A Call to Fate

Chapter 6 - Blood and Bone

The arrow had been the starting signal, and with a clatter of bones from one side and a bellowed challenge from the other, battle was joined. Most of the skeletons began to run forwards, leaving some archers behind. Talani and Reg also sprinted forward to join the melee, axe and sword swinging. Reg was there first, and with a cry delivered a perfect thrust to the chest of the nearest skeleton, exactly where the heart... would have been. "Well that's hardly fair, is it" he bemoaned. He was aiming for insouciance but hit a note of panic instead as it swung back with a sword, forcing him to backpedal rapidly.

"Try this instead!" came the bellowing voice of Talani from his right. Reg watched as the massive axe swung through the air, cleaving a head neatly off the neck of another skeleton. Rather than fall down obligingly though, the damn thing stayed upright. Once again one of their number was forced onto the defensive, and Talani began to find himself getting slowly encircled by skeletons. None were even up to his shoulders in height, but they were displaying remarkable tenacity. He began sweeping his axe recklessly, parting skeletons left and right, but they were just knitting themselves back together, much to all of their dismay.

Mersingmergr was up at the front as well, looking as confused as anything else. The 'front line', such as it was, was porous at best, and falling back as they tried to maintain cohesion. An individual skeleton could be stopped with relative ease, but six or seven each were a different matter. Mersingmergr was trying to a few in place with its antlers, but it felt like a drop in the ocean.

Flashes of light lit the room up further, as Gialli, Alf, Tove, and Teclis all joined in one way or another. A glowing arrow from Gialli whistled between Reg and Talani, smashing through the spine of a skeleton in a way that caused it to fall apart comically, and permanently. Bolts of light streaked from Alf and Tove. The first were a bright, incandescent yellow, easily mimicking the light of the sun. The second were closer to white, but which pulsed and flared, shot through with blue as well. One soared off into the darkness, but the other found its mark, turning the chest of one skeleton to dust. As they watched, the remaining energies of the magic spread through the bones, almost melting them. A sword clanged to the floor, and a lifeless skull was all that remained.

Reg gave a whoop of satisfaction as he watched one collapse. Getting the gist, he muttered a string of arcane words, and thrust a hand wreathed in flame towards the nearest skeleton. That one disintegrated obligingly as well, but before he could repeat his success, a sword slashed towards him. He parried it with his own, but another skeletal soldier kept him on the defensive. Pressed in from a number of sides, he twirled, dodged and deflected madly. He was keeping himself alive for now, but with no space to go on the offensive.

Talani was having similar problems. Up close, he could not bring his axe to bear properly, and the scraping of phantom swords across the little armour he wore was paying dividends for the skeletons. An arrow lodged itself in his bicep, and he grunted in pain. Taking a hand off his weapon, he snapped the shaft, trusting Tove to see to the rest later. With his free hand, he grabbed the skull of the nearest skeleton, and smashed it into another. Both collapsed, but began knitting back together in the form of a ghoulish, four-armed abomination. He could not stem the tide of numbers in front of him, and they were starting to get between him and Reg, and towards the others at the back.

Teclis, Tove, Gialli, and Alf were all still blazing away to varying degrees of success. By now most of their shots were being fired at point blank. Skeletons were going down, but they were only slowing them, not stopping them. They heard another grunt from up ahead as a large gash was opened up in Talani's side. Reg was visibly sweating, and not unscathed either, whilst Mergsingmergr was also looking increasingly battered, large scratches and dents appearing in its flanks.

Tove darted forwards, planting a hand on Talani and closing her eyes. In an instant, healing magic flowed from her, and the wound flowing on his side closed up. That moment had cost them though, and the decline in firepower had let more skeletons through. There was a cry as an errant arrow caught Gialli's left arm, forcing him to drop his bow. He drew a long seax from his waist instead and moved up next to Mersingmergr, but it was clear that this was not ideal.