Chronicles of a So-called Fire God (Abridged)

17. The Brothers

"Ix, Sneaky, Bostik and Iggy will go with you," said Gobbo. "The rest will wait here with me. Keep me safe."

"They are your responsibility," said Lestergrad. He pointed at our new friends and then went to inspect the trail ahead. There was no malice, or threat in his words and actions. But I understood he didn't want to be betrayed; especially since betrayal was part of the reputation of goblins.

Sneaky shrugged and then followed Lestergrad. How he could see behind that blindfold concerned me, but he could not only see, he could see well. There was not even one stumble as he walked over to where Lestergrad was crouched.

"Sneaky knows these lands. Many hoomans came by," Sneaky said. "Headed for Millston Caverns."

"We need to follow them," I said. "They have the item we are looking for. Stole it from us, in fact."

"Millston Caverns not good place to get in. The Millston Brothers not like new people. Squish you like bug," said Sneaky.

I could see concern flash across Sneaky's face before his natural, sneaky expression returned.

"The Millston Brothers?" I asked.

"The caverns are guarded by the Brothers, they are inseperable," said Bostik.

"How many brothers are we talking about?" Torq joined the conversation. "There are," he paused while he counted, "there are seven of us here."

"Wait and see," said Sneaky. He then gestured for the rest of us to follow.

Sneaky then headed off up the trail. I hoped this was to scout ahead to count the brothers, but I didn't like the odds.

We followed the trail with both Lestergrad checking we were still following our quarry and Sneaky saying our destination was just up ahead. It was 'just up ahead' several turns in the trail back. Sneaky was beginning to irritate me. 

There was no other path to take, unless we went over the treacherous rocks. When we reached the end of the rocky trail, there was only one destination for this path; straight to the caverns.

We could also see the Millston Brothers.

Ahead of us lay a valley caused by two rocky hills on either side. The northern end was blocked by what looked like cleverly engineered rockslide. It would take a lot of effort and skill to scale that blockage. On the eastern slope were several cave openings, some large enough for an army to come marching out of and others no bigger that the doorway to a small hut. The western slope was much sharper and looked difficult to climb. Another tactical advantage for the occupants of the valley.

At the southern end of the valley stood the Brothers; a single twelve foot tall giant with two heads.

I now understood Sneaky's cryptic comment about the number of brothers and why he said we'd be squished like bugs. The fact the valley was guarded by an acrif, and the largest I'd ever known, was something to worry about. This one alone could easily defend the passage to the valley against a larger number than we had.

The Millston Brothers guarded a passage into the valley between two large boulders. Each boulder reached up to the shoulders of the Brothers and were probably placed there by the Brothers.

"If we take down the giant-" Sneaky started.

I shook my head and Sneaky stopped. This would take a little planning to get by the acrif without harm to ourselves. I motioned for everyone to gather around me while I let people know what I had been thinking.

"I've got an idea for a new spell I've been working on," I said quietly. "It's a spell based on fire but with a little thinking I can make it do no harm. I think if we try to attack the acrif we'll only make it angry." Everyone nodded, Sneaky uncovered a worried looking eye. "If the acrif is angry then we'll not survive," I said, looking straight at Sneaky.

"If I can get near enough, I'll use the spell to distract both heads and hopefully buy enough time to get everyone beyond the boulders."

With our plan set we all moved cautiously towards the acrif. We had to take it quite slow to avoid making too much noise, especially those of us wearing some form of metal armor. My leather based armor caused no issues. When I thought we were close enough to make our mad dash I boldly stepped out in front of the giant.

"Hey, Ugly Brothers!" I called, getting their full attention. "I need to pass through here."

"No one pass here, Tiny!" replied the left head.

"Who you call ugly?" said the right one.

They both spoke at the same time, I always wondered what a conversation with an acrif would be like.

In its left hand the acrif held a club, which was more of an uprooted tree than anything, and it swung towards my head. I ducked just in time although some of the remaining leaves did brush my face. It was too close. Rather than waste more time, I signalled to my companions to be ready.

I rolled out of the way of another swing of the tree-club and incanted my power word. This was the first time I was going to use this spell so I hoped that all the gods were smiling on me and that this would work.

Sparks, small at first, and looking like a damp fire-cracker, flared here and there. I concentrated more on the effect of the spell and tried bigger gestures. The effect was better than I could wish for.

With bigger and more fluid arm movements, I was able to produce flares and explosions of light that would have rivalled a gnomish fireworks celebration at midsummer. The bangs and squeals of my magical fireworks were doing what I expected. The Millston Brothers didn't know where to look next, and they started to sway to and fro looking for the next big bang.

My friends made their move, slowly at first. Then in a charge they rushed between the legs of the dazed and confused acrif while I continued with my fireworks show. I was building up for a big finish as I'd seen the gnomes do.

When the last of my companions was through I let loose the biggest bang yet. It would have woken the dead. I tried to aim the explosion right between the two heads of the acrif. It was dancing around a little, already quite dazed, so I missed, by about a foot. It was enough though.

The acrif fell face down, or rather faces down, into the dirt.

With a smile on my face, feeling quite proud I'd taken on an acrif alone, I lightly stepped over the now sleeping giant and joined my friends.