“A good way to sound
an alarm in a cave fortress,” the captain speculated. “I wager we’re soon going to have company.”
“A reasonable guess.”
“Gather around the cave,” Pender commanded. “Defensive positions. Try to find a spot where your footing is secure.”
As the soldiers moved into the best possible places around
the cave entrance, another group of twenty men arrived from the west.
“Good, we have more swords,” Cherok noted as he watched the
men dismount. “I have a feeling we’re
going to need them.”
The new fighters were under the command of Lieutenant
Boerger, Henny’s betrothed. He was one
of the younger officers, but a capable fighter and leader. He was a big man, but was agile and quickly
led his men up the slope.
Before Boerger and the others reached the ledge, the light
vanished, leaving behind nothing but the ring of the Valkea’s henchmen who had
died trying to reach her. Before any of
the men could react to the sudden end of the light, an image coalesced and they
found themselves in the presence of their King.
The men instantly saluted.
“Your Majesty,” Pender said respectfully.
“Gentleman,” Kalmar replied and gave them a nod to
acknowledge their salutes. He didn’t
realize it, but his face was haggard with the effort of battling the Valkea – a
fact instantly noticed by his men who exchanged a concerned glance.
“How may we be of service?” the captain asked.
Kalmar looked around at the men gathered at the cave
entrance and instantly noticed that the ground was littered with the Valkea’s
dead clansmen. “As you can see the
Valkea is no more. Thank you for taking
care of her fighters here. Now we need
to cleanse the world of the nest of monsters she has been incubating in the
caverns beneath our feet. Before we can
continue, I need to assess the situation here.
Have any of your men entered the tunnel?”
“No, Sire. We just
finished our battle and were preparing for more of the Valkea’s henchmen to
appear for we hear the distant drums.
Please allow me to congratulate you on your victory.”
“Thank you, Captain.”
Kalmar focused his attention to listen for the drumbeat but instead felt
his mind being drawn to the place Flindra and Gegen were now seeing. Deep within the heart of the cavern was a
central chamber and it was here that the drums were being sounded. Men and women were running to the
summons. All had grabbed some kind of
weapon and moved about in complete frenzy.
All three Champions were shocked to see the numbers present – hundreds
of howling monsters were running helter-skelter while they awaited someone to
take command.
“It’s not going to take long for this howling mob to make it
to the surface somewhere,” Gegen warned.
“Wouldn’t it be easier for us to attack them here and save our forces
inevitable casualties?”
“I have an idea, but we need to make sure our forces are
well away from the tunnel entrances,” Flindra said.
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