"The Captives" - Chapter 13

The Captives of the Lost City of Alhassar

Chapter 13

By Dwayne MacInnes

I did not wait for them to collect their senses before I rushed into their midst. I easily hacked into them. Their feeble and exhausted attempts to attack me were easily parried. I noticed a few survivors who had hidden themselves during the chaotic main battle now began to join the new combat. A few remaining spells were sent my way. All the good it did them. My shield merely consumed the magic.

I blocked, parried, swirled, jumped, slashed, and stabbed as I danced amongst the couple of dozen evil combatants. Though I had an easy time killing my opponents I knew that I could not keep up this level of attack forever. Even I, the champion of the arena, have limits to my endurance. Plus, many a novice can sneak in a lucky shot to take out the best of masters.

Soon another yell punctuated the melee in the cavern and a few of my opponents turned to meet the new threat. It was Mogutz and Nanoc leading the way with Treena, Quint and Gandelf rushing close behind. The bonfire that blocked the entrance to the cavern had burned itself low enough to allow the party to pass without damage.

"By the blood of Uranus!" Mogutz hollered a challenge our foes.

Many of the cabal stopped fighting in order to try to figure out what kind of threat that exactly was. It was too bad for them because that pause cost many their lives. The next ten minutes saw a heated exchange of combat and though we were out numbered three to one, we soon had the entire cabal of evil dispatched with nothing more than some minor cuts on our side.

Silence suddenly descended upon the cavern. It was almost as deafening as the combat had been. Only the crackling of the torches and the small-scattered fires left from the intense combat disturbed the quiet.

"We are going to have to make sure there aren't any survivors," Mogutz finally said while she searched the bodies of our fallen opponents.

I nodded my head in agreement. I had to take a breather, even though the battle was short in duration it was very intense. In the arena, I only had to deal with at the most three well-trained adversaries. Here, I had at one time been trying to attack over twenty. Alhough they were not very proficient with melee weapons, their sheer numbers kept me busy.

I moved away from the party and began my own search. I was looking for vampires. I still needed nine more hearts to collect. Most were dead just lying on the ground broken, burned, or just plainly smashed in vampire goo. However, I did encounter a few who just feebly stared up at me completely powerless to resist my attacks. With the rising of the sun, the undead bloodsuckers lost all their dark powers. Therefore, I just hacked off a head and then proceeded to gather my grisly trophies.

I had been in the process of collecting my hearts (as well as pocketing any money or valuables I noticed, I am sure the vampires would not mind) when I thought I heard something. I stopped and cocked my ear, listening intently.

Yes, there it was the sound of someone crying out for help. I looked around for the faint cry that echoed off the cavern's wall and ceilings. Finally, I was able to locate the source of the noise. It was the poor victim on top of the pyramid temple!

In the excitement, I had completely forgotten about the person shackled to the iron poles. I was frankly surprised to hear the voice. It was no small miracle that the victim was able to survive the intense battle that raged around the cavern.

I wasted no time in making my way up the steps of the pyramids. I had to be careful because there were some areas where the bodies of the fallen sprawled over the steps in grotesque angles. This, added to the pools of slippery blood and gore made the ascent quite treacherous.

I finally reached the plateau at the apex of the temple and saw the short stocky victim viciously struggling with his bonds. At first glance, I thought it was a dwarf. However, as I neared the victim, I realized it was in fact a gnome.

Now gnomes are like distant cousins to dwarves. They are not as broad as the dwarf is nor are they as tall. They also do not tend to have as full beards as the dwarves do, though they make up for the lack of hearty facial hair with long pronounced noses. In addition, they are also very adept at making intricate objects and many are in fact inventors. They also tend to live above the earth and dwell in workshops.

"Hail," I shouted to the struggling gnome.

"Get these blasted things off me!" the small creature cried as he swung back and forth between his outstretched arms.

"Not a problem," I replied as I quickly picked the locks to his steel manacles.

Once I had his hands free, the gnome sat upon the ground rubbing his raw wrists. I sat down next to him and stretched my hand to him.

"I am Gwendolyn."

"I am master Aly Eska," the gnome said as he tentatively gripped my hand. "I suppose I owe you and your party my life."

"Well," I said a little modestly, "I did send that lich over the edge with my arrow."

"That was an arrow?" the gnome looked at me in surprise. "I was sure it was a spell. Where did you shoot it from?"

I pointed down to the tumbled-down ruin of the building I had taken refuge in at the base of the pyramid. The gnome shook his head in wonder. "Only a Wood Elf could make that shot. Now if I had my latest invention I could have done the same...

"Hey! Whatever happened to that lich you shot?" Aly asked interrupting himself.

"Well, after he burst into flames he fell over the side there," I pointed towards the back of the pyramid.

As we both turned in the direction I indicated, the two of us sucked in a breath of surprise in unison as we watched the skeletal head of the lich begin to ascend over the edge.

"Get behind me," I ordered as I jumped to my feet with an arrow instantly nocked in my bow.