“Yah! Yah!” cried Elyn, whip cracking sharply. North they ran, passing the point of intersection, fleeing through the waning night. But within heartbeats, the force of Guula pounded onto the road behind them, ghastly howls rending the darkness, yawls of triumph, for they steadily gained upon their quarry. And swiftly the land rose up on their right, until they ran beside ramparts that pitched upward ever more steeply as the road ran toward and then alongside the grey stone feet of looming mountains.
“They overtake,” called Thork, shouting to be heard above the hammering hooves and slamming wheels.
“Their ’Steeds are fresh, Thork,” shouted Elyn back, now able to dimly see, “and these are worn, for they were driven hard by Andrak. Yet can we outrun them for a few minutes more. . ” And she cracked the whip and glanced at the paling sky above.
But slowly the yawling Guula drew nigh the fleeing chariot, and now were but paces behind and closing.
Zzzthock! Thork loosed a crossbow bolt, and it struck a wauling Guul in the forehead, the creature pitching backwards over the cantle, striking the ground and tumbling slack-limbed. And other riders behind thundered o’er the top of him, cloven hooves pounding. And bones broke. Yet the Guul got to his feet, and jerked out the offending quarrel, and started after his loose-running Hèlsteed! And then Thork knew that what legend said, was true. These creatures indeed were nearly unkillable.
Even so, that Guul was now out of the chase, at least for the moment, and so Thork cocked his bow again and loaded another shaft. This time when he shot, the bolt sissed into the stomach of the nearest overtaking foe, the point jutting out his back, all to no effect, for the creature spurred nearer, ignoring the quarrel.
“Their ’Steeds, Thork!” cried Elyn. “Shoot their ’Steeds!”
And thundering down the road in the back of a jolting, racing chariot, Hèlsteeds in pursuit, Thork again managed to cock his bow. Yet now the howling Guula had overtaken the vehicle, and they bore cruel barbed spears, and the nearest drew back his arm and hurled the shaft at them. Thork snatched up his shield, fending the missile, blang! the lance glancing to the ground, tumbling point over haft.
Again Thork caught up his crossbow and slapped in a bolt and shouldered the weapon and shot, thakk! the quarrel piercing into the chest of a running ’Steed, the mount pitching forward and down, somersaulting hind over fore, smashing atop the yawling Guul rider.
And again, spears were hurled, and once more Thork took up his shield and fended them aside.
But to the left, a yawling Guul raced forward, past the chariot, to run alongside the team haling the rig; and he drew back his lance to hurl into the heart of the leftmost Hèlsteed. But Elyn lashed out with the whip, the tip striking the spearblade and spinning about, entangling the barbs; and she jerked back, wrenching the lance from his grip, yanking the spear free, the shaft falling to the ground to tumble and bound, snagging on rocks, wedging, jerking the whip from Elyn’s hand.
Cloven hooves hammering, the Guul fell back alongside the rig, and drew in close, and with a ghastly howl, leapt from his Hèlsteed toward the chariot; but Elyn wrenched her saber out of the floor and impaled the Guul through the chest as he hurtled through the air, losing her grip on the hilt as the creature jolted back. And he fell short, outside, but still managed to clutch the top rail. And down the road they thundered, the transfixed Guul slowly drawing himself up and over the chariot side, saber notwithstanding; and up he came, this unkillable thing with evil dead black eyes, with pallid dead white flesh, with a red slash of a mouth grinning, revealing yellowed, stained teeth. But Elyn kicked him in his leering face with the heel of her boot, smashing him back and down; and his leg became entangled in the chariot wheel, and he was jerked down and under, the wheel bashing over him, the chariot jolting upward; and as he tumbled in the road, the chariot hammered onward, leaving him behind.
Blang! Still Thork fended thrown spears with his shield, and in his right hand he now held the Kammerling, ready to smash any who tried to leap from Hèlsteed to chariot, for they galloped nigh. But one of the leering, yawling corpse-foe raced to the fore, tulwar in hand, its edge coated with a black sticky substance, preparing to slash it down upon the neck of a plunging chariot Hèlsteed. And there was nought that either Elyn or Thork could do to stay his hand, and down chopped the saber. Yet in that very same moment they passed by a side notch in the mountains, breaking out from the shadow of the range and into the first light of day, the Sun’s orange rim just now thrusting above the lip of the world, shining through the narrow gap between the land below and the cloud cover above.
And the Guula looked up in startlement.
And the chariot Hèlsteeds collapsed, falling to the ground, the hurtling waggon tongues digging in, the careening rig vaulting wheels o’er rails, catapulting Elyn and Thork and packs and weapons outward to arc through the air and smash into the earth, Elyn and Thork tucking and rolling as they struck the hard ground, pain shocking through them as they jolted ’gainst cold dirt and stone and snow and ice. Yet in an instant they were both on their feet, ready for combat, expecting attack from their foes, though neither had a weapon at hand.
But only silence greeted them, though a wheel of the upside-down chariot spun and squeaked upon its axle in the susurration of the wind. And of the Guula and Hèlsteeds, only ashes remained, the breeze stirring through empty clothing and weaponry, through leather harness and tack, for Adon’s Ban had struck them down, the sunlight destroying them all.
And scattered across the ’scape lay the weapons and backpacks of the two, and an old rusted forge hammer with a cracked helve and a broken peen.
And they were free!
“You were magnificent!” cried Elyn, jubilant, throwing her arms about Thork and kissing him on the mouth. . yet that kiss suddenly flared into more than either expected: Elyn’s heart leaping, a wondrous fire exploding in the pit of her stomach and racing through her breasts, through her loins, through her entire being; and Thork’s blood flaming, his pulse hammering in his ears, in his groin, his chest tight with a burning hunger.
Yet just as suddenly they sprang apart, hearts pounding, confused and embarrassed, the strictures of their Kind reaching down through the ages, down through time to bind them:
She is Woman, not Châkian!
He is Dwarf, not Human!
How can this be?
How can this be?
And in that moment the earth beneath their feet began to tremble, to shake.
“Wha-” Elyn began.
“Earthquake!” cried Thork. “Here, to the wall, Elyn! Rocks above will fall, mayhap avalanche!”
And so they huddled against the sheltering wall of a bluff at the foot of the nearby mountain, their arms about one another; and the ground heaved and thrummed, and boulders and rocks and stones crashed down from above, plunging down the slopes and bounding across the road.
And with awe in her voice Elyn cried “Look!” and pointed southerly.
In the distance they could see the black crag of Andrak’s fortress shuddering, bright rays of dawn sunlight shining up high on the strongholt’s walls, the rest of the pinnacle still in mountain shadow. And even as they stared in wonderment, scarcely believing their eyes, slowly, majestically, but with ever-increasing speed, the dark spires toppled, fortress and stone locked together in a great falling arc, hurtling down through the air to thunderously smash against the earth, shattering with unimaginable force, huge boulders and immense slabs and tons of riven rock bursting upward and outward with the impact, hurling across the ’scape, great clouds of snow and ice and dirt whooshing up into the sky; moments later the jolt of the crash shocked through the ground beneath the feet of Elyn and Thork, and then a deafening WHOOM! hammered their ears.