Shadow Cursed Page 10

  He walked over to the table and studied the blueprints for the fortress he had started to build. Using the laser cutters his men had been mining stone from the bay’s cliff face and in the process creating rooms that could be used to keep the civilians safe and stores secure until the main fortress wall could be completed His plan involved a wall of stelecrete a distance of twenty yards away from the bay cliff. Using this as shelter from goblin attacks he would be able to dig foundations a further hundred yards away that would at first act as a trench to slow enemy attacks.

  When the engineers were satisfied with the foundation they would then build upwards using the concrete mixers to create a wall that the goblins couldn’t possibly scale without siege weapons. If they could make gunpowder their position would become unassailable but none of his scouts had located sulphur or saltpetre within the area.

  His casualties had been light the first night because he had spared no shell to slow the enemy horde. It had cost him firepower the following night but he had set the men to create foot traps, mines and obstacles meant to channel the enemy into small passages that could be defended with one or two machine gun nests.

  The goblins had still managed to destroy the front two turrets in the battle and they had created a green mist to try to burn the soldiers to soften them up. Luckily the mist never dropped below a yard above ground and an unexpected wind held it over the camp for two hours before it blew back into the enemy lines creating chaos there. Several soldiers had lost their lives to the mist but it had prevented the enemy from attacking most of the night. With reinforcement soldiers from Base Two the goblins’ third attack was even less effective and the Esperanza had ordered a few hummers mounted with machine guns to chase the goblins back into the forest before the sun rose.

  But with good news there always came the bad. Gabriel had not arrived and was presumed lost with seven others. Esperanza took his handgun out of its holster and checked the magazine again knowing there would only be three bullets inside.

  Esperanza glanced towards his bed and thought about taking his sword out and strapping it on but realised it would be like admitting defeat to the entire base. He had to hold onto hope, even if it was only for the benefit of those entrusted to his care.

  CHAPTER 27

  Goblin Gods

  The shamans surrounded the bonfire in the centre of Base Two and chanted at the top of their voices. Warriors threw bodies into the fire as blood sacrifice to the gods. The fire twisted and turned until finally the many faces of the goblin gods appeared in the flames.

  All the shamans except one bowed and all the warriors fell flat on the ground. The head shaman cried out, “The humans have been purged from this place, oh great ones!”

  A hideously deformed goblin face in the fire moved towards the shaman, the heat radiating from it forcing the shaman to step backwards. It bellowed, “Where are the slain humans, where are our sacrifices?”

  The head shaman dropped to his knees in terror. “The humans left in the dayfire when we could not get to them.”

  Another face came forward. One of its eye’s was missing but the remaining one burned in anger. “Then why are you feeding your kindred to us. How did they die?”

  The head shaman dared not move as his skin began to blister. “The white shaman lay in wait for us, oh great ones. He destroyed hundreds with his power. We pursued him but he flew off the cliff to escape us.”

  A third face moved forward and the shaman clenched his fist in pain. “You have failed us!” Its mouth opened wider and wider. The head shaman tried to run but only managed to move a few yards before a bright light enveloped him. The shaman screamed as his soul was torn from his burning flesh. When the last of the glowing light left the body it fell lifeless to the floor. The goblin faces in the fire converged on the soul of the shaman and tore it to pieces in seconds.

  When the last of the shaman’s soul was gone they moved back into the fire. The one-eyed goblin god circled the edge of the fire studying the circle of shamans until it came to a stop before one of them. “Rise,” it commanded.

  The shaman jumped to his feet but kept his eyes down in reverence. The god nodded its head. “You will capture the human, he is still on the cliff face hiding in a cave. He is gaining in power but he is still unaware of it. Wait until dayfire when he feels safe and then capture him. If you succeed you will become head shaman. If you fail we will hunt you down and tear your soul apart.

  The goblin god’s face glanced at the shaman’s body. “Leave this body to lie on the earth and let his flesh burn in the sun. We will not accept his body as sacrifice.”

  The fire became a towering inferno reaching into the sky and consuming the bodies and fuel completely before gutting out.

  CHAPTER 28

  Gabriel

  Something was out there. Gabriel turned on the spot trying to see it but the darkness was impenetrable. He could hear it every now and then as it circled closer but when he turned it scampered away.

  His head itched, and he scratched it absentmindedly. His hand closed on a tendril and he ripped it painfully from his scalp. The tendril ripped out of his grasp slicing across his hand and slithered away into the darkness.

  Goosebumps rose on his arm as he felt it approach again and this time he turned as it launched itself towards his back. Tendrils wrapped around him lashing his arms to his body while others sought out his head once more.

  Gabriel clenched his fists until his nails dug into his flesh as the tendrils painfully dug their way through his skull. His hands burst into flame as the pain reached a climax, flooding the area in light.

  The creature screeched in pain as the fire licked it and the darkness burnt away.

  Gabriel woke tearing at the tendrils that still clung to him. It took him a while to realise they were spider webs and roots. As the sun rose and bathed him in light the he pulled himself together, taking deep breaths to calm himself. Sweat and dust covered him and he shivered from the cold of the cave. He kicked himself for falling asleep with the danger of the goblins so close.

  He rose from the cold stone to work the stiffness out of his body. Touching the walls for balance he discovered carvings lined with fine crystal dust that came off on his fingers and burnt where it touched the scars on his hands. He followed the winding patterns as they went deeper into the cave and just before the light gave out he discovered a doorway of silver metal engraved with exquisite carvings.

  He approached the door and reached out to touch it. The carvings glowed blindingly white and an electrical shock arced from the door to his hand numbing his arm and sending him flying backwards. Understanding the warning Gabriel retreated to the entrance nursing his arm, and realised Tasha would be worrying about him.

  When he could move his arm again Gabriel began the ascent up the cliff face wondering who could have created such a door. As he reached the top of the cliff a strong arm grabbed him and pulled him up, then tossed him across the ground. When he stopped rolling he looked back at his attacker and saw a towering goblin shape going in and out of focus as thick smoke swirled around it.

  The goblin muttered foul language at him and drew a rune-etched sword. Gabriel watched in fascination as the runes seemed to dance in the sunlight as the goblin swung it menacingly before advancing.

  Gabriel struggled to stand after the hard landing and the rope scars on his hand began to bleed as the skin cracked open. The goblin swung for his head but Gabriel dropped to the ground and rolled under the blade towards a pile of rocks.

  Rising with a rock in his hand he just managed to step backwards as the sword sliced towards his stomach.

  Instantly on the attack Gabriel moved forward and smashed the rock against the goblin’s head, but it shattered against the shadow shield.

  Angry, the goblin warrior grabbed his shirt with its left hand and lifted him close to plunge the sword into his side. Desperately Gabriel stuck his thumbs into the goblin’s eyes passing easily through the goblins shadow shield. The remains
of the fine dust on his fingers glowed fiercely for a second and his fingers burned as if on fire. The shadow shield began to dissipate and the goblin fell backwards dragging Gabriel with it.

  Breaking the goblin’s death grip, Gabriel snatched the sword from the ground and rolled away to a safe distance. Gabriel circled the goblin looking for signs of life. As the last of the smoke disappeared and light fell on the goblin’s body it began to smoke and blister.

  Moving swiftly he sliced at the goblin’s leg and moved back to safety. The body remained still but the leg sheared off and when blood dribbled from the clean cut he knew the goblin’s heart was no longer beating.

  Gabriel moved closer to examine the body and discover why the goblin had died. Searching its face he saw that where its eyes used to be were holes burned deep into its brain.

  He lifted his hands to examine them and saw that the crystal dust from the cave was now deep inside the skin, twinkling like glitter.

  Gabriel washed his hands with canteen water and wrapped them with pieces of cloth to stop the bleeding.

  As he rose to his feet he heard a rustle in the distance and then the sound of something fleeing. Running to the bushes he found footprints of a goblin and an indentation of a staff in the ground.

  Realizing that he was still in danger even in the blazing sun, he ran back towards the base.

  He reached the truck which was remarkably undamaged and drove to the grave site where Tasha was hidden. Frantically he began digging and finally a beam shifted and sand poured into the hole.

  “Tasha,” he said, pulling her out.

  She grabbed hold of him and held him tight. “I’m okay but two of the men didn’t make it through the night.” She trembled in his arms. “The explosion knocked some boards lose and I kept an eye on them in case the goblins noticed and tried to dig us out. I saw those monsters burning bodies and eating their own dead. Then there were these heads made of fire. I think they ripped its soul out.”

  “It’s okay, you’re safe now.” When her sobs abated Gabriel asked, “What do you mean fiery heads?”

  “They seemed to be goblins, the most powerful of their kind. Even a shaman couldn’t stand up to one. They said something about wanting a white shaman dead.”

  War drums began to beat within the forest to the west and dark smoke rose into the air and drifted towards the base, slowly turning the sky black and the air foul.

  “They’re creating a smoke screen to block the sun out,” said Gabriel, pushing Tasha slightly away. He looked into her tear stained face and asked, “You remember the plan?” She nodded. “Good - get the men ready and we’ll load them in the truck. I’ll drive us south along the cliff face as far as possible to get some distance between us and them. If we make it far enough we may be able to reach the beach and we won’t have to climb down a cliff face. But if we go north the cliffs only get higher all the way to Base One.”

  They loaded the truck with supplies and the wounded men but shortly after they left, the gears began to grind and the steering became hard to control.

  They followed the edge of the cliff as the smoke kept gaining on them, turning day into night. Eventually Gabriel had to turn the lights on in order to drive.

  When their speed dropped suddenly to a crawl Gabriel immediately manoeuvred the truck towards the cliff edge before turning it, then backing it up as close to the edge as possible.

  They offloaded the injured men and lowered self inflating rafts down to the surface of the ocean. Tasha climbed down first to inflate the rafts and tie them together while Gabriel rigged a safety cage to lower the wounded down the cliff face using the truck’s winch.

  When the last man was descending Gabriel finally allowed himself a moment to relax. He heard the goblins before he saw them and drew the rune sword. Gabriel charged the lead group of goblins to prevent them from reaching the truck before the last man was safely down.

  A goblin carrying a mace made of metal scraps led the attack and swung a backhand blow at Gabriel’s body but he easily moved past the attack and sliced off the goblin’s arm before slashing at the warrior behind it. The first attacker fell to its knees and the second split completely in half as the blade passed through its chest.

  Dozens more goblins emerged from the smoky air as the third attacker, a shaman, waved his gnarled staff at Gabriel and mumbled incantations. The skulls eyes began to glow green as Gabriel closed the distance and just as he was about to reach the shaman the green light lanced straight at him. Pain like he had never felt before crippled him instantly and he fell flat on his face in the dirt. As he lay still on the ground his hand began to glow with a soft green light, drawing the pain into his hand where it accumulated in a fiery blaze that made him weep with pain.

  Gabriel rose to his feet and the shaman intensified his attack. Before the shaman could protect itself Gabriel punched him in the face. The concussion and blinding green light pulverized the goblin’s face and sent its remains flying into the goblins behind it.

  The remaining goblins came to a halt staring at him, but as the last of the fire in his hand doused he collapsed to his knees and another shaman in the group rallied the warriors to attack.

  Gabriel glanced at the burnt remains of the bandage that covered his hand and saw that the wounds that had been there had almost disappeared. The war cries finally pulled him out of his shock and he stumbled to his feet, grabbing the sword and sheathing it as he ran towards the cliff edge.

  He reached it before the goblins caught up with him and glanced down at the sea below. He was relieved to see that the wounded men were all safely on the rafts and that Tasha was staring up at him in worry.

  Ripping off his shirt he wrapped it around the cable and descended as fast as he dared. A moment later the goblins arrived and began viciously slicing at the cable until it snapped.

  Gabriel plunged toward the ocean and hit the water flat on his back, knocking the air out of his lungs.

  As he drifted into the cold depths his consciousness slipped away and he watched as bubbles spiralled towards the surface. A woman’s face appeared and kissed him filling his lungs with air. As he awoke he felt himself propelled upwards. He gasped for more air as he surfaced and Tasha reached out to grab his arm and pull him out of the water. After coughing out the seawater still in his lungs he gasped, “Thank you.”

  A metallic screech caught their attention and they looked up to see the truck tip over the edge and plunge towards the ocean.

  It slammed into the water drenching the rafts with spray then slowly sank beneath the surface. A few shamans tried throwing bolts of lightning but the distance was too great and they missed entirely, creating waterspouts all around the rafts. Then the warriors joined in, throwing rocks.

  Together Gabriel and Tasha paddled the unwieldy crafts away from the cliff and into the strong northern current out of range of the goblins.

  As the day slowly passed by they drifted in silence, too exhausted to row anymore. Lulled by the rocking of the ocean, Tasha drifted into sleep in Gabriel’s arms as he kept watch.

  Hours passed before Gabriel spotted the cave he had hidden in during the night and changed course towards it.

  While Tasha slept peacefully he anchored the rafts away from the breakers and swam to the cliff face. Gabriel easily reached the opening which was nearer to the bottom than the top. Using a knife he scraped the dust from the runes in the wall into a scrap of cloth, and discovered a shard of crystal stuck in the wall and covered in the dust. He chipped it out of the wall and put it in his pocket. Collecting more dust he came across more of the crystals, placed in the path of the runes along the wall. He collected a handful and left the others undisturbed.

  Tasha woke up as he climbed back into the raft drenching her with water. “Gabriel, what possible reason could you have for endangering us like this? We must be near Base Two.”

  “This saved my life,” he tried to explain, unwrapping the cloth and revealing the crystal dust. He described what had happened
during his vigil and how the crystal dust seemed to have healed his hands and killed a goblin.

  He showed her his hands where no mark remained, only a faint hint of the crystal grains embedded in his skin. “I think you can use the dust to heal your patients.”

  She studied his face for a moment then took the cloth from him. “I’ll try it on one man but only because I don’t think he’ll survive long enough to reach Base One,” she said.

  Using it sparingly she poured pinches of it into the man’s more serious wounds but nothing happened.

  As they waited Gabriel realized that he still had the crystals in his pocket. He took them out and described how he found them in the wall covered in the dust. She picked one up, wiping the shard clean of dust with her finger, and light began to shine from within. She almost dropped it in fright but instead looked away as it grew brighter. She let out a gasp and the crystal fell to the bottom of the raft, its light extinguishing as it left her hand.