To the Top

To the Top

It’s my turn to watch the camp. Due to the danger lurking in the trees, two people take watch simultaneously. Sheila tries to sense any nearby lifeforms while I snack on the berries the deer gave us. They’re delicious. Never knew berries tasted so great with venison.

Out of nowhere, my survival instincts begin to tingle. Sheila seems to notice it too. She emits a bright light out of her hand, but it reveals nothing in the dense foliage.

‘There’s something there’ Sheila whispers.

I hear the familiar hissing, and I’m struck from behind. The poison rushes through my veins, turning it a slight green before changing back again. The snake tries to slither away again, but not without getting nailed to a tree with an arrow. It shakes violently in an attempt to escape, but I hit it again.

‘Where is your master?’ Sheila begins to interrogate him, her voice stern.

It refuses to answer, at first. We decide to give Geirolf ten minutes alone with it, he’s back in three.

He strides forward confidently, leading us to what we believe to be the wizard’s fortress.

I ask Sheila for a heal, but upon closer inspection, she finds nothing. She heals the bite mark effortlessly, but detects no poison. Perhaps it was nothing.

We stop by a pond. The water feels refreshing against our battle-hardened hides. It’s a good moment to stop and reflect upon our life choices. There isn’t much time, however. We are not the only creatures that like water. I see a shadow under the surface of the water, something big. There’s no way I can swim back before it strikes. I stay perfectly still and wait for the inevitable. Just before it strikes, I dodge. The mighty beast’s jaws slam shut high above the water. When it lands, it creates a large wave that pushes everyone back to solid ground.

‘I’m not going back in there’ Geirolf says, which surprises me. He’s usually all for doing stupid s**t.

A large gate stands before us in the mountain side. The two enormous doors are made of rock, as if they’d been cut out of the mountain itself. They swing open suddenly, revealing a long, dark hallway.

‘Step into the dark, if you dare. See what lies within’ a voice echoes through the underground fortress.

It is quiet for a short while, everyone’s been shaken up a bit.

‘I’ll go in first’ Dean suggests, ‘I’ll yell if I see anything’.

Sheila lights up the path ahead while Dean sneaks through the dark with ease.

Dean comes to a stop without warning, ‘Wait’ he says, looking around suspiciously.

He yells something, but he’s inaudible over the sound of my own screaming. Winged hounds soar down, clawing and biting at anything that comes near. Sheila is fully focused on keeping the dim light steady and is defenseless against the vicious attacks. The creatures look like hyenas crossed with swans, both of which can be dangerous.

A clawed paw strikes me in the arm, sending blood gushing out. I manage to shoot it in the back, paralyzing it, but that doesn’t stop the pain. Blood splatters the walls of the hallway as Geirolf swings his mighty axe. He manages to protect Sheila from the evil monsters, but is severely hurt in the process. Dean strikes from nowhere, somehow appearing behind us and taking down three hyenas before they turn to attack him. All the hounds have landed back on the ground, now surrounding us slowly. We stand back-to-back, holding our weapons high. Geirolf has claw marks all over his body, but doesn’t seem to mind. Dean’s cloak has been ripped to multiple pieces, his cape barely holding on by a thread. I shoot two hounds in the head and stab another in the neck with an arrow. There is yipping and growling all around. The fight is short but fierce. We are all exhausted but the end is nowhere in sight. Bloody corpses litter the cold floor.

‘I can’t heal without getting rid of the light’ Sheila says after a long pause.

‘I’ll keep watch’ Dean says between heavy breaths.

Although I hate being blind, I find bleeding to death to be a lot worse.

Torches ignite on the spot when we enter the large banquet hall, revealing beautiful paintings covering the walls. There is a large table before us, on the end of which a robed man sits. He’s probably somewhere in his mid fifties, but it’s hard to guess from this distance.

‘I’m Citrio Siculus’ the man says.

Four chairs slide away from the table as he offers us a seat. Plates of food then hover onto the table from large holes in the wall. Our glasses fill themselves with wine.

‘You’ve heard a lot about me, I presume’ he continues, ‘What, exactly, did they say, I wonder?’.

‘You attack their village on a regular basis’ Dean responds, staring him straight in the eyes.

We hesitantly sit down, but stay on high alert.

The wizard takes a sip of his wine, ‘That’s true. I attack them regularly, but the children always stay unharmed’.

‘That doesn’t excuse a thing’.

‘It might not, but perhaps my story will. I fought for the Dandrus empire during the war, I was a soldier like all the rest. We’d been trained well in the art of battle magic, but that wasn’t enough. The Kostonians were winning, even if our superior refused to admit it. I ran back to my home town to protect it, the Kostonians had advanced dangerously. Casting a protective spell, I saved Savvor from certain doom’.

‘That’s not what we heard’ Geirolf says, his voice rumbling through the room.

‘Of course it isn’t. I had saved the town, but in doing so I had disobeyed orders, I was a traitor. They banished me to this mountain, and the townspeople agreed happily. I swallowed my pride and together with my wife we left. I created this castle so we could live a life. Years later she died while giving birth to triplets’.

Tears begin to well in his eyes, making his story much more believable. He looks away and struggles to pick himself back up again.

‘You can’t keep up like this’ Sheila says, her voice as soft and sweet as always, ‘not if you want to respect the legacy of your wife’.

Citrio’s expression changes rapidly and he slams the table hard with his hand. The air around him darkens as he looks at us angrily.

‘Nobody lectures me about my wife’ he roars, ‘I was left to take care of three children because of what they did, and they will pay!’.

He begins to chant in an unknown language and a red circle appears on the ground. It begins to levitate and spin, sending beams of blood red light across the room. He stops and casually walks into the tunnel behind him, disappearing deeper into the mountain. A ball of smoke appears around the circle, then dissipates completely, revealing a large humanoid crocodile. It hisses and roars aggressively, then knocks over the table, spilling all the food onto the floor. Sharp, metal plates cover part of its body, including his claws. Geirolf rarely hesitates in such a situation, and proceeds to bash it with an axe. The beast is pushed backwards, but doesn’t stay stunned for long. He slams Geirolf with the back of its hand, launching him against the wall. His mouth stands wide open, ready to slam shut around anything that gets to close. Dean runs around the table and gets behind it, forcing the crocodile to keep its head on a swivel. Under the cover of the capsized dining table, Sheila rushes towards Geirolf to heal him. This does not go unnoticed to the beast, and his eyes fix threateningly on her slender body. It leaps forward, ready to tear her to pieces with its razor sharp teeth.

Out of every member in our group, Sheila is the most important. I will not let her die.

I stretch out my arm, stopping its mighty jaws mere centimeters away from her beautiful face. The beast’s teeth get a strong grip around my arm, then it begins to swings its head around violently. Clenching my hand around an arrow, I stab out his left eye. It lets go with a loud roar, then thrashes around dangerously. His tail turns the remaining chairs into splinters, shooting shrapnel in every direction. Dean rushes in, managing to evade every powerful blow the nightmarish beast sends his way. He digs his dagger under the monster’s sternum at an upward angle, hitting the heart. It collapses slowly, letting out one last menacing hiss before succumbing completely.

Battered and tired we move on. It’s time to finish this once and for all. I understand his pain, but he has caused more than enough damage in payback. Citrio Siculus stands in what can only be described as a throne room. He sits on a large, stone seat, looking down on us. We advance toward him at a steady pace.

‘I’m surprised you made it this far’ he says, ‘I underestimated you. However, I still have some tricks up my sleeve’.

He waves his hand at me, and I suddenly feel powerless. I feel the poison from earlier today flowing through my veins once more. Breathing becomes difficult and I can no longer feel my limbs. I begin to hyperventilate and fall to the ground, then I go quiet. Dean rushes towards me, his face expressing genuine fear.

‘Come on, Noyala!’.

We are both caught off guard when my fist suddenly flies towards his face, knocking him on his back. I get up, although not by my own choice. Grabbing an arrow from my quiver, I aim for Dean. He stands before me, but does not know what to do.

‘Noyala?’ he asks weakly, but says nothing more.

I let go, sending the arrow flying towards my friend. Luckily, Geirolf manages to whack it out of the air. Monsters now begin to come out of cages in the walls. A lion-bear hybrid focuses its eyes on Geirolf, followed by a gorilla-boar. While Sheila and Geirolf are busy dealing with the beasts, Dean is stuck with me. I reach for another arrow, but before I reach it Dean leaps forward and grabs my arm.

‘Control yourself, damnit!’ he yells, it’s not very effective.

I drop the bow and grab my knife, then slash at him. The knife slices his arm, but fails to hit anything important. In a reflex he grabs his own dagger, but is reluctant to use it. I try to talk, but my muscles ignore my demands.

Geirolf manages to slice up the lion-bear, after which his attention shifts completely on the remaining monster, which doesn’t stand a chance. Dean lowers his guard shortly, but that’s a deadly mistake. I pounce forward, aiming my knife at his chest. He drops his dagger and grabs my arm, then lifts me over his shoulder and slams me into the ground. The air is knocked out of my lungs hard, and my entire body aches.

‘I’m sorry, Noyala’ Dean says yet again, small tears begin to form in his eyes.

I hear Geirolf cutting down the last monster, after which he rushes towards the wizard and slams the man’s head against the cold armrest of his throne. Citrio is caught off guard and accidentally releases his spell on me. I drag myself towards my bow in an effort to feel safe.

Citrio Siculus, the evil wizard who’s caused so much trouble, lies on the floor in the middle of the room.

‘I didn’t want to kill you’ he coughs, ‘but I’m not going to give up, either’.

‘It’s over’ Sheila says.

‘Over?’ he smiles, ‘It isn’t over until someone dies’.

He extends his arm towards Sheila, and I can see electricity begin to crackle around his fingertips.

I fire an arrow in the blink of an eye, but too late do I notice the children. From a shadow in the corner of the room, three children appear. Their faces flooded with fear, but worry for their father surpasses all those feelings. There’s a THUD as the arrow lodges itself in Citrio’s chest, killing him almost instantly. His children, two girls and a boy, rush towards their father. They look at us with fire in their eyes.

‘We’ll let the villagers pick them up’ Geirolf says after a long silence.

We leave the underground fortress covered in blood and regret. I stand at the entrance of the castle, looking out into the world. My final adventure is over, time to settle down.

‘You’re not planning on doing something stupid, are you?’ Dean asks, appearing beside me.

‘What if I am?’ I respond.

A broad smile appears on his face as he encloses his hands around mine, ‘I’ll join you’.

The End