T Lain - City of Fire

Krusk and Regdar kept firing arrows at the frontmost gnolls. They saw the old one move and heard it shout, but many of the others stood in shock and surprise or simply crouched, unsure what to do or even where to look. They were easy targets for the two archers.

Following behind one of the smoke mephits (Gurn would not allow them to fight, but he instructed them to guide those who could), Naull found herself winding through a narrow alley up to a small building on the right side of the road.

“Secrus,” she breathed again, and a tiny red bead shot from the bright end of the wand.

Streaking toward the rearmost gnolls, it exploded against the skull of the centermost creature. The fireball’s roaring eruption hurled two of the creatures to the ground encased in flame. They thrashed and shrieked for brief moments before falling still. Naull could see their blackened, shriveled forms inside the subsiding fires. The older gnoll, however, avoided the brunt of the blast by diving to the side. He rose from the ground quickly, looking distinctly shaken and with burning embers of his former troops still smoking in his fur.

From the other side of the road, Alhandra leaped out with her sword unsheathed, crying, “Heironeous! Heironeous!”

The gnolls that were still on their feet had their bows in their hands and were hungry for any target. Two arrows whipped past the paladin before her bright blade hewed through the hard wood and sliced into the creature’s hyena-shaped skull. The sword wedged tightly in the bone, but Alhandra used her strength and momentum to wrench it free. She heard the beast’s neck snap from the twisting motion, and Alhandra knew that whatever life may have remained in the creature was snuffed out then. Nimbly she leaped over the humanoid’s corpse and rushed toward the next in line.

Kark’s command disintegrated. With his flesh singed and his followers dying, the old gnoll wondered at the suddenness of the onslaught.

What happened? he thought wildly.

The silver knight he recognized from the inn’s yard, but he couldn’t even see the others. Flames and arrows and bright swords—Kark knew the fight was over when the knight stepped toward the last of his scouts. The last! From ten to two in mere seconds! Among the pack, there was no tradition of honor demanding that a commander die with his troops. Kark fled.

Seeing the last gnoll sprinting over the stone road, Regdar tried to line up a shot but couldn’t. The angle was too sharp. He cried out to Krusk, but the barbarian already had his axe in his hand and was running to help Alhandra.

The paladin didn’t need the aid. The only remaining gnoll discarded its bow and attacked with its axe. Alhandra caught the overhead blow on her shield and drove her sword through the creature’s belly. Blood soaked into the heavy fur and ran down the blade to drip from the hilt. The gnoll slumped to the ground with its jaws still snapping. Desperately it clawed at the armor-sheathed leg that Alhandra placed on its chest, to no effect. Moments later, after a quick swipe of the paladin’s sword, it too lay still. By the time Regdar came down from his perch, the fleeing gnoll was long gone.

“I could get used to this,” Naull said, stepping out of the building. She looked appreciatively at the red-tipped wand, then tucked it in her belt.

“One escaped,” Regdar said with a frown.

“Yeah, but this time we don’t have to chase him,” the wizard concluded. She cursed her choice of words immediately, knowing that Regdar didn’t need a reminder of the disaster in the orc lair.

Regdar gazed down the street for a moment. Naull stepped up and put a hand on his arm. She looked at him with worry in her eyes but he met her glance and smiled wearily.

“It’s all right,” he said. “I think we’re almost done here.”

Then we can talk, Naull thought. She patted his arm and looked around. With a cry of revulsion she jerked her hand away from Regdar and clapped at Krusk.

The barbarian was moving through the fallen gnolls with a knife in one hand and several pointed, fur-covered ears in the other.

“That is just disgusting, Krusk!” the wizard cried.

The half-orc looked first from the wizard, then to Regdar, and finally to Alhandra. The look on the paladin’s face made Krusk’s dark cheeks flush slightly and he let the ears fall back to the ground.

“That’s better,” Naull said. “Now, if they have any treasure….” she added wispily.

“No,” Regdar said, “let’s get back to the tower. Let’s get this finished.”

Kark reached the archway, panting from the pain of his wound and the heat of the gate. When he looked up from the hard ground he grunted in surprise. Grawltak stepped through. The older gnoll started to cry out for his leader but the bark died in his throat. An instant after Grawltak appeared the black knight followed. He hadn’t really believed she could reach them so quickly. Kark’s heart sank and he let his head fall. He heard Grawltak curse and his leader moved to him quickly.

“Kark! What happened?”

There was nothing to do but tell the story of his failure. Without looking at the black knight directly, Kark gasped and panted through the tale of the ambush. He made no excuses, and when he looked up he was surprised to see pity in his leader’s eyes.

Pity vanished in the raw gasp of a sword leaving its sheath.

Both gnolls looked over at the black knight. The point of her sword hovered only inches from their eyes. The blade trembled slightly and they knew it was rage, not fear or weakness, making the sword tip dance.

“Mistress! No!” Grawltak cried.

Kark continued panting but didn’t move.

“He failed. Would you rather I held you responsible?” the blackguard said. Her voice was smooth, almost conversational, and she moved closer.

The blade slid directly under at Kark’s chin, but the woman’s pale face and bright eyes turned toward the gnoll leader. Her black hair seemed to shine in the flickering light of the gate.

Grawltak looked at his old lieutenant. There was only resignation in Kark’s eyes. He expected to be killed, here and now.

“Yes,” Grawltak said. “It was my decision to put him in charge. It was my responsibility.”

Kark opened his mouth to gasp in surprise, but that made his lower jaw hit the blade and he closed it again. The woman, however, simply cocked an eyebrow and smiled in amusement.

“Gnolls aren’t supposed to be loyal to each other, Grawltak,” she purred. The gnoll leader started at the sound of his name on his mistress’s lips, but he recovered his composure quickly. “Perhaps you are a little like dogs, after all.” A moment later she put up her sword. “Very well. Don’t think I’ve spared either of your hides yet. If we don’t gain control of this city…” she said ominously, gazing around for the first time. It was a long gaze, and it gave the two gnolls a few moments to recover and for Kark to gulp down a little water.

It was unnerving, though, the way the blackguard stood there, her eyes gleaming and her lips curled into the human version of a smile, Grawltak thought.

When Kark recovered, Grawltak said, “Let’s go, then.”

Waking out of her reverie, the black knight looked down at the two gnolls and nodded. Kark turned to retrace his steps back into the city but a word from the blackguard halted him.

“No, there is no time,” the woman said as she pulled off her pack and drew a large bedroll from a pouch that was much too small to hold any such thing.

Magic, Grawltak supposed. He’d had just about enough of magic, he decided, but the gnoll leader remained silent as his mistress cut the straps and shook out the blanket. No, not a blanket, he saw clearly, but a carpet. Kark snarled with fear as Grawltak tried to understand what his mistress was doing.