The Saga of Tallia the Unwilling Ch. 10

"Rontus," said the Amazon. She was now certain who had knocked down the floor from beneath her feet.

"Soon, I'll be Rontus Bitch-slayer," it chuckled in a deep, reverberating laugh.

And as if that weren't bad enough, she saw only half-revealed through the cloud of hanging dust, approaching towards her, a sword of fire.

***

The first part of the plan went so well. Sang under cover of darkness took up a strategic position under cover within sight of the wall. She reared up and put an arrow into a hunched, horned figure on the wall and, then when a second beast-man ran over to check on its friend, she put another in that one. That one actually tumbled forward over the battlements and off the wall making a very satisfying scream all the way down.

Suddenly the fortress shook with the sounds of multiple signal horns blaring. Hilarius popped up behind a different, closer rock and yelled in his most burly voice, "To the gates, men! Bring forward the battering ram! Attack! Attack!"

And then the rogue scurried away under cover of darkness as a volley of poorly aimed arrows fell all about.

Sang popped up again and even in the sparse moonlight saw the silhouette of a beast-man behind a battlement outlined nicely by a torch. She put an arrow in him and then once more bolted. She too was rewarded with a volley of scattered return fire. But of course she already gone.

So far, brilliant. But then the gate opened. And out poured a heavily armed mob of frenzied Sons of Arion. It seemed the creatures had not bought Hilarius' fiction about the battering ram and the army. Instead they had sent a hunting pack out and at its head was two sniffing hound-men who quickly caught Hilarius' scent.

"Shit!" observed the rogue. "Run!"

Then, their flight became a foot race. The pair had no chance against the score of monster men in a straight fight, so they fled. Sang and Hilarius sprinted in the dark straight towards the crack in the base that led into the underworld beneath the fortress. They had no proper light source, but fortune favored them, for there was no rain this night and the moon was bright and full. Thus they were able to cover the rough ground at speed. This proved essential for two reasons. First, there was a howling, frenzied, murderous pack of beast-men on their heels. Second, every so often an archer on the walls would take a pot shot at them even in the dark. It seemed that the vision of the beast-men was well adapted to the night.

The pair weaved and bobbed and miraculously arrived alive and unpunctured by arrows to the entry. They had no time for delay and fled inside, easily bypassing the bramble that grew at the entrance. They moved away from break in the stone and hid quietly hoping the hunting party would pass them by.

That did not work. The hound-men located them as easily bloodhounds might sniff out a hutch of rabbits. The pair gained only a moment's head start because it took their pursuers a few moments to hack through the remains of the long-thorned bramble that covered the entry. And any hope that the beast-men were terrified of the underworld quickly dissipated.

And then the chase was back on. Only this time, the chase would be held in the absolute darkness of the sidhe caverns. Sang had no choice but to light a torch, scraping her blade across flint and sparking the brand to life. This of course allowed sight but it also made them easy to follow. So, speed now was all that mattered.

Hilarius did pause for just a second to throw a knife into the shoulder of one of the hound-men who got too close. The beast-man fell, bleeding and yelping in pain, and was soon left behind by the eager hunting pack.

Sang sprinted as best she could holding the torch before her. It would occasionally perilously flicker threatening to strand them in darkness. But still it kept burning. The pair hustled through the caverns, as fast as they could managed. Sang's perfect sense of direction again saved their lives as she avoided any dead-end passages or turning into side chambers with no exit.

But what she could not do is keep them from getting tired. And after countless minutes of this furious chase, both Hilarius and her were panting and sweating mightily. Even the cool of the caverns now felt warm under the weight of their relentless exertion. The beast-men gave no hint of tiring, seemingly boundless in their enthusiasm for their deaths.

And then they found the great cursed door. Both of their blood chilled. This is where they had met the demon days before. But they had no time for recollection. Sang ran up to the door and gave it a push. It opened.

Hilarius, still panting, said, "Wait? Is this wise?"

Sang gave him a look that wordlessly conveyed, 'got any better ideas.? And indeed Hilarius did not. So they sprinted into the vast cavern of Gaelynglas beyond as the door slammed shut.

And then suddenly Hilarius did have an idea. He grabbed two large loose rocks and signaled for Sang to extinguish the torch. The pair hid inside of the great cavern on both sides of the Magister's Gate in utter darkness. He began to grind the two stones together.

Then Hilarius issued forth a truly inspired bit of theater. "What is that? Oh, no! Gods!" And then he slammed the two stones together and issued forth his best death rattle.

The beast-man packed stopped moving. Hilarius continued the grinding, even moving the stones closer to the gate. He could hear their uncertain yipping and growling. They were standing just on the other side of the gate. All they had to do was stream in and Hilarius and Sang were dead. The pair were far too exhausted to outrun them and the beast-men had bows which would prove decisive in this comparatively open, large cave.

Hilarius continued to make the grinding sound louder and louder, shoving the two flat stones together hard. And then he slammed the stones into the great door. That proved enough for their pursuers. The beast-men fled before the non-existent sidhe demon in utter panic. Where they went then, neither Sang nor Hilarius knew nor cared. They were gone.

The pair waited in darkness and silence for many long minutes. It seemed at last, the deception had worked. Sang then relit the torch once more. She nodded at the rogue.

Hilarius smiled. "See talking can be useful, from time to time."

Sang laughed. "Yes," agreed Sang and then she said no more. She began walking towards the ruined city.

***

The dust from the collapsed house settled, giving Tallia a chance to appreciate just how fucked she really was. She was outnumbered five to one, but she'd face those odds and worse before. No instead, it was the quality of these foes that had her worried. The nearest foe was the scariest -- a four-armed rhino-man ogre named Rontus. Besides him were three other beast-men. Two of those, a crow-man and an owl-man had bows. The third was a hyena-man holding a shield and short stabbing spear. And then there was the demon -- scarlet-skinned, horned and smiling, wielding a sword of fire.

'Okay,' thought the Amazon, 'maybe she's actually the scariest.' Tallia herself was beaten half to death, held only a bent shield and broken bit of masonry, with her spear at her feet.

'I am fucked,' she once more thought. But then she smiled. She had always been outnumbered and seemingly facing impossible odds. Just a typical day for Tallia the Unwilling. And her enemies, they were approaching slowly, warily. They were just as scared of her. And as well they should. She'd already killed -- what? Nine of the fuckers. Let's add one more.

She threw the broken chunk of stone in her hand with stunning force straight into the face of the crow-man archer. Up until that time, she'd never seen a bird swallow its own beak before. The stone smashed the creature's skull very effectively and it fell gurgling out blood and grabbing at its own face in absolute agony. She then did that cool trick, taught to Tallus by Claudius Foe-Fisher, master of the trident, where you pick up a spear with your foot.

It flew into her hand, she banged it against her bent shield and bellowed, "Once more I ask, who's next, fuckers?"

Her now four enemies attacked her at once. An arrow from the owl-man fired straight into her lower left leg. It pierced all the way through, scraping off the bone, giving her a spike of pain. The hyena-man jabbed at her, and pierced her side. The demoness lunged forward and cut the head of her spear off with a swipe of her fire sword. And Rontus slammed his two hammers down on her shield, breaking the circle of bronze into three pieces and causing her left arm to sing with agony. That arm was probably broken. But it was hard to be sure. When are you in this much pain from this many sources, it can be hard to know specifics.

Tallia fell to her knee, but did not stop fighting. She spun her broken spear around, using the bronze butt as a long-handled mace. In one titantic swing, she smashed the hyena-man's face and imbedded the butt deep into Rontus' upper left arm, which began to bleed profusely. The hyena-man fell, twitching and bleeding. He'd probably be dead in a few moments. Tallia wondered briefly if she'd be alive to see that.

Another arrow jammed into her right shoulder. That hurt like hell, but was not her concern. With all the strength she could muster she pushed off her good leg and avoided the incredibly powerful dual blow of Rontus' two hammers. The hammer strokes came down with unimaginable force, pulverizing stone. Debris and dust flew everywhere from the impact.

Tallia slammed her mace into Rontus' back. Its thick hide absorbed the blow but still, it left a nice bloody gouge even in his tough rhino hide. Tallia got another arrow in her left thigh. Gods on high and in hell, that owl-man archer was really pissing her off. She was light headed now. Ah, yes, blood loss. She was bleeding to death. But she hated to die alone. 'Let's see if I can kill three more fuckers before I die,' she thought.

Rontus brought down his two hammers once more at her in unison, trying to pulp her chest. She actually caught them, miraculously enough, with her broken spear shaft. Right where the metal met the wood, she slammed her spear shaft forward and caught them. Rontus probably thought she wouldn't have the strength to stop his blow. But her emerald eyes burned with Amazonian fury. She not only caught them, she pushed back and sent the four-armed rhino ogre flying back across the blood and debris strewn chamber. That monster landed right on his well-armored ass.

The owl-man archer looked astonished at this feat. He looked even more astonished when he got a brick straight in the chest. He fell back, his sternum shattered, gasping for air. Tallia staggered to her feet, with three arrows sticking out of her, one arm-broken, barely able to stand let alone walk, covered in blood both from herself and from others.

The demoness finally came close enough for Tallia to get a good look at her. You might even call the creature from hell beautiful if it weren't for the curving horns burning with crimson flame and her skin of roughly the same color. She held a curving scimitar entire constructed of fire and her eyes burned.

"I told Rontus he'd need my help before the end. Not that I need do much. It appears you are already dying," laughed the demoness.

The room started to spin as Tallia gripped her broken spear.

"Oh, but there is still some fight left in you," said the demoness.

A very pissed Rontus rose. "Get away from her, hell spawn. I said she's mine," growled the ogre.

"Fine. Fine, but do it quickly. She still has friends we need to hunt down," said the Burning Horn.

"Time to die, bitch," said the ogre. Tallia wanted to dodge or swing or do something, but she instead just stumble backwards and slumped against what remained of a pulverized stone wall. Rontus charged his two massive bronze hammers at the ready. His charge was impeded though by the arrow that went though his eye.

"What the fuck!" cried the demoness. She suddenly blazed with fire, her entire form awash in living flame. She blazed like a small sun, for about two seconds. That's when a bolt of violet energy from the second story struck her directly between her scarlet breasts.

Melaerryn wielded the Eater of Magic and drew the flame out of the demoness. Her horns disappeared, her skin turned from scarlet to a tawny brown and she screamed in agony. Zara Burning Horn fell unconscious. The Eater of Magic then sparked, caught fire and became so hot Mela had to drop the thing.

"Oh, hey!" thought Tallia, "she got the magic stick to work."

Then darkness claimed the Amazon.

***

Tallia, much to her great surprise, woke up. She was no longer lying in broken debris. She was instead lying on blankets of silk. She also no longer had arrows sticking of out her, instead being covered in various silk bandages and there was the strange taste of some sort of wine in her throat.

She bolted upright. "What happened?"

"The panacea!" said Liandra in amazement, "It truly is a miracle. I thought you were dead!" The blonde priestess gave her a big hug. The hug actually hurt. She was sore all over despite the magic sidhe cure-all. Her head also still spun.

"Where are we?"

"We had to move," assured the priestess. "That house was well and truly wrecked after the fight. But, you know, Gaelynglas is huge. So we just relocated down the block."

The Amazon scanned around her unfamiliar surroundings. She wasn't in the ruined house, true, but this one did look similar and the room was full of people. Some of them she recognized. Liandra was here, hugging her of course. Mela, yes. But also Sang. And yes, Hilarius. "Hi, you came back!"

"Yes, actually. And by the way, we arrived just in time to save you. So, that's one more life you owe me."

She smiled. And then noticed there was one more person in the room. This person she did not immediately recognize. Until she did. "That is the demon who almost burned me to death!"

Liandra intervened. "Hold on. This is Zara and she's not a demon. She was ensorcelled by Arion to believe she was a demon, but she's as human as you or me, Tallia. She also has no memories of who she was or where she came from."

"I removed the enchantment using the stave," said Mela. "Unfortunately, doing so seems to have destroyed the Eater of Magic. I don't think we'll be able to use it against the wizard."

"But we did gain a new friend," chirped the priestess.

"That demon is no friend of mine," said Tallia, wincing, still in considerable pain.

"Look, you've got to stop moving," said Liandra. "The panacea is helping greatly, but you still have like a dozen open wounds. They need time to mend. Here, have some water."

Tallia was desperately thirsty and accepted the skin, taking a long draw from it. But she ignored the part about not moving and stumbled to her feet. Gods on high and in hell, she did feel like dogshit. But she closed her eyes and took a deep breathe. She was already healing. The power, the resilience of Celaeno, last of the twelve still flowed in her. She didn't entirely even understand what that meant but she felt it simply to be true. She opened her eyes and hobbled over to the demon.

"Who are you?" she growled at Liandra's new 'friend'.

"I don't know," said the dejected woman huddled in the color. "I remember so little before..."

"I don't care two shits about where you're from," demanded the Amazon. "Arion sent you and Rontus to murder us, yes?"

Liandra interjected. "Tallia, leave her alone and sit down before you fall down and reopen all your wounds."

"I'll be fine," said the Amazon firmly. "But I must know, what was your mission?"

"You," Zara whispered, "You were our mission. Arion Three-Eyes is obsessed with you. He wants you dead and sent us to bring back your head."

Tallia nodded. That did not surprise her. "How long till he knows your band has failed?"

"It could be anytime. He has Rontus' and my blood. He can scry us if he chooses. He could be scrying us right now," said Zara.

"What about monsters? You were in his company recently. Has he made another monster like the hydra or the tiger-dragon?"

She shook her head. "No, no, I don't think so. Making such a creature is long, arduous, exhausting work. I don't think he'll risk such a ritual while foes are near. He is holed up in his sanctum, guarded by his army. That's where he feels most secure."

Hilarius spoke up. "His army is greatly depleted, actually. We saw sixty or seventy of the Sons of Arion march out the front gate. We suspect they're going to capture more slaves. We've actually done quite a job depleting his ranks. By my count, we've now killed near fifty of the beasts."

"Do you know how many of them monster-men were in his fortress before we attacked?" asked Tallia forcefully to the former demon.

"There were two hundred and twenty exactly the last time he replenished his ranks, not counting Diagoras and me," said Zara. "But then, he's lost many since then. He's been raiding local villages for gold to bribe smugglers in Denggang to bring him information and all manner of weird and exotic items he requires for his experiments. Those raids cost him a few Sons. He's sent out hunting parties to capture beasts -- the tiger, the snakes, the dragon. Several were lost on those expeditions. He took out a rival group of bandits two months ago who he thought might threaten his control of this wilderness. And then you and your friends. It's hard to be sure of the exact numbers."

Mela listened carefully. "I think Hilarius is right. I think the wizard is desperate for reinforcements. If he wasn't, why send so few to hunt us?"

"No monsters, his army depleted and so many gone," said Tallia. "There will never be a better time to attack. Is there any hope of repairing the stave?"

"The Eater of Magic was always a flawed and unfinished tool," answered Mela. "The High Magister himself said so. I think its day is done."

"A pity," said Liandra. "If it could have worked just once more..."

"Regardless," said Tallia, "I think we must rest the night, recover and then in the morning make our attack."

"One night?" said Liandra. "You'll still be hurt!"

"With the panacea and a night's rest, fear not. I'll be ready and I will deal with this monster," said the Amazon. "Who will go with me back into the lair of Arion Three-Eyes?"

Hilarius sighed. "An insane mission as always. But fine. I'd at least like to see how this mad venture ends. I'm in."

Sang nodded as well.

Melaerryn spoke next, "Where you go, Tallia, I follow. I'm in."

Zara actually spoke as well, "If you'll have me, I'll try to help anyway I can."

Liandra cheered. Everyone looked at her, expectantly. Tallia finally spoke, "And you, priestess?"

"Me?! Of course I'm in. This whole thing was my idea!"

***

Liandra approached Zara who was still huddled in a corner, despondent.

"Are you hungry? This is magic cheese from... I think fairyland. Oh, don't call it fairyland! Mela is very touchy about that!" said the priestess.

Zara nodded and accepted the food. She took a tentative bite. "It's good."

"Aged for hundred years in some sidhe-kings larder, I think. Pretty ritzy fair, honestly. There's water too."

"You are very kind," said the dazed Zara.

"So, have you remembered anything?"

"Nothing. I'm not even sure my name is actually Zara. I've had dreams about a desert and a horse and maybe a man, but they are just faint flashes of memory. I can recall no specifics, no names."

"Give it time," said the priestess. "Healing takes time."

"What I do remember is hurting people. He... Arion used me as his enforcer. I've done terrible things. Unimaginable things. I've burned children, innocents, helpless old men alive. I cut the head off a begging unarmed man while Rontus feasted on human flesh. Maybe... Maybe I am a demon..."