Chapter 1: The Longest Chapter - continued
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Kadren swung her mace threateningly at one of the creatures. It backed away a little, but did not retreat. The other five paused, but then resumed their slow advance forward. They looked like small, ugly (uglier than usual) goblins, and more feral than any goblin she had ever encountered. These were the same sort of creature that Coj had already handily dispatched. They made shrill noises as they closed in, and gave off, what sounded like, cackles. They also waved their arms wildly at Kadren, teasing or threatening her. They had no weapons, but their claws looked sharp, and their teeth hungry. Kadren wished she had dispatched the two she encountered first, instead of fleeing, because the other four joined the fray as she was running, and now she was backed into a blind section of the cave, having to face all six at once.
"Leave me be!" Kadren yelled. "I'm warning you. I will strike you down, if you come closer!" This brought about more cackling sounds from the goblinoids.
Kadren dared not put down her mace or shield to cast a more complete spell, but, with her shield and mace at the ready, she began her chant-like spell-casting, and a flame began forming in front of her, as before. This flame, though, was less white and less hot than the one she had made before, and it was not round. The spell-casting was a lot more difficult without the free use of her hands and arms, and what she produced now was more like a regular flame. She built it to the size of her head and no further, lest she should lose control of the flame, or deplete her strength too quickly. But it was still enough to halt the goblinoids advances, and Kadren felt a small relief when she saw them stop. Kadren strained to keep the flame alive, and to keep her focus on her enemies and her spell at the same time. She had to think quickly on how to use her new advantage. She kept up her spell-chanting as she advanced slowly towards the goblinoids, and was delighted to see them retreating. Her mind raced to come up with a plan. She decided to push them towards the large entrance of the blind chamber she was in. Once she was close enough to the entrance, she could throw the magic flame as a distraction and run for it. Kadren hoped the flame would be enough to discourage a pursuit, but she knew her spell was not powerful enough to incapacitate all of them.
Kadren kept a steady pace forward, and the goblinoids continued to retreat, baring their teeth, and hissing at her in displeasure. Every step forward was taxing, the energy and concentration required was draining her relentlessly, and the progress was aggravatingly slow. She began to have doubts as to whether she would even have enough strength left to run, if she reached the entrance. As is often the case in unpleasant circumstances, time slowed to a snail's pace, and it seemed to Kadren that it might take hours to reach her goal. But steadily she inched closer, and Kadren began to feel a surge of hope as the entrance loomed just a few yards away. Unfortunately, her plan did not succeed.
Whether it was because it had deduced her plan, or whether it just got tired of retreating, one of the goblinoids - after looking towards the other four, and exchanging quick guttural noises - made a sudden lunge at her from her left. Kadren reacted quickly, and made a rapid movement with her mace arm towards the creature, causing the flame to hurtle at the goblinoid. The flame flared up dramatically on impact, and faded rapidly; there was much screeching that ensued. Kadren had no time to see the result of her flame attack, however, as the others had moved in on her the instant her flame faded.
Kadren fought off the five assailants for a while. They pursued doggedly, and were wolf-like in their attacks, but Kadren was no easy prey. They had trained her hard in the Order, and she had learned well. But, eventually, shield and mace began to weigh too much, and her movements slowed. Her legs also began to feel like cotton, protesting the running she had made them do, and now this deadly exertion. She was thankful that she had decided to put on her coif before all this happened, for there were a couple of blows from teeth and fangs that surely would have been deadly, instead of just painful, had it not been for the mail headpiece.
Kadren was able to down two of their pack, and wounded one, before she ended up locked in a deadly wrestling match. She had a goblinoid on each arm and one leg. Her mace had been knocked away and her shield she dropped due to exhaustion. It was then, with both hands involuntarily occupied, that Kadren finally learned what effect her flame spell had had on the last goblinoid, for it was now charging at her, screaming with unmistakable fury. Its face was badly burned on one side, looking like charred and melted dark green flesh; the goblinoid had its one remaining, usable eye trained on Kadren with deep malice. Kadren braced for doom.
But then... by the entryway... a blink of a shadow... a glint of metal... the charging goblinoid suddenly halted, and fell... A man?... he was too quick... She could not see clearly in the dim light... in the blink of an eye he was upon them. Coj!? No. It was another. His fighting, however, was similar to Coj's, in that both men fought with effortless grace, and incredible speed. Kadren was unable to follow all of his movements. But there were only a few movements made before her assailants had fallen; the last sounds they made were screeches and gurgling noises.
When all had stopped Kadren looked upon her rescuer and again thought of Coj, for this man looked like he might be half-elven. Now that he was closer, she saw that he had hints of that fair race in his face. But this man's hair was black, instead of gold. He also had a cape on, which was something Coj did not wear.
After the gruesome task, the stranger wiped the blood off his blade with the ends of his cape; the blade glistened unnaturally, even in the dim light. He then sheathed his sword, and turned to Kadren. "Are you hurt?", he asked.
"No, I'm fine." Kadren paused to take a breath; she was still trying to steady her breathing. "Many thanks to you." Breath. "I'm indebted to you for saving me." Breath.
"No need for thanks, because I'll be needing your help as well. We will save each other from this wretched place. But first, a quick introduction: my name is Callum Rominel of Thinden. Friends just call me Cal, and I think our common enemy makes us friends. Now, I would like to know who my new friend is."
"I am Kadren. I am a Sister of the Shining Order, from the city of Borjes, of the Kingdom of Galicia.
"Welcome to Dritam" - they both smiled at the humour. "You are a long way from home, Kadren. We will exchange full stories later, but for now I will tell you this: I have been trying to find my friends who were last headed to the evil house above us, and I fell down into this hell when I walked into a trap. I'm guessing you are down here through similar circumstances?"
"Yes, that's right. Except I was with my fr-"... the briefest of pauses: Kadren hesitated to say the word friends for some reason... "-companions before I fell, in the abandoned manor... well, what we thought was abandoned... I had wandered off to a different part of the house. They're probably up there trying to find me right now. I suppose I'm glad they haven't found me, or else it means we're all trapped down here. But, anyway, it looks like you've found me."
