The White Shadow Saga: The Stolen Moon of Londor (39 page)

"We will not yield to you, elf of Argos!"
Randor replied.

"Who dares speak to me?"

"The Darnoth army!"

"Foolish being! Do you think I do not already
know who fight against my kindred? I have never heard your voice
before."

"I am Randor Miithra, servant of Ethindar! I
fight for the Darnoth as I would for any other who is allegiant to
my master!"

The Argos began to laugh and hurl further
insults, finding Randor's words absurd. Then the Bane of Darnoth
laughed, his great bellows drowning out the voices of his army. He
then raised a huge, muscled arm, sending his minions forward. And
with shrieking war cries, the dark elves stormed down the tunnel,
carrying torches, spears, axes, and swords, bent on
destruction.

Cailen raised her spear and roared,
"Charge!"

Malander was first away from the line,
followed closely by Helfare and then the rest of Randor's company.
Meanwhile, Cailen thrust her spear forward and led the way for her
kind. The sounds of the Argos were matched in full by the Darnoth
as they, too, sent war cries into the cavern. The gap between the
two armies narrowed until only a few short moments remained before
the inevitable clash.

Lorn and Seth slowed their charge, allowing
the Darnoth to pass. Seth thought it best to allow more people
between Lorn and the enemy. His main concern right now was the
dwarf's well-being. They would fight, naturally, but Seth would let
it come to them.

The Bane of Darnoth remained standing where
he had been before loosing his army. He leaned on his heavy ax,
still laughing, waiting for anyone imprudent enough to approach
him.

Helfare and Malander remained in the vanguard
of the Darnoth assault, with Helfare leading by only half a
step.

With one strong slash of the sword, Helfare
cleaved two soldiers of the Argos front line, who fell dead in
their own blood.

Malander, outraged that he had not claimed
the first kill, leaped over the fallen enemy and pursued his own
quarry--at the back line of the Argos forces. Along his path he
encountered many foolhardy enough to oppose his blade as he hacked,
sliced, and hewed his way through, killing all he met. Deeper he
drove into the heart of the Argos, now overtaking all others of the
Darnoth--even Helfare, who was waylaid many paces behind, forced to
contend with a troop of elite Argos fighters. Malander saw his prey
come closer, almost within reach.

* * *

Consumed with pain and with no possibility of
using magic, Randor had no choice but to arm himself with a
discarded Argos blade. All within the cavern were caught up in the
battle, with no one exempt. The wizard pressed on toward a great
number of the enemy, against which the Darnoth were fighting
bravely.

Arnanor, Geil, and now Muron, finding
themselves separated from the rest of their party, fought
valiantly--even Muron, who had by now felled three Argos fighters.
They kept to the cavern walls so as not to be ambushed from behind.
Ahead of the Northern elves, a squadron of spear-bearing Argos
charged toward them. Geil instinctively wanted to shield Muron from
danger, but he resisted, remembering Randor's words.

Standing before his kindred with sword
held out, Arnanor scanned the approaching squadron for a weakness.
Blood ran down his face and into his eyes as he tried to focus;
wiping it away, he thought his sight deceived him.
This cannot be!
he said to himself.
Each of the evil elves advancing on them wore a metallic badge
bearing the mark of the Northern Kingdom.
I will not be the one to bring them to their
deaths.
"Move on!" the prince said to Muron and Geil,
waving his sword away from the one-time members of his homeland's
army. It pained Arnanor to see former Elves of the Light, the
allies of Dunith in the Dark War, now manipulated and reformed
under the Bane's evil. And so Arnanor led his companions into the
thick of battle once more, allowing the spear-bearing phalanx of
elves past them.

Carnage lay all around Gildan and Cailen as
they fought side by side. Boulders shifted weight and rolled down
the declining tunnel, and great stalactites rained down on the
battle, their jagged splinters shooting in all directions, killing
and maiming without bias. The mountain quaked ominously, as if
angered at the war being fought in its belly. Wave after wave of
Argos came at Cailen and Gildan with no letup.

"Press the Argos back!" Cailen yelled.

"Where is Randor?" Gildan asked as he looked
through the chaos all around him. Dust swirled like a sandstorm
about the battleground. "I'll wager he is leading the way."

"Let us join him," Cailen answered.

Yet it was not Randor at the forefront of the
Darnoth, but Malander and Helfare, with the rest of the Darnoth
filling the gap in their wake. Only a few more strides remained
between Malander and the Bane of Darnoth, and now Malander could
see his chosen enemy's glowing red eyes, which burned bright even
though the rest of him was cloaked in deep shadow.

You are mine,
Malander chanted to himself many times over as he hastened
onward.

Leading a large brigade of Darnoth elves
farther into the damp caverns, Randor, who still bore the
blood-drenched enemy blade, shouted, "Keep them in retreat!" The
Darnoth followed the wizard to another troop of Argos mere strides
away, where, shouting and charging forth, they left Randor
behind.

* * *

Through at last!
Malander thought as he saw the way finally cleared of Argos
soldiers. He had left behind nothing but the bodies of those he had
killed. Only one Argos remained in his path. Grime, sweat, and
blood covered Malander's face as he called up his inner reserves of
strength. Watching from his perch, the Bane of Darnoth raised his
ax and took two great steps toward the charging knight. He stood
tall, towering a full two feet over the stout Malander. But the
size of his enemy was scant concern to Malander, who could think
only of how the mutant elf's blood would look spilled onto the
ground.

Gaining the higher ground of a small boulder,
Malander leaped through the air, yelling with all his being as his
buried fury revealed itself once again. The Bane of Darnoth stood
still, awaiting the attack.

Seeing Malander's bold assault, Helfare shook
his head. He yanked his blade from the chest of a dying Argos and
let the dying body slump to the ground. Then, wasting not a moment
more, he hurried to help his embattled comrade.

The Bane of Darnoth swung the blunt of his ax
blade, knocking Malander out of the air and sending him skidding
across the ground many feet away, with shards of small rocks having
no mercy to his backside. Undiscouraged, the grim knight returned
promptly to continue the fight. Not knowing where to begin,
Malander swayed back and forth, taunting his enemy, as each studied
the other for a weakness.

"Eager to die, I see," the Bane of Darnoth
laughed. "You should have brought more allies, weak human."

"You underestimate me," Malander replied.

"I know now your weakness."

"Yes, it is known as 'none.'"

"It is there," the evil general spoke as he
brought his blade close to his glowing eyes. "I can feel your
anger."

"Your feelings betray you."

"Do they? Anger has ruined your soul. You
have not embraced your past. Your suppression of anger has made you
fragile!"

"Silence!" Malander rushed in, aiming a
strike at his enemy's legs. His weapon hummed through the air but
was blocked soundly by the Bane's ax, sending Malander spinning
from his own momentum. The Argos leader's powerful downward swing
was enough for Malander to realize he should not try such a tactic
again.

* * *

"Arnanor!" Muron said as his brother began to
lose them in the sea of soldiers.

The elder prince turned around and said, "Do
not engage the Argos any longer!"

"My lord?" Geil asked, confused.

"We are killing our own kind!"

"These Argos are our brethren?"

"I have seen many wearing our kingdom's crest
on their armor!"

"Are you sure?" Muron asked.

"Do not question me, Muron! I know what I
saw."

"I shall never forgive myself," Geil replied
somberly.

Randor appeared behind the Northern elves and
said, "Let it pass, Sir Geil. They are mere vestiges of what they
once were. Evil has consumed them for so many decades that what was
once pure about them has passed. These turned soldiers are no
longer your brothers." Motioning the three forward, he said, "We
must keep moving. The Argos begin to flee."

All of Darnoth's enemies were disengaging
from the battle and heading toward their leader, who still waged
his own battle with Malander and, now, Helfare. The dark elves of
Argos were now slipping past the Bane and fell behind him,
vanishing into the open corridor and leaving their leader to stay
and fight alone.

Angered by Helfare's unwanted aid, Malander
shoved the general out of his way, knocking him down--and failing
to see the latest attack of his foe.

The Bane of Darnoth drew his weapon behind
his head and swung. But Malander, still glaring at Helfare, did not
see the blade coming for his neck. The general, seeing the ax
bearing down on Malander, reached out, grabbing the knight's ankle
and hauling him down to the ground, so that the ax passed over the
two and lodged deep in the cavern wall.

Malander and Helfare stood upright and
retreated a few paces, whereupon the much offended Malander began
shoving Helfare once more.

"What the hell are you doing?" Malander
shouted, his nostrils flaring.

"Never touch me thus again!" Helfare
replied.

The cavern shook as the Bane tried to free
his blade from the cracking stone. The wall crumbled, and its
rocks, combined with the collapsing ceiling, obstructed the path
where the Argos had fled. The Bane of Darnoth was severed from his
army, much to the delight of Cailen, who finally arrived with her
elves.

"We have him now!" Cailen said with obvious
glee.

"Fall back, Malander," Helfare ordered.

"I will not!"

Randor found his way to the front of the
Darnoth throng, who all stood readied to attack the Bane on
Cailen's command. The wizard stood alongside Cailen, and both
looked to Malander, who stood away from the rest, wanting to
continue his battle. More rocks slid down onto the barred path,
fully containing the retreated Argos. The Bane lifted his ax for
the last time and thrust the blade down with all his remaining
force, piercing the floor of Eln-Radah. Dust rose in great,
billowing whorls, shrouding him from his attackers, and he drew
back, so that all that his enemies could see were the glowing red
eyes, and then he was gone, leaving only his laughter echoing down
the darkened corridor. Though he was detached from his minions,
there was no doubt he had gone to seek them out.

"He is getting away!" Malander shouted in
anguish.

"Not for long," said Cailen. "Follow me, and
we will bring him down." The elf-captain sprinted down the corridor
with Malander hard at her heels. The two charged off alone.

"I suppose we have no choice but to follow
them," Gildan said.

"Exactly," Randor replied as he took command
over the Darnoth. "We cannot afford to let those two become
lost."

* * *

Through two miles of dimly lit caverns,
Randor led his company and the Darnoth, with still no sign of the
Bane or his two pursuers. He moved cautiously, for danger still
lingered in the air, and the wizard was all but drained of energy.
Along the way, the Darnoth searched for any traces of lebe or
water. All were badly in need of replenishment. Randor, for his
part, would let no one stop to rest until Cailen and Malander were
found. The five advisors of the Darnoth clung near Randor, worried
for the well-being of their commanding officer.

Seth and Lorn kept to the back of the
formation, the dwarf not yet recovered from the previous battle. It
was the first time Lorn ever fought with a weapon, and he did claim
the lives of four Argos in the course of the melee. Now he carried
the blooded dirk in his hand and walked with eyes locked forward in
a daze. The act of killing another, evil or not, made him feel
tainted. "I will never find the answers to why people must fight to
survive," he confided to Seth. "The world should have the luxury of
living peacefully, like Beowulken."

"I don't think it ever shall," Seth admitted.
"The world will never be rid of this treacherous device. There will
always be regimes of those who wish nothing more than for those
around them to yield to their grandiose wishes. And there will also
be those who will resist and stand for what they feel is right. All
that we can do, my friend, is cope--and lift ourselves above
it."

"Once this is over, I am not leaving
Beowulken again."

"Remember that your killing of these enemies
is not your fault or your wish. You must defend your life when the
occasion demands it. Now, come along; we should join Randor and see
what his plan is," Seth said as he quickened his pace. The dwarf
nodded and sheathed his blade.

Soon Randor led the masses to the end of the
corridor, where Cailen and Malander stood at the edge of another
cliff, looking into the darkness before them. As the captain's
advisors rushed to her side, Malander paced like a caged animal,
his sword lowered to the ground.

"Where did the Bane go?" an advisor
asked.

"Somewhere down there, I'll wager," Cailen
answered with disappointment.

"He might have slipped past us in the
caverns, for all we know," Randor said. "There is a chance he is
already rejoined with his army." Out in the darkness before them,
they could hear a faint but constant rushing noise. "Sounds like a
river." Randor drew closer to the edge and knelt down with his
favored ear outward. "Have you been here before, Cailen?"