Refuge: Kurt's Quest (21 page)

“What’s the hold up,” called out Ellisandra,
walking toward the Assassin with the Death Priest and the Ogre by his side.

“There is death in this room,” said the
Assassin.  “I can feel it.”

The Marshal looked at the statues, not really
sure what he was looking at.  The first room they had entered had been the
dragon’s hoard, not really what one would expect for a Great Wyrm.  Then again,
he had been stuck in a limited area on a barbaric peninsula, so there was not
all that much treasure to be had.  Still, it was enough to make every Elf in
their party rich for a good part of their very long lifespans.  They had taken
some choice objects, not wanting to weight themselves down this early in this
ruin crawl.

“Can you tell what it is?” he asked the
Assassin.

“No, but I have suspicions.”

“If your suspicions tend toward Stone Golems,
you are correct,” said the Death Priest, Jakisanda Millistara.  “They are set here
as a ward, to catch anyone who gets past the dragon.”

And I wonder what happened to our ally, the
Great Wyrm.
 
They had heard nothing from the giant beast since it went into the attack. 
We
should have at least gotten a mental communication back from it, if it had
survived the attack.
  It seemed inconceivable that the giant creature could
have lost to mere mortals.  Then he reminded himself that two of those chasing
him were not mortals, and that they had caused much trouble for his people and
his Empire since coming to this world.

“Can you get us past the ward?” he asked the
Priest, not wanting to fight creatures like these.  That they could defeat
them, he had no doubt.  He also had no doubt that he would take casualties, and
he only had so many bodies.  He would prefer to keep as many fighting men as
possible alive for what they would face further in, when the threats were sure
to become more and more powerful.

“I think I can,” said the Priest, closing his
eyes, his brow furrowing in concentration.  He opened his eyes and said some
words, waving his right hand. 

The Marshal could now feel a presence in the
statues, as if they were looking at him, or even into his soul.  It was not the
kind of feeling that made him want to trust his soul to the room.  Then the
feeling left him, and the room seemed to be empty. 

“The way should be clear,” said the Death
Priest, looking over at the leader.

Ellisandra did not like that word,
should
.
 That meant there was the possibility that the Priest had not accomplished the
task given him.  Which meant the first people into the room might be dead the
moment they set foot on that floor.

The Marshal waved some nervous looking infantry
forward.  The men stared at him wide eyed, then at each other, before they
walked out into the cavern.  Both were obviously terrified, and both were well
aware of the penalty for disobedience, which would result in a much more
painful death than the statues would mete out.

The quartet walked forward in a crouch, weapons
and shields gripped tightly in their hands.  A trio of bowmen covered them,
shafts notched and pulled halfway back.  The arrows probably wouldn’t do much
against the statues if they became mobile, except provide a distraction.  The
archers did not look very enthusiastic about that prospect either, as
distracting the golems would just attract them to the bowmen.

The Marshal held his own breath as the
swordsmen walked across the floor, letting it out a bit as the men passed the
pedestals.  The men relaxed just a little as well, though not as much as their
leader.  After all, they were still in the danger zone.  They finally relaxed
as they reached the end of the floor and stepped into the entrance of the
passage.

“Be alert,” yelled the Marshal to his men,
feeling a flash of anger as the soldiers seemed to be unaware that they were
still in a hazard zone.  The statues might not be dangerous.  But what waited
beyond could still kill them, and they didn’t know how far beyond.  “We can
cross now,” he told the rest of his people, then made sure that some others
went across first, just in case the golems were playing some kind of game with
them.

“Have your assassins lead the way,” he told
Glassini when they reached the other side.

The woman nodded, again not thrilled with the
idea that the people she felt closest to would lead, but recognizing that if it
was what the Marshal ordered, that was the way it would be.  She motioned to
two of her assassins, a man and a woman, to lead the way.  They motioned back
without any show of emotion and headed further into the tunnel.

At least they are both competent and confident
, thought the Marshal
as he saw them disappear down the tunnel.  With both of those attributes, they
would find and deal with any dangers, even if only to alert the main party of the
threat.  It was looking good so far, and he had yet to lose a man.  They walked
for almost twenty minutes before that changed.

*     *     *

The Stone Golems towered over the humans, Elf,
and especially the Dwarf and Halfling.  Each took a step forward, their feet
striking the ground with a weight that shook the floor.  Kurt realized that a
stomp of that foot would crush him even within his armor.   He wasn’t sure that
even his peculiar metabolism would survive being smashed like a bug.

The monsters took another step forward, staying
in line, like they were going to herd the humanoid creatures in front of them. 
Their eyes might have just been stone circles in their faces, but they seemed
to glare with an inhuman hatred that was almost a physical force.

“Let me take care of them,” called out James,
moving forward and raising his hands.  Flames sprang from his fingertips to hit
one of the creatures, surrounding it in superhot fire.  The golem continued
forward, not slowed by the flames in the least.  James’ expression narrowed in
concentration and he poured more fire into the creature, to no effect.  As soon
as he gave up his assault the stone creature stood there, untouched.

“Maybe dragon fire,” he said, looking down at
his hands, then back up at the creatures.  He raised his hands, and the golem
he had attacked swung a hand at him that came nowhere near to hitting.  But a
small piece of the golem flew off during the swing and clipped James near the
temple.  The man cried out and fell to the floor, unconscious.

“Get him out of here,” yelled Kurt, pointing at
the body, then charging forward with his sword drawn.  He caught sight of a
pair of knights out of the corner of his vision, picking the Mage up and
carrying him to safety.  Jackie was moving to try and flank the golems, while
one started turning to make sure it was always facing her.  Fenris readied his
bow, while Garios stood slightly to the rear, his lips moving in prayer. 
So
the center is all mine
, thought Kurt with a slight smile. 
Not sure if I
can handle it, but it’s there nonetheless.

Without another thought the Immortal jumped
forward, bringing his blade around in a side swipe into the golem’s arm.  The
creature brought its own sword up and down.  Kurt twisted aside as his blade
struck into the stone skin and bounced off with a small shower of rock dust.

[I am not the best weapon against these
creatures, Kurt,] said the God blade in his mind.  [They are not creatures of
evil, and living stone is not something I can do much more damage to than a standard
blade.]

Kurt moved out of the way of another blow, one
that smashed into the floor and sent tremors through the flagstones.  The
creatures were incredibly strong and tough, but speed was not their strong
suit.  Kurt struck the creature again, putting all of his strength into it.  A
small crack appeared in the shield arm, and the Immortal felt some hope that he
might hurt this creature.  The crack healed almost instantly, before Kurt could
land another blow.

Jackie yelled out, and Kurt, moving out of the
way of the sword, aware that another of the golems was coming in behind him,
looked her way for a moment.  The woman was flying through the air, her eyes
closed, an obvious victim of the golem’s sword.  She hit back first on the wall
and slid down, her eyes still scrunched closed in pain. 

He ducked just in time to avoid the sword of
the second golem that was starting its attack on him, then dodged the stone
blade of the first one.   Thinking of Jackie’s over his own safety, he took off
in a charge and ran into the golem that was stalking her.  With an oof he
bounced off the solid stone creature and landed on his buttocks on the floor. 
He did accomplish part of what he intended, though, as the golem turned toward
him and started his way, leaving only one of the creatures that was not
concentrating on him.

That golem was occupied with Sir Gromli and his
knights.  They were gamely battling the monster, and doing little other than
occupying its attention.  One of the knights lay on the floor, face down, blood
pouring from his helmet.  Kurt did not think that man was alive, and the golem
was going about trying to kill another human.

Kurt went into overdrive, every other mobile
creature, human, elf and golem, appearing to be moving in slow motion.  Two
golems swung at Kurt with strikes he could have walked away from. 
Don’t get
cocky, Kurt,
thought the Immortal, swinging his sword in and hitting a
golem in the head.  The creature shook his head and opened his stone mouth for
a silent roar.

“Kurt,” yelled out Garios, holding up his now
glowing hammer.  “Catch.”  The dwarf threw the hammer end over end toward the
Immortal, who dropped his sword to the floor and caught the hammer.  “Hit them
with it, with all of your strength.  Don’t hold anything back.”

Kurt glanced at the hammer, then ducked under
yet another swing. 
I’m getting tired of this
, thought the Immortal,
drawing the hammer back, then swinging it into the right knee of the golem,
letting out a loud roar as he put all of his strength into it.

The hammer struck with a crack like thunder, a
crack that continued as the knee shattered and fell in stones to the floor. 
The intact calf fell over, and the unbalanced creature tried desperately to
keep its balance.  Kurt brought the hammer back, this time low, and swung up at
the head of the creature as it dropped lower.  The hammer hit again with a
thunderous sound, and the face shattered as the head flew off of the crumbling
neck.  The golem swayed for a moment, then fell forward, its limbs unmoving, to
shatter on the floor.

Kurt ducked under a thrust, then swung the
hammer at the sword, breaking it off at the midpoint and shivering the stone up
to the hilt and into the golem’s hand, which crumbled to the ground.  The
creature got its shield up in time to catch the next blow, losing the
protection and its left arm for its trouble.  Kurt swung the hammer into the
chest of the golem, which appeared confused on how to react to this assault.  The
confusion left it with its life as its torso broke apart and head, arms and
lower body fell in separate pieces to the floor.

The remaining two creatures charged at Kurt. 
They were not truly alive, and did not feel fear.  They had been programed by
their animating spell to attack anything that entered their area, without
consideration for themselves.  Both moved at the Immortal as fast as their legs
could carry them, about the speed of a slow snake.  Kurt dodged to the side and
swung his hammer into the back of one of the golems.  Again the thunder
sounded, not as deep as before, and large cracks appeared in the creature’s rib
and outer back area.

The hammer’s losing its power
, thought the Immortal,
swinging in again and sending more cracks through the golem.  He struck two
more times, finally knocking its left arm and the side of its face loose.  The
golem tried to impale him on its sword, but another pair of strikes took off
its head, and took the remainder of the divine magic out of the hammer.

Leaving Kurt to face the last of the stone
creatures with just a hammer.  Still an enchanted weapon, capable of hitting
hard without damage to itself, but possessing none of the magical ability
against stone that Garios had imbued it with.  And still the best weapon he
had.  Turning to face the last golem, which was watching him closely, hesitant
to move within range of what it must have thought was still a weapon
particularly deadly to its kind.  Finally, it must have made up what mind it
had, and stepped forward, its blank face aligned with its chosen victim.  It
kept its shield up before it, sword raised overhead for a downward strike.

Kurt roared a war cry and charged forward. 
Sweat was pouring down his face, his breath was hot and ragged, he could feel
his body overheating.  He wondered for a moment in his overdrive sped thinking
what was being burned out of his brain at this time. 
It would be nice if it
was the memory of burning alive on the Russian front
.  Unfortunately, that
memory came back regularly in his dreams, and was unlikely to be burned out of
his gray matter.  No, the pleasant memories would go first, those of
interacting with people he loved, the bittersweet recollections of friends and
neighbors.  With that thought came greater anger, and the fueling of his
muscles with adrenaline, the levels of which would kill a normal human.