Chapter 21: Darkling Woods



    We pressed deep into Darkling Woods, to the west of Rausten. Myrrh led us swiftly, surely, onwards. She said she would take us to an ancient sort of temple building thing, the place where the Demon King had first been destroyed.

    The further we travelled, the thicker the monsters became. At last, Ephraim stopped the army.

    "We've got to get a strategy. Just fighting off the random bonewalkers is annoying and stupid. Let's call it a battle from here on."

    So, we did. Our winged units zoomed ahead, beyond the rest of us easily. The watery mud slowed our horses slightly. The pegasi and wyvern each carried an extra fighter - magic users and Innes.

    As Ephraim killed the bishop who had attacked us in Rausten, a bishop named Riev who had once served Grado, we gathered outside the temple.

    A damp and ghastly foul-smelling roar swept over us. I saw some of the more delicate members of our army turn away quickly. Myrrh sat on her haunches quickly.

    "What the heck?" Innes swore at the abhomination. A tattered dragon-corpse stood in the gate of the temple, roaring challengingly. Myrrh roared back.

    The two breaths swirled around the two dragons. The draco-zombie caught flame, but Myrrh's golden brown scales looked paler and greener. She swayed and collapsed sideways. Saleh ran forward with a staff. Artur and Natasha attacked the draco-zombie. It, too, collapsed to one side of the gate. The last shreds of its skin and bones were blown away by the wind.

    Ephraim looked at me. I returned the glance, and, Sacred Twins at the ready, we entered the temple together without a backwards look.


Chapter 20: Last Hope    Contents    Chapter 22: Sacred Stone