Cythera Chronicles: The Shadow Warriors: Chapter one

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Too easy

Lukyan looked at the building in the distance, then at Victor, then at his scimitar which he had taken half-way out of his sheath.
"How many leaders do you think are in there?" He asked. "I have no idea. Maybe two or three," Victor responded with his eyes focused at the stone building. "If we kill even only one of them," said Lukyan, "we get a substantial reward." He put his scimitar back into the sheath as he watched the men gather around him. "We'll go for the frontal attack today. Brutal, but effective. Let the fighters go first, followed by the spell casters." Victor answered with a quick "very well" and continued, a few seconds later: "We take the first floor and work our way up. Then we put men by the doors and send the rest upstairs." The wind blew Victor's hair back when he said this, and he raised his hand to protect his eyes from the sun, which was forty minutes from vanishing behind the great mountains. "Sundown. It's almost time to go. The judge in Kaleeah said that the attacks by the undead almost always happens at night," said Lukyan. "All right, let's go," said Victor and gathered the men for a quick briefing.

The men then lined up behind Lukyan and Victor, and Lukyan yelled: "Forward!" The fifteen men followed the two lieutenants as they walked towards the stone building. Using the bushes as camouflage, they managed to sneak up on the exterior guards with ease. Lukyan gave a no-movement signal with his hand and drew his scimitar. When the guard, an undead, came around the corner, he brought the scimitar down on the creature's head. The undead fell down with a small 'thud' impossible for anyone inside the house to hear. Lukyan crouched and proceeded around the building looking for more guards while he avoided the small windows in order to stay undetected. He encountered one more of the undead guards and disposed of him, as silently as the previous. "Another easy kill," he thought as he met up with the soldiers in front of the building. "It's secure. Let's go in," he whispered.

Korax, a pretty large barbarian and one of the best fighters, raised his mace and brought it down at the locked metal door with sickening force. The door fell off its hinges and landed four meters inside the building's basement, attracting the attention of everyone inside house. Too late. Lukyan and Victor ran inside with their weapons drawn, and hacked their way through four minions close to the entrance. The fifteen soldiers raised their weapons and rushed after the two lieutenants and inside, they split up and went through the basement rooms with impressive speed, taking out any fiends they came across.

Lukyan went up the stairs, followed by Victor and five men. They encountered a skeleton on the stairs, and Lukyan beheaded it with his scimitar. The enemy was surprised and disoriented, which made it easy for the troops to wipe out the rest of the minions. Liches and skeletons, undead and zombies. Korax brutally ripped a locked door from the wall and threw it at another skeleton. Behind that door was a small room. Inside that room was one of the leaders; A black demon in deep concentration; A process the demons go through once in a while to improve their powers. Lukyan and Victor charged at it with their weapons and slashed their way through the demon's tough skin in no time. Severely weakened, the black demon received the killing blow from Korax's mace. A cold gust of wind blew through the room as the body vanished, leaving some black stains on the floor. Victor turned around and faced a zombie in the doorway, which he stabbed in the head with a dagger.

At this time, the rest of the men had cleared out the building and searched it. Followed by the troops, Lukyan, Victor and Korax walked outside again. Victor fetched an exploding potion from his sack and hurled it inside the building, and a loud BANG was heard, followed by flames and rumbling as one of the house's support pillars collapsed, making the whole building fall. Dust and rubble was thrown in the air, followed by bones and meat from the dead creatures inside. Seconds later, a horrible smell polluted the area.

"To the tavern!" yelled Victor and the men smiled and congratulated each other for the finished job. Another black demon leader had been killed by Lukyan and the Seventh Legion, and the town of Kaleeah had been saved from extermination by the undead, and the citizens could rejoice thanks to the Legion's efforts in the area. Another job well done.

By sunset, the troops arrived at the Alraeican tavern, happy but tired. Lukyan ordered two rounds of drinks to everyone, from his own pocket, and the patrons cheered in delight and the beer was quickly consumed. Hours went, and soon, after a couple more rounds of fortified wine, the troops were quite drunk. Everyone except the bartender and Lukyan. Talos, the bartender, shook his head and smiled. Lukyan sat alone by a table in the corner, barely sipping wine from his second glass. Talos suddenly noticed Lukyan's sad expression. He approached Lukyan's table and asked: "Why the long face? You bagged the leader! It's time to celebrate! You haven't been drinking much either...it's your second, isn't it?" Lukyan finished his drink and responded: "We thought there were two or three leaders in there. It was only one, and he was caught with his pants down. Highly unusual for these creatures, especially those who have been leading raiding parties to the village, Kaleeah. This was all too easy. I just have this strange feeling..."

Lukyan was interrupted by the tavern door opening. A man, his clothes soaked with sweat, caught everyone's attention, even the worst drunkards, when he fell to his knees and cried: "They are dead! They are all dead!" His whole expression radiated a terrifying fear as he said this. Quickly, Lukyan went over to the man and asked with uncertainity in his voice: "Who? Who is dead? Where?"

The man coughed blood and struggled to speak but, finally, the answer came: "Kaleeah! They wiped it out! Kalyia is ruined! Everyone are dead! They killed them!"

The man fell to the ground before Lukyan could catch him. "Who? Who wiped out Kaleeah? Who?" he asked. The man looked right back at Lukyan. "Everyone is dead...everyone," he whispered the moment before more blood poured out of his mouth. Lukyan could hear a choking sound as the man's eyes ceased to gleam with life, and a dark pool of blood stained the wooden floor.
Lukyan put his hand to the man's throat, realising the terrifying truth. "He...he is dead," he wispered.

(To be continued)

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[This message has been edited by Slayer (edited 10-08-2001).]

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