The four climbed down the hill and soon found themselves hiding in a cluster of bushes that grew just outside the castle wall. There were no official guards, rather, the ramparts of the place were patrolled by many grim looking men dressed in furs and leathers, most likely brigands of some sort. At every tower, among the bowmen, there were a small group of purple and red robed men who held scepters, and who’s faces were veiled by hoods.
“Those must be part of the sorcerer’s coven,” Jason said, pointing to them. “Which mean’s that he’s here. We must be quick.”
“But how?” Drevon asked. “There are four of us, and from what I can tell, there’s at least twenty men on the ramparts alone. Who knows how many are inside the keep, or guarding the portal,” Drevon said.
“There must be some way. Perhaps a hidden tunnel, or a way to distract them,” John said.
“Maybe we should wait until nightfall. The sun has almost set, and those rain clouds look close,” Ellestria said.
“That is a very good point, and I would agree. The cover of rain and darkness would prove to be most useful,” Jason said.
“However, that still does not give us a solid way of getting to the sorcerer,” John said.
“What about that there?” Drevon asked. He pointed to a little stream of water that trickled out of the castle wall and into the swamp nearby. The drain looked rather narrow, and appeared to have rusted bars over it.
“No, we couldn’t get past those bars, and we most likely couldn’t fit either,” Ellestria said.
Suddenly, Drevon spied a herd of wild boars grazing on grass in the distance. There were at least a hundred of them, and they were very large. Looking at them gave Drevon an idea.
“Ellestria,” He said. “Do you think you could scare those boars with your fire?”
“Yes,” She said, “But why?”
“If we wait until night, then scare the herd into storming the castle, it will be pandemonium in there. Then we could simply sneak in amidst the chaos,” Drevon said.
“That, my friend, is an excellent plan,” John said with a grin.
“I agree, and it would spare us the trouble of having to deal with the main force outside,” Jason said.
“Alright then, let’s do it,” Drevon said. “We’ll camp here until nightfall, then we act.”
So they did. They waited in the bushes until the sen went back to bed and the moon woke up. The rain clouds also were cooperating that night, as a torrential downpour ensued, and the entirety of the ground was covered in a thick mud. Fog also had set in over the swamp, and the visibility couldn’t have been lower.
Ellestria crept up to the boars as quietly as she could. Despite the loud splashing of her wide footsteps, the boars took no notice, as the rian masked the sound. She reached the back of the herd, and, sucking in a deep breath, blew out a blast of fire that seared the rear end of the nearest one, sending it squealing. At that, the pigs bolted, and, directed by the prodding of long sticks that Jason, John and Drevon held, they charged right into the keep.
Panic ensued. Between the rain, fog and the charging herd, the guards of the castle were caught completly off guard. The four seized thier chance, and crept quietly into the walls, skewering anyone who saw them. They reached the door to the inner castle, and went inside. Guards met them immeadiatly, but, as they were unprepared, the group cut them down quickly. They moved through the narrow halls and passages as quickly as they could, charging into any attackers. There were no cultists seen until they reached the large, inner chamber that lay at the bottom of a flight of mossy stairs. They crouched behind a wall, and peered around the corner at the large, stone portal that sat in the center of the room. Ten, robed cultists stood around it, and the largest of them, who was also the most ornatly dressed, was reading from a large, black book. He had a crown of iron and bone over his hood, and chains of gold hung down from his impressive red robe. A long, silver and gold scepter, that was shaped like a twisting serpent, was in his left hand, and the black book was in his right.
Green and blue streaks of light began to form in the center of the portal, and the cultists began to circle it, chanting some strange, flowing language as they did. The leader lifted his scepter, and a flash of bright light exploded in the room, as the portal began to open.
“We have to attack,” Jason said, and drew his greatsword. Drevon nodded and drew out his own sword.
They charged the cultists, weapons leading. Jason hacked at them with his greatsword, Drevon sliced and stabbed at them, Ellestria sliced them with her claws and burned thier robes, and John did his best to stab at them from behind. The cultists were not dumb as the city guards had been before, and flung powerful blasts of flame, electricity and acid at them, turning the room into a brilliant display of crackling energy, searing heat, and boiling pools. The head sorcerer never moved from his position, and continued to open the portal. Drevon tried to rush at him with his sword raised, but a particularly strong cultist grabbed him from behind and flung him agianst a wall. Drevon was about to parry the man’s scepter swipe, but he didn’t have to, as a long dagger burst through the man’s neck. John appeared behind him as the man fell, and pulled Drevon off of the wall. He didn’t say anything, he just grinned and went back to flaying cultists.
Jason suddenly appeared in Drevons line of sight, as the immortal threw one of the fallen cultists scepters at the leader. It struck him in the back, and the man stumbled forward. This did not stop him however, from lifting his wand and uttering a final word of command. At his voice, the portal burst into green and blue flames, and the unmistakable form of a hideously large and red hand began to emerge from it. Drevon ran at the porta with all his strength, narrowy dodging a fireball that passed over his head, and slammed his sword into the portal. The gems on the hilt lit up, and the portal began to break, as cracks appeared on the stone. The hand that was coming through the fire burst into flames, and a distant roar was heard. Drevon’s sword glowed a brilliant white, and suddenly, the portal exploded, sending Drevon flying. His last sight was of the Cultist leader flying into a pole and being impaled non it before he was lifted off of the ground by Ellestria, and they all began to run. Though they didn’t look back, they could hear the magic portal behind them exploding continuously, causing the castle around them to collapse. They reached the door, and ran across the courtyard, out into the open. Just as they reached the edge of the wall, the entire castle exploded in a flash of green and blue, sending chunks of rock and steel and flesh flying everywhere. The heat from the blast was scalding, and the wet ground around them steamed from it. They crawled behind a cluster of rocks and waitind for the blast to end. Then, as suddendly as it had begun, the blast stopped, and silence returned. They stood up, and stared off towards the smoldering ruin, and smiled.
“Well, I guess we did it,” John chuckled.
Fairy Tales
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I like how you said “the sun went back to bed and the moon woke up.” It feels like a sentence that belongs in a fairy tale.