Draft for Yellow Hill: Doors of Flame within the Church 1

Key in hand, Arlad approached the great oak entrance to the church. A fine layer of ash now covering the oak and iron bars, the building was surprisingly unmolested given the state of the town the had just fought his way through. On the each of the central iron bars that spanned the width of both of the two doors, were several iron rings, through which a heavy black bar had been inserted and locked in place. The padlock itself was ornate and clearly of the church, the holy symbol etched just above the keyhole. Melain kept a lookout behind them as Arlad removed the lock and quietly slid the bar from the rings.

 "Would we not be better served looking for a more discrete entrance? Such efforts had been made to prevent our access to the church from without, surely an even more ferocious defense may await us within"

 She spoke quickly to him, without removing her gaze from the ashen street from which they had just approached; the body of a slain foe slumped over a charred fence strand, oily hair covering his face and an arrow half snapped, standing fastly atop his upper back.

 "If this wicked fallen priest is responsible for all the evil things that have happened to this town, it wouldn't be justice to sneak up behind him. We need to confront him face to face. My father told me about these churches before, its just one big room! we shall throw open the door and he will have nowhere to run!"

 replied Arlad, having just cleared metal bar from the final ring, and in one smooth motion he slid the thing onto the ground to his side, mistakenly assuming the soil at the side of the cobbled road was soft enough to produce no sound.

 Melain drew closer to him and they each began to push on the heavy doors, forcing their way in to the building.

 The smoke outside had darkened the sky, however its impact was felt greatly in the church, where almost no light was able to penetrate the stained glass windows. It was silent but for the slight crackle of firewood. Ahead of them were rows of long, short benches of plain wood with little ornamentation, seated upon red carpets, hue dimmed in the darkness. Large hewn stone blocks made up the walls and floor, and ascending wooden beams decorated with wood carvings made amorphous by shadow lined the ceiling. The door slammed shut behind them as they were blasted by a cold blast of air.

 Ahead of them and at the raised platform at the far end of the building were two braziers at either side, in front of the rows of benches. Simple trapezoid stone stands topped by wide, shallow metal dishes upon which burned two small orange fires. A formless shadow stood between them.

 "Step down from the stage you villain! the trouble you started is now at its end!"

 shouted Arlad. The figure billowed as the cold breeze continued to push against the pair, revealing itself to be a shrouded being of human height. The deep, penetrating words of a skilled orator issued forth.

 "Brave as you have been and quick of sword to find me here, but you are a fly upon the hammer of the true god. The king of the stars has made me an offer I cannot refuse, greater than the promise of life after death. And all he asked of me in return, is to keep the doors open!"

 Melain reached for the scourge at her hip, and Arlad drew his sword, when the figure swung his arms wide, two hands, pale in the light of the flames, pointing to each brazier, and in an instant there was a flash of light, a blast of noise like a tree being torn from the earth, and the flame of the braziers lept forwards to the stone floor below them and reaching upwards until they reached halfway up the height of the interior of the church.

 Both heroes stood in confusion, but Melain took initiative and ran forward with her scourge, nearing the gap between the two columns of fire, preparing to strike at the figure. Noticing this, Arlad snapped out of his distraction and ran after her. Having closed half the distance, Melain drew back her arm, when at the corner of her eye she saw movement from the column of fire to her left, and in the same instant realized there came no heat from it.

 As if the column itself had been a doorway, a wrinkled, bony limb protruded from its center, holding a jagged one sided dagger. The figure quickly leapt out of the column entirely, and Melain stopped in her tracks to face it. A vile semi-human abberation, with large eyes at either side of its narrow head, which attached to its sternum with no visible neck. It was naked, but for the weapon it wielded in one hand, and a round metal buckler attached to its right side wrist, with a rusted spike jutting from the center. Immediately Melain adjusted her position and lashed at the creature, the two hooks of her scourge cutting deepy into the side of its head before it could react, and it fell motionless to the ground.

 At this moment the dark figure on the platform reached out his hand towards her and made a bizarre pointing gesture, and at the same time her body was knocked backwards as if she had been kicked in the stomach, sending her stumbling into the benches behind her and losing her balance. The figure immediately doubled over and was reduced to a crouch, evidently fatigued by the exertion.

 Arlad saw this as his opportunity to strike and ran to the gap between the columns of fire, when again, from the right side, a monstrosity similar to the first appeared, wielding a wooden club, and immediately swung it at Arlad, hitting him in the ribs as he was running, and sending him to the floor. The creature immediately strode forwards and stood over him, looked down with unblinking, lidless eyes and reached upwards for an overhead strike, but was skewered in the abdomen as Arlad quickly countered with his blade. It staggered backwards but made no sound but for a heavy hacking breath. Arlad rolled backwards, one hand on his side and sword in the other, tensed and lunged forwards. The beast artlessly swung its club again, now mechanically hindered by its punctured stomach, and Arlad slipped to its side, rammed his shoulder into its back and with his left leg swept the creature to the floor, before plunging his sword into its neck, bringing the beast gurgling and thrashing to its demise.

 Melain was back to her feet, and saw the figure, its hood now fallen to one side, revealing a wizened and frail old man, still catching his breath. She shouted towards him.

 "Fallen Priest, your witchcraft has failed you! You are an old man and will not live if you fight us! Surrender now and we will spare you, for the judgement of your countries courts!"

 The old man pushed himself up upon his feet, and boomed out once more, strong in voice despite his evident frailty of body

 "An undying one accuses me of witchcraft! No, there is no magic that I do here, only the will of a new King. I am a gauntlet through which his hand smites!"

 and with that, he shot his hands forward, crossed over each other, and released a frothing groan. In front of him a red mass coagulated, a thick slime, bubbling and steaming and rising to the height of a person. As he did this, another wretch leapt from the rightmost pillar of fire, bearing its weapon down upon Arlad, who was saved only by his cat-like reflexes. At once the Old Man brought his hands up, and the red mass shot forth like a tumbling stone, heading straight towards Melain. She lept out of its path as it crashed down to the wall at the right hand side of the entrance, leaving a smouldering stain on the stone floor, the carpets below withered and the wooden benches cleft in its wake.

The young lad grew frustrated at their situation, as he ran through the third monstrosity to emerge from the fires; however a plan jolted into his mind. He gave the order to Melain "Run to the wall, and we trap him!" to the her immediate compliance, and in the opposite direction he did likewise, as another pair of creatures lurched out from the fires.

 The two now ran, alongside the walls of the church, up towards the platform, with the priests unholy familiars in pursuit. As the distance closed, the priests thrust his left arm out, and again a red mist began to congeal in front of him, his eyes fixed on Arlad; but his attention was drawn to the slam of boots on tiled floor, and his head swivelled around to see image of a warrior woman leaping towards him, dagger thrust forward and flying through the air like an arrow fired from a longbow. His faded eyes glimmered with fear as his old body crumpled under the force of steel and muscle bearing down on him. Melain fell upon her foe and they hit the ground as one. Seconds later Arlad had reached the same point, and watched as the columns of fire shrank and diminished into smoke, and the final pair of creatures staggered in confusion, and their bodies flakes and splintered into the air, like ash being blown into the wind.

 In the passage of mere seconds, the church was silent and still, but for the dim crackling of the braziers, and the heavy breathing of Arland and Melain, as they looked upon the body of their defeated enemy.