Chapter Sixty-Eight

September 8, 2012

 

16th of Fastmonth

 

            “I am Ulric von Zurwald, and I have come to kill you,” Ulric says simply, and he charges toward the raised area from whence the voice came.  He leaps up to the top of the outcropping as if he were lighter than air.  I also begin to head in that direction and, seeing the height of the rock ahead of me, I drink a Potion of Spiderclimb to help me on my way.  I am quickly followed by the rest of the party.
            Back on the outcropping, Ulric still cannot see the beast, but can feel it move next to him.  He strikes at it, and the air moves again as if a strong storm wind has rolled through.  The cavern shakes, but there is no sound with the movement.  It stops somewhere above us, and the booming voice calls out, “Well, aren’t you a little go-getter?”  It pauses, “Let’s see…. I have Sir Ulric.  And what are you?  A chapeau or a billet?”
            Briggette replies, “You make me laugh.”
            The dragon ignores her and continues, “And a whole bunch of commoners.  They must be very brave to come with you.”
            “They are very brave,” Ulric replies, “unlike you.  Show yourself, coward.”
            They banter some more, the dragon acknowledging the audacity of humans to think they have a chance of actually killing him.  He pauses and looks around, “And what is he doing here with you?”
            “I assume you’re speaking of Boian?”
            “He protects me,” Briggette says simply.
            “Hmm…. a servant of Cautl, protecting you?  That explains many things.”  He hurls a few more insults, but soon recognizes, “Well, I cannot leave my horde, and I don’t suppose you’re going to leave until you fight me, so let’s get on with it.”  With that, the air mass moves again, barreling toward Ulric.  As he gets close, just barely before slinging his forked and bladed tail in Ulric’s direction, he becomes visible.  He is a silvery dark grey color, like quicksilver mixed with something black.  I fire as Ulric hops down from the outcropping and charges the fiend.  Law’s Claw finds purchase and slices into its hide.  I begin to shake a bit, frightened of the beast, and Ulric catches my eye, “Stand your ground!”  My fears are quelled, and I continue to fight.
            “I think I’m the one you’re really looking for!”  Briggette screams as she charges into the dragon.  Her hit is solid, opening a gash in its shoulder.  He retaliates by clamping his massive jaw on her shoulder and swiping at her with his claw.  At the same time, he hits Brianna with his other claw and strikes Ulric with both his wing and his tail.  His other wing buffets at Finn.
            I bury a bolt in his hide, Ulric takes another chunk of him, and Boain goes into blender mode, but only manages to hit solidly twice in six blows.  Briggette unleashes her fury into him once more, Helga taking her pound of flesh and felling the foul beast.  The killing blow is amazing; the beast attempted to lock its jaw on her once again, but at the last moment, Briggette raises Helga to bury the blade up to its hilt in the dragon’s mouth, her blade extending out the back of its skull.
            We take a moment to breathe and begin to heal up.  I climb up the outcropping and begin to look through the horde amassed there.  I find a locked and trapped box, and when I get into it, there are twenty-three various rings there as well as a gold and emerald bracelet of exquisite beauty.  Underneath all of the coinage and gems, there is a saddle which appears to be made to fit a dragon.  Briggette is fascinated, and wants to find a dragon to ride.  We camp there for the night, and head out the next day.
            In two days, when we arrive back at the village of Salmi (which is occupied by the residents of the free town who have the alliance with Old Fang), Ulric asks to speak to the headman once again.  We have the beast’s head with us, but we’ve kept it covered.  While we wait for the headman, we go to the tavern for a drink.
            Not wanting to leave it outside, Ulric, Finn, Boian and Korvinean all cart the covered head in and place it on the table.  “Drinks for everybody!” Ulric cries, and a quiet cheer goes up amongst the few patrons present at the time.
            “My Lord, I’m very glad to see you.  I must say, I’m kind of surprised to see you, but very happy,” the tavern keeper says.  “Weren’t you going to fight Old Fang?”  We tell him that we did meet the dragon, and he surmises the identity of the parcel on the table.  Ulric motions the man around the table and gingerly lifts the cloth, showing the man our prize.  The man almost faints, but manages to keep his wits.  “After all these years, our prayers have been answered.” 
            After about fifteen minutes, the headman arrives and greets us, “Sir Ulric, Sir Briggette, Sir Finn . . . .  you’re back . . . and you’re alive.”  Ulric stands up and throws the cover back, dramatically revealing the remains of the draconic scourge.  The headman sits down hard in a heap.
            “I told you I would be back,” Ulric says.
            “Whatever happens now,” the headman ponders, “there is hope.  You have brought us that.”  He tells us that there is only one member of the guard that does not deserve to die, and tells us he can raise around 300 men to help fight off the free town invaders if needs be.  We call in the one redeemable guardsman, and Finn knocks him out.  Korvinean ties the man up, and we send for the Captain of the Watch.  We go back outside so as not to destroy the tavern, and we take the head with us.
            A few minutes later, the Captain is seen at the end of the street.  Briggette asks what this  man has done, and the tavern keeper, who has joined us in the street to watch the presentation, tells her that he has raped at least fifty people of the town, some young children and some more than once.  The woman with him is said to be even more terrible, sometimes holding down the victims for his abuses.  Briggette turns Helga’s tip to the ground and leans on her pommel.
            “I understand there’s trouble?” the man asks as he approaches.
            “I don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure,” Briggette addresses the man.
            “I believe the pleasure is all yours,” he says smugly.
            “I am Sir Briggette Bellyn von Zurwald, Paladin of Saint Cuthbert.”  His eyes narrow, but he does not speak.  “I understand you have committed egregious sins against the people of this town, and I am here to redress them.”
            “You might kill me, but then the people of this town will suffer more.”
            “How?  Oh, you mean your pet?  Yes, he was taunting us . . . just before I stuck a sword through his head.”  She pauses for effect.  When he doesn’t respond, she continues, “Oh, I’m sorry.  Perhaps you need some evidence . . . .” 
            “The seven of you are going to fight a war against the city that rules this place?”
            Briggette quickly corrects him, informing him that Ulric now rules this place, but only under the auspices of the Duke who rightfully rules the whole land.  With that, Briggette signals to Ulric who throws back the cover, revealing Old Fang’s severed head.  The man balks and asks, “I don’t suppose if I admitted I was terribly overmatched and offered to withdraw peacefully, you’d let that stand?”
            Ulric chimes in, “She is willing to grant you trial by combat.  I am willing, in my capacity as the lord of this area, to pass summary judgment and execute you on the spot.  Which would you prefer?”
            He agrees to trial by combat once he is assured that, if he wins, he will be set free.  He begins by taking such a wild swing at Briggette that he throws himself off balance and falls to the ground.  She allows him the opportunity to stand and swing again, but again, he misses.  She lands a solid blow, and his blood begins to redden the dirt in the street.  He flails at her again, this time dropping his sword.  She strikes once more, opening another gash in his side.  He manages one more clumsy attack before Briggette ends his miserable existence.
            His companion steps forward and raises her arm to swing at Briggette, and Brianna jumps in to stop her.  She punches the woman three times and kills her before she can make contact with Briggette.
            The headman tells us he will have our men in a week or so, and then we can go to take the free town back from the evil that runs it.  We return to the castle to check on the progress.  Ulric sends Gustav to speak with the Baron and tell him what has happened and what is going to happen.  We try again to explain to the harem that they are not Ulric’s property and that they are free.  They find the concept very hard to understand.  We move them all down to the second floor of the tower.  Ulric offers them household positions in exchange for room and board, and assigns them to clearing out the stench on the first floor.  On the second day, Finn’s troops ask to detach from the castle to join their leader at Salmi.
            We work on our preparations to lay siege to the free town.  After about a week, we head back to the newly unoccupied village and meet the troops we left behind.  Finn’s men have set up a very nice small camp outside the walls.  We enter and speak to the headman who fills us in on the details of the town of Clug.  They had a treaty with Old Fang and the Brain Cleaver tribe.  Their yearly tribute was one 15-year-old girl for the chief’s harem as well as one male and one female virgin for Old Fang.  Families began to encourage very young intercourse in order to save their children from this fate, so the ruling council put very harsh restrictions on any sexual activity before age twenty and enforced it with magical scrying.  As a way around this issue, family members began to deflower their young children as a standard practice to ensure the child would not be entered into the lottery for sacrifice.  After a generation, this aberrant behavior became the societal norm, and the town was usually bereft of virgins of any kind.  As a result, they had to rework their treaty with Old Fang, removing the requirement for the sacrifice to be a virgin.  However, this did not stop the incestuous activities, and the people there consider it completely normal for siblings or parents and children to engage in any and all combinations of sexual acts.  It is disgusting, and it is time for Cuthbert’s retribution to cleanse the area.
            When we make ready to leave for Clug, we are nearly six hundred strong.  The march takes about a day, and we arrive to a solidly built town with fifteen foot walls built for protection.  There are nine different flags flying above the walls, each one of the colors of the stripes in the Vara’shan flag.  As we approach, three horses ride forth from the town flying white flags.  Ulric, Briggette, Wren, Gustav, Boian and I ride out to meet them.  Two men are in banded mail, the third in half plate carrying a trident.
            Gustav rides forth a bit to announce us and comes back to say, “My Lord, this is Aethith.  He’s a counselor of this town.”
            “What brings you out this fine day?” Ulric asks.
            “Why, you, my Lord, and your army,” he replies.
            “Ah.”
            “This is far from Zurwald lands,” Aethith observes.
            “But this is the land that soon will be my own,” Ulric answers.
            “You are not the first army to march forth with such claims.”
            “Maybe, but I bet I’m the first to have a flag-bearer,” he indicates Gustav, “who helped slay your dragon.  I’m the first one whose wife buried her sword in your dragon’s face.”
            “You’ll forgive me if I don’t believe you.”
            “Of course.  Gustav,” Ulric turns, “bring it.”  Gustav rides off to get Old Fang’s head and bear it forth for inspection.  They are suitably shocked at its sight.
            “Perhaps we can come to some sort of arrangement?”
            “Here is my arrangement:  have every man and woman who have ever raped a child come out here and allow me to behead them all, one by one, and then your ruling council may present themselves for the depraved lunatics they are to the Duke for his judgment.”
            “Well, I think, then, we shall have to trust in the strength of our walls to protect us, to be our shell against your onslaught,” Aethith says.
            “Even the toughest of turtles with the thickest of shells can be turned over and stabbed in the belly,” Ulric replies.  With that, he turns to ride off, and we all follow. 
            “Then I suppose we shall see one another on the battlefield,” he says and rides back toward the gate.
            “Be sure to get your affairs in order,” Briggette quips as he turns away.