Chapter One: Nightstone, Part Seven

The mercenaries scrambled everywhere to prepare. Some climbed up the walls and set some traps and equipped bows while others went into the field with shields, swords, and spears. Phil and his party went to the walls. Mercenaries wrapped rope around a tree that was far in the field and wrapped the other end to the wall.

"Are you guys ready?" Phil asked his party. They were all serious this time. Ledias held a stone in her hand. If the goblins and ogres were to climb up the walls, she would cast Divine Smith on the stone and chuck it at them. If they needed to, they would slide down the rope and into the field. A horn sang in the distance. The goblins have arrived.

There were 60 of them in total. Most of them were goblins, but there were some ogres and orcs there. One giant orge stood out of the crowd surrounded by orcs and smaller versions of the ogres. They were all chanting something in an unknown language. Justin Time understood and translated it to Phil.

"They're saying, 'we want food, we want land!' over and over and over, I explained with a posed look," Justin Time told Phil. Phil scanned the battle field, but he couldn't see Commander Timber anywhere. The mercenaries yelled their own war cry and charged into battle. The goblin army also charged.

What the goblins lacked in fire power, they made it up with overwhelming numbers. The mercenaries on the ground were easily outnumbered, but they weren't called The Seven Snakes for nothing. They held their ground, hacking and slashing away at the swarming goblins. The orcs went to the moat and started to climb up the stone walls using their huge green hands and sharp tools.

Ledias cast Divine Smith on the stone and chucked it at the climbing orcs. The stone found its target on one of the orcs head. They made contact and the sound of a crack of the skull rang around the battlefield. The stone glowed with bright radiance as a holy bolt struck the orc, sending him flying into another orc behind him. "I got two!" She called.

Ace pulled out his sickle and short sword from his bag and jumped down towards the enemy. His beak dug into the first orc's skull, then his sword entered the orc's kidney. He wrapped his sickle around the orc's neck and used all his weight to decapitate it. "That's one son of a b-" Ace started to say, but he was tackled by another orc and pushed into the ground. The orc raised his one-handed battle axe and slammed it into the ground. The orc's eyes became blank and he missed.

Ledias used Command over the orc and made him miss. It was a spell that could make anyone do one action, but it wouldn't harm them in any way. Ace took the chance and pecked at his face with his beak. The orc screamed in pain as the orc and the bird switched places.

Phil and Riley pulled out their daggers and swung down the rope. "Midnight, Cyprus! You guys handle the range attacks! Come with us Ledias!" he called as he and Riley got to the battlefield.

Ledias decided to take the rough route and with her sword, she jumped from the wall and landed on the orcs, killing two of them with the blade and knocking one of them out with her foot. She jumped from the corpses and landed on the soft dead grass.

They all ran at the huge orge, battle ready. The orcs saw the trio and charged at them. 8 of them surrounded the small group and leaped at them. Three of them attacked Ledias, two of them had battle axes and one of them had a great sword. She raised up her buckler shield as the weapons made contact with it.

They tried to push her into the moat and drown her, but they were surprised at how strong this small 17 year old girl was. She pushed back and cast Branding Smith on the armor around her feet. She kicked the orc in the middle in the scrotum and a loud screech of pain came from it. His crotch started to glow from the Branding Smith as he fell to his knees in pain.

The other two orcs lost their balance when the middle orc fell and tripped forward, but this also made Ledias fall forward and trip too, but she caught herself. The other two weren't so lucky as they fell into the moat. The moat began to steam as the orcs screamed in pain as they were dissolved into the acid. Midnight cast Acid Splash into the moat and made most of the moat in the front turn into diluted acid. All of the orcs and corpses that were in the moat started to dissolve into goo. It smelled like cheese that has been rotting for seven years.

Three of the orcs charged Phil. He quickly pulled out his crossbow and shot one of them in the head with one hand. He then whipped out his dagger and shoved it into the throat of the orc that rushed him and used his corpse as a meat shield against the last orc standing against him. The orc was so focused on trying to get rid of his comrade's dead body out of the way that he didn't notice Phil sneak behind him and stab him in the kidneys. Phil took out his second dagger and slit his throat. The orc went limp and fell.

The last two orcs charged at Riley. His skill lived up to his word as he pulled out his two daggers and thrust them into the orcs. The daggers sank deep into their necks as they bleed out and died from the wound. Riley wiped the blood from his face. "Let's get the big guy," he suggested. They all agreed.

Back at the wall, two ogres have made their way to the top. One of the orcs spotted Cyprus chugging some booze. It probably thought that she would be an easy target, but when Cyprus saw the orc, she became frightened and punched the orc so hard that it flew twenty feet back into the field, breaking its neck as it fell to the ground. The second one reached the top of the wall, but was greeted by a bow and arrow in the face. "Sayonara!" Ace yelled as he released the strings and the arrow flew through its skull. "We seem to be doing pretty good!" he yelled.

"Don't jinx us you fool!" Slayer yelled as he breathed fire down the wall, torching more of the orcs and sending them down into the acidic moat.

Phil, Riley, and Ledias charged the ogre who was now alone. It stood a dozen feet tall with a huge sword in its hand, a javelin by its side. Phil charged first and Sneak Attacked it, aiming for its heels, but it didn't work, for the ogre noticed and kicked him towards a tree.

Ledias jumped towards Phil and stopped him before he hit the tree, but instead the velocity of Phil's body pushed her into the wood, nearly knocking her out.

Riley was the only one left standing. The ogre swung its huge sword toward him, but he dodged and pulled out his crossbow and shot the ogre in the eye. The arrow sank deep and made the ogre blind in one of its eyes. Ledias got back up with Phil and they grouped up.

"On three, we go for its throat." Phil said, pointing at the general direction with his dagger. "One!" The ogre pulled out the arrow from its eye. "Two!" It then took out its humongous javelin from its pocket and aimed with its last good eye. "Three!" They charged at the ogre as it threw its javelin. They heard a loud slice from behind as Ledias and Phil launched themselves at its throat. Their weapons cut through its vocal chords and veins, making it shoot blood everywhere as it attempted to scream in pain, but couldn't and fell limp.

When the goblins and orcs saw their tank fall to the hands of four tiny humans, they ran back into the forest and retreated. The mercenaries and party cheered in victory. "Great job, Ledias!" Phil said as he patted her back.

"You too Phil." She smiled and turned to Riley. "And also yo…" her face became pale as she saw the bleeding body of Riley hung on the tree by the javelin. When the javelin flew out of the ogres hand, Riley slightly pushed both Phil and Ledias out of the way as the javelin entered his ribs and launched him to the tree, hanging him there.

Ledias quickly ran to him in shock. "Riley! RILEY!" she screamed as she approached his body. She unhinged him from the tree and laid him on the ground. He was barely holding on to dear life as he slowly bled to death. His chest was almost completely dismembered in half with only his spine and a couple of muscles holding his body together.

He opened his eyes slowly and saw Ledias holding him. Ledias sniffled. It was already too late. He lost too much blood and his stomach was detached to where it was supposed to be, so even if he survived, he wouldn't be able to last long, a month at most.

Riley smiled. "Am I a good kid now?" he asked. He lived his whole life as a thief, a liar, a villain. He wore his ego as a mask to cover how insecure he was. He wanted to do at least one good deed before he died.

Ledias smiled sadly and shook her head. "No, your a hero. You've always been one." Riley smiled and closed his eyes as he heard those words. He finally completed his last wish in his in his list of "things I want to do before I die." Ledias sat there on her knees and cried while cradling Riley's corpse. Phil came behind her in silence.

Once more the accursed bone trumpet sounded in the distance behind her. The goblins stepped back. Within their group was a muscular female orc with a crown laced with the bones of gods knows what sat upon her head. She was their queen and their champion. The goblins roared for their queen as she approached Ledias and Phil.

"Who slayed my strongest warrior! Come before me and fight! I will have your head and eat your heart." The queen of goblins spat at the skies as a sign that she defied the gods. Truely, she was the embodiment of royal grace. Phil took out his daggers but Ledias stopped him. She laid Riley's body on the ground and got up.

"I'll take care of this," she told Phil with fire in her eyes. Phil lowered his blades and stepped back. The rest of the party and mercenaries came to watch, so did Commander Timber, who was hiding like a coward from the fight. She raised her head and with a loud voice, said, "You thought it was a mercenary who slaughtered your kind, but it was me! Ledias!" She said while pointing her thumb at herself. In the back she heard Justin Time stifle a laugh.

"Then fight me! I will feast on your bones then feed my armies with your friends flesh!" The goblin queen yelled.

"Then come as close as you like," Ledias replied. The goblin queen began to approach slowly but steadily, so too did Ledias. A moment passed before they began to charge at one another at full force, the ground only barely containing the power exerted from both parties footwork. The goblin queen unhooked her great axe from her hip and leaped at Ledias whilst aiming for her head, a simple split in her skull would be more than sufficient to end her. Ledias, however, was above such simple moves as she slid under the queen during the peak of her swing, allowing the gargantuan axe to pass her and into the ground, sending an almost physical shockwave as the goblin queen's great axe slammed into the ground Ledias quickly stood up and hacked at the goblin queen's royal back. The goblin queen yelled in pain and swung behind her or at least to the best of the queen's ability.

Ledias parried the axe, but she was sent back into the fields due to the sheer power behind the swing, barely just landing on her feet. She winced in pain. The goblin queen saw this as weakness and took this opportunity, swinging her axe in advance. Ledias, quick to see the queen's blundering attempt to kill her, jumped up and wrapped her chain around the goblin queen's throat and pulled with all her weight, forcing the queen to grasp the chains now constricting her breathing.

The goblin queen struggled against her and tried to get away, the more she moved, the tighter the chain became. Ledias's eyes were horrifying. They were filled with so much anger and sadness. Ledias screamed and her chain grew bright with energy and Divine Smith was cast. The goblin queen's entire body began to violently react to the assault on all fronts when Divine Smith coursed through her body, shocking her with the equivalent power of a lightning bolt.

Ledias was breathing hard, her anger still flaming in her eyes. The goblin queen's body became… useless to say the least, leaving only enough power in her muscles to fall upon the floor with her knees and her arms dangle uselessly at her sides. Both parties on each side were shocked at what they had just witnessed. The goblins were fast to begin running while the remaining orcs screamed for a moment before attempting to run, leaving many to die by the hands of the archers. Their accursed royalty fell in combat unfathomably. The mercenaries and her party cheered and sang their praises to themselves, but Ledias stood there motionless with tears swelling up within her eyes.

She released the queen from her clutches and she too fell on her knees. Everyone in her party except Phil came to comfort her as she cried. Phil walked up to the queen and raised his dagger to her throat. "Any last words?" he asked her. The queen looked up with her dark orange eyes. She was about to say something, but her body started to twitch violently as she fell to the ground properly, foaming from the mouth.

Her skin slowly changed from dark green of an orc to light brown of a human. Her body shrank down to the average size of a child, probably at the age of ten, and her clothes fell off of her. A little girl laid in front of him, nude and unconscious. His party and everyone there looked at the girl. Everyone was confused. Why did the goblin queen turn human? Why was she an orc? How did she become one? How and why did she turn back human?

Ledias approached the girl and wrapped her in a blanket she had in her backpack and carried her in her arms. Commander Timber freaked out and drew his sword. "Put her down! We don't know what she'll do if she turns back into an orc!" he screamed. He raised up his sword, preparing to stab the little girl. The mercenaries saw what he was going to do and ran in front of him to try to stop him.

"Don't do this!" one of them said.

"She's only a little girl! Don't hurt her!" another tried to persuade him.

"Get out of my way!" Commander Timber ordered.

He pushed them away and made his way towards her. Phil stepped in front of him. "I know that your afraid, but give her a chance. We could get new information off of her too," Phil argued.

"I don't care about that! As long as she's dead, we'll be fine!" He pushed forward towards Ledias and the child, but Phil raised his dagger towards his neck.

"If you want to get to her, you'll have to go through me," he said. He was done with bargaining and trying to influence him. If he was going to keep being stubborn, he would end him right there and then. His party went to his side faced the Commander. The Commander's eye twitched as he gripped his sword harder and harder till they could hear the wood crack. The Commander, defeated, sheathed his sword and walked away while muttering curse words toward them.

Ledias smiled at her party. "Thanks guys. I'm going to drop her off at the motel, could you guys bury Riley's body?" she asked.

Phil put away his dagger. "Sure." He went over to Riley's deceased body with his party to bury him, but the mercenaries also came to help. They wanted to show respect to him since he died a hero.