Chapter 05: Brell's Challenge

Chapter 5: Brell’s Challenge

 

Dyorn was the first to wake, or so he thought.  “G’morn, love.  What woke you?”

Lyra turned to Dyorn; her eyes were different somehow though he could not place it.  “I thought I heard something.  Not to worry…dear.”

“Well, since we are awake, shall we awake Gorec and Alora?”

“Yes, we should.”  They entered Gorec’s tent, only to find Alora’s clothes scattered everywhere, along with Gorec’s clothes.  “What the hell is going on here!?”

Gorec awoke with a start.  “Lyra, milady, allow me to explain!”

Dyorn stepped into the tent.  “No explanation needed, Gorec, I am sure we all understand.”  He smiled, and Gorec grinned a bit, wrapping his arms around the sheet-clad Alora.  “You two get dressed, we go after Brell now.”

“Yes, milord.”  Gorec and Alora quickly dressed, and joined Dyorn and Lyra who where awaiting them outside.

“All right, now with you two this should be a lot easier that I had thought at first.”  Dyorn grabbed his shield in one hand, and his sword in the other.  “Gorec, you are with Lyra, Alora is with me.”  They broke up, Gorec and Lyra hid, as Dyorn told them.  Dyorn and Alora ran straight into the lake.

Dyorn was the first to meet the minions, his sword swung faster than they eye could see, the power of the Berserker flooded through him, making him stronger than before.  When the First Wave had been defeated, all that stood was he; blood of every color imaginable stained his sword, the ground and him.

Alora made her way next to Dyorn.  “Well, this should be quite easy.”

“That was only the beginning, it will get harder.”

“Is it possible?”

Before Dyorn could answer, the first of Brell’s servants arrived, and wrapped his rocky hand around his neck.  “Aye, me pretty doll.  It gets much worse.”  The golem, as it had turned out to be, chuckled and grabbed Alora with his other hand.

Alora and Dyorn struggled to be free, but the more they fought the stronger the grip became.  “Let us go!” Alora screamed, to no prevail.  Finally, she mumbled a few well-chosen words, her breath short they came in halting tones.

“What ze…” His words were cut short, with his arms falling to the ground, freeing Dyorn and Lyra.

Dyorn was quick to his feet, and brought his Dark Blade up, feeling the usual Berserker powers flowing through his body.  His voice came, a bit demonic.  “You think you are something, well…” He brought his blade down, and felt little resistance as it passed through the golem.  “You are nothing.”  The golem fell into a pile of rocks Dyorn’s words hung haltingly in the air.  He looked towards Alora, helping her to her feet.  So, he thought to himself, she can do magic.  Only right, being Kagain’s daughter.

“Dyorn, you are not impressed.  You could have done the same, if not better.”

“True, I suppose.”  He chuckled, and sheathed his blade.  “That is the end of the First Wave, and now everyone around knows of us, and our powers.”

“How much harder can it get?”

“That was just a golem, we have ogres, demilichs, and even a dragon yet to come.  So, to put it simply, it gets much worse.”

**************

As Dyorn and Alora faced the golem, Gorec was busy searching for Brell.  “Lyra, do you know who it was that sent the letter?’

“Of course, it was sent by Dyorn’s successor, who is quite jealous of his power.”

Gorec did not say a word, though he should have considering he was Dyorn’s successor until he had an heir.  “There is something not right.  This all seems too strange.”

“I do not think so.”

“Still, something odd is going on, but we must wait for Dyorn before going on.”  Gorec concentrated on Brell’s power, he could have sworn he had gone crazy.  He felt Brell’s power right next to him, in Lyra.  Quite odd, he thought to himself.

**************

Alora and Dyorn continued through to the heart of the lake.  Dyorn looked about, seeing nothing but the corpses of goblins, orcs, and other creatures that even he has ever seen.  The ground stained with blood of every imaginable color.  “Strange.”

“What is strange Dyorn?”

“The second wave is dead.”  He looked around, and saw the Ogre captain, dead with his army.  “The challenge has been destroyed as well.”

Alora looked at him strangely.  “How is that strange?  I would think it a blessing.  It would give us more time to concentrate on Brell.”

They started walking again, Alora still off talking.  She never noticed that she was the only one moving.  “Dyorn?”  She looked around, not seeing anyone.  “Dyorn, this is no place to play games.  Come out!”  There was a bit of fear in her voice.  Not finding a sign of Dyorn anywhere, she tried to turn around finding herself immobile.

“Do not fight it, my darling.  The longer, and harder you fight, the more of a target you become to my…friends.”  A chilling voice filled the clearing.

“Who are you?”  Her voice shook more.  In the far reaches of her mind, she knew who it was, but could not believe it.

“Why ask questions to which you all ready know the answers, my precious?”  The same chilling voice chuckled.

“It cannot be you!”  Alora was on the brink of tears.  “If you are who I think, you are dead!  You have been most of my life!”

“Dead?  Death would be a welcomed thing, my precious.  I have been around longer than any creature here.”

“Than show yourself.”  She drew a dagger, runes flowing over the blade.  “If it is death you seek, than death I shall bring you!”

“My precious, if I were to show myself, death would not meet me, not by your hands at least.  Besides, my friends would be angry if I did.  Listen to me, you must stay alive.  We have big plans for you.  Oh yes, big plans and adventures await you.”

Hearing the name, her grandfather called her, sent chills down her spine making her sick.  “We?  Who is ‘we’?”

“Now, if I told you my companions would not be happy.  But do not fret your mind, you will find out soon enough my precious.”  The voice seemed to fade.  “Stay alive, that is all I ask, we will meet again soon.”  The voice faded completely, and Alora was left admidst the gore, next to Dyorn.

“Alora, what happened?  I have been looking for you a half-hour, we had better find camp.  There is no chance of getting around now.”

“I agree, besides I really need to recover from my incident.”

“What incident?”

“Dyorn, I ran into my grandfather, whom I have been lead to believe was dead my whole life.”

“Interesting, maybe the challenge here was your grandfather.”

“How could that be?  This is supposed to be just for you and Lyra, how could Brell have known that I was to be here as well?”

“Quite simple, Alora, Brell has ties with Kagain does he not?”  Seeing her nod, he smiled a bit.  “He just informed Brell that you were here.”

“But my grandfather?”

“Is one of Brell’s minions, so he was just ready for when you would arrive.”

**************

“Lyra, it is past dark, should Alora and Dyorn be back by now?”

“I do not know, I never knew that they would return for us.”

“Of course they would, after they defeated the majority of his minions, they were to return so that we can prepare for our battle with Brell.”

“Well, how about we prepare, and await their arrival, anything could have kept them, maybe they set camp and will return for us tomorrow?”

“Yes, you are probably right.  I know Dyorn, and he has never backed out of anything, especially when it comes to planning.” Gorec sighed, looking around.  “Well, if you remember correctly, Dyorn and Alora are to distract all of Brell’s higher minions, the ones he has guarding him.  You are to throw your dagger at him, you have to hit him somehow, and you will have only one throw.”

“What!”  Lyra sounded outraged at that plan.  “Why would we do that?  I fail to see the significance in killing Brell, we could bargain him off to Kagain, for your life.”

“Lyra, do you understand what you are saying?  You and Dyorn were sent here to kill Brell, in proof that you were able to be empress.  Do you not remember that?”

“Of course I remember that, but wouldn’t the people want their emperor and empress to be merciful?  What did Brell ever do to harm anyone in Dragonia?”

“Lyra, in the year you have been with Dyorn, you should have learned something of Dragonian history, he is the darkest wizard ever to roam this planet.  Some say he is older than anyone, and knows everything that happens in Dragonia.  The only good he did was the Mage Towers, you do remember what those are right?”

“Of course I remember what the mage towers are!  I came to Dragonia from Entantium, are you insulting my intelligence?”

“Of course not, milady.”  Gorec bowed his head, there was something different about Lyra but he was not quite sure what it was.  “We should get some sleep, if Dyorn does not return today, he will tomorrow, and quite early, we really must continue our journey, with or without him.”

“For once, I agree with you.  G’night.”  She walked off, setting up her camp.

“G’night, milady.”  Gorec slipped into his own camp, and pondered the current events, trying to find a reason for Dyorn and Alora’s disappearance.

**************

Dyorn sighed, putting another log onto the dying fire.  “Gorec and Lyra must be worried sick about us.”

“Dyorn, do you think that they will continue without us?”

“I am not sure, I would hope, yet again I would not, because of the minions we still have to face.  I do not believe they would stand a chance, no matter how good of mages they are.”

Alora sighed, though she knew that Dyorn had a point she did not want to admit it.  “If only we had turned back after the first challenge.”

“Then, we would have been stuck here longer tomorrow, I am sure of it.  Besides, they expect us back when we have defeated his army.  If we do not return, they might leave, or at least I would hope for them to leave.”

She nodded.  “Yes, I wish it too.  But, we shall return, so we do not have to worry about that.”

“Well, let us worry about getting back tomorrow, we need to rest now.  G’night.”  Dyorn set up his tent, and crawled in, quickly falling to sleep.

“G’night Dyorn.”  Alora sighed, and laid back, her gaze slid up towards the sky, the cloudless night led to the most beautiful stars she had ever seen in her life.  Her eyes finally drifted closed, and her breathing became regular, her mind swept off into a peaceful sleep.

What was left of the night, after Alora had drifted to sleep passed by quite quickly.  “Alora, time to rise.  We need to finish with Brell’s army.”

She looked around, a bit tiredly, and yawned.  “Time to get up already?  I just fell asleep.”  She looked around again, her vision clearing.  “Or maybe I did not.”

Dyorn chuckled a bit.  “Well, we must continue and now.  This day is almost half through, if we do not hurry, I do not know what Gorec and Lyra will do.”

“All right.”  Alora stood, and stretched a bit before continuing forward, Dyorn having already gone.  “What do you think we will run into next?”

“I do not know, but be prepared for anything.”  His right hand rested on the hilt of his sword, ready to draw it at any sign of a fight.

Their trek continued for an hour before any sign of an army arrived.  “Dyorn Andros!”  A demilich stepped out from behind a tree, a scythe in hand.  “Your wench of a wife murdered my brother!  I shall take vengeance for him, from your hide!”  The demilich charged at Dyorn, swinging the scythe, aiming for Dyorn’s neck.

Dyorn was quick to draw his blade, the unquenchable anger of the Berserker coursing through his body, as he stopped the scythe inches from his neck.  “Take care of the hobgoblins!  I shall deal with this beast.”  He saw Alora run off, her crystal sword slashing through the air.  His gaze turned towards the demilich.  “Your brother was a fool, he was working for Kagain.  If you are here to kill me, than you are more of a fool than your brother, whether you work for Kagain or not.  You shall meet your death here, foul one.”  His blade swung around, as did his body, aiming for the demilich’s chest.

The demilich was quick to bring his scythe forward, blocking the sword, and making the quick move, slicing up Dyorn’s leg.  Dyorn’s eyes turned blood red, his own anger mixing with that of the Berserker.  His sword rose over his head, and came down crashing through the staff of the scythe.  His foot connected with the demilich’s face, making his stumble back.  The demilich looked up, its face bloodied.  “You ignorant fool!  Your death shall be pleasurable, for me.”  The demilich drew a sword, the blade pure black, the edges serrated.  “Does this sword look familiar?  Or did my master not introduce it to you when you met.”

“So, you do work for Kagain.  You are more of a fool that I had thought, vile creature.  I shall be merciful, and make your death quick.”  Dyorn brought his blade up above his head once again, and brought it slicing back down, through the sword brought up to stop his attack, cutting into the demilich from the right shoulder to its left hip.  Dyorn watched the demilich fall, their clothes stained with blood.  He cleansed his sword of the demilich’s blood, and found Alora, seeing the corpses of the hobgoblins he sheathed his blade.  “Nice work.”

Alora looked over to him, then back towards the body of the demilich.  “You too.”  She looked down towards his leg, seeing his pants ripped, and the dried blood.  “Dyorn, you need that healed.”

“Pardon?”  He looked down at his leg, not having noticed the wound before.  “What do you know.”

“Here, allow me.”  Alora took a knee, gingerly placing a hand over his wound, willing it to heal.  She removed her hand seeing the wound closed and stood.  “How close do you think we are to the heart of the lake?”

“We have one more small army, but it will be the worst.  There will be Ice golems; higher classed Orcs, all of which are easy, but the General is to be a Dragon.  That is where it will get difficult.”  Dyorn sighed.  “We might need Gorec and Lyra’s help.”

“Should we turn back and get them?”

“I think so.”  With that he turned, and headed back the way they came, Alora right behind him.

Gorec was the first to see them coming, and he turned to Lyra.  “Milady, Alora and Dyorn are on their way back.”

“They beat the army already?  I mean…they finally beat the army?”  Gorec looked at her a bit odd, but she did not see it, as she was busy looking out for Dyorn and Alora.

Seeing Gorec and Lyra’s camp closing in, both Alora and Dyorn broke into a run.  “Gorec!”  Alora yelled out, embracing him tightly as she came near, planting small kisses over his face.  “You would not believe the things we had to fight out there.  I had no idea Brell was so heavily guarded.

Gorec chuckled, embracing her just as tightly, returning a few of her kisses.  “Well, the worst is yet to come, Brell himself.”  Gorec looked out towards Dyorn.  “He is all we have left to deal with right?”

Dyorn looked towards Gorec, having Lyra wrapped in his arms.  “No, that is why we are here.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, Alora and I have successfully defeated four batches of Brell’s army, and have yet to face the dragon.  I have a feeling that he is lurking as the General of the final army.  We came back to get your assistance.  Lyra’s dagger will be quite handy during this battle, and I would rather not waste precious time with the dragon.  We still have Kagain on my throne, and I would like to remove him rather quickly.”

“I see.  Well, we would be glad to help.  But, I think we should rest tonight first, get a full start tomorrow.”

Dyorn nodded.  “Yeah, we might want to.  With this being his last line of defence, I am sure it will be the worst.”

They all went to bed, falling into a restless sleep.  As the night reached its peak, red eyes looked onto the camp.  Lyra came out from the tent, and was met by a Silver Berserker Dragon, the eldest of all, Ondgen.  “What are you doing here?”

“You called me here Master.  You said it was urgent.”

“Ah yes…I did.”  She looked at the dragon.  “I wanted to warn you.  Tomorrow is the final assault.  Ready your troops for death, that includes yourself.”

“What?”

“DO NOT QUESTION ME YOU UNGREATFUL WYRM!  YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN DEAD MILENIAS AGO HAD IT NOT BEEN FOR ME!”  Her voice seemed to echo through the entire camp, a dark cloud of birds being shaken from their nest.  “Now do what I say!”

The dragon flew off, as with the other eyes, Dyorn came out looking to Lyra.  “What was that?”

She looked to him, acting surprised.  “What was what dear?”

“That voice, did you not hear it?”

“No…it must have been in your dreams.”

“Must have.”

“Get some sleep dear, we have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow.”  Dyorn headed to bed, quickly falling asleep again.

Lyra followed, she had done what she needed.  Besides, deep within her body she felt an irresistable urge to sleep…something that Brell was now becoming accustomed to.