Bakkian Chronicles, Book I - The Prophecy (55 page)

“
Are ye prepared for battle, sir Steve? Lady Sarah?” Both Nohrin meekly nodded. “Keep your crystals ready. In fact, give several to Lady Sarah to hold for ye in case ye are too busy to get them out.”

“
Good idea.” Steve pulled three mimets out and offered them to Sarah, who tucked them safely inside her pocket.

Silently, the group descended further into the depths of the earth. Pheron, being the logical choice to lead the group onwards, cautiously inspected tunnel after tunnel, only to find them consistently empty. Following the lieutenant was Breslin, quietly pointing out the minimal traces of spoor he could locate.

“
Guur spoor,” Steve snorted, chuckling to himself.

Sarah elbowed him in the stomach.

“
Quiet.”

Rhein, Kern, and Darius were all casting their torches about, looking for any traces of the huge insects. Following Darius were the Nohrin, nervously looking here and there for some signs of their adversaries. Bringing up the rear, Rhenyon kept an eye out behind them. It will be a cold night in a dragon’s nest before he’d let anything come up behind them and catch them unaware.

It wasn’t until they had finished their midday meal in a small cavern they had discovered when Pheron stiffened, motioning for the others to be silent.

Rhein and Kern were instantly by his side.

“
What is it?” Rhein whispered. “What do ye see?”

“
Perhaps two hundred paces away, along the back wall, two creatures have descended from a hole in the ceiling. They are presently about five feet from the ground.”

Both men were shaking their head. They were unable to see that far away in the darkness.

“
Are they the guur?” Kern asked softly.

“
Insectoid, at least eight legs. No, make that ten,” Pheron corrected, squinting at the far wall. “If that is something besides a guur, then we have more problems than we were led to believe.”

From a safe distance, Pheron observed the two guur excavating a section of a stone wall. The insects’ jaws were literally scooping mouthfuls of rock right from the surface of the wall, as though they were pulling the soft part of a piece of bread away from the crust.

“
They are digging into the stone,” he whispered, watching in awe as an opening to a new tunnel started to form. “Our armor is ineffective. They are digging into solid rock as though they were digging through sand.”

“
Good. Then this blasted armor is history.” Darius pulled the buckles loose on his bulky
armor
, restoring his arms to full motion.

“
No, wait!” Rhenyon’s call came too late. The armor fell to the ground with a noisy thud.

In horror, Darius looked at Pheron. The lieutenant cursed as he stared at the far wall.

“
Look out! Here they come!”

The two guur covered the distance across the small cavern in a matter of moments. Their ten segmented legs smoothly carried their heavily armored bodies towards the fresh meat they had just learned existed.

Watching the guur rapidly approach, Pheron whipped out his bow, fit an arrow, and fired it at one of the large insects in a single fluid motion. Disheartened, he watched as his arrow bounced
harmlessly
off the insect’s thick carapace.

“
Arrows are useless! No arrows! Use swords!” he called, pulling out his own sword. More shouts sounded behind him as the rest of his companions followed suit.

Rhenyon hastily pulled his own sword out and watched as his men attacked the two advancing guur. The bugs were incredibly fast, darting easily around the swords that were thrust at them. One of the soldiers howled in pain and went down as a guur managed to slip by the jabbing swords. Rhein feinted right, and as the huge bug went to lunge to the left, the short sword he was hiding behind his back whistled through the air, slicing the unfortunate bug in two. The remaining guur lunged for the fallen man, hoping to get in a couple of solid bites before the other bipeds could drive it off.

Breslin’s axe suddenly whizzed by Kern’s head, actually shaving off a few facial whiskers in the process. The attacking bug was neatly sliced in half, right down the middle. Such was the force of the throw that the axe actually embedded itself into a stalagmite several feet away.

Ignoring the grisly sight of squishy bug innards, Sarah pushed by the soldiers to kneel beside the fallen soldier. Darius was clutching his right leg, which had blood steadily pumping from an ugly gash on his upper thigh. Retrieving her precious vial from her medallion, she administered a single drop to the wounded soldier’s leg. The bleeding lessened, but unfortunately did not stop. What was happening? Sarah stared at her vial. This was supposed to cure everything, wasn’t it?

Breslin knelt down, inspecting the wound.

“
His leg has been infected with guur venom. Elixirs will not help him now. He will need the help of a wizard.”

Helplessly, she looked at her husband. “What do we do? How do we get Shardwyn here?”

Rhenyon leaned over to grasp Darius’ arm. “Ye have fought well.” He glanced at Sarah. “We cannot get Shardwyn here, but maybe we can get Darius to him. Think ye can take him all the way to the castle?”

Sarah sat back on her heels and thought for a moment. “Castle R’Tal is much farther away, but I think I can do it. If I get too drained, I’ll just use one of the mimets I have. Sweetie, I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere.” Leaning forward, she took the wounded soldier’s hand. “Hang on, help is on the way.”

Darius’ glazed eyes focused on Sarah’s. “Many thanks, milady. Sorry to be a burden. Sorry to be –”

“
Don’t start.” Sarah closed her eyes, bringing up the familiar image of the throne room. “This is likely to cause a strong jolt to the system. Deep breath. Ready?”

Darius nodded.

In the blink of an eye, both people vanished. In the second blink, however, a raucous chittering had started and steadily grew louder.

“
Uh, oh.” Steve looked at the others. “That doesn’t sound good.”

A single guur appeared at the same entrance its brethren had previously emerged from. It stared for a moment or two at the intruders before making the loud clicking noise again.
Instantly
more guur came streaming out of the same tunnel. Clicking angrily, a group of at least twenty insects advanced on the small group of humans.

“
Not good. This is not good at all.” The dwarf was slowly retreating. “We cannot successfully face that many. We must fall back!”

“
Not an option,” Rhenyon snapped. “Lady Sarah will return here in a few moments. I will not let her arrive here to face these abominations alone!”

“
And she won’t,” Steve declared, stepping forward. “This is my show. Time to put on a performance these little buggars aren’t soon
gonna
forget.” He looked back at the small group of soldiers, catching and holding Rhenyon’s eyes. “Watch for Sarah to return. Keep her safe, okay?”

Silently, Rhenyon nodded, turning to watch the group of large insects advance. At that moment, Steve ignited both hands and faced the approaching Bugs from Hell.

The encroaching horde hesitated. Where had the fire come from? Could they still get to the meat they craved while finding some way to avoid their one, true fear? Greed and hunger prompted half the group to try, surging forward suddenly, pincers clicking furiously. Twin jets of fire appeared out of nowhere, incinerating those that had chosen to attack. Confused, the surviving guur turned to face the lone biped. Two of the biped’s appendages were lit like torches. How could they make it to the meat they craved while avoiding the flames?

Dispatch the biped: the fire will be dispatched with it.

This single collective thought circulated throughout the remaining insects. In just a matter of a few seconds, all guur were focused on the same goal.

Steve watched as a wave of restlessness started with one insect and spread quickly throughout the rest of the group. It was then that he realized the clicking noise they were making had been steadily increasing in volume.

They’re talking to each other, Steve thought with amazement. What could a bunch of bugs possibly be talking about? When to attack? How they were going to take me out?

“
I never did like ants,” Steve muttered, eyeing the large bugs distastefully.

All the remaining guur suddenly leapt forward in perfect synchronicity, something Breslin hadn’t even known that they were capable of doing. If they could rush this One Who Wielded Fire, then perhaps with the instant onslaught of activity the biped would become confused and be unable to defend itself.

Unfortunately for the guur, Steve was fast becoming a pro at defending himself against a large group of creatures who all tried to rush him at the same time. As the bugs all leapt towards him, he ignited a jet of fire and kept it ignited, essentially turning his left hand into a flame thrower. Sweeping his arm in an arc, he ignited all of the leaping guur at the same time, one right after the other, which resulted in all ten guur falling back to the ground as flaming, charred husks.

At that moment, Sarah materialized back in their midst. Noting the burning piles, the horrible stench, and the tenseness of the soldiers, she went wide-eyed.

“
What happened? Were you attacked again?”

“
The moment ye left, actually,” Pheron confirmed. “How is Darius? Will he survive?”

Smiling, Sarah shook her head. “Shardwyn is looking after him as we speak. Said he hadn’t seen a bite that bad in some time. Don’t worry, he said that he’ll be fine.”

“
Excellent.” Rheyon let loose a deep sigh of relief. “Do ye need one of yer power crystals, sir Steve?”

“
Ummm, I don’t think so.” Steve ignited both hands, trying to determine if his jhorun was fatigued or not. Not sensing any type of weariness, he shook his head. “So far, I think I’m good.”

“
Keep one ready, nonetheless.” Rhenyon gestured to the far cavern wall. “They came from that direction. Shall we?”

“
So these things can inflict pain, whether we have armor or not?”

“
So it would seem,” Rhenyon answered, turning to address the soldier who had asked the question. “Why do ye ask, Kern?”

“
If it matters not whether we are wearing this armor, then I would rather remove it.”

About to protest, Rhenyon closed his mouth with a snap. Armor or no armor? If they could be hurt either way, what was the point?

Taking the captain’s silence as permission, Kern started to unbuckle the protective leather padding he was wearing.

“
Just a moment. We do not know if the armor saved Darius from losing a leg or not. I believe I will retain my armor. Whether ye choose to remove yer armor is yer choice to make.”

Not wanting to risk losing any appendage, Kern hastily retrieved his pieces of armor that had fallen to the ground.

Up near the mouth of the guur tunnel, Pheron and Breslin were both peering into the dark opening, whispering together. As one, they slipped inside, vanishing from sight.

“
Shouldn’t they wait for us?” Steve wanted to know.

Rhenyon’s head jerked up.

“
Pheron! Breslin!” the captain snapped. “Get back here, on the double! Acknowledge!”

Silence.

“
Lieutenant!!”

Suddenly they could hear distant shouting. With a curse, Kern and Rhein darted into the tunnel, followed closely by Steve and Sarah. Rhenyon brought up the rear, hurrying them along so that they could render assistance as quickly as possible.

“
Sir Steve! Light!”