Chronicles of a So-called Fire God (Abridged)

19. Chain-men and Dead Cultists

The door was surprisingly light for its appearance. I expected a lot of effort would be required and so applied what I thought necessary. The door swung quickly away with a loud bang as it hit the wall/ The men inside the room were startled.

"What in the name of all the gods was that?" said an old man in now familiar brown robes.

I was not prepared for what I saw within the room. Two men were bundling heavy chains into a barrel. My brief glance told me there were twelve barrels in the room, the men were standing by one with the chains still in their hands. The faces of the men clearly showed they were not expecting us, or at least not expecting us at this time.

Sneaky and Ix were in the room in a flash.

"Run lad," said the older man. The younger of the two men didn't need another prompt; he dropped the chains and ran for the door.

Unfortunately, for him, Ix reached the other door first.

"Firnea hunarthic remo!" chanted the older mad, his arms gesticulating wildly.

On his last syllable, the two barrels nearest to him burst open and the chains that had lain within began to move as if alive. The chains then started to rise and form shapes until they were roughly humanoid and standing as tall as a man. The old man in brown robes then moved towards another pair of barrels.

Sneaky caught up to him and stood between the man and the barrels before he could start his chant. The dagger in Sneaky's hand a clear indication that he meant the man harm.

The first of the chain-men moved towards Bostik and myself. The other lurched towards Lestergrad and Torq.

Between myself and the older man there were a lot of obstacles so I launched a Flame-ball towards him, hoping to set alight his robes. Flames have a way of disrupting concentration. I can direct the Flame-ball on any path I desire by just thinking on it. The ball moved between barrels, catching a couple and setting them alight too, before rolling up behind the old man.

"You smoke old man," said Sneaky.

The flames caught quickly, a scream from the man showed his panic.

Sneaky took advantage and plunged a dagger deep into the rib-cage of the old man. The dagger sliced neatly between two ribs and pierced his heart. The man was dead before the scream finished.

Ix swung his club at the younger man. The club was easily as long at the young man's leg, but Ix swung it with ease. Surprisingly the cultist ducked and rolled out of the way. At the same time he picked up a staff and prepared to defend himself.

Ix charged forward in a rage, clearly upset he'd been out-witted. The young man swung his staff deftly into the ribcage of Ix, the snap of bone could be clearly heard across the room. Ix didn't seem to notice, his rage was so complete. With three quick swings of his club, Ix knocked the man back to the wall. The last swing struck the side of the man's head and he crumpled to the floor. Only then did Ix howl in pain.

The chain-man shambling towards myself and Bostik swung an 'arm' in our direction. I ducked and tried to roll off to the side, but not enough and not quick enough. A chain-hand caught my leg and held me upside down. Bostik incanted a spell and the chain links around where you'd usually find a wrist grew white hot and then snapped. I fell onto my side with my shoulder taking most of the impact. I lay there a moment fighting back the urge to scream and trying to catch my breath.

Pushing down the pain, and the urge to succumb to the darkness of unconsciousness, I watched Bostik fight the chain-man alone. Little by little Bostik was chipping away at the chain-man, cutting him down to size. Surprisingly Bostik was extremely agile for his bulky physique and the chain-man was struggling to make any strikes against the rotund goblin.

As I struggled to stand, Bostik incanted another spell that melted the chain-man. All that remained was a bubbling, molten puddle. The liquid metal ran into the spaces between the flagstones under our feet. I had to move quickly or risk being burned.

Lestergrad and Torq were currently pounding the other chain-man into the ground. I could see that they'd both been hit a few times by their attacker. As Torq made a final swing of his axe towards the chain-man, it was clear the chain-man was no longer a threat, Bostik wandered over and started chanting a soothing phrase over and over; his hands were glowing brighter with each pass through the phrase. When he reached Torq and Lestergrad he laid one hand on each of their shoulders.

Immediately they both stood taller and looked refreshed; the sweat even looked as if it had been mopped from their brows.

"Thank you, friend," said Torq.

"My thanks too. We must keep moving however," said Lestergrad. "There could be any number of them here and I don't doubt that our battle was heard for some distance. We must be prepared for an ambush at each corner."

I couldn't help but agree. The screams from the cultists would have been enough to alert anyone nearby. The only other door to the room, in the opposite wall to which we entered, was already open. Lestergrad's assertion that we'd been heard could only be correct. There was no way we'd not been heard. The element of surprise was not something we could rely on.