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Merentha: Armageddon
Chapter 9
Check back soon for Chapter 11!

Chapter 10


....."I can take care of myself!" Cory shouted. Simoriah stiffened. Cory rarely screamed and never at her. "I have the diplomatic skills and knowledge of the lizardmen and their terrain. General Scipio is likely to be anywhere on the continent! What if Gathil gets lost and decides to look in the caverns?"
....."Gathil can take care of himself as well," She replied sharply. "Aren't you supposed to be in the hospital under clerical supervision? What is this I heard about you and Rijer starting a bar fight in the Merchant District?"
.....Cory snarled. "The clerics couldn't find anything wrong so they released me. You all treat me like I'm a monster! I'm still the same person I was before…" There was no need to say before what.
.....Simoriah sighed and rubbed her head. There had to be something! What happened to Cory frightened her, and despite his protests that he was the same during the night hours she had had him watched closely. "The clerics were forced to restrain you after you almost took Myou Juan's hand off. She was your friend!"
....."I AM SANE!" Cory shouted. The words echoed through the small room as the door slammed behind him. Simoriah felt as if someone had slapped her. Perhaps there was nothing wrong with him, but then there were the reports. She picked up one of the papers from her desk:


Subject vanished from the stable sometime shortly before midnight and was spotted heading northwest into the farmlands. We tried to track him, but he lost us in the night. Subject returned just before daylight.


.....Several such reports and complaints from the farmers that refugees from the war were stealing their livestock were enough to convince her. Something had to be done, and quickly. Perhaps it would be safer for everyone if she did send him away. Everyone except Gathil of course.


....."So, how long until we reach this gorge?" Gathil watched Cory carefully from the corner of his eye. He had known the runt centaur before from his short stay in the diplomatic corps, but since Cory had been held by the Asmar everything had changed. In the three days since they had arrived on the lizardmen continent of Liku Cory had been more distant than ever.
.....At night he would stay long enough to make sure Gathil was comfortable,---as if he couldn't take care of himself in the wilderness---and then insist on making his own camp elsewhere, beyond the scent of the pack animals he said, whatever that meant.
.....Then there were the noises. Gathil wasn't familiar with the wildlife, the eerie howls and horrid screams of captured prey could be natural in this place, but he didn't think so. Whatever the creatures were that made the noises they never came close to his fire, but he sometimes worried about Cory alone out there in the night.
.....Always the runt centaur would appear early in the morning doleful as ever. Gathil had long ago given up trying to cheer him. Any attempt to do so was met with anger. Cory seemed to think everyone pitied him for something and he was too proud to accept pity for any reason.
....."Cory." The centaur jolted out of his thoughts. "When will we get to this gorge?" The lizardmen in the village below had told them to speak to a General by the name of Scipio who controlled the military might of the Lizardman Empire. The General, they said, was in the southwest campaigning against a group of ogres.
....."Just ahead." Gathil sighed at the listless tone of Cory's voice. It was as if he no longer cared about the world around him. Gathil turned back to the book he was studying. The Journeys of Marco Polo, written by a famous lizardman explorer. The book detailed the area around the continent of Liku, its inhabitants, and the dangers along the way. He was especially interested in the section about the gorge they were traveling too. It told a story of Marco Polo chased into a series of caverns by the horrid, brutish ogres.
....."Dismount." Cory said sharply. "Be quite. I don't want to be seen until I'm ready."
.....Nodding, Gathil thrust the book into his saddlebags and slid off his horse's back. Leaving the animals behind he followed Cory into the maze of boulders. Cory paused on the edge of a sheer crevice and indicated that Gathil stay low. Slowly, he crept to the edge of the gorge and looked off.
.....A large part of the valley below was covered by white campaign tents. It couldn't be anything but an army encampment, and a large one at that. Several of the largest tents were marked by colorful banners. "Pompey, Octavian, Lepidus, Antony, and Crassus." Cory muttered. A few lizardmen moved among the tents, but the Cory's attention had already shifted.
.....Gathil followed his gaze and his breath caught. On the opposite side of the gorge from the encampment the lizardmen had piled the bodies of the dead ogres. Ravens and vultures flapped among the bodies, some of which were far too small to be warriors.
....."This is the glory of Scipio." Cory snarled. "An empire carved from genocide."
.....Gathil only nodded unsure of what to say. Cory's attention shifted again, this time to the mouth of a cave. Gathil shuddered. It could only be the caverns from the story. The ones where Marco Polo had fled and become lost. Screams of the injured and dying floated up from the cavern. Battlecries and trumpets sounding the attack or retreat, it was impossible to tell.
.....A lizardman appeared, running towards the entrance, behind him a horror that Gathil could not put a name too. The monster snatched the lizardman in its jaws, shredding armor and bone in a heartbeat. Two more lizardmen appeared behind it, waving swords. The creature turned and roared, a sound that echoed through the gorge for what seemed like eternity. Then it charged. The lizardmen brought up their large shields to cover their bodies, lowering their spears into attack position. The monster slammed into them seeming a whirlwind of claws and teeth.
.....Gathil wanted to look away, but his eyes refused to move from the scene before him. Screaming lizardmen pricking the thing with their spears as it devoured them. From somewhere deeper in the caverns came another scream. The monster turned away from its meal and charged into the depths in search of more prey.
.....Gathil starred after it in horror, thinking back to the strange sounds he had heard during the nights. Petrarch! What if one of those things had come upon me in the dark. A soft scrape of metal on leather brought him back to the present. While he had been watching the monster Cory had been preparing for combat.
.....The strange red boar charging across the green field of his shield, the same design duplicated on his barding, was unlike any creature Gathil had ever seen. Spikes of hair grew along its back and huge tusks that could tear a man to pieces in an instant sprouted from its mouth. Even the cloven black hooves looked sharp enough to rend flesh. It was fitting, he decided, for someone like Cory to have such a device.
.....The sword in his hand wasn't the ordinary dwarven steel he usually carried. A slightly curved blade, that seemed to have strange designs etched into the steel, was set into a strangely crafted basket hilt large enough to be held with both hands. The grip was wrapped in battered leather as if it had seen much use, but the blade itself was unscathed. Gathil starred at the sword in awe. It was some of the finest craftsmanship he had seen.
....."It belonged to my father," Cory said, eyeing the blade. "He had it specially made by the finest Drow weapon smiths."
....."Drow.." Gathil gasp. Cory merely nodded. Gathil pulled his eyes away from the blade. "You don't mean to go down there?"
....."I do. You don't have to come."
....."I will come." Gathil drew his own weapons as the walked toward the caverns.



....."...couldn't survive in here. They must have been destroyed." Cory paused and motioned for Gathil to stop. The inside of the caverns were almost pitch black, but his golden eyes gathered the light allowing him to see.
....."The General wants them found! They must have some sort of escape route built into these tunnels."
....."Yes sir!"
.....Cory risked a glance around the corner. Two lizardmen stood with their backs to him, both wearing battered breastplates and carrying swords. He recognized the one who seemed to be in charge as Pompey, one of the lizardmen centurions whose banners he had recognized in the camp. The legionnaire saluted and turned away, starting down a sharply sloping tunnel. A large hairy spider appeared from nowhere, mandibles crushing the lizardman. Shouting, Pompey drew his sword and charged the spider, slashing wildly.
.....Without waiting to see the outcome of the battle, Cory fled back to the relative safety of the entrance with Gathil following close behind. They took the other path, proceeding cautiously, shields raised. Another fork appeared and he stopped again.
.....Right. Runt muttered. Right is always right. The centaur began cackling.
.....Down one fork he could hear the screams of dying lizardmen, and the roars of the monster. From the other came the sounds of battle. Taking the second tunnel he found himself at the edge of a large cavern.
.....At the center twenty lizardmen fought desperately, back to back, against a horde of undead. Without waiting for Gathil's groan Cory charged. His blade caught a skeleton cleaving bone like air. Gathil was only a second behind, his sword a whirlwind of steel. Cory found another target and brought his blade down severing its clavicle.
.....No Blood! Runt groaned. Bleed! Bleed!
.....Another skeleton. Cory reared, bringing his hooves down hard. The monster collapsed, two more quickly taking its place.
.....Bleed! Runt screamed. Curse you! Bleed!
.....Gathil was suddenly beside him matching a skeleton stroke for stroke. The lizardmen fought with renewed vigor, throwing themselves against the attackers with spear and sword. With a little luck they could win this.
.....I make my own luck. Runt muttered. Never rely on luck. It will fail you.
.....As if answering a summons blackness seemed to flow into the cavern. Only once before had he seen such darkness. Once before while traveling these very caverns. The memory brought a shudder. His eyes found the source of the blackness confirming his fears. It floated in one of the openings at the opposite end of the cavern, a creature of shadow. Sky-blue robes seemed to flutter in a breeze that did not exist. Robes marked by an upside-down cross the color of crimson blood. The creature held a sword that seemed to be forged from the essence of evil.
.....The skeletons fell back to regroup around the wraith as it floated there waiting. Those glowing orbs seemed to bore into his head as if to pry out his very soul. Everyone stood riveted as the skeletons finished regrouping. The wraith lowered its blade with a cry in some unknown tongue and the skeletons surged forward. Still they outnumbered the lizardmen three to one.
....."Forward!" Cory shouted. "For the Queen!" He charged, hooves thundering on the stone. From somewhere behind Gathil echoed his cry. Another voice called out, "For the Glory of the Empire!" The lizardmen surged forward. The two lines met like hammer and anvil. Metal sang. Lizardmen screamed.
.....Cory found himself in the center of the battle, face to face with the wraith. It raised the wraith-blade in salute, seeming to smile within the shadows of its hood. He returned the salute and stepped back placing his blade in a low guard.
.....The wraith struck, its blade like a steel viper. His own blade met it showering them with sparks. Again the wraith attacked and again he barely blocked the attack. Seeming to snicker, the creature rushed, blade high. Cory brought his sword up, sliding the tip of the blade across the wraith's torso. It howled as it slammed into him, the wraith blade searing through his black chainmail.
.....Bleed! Runt screamed at the wraith. Bleed!
.....Cory grunted more from the force of the impact than from pain. Taking the advantage, the wraith arced his sword into a cut that should have removed the centaur's head. Instead it hammered his shield, slicing through, and peeling the skin from half his forearm and the back of his hand. Tossing the useless shield away, Cory switched to a double-handed grip on the sword, snarling at the wraith around the blade.
.....Its blade screeched like a banshee as it collided with his parry knocking him back against the wall. Cory strained against the blade with all his might, if one of them slipped here the fight would be over. The wraith snaked his blade away first, floating back.
.....Cory reared, striking. The wraith darted back to avoid the flailing hooves, sword ready for his next attack. Vaguely he could see Gathil and the lizardmen pushing through the remaining skeletons, but his eyes locked on the wraith's glowing orbs.
.....Time seemed to slow. His training and that of the centaur called Runt flooded into his brain. Practice with his father, sparring with the other Knights, countless battles, yet it had all come down to this. One misstep would mean his death. It seemed as if the wraith had a bull's eye drawn on his chest. Cory lunged.
.....The wraith screamed, a wail that echoed through the caverns. The battle around him ceased as lizardman and skeleton alike turned to see what was causing the cry. The wraith blade plunged. Cory screamed. Pain flared in his side as if someone had buried a hot iron in his flesh. Drow-forged steel touched the wraith's cloak, parted it, parted whatever substance lay beneath. The wail continued to echo throughout the room even as the robes drifted to the floor.
.....Cory pawed at the robes with his hooves, just robes now, whatever spirit had haunted them was gone. The skeletons fled into the depths leaving the battered lizardmen and the Knights alone in the cavern. Cory plunged his father's sword back into its sheath and bent to examine the robes. He grunted at the pain in his side, but ignored it. His eyes found the wraith sword. Gingerly, he hefted the weapon, remembering the scalding pain. As he watched the blade began to melt, hot steel running down to wash over his hand. Wincing as it touched the raw meat on his left arm, he tossed it to the ground. It seemed to pulse for a moment and then slowly melted into the earth.
.....He could only stare.



.....Gathil turned to Cory with a smile. "These lizardmen have agreed to take us back to their encampment. If the General survives this encounter we will speak to him when he returns."
....."The great General Scipio will survive," Antony snarled as he joined them. Seeing Cory he hissed sharply. "Greetings Cory Razorboar. I had hoped you were dead, but now I am glad that you are not."
....."Greetings Marc Antony. I too hoped the wounds you had taken from our last battle were fatal, yet I see that they were not." Cory replied. Gathil was unsure if it was a ritual greeting or the bantering of old friends. "The Ambassador tells me that you will allow us to speak with the great General Scipio."
....."He will not be pleased that you have returned Razorboar. The General has yet to replace his favorite lions." Antony replied, casually cleaning his blade on the wraith's robe. "I hope that we can finish what we began before you must leave." A roar echoed from somewhere deeper within the caverns causing Antony to start. "Let us leave this place. I would hate to see you killed before I have the pleasure of removing your head."
.....Cory bowed, grunting at the pain from his side. Antony and his legionnaires trotted off down the passage. Gathil fell in beside Cory as they followed them back towards the surface.
....."Razorboar?"
....."It was Runt's name." Cory replied. "It was a creature from his homeland. They're extremely dangerous. The centaurs hunt them for food and sport. That's why their people learn to use projectile weapons. 'The charge of a razorboar is death' they say. I've never seen the beast, but Runt has."
....."I would like to travel to this island."
....."Perhaps someday you will get the chance."
.....Gathil sighed wishing that Cory would keep talking. "This Antony, you know him? And what was that part about the General's lions?"
....."Ah yes. Marc Antony. Our rivalry is old. Even before…Runt…we fought. He caught me trying to sneak over their wall and darn near flayed me before a few of my friends came along and found us. Of course I had to come back after I became more experienced to give him a little taste." Cory smirked. "The man is good at torturing young boys but he is no swordsman. Fights like a wallowing hog that one."
....."The lions?"
....."The lions." Cory replied as the smirk deepened. "General Scipio enjoys his killing. When the lizardmen moved into their small city near Broadhurst, Scipio insisted on building a coliseum so he could play with his prisoners. They imported the finest gladiators and beasties from all across the empire. He had a prize set of fighting lions picked out from the most dangerous and cruelest that he could find. They killed many a poor captured fool from Broadhurst.
....."I arrived on their battlefield fresh with Antony's blood on my hands believing I could take on their whole empire myself. I fear Scipio's guards are not as kind as Antony. After they decided I was of no use to them they let the lions rip me apart. Dragon magic was the only thing that saved me. They won't let me go you know.
....."After a few years I came back again, beat Antony to the ground, slaughtered dozens of their legionnaires, bested the great Agrippa in single combat. Scipio ordered me captured. They tossed me to the lions again, but that second time the furry bastards got what they deserved. I left Scipio mourning over their bloody corpses."
.....Gathil starred. He had known that Cory had often battled the lizardmen, but this was an entirely new story. At least he had Cory talking. "What was that about dragons?"
.....Cory sighed deeply and the smirk vanished. "I was merely a child when a dragon attacked Imladris. It burned the city and slew my father as he tried to defend mother. She was a half-elf druidess, the most beautiful woman in the world. The dragon had come for her and it killed her while I watched. The elders of Imladris knew I had part of my mother's gift. That I could sometimes speak to animals. They thought if I was allowed to stay the dragon would return. I was banished from Imladris with the clothes on my back and my father's sword.
....."An aunt arranged for me to be sent to Cabeiri. She had friends there, but they never came so I lived in the streets. I killed several men that tried to steal the sword and hid in a barn west of the main city. Peacekeepers found me there and sent me to the fighter training facility in Cabeiri.
....."I was young, seeking revenge for my mother. I hunted down dragons and every rumor of dragons. For each dragon I killed I would sew a crimson iris on my tunic and attach a dragon claw to my shield. Irises were her favorite flower. I slew dozens of them during my early years as a ranger. I was known throughout Atheria for my deeds.
....."It was then that I met Tijir, a dragon and Jade Knight of our Queendom. He is one of the elder dragons. Dragons base a lot on age. He explained to me that the dragon who killed my mother was a renegade with no ties to the dragons I had slain. His eyes Gathil, they were so sad. He told me that I had been killing baby dragons and their elderly who were unable to fight back. It seemed that the younger dragons were planning to take matters into their own hands. He said I was lucky that he had found me first. If Sleet had found me…"
.....Gathil shuddered. "What happened?"
....."I committed a great sin against the dragons. One of the greatest possible sins among them. Murder. I was given another chance. I swore an oath that binds me to this day, and will bind me until I go to the final rest. An oath to serve the dragons forever, to pay for my sin against them. It is for that reason they keep me alive."
.....Gathil wanted to stare. It seemed crazy, but he knew every word of it was truth. A roar echoed through the caverns behind them sending another shudder down his spine. He would be glad to get out of these caverns. "So that's what it's all about."
.....Cory nodded. "Now you know what no other man knows except for the dragons themselves." After a short pause he added. "We are here."
.....Gathil blinked as they stepped out into the sunlight. The area around the campaign tents was swarming with lizardmen. Among them Cory spotted Pompey and was glad to see that the lizardman had escaped the giant spider alive. Another lizard caught his eye among the crowd, his armor gleaming in the evening light seemed unscathed despite the blood soaking the two guards following him. The three lizardmen stopped before them and the leader grimaced.
....."Razorboar, I should have known you were here as soon as the creatures began to flee. Who could inspire such fear into them when the Lizardman Empire cannot? What man can walk among them alone and return when the full might of the Empire is thrown back?"
....."One man can hide more easily than an army General, but there are others from my lands with far more skill than I." After a short pause he added. "I am surprised to find you here. Your people have always been afraid of the Caverns."
....."Children's tales." Scipio scoffed, though he glanced nervously towards the opening as if he was beginning to believe those stories. "Who is your companion?"
....."Ambassador Gathil, Knight of the Jeweled Queendom."
....."Ambassssssssador." Scipio hissed. "Why would your Queen Simoriah send an Ambassador to speak with me?"
....."The northlands are in turmoil General." When Gathil spoke it was with the formal tone he used during diplomatic functions. With the authority of his Queen behind him nations were forced to listen to his words. "Those called the Asmar wish to destroy us all. When they finish with the northlands they will not spare the Empire. They will turn their armies upon it and no one will remain to answer your call for aid. The Asmar must be stopped, now, while the might of the nations remain to stand against them. Queen Simoriah wishes to forge an Alliance between every people. Only if we stand together against the Asmar can they be defeated. Yet even the Northlands together may not be enough to face the full might of the Asmar.
....."We ask your assistance in our plight. If some of your army was to harry the southern parts of the Asmar continent, a diversion so to speak, that would draw some of the Asmar forces away. With a little luck we should be able to get an invasion fleet into Asmar waters and launch an attack on their main city."
....."You have your Knights, Gathil Ambassador from Jewel. Cory Razorboar, Topaz Guardian of the Realm and Brother to Wolves is not the top among your order. There are others more powerful than him. And others more powerful than them within the other Northland societies. Why then do you need us?"
.....Brother to Wolves? Gathil had no time to ponder the meaning. "Our Knights are few General, and we have little army besides them. The Jeweled Knights' prowess in battle is not disputed, yet our numbers leave little to be gained from it. What good is the greatest warrior twenty to one?"
....."What of the other societies? They have numbers as well."
....."The Army of Xenora is battered. They are all that holds the Asmar from swarming over the continent. Each day their numbers shrink. How long until they can no longer hold back the flood? How many weeks can they hold out? If the Asmar break through that line nothing will stop them from attacking Hiemelia and perhaps Whitestorm itself."
....."The armies of the Empire cracked their teeth on the walls of your Whitestorm. No army has taken it. None ever will."
....."No army had ever breached the Jeweled City, I too thought it could not fall, until a few days ago when the Asmar tore down its walls. They continue to surprise us. If you do not come to our aid they will consume us and then they will turn their gazes to the south. They know about this place and they will come when they finish with the north."
.....Scipio considered for a moment before sighing. "It must be done?"
.....Gathil nodded calmly. "It must or all is lost."
.....Scipio nodded in reply. "Then it will be done."