Drinal (EQ) – Luclin's Light Part 3

Bundled against the suddenly rising wind, the Neriak guards turned up the collars of their tunics.

"Everyone else always get the interesting assignments," one of them said to another.

"Yeah, I know what you mean," the other guard replied, "I just wish we had something to end the boredom."

Out of the darkness, shielded by the foliage of the forest, approached the answer to their wishes. A towering figure within the trees watched the inattentive guards. "Yes Mistress, your wish is my command." The skeletal figure's words responded to a command that only he could hear, as his hand clutched a staff recently recharged with ancient power. Sensing his minions' unrest, as they beseeched to be disencumbered from the trees, he smiled to himself. "It is time, once again." Raising his staff, he gave the command.

Polin ordered his undead army to attack. The wave of undead minions immediately followed the command, tearing into the first rank as if they were like a flimsy cloth shredded by high winds.

The humanoid side fought back, pushing the wall of animated bones back. But for every flank that was defeated, another seemed to form to replace it.

Back and forth the armies fought, neither one making ground, until a wailing screech could be heard above the clatter of battle, causing both sides to pause enough to see a third army attacking the first two.

Polin ignored the new force, lifting his arms above his head, both hands clenching his staff. Slowly from the ground the Elf rose, gasping for air as his mouth broke the surface. His clothes were shredding and muddy as he struggled against the unseen force levitating him to the level of the circles. His body started to spin, first horizontally, then vertically, matching the symbols in the stone behind him.

The Elf's body erupted into a violent flash of light so bright, the humanoids in battle have to avert their eyes.

At the same moment, the Dark Priest, and second in command of the undead army, rose above the tree lines, opening the decrepit tome in its bony claws. It slowly recited a curse that had not been heard in centuries past in the lands of Norrath.

The energy consumed the Elf's form. It was absorbed into the staff as Polin turned for the first time to observe the battle. "Get them," he ordered the guards around him.

The guards came to life cutting into crowd scythe through wheat uncaring who was at the end of their blades.

The General made his way to the newest additions, meeting one of the score of men that was on the trailing edge of combat. His blade met with his adversary and for the first time the glade of the armored man was stopped by the General. With a quick twist, the man in charge of the humanoid army disarmed his foe, removing him from the equation of battle. The General was intelligent and savvy, calculating the next best target. When his eyes focused on the unprotected Polin, he summoned a protection shield from magic then rushed his target.

The skeletal form with the tome finished its incant, summoning forth black tendrils from the pages. The spell blanketed the maelstrom of figures, like a new fallen snow on Everfrost. Everything immediately fell to their knees, before falling face first to the ground.

The General immediately stopped his charge as the tendrils of blackness reached his shield. The magic from his barrier dissipated the effects, but since he was nearly at Polin, the only ones it protected were Polin and himself.

He made a split second decision and changed his target running full force at the floating figure as he quaffed a potion. The sheer mass of bodies made it difficult, but moments into his charge their forms started to become ethereal as they looked more and more like the bodies of the third invading army.

This only hastened the General's pace as he leaped into the air impossibly high. He brought his long blade over his head ready to strike down on the Priest. The Dark Priest recoiled from surprise, pulling his body out of the reach of the magical blade, but not the book. The blade cut the compendium into two erupting a powerful blast that sent the General crashing to the craggy walls near the Commonland path.

The blast raced towards Polin, but he only chuckled with glee as his form disappeared from his Gate spell, leaving behind only his amusement on the wind. The Dark Priest was ripped sundered as its hideous cackle added to the laughing. The forms that had been rising to their feet, evaporated like fog in the morning sun. When the General recovered, he screamed a battle-cry of defeat, before limping back home to Freeport.

A lone scaly figure watched from a distant hilltop, his cloaked figure smiling at the chaos that had ensued that night. He slowly and quietly moved from his resting spot, making his way back to Cabilis to report on what he saw.

The cry of anguish mixed with the rest of the sounds was given life that night, picked up by a cold wind. They can still be heard to this day, if you listen hard enough.

The teacher looked at his students before asking, "Well, what did you think?"

"That story isn't true!" one of them yelled from under his blanket as, quite coincidentally, a wind picked up around the campfire.

From the outer boundaries of the grove, a moaning could be heard coming closing to Iksars. The young Iksars all yelped in surprise diving for cover as the teacher's assistance stepped into the clearing.

"Looks like we have work to do," the assistance told the teacher.

"Indeed," the instructor replied, smiling with a toothy grin again.

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