Darkness and Hellfire

Chapter 49 Death Wall.

Isaac, Lenna, and Kahtesh took off in a sprint back the way they had come from. Loose rocks and stone dust kicked up as they went. Sometimes they would slip or slide on the mild decline from running too fast but none of them crashed. Kahtesh had quickly forgone running which was the only reason he hadn’t ended up on his face. They were moving a fair bit faster than the undead but that didn’t mean that they were going to start slacking.

“Should we try to hold them off at the entrance?” Isaac asked. He really didn’t like running away but he knew better than to make a heroic last stand for no reason. He also knew that his risk of death was actually pretty low but the risk of Lenna getting buried under thousands of undead was pretty high.

“You said they were weak?” Lenna requested clarification.

“Most of them.” Isaac replied. “Some are definitely stronger than others. I don’t know why though.”

“Higher leveled people in life.” Lenna explained.

“So?” Isaac asked again.

“Fighting retreat?” Lenna offered.

“Yeah, I can get behind that.” Isaac agreed. “That way we can thin them out along the way. Maybe we’ll be most of the way through them by the time we reach the other side.”

“You definitely jinxed us.” Lenna reprimanded him.

“Shit.” Isaac swore. “You’re probably right. Well, too late now.” He said as they slid to a stop at the entrance to the tunnel that would take them in a straight line towards Safeharbor. They turned around and waited. Not even a minute later the first of the undead barreled over the crest of the hill and started to tumble down the other side. Isaac couldn’t help but snort a laugh. “Kahtesh I am so glad that you were never that stupid.” He told his favorite dragon. “You can be a bit clumsy but that is just too much.” Isaac laughed as more of them tripped and tumbled. Suddenly the undead slowed down and stopped tripping. The ones that had fallen rose to their feet and started a quick but methodical march towards them. Isaac’s smile immediately vanished from his face. “Something is definitely controlling them.”

“Without a doubt.” Lenna agreed.

Isaac drew his sword and used his natural mana regeneration to power the creation and use of a pair of spears, each the length that Isaac was tall. “Time to face the music.” Isaac said with a grin.

“Remember, fighting retreat.” Lenna reminded him. “And spears?”

“What’s wrong with spears?” Isaac asked like he had just been informed that it was a business formal meeting and not a business casual one and he had just shown up without a coat.

“Everyone knows that blunt impacts are better at shattering bones.” Lenna explained.

“Oh, that’s fine, I get more force launching shadows away from me than trying to swing them.” He replied.

Lenna shrugged. “If you’re sure.” She said and ignited her sword with her aura.

Kahtesh opened his mouth and a roll of thunder split through the clattering of metal and bone like the midnight bell. A flash of light revealed the rust colored scene before them. Rusted armor and weapons, rust colored stone all around them, blood stained bone peaking out from under the armor, and red dust floating in the air.

Skeletal soldiers charged, Isaac and Lenna dodged backwards while cleaving their attackers in two or punching holes through them. Kahtesh fired another lightning bolt, then he took a bite out of one of them, he tripped another with his tail and then all of a sudden they were on top of him. Kahtesh panicked for a moment before a familiar embrace pulled him down into the void. A moment later he appeared behind Isaac again.

“Be careful.” Isaac reminded Kahtesh. Kahtesh replied with another lance of lightning into the skeletal ranks. Skeletons fell by the dozens as seconds turned to minutes. By the time Isaac, Lenna, and Kahtesh had reached the other end of the tunnel it had been an hour. The flames on Lenna’s sword had long died out. She had fired a few fireballs into their ranks to thin them out but they had kept coming. They had killed thousands of skeletons already but there was no end in sight.

The trio wanted to stop at the end of the tunnel but it was too wide. The tunnel was made for a wagon to fit through with a person walking on each side. The only reason they hadn’t been overrun completely was because the skeletal legion wanted to kill them and not move past them. That was the reason Kahtesh had been trampled on, he wasn’t the target. Isaac’s spears had vanished as he switched to healing himself and Lenna while boosting his own physical prowess. The skeletons had somehow managed to maintain a small amount of combat knowledge, at least some of them, because some of them had been stabbing at them with their weapons instead of just trying to pile on top of them like the rest.

“It’s the drow skeletons.” Lenna explained as she cut a spear in half that had been aimed for her eyes. “They're in plate armor.”

Isaac noticed it too but it was good to have confirmation. “Do you think these are all from that battle?” Isaac asked as he desperately tried to hold back the mass of bones and steel.

“Open gate to torment and fury!” Lenna called out and drew a line with a gesture of her finger across the ground in front of them. An orange line followed the path Lenna had directed and a mirror of it appeared ten feet above it. Fire gushed out in a blinding torrent that completely cut off the tunnel from the cavern Safeharbor was built in. The trio jumped back from the wall and waited. Skeletons tried to force their way through. Whether from their own directive or the others behind them pushing, the trio didn’t know.

Ash and steel poured forth through the wall of burning suffering. The undead had barely slowed down. “We need help.” Isaac confirmed what Lenna was thinking.

“I can’t hold this for much longer.” Lenna said. “Send Kahte-” She cut herself off as she heard the warning bells tolling in Safeharbor.

Isaac chuckled. “Yeah, they can definitely see the flames from there.”

“That’s still miles of ground they’ll have to cover.” Lenna reminded him. “I can only keep this up for another minute or two let alone an hour.”

“Kahtesh, I hope you’re ready for more.” Isaac told the dragon. Kahtesh, for his part, seemed to realize something and turned to face the wall of flames. His mouth opened up and he fired another bolt of lightning into the horde. “Good idea.” Isaac said and formed a spear in his hand. With concentrated mental and physical effort he launched it forwards through the geyser of flames and into the charging undead behind it.

Soon a minute had passed and then two. Lenna was running out of mana. She was about to cut it off when they felt a ripple in space behind them. “Darkness, Hellfire, if I may be so bold, could you please stop making more work for me.” A familiar voice said from behind them.

Isaac laughed. “Good to have you with us.” He told the Court Mage.

“Please take over.” Lenna said with obvious strain in her voice.

“Of course.” Alexander replied. “Open gate to torment and fury.” He chanted and made an identical Wall of Flames right behind Lenna’s.

Lenna let her spell fade and her shoulders visibly slumped. “Thank you.”

Alexander nodded. “I hesitate to ask but…”

“No idea.” Isaac replied. “Just an army of skeletons in ancient armor that seemed to be controlled by something or someone but we didn’t see who or what it was.”

“Wait.” Lenna said. “Do you hear that?”

“What?” Isaac asked. “They stopped.”

Lenna nodded. “Do you think they realized that someone else showed up?”

“Like they were waiting for your mana to run out and then gave up because someone replaced you?” Isaac asked. Lenna nodded in reply. “That’s terrifying.”

“I agree.” Alexander said. “Someone is definitely controlling them. I can keep the Wall of Flames up for a while but if it is not killing them then I feel like it is a waste.”

“Agreed.” Lenna said.

“Take it down but be ready to put it back up again.” Isaac instructed the wizard.

Alexander nodded and did as he was told. The army of skeletons quickly came into view. They all turned their heads to lock onto Isaac. They hadn’t even completed their first step in his direction before Alexander had the Wall of Flames back up. “Nope.” Alexander said with a start. “They are definitely after you.” He told Isaac.

“Kahtesh, keep the barrage up.” Isaac instructed the dragon and then waited until after the next lightning bolt had fired to continue talking. “Let’s get some space.” Thunder rolled. “So we can talk in relative peace.” Thunder rolled again.

Alexander nodded and the living members of the team moved away from the bone dragon so they could hear each other speak clearly. “What do you think it is?” Alexander asked Isaac and Lenna.

Isaac shook his head. “I have no idea. I expected to feel another dark creature other than skeletons but that’s all I felt.” He explained.

“Do you think that they could have some way to conceal their presence from you?” Alexander wondered.

“How so?” Isaac asked. “Like divination protection?”

Alexander nodded. “Yes. We are not entirely sure how your ability works.”

Isaac frowned. “Maybe. That very well could be the case. If it is then how will we track down who is controlling them?”

“The castle.” Lenna cut in. “All of the undead looked like they were just told to wander around in front of the castle. It wouldn’t surprise me if their master is hiding inside.”

“Isn’t that like, really obvious?” Isaac replied.

“It is worth a look at least.” Alexander offered his thoughts.

“Definitely.” Lenna added.

“Alright, but how?” Isaac asked. “We’d have to get through that.” He said and gestured towards the Wall of Flames that blocked off the rest of the army of skeletons. “Wait…” Isaac held up his hand to stop either of the other two from saying anything as he concentrated on his Polarity Sense. “They’re retreating. But why?”

“They must have realized that they had failed and it wasn’t worth wasting more minions on a death wall.” Alexander offered.