The Cleric Quintet: The Fallen Fortress

 

Far down Nightglow's snow-blanketed side, Druzil scratched his ugly face and watched the undead creature's shivering movements.



Ghost had not taken a step in many seconds, the first time Druzil had seen the tireless thing pause in several days. The gruesome creature made no moves at all, except for the obvious trembling.



"Why are you doing that?" the invisible imp asked under his rasping breath, hoping that the creature had not somehow detected him and was not calling upon some innate magics to locate him, or to destroy him.



The trembling intensified to a violent shaking. Druzil whined and wrapped his leathery wings defensively about him, though since they were invisible, they could not block out the terrifying sight



Crackling noises came from the undead monster, tiny cracks appeared along its blackened skin, wisps of smoke filtered out into the brightly shining air.



"Hey?" the imp asked a moment later, when the undead thing fell into a pile of charred and shattered flakes.



Cadderly continued his scan of the area, of himself, and of his friends. Danica, too, seemed intent on covering up, but Cadderly didn't see the point since she was fully clothed.



Or was she?



A wail from somewhere in the unseen distance brought them all on the alert Shayleigh went into a low crouch, slowly turning and scanning, balled fists defensively in front of her.



If she feared an attack, then why didn't she take her bow off her shoulder? Cadderly wondered. And then he understood. With a knowing nod, the young priest let go of his pointless modesty and stood straight



Another cry, a cry of pain, sounded from somewhere distant, followed by a loud splash.



"Where are we?" Danica demanded. "And why am I the only one who has no clothes?"



Shayleigh looked at her incredulously, then looked down to her own body.



A wave rolled in at them, bringing the uncomfortable brown sludge to their waists. Cadderly grimaced at the feel of the wretched stuff, noticed for the first time the reeking stench.



"What caused so large a wave?" Shayleigh whispered, and her perceptive remark reminded Cadderly that the discomfort might be the least of his troubles.



The apparition, a puny, androgenous form with one arm bent crooked, rose from the sludge twenty feet away from them, its dangerous eyes narrowing as it regarded them.



"The assassin," Danica breathed. "But he is dead, and we..." She looked at Cadderly, her brown eyes wide.



"Caught by the GHearufu" Cadderly replied, unwilling to offer the possibility that they, too, had died.



"Caught!" the puny form roared in a mighty, giantlike voice. "Caught that you might be properly punished!"



"Use your bow!" Danica, more afraid than she had ever been, yelled at Shayleigh. Again, the elf gave Danica an incredulous look, then turned helplessly to her bare, as she saw it, shoulder.



Danica sneered and rushed between Shayleigh and Cadderly, taking a blocking stance between them and the approaching apparition.



Cadderly looked down, looked to the unremarkable muck to clear his head and register all that he had seen and heard. Why was he the only one who was naked? Or at least, why did he see himself that way? As did Danica, he knew, by her own words. And if Shayleigh thought that she had her bow, didn't perceive that she, too, had no clothes and no equipment, then why hadn't she taken the weapon from her back?



Danica's hands began an intricate, balancing weave in front of her. The apparition of Ghost showed no fear at all, continued to steadily glide through the muck. Danica noticed that Ghost seemed larger suddenly, and noticed that the apparition continued to grow.



"Cadderly," she breathed quietly, for now their opponent was fully ten feet tall, nearly as large as Vander. It took another step, doubling its size as it did. -Cadderly!"



They all perceived that they were naked, but each saw the others as they had last seen the others, Cadderly mused, knowing that there must be something pertinent in that %ct He felt along his body, wondering if his equipment only



appeared invisible to him, if his potent hand-crossbow might be on his hip, waiting for him to grab it But he felt only his skin and the slimy splotches of brown, disgusting sludge.



The apparition loomed thirty feet high; its laughter mocked Danica's feeble defensive stance. With a sucking sound, one foot came up from the muck, hovered high in the air menacingly.



"Punishment!" the evil Ghost growled, stamping down.



Danica dove to the side, splashed through the muck and reappeared, her strawberry-blond locks matted to her head by the thick brown sludge.



The splash awakened Cadderly from his contemplations. His gray eyes widened as he glanced about for Danica, fearing that she had been squashed.



Shayleigh was over with the monk by then, pulling her away from the gigantic monster.



Ghost showed no more interest in Danica, though, not with Cadderly, the perpetrator of the disaster, the destroyer of his own form and of the precious Ghearufu, standing before him.



"Are you at peace with your god?" the giant voice teased.



Where are we? The question rifled through Cadderl/s thoughts, now that the monster had threatened him, had apparently just confirmed that they were not dead. Yet this place somewhat resembled the spirit world, Cadderly knew, for he had made several ventures into that noncofporeal state.



Danica and Shayleigh rushed in front of the young priest, Danica leaping onto the leg of the giant, clawing and biting at the back of its knee. It kicked out, trying to shake her free, but if her savage thrashing was doing any real damage, the smiling Ghost did not show it



"Perceived vulnerability," Cadderly muttered, trying to jog his thought process. His self-image, the images of his friends, and the image of their nemesis, had to be a matter of perception, since he and both his companions thought themselves naked and the other two clothed.



Shayleigh slipped free of the monster's other leg as Ghost brought it up high above Cadderly's head.



"Cadderly!" both Danica and the elf maiden cried out to their apparently distracted companion.



The huge foot slammed down; Danica nearly fainted at the thought of her lover being squashed.



Cadderly caught the foot in one hand, and absently held it steady above his head.



He, too, began to grow.



"What is happening?" the frustrated, terrified monk cried out, falling from the giant's knee and splashing away. Shayleigh caught her and held her, needing, as much as giving, the support



Cadderly was half the creature's size, and now it was Ghost who seemed confused. The young priest heaved against the foot, hurling Ghost backward to land crashing into the muck. By the time the creature regained its stance, Cadderly was the larger.



Ghost came on anyway, snarling, wrapping his hated enemy in a tight hug.



Danica and Shayleigh moved away from the titans, not understanding, not able to help.



Cadderly's massive arms flexed and twisted. Ghost's did, too, and for a long whiie, neither titan seemed to gain any advantage.



Ghost bit down hard on Cadderly's neck, whipping his head about in a frenzy. It was he, not Cadderly, who then cried out in pain, though, for he was biting not vulnerable skin, but steel armor!



The wild monster lifted his arm; his fingers grew into spikes, and he smashed down at Cadderty's shoulder.



The young priest yelped in agony. Cadderly's arm became a spear, and he plunged it through Ghost's belly.



Ghost's skin parted around it, opening a hole through which the arm/spear passed without making a cut The evil entity's skin then tightened around Cadderly's appendage, holding him last



Ghost's mouth opened impossibly wide, seeming the maw of a snake, complete with venom-tipped fangs.



"Cadderly," Danica breathed, thinking her love doomed, thinking that she and Shayleigh would also fall victim to this horrid apparition. She had no words to describe what ensued, could hardly remember to breathe.



Cadderly did not flinch. His head thickened, his face flattened, like the face of a hammer, and he butted straight out This time his attack apparently caught Ghost by surprise, for the assassin's snake jaws broke apart, blood washing away the venom.



Ghost's eyes widened in shock and agony as Cadderly's impaled arm shifted shape again, angled spikes tearing out the sides of Ghosf s torso.



Cadderly understood that the game was one of mental quickness, matching defense to attack, keeping perspective