Chapter 20
Vekao stood in the mouth of the cave and was horrified at what he saw! There flying straight at them were the three shadow serpents they had been fleeing for the past couple of days! He steadied his stance not really knowing what to do. But he also knew that due to their size they could not directly attack them in the cave, so he waited. He didn’t wait long for all three landed just a little ways off from the mouth of the cave, in a nearby clearing. Vekao could hear Taithmar behind him readying a spell, but also he could hear his own heart beating loudly in his chest, and he heard Lizzy exclaim in fear, for she had caught sight of the creatures.
One of the creatures came sprinting through the trees on its stubby short legs, straight at him and the two women! Taithmar stepped in front of him then and unleashed a spell, the sunless day was brightened with the light of the fire that erupted from her out stretched hand, the great beast roared his fury at being struck with the magical fire and yet it came onward! Taithmar fell back then, too stunned to realize her spell hadn’t stopped the great beast.
It was now Vekao’s turn at the monster. He readied himself as he saw the beast approach, it slowed as it got closer, and it eyed him greedily with its massive black eyes. Vekao was calm as could be expected in this situation facing a beast he had never faced before. This of course was due to his many years of experience as a warrior, both on a battle field and off adventuring with his friend Davkas. Also, Vekao trusted in his battle axe, for it was enhanced against such monstrosities as this great beast was, he was confident he could inflict damage on it, but just how much before it put and end to his life, he wasn’t sure.
The monster paused at the mouth of the cave, while the other two came up behind it, all three could not fit into the cave at one time, which was good for the Vekao and his two companions. The beast lunged at him then and Vekao had to doge quickly to avoid being bitten, he tried to backhand the beast with the battle ax, but missed. For now they were even, beast and minotaur, but only time would tell if they would survive this day!
Just as Vekao was positioning himself again to slash at the great monster with his battle-axe, Taithmar started chanting. He could hear her in the background over the rumbling of the beast. This caused him to pause and the shadow serpent took advantage of this time to rake one of its claws over Vekao’s frame, slicing him in the chest, he started to bleed profusely! Lizzy screamed and Taithmar completed her spell, and then sent it hurling straight at the shadow serpent in the mouth of the cave! It was the same spell she had used to slay the evil mage Vitros in the back alley in Koth. The magical bolt went forth and struck the beast in its great head, it screamed its fury and pain, and yet it still stood! But Taithmar could tell this had sorely hurt the beast and took heart in this fact.
Vekao fell back with his life’s blood leaking out the wound in his chest he was starting to wonder if he would survive this battle! Then he saw a blur in his peripheral vision, Lizzy sprang into action, she tumbled to the right of Vekao, to the left of the great shadow serpent and slashed wildly at it’s exposed neck, she opened a gapping wound in its neck which caused the thing to pull back out of the cave, it was roaring in anger and pain while doing so!
“Great move Lizzy!” Vekao shouted his encouragement to the young elf woman.
Just then the monster dashed back in, this time though there was something different about it! It had invoked its special defensive ability! It’s movements were blurred to Lizzy’s and the rest of the party’s eyes, Lizzy tried to blink it away, yet when she tried to focus on the creature it appeared fuzzy to her! Then it struck out at her, and she had to dodge away. When she went to swing at where she thought it was, it blurred out and she was off the mark! This was going to prove very difficult to hit the creature now!
Vekao shouted back at Lizzy as she sparred with the beast “Lizzy get back! I’ll be alright let me handle this!”
Just then the shadow serpent caught Lizzy with a vicious blow to her midsection and she went flying back towards Vekao and Taithmar! Taithmar stepped up and caught her before she hit the ground, but the momentum carried them both tumbling backwards. Lizzy lay very still and Taithmar lay stunned for a moment. Then Taithmar was scrambling to get to her, crawling along the floor of the cave, while Vekao glanced back over his shoulder at the two of them for a moment, then he turned his full attention back to the shadow serpent. He knew he had to do something to buy them some time. So he charged the thing, howling in rage and despair, lowering his shoulder he plowed his full bulk into the creature, driving it back momentarily. He took advantage of this and brought his battle axe down as hard as he could, hoping he would connect. By sheer good fortune or as Vekao was known to say afterwards, superior skills, he did! The blow nearly chopped the creature’s head clean off! The only sound it made was a gurgling sound in its throat as it died. Of course this blocked the entrance to the cave so that none of the other creatures could snake there way in, but in the same token now the party was trapped!
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Davkas lead the party closer to the sounds of the shadow serpents. Soon they came to a small clearing where they could see the creatures up ahead. There were three of them from what they could tell, all gathered around the mouth of a small cave. He motioned for the party to spread out and take cover until he could figure out what was going on. As Davkas moved closer he began to see some action in the mouth of the cave. From what he could tell it appeared one of the beasts was attacking someone in the cave! He just couldn’t tell who at this point.
As Davkas crawled a little closer still, one of the shadow serpents noticed him and turned towards him! Davkas wasn’t sure if he should freeze in place or draw his sword. He chose the latter and drew his sword and not a moment too soon for the beast lunged at him using its wings to propel itself faster then normal. Davkas rolled to his right and slashed wildly at the monster. He missed it entirely, but luckily so did the beast! Just then the rest of his party noticed his dilemma and charged forth from hiding.
The shadow serpent roared in anger and turned towards the darting elf, it then began to blur and Davkas knew he was in trouble! He took a step back and looked around for some help, soon Sergeant Blackrock and Nelas were by his side with their weapons ready. Nelas swung his war hammer at the beast, but missed causing him to be in a very vulnerable position. The beast lashed out with one of its paws and struck him, throwing the dwarven smith back and to the ground! The creature had opened a wound in his chest and he was now bleeding badly!
Sergeant Blackrock took advantage of the distraction and pressed the monster with his own weapon, he scored a direct hit to the creature’s great head and it ended up screaming in pain and taking a step backwards!
The third shadow serpent was now in the thick of the battle outside the cave as well though, but the sturdy dwarves had it surrounded. Captain Hammerstone was coordinating his dwarven guards in the attack and soon had the beast on the defense. Argha Flintrock was cautiously working his way up to the scene of the battle, taking great care to stay out of harms way, yet he wanted to position himself close enough that he could take control of one of the beasts if needed, and with Nelas being struck down as he was he felt the need was there. So he crept as closely as he dared and closed his eyes so that he could concentrate better, soon he reached out with his mind against that particular beast. When he felt ready he approached a little further and felt his mind melding with the mind of the great beast, the beast threw back its head and let out a terrible roar, and then it turned on its companion and attacked it! Argha was now in control of this beast’s mind, controlling its actions!
The two great beasts rolled on the ground grappling and biting at each other. Their defensive instincts kicked in and both of them began to blur and become hazy to the party members watching! The creatures battled back and forth, rolling on the ground, rearing back and throwing the other one down, soon the party members didn’t know which was which, but it appeared that one was getting the upper hand.
One of the dwarven guards didn’t move fast enough and was bowled over by the tumbling beasts. He was pummeled to the ground and was crushed by their great weight! He lay very still and the remaining guards moved to pull him out of the way. But when they got to him he was already dead, so they lay him up against a large tree in the clearing and then turned their attention back to the dueling shadow serpents.
Soon the companions in the cave were wondering what was happening. The one beast was dead, but why hadn’t any of the others tried to pull its dead carcass from the opening so that they could attack? Vekao was beginning to wonder this when they heard the commotion outside the cave entrance. Taithmar was attending to Lizzy who was beginning to stir slightly, the beast had opened a great wound in her side and Taithmar was busy trying to get her to drink a healing elixir. The only thing that had saved Lizzy was her fine chainmail shirt.
“Vekao! What is going on outside? I hear fighting?” Taithmar called out towards the standing minotaur. Then she added “Lizzy is hurt I will stay here with her.”
The minotaur glanced back towards where Lizzy and Taithmar were and simply nodded, then he went to the mouth of the cave and tried to see past the dead shadow serpent. After a moment or two he was able to peer out past the beast and his jaw dropped at what he saw! The two remaining shadow serpents were fighting each other? What was the cause of this he wondered?
“You won’t believe this. The two beasts are fighting each other!” Vekao called back to Taithmar and Lizzy who was now trying to sit up on her own.
Taithmar ignored him for now and concentrated on Lizzy, she was badly hurt and bleeding profusely, so she was busy pouring a healing elixir down her throat. It seemed to be helping, for Lizzy had groaned a little then sat upright. But Taithmar still wore a look of concern, she wasn’t sure if the potion would be enough, and this was her last one!
Taithmar then called back out to Vekao, “I think Lizzy will be alright for now Vekao, but I am concerned that she will need a healer soon. You say the shadow serpents are fighting each other?” she asked with a puzzled expression.
“Yes!” is all Vekao shouted back at her, for he was too busy now watching in amazement the battle between the two beasts! Then he noticed that there were dwarves around the beasts. Vekao thought to himself “I wonder where they came from? And what they are doing here?” Soon Vekao found his head started to spin and he lost consciousness and fell to the ground, continuing to bleed from his open wound.
Davkas and the Princess watched in fascination as the two beasts fought. All the while Argha kept his distance but maintained his concentration on the beast under his control. Soon the larger of the two beasts pinned the other to the ground, this was the one the mind mage was controlling, and clapped its great jaws around the creature’s throat and killed it. It soon let go and looked up at the dwarves and party members surrounding it with hatred in its eyes. The dwarves closed in on it, led by Captain Hammerstone. The dwarves surrounded the beast and launched their attack, hammers, axes and mauls were used with devastating effect! The monster fought back, but had been weakened by its fight with the other shadow serpent. So soon the dwarves had the upper hand, with Sergeant Blackrock dealing the killing blow to its head. The great beast laid still, blood pooling on the ground around it, the dwarves only looked relieved to be through with the fight. Davkas glanced over at Argha Flintrock who was leaning against a tree looking very tired. He and Princess Lunansa approached him.
“Are you alright?” Davkas asked the old mind mage as they walked up to him.
Argha looked up at them and smiled, “Yes I am alright, and just a little tired you know. It’s been a busy day!”
About this time the dwarves all began yelling and motioning for the three of them to come over by the cave. They had forgotten about the cave and the dead beast that lay within its mouth. The dwarves had approached it and had pulled the shadow serpent there away from the cave. Vekao was stirring inside the cave when Davkas and Princess Lunansa approached they looked inside the cave and they saw a huge minotaur and two women, one whom seemed to be injured. The dwarves stared down the minotaur, not knowing if he was friend or foe. The minotaur stared back, up until the time when he glanced past the dwarves and saw Davkas.
“Davkas?” Vekao said softly.
“Vekao? Is that you?” Davkas looked astonished, but soon the recognition of his old friend came to him. They hadn’t seen each other in a very long time.
The dwarves looked surprised that they actually knew each other! But the Sergeant waved his hand and they parted to allow the minotaur to pass through. Vekao quickly climbed to his feet and came out, soon both he and Davkas stared at each other for a moment, and then they grabbed the each other and hugged! Soon Vekao lifted Davkas off his feet, Davkas motioned for Vekao to put him down and found himself covered in Vekao’s blood from his wound.
“Where have you been Davkas! You had me worried!” Vekao bellowed out at the elf.
“Oh you are bleeding Vekao! ” he replied back to his old friend.
Hearing the commotion outside, Taithmar and Lizzy come walking out, Taithmar supporting Lizzy, who was very bloody and her insides hurt awfully bad. Lizzy took one look at who Vekao was talking too and she pulled away from the mage and ran to her father!
“Father!” was all Lizzy could manage to cry out as she came running up to Davkas and threw her arms around him, hugging him as tightly as she could, but with a great deal of pain.
Davkas couldn’t believe it! Lizzy was here? What was going on? The look on his face said all those things and more, yet he couldn’t let go of his daughter! But she’s hurt he suddenly realized to himself.
“Lizzy what happened to you? You are hurt?” Davkas said to her and held her out away from himself looking her over with much fatherly concern. Also, Argha, the mind mage spent some time working healing for the wounds they all had sustained that day.
“Oh Father, I can’t believe it’s really you?” Lizzy replied back, then she realized he was asking questions, so she paused and said “I was hurt during our fight with the shadow serpent. It got the best of me I’m afraid.” She told him with a half smile on her beautiful, but dirty face.
So the two parties sat down and rested there by the cave. Exchanging stories and making introductions. The shadow serpents were dead or at least the ones that had been chasing after the artifact. The old dwarven mind mage was very interested in the small black artifact that Lizzy was carrying in her pack, for he knew something of the magic that bound the earth elemental to it. So soon they were discussing the artifact in detail trying to figure out what the next move they needed to make.