spoke.
“You killed my
father.”
Drake did not bother to
turn.
“That hardly makes you
unique.”
Gilliam drew his father’s
sword slowly, the metal hissing against the leather sheath. He fell into
a fighting stance, poised to
attack.
“You killed Hanlon,
you killed Ellis’
parents.”
Drake did turn to regard
him
then.
“Killed whose
parents?
The wind picked up, blowing
grit into Gilliam’s
eyes.
“Tell me,” he asked,
trembling with repressed anger, “how many people have you
murdered?”
Drake thought for a
moment.
“One hundred and
seventeen.”
Gilliam was stunned, both
by the claim and the callous way Drake had said it. The dragoon
continued.
“Counting soldiers as
well as civilians, not that there is any real difference. And your band,
of
course.”
“Why? Why this, why
banditry? Any army would have been happy to hire you. Why resort to raiding
merchant bands?” Drake
snorted.
“Oh, they did. Your
nobles had no qualms about hiring us to fight their battles during the war.
That was when I met your father. He wasn’t a member of the nobility
back then, at the time he was just a peddler that had been pressed into
service.”
Drake began to walk towards
Gilliam as he
spoke.
“After the war, we became
inconvenient. Oh, they had known all along what we did and how we fought,
and they approved, all of them. Dycedarg, Larg, Goltania, they all knew,
and they were happy to have us do the dirty work. How do you think they became
heroes? They fought the clean battles and had us handle the real
work.”
But once the war was over
they had to open their eyes and be outraged. After all, they had no idea
what we “mavericks” had been up
to.”
Drake came to a halt in the
middle of the
field.
“That’s when we
went to work for your father. He was an ambitious man. He’d received
a minor title after stopping an assassination attempt on Zalbag, but no lands
or money. He had a small trading business, but he couldn’t compete with
his larger rivals. So he turned to
us.”
Drake gestured towards the
forest below with his left
hand.
“So we waylaid his rivals
shipping. No one suspected a connection, it’s a dangerous business and
people are always being lost. We even went after his merchants now and then,
just to avoid suspicion. Between him and Lanal’s spying, it was
child’s
play.”
Gilliam had been silent
throughout Drake’s speech. Now, he
spoke.
“Even if he was not
the man I thought he was, he was still my father. You will pay for his
murder!”
Gilliam charged. Drake rushed
to meet
him.
*********************************************************************************
Bare hands hanging at her
side, Ellis met Lanal’s eyes with a glare of pure hatred. Knowing that
there was no way she could reach him or escape before he cut her down, she
stood still and asked a
question.
“Tell me, do you remember
a small groups of traveling performers you helped massacre ten years
ago?
Lanal thought for a moment,
then nodded. “Why yes. Were you connected to them
somehow?”
“I was only ten years
old when I watched the Touten murder them. Now tell me, why? Why did my family
have to
die?”
Lanal
shrugged.
“I suspected that a
member of your troop was a
spy.”
“And?”
“And what? That’s
all.”
“You butchered dozens
of innocent people just because you suspected one man?!” she demanded
incredulously. Lanal shrugged
again.
“I wanted to be on the
safe side. Besides. We had a reputation to maintain.
Now…”
Lanal’s hand darted
like a snake. The dagger was a silver blur as it flew at her. Lightning quick,
Ellis’ hand shot out and caught it in midair. With the dexterity of
a trained juggler she tossed it up in the air, then snatched it as it came
down and hurled it at
Lanal.
Her aim was perfect. The
dagger caught him square in the throat. He staggered back and looked at her,
stunned by the reversal. Before her eyes, the friendly façade slipped
away, and his face twisted into a mask of bestial
hatred.
He made a choking sound,
then collapsed. For once, Lanal had nothing to
say.
Ellis stood over his body
and looked at him, wondering what she should feel. She felt no pleasure from
killing him, and it did not diminish the pain of losing her family in the
slightest. But if nothing else, she had killed an evil man, and finally slain
one of the figures that had haunted her nightmares for a decade. Her family
might not rest any easier, but she would.
She pulled a spare bowstring
out of her belt pouch. With practiced ease, she strung it, then turned back
to the cave. Lanal was not the only monster
here.
*********************************************************************************
Gilliam went into a spin
as he came close to Drake. Falling into a crouch, he ducked under Drake’s
spear by inches. Coming into a full circle, he hacked his sword into the
joint at Drake’s knees, hoping his momentum would let him cut through.
His sword clanged uselessly off of the heavy armor, and the sword went out
wide. Undaunted, Gilliam changed tactics. Pointing the sword upwards, he
leapt to his feet, hoping to drive the weapon through Drake’s chin.
Drake kicked him square in the midsection, his booted foot blasting the air
from Gilliam’s lungs and sending him tumbling. Gilliam came to a halt
inches from the edge. As he rose unsteadily, Drake
spoke.
“And tell me, where
is the rest of your group? I know there are at least three
more.”
Gilliam smiled
grimly.
“They’re below,
dealing with the rest of your murderers. Tell me, how many of your men do
you have
left?”
Drake
chuckled.
“All of them. Chell
brought
reinforcements.”
Seeing the shocked look on
Gilliam’s face, he
continued.
“Did you think there
would only be a few of us? Then you are wrong. You have led your friends
to their deaths. They will be overwhelmed by an army in the tunnels. They
will die in the darkness, and there is nothing you can do about
it.”
Screaming in denial, Gilliam
charged Drake again, slashing wildly. Drake was caught off guard by the flurry
of blows and was forced to backpedal. As efficient as a machine, Drake blocked
every attack. Hoping to use Gilliam’s rage against him, Drake taunted
him, hoping to goad him into making a
mistake.
“You should know that
I had no intention of killing your father. If you hadn’t come, he would
still be
alive.”
Outraged, Gilliam speed up
his attacks even further; ignoring defense and seeming to come at Drake from
everywhere at once. As Drake held his spear in a horizontal block Gilliam
chopped down in an overhead swing, hoping to cleave the wooden shaft in
two.
A sliver of the rock hard
wood was chipped off, but nothing more. Gilliam’s sword sprang back,
his arms going numb from the blow. Drake’s mailed fist caught him in
an uppercut to the jaw. Grabbing Gilliam’s wrist, Drake’s armored
fingers twisted cruelly. The sword fell from Gilliam’s nerveless
hand.
A blow to the side of the
head sent Gilliam sprawling to the ground, the world spinning. Drake towered
over him, his spear poised for the killing thrust. Gilliam lay helplessly,
knowing that this time there was no one to save
him.
*********************************************************************************
Rosa watched in the dim light
of the torches that lined the passage as the zombies shambled towards her,
eyes glowing red with an infernal light. Drool fell from their mouths as
the perverse creatures sensed her still living flesh, and their hands raked
the air as they reached for
her.
There were at least a dozen
of them, too many to try to slip past in the narrow corridor. Slowly, Rosa
raised her dust covered right hand up where they could see
it.
A crystal ring gleamed crimson
in the
torchlight.
A red aura flared into existence
around her. As the closest zombie shambled with a couple of feet of her she
snapped her hand down and drew her sword. She slashed it upward, decapitating
the undead thing in one blow. Holding her sword in both hands, she brought
it down in an overhead slash, cleaving into its chest and splitting its
spine.
It took less time then a
blink of Rosa’s
eyes.
It collapsed with a groan,
a shadowy, smokelike mist rising up from it. A chill swept over Rosa as it
brushed her, along with a feeling of absolute hatred, but then it was
gone.
The other zombies shambled
towards her. Lightning-quick, she swiveled towards them and
charged.
She ducked under the swinging
arms of the first one, aiming a spinning cut that slashed off its right leg
at the knee. As it toppled Rosa leapt onto the prone creature, crushing its
skull like a melon under her boots. She thrust forward as she did, stabbing
another one right between the eyes, then fell into a roll as three more lunged
at her.
Heart beating wildly, she
went at the trio in a frenzy, stabbing and slashing like a sword wielding
whirlwind. They went down, blacken blood oozing out of amputated limbs and
demonic mist filling the corridor. Her sword black with gore, Rosa turned
to the remaining six, which had formed a semi-circle around
her.
The clumsy creatures simply
could not keep up with her magically enhanced speed. As the last one returned
to true death, Rosa fell against the wall and slid down it to the ground,
panting with exhaustion. The combined strain of the battle and the demands
of the ring’s magic left her trembling helplessly on the stone. The
red aura faded and
died.
After several minutes, she
managed to rise. Still breathing heavily, she staggered down the passage,
hand pressed against the wall for
support.
*********************************************************************************
For the first time in his
insane life, Alberto felt
grief.
His mind reeled at the
realization that Katoi was dead. That should not have happened, Katoi should
not have died, Katoi should have eaten Chell’s
heart!
An anger as strong and deep
as his sorrow swept through Alberto. Beyond rage, it was as cold and dark
as an unlit cavern. In the back of Alberto’s mind, a seal broke. Diabolical
power began to race through his body, joining with and amplifying his hatred.
He met Chell’s eyes with a glare more suited to a demon’s face
then a man’s. He said nothing, not bothering with curses or shouts of
anger. The look in his eyes conveyed his feelings
perfectly.
Chell started to laugh, but
the sheer intensity of Alberto’s expression killed his smug amusement.
He sensed power gathering around his enemy, a feeling like a thunderstorm
about to break in the narrow
tunnel.
An aura formed around Alberto,
dark even in the subterranean gloom. Alberto cupped his hands together, and
crackling energy began to gather in his palms. Chell realized that this was
the same sort of power he himself had wielded against the goblin.
In a hollow, emotionless
voice Alberto chanted a grim dirge, calling out to Lich, the connection completed
at last. The black magic built to a
climax.
Chell
screamed.
*********************************************************************************
As Drake stood over him,
the world seemed to slow down to Gilliam. He realized then his folly in presuming
to challenge the incredible warrior. The man was simply too strong, too skilled,
there was no way he could ever hope to defeat him. In his heart, Gilliam
knew he was going to
die.
His vision swam out of focus,
taking Drake’s form away. He thought about them, Ramza, Alberto, Rosa,
Ellis... Silently, he bade them farewell, apologizing that he had failed
them. Maybe they would succeed where he had failed. Gilliam started to
relax...
Then a new thought shot through
him. No, they would not succeed. Drake would go after them next, would hunt
them down and kill them one by one. In his mind’s eye, he saw Ellis
with a spear through her chest, Drake looming over
her.
He could not let that
happen.
To Hell with his own life,
he would not let that
happen!
His vision cleared. Gilliam
focused on Drake’s
spear.
Gathering all of his strength
for one last effort, Gilliam leapt at Drake. Simultaneously, Drake ran him
through. The spear went right through him, entering through his gut and exiting
out of his lower back. The pain was indescribable. Their eyes
met.
“Tell me, was it worth
it?” Drake whispered. “You would have lived if you had walked away,
but you chose to follow me. Tell me, as you die, were your precious morals
worth
it?”
For a moment, Gilliam’s
resolve wavered. Then the image of Ellis dead at Drake’s hands flashed
through his mind again, and his will hardened like steel. Eyes blazing, he
met Drake’s
challenge.
“Yes.”
Grabbing Drake’s spear
with both hands, Gilliam wrenched it away from him. With superhuman
determination, he shoved the spear all the way through his body, then snapped
it over his knee with a sudden burst of strength. As Drake’s tried to
come up with a response, Gilliam hurled himself at him, shoving him towards
the nearby edge of the plateau. Caught off-guard, Drake stumbled back, coming
to a stop inches away from a steep drop. He tried to force Gilliam back,
but Gilliam held on with unbelievable
tenacity.
Extending his gauntlet blade,
Drake drew his arm back for a decapitating swing at Gilliam’s head.
Gilliam caught his wrist in mid-swing. Desperately, the two grappled, Gilliam
actually smiling as he pressed his suicidal attack. For the first time in
decades, Drake was truly afraid for his life. He shouted something, but Gilliam
ignored him and concentrated on his attempts to struggle free. His lower
body was numb, but he pressed
on.
Drake was forced back a step.
Then two.
As they stood on the precipice,
the earth beneath them began to tremble as the tremendous magical forces
battling below rocked the very foundations of the fortress. With one last
surge of strength, Gilliam knocked them both
over.
They were thrown apart as
they bounced off the first level surface, bones crunching as they hit. Drake
scrambled desperately for a handhold against the sheer cliff, trying to slow
his fall. An avalanche of rock, shaken free by the unnatural earthquake,
caught him and carried him down.
Beyond pain, Gilliam fell
free. Then he hit the ground.
Hard.
*********************************************************************************
Ellis was on full alert as
she made her way through the dimly lit tunnels, every sense at its peak.
Her bow was in her hand and at the ready, and she had an arrow
prepared.
Even so, she was still caught
off-guard as she rounded a corner and nearly ran square into four
zombies.
Quick as a cat, she blasted
the arrow into the chest of the closest one. It staggered slightly from the
impact of the point-blank shot, but was otherwise unfazed. It grabbed her,
mouth drooling as it closed in to bite off a chunk of her flesh. Ellis struggled
wildly to throw it off, almost retching from the stench. But it was too strong,
unnaturally strong, and she could not break its
grip.
Suddenly its head went flying
off. Ellis shoved it off of her and stumbled back. A red blur was tearing
the goblins apart. Even as she watched the last one was hacked apart. The
ruby light vanished, and Rosa fell to her knees in exhaustion, chest heaving.
She held a hand to her chest as her heart beat for hard she thought it would
burst through her
ribs.
Ellis approached her
tentatively.
“Rosa?”
The stone beneath their feet
began to shake, throwing Ellis to the ground beside Rosa. She rolled like
a tumbler to absorb the impact, coming to a stop in a crouch. She shielded
her head as stones fell from the ceiling. The earthquake continued; she turned
to
Rosa.
“We have to
go!”
Ellis stood, but Rosa still
knelt there, gasping for breath. Ellis grabbed her hand and pulled her to
her
feet.
“Hurry!”
Dragging Rosa behind her,
Ellis ran blindly through the twisting passageways. Finally she saw light
ahead. She had managed to backtrack to the entrance. They made it out just
in time, the passage caved in behind
them.
They looked up to see a beam
of black energy shooting up into the sky from within the mound. Something
exploded, and the rocks began to fall as the entire cave complex collapsed
in on
itself.
After it was over, the women
looked at each other. They both spoke at
once.
“Alberto.”
Ellis saw a body on the ground
several feet away. Recognizing it, she gasped and ran to Gilliam, kneeling
beside him. As soon as she saw the horrific injuries he had sustained, she
knew there was nothing she could do. The spear wound was only the beginning,
his limbs where broken and his head was at an odd angle, as though his spine
had been
snapped.
Hot tears welled in her eyes
as she looked at him. Impossibly, Gilliam’s eyes flew open. He saw her
and
smiled.
“Your… safe. I
got him Ellis, I got
him.”
“Gilliam!”
Gilliam’s eyes closed.
He was
dead.
Ellis stared at him,
broken.
“I love you,” she
whispered.
*********************************************************************************
Recovered enough to stand,
Rosa watched on wobbly legs as Ellis wept. She also grieved for her friend,
but she knew that Ellis’s pain was far deeper. The bond between the
two had grown quietly, but its depth was obvious to anyone who knew them.
She started towards her, meaning to try to comfort her, but froze in
horror.
A pile of rubble from the
rock slide shifted. Rocks fell away as a batter gauntlet with a bent blade
forced its way out. Like a true juggernaut, Drake rose
again.
He had taken a terrific beating.
His armor was heavily damaged, with deep dents covering it. He moved with
a limp, and his left hand hung uselessly at his side. But somehow, he was
alive.
He began to walk towards
them, slowly, inevitable. His eyes were black fire behind his helmet, and
his anger seemed to radiate out from him. To Rosa he appeared like nothing
less then the Devil
itself.
Clenching her fist, Rosa
activated the ring once again. Whipping out her sword, she charged, screaming.
She feinted a thrust at his lightly armored face, then sidestepped and slashed
at his neck. Predicting the move, Drake turned and blocked with his own blade,
then riposted viciously. Countering her enhanced speed with pure skill, Drake
matched her move for
move.
The fight dragged on for
a minute, then two. Finally, Rosa came to a stop, the red aura flickering
and dying. Her eyes rolling back into her head, Rosa fell to the ground,
unconscious. Drake drew his arm back for the
deathblow.
A voice from behind stopped
him.
“This is for every person
you’ve
murdered.”
Drake heard the creak of
a drawn bow. Lowering his arm, he dismissed Ellis’
words.
“No one shaft could
carry them
all.”
Lightning-quick, he spun.
Ellis released the arrow as he did. It went through his eye slit and into
his skull, destroying the evil mind that had brought suffering to so many
people. Drake stood for a moment, then toppled
back.
Ellis looked at the corpse
for a long time. She thought about removing the helmet to see the face of
the man that had killed so many of her loved ones, but she shook her
head.
“I know what you look
like.”
She dropped her bow and went
to
Rosa.
*********************************************************************************
As the sun fell, Ellis packed
the last of the dirt onto Gilliam’s grave. They had buried him well
away from the rubble that served as the tomb of Chell and his zombies. Alberto
had rejoined them, neither woman dared to ask how he had survived. Carefully,
she placed the small, flat stone they had found atop it. Her heart almost
broke again as she read the inscription Rosa had carved into it. Standing,
she turned to the
others.
“Let’s go. Ramza
will want to know what happened
here.”
As the sun sank beneath the
horizon, its last rays illuminated the epitaph Xavier’s spirit had
inspired.
No greater love hath any
man then this, then that he should lay down his life for his
friends.
The End
(Its been a long road making this, but I enjoyed every minute of it. Thanks
to everyone who took the time to read it and especially those who took the
time to review, I might have given up if it weren't for the feedback. My
first story is now complete)