Chapter Fifty Five – The Cleansing of Darnuth Keep by Kelly D. Tolman

Posted by admin on October 12, 2009

The Cleansing of Darnuth Keep is a fantasy novel describing the adventures of Colter Halfspear as he becomes a man and an initiate of magical powers.

Knowing that a person has a key is one thing. Knowing what the key goes to is something else. Perhaps most important, however, is the will to use it for its intended purpose knowing full well the consequences.

I held no illusions that facing Asmordreda would be a simple affair. Pascalli’s grim demeanor served as ample warning to the serious nature of our dilemma.
“Do you know how to defeat her?” I asked Pascalli, contemplating our options.

“No, but we might get lucky.” He chuckled grimly. “We’ll need luck.”

I failed to see the humor, but I suppose that after centuries of seeing so much of the world one begins to find something funny with everything.
“The power of the Key can destroy her,” said Golgaron. “She cannot be defeated with mere weapons of steel.”

“So we just walk up and ask her to hand over the amulet?” I asked. At this point sarcasm had become my only lifeline to sanity. “Please Miss Asmordreda, could you just hand that over so we can blast you to oblivion?” Now it was my turn to laugh. I laughed a hollow, dry laugh, but I wanted to cry.

“We could try that,” agreed Pascalli with mock seriousness. “Or we could take it from her.”

“Sure, you hold her I’ll grab the amulet,” I said.

“We might not need the amulet at all,” he said.

“We still have to activate this Key of the stars, don’t we?” I asked.

“Of course, but we may not need to actually be holding the amulet to do so,” replied Pascalli. “I’ve no idea how this works, but the three keys may only need to be in the chamber, not necessarily held by the same person.”

“Wouldn’t that give everyone in the chamber access to the same power?” I asked.

“Maybe.” Pascalli’s reply did not comfort me. “Perhaps only those holding the tokens will have access to the magic. It doesn’t matter. We don’t have any options anyway. I think you’ll find that simply doing what needs to be done is often challenge enough.”

“I’m not here for the excitement,” I said. I gathered the last of our food and refilled our canteens. “I’ll finish what needs doing so that we can go home.”

“That is an excellent plan,” agreed Pascalli. “I look forward to a bit of rest myself when this is all over.”

“She waits,” said Golgaron. I knew he sensed something about our enemy that neither Pascalli nor I could understand.

Somebody had taken the effort to extinguish all of the lanterns in the corridor outside of the study. They remained functional, however, so we took the time to light them again. Really there was no point fumbling around in the dark when the enemy already knew we were coming.

Golgaron took the lead. “I know where she is hiding,” he said. “I have no need for light.”

“That sounds like a good idea to me,” I agreed. I had no intention of being the first target for a surprise attack.

“I see you’ve inherited some of your mother’s common sense,” replied Pascalli. “No point getting killed if you don’t have to. Davmandius didn’t spend so much of his life crafting Golgaron to see his talents go to waste.”

Despite our preparations, the first ambush surprised me. Golgaron dispatched the three enemies before I became aware of the attack. Although I had spent hours practicing with him, his efficient brutality and effortless violence still surprised me. The fourth spawn of Asmordreda attempted to flee, but my fire stone burned through the scaly hide into its spine.

“Perhaps Golgaron should scout ahead,” suggested Pascalli. “He could clear the path for us with less danger while we light the lanterns.”
I agreed, and we sent the statue to clear the corridors back to the hidden door at the temple. We found the secret doorway shut and the lever to open it had been jammed in some way.

“We’re trapped,” I said. “We only have a few days of food left.”

“There may be another way out,” smiled Pascalli. “It doesn’t look like any more of them will be coming down anytime soon,” he added.

With my hope diminishing, we moved carefully into the other corridor. The brief scrape of stone on stone alerted us to the second ambush. I expected another rush of Asmordreda’s children, but instead a sudden force extinguished the lanterns, and I was left momentarily blinded while the sounds of battle sprang up in front of us. I am certain that without the aid of Golgaron in that corridor we never would have survived. I had not yet mastered the elements sufficiently to instinctively maintain our lighting. It took me several seconds to locate a lantern and light it again, and in that time the battle had nearly ended.

Golgaron still faced one skeletal figure, though it could not hold off the statue’s merciless onslaught for more than a few seconds. The creature’s pale skin clung to its bones, as though no muscle or sinew held it together. Its vacant eyes stared listlessly into space, and I knew that it needed no light to find us. A second creature of the same type lay at our feet, its chest and skull crushed, apparently from the butt end of Golgaron’s spear.

“Do you know what they were?” I asked Pascalli when it was over.

“Some sort of minor demon,” he replied. “Creatures from another world.”

“How did they get here?” I asked.

“That is a very good question,” responded the wizard. “One which I am sure will be answered before we are through.”

We faced a half dozen or so more ambushes, but Golgaron proved an unstoppable force. The corridor made no branches, and there were only a few rooms to either side before we finally reached a stout wooden door. The door itself was indistinguishable from any other in the place, but an out of place silence gripped the area, and our light seemed to disappear as we approached it.

“No question we’ve found something powerful,” observed Pascalli casually. He didn’t bother to whisper, and I believe I detected a hint of a grin on his face. When I scowled at him and held a finger to my lips, he responded. “They already know where we are. We’ve been making a racket out here for hours. I’m sure they heard us long before this.” He broadened his grin and sinisterly added, “There are other methods of detecting us besides listening.”

When I reached for the handle, Pascalli stopped me. “Just because the end is near does not mean we need to rush into it unprepared,” he warned. “We’ve been at this for nearly a day now, I think, and we will need all of our strength to confront Asmordreda. We can leave Golgaron here to ensure that nothing leaves that door to surprise us while we, or more specifically you, get some rest. As I recall there is a snug little room not too far back.”
Copyright 2008 Kelly David Tolman

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