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The night darkened as the Marwolaeth advanced. In spite
of the warm summer night, the villagers felt cold to the bone. The pounding of
heavy feet penetrated the cold stillness with an ominous certainty. They were
coming.
Cassie felt weak and drained. The cold was seeping
all the energy from her, but she knew that she had to keep fighting it. Darkness
would not prevail whilst she was still standing. She forced herself to pull
through the dark and not allow it to drown her. It worked.
Everyone gasped as an explosion of light and
warmth washed over them. Morgan looked and saw Cassie at the center of it, glowing
silver, radiating warmth. It was obviously a strain to keep this up, but she
was giving strength to those around her. A cheer rose up from the swamp folk.
They were ready to fight.
The first sight of the Marwolaeth was one that
none who witnessed it would ever forget. The massive dark forms with their torn
wings and red eyes sent a chill through the crowd. Cassie was doing a good job
though, and the monsters were weakened by her light.
"Charge!" The cry went up and the battle commenced.
It was horrible. The Marwolaeth, though weakened, were still hard to kill. They
had thick iron plates strapped over their massive chests. Helmets adorned with
antlers and horns covered their foul heads. They were all intent on reaching
the silver Zafara and stilling her once and for all.
It was like trying to hold back a machine purposefully
trying to accomplish an objective. The black shapes cut their way mercilessly
through the villagers towards the shining form. The swamp residents fought bravely,
but it looked as if all their efforts would be in vain. The Marwolaeth moved
through their ranks like a hot knife through butter. They only had a short distance
to go before they reached Cassie.
Morgan saw this and fought his way over to stand
in front of her. He wouldn't let them pass. Not until he had no life left to
fight them.
"Cassie, run!" he shouted as they advanced.
There was only a matter of meters between them and the advancing black Marwolaeth.
"No." The word came from her mouth in a soft
tone, but the effect it had on Morgan was as if it had been yelled. He turned
quickly to look at her. Her face was set in determination. "They will not pass
me." Her eyes burned with an intense power that made Morgan breathe in sharply.
They had broken through. Morgan heard the cry
and whirled around just in time to parry the blow that came at him. He was flung
aside by the next attack and lay on the ground stunned. They only thought that
registered in his mind was the realization that he had failed. They had gotten
to her.
A brilliant flash lit the area and the Marwolaeth
cringed and shank back. Cassie pressed forward on them forcing them away with
the intensity of the power that was pouring off of her.
"You are not welcome here," she growled fiercely,
"You were cast out once, take a hint. Leave now, and this time don't come back."
The Marwolaeth cowered on the ground shielding themselves from the light. Cassie
flung out her hands and the light intensified. The Marwolaeth howled in rage
and pain and disappeared in a flash of red light.
Cassie slumped unconscious to the ground as the
creatures vanished. The effort of driving them off had taken a lot of her strength,
and she had nothing left to give.
"WHAT!" Pravus roared at the two dark forms
that stood in front of him. Dumar and Moragur, the Marwolaeth captains, shrunk
back from their master's fury. They had just told him that the army had failed
its task and been lost in the process.
Pravus growled fiercely and glared at his two
captains. They were no longer any use to him. His new minions had failed him.
"Leave me! I never want to see you failures
again. Go join you troops." The Marwolaeth bowed and vanished in a flash of
red.
Pravus was enraged that the storm had not been
annihilated in this last attempt. He had never heard of any mortal defeating
an entire army of the fallen ones. Not only had she done that, but she had cast
them from the land.
"I will have to face her myself." Pravus grimaced
at the thought of having to dirty his own hooves, be decided that if it was
with her blood, then it would be worth it.
He stood and marched out of his throne room.
He needed to assemble an army. A bigger one this time. He would march on the
storm in two days time.
"She will not escape again," he thought menacingly,
"I will quiet her once and for all this time."
When Cassie regained consciousness, she found
she had been moved into the hut. She was lying on her cot and someone had placed
a thick blanket over her. Isilme was curled up on her chest.
"Hello Isilme," she whispered. There was no
one else in the hut that she could see, so she stayed still lost in her thoughts.
She had driven off the Marwolaeth. This was something
that she could still hardly believe. Even more unbelievable though, was the
fact that Pravus had gotten them into his employ in the first place. What immense
magic had been used to accomplish that feat?
She shivered slightly regardless of the blanket
covering her. If he could do something like that, how was she ever to stop him?
It seemed impossible. Yet she had defeated the Marwolaeth. Maybe, with a little
luck, she could bring down Pravus too. Maybe.
Her thoughts were interrupted when Lana came
into the room. She gave a little cry of relief and hurried over.
"We were so worried about you," she said earnestly,
"you've been unconscious for two whole days."
"What?!" Cassie sat up quickly. She had no idea
that she had been out that long. It had felt like no time at all since the battle.
"Yeah. You drained yourself during the fight,
and collapsed on the spot. You haven't moved since. Morgan's been working himself
into a panic."
Cassie smiled. "Let's go tell him I'm alright
then." Lana watched nervously as Cassie got to her feet. She was a little shaky
at first, but soon was showing no ill effects from the collapse.
They walked outside and Cassie breathed in deeply.
The fresh air felt good in her lungs. Lana led her over to Bahadur's hut.
"Bahadur noticed Morgan's agitation. It was
kinda hard to miss." Cassie smiled at this. "He invited Morgan over for lunch
in order to get him out of the hut. I think he's still here."
Lana knocked softly on the door. It was opened
by the old Eyrie who smiled at seeing Cassie up and around. "It's good to see
you have recovered," he said simply and led them inside.
Morgan managed to upset a mug of water in his
haste to get to his feet upon seeing Cassie. His face reddened as he stuttered
an apology to Bahadur, and then he turned to Cassie.
"It's umm… I'm glad to uhh… Nice to see you
awake," he said very awkwardly. Cassie smiled. "It's good to be awake. I had
no idea that I was out for that long."
Morgan looked at her strangely and then quickly
looked away. "I-I mean we were all very worried about you." And for the first
time since she had entered, Morgan met her eyes.
"It's okay, Morgan. I'm alright now," Cassie
said softly, recognizing the concern in his eyes.
The rest of the day went by very quickly. Cassie
had decided that they had to leave soon, because Pravus could easily be planning
another attack. Bahadur pulled Cassie aside that night before she went to into
the hut.
"I see the necessity to help you in this war
now. I am going to send all my troops with you. They will fight for you against
Pravus."
"Thank you, Bahadur," Cassie said. She embraced
him tightly and said, "I really appreciate this."
He smiled at her and said, "I think it is safe
to say that you are meant for great things, and I am honored to be but a small
part of your mission."
They left the next morning accompanied by 300
of Bahadur's troops. It was hard leaving the peaceful little swamp, but it had
to be done. Cassie fervently hoped that she would one day see it again.
The group headed out north where there was supposed
to be a village that might provide them with more support. They were joined
by another 400 troops from the surrounding villages who had sent in troops in
response to a summons Bahadur had sent out the previous night.
The 700 fierce warriors tramped out across the
land following a small silver Zafara with a white magtile curled about her neck.
They stopped at dusk to eat and rest. Soldiers took turns with the watch, but
nothing happened that night. They set off again the next morning.
Cassie was slightly worried by the flocks of
birds she kept seeing over head. They would sometimes swoop down closer and
then fly off. This was unlike any behavior that she had ever seen.
"Does any one know how to capture a live bird?"
Cassie asked the troops during a short rest.
"Yes milady." A short white Wocky stepped forwards.
Cassie grimaced at the address. "My friends don't
call me that and neither will you," she said firmly. The Wocky backed away from
her looking embarrassed. "I'm not mad at you," she said guiltily, "I just refuse
to be treated as a superior. What's your name?"
"Maputi."
"I will call you Maputi instead of your royal
highness, if you will call me Cassie instead of milady. Deal?" Maputi smiled.
"Good. Now about catching me a bird." Cassie
pointed out the flock of birds above her and told him what she wanted.
"I need you to catch me one of those birds.
I want it alive and unharmed. You think you can do that?" Maputi nodded. "Good,
get started."
Cassie watched the young Wocky as he deftly made
a net of sorts out of grasses. He weighted the ends with stones and loaded the
whole thing into a sling. He launched the net into the flock and was rewarded
with a screech. One of the birds had become entangled in the net and was being
dragged earthwards by it.
The struggling mass of feathers landed at Cassie's
feet, and she picked it up. "Good work Maputi." She freed the birds head from
the net and started talking to it.
"Who employs you?" she asked.
"The shadow in the west. Pravus," croaked the
bird. It struggled but was held still.
"You will tell us more," said Cassie. "I have
plenty of time."
To be continued…
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