Again in possession of the Key, Pantros found himself sitting alone in the best cell in the King’s dungeon. He had three rooms and a private bath with running water. The two servants insisted on assisting him in everything he did. If he went to sit down, one would fluff a cushion and thrust it under him as he sat. When they brought him food they set his table and offered to cut his meat. He’d tried to send them away but they told him they served the King. The two guards standing by the doorway day and night ensured Pantros couldn’t even sustain an illusion of privacy. He’d spent the morning on the battlements, watching the Vulak’s progress in building their siege towers. The sight was depressing.
Without the hope of the Archmage taking and protecting the gem, the only alternative was the inevitable battle. The Vulak had backed away from the city again. Only a handful of archers could hit them at that distance, and they were saving their arrows for when targets might have tactical value. Well over a hundred demons were concealed among the enemy. Sheillene and the Sorcerers and Wizards had been striking at the foul creatures whenever one became visible.
Bryan, Marc, Tara and Thomas came down to join Pantros. “The Vulak have started moving their Siege Towers closer to the city. The Wizards are unable to keep one burning without concentrating and the flame arrows are not doing anything,” Bryan said. “The Vulak used green wood.”
Thomas said, “Mirica and a couple other Sorcerers have the power to blow them over, but that only worked twice and now the Vulak have braced them with ropes.”
“Didn’t Lucian say something about having a Wizard that would turn the tide of the battle?” Tara asked.
“He did, but he also said that Wizard might be too dangerous to expose to battle,” Thomas said. “Wizards, it seems, come with nasty side-effects, such as exploding and leveling buildings or anything else around them. If the Vulak are getting ready to attack, and it looks like they are, I do hope that Lucian’s secret weapon will be able to help us. Sheillene and the archers are on the wall and she is worried they won’t have enough arrows.”
“We don’t,” Sheillene came up behind Thomas. “I was coming down to warn you that the Vulak have started an attack. They are launching stones into the city, but the sung marble construction of all the buildings seems to be mostly undamaged. When the stones hit people, it’s bad, though. You guys should stay inside.”
“Shouldn’t you be on the wall?” Thomas asked.
“Now that the Vulak are closing, any archer can hit them.” Sheillene said with a shrug. “They have their orders. I am staying down here to keep Pantros and his gem safe.”
“You don’t think Bryan and I can handle it?” Marc asked.
“I didn’t know you would be down here,” Sheillene said. “But even so, adding my bow to your blades can only improve his odds of surviving.”
“I’m fifty feet below ground and there is only one stairwell up from here. I think we can defend that,” Pantros said. “The only real risk to me here is dying of boredom.”
“You have a neat stack of books there,” Thomas pointed to the desk in Pantros’ sitting room. “How could you be bored?”
“I don’t read Abvi,” Pantros said. “I did find an interesting picture.” He went to the desk and retrieved a book titled ‘The History of the Sword by Col. V. Venusheart’. “There’s a picture of a sword here,” He opened the book to a marked page and showed everyone the drawing of the sword on that page. “Look Familiar?”
Bryan gasped. “That’s my sword!” he said. “Well it’s the blade of my sword. My guard, hilt and pommel are just plain iron. That’s a fancy mold or carving and clearly some kind of huge gem in the pommel.”
“The Blade of the Baron?” Sheillene read. “That would be a proper translation but the dialect of the book is over twenty thousand years old. “It says the blade is of human origin, making that blade over twenty five thousand years old.”
“And not a spot of rust,” Bryan said. “I already know it’s enchanted.”
Sheillene continued to translate the text near the picture. “It says here that the sword was disassembled because the combined enchantments on the various parts made a weapon that would cut an armored horse in half. It’s also too heavy for an Abvi to carry, which explains why it was disassembled. At that time humans with potent swords would be a threat to the Abvi nation.”
“You mean nations?” Pantros said. “I thought there were four: Melnith, Grenlith, Valencia and Rahvenna.”
Sheillene then explained, “Twenty five thousand years ago there was one and it was called ‘Enlith’. That country stretched across the continent from one ocean to the other. Relarch didn’t exist; there were no humans because the Abvi had purged them around that time.”
“Why did they…” Pantros started to ask about the Purge when a crashing sound echoed through the dungeon. Snarled battle cries filled the halls. Dust filled the air and Bryan picked up his sword and rushed out of the room. Abvi Guards were yelling, but Pantros still didn’t speak enough of the language to understand them.
“Vulak!” Sheillene snarled. She stood and strung her bow.
Marc beat her to the hallway and chased after Bryan.
“I suppose I shouldn’t let them have all the fun,” Pantros said. He reached in his shirt and pulled out the Nightstone. He placed it in Tara’s hands and then drew his sword. He didn’t try to explain to Tara what she should do before following the others into the dust filled hall.
Deeper into the dungeons a wall had collapsed revealing a tunnel behind it. The tunnel was filled with Vulak, all pushing and shoving to get through the hole. Once through the hole they met Bryan and Marc. Marc’s swords were knocking the Vulak weapons aside and occasionally striking at the Vulak. Bryan’s sword lay on the floor behind him, as he simply grabbed any part of a Vulak he could. He then twisted whatever he’d grabbed and tossed the Vulak into the nearest wall.
Pantros heard the bowstring snaps and shafts appeared in the chests of the rushing Vulak. He knew better than to try to find a place in the fight between Bryan and Marc. The scar on his ear reminded him not to get between Sheillene and her targets and she had claimed the gap between the giants, though from ten paces back.
“You need to get into that mine,” Sheillene said. “We need to push them back and collapse the tunnel.” *That one, on the floor over there, it’s still breathing,” his sword said.
Pantros looked around and saw one of the Vulak starting to roll to his feet. Pantros thrust his sword through the Vulak’s heart. *It’s not the most honorable kill,* the sword said.*But we can’t afford to have Vulak standing up behind us. The Vulak would not be so kind to you if your positions were reversed. They’d break your legs, then your hands, then give you a gut wound, the kind that will kill you slowly and painfully.*
Bryan picked up a Vulak and swung it around then flung it back into the tunnel knocking a few others to the ground. Marc took the opening to step into the tunnel and Bryan followed after. The tunnel was wide and braced. The Vulak had spent time building the mine. Marc and Bryan could stand side by side with enough distance between them to fight and more than enough for Sheillene to shoot through. Pantros accepted the job of delivering the Coup-de-Grace on any Vulak that managed to survive as the two giants pushed into the tunnel.
“Hey Pan, Bring my sword with us,” Bryan said. “If this widens out, I’ll need it.”
Pantros picked up his friend’s sword. It weighed as much as a feast day turkey. He could hold it in one hand, but couldn’t swing it effectively with both. So he held it in his left hand by the ricasso with the blade nearly dragging behind him. He could still use his rapier to finish off the occasional enemy. Fewer survived for the giants to step over once Bryan had a wall right next to him to crush the Vulak against.
“Someone went for help, right?” Pantros asked Sheillene.
“I hope so,” Sheillene said. “I can re-use my arrows, but not always and I will run out and I will tire. And one of those Vulak might get lucky against the two big guys up front.
“I can help if you tire,” Prince Aven said as he approached from behind. “I can also heal so any Vulak would have to get extremely lucky.” He nodded behind him to a cluster of Abvi. “And, just in case, I brought forty of my best soldiers.”
Aven held a staff of gnarled wood that he held out and touched to Bryan’s back. Pantros hadn’t realized his friend had slowed until Aven’s touch clearly revitalized him. The same action on Marc provoked many Vulak Screams. Soon it was evident that they were no longer pushing the Vulak back but were chasing them out of the tunnel.
“Sword!” Bryan shouted.
Pantros realized they were fighting under a twilight sky and handed Bryan the huge sword. The Vulak again surged towards them coming in from all sides. They were in a clearing half a mile from the city walls and they
