THE BEAST OF BEGMIRE
by
Duane Gundrum
If there was one constant in the history of warfare, it was that wars were rarely completely decisive. Even in the most one-sided conflicts, even the losing side gained a momentary advantage at some point during the clash. When Magnus defeated Larsus in the Battle of the Bride, even Larsus’s army had instances where it looked like history might not have been written as currently taught. When Walner’s forces spread out across the lands with no defeat in sight, a lone baron held out long enough for the boy king to find Sarbonn and turn back the tide. But on this day, the devastation brought upon Fireme was so one-sided and demonstrative that no memory of success on the part of the vanquished would ever be remembered. The dark forces were both overwhelming and of a magnitude never before seen in the history of Reagul.
Retreat was the order of the day, and the complete abandonment of Fireme was all the few survivors could do as demon armies and impassioned followers of the Dark One slaughtered anyone they could find. Minor wizards sacrified their lives to shield any surivivors from sight long enough to escape, even though evil blindly hancked through the darkness, finding victims as more swords and axes swung freely through the shadowed cloaks. One by one, the wizards fell to blades as they did what they could to offer brief windows of escape for the many potential victims of this lost battlefield.
Over the cries and screams, a lone exhausted voice could be heard wailing: “Evina! Evina!” The voice wailed over and over until the bloody warrior calling out the name emerged from bodies of dark army soldiers, slashing his way through like an explorer trapsing through the jungle, seeking a river. As drak forces moved towards his voice, his sword swung deftly before him, cutting down evil men and creatures who came near him. As many tried to reach him, all that appeared important to him was the object of his search, which remained elusive no matter how many enemies he sliced through before him.
As he plowed through the enemies before him, his eyes latched onto the figure of a slender woman, standing before a throng of enemy creatures who seemed to be apprehensive about approaching any closer to her. Their fears were founded as lightning erupted from her fingers, frying several columns of enemies right where they stood, leaving nothing but ashes in the wake. As another group tried to flank her from the other side, blue light exploded all around her, ripping through anyone foolish enough to come close to her.
“Evina,” he said. “I thought I’d never find you.”
She turned to him. “Helm, forget about me. Protect the wizards. Their cloaking spells are all the people of Fireme have left to protect them.”
His eyes protested. He was sworn to protect her above all else.
“I am fine,” she said, reading his thoughts before he could reveal them. “Protect the wizards!”
Hearing that, Helm turned and rushed at the first wizard he could see, putting himself between the wizard and soldiers trying to reach him. The wizard, realizing what Helm was trying to do, extended his cloak to cover Helm as well, so that when the warrior lashed out with his sword, he would do so from the cover of darkness.
So Helm started hacking away. Quickly, the sea of enemies before him became and ocean of corpses, his sword given little time to rest as he moved from one enemy to the next.
Every now and then, Helm would glance back to Evina, remarking as she blinked out of existence, appearing an instant later behind a wave of invaders, scorching them with deadly flame, blinking to nothing again and then appearing elsewhere to continue her onslaught.
