Chapter Five
[Belisarius]
Belisarius walked into the town. He quietly
trudged towards the Lord's Manor, while townspeople watched and followed
in the same silence. In front of the house, he held his sword up
for all to see, then drove it into the ground.
"Victory!" Belisarius yelled, and the townspeople
burst into cheers. He turned and entered the manor, which had as
its entire first level something resembling a throne room. As Belisarius
approached the Lord of the town, the Lord stood, his flowing blond hair
and piercing green eyes giving his 5'10" stature much more presence than
one would expect. The Lord, Morrick, spoke.
"Warrior. You have done well, and my village is
safe for the time being. However, that was but a weak foe, and true
evil will be much more powerful. In order to combat it, you must
refine your abilities. Although you are skilled with the blade, you
cannot succeed against that which threatens the world as you are," Morrick
said in a solemn voice, one which struck always to the heart. One
could no more ignore his words than refuse to breathe.
"How, then, shall I gain this power?" asked Belisarius,
"I expect that there is a quest that you wish me to undertake. Such
as it has been for these past months."
Morrick laughed, a hearty sound, yet another feature
which made his presence all the more powerful. "No, friend, not exactly.
There is a teacher under whom I learned many years ago. He is a Paladin
of great renown, although he has not been seen in some time. I know
only that he retreated to a mountain called Hobbs. It is to the south.
Go now, and find him."
Belisarius squinted slightly, studying the face
of his friend. He turned then, without a word, and left the Manor.
Outside, he picked up his sword, and sheathed it. The crowd had somewhat
dispersed, although as he walked through the town, people would greet him
with a handshake or a slap on the back. A short distance outside
of the town, Belisarius turned back and looked at it. It had been
his home for nearly a year, and now he had to leave it.
Belisarius began the long march to the south, and
after several days and much interrogation in the towns along the way, he
came upon a mountain range. He camped outside of the well-beaten
trail, and awoke ready to travel up the mountain. He began his long
trial with a sense of trepidation, but a feeling of purpose and destiny.
Belisarius had traveled some distance up the mountain,
but it was tough going. He'd not expected the climb to be as difficult
as it had been. Even so, he was still resolute in his goal to meet
this teacher of whom Lord Morrick had spoken.
On his ascent, Belisarius had seen signs of other
people coming through recently. He followed the footsteps left in
the thin layer of snow brought on by the altitude. At one point,
Belisarius had to fend off a bear that seemed to have dangerous intentions,
but there had been no other impediment to his ascent.
After perhaps two more hours of hiking, he entered
a thick blizzard. It seemed somewhat perpetual, and Belisarius was
glad he had brought heavy furs. After donning them, he continued
on. Pushing through the blinding snow, Belisarius caught sight of
a person ahead.
"Hail!" he called to the figure, only to find his
arms pinned. His months of work had given him impressive strength,
but he was unable to completely escape from the grasp of whoever had him.
The figure he had seen leaned at him from the blizzard.
"Who are you?" he asked.
[Neo]
Parsnip, Tazor, and Roland sat around a campfire
while everyone else slept. Tazor yawned and looked up at the full
moon, which was almost directly above them. They had been sitting
there for quite some time, thinking. Eventually, Parsnip spoke.
"All right, here's what I propose. We currently
have nine people on our side, and two main tasks: find Spyder, and assault
Marley's castle, ending his tyranny for good. One of us should lead
a search party, with no more than two other people, and look for Spyder.
The rest should head for Marley's castle."
"That's going to be impossible," said Roland.
"You can't take over a kingdom of that size with six people, it's just
crazy. And most of us are not fit to enter the kind of heavy combat
that would require."
"Well, fine. Then I guess you'll be the head
of the search party," replied Parsnip. "Marley's kingdom must fall;
the freedom of all good men depends on it. If you believe that taking
over the kingdom is too hard, then you'd only be a burden on us."
"Parsnip, I know when something's wrong, I can feel
it throughout my body, and I must say that going after Marley will end
in tragedy."
"And what will happen if we don't go after him?"
asked Parsnip. "How will we be able to show our faces in public knowing
that we had the opportunity to spot this madness, but did not take it because
of fear?"
"I think that the reality of our odds of prevailing
is one good reason to be afraid."
Tazor, who had been quite up to this point, broke
into the argument: "My God, I cannot believe that you are fighting like
this. Have you already forgotten what Parsnip, Spyder, and myself
had risked our lives to get from the castle?" Tazor pulled out the
Book of Spells. He continued: "Roland, if I'm not mistaken, you were
particularly interested in one of these spells."
Roland paused for a long time, and then put his
head in his hand.
"What's wrong?" asked Parsnip.
Roland looked up and said: "I didn't want any spell
of attack. I was looking for a spell to change the past, and the
only place I have found one is in that book."
"Why?" asked Tazor.
Roland struggled to answer him: "Five years ago,
I was in Knight's training school in a kingdom far away from here.
The final test in earning Knighthood was surviving a real battle against
an enemy kingdom. If bravery was shown, you were Knighted, but if
you died, or were cowardly, then...well...not Knighthood for you.
During the battle, I ignored the orders of the leader, and because of it,
my friend lost his life. I barely managed to carry him out of there
so he could have a proper funeral, but when the details of my disobedience
emerged, I was immediately expelled from the school, still a lowly Squire.
Ever since then, I've been searching for something that would change what
happened that day. I finally found it, but realized that I would
have to stay here until Marley fell."
"Then why are you against assaulting the castle?"
asked Parsnip.
"You don't understand. Once you've lost a
friend in battle, your wild streak leaves you, and you treat life with
more respect. We must recruit, and build our forces before attempting
this."
"But there's no time for this. The more time
we take to attack, the more time they have to build forces against us.
We must strike now, when they are weakest."
Just then, a twig snapped. They were all startled,
and looked back and saw a figure emerge from the darkness of the forest.
It walked slowly in small steps, like a zombie. The figure got close
enough, and they could see it clearly. It was Spyder. They
called out to her, but she did not respond. She just continued walking
slowly toward them. They stood up, and Spyder stopped moving.
She lifted up her hand and began to chant.
"Something's wrong," said Parsnip. "Run, now!"
[Belisarius]
Belisarius walked through the rapidly darkening
woods quietly, hoping to reach something of a clearing before total nightfall.
Fortunately, with just enough light to gather some small amount of firewood
with, he encountered one.
As Belisarius started the fire, he thought he could
hear voices some distance off, but pinned it on the light wind in the trees.
He lay next to the fire, hands behind his head, looking at the emerging
stars. It was a cloudless night, and the stars were very visible.
Belisarius' thoughts drifted as his consciousness waned.
He sunk into what must have been a nightmare, although
it was in no part fiction. He remembered the dead Scholar, the twisted,
malicious, expression etched on his face as he fell. Belisarius'
hunting dagger protruding from between two of the Scholar's ribs.
He was bleeding, badly, from the wound, and Belisarius could hear the yelling
voices of men from the village coming to find out what was going on.
His fear, the bile rising in his throat when he realized that they'd probably
kill him. Belisarius ran, and the voices eventually faded, except
one.
Suddenly, he awoke, realizing that the shout he'd
heard was not from within the dream. He could hear motion, now, and
ran towards it, drawing his sword as he went. Belisarius came to
another clearing after only a few moments, and could see by the dying firelight
what appeared to be a somebody casting a spell of some sort. This
was further evidenced by the sound of chanting. Around the perimeter
of the light, he could also see several shapes in combat-ready poses.
Belisarius stopped a few trees into the woods, just
watching what happened, and rapidly tried to decide whose side was the
correct one to fight on. He knew the powers of a skilled mage, but
also knew that there were several people facing the mage, and that the
battle would be difficult for either side.
[Roland]
Tazor started running from Spyder, following Parsnip's
command. The ground beneath his feet began to shake, and he stopped
in surprise. The ground cracked under his feet, and the cracks turned
into a gaping chasm. Tazor lost his balance, and began to fall--he
grabbed for the earth, but the loose soil only slipped through his fingers.
He was falling into the abyss.
"FLOAT!"
Tazor's head jerked back as his body was pulled
upward. In an instant he was back under the skies, but not touching
the ground. He opened his eyes and saw Roland hovering five feet
in the air, his arm stretched high above his head. Roland's cloak
was rippling with the power of his spell. Tazor saw Parsnip standing
as well, but his feet were not touching the ground, either. The rest
of the group was disoriented, unsure what happened to rouse them from their
sleep. Tazor got to his feet in the air, a strange sensation to be
sure. Both Roland and Parsnip's eyes were fixed on Spyder, who stood
unhurt. The fissures in the earth radiated outward from her feet;
she had cast a Quake spell, and a powerful one.
Spyder stood, gazing off into space, swaying slightly,
but she made no further move to attack. Roland dispelled the Float
spell, and the group settled slowly to the ground. Spyder began to
chant again, then stopped suddenly, becoming still.
That moment, a shape lunged out of the woods, with
a sword drawn. It swung the blade toward Spyder.
Roland pointed his finger at Spyder, and a shell
of orange light appeared around her. The sword of her attacker struck
the light, but bounced away. The attacker let out a cry of surprise.
"No!" yelled Roland. "No killing!"
The attacker turned to the group. He was tall,
and dressed in light armor. "Forgive me," he said. "I believed
you were in danger."
2 Dope stepped forward. "Who are you?"
"My name is Belisarius, and I am a knight in a kingdom
to the west." He turned to look at Roland. "Do you remember me? I
struck at her because you were in danger."
Roland was silent for a moment, then spoke.
"Yes, I remember you."
Parsnip looked at Roland. "You know him?"
Roland was silent for a moment. "Have you forgotten
about Spyder?"
Cyclinbear asked the question first. "What happened
to her?"
"She is obviously not under her own power. I cast
a Slow spell on her--the strongest one I know. She's actually still
casting whatever spell she was chanting when I hit her with it. We
have to be careful. If she finishes it, the spell will take effect,
regardless of my own magic."
"You think it's mind control?" asked Parsnip.
"Not to interrupt," said Belisarius, holding up
a hand. "But what exactly is going on here?"
Roland answered. "Tell him, 2 Dope, while I consult
the book for a counterspell for Spyder." Parsnip handed the magician
his book. "Cyclinbear, keep an eye on Spyder."
"Are we just going to leave her standing there?"
he asked.
"Why not? It has only been a few moments to her
body. I can assure you her legs won't get tired standing there."
2 Dope related the tale of the group's exploits
and their rebellion against Marley. He concluded by asking Belisarius
to join their cause.
The warrior pondered the question for a moment.
"Marley and I have a long history of antagonism. Perhaps--"
"Look!" said Cyclinbear, pointing at Spyder.
Spyder's hand was extended in front of her as if to cast a spell.
As the group turned to look, a fireball blazed from
her hand and struck Cyclinbear in the chest.
"Cyclinbear!" cried Tazor. The flash dissipated,
and Cyclinbear was unhurt. He was
startled momentarily, then looked down at his hand.
"Wow, I guess that Fire Ring I bought really works..."
[Dhsu]
Tazor heaved a sigh of relief. "Man, you're
lucky, Cyclinbear. What are you trying to do, scaring us all like
that?"
He glanced at Spyder, who was starting to chant
another spell in slow motion. "Uhhhh, Roland, HURRY UP, for Hyne's
sake!"
"Okay, okay," said Roland in a preoccupied voice.
After a few moments, he suddenly shouted, "Yes, I've found it! 'Mind
control victims can be knocked out of their trance by a heavy blow,'" he
read. Roland furrowed his eyebrows. "But she's in a pretty
deep trance. The 'blow' required to snap her out of it could be lethal."
As Roland closed the book slowly, Parsnip looked
in Spyder's direction. She was starting to raise her hand again.
"We have no choice," Parsnip said solemnly. "Forgive me, Spyder."
Closing his eyes, he cried "Deathblow!" and a mysterious light began to
gather around his fist. When it had reached an intense shade of blue,
he yelled and released the concentrated energy at Spyder's chest.
The force of the blow sent her flying through the air until she hit the
trunk of a large tree in her path. Blood spilled out of her mouth
as she slumped and lay there, motionless.
Roland looked on in horror. In a few seconds,
he had rushed over to Spyder and poured a potion down her throat.
Soon, she opened her eyes and fixed her gaze on Roland.
"How are you feeling?" he asked anxiously.
"...My head hurts," she replied after a moment.
"No kidding..." Roland said, glaring at Parsnip,
who was now standing behind Roland. "You've also got a few cracked
ribs. You're lucky that's the ONLY thing Parsnip broke."
Spyder looked confused. "Parsnip?"
"Yeah, Parsnip," Roland said in a tone of contempt.
"Who's Parsnip?"
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