บท 83: The Forgotten Monarch
"What do we do now?" Katheren, frozen with fear, asked as she eyed the wraiths blocking their path.
"Don't just stand there, girl!" Grayson pulled her away from the landing spot of the magic poison bombs and continued to run forward, urging, "Draw your short sword and stick with me!"
Katheren extracted her spectral white-glowing soul-eating short sword and stumbled forward, following closely behind Grayson as he charged headlong into the army of phantoms. The wraiths converged upon them with eerie wails.
"Do as I do!" Grayson let go of Katheren's hand and tumbled into the mass of wraiths, the spectral creatures whistling over his head. Soul-eating blades whirled around them, shredding any wraith that drew near.
He rose and swung his sword, slicing through three phantoms that leaped at him, their soul essence absorbed by his blade, which shone with an intense white light that radiated a chilling presence of the undead.
Katheren, following in Grayson's wake, faced a wraith that reached out with a bony white claw. She parried with her sword as the soul-eating blades circled her, cleaving the wraith's head in two, the soul essences sucked into the blades.
"Come on, let's go!" Grayson shouted back at her, carving a crescent of silver energy with his sword that bisected four more wraiths, then called out to the little owl, "Elyra, look after Katheren, help her if she's in danger!"
"Help whom?" Perched atop Katheren's head, Elyra looked around at the swarming wraiths and asked loudly, "Help the dumb girl or the dead guys?"
"Save your sarcasm for your turkey dinner!" Grayson cut through the phantoms, turning them into tattered cloaks as he made his way to the end of the road.
As they rounded the valley's bend, a narrow stone bridge came into view. Wide enough for only one person with nothing to hold onto on either side, a bottomless abyss lay beneath, and the bridge led to a protruding cliff with no other way to climb it.
"A dead end!" Grayson looked back toward Katheren, the wraiths closing in on her, the skeletal king and his undead horde advancing like a tide. They had no choice left.
"They are too many; no one can face a king's army alone," Grayson muttered as he stepped onto the bridge. Looking back, the little owl flapped toward him, so he shouted, "Little one, our fate hinges on you!"
Before he finished, Katheren had reached the bridgehead. Her eyes widened as she saw Grayson standing on the precarious bridge, braking sharply, her gaze flitting between the narrow stone path and the abyss before looking up at Grayson.
"Come here, to my side!" Grayson waved, beckoning her.
Katheren hesitated, but with wraiths swiftly approaching, she dashed onto the bridge toward Grayson. He withdrew the blades, clenched his fist, and pounded the bridge with his soul-charged claw.
A draconian gust burst forth, tearing through the bridge beneath him. "Jump!" Grayson roared. Katheren leaped into his arms, and as the bridge crumbled, they plummeted into the abyss together.
Clinging to Grayson, Katheren felt the howling wind rip past them, the sensation of freefalling silencing her thoughts, leaving room for only one word: death.
Suddenly, their descent halted, something had caught them. Katheren cautiously opened her eyes to see a massive claw clutching them, gently ascending.
Before she could process what had happened, they were set down safely. A flash of red blinded her momentarily, and when she looked again, Grayson was sitting opposite her on the cliff's edge, a newly lit cigar in his mouth.
"Where are we?" She asked, dazed and confused.
"We'll get to that in a moment!" Grayson grumbled, sharply calling out, "Elyra! Come here and explain, what just happened?"
Only then did Katheren notice her own long golden ponytail was now atop Grayson's head, and his unruly brown locks had become hers.
"Do you find this look fetching on me?" Grayson flipped the long braid behind him, his face a mix of vexation and disbelief as he gazed upon Elyra, who had hopped in front of him.
The little imp's eyes widened in innocence and surprise as she looked between him and Katheren, struggling to contain her laughter before finally bursting, spraying Grayson with a gleeful spit-take.
"Change me back now, you little devil!" Grayson reached to swat her, but Elyra nimbly dodged aside, laughing uncontrollably.
Elyra settled down as Grayson watched, and with a wave of her little finger, the red glow flashed, and they were restored.
With the transformation undone, Grayson and Katheren breathed relief. Grayson stood up, gave Elyra a glare, and turned to look across the chasm.
On the cliff's edge, the wraiths lingered, and the skeletal king and his legion stood at the valley's mouth, gazing at the trio across the way.
"They're still there," Katheren stepped beside Grayson, watching, "Why haven't those wraiths followed us? Can't they fly?"
"The undead have their domain. Those wraiths don't dare leave their territory, thus they hover at the edges, knowing we have nowhere else to go but back to them or wait here to die."
After sitting down at the cliff's edge, Grayson asked, "Do you know who that crowned skeleton is?"
Katheren shook her head and sat beside him, Grayson continued, "His name is Talark's son, once the King of Deiz. The name triggered a memory when I first uttered it, feeling vaguely familiar."
"Was he... human?" Katheren asked, astonished.
"Yes, Talark's son was one of the few monarchs adept at magic, a distinguished mage from the Tower of Mages. When the vampire horde invaded the human empire a century ago, Deiz was first to resist."
"So he was taken during that war..." Katheren surmised, and Grayson nodded, "The Holy Empire was blindsided, and Deiz became a hellish battlefield."
"Heavy-hearted, Grayson looked at Katheren, "The King of Deiz led his mages to the front lines. Captured by the Ghost King who coveted his gift for magic, he was thrown into an undead conversion pool, becoming the Lich King."
"The Lich King..." Katheren shivered.
"That's right, his followers too, whether dead or alive, were transformed into the liches and wraiths we saw. But what puzzles me is why they're here?"
As Grayson pondered, the cliff suddenly shook. A massive fortress built against the mountain's shadow appeared, with a blood-red gate swung wide open by Elyra's touch.
"My goodness!" Grayson sprang to his feet and rushed to Elyra's side, demanding, "What have you uncovered now, you overly curious little thing?"
"I found something blocking my path; I could touch it, but not pass through. So I tried a spell to reveal its true form," Elyra boasted, "How did I do? I can open mysterious doors too, not just you!"
"I'm hardly going to praise you! Who knows if your discovery will corner us again?" Grayson ruffled her head and stepped into the shadowy gates.
Katheren and Elyra followed, their gaze fixed on the fortress made of dark stones, an eerie chill pervading the air. Grayson's sword light revealed a straight road leading to the fortress's main door.
"It appears we have a distinguished host!" Grayson glanced at the knight statues on either side of the path, their black figures reminiscent of the Death Knight from the valley.
"Let's hope our host is out," he whispered to Katheren, "Do you understand now? The Lich King and those wraiths dare not approach because this is their master's abode. What could turn a Lich King into a mere guard dog?"
"It sounds like something only a Vampire King could do!" Katheren startled herself with her own conclusion, a shiver running down her spine.
"But he's no threat to us anymore. Perhaps we should think of something else," Grayson paused at the steps before the fortress's demon-carved doors.
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