Chapter 2 Part 2: Dealing With Uninvited Guests

...They were nowhere near the ground as the high clouds and closeness to the tiny silver moon showed. Quite high up too given the time the goblins had to scream as they fell from the keep. Looking up, Xavos confirmed the shimmer of their magical barriers remained so no cursed mounted stead or magic had brought them from the air. At least not into the fortress itself. So, they must have landed on the isle and marched into the castle through the breaches caused in the battles with undead. Like rats in crumbling woodwork. The swarm of terrified apes confirmed the Paladin’s suspicions as they flowed through the cracks in the battlements and swarmed over the lower damaged walls.

Whistling to get his acolytes’ attention, Xavos twirled his blade, feeling the magic of his fortress and tapping into its stores. They were dangerously low, but a small portal should not tax the system much. There before him the Paladin made a cross with two clean swipes that cut through reality itself and grew into a shimmering light big enough for a man to jump through with ease. On the other side one could just make out the Plains of Gathering where in happier days the mercenaries and men at arms of the paladin order would go for parade and drill. The Arch Paladin knew his isle well, and this field was the only place to land a force of any size by wyvern or magic. There sure enough was a strange looking craft resting on the green grass where the magic barriers were weak enough to allow passage onto the isle.

It was a boat, but she floated like the island itself. The magics that allowed the isles’ of the Paladins, or rather of the Paladin singular now as Xavos reminded himself with ping of pain in his heart for the loss of so many fine men of the cloth and helm, were not only unusable for the creatures of the night and tunnel, but were far too large and cumbersome to fit on even such a large craft as the one upon the field. There were massive leather wrapped elongated spheres tied to the vessel which seemed to have worked the magic of flight.

Xavos had seen some engineers playing with such floating devices, but he could’ve never imagined ones with enough force to lift a vessel at least thousand fathoms in length such as the one squatting on his plain. Goblins had never been this industrious. Perhaps they really were from a depth the realms of light had never encountered before.

Now that the initial adrenaline of the fight was wearing thin and the slaughter of the fleeing foe was at hand the Arch Paladin was allowing those nagging questions to come to the court of his mind. What use had goblins of the deep within the world for flying machines? There had been rumors of larger chambers to allow for such flight, but none of these flying vessels had ever been brought to the surface by the mean little apes before. Also, for goblin arts the sky chariot seemed made by skilled craftsmen and not cobbled together with twigs and twine like their clothing and armor. Yes, Xavos was very sure they were going to need a few prisoners to interrogate.

“Antain!” A blond giant of a man who even towered over the Arch Paladin whipped his head around just before he plunged headlong into the portal as eager for the blood of the Almighty’s enemies as the sergeant of the acolytes ever was,” Pick some choice cave apes for a special talk. Ones you think might know more than they should.” Antain nodded and put his shield and sword together in salute of the manner of southern men of the freezing steps. Usually Xavos would reprimand him for not saluting in the style of a proper Paladin with bowed head and a fist to his forehead, but the Arch Paladin had bigger, smellier fish to fry at the moment.

Xavos and Bolane drove forward into the fleeing press to keep the goblins from attempting to hide in the fortress or surrounding crags around the castle. They were more than sufficient even when a braver than smart rearguard attempted to descend upon the two pursuers. Surely they had figured the mass of sixty or so goblins, all practically hobgoblins in size with massive black helms and grey chestplates speckled with dried blood from past battles, would be enough to contend with a mere two pursuers. These lot really had never fought Paladins before. This was certain.

Xavos cleaved through armor and bone with strength and precision as his blade glowed a bright red and dripped hot blue plasma onto the ground that sizzled and burned well after the blade’s passing. The first two lines fell before they could scream. The third line recoiled back just before Bolane cast spells of acid vines into their now thinned ranks pulling them screeching and burning into a tight clump where a single swipe of Juradill tore them in half, and the roots consumed the bodies with the sound of acid and crunching bones. After that none of the goblins attempted much else other than running and loosing their tiny darts and slings in their general direction. None were well aimed given the obvious panic of the fleeing cave creatures. Not that such devices would have managed much harm against the armor of the Paladin and his acolyte.

Soon a wave went through what was left of the five hundred or so goblins that had picked the last castle they would ever trespass upon. The front attempted to retreat into the stragglers, and soon a mash of twisting limbs and crushing bodies attempted to out due the other’s mass carnage. The source of their distress revealed itself when the rest of the acolytes appeared around the cliff blocking the goblin route’s vision of the plains.

Antain was at their helm wading into their foes with furious skill. Occasionally the warrior would catch a makeshift sergeant or warchief goblin by the neck then deeming him worthy throw the grey skinned ape over his shoulder like an apple with a hidden rotten core. They would tumble screeching for a time before the gremlins were whisked away by a blue flash of light that marked Ulmian’s dimensional magic. There the invaders were locking away in a world between worlds till Ulmian called for them at their interrogation.

A twinkle threatened to turn to a tear on the Paladin’s face at the sight of such ingenuity and confident self action. All their Arch Paladin had to do was give the command and the acolytes would make it so, and then some. He had missed them even though they had seemed to only have been put into stasis but a moment before. Yet Xavos felt disquiet in his bones. He guessed things were not as they seemed, yet first the task at hand needed his attention before the unpleasantness was necessary.

Soon the mass of goblins turned as one to rush what appeared to be the weaker line of only two members. Bolane the chief and last page of the castle chuckled next to the Arch Paladin as he prepared a spell to be sure their foes did not scurry like roaches in the cracks of their fortress. Even the acolytes knew rooting them out from the isle could take months. These vermin were far more adept than insects at avoiding their extermination. Best show them why you never assume the Paladin is the weaker link in the chain.

Gathering his personal strength to save the stores of the fortress, Xavos pointed his great sword, still glowing with the intensity of Heaven, at the charging mass of goblins who had dared to transgress on holy ground with their filth and dark rituals to twisted unholy gods. A flash blinded them for a second before the scurrying monsters squealed and then turned on each other with the ferocity of animals trapped by the hunter in a burrow.

They’re cries were high pitched and uncouth, but the Arch Paladin had fought their kind long enough to know some of their language as had many of the acolytes who had lived in lands where the apes would pour out of holes in the ground to drag children and maidens down to horrible fates. The spell was very effective as each goblin saw his fellow as a dreaded enemy and thanks to the blinding flash lashed out in desperation.

A few stragglers ran on only to be ensnared by the thorns and acidic roots of Bolane’s magic. In short order they had destroyed themselves, or been consumed and composted by the greenery of the isle to add more plants for her defense.

The island herself was awake, and would not tolerate an invasion without a high cost in the future. Yes, the fortress itself was awakening. It seems the Stasis field was not as deadly to the living as once predicted. They hadn’t had the chance to test their theories before being forced to deploy their new and only weapon against the legions of the dead. A mystery the Paladin would explore as soon as time and Good Lord permitted.

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