Andal and Jeva had been looking for where the undead giants had come from all morning, and they finally had a decent idea. They''d found a crevasse in a rocky landmark several miles from the city; it was big enough for the giants to crawl out of, and there was no telling how deep it went.
Jeva was on her belly, peering over the side. Andal was standing a little farther back, freaked out by the total blackness.
"This has got to be it," Jeva told him, "There''s no caves around, and they had to come from underground."
Andal agreed, "We would have known about them if they were on the surface, even if they can turn invisible like fairies, they''re just too big."
Jeva''s eyes went wide, and her mouth fell open. She didn''t say anything, so Andal had to ask, "What do you see?"
"I see one of the giants! He''s crawling up!"
Andal overcame his fear of the hole and leaned over the edge, seeing one of the dead giants emerging from the darkness. It barely fit through the crevasse, grinding its flaking body up the stone wall each time it found a new hand hold.
Andal sent a sword of lights to pierce its wrists, "Destroy its hands!"
Jeva shot at the other hand, and they quickly annihilated both. The giant turned its head to look at them with empty eye sockets, then started sliding down the crevasse into the darkness again.
Andal backed away from the edge, "Let''s, let''s go tell them that we found it."
"What do you think they''ll do? Should we try blocking the exit by destroying the walls?"
"That''s not a bad idea, but we''ll see what the others say. They''re following the scent of death, right? Maybe if we just plug the hole enough they won''t try to get out."
*
Jeva pushed open the door to the head office in Shrodac''s capitol building. "Wanrod! We saw workers who had been slaves to the Haverdash still working in the city on our way here! Why is that?"
Wanrod was caught off guard, but Elder Brunstrog happily stepped in, "They wanted to, lassie! Most of them, anyway. One of them said to me, ''Give us the honor of tearing down what we built up under the Haverdash.'' They''re quite a bunch!" He laughed.
Tharrow added, "They''re good to have around too, they saw a lot in their enslavement."
Seeing that Jeva was satisfied, Wanrod asked, "Did you and Andal find anything?"
"Yes we did! We found a crevasse that they could fit through, and proved it''s the spot by seeing, and stopping, one from climbing out."
"Excellent, we''ll look into closing that. Well done, get some rest. We''ve got some more planning to do, but in a few more days we want to attack again to keep up the pressure."
"Thank you Lieutenant!" She gave a curt bow, and left the room. Andal was seated on the comfiest chair he could find in the front room, getting some much desired rest. Jeva flopped into an overly-relaxed position in the chair next to him, making him smile. "I let them know. They said they''d work on closing it. Also, we''ll be moving out of Shrodac in a few days."
“Ah,” Andal snuggled deeper into his chair, “the road again.” Changing his voice to sound elderly, he said, “Oh to be young and spry!”
“Hmm, yes. Hard to be spry when you’re such a stiff-neck.” Jeva jumped up and hid behind her chair, peeking at Andal’s reaction.
He sat up and put his hands on his hands on his hips, “Wow, out of nowhere! What did I ever do to you?”
Jeva laughed, “You made yourself too easy of a shot, for one!”
A horn sounded throughout the city, interrupting any more kidding around. Jeva and Andal looked at each other, Andal asking first, ‘Do you know what that means?”
“I don’t, I thought you would.”
Andal pulled himself up, “Alright, we’d better find out.”
Elder Brunstrog came running through, throwing the door open on his way out, so Andal and Jeva ran to catch up with him. He had a lot of burst for his age, but he slowed down fast, so they were able to catch up to where Jeva could ask, “Elder Brunstrog, what’s that horn mean? Is something happening?”
Through short breath, he answered, “An attack!”
Andal stopped and looked South, “An attack?” He looked back at Brunstrog, who had kept going North, and hurried to catch up. “Why are we going North, elder?”
“Because, *huff*, that’s where the attack is from!” He came to a halt and leaned against a building to catch his breath.
Andal asked, “But how could an attack be coming from the North?”
Elder Brunstrog pointed aggressively, “Go find out!”
*
Andal and Jeva made it to the northern walls at around the same time that Grendala and Nalia did. Hanyr and Rumberal were already on the walls, standing solemnly. Nalia asked fervently, “Do you know what’s happening?”
Jeva said, “No! We’d better take a look too!”
They all ran up the stairs to get up to Hanyr and Rumberal, who gave them no notice. Far beyond the furthest of Shrodac’s buildings waited a Haverdash army, not as numerous as the human army in Shrodac, but large enough that they would certainly win that fight.
Though, the nominees only noticed that with peripheral vision. They were focused on a solitary figure, who flew toward them smoothly, with no regard for the wind. He shone with a light that diverted their gazes because of the pain and discomfort it caused them, though not because of its brightness.
Rumberal broke their silence, “Andal, would that be what you called, a ‘Glorious Haverdash’?”
Andal answered sheepishly, “Probably.”
Hanyr grumbled, “If that isn’t I don’t want to know what is.”
Rumberal started leading them off the walls, “We don’t want to be caught up here, he could knock us off. Let’s be on the ground floor when he arrives." Hanyr notched an arrow, but Rumberal put a hand on his bow to keep it low, "If he''s leaving his army behind like that - look, they''re sitting down - then I think he wants to talk."A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
"Alright, but just because we might be able to all hit him at once."
Rumberal raised a finger, "Precisely."
They all relocated to the ground, spreading out somewhat so that they would have to be individually targeted, but close enough that they could use protective spells on each other in an instant.
The Glorious Haverdash glided over the walls, and lowered himself between the Nominees.
They were tense, hands ready to fight, even though they could hardly look at the Haverdash without pain.
He raised his left hand, displaying the decapitated head he was holding. Grendala gasped at the sight, almost falling backwards.
Rumberal spoke with feigned confidence, "What are you showing us, Haverdash? Is this a threat? If we don''t do as you say you will do the same to us as you did to this poor man?"
The Haverdash laughed softly, and the echo of his laugh rang like a pleasant chime off of every person and building. The birds and animals that heard it scattered, breaking down pen walls to escape.
"I would do the same to you, yes, but that is not what I''m showing you. I am Glorious Manier, one of four in who the grandeur of Haverdash has been found mirrored, and I come with the greatest of mankind in my hand like a rat from a trap, the king of Donfas."
Manier tossed the head at their feet, letting it roll.
Rumberal shouted fiercely, "You lie! You came from the north to trick us!" His aggression turned into sudden shame, causing him to stumble backwards and hide his face.
Manier shook his head, "Do you not recognize your king? Or perhaps it is his fault, being too diminished by fear to lead." He looked at Grendala, "She seems to recognize him. Tell them, witch, is this not the king of Donfas?"
She nodded slowly.
Manier cocked his head, "Your brother?"
She nodded again.
"How curious, but your testimony is sure. Understand then, I did not come to threaten you with a dead man. I have come to accept your surrender, for I tore Rathifan apart, and drove its spiral towers into the dirt by the sweat of my brow. You have no city to protect, nor king to serve. Shrodac, which you stole from us, is a gift to no one, a sign of hope gone to waste, prepared for hopeless people. Your lives may still be yours, if you surrender. At least then you may be there to see the coming of the greater glory we are indwelt by as it manifests, which would be better than passing away pointlessly, though the glory is painful to your sight."
Rumberal would normally answer for the group, but he was on the ground cowering. Instead, Andal stepped between Rumberal and Manier defiantly, "I have a different proposal for you, Glorious Haverdash."
Manier shook his head, "I did not come to negotiate, only to offer a chance to surrender."
Andal gave it anyway, "I propose that Shrodac surrenders if you can kill us nominees, and your army surrenders if we kill you."
Manier actually gave a slight smile, "I accept your terms, not because I''m negotiating, but because there is no difference between what we proposed. Of course if you kill me, my army would scatter, and if you won''t surrender I will certainly kill you then offer a chance to surrender to the rest of Shrodac. At least you have made your intentions clear."
Without warning, a burst of wind stronger than any tornado threw all the nominees back at high speed. Rumberal overcame his shame, suddenly realizing they were in a battle and having the presence of mind through familiarity with combat to place armor over all the nominees.
Andal put shields behind himself and Jeva that were angled to direct them upward, then shields below them for them to land safely on. The other nominees crashed into buildings, but were protected from critical injury by Rumberal''s armor.
Manier drew his sword with a quick stroke, seeming to hit something straight in front of him by how the sword suddenly stopped. A gong rang out. Every building, tower, or wall within hundreds of feet, wood or stone, was shaken apart to where it crumbled and fell.
Andal looked for signs of his allies making it out of the collapsing buildings, but they were too scattered to find easily. He had to close the distance to Manier and engage him, or they’d keep getting killed by the environment. He yelled to Jeva, “Grab the sword, we’re going in!”
“The sword?”
A sword of light appeared by Andal, and another by Jeva, pointed at Manier. Andal grabbed the handle, and Jeva quickly copied him. The swords shot forward, carrying them and closing the distance within seconds. Jeva jumped off to the right, blowing wind beneath her to stay elevated and not lose momentum as she shot fireballs with her left hand. Andal jumped off straight at Manier, making more swords of light to hit him right as Andal reached him.
Manier waved his empty hand at the fireballs, emitting a cloud of snow that wiped them away. He ignored the swords of light, letting them disappear when they got close. He thrusted at Andal, who barely had time to react and put up a shield of light, which Manier stabbed through cleanly.
Andal made a sword in front of himself before Manier’s reached him. It hit the armor that Rumberal had provided and pushed Andal out of reach just in time, making him sprawl on the ground. He yelled at Manier in disbelief, “How?”
He raised his eyebrows amusedly, letting Andal send other swords of light at him that simply disappeared. “Oh child, do you not know that a fire at noon will not brighten the day? Every light that is small gets lost in the greater light.”
One of Hanyr’s arrows suddenly hit. Andal hadn’t seen it coming, but Manier had raised his hand to let it strike his palm, which it entered without piercing. He closed his hand, and it was gone. He turned to Jeva, who had been trying a new approach. She was preparing something, which she meant to unleash as one powerful blast that Manier couldn’t just block. He opened his hand toward her, and Hanyr’s arrow shot out at the speed that it had hit him.
Andal panicked, and his perception slowed. That arrow would pierce right through Jeva if he didn’t stop it, but she was on the other side of Manier, and too far away to make a shield or sword in front of her. He could make wind, but it had to come from himself. He could heal, but that required contact. Wait, it didn’t! He often had his hands a few inches from the person he was healing. If it could be done over distance, then distance was arbitrary, and he had a way.
The arrow pierced Jeva and went out the other side, so Manier turned towards Andal again. Every inanimate surface in the direction he was looking changed to be like a mirror, reflecting the sky. Andal felt the air rush through the ground beneath him, and a great cold came from the mirror.
Then a bolt of lightning struck Manier in the back, sending him tumbling, and making the mirror disappear. He looked back in surprise to see Jeva with smoke billowing from her fingertips. She had a hole in her garments just below her neck, but the ribs and skin were wholly intact.
She took a deep breath to jeer, “There’s some ‘light’ for yah!”
He wiped his hand on a piece of rubble, turning it into a mirror that reflected the sun. The light from it shone so brightly that it threated to blind anyone looking in the general area, and a sudden heat poured out of the mirror. Andal tried to move, but he found that he didn’t have the strength, as if his body had become suddenly far heavier. Though, he wasn’t being weighed down to the earth as much as to the mirror.
A wave of something akin to fire, but like a liquid, burst out of the mirror in an explosion. It rushed over the ground and grew higher, ever expanding, to wipe away everything and everyone.
Then the ground was silver. Manier’s aura of light remained, and polluted the silver, but the mirror and the liquid fire were gone. Manier spun quickly, looking for the source of the silver that covered the landscape, but didn’t see Nalia.
Andal, Jeva, and Hanyr didn''t wait for him to be able to hallucinate again, unleashing the heaviest barrage they could.
Manier meant to dodge, but was suddenly stopped by Nalia''s sword stabbing up out of the ground and through his foot. The barrage found its mark, burning and piercing him from head to foot. Nalia sliced the achilles of his other leg, then stabbed up at his back. He reacted in time though, not stunned by the pain like he should be, spinning and slicing through Nalia''s forearm. She didn''t make any sound, but quickly grabbed her severed hand and passed through the ground to come up by Andal. She only weakly held her severed army together, but Andal got the message and started healing her. The silver effect faded, and Manier shouted in triumph as he felt the ability to hallucinate again.
Then a pig, which had been running into the area in a weird way, was suddenly plucked up and flung at Manier by an unseen force. He sidestepped the pig, looking curiously at where it was thrown from. "There you are, did you run out of arrows and now are resorting to pigs?"
Hanyr suddenly became visible as Manier broke the spell. Grendala also became visible, though she was mostly covered in rubble from a fallen building. The last of her strength to stay conscious left her when the spell was broken, and she went limp.
Before Manier could do something to Hanyr, another bolt of lightning from Jeva hit him in the side. Jeva then fell forward, meaning to catch herself with her hands, but being too exhausted and simply landing face first. Hanyr loosed an arrow, not at Manier,, but rather the pig.
Manier jumped instantaneously from the ground to his feet, slicing the ground and sending tremors through the earth. The ground opened up beneath each of the nominees, threatening to swallow them.
Hanyr yelled through the roar of the tremors, "There''s seven of us!"
Vicid reached around Manier from behind, having appeared when the pig died, and stabbed two black daggers into Manier''s eyes.
The ground stopped moving, leaving craters where each nominee was instead of completely swallowing them. Manier threw an elbow back and broke Vicid’s jaw, then leaped off the ground to hover in the air out of reach. A low hum started resonating from him.
Hanyr lamented, “He didn’t die?” and shot an arrow. Manier put his hand out to it and absorbed it, as he had done before, and released it back at Hanyr. The giant was able to move just enough for it to pierce his thigh, rather than be fatal.
Vivid became a shadow, moving toward Andal.
Nalia said, “He’s using echolocation, like a bat. We have to finish him off before he heals himself! He shouldn’t be able to see Vicid, get him up there!”
Andal ran forward, shooting random swords of light as a distraction, then placing one right by Vicid that hopefully would seem random to Manier. The sky seemed to weigh down on them, physically driving them to their knees. This weight was probably meant to stop projectiles from reaching Manier as he healed himself, which he started to do by removing his burns, but the swords of light and Vicid were both weightless.
Vivid grabbed the sword that Andal provided and shot up with it at Manier. The sword disappeared when it got too close, but it never had to reach him. Vivid kept his momentum and slammed his hand into Manier’s face, pouring death energy into the holes he’d left with his daggers. A reverse healing effect took place, opening all of Manier’s wounds more, and making his blood dump out.
The humming stopped, replaced by a weak moan, and Manier fell to the earth. Once the cloud of dust from his impact settled, his aura of light faded.
*
Andal healed Grendala enough to save her from death, but didn’t have the strength for anything else. All the nominees were brought away to receive medical attention except Vicid, who was given the honor of carrying Manier’s lifeless body to the Haverdash army that had been waiting north of Shrodac.
When they realized who he was carrying a great dread fell over them, and they fled in every direction without thought to where they were going. Vicid touched Manier on the forehead, and his body intangibly sank beneath the soil to be buried. Then Vicid carved a gravestone and left it there, engraving it with the words: “Here lies Glorious Manier, that the Haverdash may know the grave, and remember their mortality.”