Fiachra

  Fiachra led Caomh into the woods from the way they came earlier. It was a little longer of a route but charging through Aerona’s field was not an option. Once away from Aerona’s home, Caomh gained speed from a warmup sprint to a full run. Fiachra guided them across trails with little pause to think beyond memory of where they needed to go. Caomh’s stride maintained after they broke through another tree line and into the base of rocky hills, navigating over the boulders in scrabbling bounds.

  Sounds of commotion could be heard even at their distance and grew louder as they reached the cave entrance. He couldn’t hear if the stranger had followed, but he didn’t give time to check, the human would just be in the way. Caomh halted and Fiachra dismounted at once, drawing his bow and stalking to the entrance, trusting that Caomh would take down any enemies if there happened to be any lying in wait outside.

  An unearthly scream rebounded from inside the cave, echoing out into the rocky passes and forest beyond. It echoed into Fiachra’s very bones making him shudder from the grating feel and sound. The scream was unmistakably that of a lich, a maligned sorcerer long undead. He hastened with caution, stepping soundlessly into the mouth of the cavern. The temperature dropped drastically more than reasonable and a chill set in that caused his breath to cloud the air.

  His shadow fell over the light filtering in through the entrance making his eyes work harder to make the initial adjustment to the dark. There was a lot to take in all at once and he held back assessing quickly before being inevitably noticed. There was not one lich but two and they were gliding along the room in a wide semi-circle with dusty robes, appearing to levitate with their movements. They had hollow pits instead of eyes that glowed with magical energy. Their heads turned slowly tracking two other figures in the cave, keeping distance and standing their ground against the liches, but arguing vociferously with each other. Off in the back of the expanse of the open cavern, lay a man unmoving.

  “I can take them with fire!” One of the figures barked while widening their stance and raising hands into position above their bald head. They appeared to be a cleric by the look of their robes.

  “Don’t you dare! This space is too small and you’ll incinerate us!” The other figure shouted and loosed an arrow from a recurve bow. The arrow went wide and lanced past the lich without a scratch.

  “E lymm ibuh dra knayd Kut-”

  “Don’t force me to shoot you, Vance!” The other figure nocked another arrow as the lich screamed again. It was difficult to track their movement due to dark clothes and skin but their white hair was easily traceable. A Drow, Fiachra concluded.

  They clearly need help. Fiachra lined a shot at the nearest lich and loosed. The arrow embedded in its neck and it faltered with an anguished wail but did not fall. The lich twitched cracking knobby joints and a rasping voice emanated from its withered jaw.

  “Good shot Drust!” The cleric, Vance, called, concentration broken and light fading from around their body.

  “It wasn’t me.” The Drow, Drust, sounded baffled. They loosed another arrow at the lich Fiachra hit, but again the shot went wide, hitting the far side of the cavern near the figure on the ground.

  “What?!” Vance looked to Drust for a halting moment before becoming focused. “Knayd Kut E lymm-” Their aura came alight with every word.

  “I told you not to cast Fireball!” Drust yelled, backing away quickly and sparing a glance around the cave. Their face turned towards Fiachra’s noticing him at last. “Who are you?”

  “I’m here to help.” Fiachra loosed at the chanting lich, aiming between the eyes and striking precisely before it finished casting a spell. Both liches screamed in unison, grating horribly in Fiachra’s bones, making him feel as though his ears were bleeding, but nothing could be done about it. They turned to him advancing in their wide swaying steps and beginning to glow with the beginnings of a new spell.

  “My holy arrows can damage them.” Drust steadied their stance, free from being targeted and loosed once more. The arrow grazed the uninjured lich, searing flesh where it touched. The creature flared in a frenzy and flew at Fiachra pointing a stream of ice shards in his direction. He dove out of the way rolling, just barely sparing himself. He saw in peripheral Vance growing ever brighter as they continued chanting.

  “Enough of this,” Fiachra gritted and lunged to Drust. He reached for the quiver sliding a handful of arrows out and shoving the Drow in the direction of the cleric. “Do something about your friend.”

  Finagling all the arrows in one hand he managed to nock one and hold the rest. No arrow could be wasted. Thankfully, the new round of commotion bought him time. He aimed and loosed, watching with satisfaction as it struck through the creature’s head. Its wail was cut short as it collapsed to the ground in a hissing heap. He nocked another arrow eyeing the remaining lich. It whirled to face him moving erratically and quickly too close within range. He backed up a few paces trying to line up any shot at all when a form eclipsed the cave behind the lich. He could see shoulder-length wavy red hair flying in front of their face and he recognized it for the figure prone on the ground. Not dead after all.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  “Where did I throw my axe?” The towering figure looked around and stooped out of sight as Fiachra loosed into the body of the lich. Its hollow eyes burned with a deep red light and its anguished cry stilled Fiachra’s movements. He waited for the reverb to stop, but it kept on screaming. It grew overwhelming and he began to hunch in on himself, vision swimming and narrowing dangerously. The red-haired individual rose again into Fiachra’s line of sight, axe raised. It arced through the air ferocious and fast, cleaving the lich’s head away from its body without a mess.

  The cavern stilled at last with only echoes remaining of the battle. Fiachra’s knees buckled in relief from pressure and he hit the ground with a gasp, bow clattering beside him. He remained on the ground catching his breath and collecting himself mentally, both his body and bow were unmarred. Only once he felt fully stable did he rise, taking everything in now that he could see without issue. It was quieter than it had been but by no means calm with the two humans and Drow regrouped. One of them noticed he recovered and it prompted them all to turn.

  “Who are you?” Drust asked.

  “Someone who came here to help.”

  “Yes, but how did you know to come here?”

  “The small human with cropped short black hair found my friend and I and requested immediate help.” Fiachra passed the Drow’s arrows he did not use back to them. A look of understanding dawned on the three in front of him.

  “Ohh, Quintin.” They said in unison. “He made it out alive for help.”

  “A good thing too,” Fiachra added. “How did you get into this mess?” He surveyed the area now that he had a real chance. The main cavern was plain, open, and vaguely circular, besides the bodies, the only things in the room were large packs with various odds strewn near them. At the back of the cavern, a passage further in tapered like a tunnel and at its arched entrance he could make out a silvery rope about shin height off the ground. “You seem both prepared and caught off guard for battle. How does this happen?”

  Each of them shifted uncomfortably, looking to each other to see who would speak first. The burly red-haired person began, “I was scouting ahead in the tunnel when the liches took me by surprise.”

  “We heard screaming and turned to see Nico charge through the entryway,” Vance added looking at Drust, both of them devolved into a series of snickering.

  “I was calling for backup.” Nico cut in, large brows furrowing over a glare.

  “You tripped over the trap you watched me set up.”

  “I was preoccupied.”

  “I think I have a good picture of what happened now,” Fiachra said. He raised a brow at Nico and Drust lost composure to laughter for a second time.

  “The two of you couldn’t handle them without help?” Nico asked accusingly at the other two in his party and their amusement dropped.

  “I would have fared better if Vance hadn’t had constantly tried to kill us all with fire.”

  “Don’t you have any trust? I could have taken them out quickly.”

  “And us with them. Haven’t you heard of rapid decompression?”

  “Nothing can be done for it now; you are all alive at least.” Fiachra cut in to end the arguing, he had a feeling it would never cease otherwise.

  “Yes, you’re right. The important thing is that we won and are alive. Best yet, now that the liches are gone, we can find what they were guarding.” The party perked up instantly, bodies straightening and quick glances between them. Fiachra restrained the desire to sigh.

  “Are you going to join?” Drust asked looking at him.

  “I feel I should, to make sure none of you die in case something is else is here.”

  His answer was evidently accepted as the party dispersed around the area to tidy before moving on. Drust collected his trap by pulling two ferocious-looking daggers out of the cave wall and coiling the silvery rope back into one of the packs abandoned. Nico picked up an extinguished torch from the ground and Vance lit it. Fiachra cringed at the sudden flare of light and envisioned travelling into unknown depths along with them lit like a beacon.

  “I’ll scout ahead,” he said quickly, stepping far into the darkness finding a balance between out of range of the torch but in range to see. He could hear the party talking softly behind him, but kept his focus forged ahead. The passage forked early on, from what he could tell the path to the right quickly reached a dead end and dipped into an impression of a possible pit. Disinclined to go that direction, he kept left, continuing until reaching an opening into a smaller cavern.

  “The liches were here.” He caught Nico saying. He watched the room become brighter as the party approached, watching shadows grow then recede. He saw nothing that darted amongst the shadows or anything attempting to hide into further nooks.

  “From what I can tell, there is nothing else alive or undead here,” he told the party.

  “Great, we can take that chest then!” Nico said. They barreled forward with the torch to a far wall with a large chest innocuously to the side wrapped in straps and locks. Drust fell beside Fiachra brushing white hair back behind their shoulders.

  “Interesting choice in companions for a Drow.” He remarked, studying Drust’s dark features and analyzing their cordial expression.

  “They are an entertaining lot and it’s been lucrative to travel with them for the time being. Honestly, today was not a good example of how we operate.”

  “I don’t think you would survive if this was the usual run.” He looked away from Drust and over to the other party members, they had the chest open now and were hefting out the contents. “It looks as though weaponry has been recovered for your efforts.”

  Drust turned as well and nodded appreciatively. “You know, from your help today, you have a claim to some things here.”

  “I’ll take my share from what I find off the liches or any other wares they had here. I have no need or desire to replace my bow.”

  “I will leave you to it then. I am going to go negotiate my share, for I can use better weaponry. Take care traveler.”

  “May we meet in better circumstances if we meet again.” Fiachra bade him farewell and proceeded to the opposite side of the cavern.