The Battle of King's Reach

Sophia brings the group back to King's Reach just as the fiercest part of the battle begins.

23.

The Battle of King’s Reach

 

Chaos reigned in the great room of the tower when the group returned.   For an instant they looked around wildly, but it didn’t take long for them to figure out what was happening.   They were under attack.   Guards were running everywhere, some were pressed against the barred main door of the tower as heavy blows fell against it.

Archers were positioned at all of the narrow windows, firing arrows franticly.   Suddenly there came shouts from those near the front door and they turned to see several ghost-like forms floating through the wall and reaching for the terrified guards. 

Eleazar had his holy sword Valere out of its scabbard quickly and pointing it at the spirits shouted loudly, “Be gone, by the name of Yesh!”

The forms gave off agonized moans and disappeared.  The front door was still being pounded upon from the outside, but then it began to smoulder and burst into flames. 

“Dragonmen!” One of the guards yelled, causing Eleazar to turn to the King.

“Your Majesty, perhaps this would be a good time for the chess pieces.”

Haroldris turned to Sophia, “What word activates them?”

“Juyo” She replied, “I’m not sure you’ll be able to, though.”

“I’ve got to try.”

Sir Davit, who was carrying the chessboard and pieces, sat them down on the floor.  

“Wait!” Khord warned, as he quickly removed the black chess pieces from the board.   “We don’t want them fighting each other.”

Haroldris squatted down next to the board, glancing up one last time to see the forms of the Dragonmen moving through the crumbling remains of the burning door.

“Juyo!” He spoke to the pieces.   There was a flash of light and suddenly a host of 16 strangely attired figures stood before him.   They bowed once and the King turned to Sophia, “Do you know how to tell them to defend this tower against our foes?”

 

Sophia thought for a moment and quickly spoke the phrase, which the King repeated twice.   The beings bowed again and immediately sprang into action.  

The Dwarven ‘pawns’ ran forward and attacked the Anthrodracoi coming through the doorway, to the surprise of the guards defending it.  

A handful of spectral forms materialized through the wall to their left, but the two cleric ‘bishops’ chanted something in a strange tongue, reached into a belt pouch and threw some dust like substance into the air.   The dust formed into what looked like a glowing cloud of mites that swarmed over the spirits.   The ghosts fought against them, but after a few moments they and the cloud faded away.  

 

Yet they were replaced by even more of the apparitions who swarmed against one of the two chessmen clerics.   He vanished suddenly, a bishop chess piece appearing on the chessboard at the same moment .

The other cleric rushed against them, but they now swarmed upon him.   But there came a brilliant burst of white light that blinded everyone for an instant as Rori used her wand of Illumination against the spirits. 

The burst of light did not destroy them, but they moved away from the Cleric and quickly floated toward the girl.

 

Siris managed to get an arrow off hitting one of the ghostly forms as if it were fully material in form.   It popped at once like a bubble. 

Zeatt held up her hand and commanded, “Be gone, in Yesh’s name!” at the same time that Eleazar raised his sword and gave the same command.   Just as they reached out to grab Rori, the spirits all suddenly vanished with a faint moaning sound.  

The chess piece that was the Queen was chanting a spell in the odd tongue of Toi-Migg during the entire attack by the ghostly beings, and she now gestured in the direction of the Dragonmen who were battling the Dwarven pawns and royal guards.  

There was a howl of icy wind and a storm of sleet and ice was generated, very similar to the type produced by Sir Alvis’ sword.   But the spell did no harm to the royal guards and chessmen.   Instead it plowed into the Anthrodracoi, knocking them down with the force of the impact and greatly injuring them.   The Dwarven pawns leapt upon them immediately, killing all six of the Dragonmen in the room by the time the spell had dissolved.

 

It was far from over, though, for through the main door raced more of the Dragonmen, and they breathed fire upon the pawn pieces that stood there facing them.   Two of the pawns disappeared, then reappeared as smaller pieces on the chessboard, while the other six attacked the Dragonmen.   They brought two of them down with their axes, with the loss of only one of their own.  

 

Pleased with what he saw, the King turned to Sophia, “We’ve got to get the fire bird animated and out there taking care of the Wyverns; I can hear their shrieks through the walls."

 

Sophia nodded and scooped up the figure of the bird and raced over to one of the skinny rectangular windows on the stairwell leading upwards.  

A Dullerm Elven archer looked very surprised to see a Drow woman approaching him, but stepped aside from his post when he saw Haroldris behind her.

“Excuse us.” Sophia said politely to the Elf, with her fetching smile that made him even more uncomfortable.

“How goes it?”  The King asked the Elf as Sophia checked to see if the figurine could fit through the narrow opening of the window.

“Wyverns are everywhere, sir!   It looks as if they’ve released all of their undead into the city.   Lellorm yelled down a few minutes ago that one of the large airships is approaching the tower.”

“We should be in the hottest part of it.”   Haroldris answered as Sophia found that she could push the firebird statue through the opening.

“Throw the figure through after you tell me how to say ‘Attack the Wyverns’.”

The Drow sorceress complied and an instant later the outside of the tower was lit up with the incredible sight of a Dragon-sized bird made up of fire, which roared upward upon hearing Haroldris’ command.

But just as they were returning to join the others in the Great Hall, the room shook violently, sending everyone tumbling to the floor as the walls crumbled and pieces of the ceiling fell on top of them.

Screams from the levels above came as terrified archers and royal guards raced to get down the stairs.

“Earthquake!”  Queen Eioldth screamed out, “They’ve cast an Earthquake spell!   Everyone get out quickly!”

 

The scene erupted into pandemonium as everyone - including the Anthrodracoi- scrambled to get out the tower’s one entrance as support beams began to rain down on them.  

 

Khord grabbed up the chessboard and unused black chessmen, dodging stone and wood as he charged forward behind the others into the bottleneck by the door.

The white chesspieces did not move, following blindly the order of the King to defend the tower.

“We don’t have time!”  Aurei yelled, seeing they would not make it out of the door, “Let’s make an exit!”

 

She ducked her head and ran full force at the nearest wall, praying to Yesh that her Giant Strength belt would be enough to accomplish the feat.  

With a boom, she punched through with her shoulder, the impact nearly knocking her out.   Eleazar followed her example, widening the exit with his body.   

 

Queen Eioldth stood in the middle of the room, her hand above her head, holding the ceiling up with a spectral hand so the others could escape.  

 

Suddenly she was swept off her feet, scooped up by King Haroldris as he and Sophia raced past, followed by a handful of the Archers.   Shielding both his wife and Sophia with his body, Haroldris pushed them through the opening Aurei and Eleazar had made, as the tower, no longer held up by the Queen’s magic hand, quickly collapsed.  

 

“Go, go, go!!!” The King roared to those behind him and five of the men made it out and halfway across the street before the tower fell with a roar, showering them with dust and small pieces of debris.

The Dragonmen in the tower fled with the others massing around the entrance, as soon as the building began to collapse, probably just to regroup and renew their attack, but at least for the time being, fleeing from the battle.

 

But the King and his companions had no time to recover from the disaster, for above them hovered the black metal hull of one of the Lich’s airship.   As the dust settled, there came a blue glow from a short distance down the street and a moment later a group of 40 forms materialized as the teleportation spell was completed.

 

“Yesh, save us!”   Zeatt gasped, seeing the horrid forms of

Morbis Noctunus and Tantibus Gravem, accompanied by their six Death Knights, seven remaining Vampire Lords, and a score of lesser Vampires, “Sophia, I think this would be the appropriate time to use the rest of our figurines.”

 

Khord quickly set the chessboard down that he’d escaped with, then set the pieces on the board, though not in their proper position, as their enemies strode up the street.

 

“Tell them to destroy all undead.”  Sophia suggested, and before he asked, she told him the words in Toi-Migg, which he immediately recited.   The black chess pieces appeared full-size, nearby, while, one by one, the small white pieces appeared on one side of the board, having been destroyed by the collapse of the tower.  

One of the Liches laughed at the sight, “Interesting, but game pieces will not be enough.”

Haroldris did not answer but yelled back to Lute, “Bring the Elements, quickly!”

The Half-Ogre, who stood dust covered beside his wife, ran forward while taking the brooch-like figures from a pocket in his cloak.

“I want them to attack the Liches, Death Knights and Vampire Lords, Sophia.”

She quickly told him the correct phrase and Lute put them on the ground.   One of the Liches seemed to be chanting a spell as they continued to approach, but the King didn’t pay any attention, instead repeating the words Sophia had spoken.

“Fool!” The same Lich again spoke to Haroldris as they neared, “Elementals won’t affect us.”

 

As the King summoned the Holy Elementals, Queen Eioldth was closely studying the Lich finishing the spell.   He kept casting glances to his right to where a Death Knight stood with his hand positioned as if he was holding something.  

 

 

The Lich’s spell ended just as the Holy Elementals appeared, and with a quick nod at the Death Knight standing next to him, they abruptly reared back together and threw glowing yellow balls of fire.

But the Queen had anticipated this.   Suddenly, just in front of the Holy Elementals, just a few feet from their enemies, a spectral hand suddenly manifested, stretching the full length of the street where they stood.

Both fiery arcnane balls slammed into the invisible wall at point blank range.   There was a deafening boom that knocked everyone, foe and friend, to the ground.   

 

But the worst was reserved for the undead forces.    The two spells ricocheted off the invisible hand and exploded back as five massive balls of fire, engulfing the Liches, Death Knights, Vampire Lords and many of the lesser Vampires.   The impact dispelled the Queen’s magic hand for the second time that day, which meant that she would not be able to bring any more forth from the ring until tomorrow.  

 

But as she picked herself up off the ground (she had braced herself for the explosion and so fell only lightly), she yelled across defiantly to their foes, “That was for Duke and Duchess Frampbrum and the two Archmages!”

However, the forces opposite them were too stunned to hear her words.  Tantibus Gravem lay dead, his foul corpse burning with arcane fire, though his phylactary would have to be located and destroyed before he would be forever vanquished.  

Two of the Vampire Lords had been consumed by the fire and had taken gaseous form.   One of the Death Knights was also engulfed in flames; his armor and sword bubbling and melting.  

The others were mostly injured and all were dazed by the power of the blast.    

 

But the four summoned Holy Elementals were not dazed and immediately attacked the undead.   The Air Elemental immediately formed a tornado form and snatched up a lesser Vampire.   The Vampire screamed as if burning as the Elemental flung him into one wall and then another, against the ground and into the rubble in a blur of motion.  

 

The Water and Fire Elementals dove onto two of the injured Death Knights, one of them rolled out of the path of the Water Elemental, while the other was again engulfed in fire.   The Death Knight facing the Water Elemental flung a fireball directly into the path of his opponent.  

There was a loud roar and the Elemental exploded into a cloud of steam.   The other undead warrior slashed at the Fire Elemental with his great sword, but the Elemental fought back with arms of fire.  

The Death Knight suddenly crumbled, engulfed in flames, but immediately four of his companion knights attacked the Fire Elemental.  

Their terrible dark swords stabbed and slashed at the seemingly invulnerable fire until, with a hiss the second Holy Elemental dissipated.

 

Meanwhile, the Earth Elemental had moved against Morbis Noctunus as he struggled to get to his feet.   The Lich saw the Elemental, but amazingly, ignored it, confident it could not harm him at all.   Then a large stone hand pounded down on him, filling his green glowing eyes with the horror that he was about to be destroyed.  

Morbis fell to the ground, just a crumpled corpse again.  

 

The Earth Elemental slowly turned and moved against the Death Knights just then finishing off the Fire Elemental.   But the slow moving beast wasn’t alone, for the black chess pawns had stood and charged the Death Knights, led by the two black knights.  

Eleazar and Aurei started to move forward, but Haroldris held them back, “No my friends, let Li-Chee’s magic weaken our foes as much as possible.”

“There has to be something we can do!”   Sir Alvis pleaded with the King as he watched the surviving Archers and royal guardsmen battling slow moving zombies that had wandered toward them, attracted by the collapse of the tower.  

“I do have an idea.”  Haroldris replied, and turned to Sophia, “Can you teleport freely?”

“Yes.”

“We need to take out the Fire Elemental powering the airship hovering over us.   I imagine the Vampires that we’ve defeated have coffins in the hold.   Can you teleport Alvis to the deck of the ship?”

“Yes, I think so.   So you want him to use his sword’s ice storm to destroy the elemental?”

“Exactly.   Take Khord with you to guard both of you while he is blasting the Elemental with ice.   Then come back here quickly.”

Alvis and Khord heard the entire conversation and nodded their agreement to the plan.   A moment later Sophia was chanting the spell and they disappeared with a flash.

 

***

The eight pawn pieces, that now had the form of Dwarven warriors dressed in chainmail and carrying axes, immediately attacked the four remaining Death Knights as two knights in black plate armor, astride black warhorses, led the charge with lances.  

The Death Knights dodged the charging Knights, forcing them to dismount to fight.   The Dwarven pawns covered the horsemen, giving them time to dismount while they engaged the Death Knights.   At the same time, the Earth Elemental came in, swinging its arms like huge hammers.  

 

The Death Knights were overwhelmed, but fought fiercely, killing four of the pawns before the Elemental destroyed one of the undead warriors.   The black chess piece knights cut down another of the Death Knights.

 

One of the two remaining Death Knights, sensing they soon would fall, in desperation, threw a huge fireball into those battling around him.   The blast killed all the pawns, one of the two black knights and the Earth Elemental, but consumed his fellow Death Knight as well.

 

 

Yet the two chess piece Bishops joined the black knight at that moment.   The Death Knight fought on, killing the remaining Black Knight and sending another black chess piece back to the board.  

Arrows began whizzing by the Death Knight from the black rooks - who took the form of Elven rangers using longbows.   Two arrows struck him from the chess piece archers, but he ignored them, cutting one of the bishop pieces in half. 

 

Another arrow found a gap in the Death Knight’s armor, yet he still stood and swung at the remaining Bishop, who managed to evade the horrid sword. 

The black rook ranger sent another shaft into the neck of the wounded Death Knight.   He staggered, his blow missing the chess piece cleric before, finally, the fifth arrow went through the undead warrior’s eye, destroying it.  

 

***

 

The Vampire Lords were not passive while this battle was raging, however the Air Elemental kept them tied down battling it for a time, before one of the Lords, frustrated at being kept at bay, dispelled the Elemental with a spell.

The Lords and their lesser Vampire minions sprang forward at once, some attacking the two Rook Archers, several focusing on the surviving black Bishop, while the Lords and remainder of their lesser minions spread out and moved against the chess piece King and Queen.  

 

The Rooks were surrounded quickly by the blood-sucking fiends; their arrows missing the agile undead.    Siris could not stand to just watch them and sent several undead slayer arrows at some of the Vampires, killing a lesser Vampire before they overwhelmed the rooks and sent them back to the rapidly filling chessboard as black playing pieces.

The chess piece queen was ready for her foes and sent a bolt of energy into the chest of one of the Lords that had been badly burnt earlier, killing him.  

The black King chess piece tried turning the creatures moving down upon them to no effect and they swarmed over them like a pack of wolves.  

Two lesser Vampires burst into flames from a spell the Queen piece was able to cast before she was destroyed, followed seconds later by the King piece, which completed refilling the black pieces on the chessboard.

“Rest time is over.”  Aurei said to those around her as the Vampires now advanced upon the group.  

 

Reviews

[Erin Winter]

"He vanished suddenly, but at the same moment a bishop chess piece appeared on the chess board."
I feel this sentence would be better if the second half said ' a bishop appearing on the chess board at the same moment.'

[Eddie Davis]

Yes, that does indeed sound better, thanks.