The small, rotund man brushed his dark hair back from his eyes, and nervously stared out his third story window. He stood on a short stool, which allowed him to clearly see over the buildings to the walls around the perimeter of the city. The room had been an office for much taller men than he so he had the stools placed at every window, so he could look upon his demesne from a higher vantage than his natural height would allow. His shoulders sank and he looked at the ground. He let out a small sigh and shook his head in a sad swaying of his downward looking head, and looked up again at the flames as they closed on his lavish office in the center of town. As they got closer, his heart sunk more deeply.

How did she find out so quickly? He wondered to himself. It hasn’t even been four hours since he had heard the news of the demise of his two nephews. He knew it had been a huge mistake to agree to keep the two overgrown brats in his town, but there was no denying Theophilia. She wanted them out of the way during something she was working on, and assigned him to be their nursemaid. Pah! She made him a nursemaid to a pair of eighteen year old miscreants! She told him to keep them in the city and teach them how to deal with people. He had thought putting them in the charge of the town guard might discipline them. He was wrong. He hadn’t wanted the two anywhere near him at all, but when she said to do something, no sane person would deny her. He could do no better, though now he wondered whether or not he could fit into the category of the sane any longer.

An hour earlier, he had been wakened by the screeching sound of the alarms echoing across the city. Horns were baying all throughout the town. He had thrown off his covers, dashing out of bed. He ran to the window of his bedroom, ripped off the nightcap that had fallen across his face at an odd angle, and quickly rubbed the sleep from his eyes to try and clearly identify all the bright flickering lights in the city.

The city was on fire. He saw the flames tearing across the city, like an avalanche of flame, tumbling across the town one building at a time. The roofs of houses and shops all along the walled city were ablaze, flames angrily reaching higher and higher towards the sky. The cold mist in the air, and the still wet wood and straw did nothing to restrain the punishment that was coming from the other side of the wall. Hundreds of arrows lit the night sky in a constant stream, their flaming points pouring over the walls from every side of the city. The river of arrows continuously cascaded over the walls, peppering the roofs of the buildings, even those that were already lighting up the night sky with their burning.

‘What on Norrath?’ He thought to himself. “Mistletoe! Get in here! Now!”

Eventually, an obese halfling girl had come to his bedroom door, rubbing sleepy eyes and stretching, trying to talk while restraining a yawn. “How on Norrath is a halfling to get any sleep around here with all this horn-wailing and boss-screaming-at-me-to-get-up and…what is THAT?” She pointed out the window. The mayor looked out another window in the direction she was pointing. Outside the walls, there was a monstrous oak tree, seemingly floating in the air dancing side to side, up and down, searing the sky with flames. Squinting their eyes, they could just make out the glowing orange figure wielding the tree, swinging and smashing it back and forth. The hill giant’s gnarled hand, impervious to the fire, could just barely be seen grasping the broken roots of the tree reaching over the walls to set in flames anything and anyone it could reach. When everything within reach was immersed in crackling flames, the giant started lighting the wooden palisade that surrounded the city. Many of the poorer houses and shops sat between the wooden palisade and the stone wall surrounding the city. Every one of the buildings between the wall and the palisade appeared to be on fire.

“Wh-wh-what is going on sir?” The frightened halfling girl hugged her arms around herself and trembled.

“That is why I called you Mistletoe. I need you to get a messenger to the city guard and find out what’s happening. I don’t know why I haven’t already been informed of what is going on! Somebody’s head will definitely roll for thi…” A loud banging on his front door cut him off in mid sentence. “Go see who it is girl!” She still sat there, unmoving, staring open mouthed out the window at the giant, mercilessly destroying the outer edge of the city.

“MISTLETOE!” She let out a startled squeak, flinching from the window and looked up at the mayor. “Go…see…who…is…at…the…DOOR! NOW!” She had squealed and bolted, running from the room to the front door. Moments later, an out of breath messenger stumbled into his office with the frightened halfling girl trailing behind him. His blonde hair and guard’s uniform were singed, his face was black with soot. He was cut and bruised, and looked about to collapse from exhaustion.

“Milord! Orcs! Everywhere! Palisade…gone! At…the…main…walls!” He tried desperately to speak, though obviously every word was a struggle, his chest heaving, his voice wheezing from the lack of oxygen.

“Catch your breath boy, and then tell me everything.” The young man nodded and crouched down, put his hands on his knees and tried to slow down his pumping lungs. He took two very deep breaths, and continued with his report brokenly between gasps.

The messenger reported that the captain had sent him to report of what the mayor could already see, that the city was under heavy attack. Only that it was orcs completely surrounding the city was new information that the mayor hadn’t already surmised.

The messenger shuddered and continued. “Sir, that is not all. We have been fighting them off. We were holding them back, though they severely outnumbered us. They continued to attack the walls, climbing upon their own comrades in an effort to reach the top. Not that they needed much help with that giant out there. Still, we kept them back somehow. Then…” the messenger shuddered, “a coach came to the back of the orc lines. It was so black. Huge it was. I have no doubt that a person could stand up in it! There was something just wrong about it. It seemed to suck the very night into its depths. Then suddenly a green aura started building around the coach. The light started pulsing, and all of the orcs started to back away from the walls. Suddenly, the green light shot away from the coach in an arc, directly at the walls. It came at the walls like a wave in the ocean, only it was made of lighting. The wave passed through the orc lines, and we all tried to take cover behind the walls. The light never hit the walls. As soon as it hit the orc corpses piled against the wall, the wave stopped, and that green lightning started bouncing around all the dead orcs. Then the pile started moving. Every one of those dead orcs came back again and now they are attacking the walls. They’ve destroyed the outer palisade, and as you can see, the stone walls are being slowly torn apart by that giant. We tried everything but the catapults on the giant. But the undead orcs…those are awful milord…an abomination to be sure! Every one of them that we killed is fighting us yet again, and now they seem to be twice as strong as before. The burning oil and metal does nothing to them. They just shrug it off. We take off a limb, and they keep crawling towards us. We are all actually afraid to kill the giant. Anything that can create so many undead with a single spell, we were afraid that the giant would cause more damage than it already is. Who could have done such a thing Milord? Who is out there?”

“Don’t be an idiot boy. You know who it is.” The mayor scowled at the messenger. “It’s Theophilia, and she is here to take vengeance on the death of her two sons. “

“Her sons? You mean, the two guardsmen who were killed this evening? How? How could she have gotten an army here in that amount of time? It’s impossible Milord! There is no way it could be done.”

Again the mayor shot a dark look at the messenger. “Impossible, eh? Well, regardless of whether or not you think it’s a possibility, there is an army besieging and destroying this town, and you are standing here dribbling about whether or not it’s a possibility that they are here. Get back to your captain and tell him that you have given your message. Tell him that he needs to place a white flag at the gates.” The messenger’s eyes widened in surprise. “Yes boy, there will be no stopping her. She will kill all of you until she gets to me, or I will go there and accept the consequences. Maybe I can calm her down. I was always able to talk to her when we were younger. She listened to me then. Maybe she will accept my surrender and spare the city.” The messenger’s face almost showed a trace of hope in the mayor’s words. “Do not count on it, boy. Theophilia is very close to the brink of insanity, if she isn’t already there. All the dark arts that she has studied. I can’t even imagine some of the places she has gone to, and the things she has seen. We are most likely dead, every one of us, but I can only try.”

The messenger ran off to pass the mayor’s words to the commander of the guard. An hour later, the mayor, now dressed in his robes of office, sat in his office and continued to watch the orc army decimate the city. There was a parlay, and the message was given that the mayor had surrendered himself to his sister requesting that she take him and leave the city. It was not that he was a strong man, or even an especially noble person. He could just not live with the fact, that somewhere in history, his name would live forever as the man who caused an entire city to be destroyed. His pride would just not allow it, and surrendering himself to her was the only thing he could do.

He had received another messenger, advising him that his terms had been accepted, and the coach had rolled towards the walls in an agonizingly slow advance. The gates were opened, and the coach rolled forward. As soon as the coach cleared the inside of the gate, the air started rippling around the black coach. The wicked looking horses stomped and threw their heads back, snorting and growling, more than neighing. The night went completely silent. The invading army and defenders both seemed afraid to move as the coach took on a mirage-like shimmering.

A loud explosion ripped from the coach and all who looked upon it shut their eyes at the blinding purple light that burst from the coach. When the light died out, the gate, and a huge section of the wall was completely missing. No broken stone, no dust, not even a hole in the ground. The wall just stopped, leaving a gaping wound in the defenses of the city where the gate and the guard towers used to stand. There was no sign of the defenders that were just manning the wall and the gate. The tower’s defenders were completely missing along with the towers themselves.

The black horses lurched forward again, towards the center of town. A green tide of orcs flowed past the slow moving coach. A roaring echoed throughout the city with the battle cries of the orcs and the attacking army surged forward, intent on pillaging, looting, and destroying anything in their path. Guard and townperson alike scattered into the inner city to hide or organize for a stand. All were terrified, and all praying to whatever gods they worshipped that the orcs would overlook them.

The small man stared below into the courtyard of the town center. He watched the coach roll to the front of the building that housed his office. He nervously ran a hand through his hair again and tried to swallow the growing lump in his throat as the door of the coach creaked open.

EDIT: Ack, typo!

Scuttle - Professional Natural Disaster - Now causing destruction only in the mind of Kaibutsu.

Edited by: Kaibutsu  at: 5/8/01 7:33:50 am

WoW!!

After reading the first half of the first page I had to leave work, but i had to save the page to disc as i couldnt go the evening without finishing it... but of course i only got the first page so was left with wanting more from the other 2 pages... so intreiged to read more... i cant hardly wait.

Looking forward to find how Scuttle gets on with Talia and wether the cloak'd man gets to Scuttle again or looses him.

Keep it up, you surly do have a great talent.

You spine tingles as the atmosphere makes you shudder
As you glance towards the window you hear a rustling in the corner
You spin around, and become face to face with... My Blade