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News » History of Mardon Castle - 20C
History of Mardon Castle
Chapter Twenty
Part 3
Ellish knew that Tasbirn and the soldiers were watching him, so felt it best to explain. “If Telelum has been repeating his route for the last many centuries, there should be a path.â€
The viscount replied, “I would truthfully rather encounter Telelum close to the castle. Whatever the reason for you stalling, I really am not against it.â€
“Well, seeking the proper path is the reason I am stalling.â€
A soldier dared to ask, “How will you tell a ghost’s path as being different than that of a regular animal?â€
Yes, seeking the proper path is always a good thing, although also dangerous.
History of Mardon Castle
Chapter Twenty
Part 3
Ellish knew that Tasbirn and the soldiers were watching him, so felt it best to explain. “If Telelum has been repeating his route for the last many centuries, there should be a path.â€
The viscount replied, “I would truthfully rather encounter Telelum close to the castle. Whatever the reason for you stalling, I really am not against it.â€
“Well, seeking the proper path is the reason I am stalling.â€
A soldier dared to ask, “How will you tell a ghost’s path as being different than that of a regular animal?â€
“I would think Telelum would be traveling in a more direct fashion.â€
The voice of another soldier declared, “It is over there, Sir Ellish.â€
The knight turned to look in the direction that the soldier pointed. It was not a new recruit, but neither was it one of those that had fought in the war. Ellish thus could not immediately evaluate the quality of the man’s words. Understanding that Tasbirn had not stated any desire to continue moving, the knight simply decided to go ahead and check out what had been said.
Ellish could not make out any path. The underbrush quickly hid any straight view. Wondering about how the soldier had made his decision, he called him over to ask.
He had never thought to look for the roots. Some undergrowth did grow low to the ground, but Ellish dismounted with the soldier to see how a straight line could be seen next to the boggy land. His thoughts about the constant movement, even a ghostly one, disturbing the wildlife was indeed correct. The actual ground along which Telelum had moved that fateful night was way below. His ghost did occasionally arise for various reasons, but most disruptions occurred beneath what now appeared to be the level of the land. No plants grew along a certain line. The reason for such could be discerned by the larger roots of trees clearly curving away as if encountering a barrier.
Being asked how he knew of the path, the soldier replied, “My father serves Lord Negalm who lives about a mile in that direction.†The soldier pointed, but Ellish kept his eyes on the man’s face in order to assure the validity of the spoken words. “My father showed me this feature as he took me out hunting in this area.â€
Tasbirn asked, “So, Avisht, you should know Norvichy’s family.â€
“Yes, Viscount. His home is a few miles in that direction,†again Ellish did not look where he pointed, “but we did associate.â€
“Have you ever seen Telelum?â€
“No, Viscount. My father claims to have once met him, and there are stories among others that live out on Lord Negalm’s property.â€
Tasbirn twisted his torso in the saddle as he looked around at his men. Ellish knew that he was waiting for other words that might be said. Hearing nothing, Tasbirn spoke his decision.
“All right, we follow this line. Looks like a lot of underbrush, but we are not in any rush anyway. Avisht, make certain the men understand how to recognize the trail.â€
Ellish dismounted and did his best to look bored as all the men had to bend down and look. He truthfully only intended to keep the men moving. The air was cold. Standing and considering the situation, he found himself becoming rather surprised that the hole next to the ground had not been covered by snow. He looked around at the growth of the trees and the underbrush. While it was true that the rotting material in the soil did tend to keep it soupy, the weather usually did manage to freeze enough of the upper crust long enough for an insulating layer of snow to form on top. Seeing patches of white off in the distance, Ellish found himself needing to have the soldiers step aside so he could take another look for himself.
He tried to focus upon a disturbance in the limited view against the ground through the hole where nothing grew. His first belief was that the wind blew some snow through the passage. He suddenly rose however realizing that something was coming upon them.
Ellish did not have to shout any instructions to the men. Simply drawing forth his sword caused them to do the same. He looked at his surroundings wondering what to expect. The creature coming could simply pass. The unusual recent events and the fact the movement was along what had been identified as a ghostly path had Ellish determine otherwise. He motioned with his free hand to direct the soldiers around him to positions where they should be able to coordinate attacks without being disturbed by the foliage or each other.
He actually expected another assault from corrupted dread worms. His wife’s sword was a nice weapon, but had no special enchantments. It had however harmed the creatures in the previous battle, even though they were not the usual threats to the land, but special apparitions of them. Ellish thus stood ready for what he felt was coming.
A number of tentacles erupting from the ground caused him to stand frozen completely unprepared for the sight. The surrounding soldiers however reacted to slice the long flailing appendages. Coming to realize a need to act, Ellish however stayed still watching the scene around him. When in the previous battle he had struck the grand dread worm that had caught Tasbirn in its mouth, mud had flown instead of skin and internal juices. While the slices to the tentacles caused by the soldiers appeared to reveal normal internal structure, the damage quickly resealed after the blades passed through. Such had Ellish consider that they were actually fighting some malevolent presence conjured by the curse permeating the land. He thus held his position before the tentacles while attempting to determine the best method of eradicating this threat.
Tasbirn rode up to stick the point of his lance down into the mud. Ellish saw those soldiers not directly battling the tentacles to look to the ground where the long tapered shaft entered. He suspected they hoped the viscount’s attack would have killed the source of the threat, while he only wondered how the malevolent force would react.
A pair of large tentacles now extended from the ground. This attack did not surprise Ellish. He remembered the great dread eel striking to catch the viscount in its mouth. The fact that a special powerful attack resulted from Tasbirn’s strike thus caused Ellish to again move to save his superior.
With his free hand he pulled one of his better daggers from a sheath. He then wrapped that arm around one of the large tentacles trying to move upon Tasbirn. The appendage was slippery, but it gripped in return as suckers latched themselves onto his armor. While seeking with one arm to hold the tentacle while setting his body to keep its position, he used the other arm to put his sword into a high downward direction. Tasbirn fought the other large appendage, although did look to Ellish with an expression of wondering what was being attempted. The sword did not slice through the skin of the tentacle, but was sent down into the body of the squirming length to provide a sturdy skeletal section that held the threatening member steady. The knight then changed his body position to work with the stiff part of the appendage while putting his focus upon the dagger to have it slice around the attacking member.
Soldiers cheered as Ellish was sent to the ground struggling with the loose length of tentacle that he had freed. He felt the suckers trying to gain a hold on his bare skin while he tried to finish removing the life from the threat that now was no longer a part of its source. As he continued to fight with the tentacle, he felt it slowly lose its strength. Rising from the ground, he saw others also struggling with the ends of appendages no longer a part of the larger monster still beneath the ground.
Tasbirn did not seem to be having the same success with the other large tentacle. His larger sword could not be managed as easily as Ellish had maneuvered his wife’s blade. The knight thus moved around the horse while instructing his superior just to hold the appendage in steady. The response however let him know that Tasbirn was not able to comply as desired.
“It hurts, Ellish.â€
Those words caused the knight to look at his superior again. This time he could tell that the suckers had managed to slip beneath his armor and tear through the layers of cloth beneath. Tasbirn thus suffered from the tentacle having direct contact. Ellish did not allow the harm to his superior worry him, but focused upon making his attack good.
He feared the larger part of the monster making its presence known as the other large tentacle became separated. Soldiers however came around him with a number stating that what few tentacles were still present had been drawn back into the ground. With those words, the appendage still working to cut into Tasbirn’s skin relaxed. Ellish pulled it from his superior’s body glad that he no longer had to fear for the man’s life.
He said, “That is the second time the monster put its attention upon you.â€
“And the second time,†Tasbirn replied looking at the wounds on his body, “that you were already in action working to successfully stop the threat. It is reasons like that which kept me promoting you, then made you my knight.â€
“Thanks, but do you ever remember anything like this happening before? I mean, the mages did not specifically attack the nobles. They figured any losses to weaken us. This curse however seems to focus on you. Do you remember things happening to you?â€
“If I did, you might have been knighted sooner.â€
That almost sounded like a complaint, except Ellish could see that it had been spoken as Tasbirn applied some salve and felt the pain of the healing ointment. A desire came to lighten the mood with a joke. Ellish however did not want lose track of his line of thought, so instead kept his tone serious as he reworded his question.
“Did your father ever mention odd attacks like this?â€
“Nothing really odd. Of course, he always felt that we already had some rather dangerous creatures in the land. I don’t think he would have been so much worried about something like this.â€
Ellish now lightened the tone of his voice as he said, “That looks like it hurts.â€
“Yes, but I’ve had worse. We’ll survive this, Ellish, then we will both go home to our family. I plan on having more children. How about you?â€
“I figure that I am repeating with my wife whatever we did to cause them to come along the first time.†Ellish waited for Tasbirn to look to him before adding, “It is so much fun.â€
The man chuckled along with those soldiers that had been listening, then said, “Well, we need to get ourselves back home to do those things. Not right now, however. We are presently going to continue following this path. When the battle starts, I will be ready. We will defeat this curse.â€
A number of soldiers cheered, but as their voices died down Ellish said, “I don’t want this to last four years.â€
“We’re home. We’re going to stay busy doing something. If we haven’t solved this curse by the time we die, at least we would have died at home.â€
Ellish thought for a moment, then said, “Okay, I will give you that one. Still, let us not die until our children are old enough to have children.â€
“Oh, this curse doesn’t want to kill us. It wants us to suffer. We will live, but it will come to an end. Kaervel will walk with my wife through a meadow of flowers.†Tasbirn turned his head from his knight to look to his soldiers as he added, “We will follow this path, and we will defeat anything that it throws at us.â€
The men cheered again. They then began checking their weapons. Ellish listened for a time, then nodded and began moving through the soldiers seeing if any other had serious wounds. Seeing that they all were still in good condition, he prepared for further travel feeling that he had survived worse. He then led the men in a cheer as he accepted that he was home, and talking about who lived where they all set back to await their encounter with the next ghost or monster.
With all ready, we move into the final chapter.
Posted by TerishD on Wednesday, May 05, 2010 (11:11:57) (324 reads)
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