Chapter 2
The animated skeleton stepped out from behind the fallen column swinging a glittering silver blade in a deadly arc at the orc. Morgan yelled, trying to warn Jake before the blow fell, but the orc had already seen his attacker. Using his ready blade to turn aside the skeleton's blow, the orc dodged to the side, feet scrambling to find purchase on the treacherous ground hidden beneath omnipresent fog. The orc stumbled on a rock and fell hard into the mist, landing on broken stone. The skeleton's blade, lightning quick, whipped through the air, narrowly missing burying itself in the orc's chest, as the skeleton strove to take advantage of the orc's stumble. Growling in pain the orc rolled away to escape the range of his enemy's blade. The shorter blade of the orc caught the silver blade, sending it high and away as the powerful orc defended himself.
Still the skeleton was unrelenting, pressing the attack as its blade once more screamed through the air hammering at the orc's guard. The orc scrambled back, still trying to regain his feet in the uneven battle. The sure-footed skeleton pressed in, its blade coming closer and closer with each stroke.
Meanwhile, the sorceress chanted furious words, her hurried whispers escalating into rushed commands as she summoned forth the power that was hers to command. A ball of blue phosphoresence formed in the palm of her hand, growing in luminance as her words became stronger. She spoke each ancient word forcefully and deliberately at the ball of light, filling it with her desire and her will. With a streak of light, the ball left her fingers and flew across the distance between her and the sword-wielding skeleton. The magic struck the skeleton full on, sending cascades of light spilling over it in a blinding flash. As the orc scrambled to his feet, the skeleton staggered back, completely noiseless except for the clatter of its bleached bones, as it crumbled and fell into the fog, disappearing as quickly as it had appeared.
The orc regained back to his feet, wincing at the bruises caused by the broken stone. Holding his blade ready his eyes searched the shadows and fog for sign that other opponents were waiting to strike. Seeing none, the orc stepped carefully to where the sorceress stood, her own green eyes also searched the dark for signs of further attack. Her gaze looked anxious.
The orc misunderstood her gaze and spoke. "I think that was the only one."
The sorceress replied shaking her head, "My fear was not that there would be more, for I am sure there will be. My worry is that I may have called attention to us. When you fell I reacted in haste and cast a spell more powerful than perhaps I dared."
Jake nodded grimly.
"I must take care with the magic that I use. The ripples of its use will echo here alerting those that are sensitive to it. It was another reason why I dared not bring others with us. We must move as secretively as we can."
The orc grunted to himself. No, it would not be good to attract attention here. Quickly he checked himself over to ensure that he was not seriously injured. Fortunately his fall had only caused a few bruises.
Morgan waited until the orc had finished his inspection before quizzing him. "Do you think this one was a sentry?" She continued to survey the area with piercing eyes that saw more than another might. As she searched, the orc knelt and probed about, reaching his hands into the fog which clung to the ground.
"No, I can remember no tale of sentries." The orc answered her as he felt the ground, searching for the remnants of the skeleton warrior that had attacked them. After a moment he brought up an ancient iron helm, the partial helm had covered the skull's top, sides and back, leaving the face open for full visibility.
Jake took the helm and hammered it against a rock, testing its strength. The metallic sound echoed mutely. Years of dirt and grime were caked upon it, some tiny bit of which came free with the pounding, but mostly clung stubbornly to the surface obscuring it from close inspection.
He continued as he began probing the ground again. "I don't think they need sentries. Who would attack this place?" After a moment he came up with a leather belt which held a sheathed dagger. The leather was old and rotting. The orc pulled the dagger free from its sheath, but after a moment's inspection of the rusted dagger cast it aside along with the belt and resumed his search.
Morgan turned to watch, her eyes glinting in curiousity. "For what do you search? Do you not carry enough knives already?" She pointed at the dozen or so weapons that the orc carried about his person.
The orc chuckled, "Ya' can never have too many weapons." His search was finally rewarded as he came up with the gleaming silver-bladed sword which the skeleton had carried. He took the grip and slashed the blade experimentally through the air. Its heft was lighter than was his preference, but its length was a full two spans longer than the short blades he normally carried. Also its blade still gleamed brightly in spite of how long it must have rested here. The orc's slashes caused the moonlight to reflect off of the blade in a most pleasing way. This was a good blade. Probably elven, the orc confessed to himself. Normally he would not have considered taking up such a blade, despite its quality, but here, in this place, no advantage was to be tossed away lightly.
Morgan looked at him, her head cocked to the side quizzically. "I would have thought such a blade anathema to you."
Jake turned to look at her, still whipping the blade about lightly. "The mixed blood helps. That and knowin' elven blades can be useful against the mordragath."
Morgan still looked puzzled, so the orc continued. "The elves are good at makin' weapons that resist abuse. Probably 'cuz they never seem to die unless ya' kill 'em. So they make their weapons to last too. Ya' can recognize them 'cuz they never dull or rust and 'cuz they are usually silver like this." The orc sheathed his own weapon and whipped the blade about again. "This blade should serve us well against the wandering dead."
The sorceress nodded in agreement and resisted the impulse to remind the orc that elves used magic.
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