Risha: Chapter 55

Risha held close to her spiderling as it crawled over the ceiling. The cave they traveled through was abandoned, chairs upturned, food left half-eaten and weapons hastily grabbed. Pens where goblins had been kept were open, their doors ajar.

Whoever was here, they knew that her people were coming. 

Risha leaned further into the purple fur of her spider, and they increased their pace through the tunnel, a wave of chitin and legs following behind her. Goblins, orcs and kobolds rode the spiders in the shadows of the ceiling. 

They turned a corner, revealing a long tunnel into a pair of doors the size of two spiders. They’d been closed. 

“Wait.” Dilo, the High Goblin Scout said, stopping Risha from moving forward.

His eyes studied the corridor with furrowed brows. He turned to Klaz’zks and said something Risha couldn’t hear.

The Spider Queen chittered in response. Several spiders walked forward and started liberally spreading their webs across the corridor. 

Dilo caught Risha’s questioning look, and the spider he rode walked closer, “The ceiling and walls had tiny cracks in them, it didn’t look right. I think it’s meant to collapse.” 

Risha’s eyes narrowed as she turned to the tunnel, studying the doors at the end. That was right, the demons had homefield advantage here, and if they were smart, they’d be preparing all kinds of traps for her people. 

Risha tapped the spider she rode, and it moved over towards where Glo held tight to his own Ambush Spider. “We can’t walk through those doors.” 

Glo nodded, then motioned for Klaz’zks to join them. “Can we dig through this stone?”

Klaz’zks studied the walls around them, “Yes, but it would take time.”

Glo frowned, studying their people and the surroundings. He turned to his nearby lieutenants and quietly gave orders.
Shamans made their way to the front, and spiders circled the doors on all sides, and began digging into their foundation. 

Risha sat back, watching her general as he organized the people. Whatever his plan was, she had confidence in him. 

Sun-Chaser joined the shamans at the front with several other Fox Kobolds. She looked at Glo, waiting for his order.

He waited, his eyes unmoving from the spiders as they dug around the door. Risha shifted, the feeling still urging her to move fast. She ignored it. Glo already knew that she needed to hurry, and she had to trust in him. 

Glo raised his hand, and the world filled with magic as shamans worked in concert, Sun-Chaser at their head. 

All five tails glowed as Sun-Chaser’s presence seemed to expand. Over the kobold, the image of a large orange fox filled the tunnel, its nine tails spread wide. 

Earth, and air worked in concert, as the world rippled. 

The doors exploded open, shattering into millions of shards that hit the shields of a hundred waiting demons and centipedes. The ground around the door joined it, rolling in waves that disrupted and crushed the demon lines. The centipedes seemed to phase through the stone that crashed around them, unharmed.

A howl echoed out, and the spiders rode forward, meeting the centipedes. Monsters dropped from their warbeasts, falling into the middle of the disorganized enemy. Glo rode with them, his spear meeting the Spark-enhanced shield of a demon and deflecting. 

Risha followed behind, but paused as a message hit her. 

Ignore them. Further. 

She grit her teeth as she watched her people fight for her. But she trusted the voice, even if she had no reason to. 

She tapped the spiderling she rode, and it followed her order without question. 

It skittered through the chaos, dodging centipedes, white-fire arrows, and spears. Risha acted as an extra pair of eyes as it jumped and dodged through the fight. 

She had to move past it.

Another white-fire arrow flew past Risha’s head, and she quickly identified the archer, a lithe demon who was even now drawing another arrow.

Risha pulled her own arrow, and drew it to her bow, the panther bone at the end glowing with her magic. 

She fired. 

The archer motioned and a centipede burst from the ground to block the arrow. Shadow curled around the arrow’s tip and it disappeared through the centipede.

The centipede hit the ground, revealing the archer with her arrow in its throat. 

Risha drew another arrow, holding tight with her legs as her spiderling dodged and skittered.

She fired, taking another life.

Another arrow, another dead demon. 

Then they were past the barricade, and she lowered herself to her spiderling as it raced through the tunnel. 

Behind her a second spiderling joined, and Risha looked back to see Klu.

She gave a sharp grin.

The heartbeat grew louder, filling the tunnel as they went ever deeper into the earth. 

Risha turned a corner, and paused as she took in the large cavern.

Hundreds of goblins huddled in groups, chains holding them to the floor. Sitting at the back of the cavern was a glowing white crystal, covered in chains and strange script. As she watched, light pulsed through it, matching the heartbeat she’d been hearing. 

The largest demon she’d seen yet rose from the throne he’d been sitting in. A tower shield stood upright, wedged into the stone next to him. A large broadsword was stabbed into the earth on the other side of the demon. The sword and the shield had smaller centipedes curled around them.

Ten other demons surrounded the white crystal. They held up a pale goblin next to the crystal, and before she could react, they cut its throat, throwing it into a pile of goblin bodies. Blood flowed from the bodies, surrounding the crystal. 

Risha screamed with pure hatred. 

She jumped from her spiderling, and in one pure movement, drew the chain swords from her waist and threw them at the ten demons. 

White fire erupted from every demon there, and her swords were knocked aside by a demon carrying two sharp shields. Risha didn’t care as she pulled on the magic in her chains and pulled herself towards one of the swords, the other returning to her hand.

A second’s warning was all she had as a shadow appeared above her. 

She raised her sword, blocking the strike of a broadsword. White fire met Risha’s magic, and Risha crashed into the ground. 

She rolled to her feet only to see the same broadsword rushing towards her neck.

A red body stepped between her and the sword. Purple mist filled the air, burning away from the white fire. 

“Focus, Risha.” Klu said, his gaze not leaving the demon as the two warriors studied each other. 

Risha calmed her anger at Klu’s words, then turned her gaze to the demons who were dragging another screaming goblin towards the white crystal.

***

Red flooded his vision, blood seeping into the floor and down his clothes. He ignored the hallucination as he channeled spirit through his body and through his sword. 

The large demon raised its shield in a slight movement, the only warning Klu had before the sword flashed. 

Klu stepped into the strike, deflecting the broadsword as he stepped forward and returned his own strike. 

The demon moved its feet as its body twisted, and Klu’s sword deflected off the shield. The demon stepped back, his broadsword aiming to cleave Klu in two. 

Klu spun around the blow, spirit increasing his speed to match the demon’s.

They exchanged several blows, and Klu recognized the skill of his opponent. Both of them were testing each other, neither committing to the fight too hard. 

The demon’s footwork was immaculate, and Klu felt his heartbeat increasing as he found this opponent worthy.

Klu was being pushed back, unable to land a single scratch on the demon, as the shield was always there, unmarred by the strikes of his spirit-empowered sword. 

Klu would lose.

Or he would have to let it free.

Klu stepped back, creating distance between the two of them. The demon was happy to let him move, knowing that if the fight continued like this, Klu would exhaust himself before killing his enemy.

Klu called its name. 

“Reaper. I call you to me.”

The spirit answered him like an old lover. The world turned red, a canvas of blood, as a familiar hilt rested in his freehand. 

The sword formed from the purple mist, it’s edge permanently stained with blood. It was a single edge sword, with a gorgeous curve to it.

Klu raised his twin swords, one physical, and one spirit. 

The demon’s own weapons brightened with their white fire.

Klu lost sight of everything but his opponent, his only desires blood and death.

His right sword clashed against the shield of his opponent, then his second sword snaked past the demon’s defences. For the first time, he drew blood, leaving a long cut on the demon’s arm. 

The demon stepped back in surprise, but Klu would not let him recover, his two swords kept moving, an unending blur of movement as he baited the demon’s defences, then took full advantage of the opportunities he created. 

Reaper hummed with ecstasy as blood dripped down its length. 

Klu felt the sword taking his mind, his sanity, and he let it. It was the price he paid for control of the spirit. 

The demon grunted with pain as it leapt away from Klu. The orc moved to follow, then paused as the demon glowed.

His pause saved him as the demon exploded in white flame, pushing Klu back several steps.

The demon heaved, blood trickling down its mouth. “You are strong orc. I was not expecting any creature to face me. But you are foolish to face the power of a Spark.” White fire spread around the demon, stopping Klu from stepping forward. “Koliekan. Bend to my will.”

The heartbeat in the room quickened, and then the ground around the demon exploded with fire, forcing Klu even further back.

His mind still called for blood, but the flames burned away thought, their heat alone sapping at his life. 

Clarity came to him with pain.

Klu lifted his head, his eyes meeting the demon’s.

The demon raised his hand, “Die orc.”

The white fire engulfed Klu.

“Katharkalonos. The Mystic asks for you.”

Purple mist covered the room, a presence beyond this world turning its gaze to them. 

Klu appeared before the demon, Reaper puncturing its chest and lifting it off the ground. 

The power left the room as the demon slid off the sword.

Klu stood there, his blinded gaze turning to the still fighting Grand Mother. 

Blood. 

Death.

He raised Reaper.

Then dropped it, the sword dissipating into mist as Klu fell to the ground, the last of his spirit exhausting from the brief power of the Spark.