17.1 : Speak with the Dead

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Nothingness. Blissful nothingness. And then...

"What... what is happening?"

"You have died. I am speaking to your head, which has been removed from your body. It was subsequently thrown at one of your brothers to scare him before he too was murdered."

"Oh... it feels weird to be dead."

"Yes, no doubt. Well, what happened exactly? There were seven of you guarding the entrance. And another dozen or so on the slopes. What kind of army was it that wiped you all out without giving you a chance to raise the alarm?"

"Well, I... er..."

"Go on."

"I saw three of them. Actually four, I think, though the fourth one was quite far."

"Four?"

"Four."

"FOUR?"

"..."

"How did these four manage to defeat seven of you without any one of you making it out to raise the alarm?"

"Well, first, we actually did hear the alarm being raised. There was a horn sounded further down the hill. Grimorg, Gurnil and Erla went to have a look. Oh my god, Erla... she is dead? Her daughter will be so sad."

"Ok, so you split off. Then what?"

"Erla came back, and waved us down to follow her."

"And you abandoned your post then?"

"No! Harolg went to speak to her, but then it all went weird. He was shot, attacked. We ran down to help, but he was dead before we got there."

"You must have landed some good blows on them once you reached them?"

"Well..."

"What about Irmal? Did he get any spells off?"

"They were demons, these four. I swear. We barely hit them. Irmal died before he could open his mouth, when the half-orc sprinted up the hill and cut him down in a single blow. Monsters."

"And you just watched that happen? You did nothing to protect Irmal from this heavy, armoured orc running up a hill?"

"..."

"Fine, let's move on. Describe the four please."

"One of them was a young woman."

"Nevermind her, the others."

"The others..."

"Yes."

"One was the half-orc. A fighter, with a sword as big as him."

"Right, yes, the half-orc. Everyone keeps talking about him. At least no one's described him as ten feet tall yet."

"Everyone?"

"Nevermind. He's the one who cut your head off after killing you."

"Damn. Bastard."

"Quite. And the others?"

"Well... I don't know how to say this..."

"Just spit it out... nevermind, you can't spit without a throat and lungs. Just say it."

"I think they were cats."

"..."

"I'm serious. Like, human-sized cats."

"..."

"..."

"Svarog, I think the spell isn't working. This is the fifth one whose mind is gone."

Nothingness. Blissful nothingness.

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