Chapter 2 (Part 1): Walking dead.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
The arrow volley stopped just long enough for Shizurii to glimpse out from behind a rock. Nothing gave away the positions of their assailants nor who they were. She ducked back under cover just as another salvo burst through the air. Iwoji crouched next to her, nursing a wound on his arm where an arrows had grazed him. Shizurii looked across the courtyard where Meia was seeking refuge behind a pillar.
Then she saw them.
It wasnt clear at first, but as they stepped into the moonlight, their grostequed features sharpened into sight. Walking skeletons marched in uniform towards Meia, their weapons raised. They weren't very well equipped, Shizurii could see that, a motley assortment of axes, pikes and poorly forged swords. But their numbers were huge; they spand as wide as she could see, a slow steady pace forward- unchallenged. Meia had noticed it too, the army of undead soldiers advancing upon her. She retreated a little deeper into the corner formed by fallen pillars and held her sabres ready.
Undead or not, that was her family member they were trying to kill.
"
Nii-san*, Meia needs us" Shizurii whispered, drawing out her twin pistols.
"
Jya. Ikkimashou**," A smile spread across his face, bloodlust reigning him.
Shizurii jumped out from behind the rocks, guns blaring as a jet of flames shot out from behind her, towards the skeletal ranks.
*
Gun shots rang from behind the pillars and a wave of heat washed over the nape of her neck. Meia looked up and saw Shizurii firing off shots, her hazel hair fanning with the wind.
"Just what I need," Meia smiled to herself and leapt out from behind her cover,
Galeheart and
Stormfang singing as she whirled them around.
Feral rage took over her mind as she charged into the first line of enemies, horrific skeletons, some still with rotting slabs of flesh dangling off their bones. Her sabres collided into the ribcage of a cadaver, the bone collapsed away at the blow, but the soldier made no sound as it collapsed onto the ground. A blinding vortex of slashes and cuts, Meia's blood burned as she burrowed into the army throng, cutting a path through.
Pain exploded from her side as one of the skeletons sank its blade into her. Meia sank onto a knee and slashed blindly at her attacker, severing it's torso. Behind her a skeleton swung its axe at the former pirate but before it could land the hit its skull shattered from a pistol bullet.
"Meia!" Shizurii shouted, her pistols levered at where the head of the skeleton used to be.
"That silly girl." Meia laughed, vigor renewed.
A fireball blew up a few metres to her left, opening a small pathway to her allies. She was not about to waste this chance; a few slashes and the last few skeletons still standing in between them were dispatched.
"This way!" Iwoji called out. "Let's move to higher grounds at Cathari falls!"
The three ran. Exhausted and wounded, but ready to defend themselves till the last breath.
*
Drr'Rjork scampered across the hallway, his many feet scraping the marble floor. Master Rvön had summoned him, for reasons unbeknown to him. The master rarely summoned him, if only for a mission that called for Drr'Rjork's talents at... persuasion.
"Master?" The worm-like creature crooned as he reached the huge oaken doors.
"I have a task for you, worm." A voice sounded behind the doors. "Karthaes has been keeping secrets from me. Can you ask him to share them for me?"
"Your will be done master."
Drr'Rjork turned and moved back down the hallway. Oh, Karthaes would be most persuasive. Yes he would.