Jeff Inlo - Nightmare's Shad

"You're very unsure of yourself at the moment," the slink ghoul observed. "It's not just the lack of power. It's something beyond that. You're wondering about so many things. You used to feel safe because you were powerful, but now you're weak and locked in here with me. I could strike at you at will."

Without further warning, Baannat swung a claw at the wizard's essence. There was no flesh to cut, but the strike stung like hot wax dropped into an open wound.

Baannat did not laugh. He growled and sneered. He let the hate flow from his form as it surrounded the spirit of his foe. "You wanted to destroy me from the beginning. You feared me then… and you fear me now. You used others to keep yourself safe from me when we battled, but now there is no one here to hide behind."

Hide!

The word seemed to echo through the emptiness. Enin wanted to hide, as his worst fears-the unfounded anxieties of his childhood-exploded around him. Darkness and monsters… helplessness. It all crashed upon him.

"Is that what you want?" the ghoul pressed. "To hide? Is that the word you focus upon. You can't keep your thoughts from me here. I can taste them."

Enin could taste nothing. He could only feel the crushing cold of fear.

"You wish to hide?" Baannat demanded. "Where could you hide? What would be safe for you, brother?"

In a moment of weakness, Enin thought of the safest place in the land. He thought of a place where even ghouls of such hate could not win the day.

Baannat grew quiet and then let out a soul piercing laugh.

"Cliff behemoths? That's where you would be safe?"

It was indeed what Enin had pictured. Cliff behemoths in the ColadMountains. Yes, there was safety there. He believed that, but his beliefs betrayed him.

"Is that where the woman is safe?"

Enin's fear turned over to dread as if he knew in an instant there was nothing left for him. At that moment, he even grasped for insanity, but that, too, eluded him.

Baannat shrieked in ecstasy.

"She's in the mountains of the north… guarded by cliff behemoths. It's almost too easy. Did you really think that would stop me. It changes my plans, nothing more. She will be here before you know it."

In delight, the ghoul sliced at Enin once more with claws that penetrated the wizard's soul. Baannat giggled and cackled as he struck again and again.

"I now have everything I need from you, brother!" the slink ghoul screamed through snorts and grunts. "You are mine for all eternity. You cannot escape and you know no one can reach you here. I, however, can bring others to you. And I will. You will see the woman here very shortly, and then, I will have the delver as well. There's nothing you can do to stop me now, but at least you will have company."

One caelifera was more than the regular force of Burbon could handle. Hundreds of the giant locusts swarming in over the trees of Dark Spruce… that was a death sentence. Not the towers, not the walls, not the weapons in the hands of the well trained militia; none of these defenses were going to stop the giant insects headed towards them. Sy understood that immediately.

He stood on the tower platform gazing out at the spectacle for only a moment. He didn't need to ask the opinion of the officers around him. Though he valued their input, he saw everything he needed to see in that single instant. There were no conflicting strategies to choose, no real decision to make. There was only one realistic course of action and he issued his orders without delay.

His first directive fell upon the tower guard.

"Signal the other towers. Issue the alarm for everyone to seek low shelter."

The citizens of Burbon had been previously schooled in certain signals from the towers. There were alarms to evacuate, calls to take up arms, warnings to take high positions-to avoid rock beetles and other underground attacks-and signals to take low shelter. The people of Burbon would immediately seek out basements, root cellars, cold storage dens, caves-anything below ground. It was the only hope they had, and Sy knew it.

The signal was given and soon the warning spread through the entire town. Sy watched the quick and orderly movement of the citizens. They had practiced the procedures in quieter times. Though the town lived under the protection of Enin, the townspeople also understood structure and preparation. Sy was thankful they did. It would probably save hundreds.

More than satisfied with the reaction to the alarm, the captain refocused his attention on the lands beyond the walls and gates. Never satisfied with an initial assessment of danger, he looked to the hills and the far border of Dark Spruce for additional threats, but there remained only one apparent menace-the swarm. He found little solace in that fact, for that one threat was enough.

As he watched the agitated motion of the giant locusts, he considered how they would fall upon the town. It would not be pretty. He hoped the early warning would save enough. Maybe they could start over, maybe they could rebuild. He didn't like to give in… to give up.

The town, however, was doomed. That much was certain. He doubted a single structure would be left standing. Maybe most of the citizens would get lost in the debris, that the insects wouldn't dig through the rubble to find all the underground shelters. That was the only hope left. It was really just a matter of how many would survive.

Sy turned to the handful of soldiers standing with him on the platform. He wanted to announce it was a privilege to serve with them, but he didn't want to offer that kind of finality.

"All guards to secure locations as well. No way to fight what's coming at us, so don't argue. We can't evacuate, they'd be on us before we got ten paces beyond the wall. Everyone goes to low shelter. Assist anyone who's not moving fast enough, but then get underground. Go!"

For the most part, the guards moved quickly, not from fear of the coming catastrophe, but because they followed orders. They would not question their captain. Each officer, however, paused one moment to nod to their captain out of respect.

As the members of the guard filed down the ladder of the tower, only one solider remained at his post, the signal guard. He would not leave until the last order was given. Sy would eventually order him to evacuate as well, but they had a few moments of relative safety to monitor the movements of the swarm and to watch the surrounding hills for any other threats.

The guardsman kept his focus on the dark wave rushing towards them.

Sy noticed the stoic look on the soldier's face and smiled at the lack of apparent concern for his own safety.

"Fast for their size," the captain noted as he nodded at the incoming swarm.

"Yup, big buggers, too. You know, I'd rather deal with goblins. Yeah, they're pretty creepy, but I really hate these flying things, especially big flying things."

Sy then offered his own outlook on the size of their foes.

"I don't like any of the new bugs. I mean really, what happened here? Used to be you could just swat them away. Now we have spiders and beetles that are bigger than me. Not my idea of fun."

The guard grunted a small laugh, then admitted a truth larger than the caelifera.

"Wish Enin was here."

"Me, too." Sy agreed. Then he took another look to gauge the distance of the closest insects. The two men had only a few more moments before they would have to retreat to safety. He thought of Enin again and posed a question that was rather surprising.

"You think Enin could handle that?"

A massive swarm of giant flesh eating locusts is not something any man should be able to handle alone, and yet the question was sincere. After all, Enin was as far beyond a normal man as caelifera were beyond a normal grasshopper.