Shadow Cursed Read online

  The expedition was balanced on a knife edge but he would find a way to make it succeed as he had with magic.

  Others might believe that he had been blessed with a natural gift for magic as the Supreme Magi was but everything he had achieved was through the force of his own will. Every obstacle had been overcome with determination and practice. When others had given up or been too tired to go on he had persevered until he mastered each discipline. He had eventually exceeded the demands of his training which allowed him to study areas that were rarely used and sometimes forbidden.

  Carthus understood much of the blood magic used by the shamans but had never practiced it. He understood dwarven rune magic and although he still did not have their skill or knowledge of metalwork he had managed to create a necklace he called the Seeker which could guide a user to their desired objective by tapping into the rivers of magic within the earth.

  He had also discovered a spell he called silence which he had demonstrated to the Emperor. The spell could conceal a person’s magical presence but it was nowhere near as good as the guardian’s invisibility spell. He hoped the dwarves might have discovered new rune patterns that he could use to modify the spell and improve on it.

  Perhaps he would find the answer he sought. Something that would give the barrier guards an edge against the goblin hordes when they finally descended on the Riverlands.

  CHAPTER 23

  Gabriel

  Tasha organised the wounded soldiers in the back of the truck as Gabriel filled the fuel tank. Gabriel glanced towards the entrance and saw the truck he would be following already moving. “We need to leave Tasha, or we’ll be left behind.” He tossed the empty fuel canister aside and hopped into the driver’s seat.

  Natasha called out, “We’re ready!”

  Gabriel started the truck and followed the trail of dust disappearing into the distance.

  As the sun rose higher he noticed that the truck ahead of them was moving further and further away. He pushed the accelerator harder but the truck maintained its speed. He checked the map printout of the area and estimated the distance to travel and used the speed of the truck to calculate the time it would take. The numbers read eight hours or more and he knew the sun would set in five. Suddenly he got a bad feeling and slammed on the brakes. Natasha immediately came to the window behind him and asked, “What’s wrong, why did you stop?”

  Without answering he jumped out of the truck and rushed to the bonnet and opened it. Gabriel immediately saw that the fan belt had been cut almost through and there was evidence of tampering to other areas of the engine. He slammed the lid closed in frustration and sat on the bumper.

  Tasha rushed around the side and asked him again, “What’s wrong?”

  He looked up and said, “The engine’s been tampered with. I don’t have the skills or tools to fix it and if we continue we won’t be able to keep up with the cavalcade. We’ll break down somewhere between here and Base One before the sun sets.”

  “Then what do we do?” she asked with only a hint of a tremor in her voice.

  Gabriel looked into Natasha’s eyes as she defiantly faced her fear. He glanced towards the diminishing dust trail and then back the way they came. He pulled himself together and said, “We go back.”

  She nodded and returned to the back of the truck to see to her patients.

  He stood there momentarily enjoying the trust she had in him before getting back into the drivers seat and turning the truck around.

  Natasha shouted above the noise of the truck as he drove back the way they had come. “You said the engine was tampered with, who do you think did it?”

  “I think General Allister gave the order, but the commander probably did the dirty work.”

  “The commander gives me the creeps. I can understand him doing it, but General Allister. Why would he do something like this?” she asked.

  “The General has a history of doing whatever it takes to further his career. My father believed that he may have been responsible for war crimes as well but couldn’t find the proof to dismiss him. He asked me to join the General’s company to spy on him but the only thing I’ve found out is that he lied about the mainframe being damaged beyond use. Apparently the commander needed it to conduct research on the staffs the goblin shamans carry and the General didn’t want any more contact with Base One. I used the mainframe to contact General Esperanza and told him that our base needed to be evacuated before we were overrun. That’s why the trucks arrived this morning. It may also be the reason the General Allister had this truck sabotaged.”

  “When we get to Base One can we prove that he tried to kill us?” she asked.

  Gabriel noticed the positive outlook and said, “The truck is the only evidence to prove anything but I don’t think we’ll be able to get it to Base One.”

  “Then what do we do?”

  “We make sure we get back, and when do we watch our backs. I think we can play on the fact that the truck broke down and we were forced to return to Base Two for repairs. We’ll come up with a better story before we arrive. I’ll tell General Esperanza the real story, but only him.”

  A sudden dip in the ground caused one of the wounded to scream in pain and Natasha disappeared from the window to help the man.

  Gabriel began to plan what to do when they arrived back at Base Two.

  CHAPTER 24

  Cane

  Cane infiltrated the heavily defended Valley of Kings which he believed guarded the entrance to the dwarves underground city of Stronghold. The walls of the valley had been smoothed and layered with pure white marble squares ten yards on each side and only his suit’s instruments could tell where they joined. The road leading to the entrance was made with gold speckled black granite, real gold. On pedestals on either side of the road were a series of statues depicting dwarves of different statures appearing as if they were individual frames from a movie. The first statue was fifteen foot high and they appeared to increase in stature if not height the closer to the entrance Cane managed to get. Each one was individually crafted from different alloys that increased in complexity the further away they were from the entrance.

  The dwarves sent regular patrols out of Stronghold during daylight in what appeared to be a circuit outside the valley, first south then north. They appeared to march without a break for the entire circuit in full amour of breastplate, greaves, helmets and shin guards, carrying a round metal shield that was only slightly shorter than themselves. A similar script that was used to print the electronics of his suit was beautifully detailed on every bit of metal that Cane could see although the dwarves’ script was more elaborate and they called them runes.

  His patience was wearing thin, he had not been able to venture any closer to the Dwarven cave even with his camo suit on. What he needed was a disturbance to distract the eyes of the vigilant guards, but nothing had happened.

  Finally a horn sounded three times in the mountains to the south, a minute later the sound was repeated from somewhere closer. From the first three horn blasts Dwarves began marching out of the cave filling the valley in a steady stream. Cane panicked and almost emergency jumped but he calmed himself and used the chaos and dust to move closer to the doors.

  Hiding behind the first statue outside the doors he waited to find out what the horn meant. It didn’t take long before a dark silhouette flew past in a rush of wind.

  The dwarves formed into ranks facing the valley exit to the east. A minute passed and Cane used it to make his way inside the entrance into the tunnel beyond.

  Still intrigued as to what had flown over the valley Cane waited to see what would appear.

  Far in the distance his suit picked up a large mass approaching twenty yards above the valley floor. He zoomed in and took a step back causing his camo suit to fail for a few seconds before it reengaged.

  A black dragon flew down the valley, its jaws opened and blasted the mass of dwarves with dragon fire. At a command the dwarves raised their shields against the fire
. The entire valley flooded with a clash of light, blinding Canes optics. When they came back on he found himself surrounded by smoke and covered in soot. His suit even appeared to have suffered some heat damage.

  The dwarves remained frozen in position, their shields burning like a lake of cold blue flame. The dragon came again from the other direction, blasting the dwarves once more with its fire. This time the suit compensated for the light conditions and he saw the red dragon fire diminishing as it rolled over the blue flames. The dragon flew high into the air, spiralled for a while then descended at the end of the valley where its wings wouldn’t hit the parallel lines of statues.

  A dwarven voice shouted out a command and the soldiers faced their shields at an oblique angle and advanced towards the dragon. It roared and moved forward as well. Its tail lashed out in fury against the nearest statue but only a dull metallic sound came from the metal. The dragon roared in pain and blasted the statue with its fire.

  The metal held the heat of the flame for a few seconds after the dragon stopped blasting it, then began to throb with a dull red light. Another command brought the dwarves to a stop in unison. The dragon eyed the dwarves suspiciously then looked back at the statue. A screech of metal sliding on metal came from the statue as it seemed to flex its body. It hefted the sledgehammer in its hands and hopped off the pedestal. Even from where he stood Cane could feel the vibration of its landing through his feet. The dragon blasted the statue again and the heat again seemed to absorb into the metal only this time another statue began to move on the opposite side of the path.

  The dragon swung to meet the new threat taking a breath to blast it, but hesitated at the last moment.

  The sledgehammer slammed into the dragon’s side with and audible crunch.

  The dragon whipped round and grabbed the statue in its teeth. A grating metallic screech echoed down the valley as the dragon tried to bite through the statue. The second statue hopped from its pedestal and charged at the dragon, slicing a butterfly axe into its left front foot.

  The dragon swung around unsteadily, whipping its tail into the statue.

  A horn blasted from the centre of the dwarves and more and more horns joined it until Cane’s camo suit blocked out the noise to protect his ears.

  The dwarves charged the dragon as it tried to spit the first statue out its mouth but was hindered by the statue holding its jaws shut. As the first wave of Dwarves began to hack at the dragon’s legs it managed to knock the statue out its mouth against the cliff side leaving a large crack in the marble surface.

  The dragon fled down the valley limping as more blades cut into its hind legs. As it managed to open its wings the second statue grabbed its tail preventing it from lifting off. Dwarves began to climb up the dragon’s back hacking at its spine scales to get to the soft flesh beneath. The dragon blasted them with fire but a few managed to get their shields in front of the heat in time to deflect the fire to the side. Those that were too slow fell off the dragon burning incandescent as the fire ate through armour and flesh.

  As the first statue was getting up off the ground a third began to stretch its legs. The dragon grabbed a dwarf in front of it and crushed its armour seconds before an axe cut off the arm.

  Cane couldn’t stomach anymore and turned away from the bloodshed. He noticed that the entrance was clear so he slipped in and began the descent through the dark tunnels towards Stronghold.

  CHAPTER 25

  Gabriel

  Gabriel brought the truck to a stop in front of the burial site. When soldiers began telling stories of goblins eating their victims, both alive and dead, General Allister had ordered trenches dug deeper than six feet for the dead. Goblins and humans alike had been buried in parallel trenches.

  One trench remained open and unused. Gabriel ran off to the remains of a supply tent where damaged equipment had been dumped and excess materials had been left behind in the evacuation. Tasha followed him and together they began to drag various items to the trench.

  As they carried a large beam between them she asked, “What are we doing?”

  “Tomorrow we’re going to take the prisoners by sea to Base One which is why we need the rafts. But in order to survive tonight we have to either fight or hide. We don’t stand a chance if we fight so that leaves hiding. We’ll place the planks over the trench to make a roof and then I’ll cover the trench so that it looks like the other burial mounds and you will have to keep the men alive and quiet inside. I’ll hide in the hills and watch over you until the goblins are gone and if they don’t go then I’ll provide a distraction to lead them away. You’ll need to stay inside until sunrise. We’ll then use the truck to move the wounded as close to the cliff as possible and find a way to get them down. Once we’re on the ocean the goblins shouldn’t be able to reach us.”

  “What are the shells for?” she asked as they dropped the beam next to the trench.

  “These are damaged shells the cannon crews left behind. I have some experience in demolition work so I know how to rig them to explode. I’m going to use them to distract the goblins in an emergency. If you hear a loud explosion don’t worry, just stay inside the shelter.”

  They arranged the beams across the trench and covered the structure with pieces of tarp before piling soil over them. They gingerly arranged the explosives around the shelter in a rough circular pattern and wired them together so that they could be detonated by remote. Lastly they moved the patients down into the hole on a stretcher.

  As Tasha descended into the hole Gabriel said, “I’ll be back for you.”

  “I know,” she answered holding his hand for a moment before she disappeared into the darkness.

  Carefully Gabriel lowered an air pipe into the hole and disguised it to look like wreckage. He took one last look around as the sun set before driving the truck to the edge of camp. Grabbing his rifle and a bag of supplies he ran towards the hills to the east, hoping that the goblins weren’t already there.

  Finding a depression in the hills he covered himself in a camouflage net from his bag and lay in wait as the goblin war drums began to pound in the forest. They attacked under the cover of full darkness, preceded by a dense cloud of green mist that passed through the camp, every structure that it touched dissolving as the acid ate through metal and plastic. As the mist dissipated warriors charged into camp throwing flaming torches on the remaining tents and anything that looked as if it would burn but the lack of an enemy soon angered them and they begin ripping up the camp with their bare hands. The exhausted shamans entered the camp once it was clear that it had been evacuated, their shadow shields flickering eerily in the firelight.

  Gabriel waited until he feared that Tasha’s hiding place might be compromised before detonating the explosives charges with the remote. Shards of metal whistled into the night and fire balls erupted around the trench. The concussion flattened hundreds of the goblins and the metal shards buried themselves deep into goblin flesh killing some instantly.

  As the cloud of dust began to settle Gabriel aimed his rifle and began to pick off the shamans that remained alive. When the goblins finally discovered his hiding place they formed an angry mob to kill him. Gabriel broke cover and ran towards the sea.

  The goblins, although winded and wounded, managed to keep up with him until he reached the cliff edge. He quickly emptied the rifle into the lead goblins to buy himself time then unhooked the rope from his body and tied it around a tree. Without hesitation he jumped over the edge and began abseiling down the cliff face as fast as he dared, the rope burning and scraping the palms of his hands raw.

  Gabriel hoped his luck would hold as his plans ran out. He heard the goblins arrive at the top of the cliff and grabbed the rock face just in time. The rope went slack in his hand and he barely managed to hold the slippery grip with one hand as the full weight of his body became suspended above the breakers below.

  Feeling his only grip slipping he dropped the rope and clung to the rock with both hands.

  A
bove him the goblins tormented him with insults and threw rocks down the cliff to knock him off.

  Realising he was clenching his eyes closed he forced them open so he could find a better grip. His eyes opened even wider when he saw the opening to a cave only a short distance away.

  CHAPTER 26

  General Esperanza

  Since General Allister’s arrival at Base One security had increased around Esperanza. He was always surrounded by four honour guards who followed him everywhere. Two entered his tent ahead of him while he waited outside with the other two. They gave the all clear and he entered as they left to guard the perimeter while the other two remained at the entrance. All four men were wore swords they had found among the goblin dead but carried rifles as well.

  Esperanza thought, this world is already changing us and we haven’t been here more than a few days. Then he reconsidered, remembering his own officer’s sword in the box beneath his bed.