The Last Paladin of Highmoore: The Legends of Valoria

Chapters 38, 39, 40, special thanks and excerpt

Chapter 38 – The Battle Outside

Across the citadel, Zelus ran for his very life as hordes of Forsaken chased him down. He had snuck across the grounds to the opposite wall and secured a line for Eliza and the others to scale once Dominic and the reinforcements arrived. He had just finished and was beginning to head back towards Alec and Marec when he had been discovered.

Now, droves of Forsaken raced after him to gut him and use him in a stew, or whatever it was, the Forsaken did for kicks. Zelus ran up a stairway, cleaving through a cloth adorned Forsaken guard. He kicked through the creature as it evaporated into dust and continued to fly along the wall. He looked back briefly and found that there were too many for him to count without stopping to ask.

Deciding against trusting their manners, he continued to run until he neared upon a guard tower. He cut through three more Forsaken as he attempted to dash along the outer wall then came to several archers that blocked his path. They each trained their bows on him and without other options, Zelus dove to his right, onto the roof of a nearby structure, and ran across it avoiding the volley of arrows that was unleashed at him. Bounding from one roof to another, Zelus made his way past the archers and back onto the wall, where he reached the tower.

Zelus ran inside and began to climb the stairs, being sure to knock anything within arm's reach down the stairs toward his adversaries. He slew two more Forsaken as he scaled upward and threw the disintegrating bodies down on their comrades without thinking about how useless such an act was. He arrived at the very top of the tower and after closing the double latch doors, flipped a table on top of them.

He could hear the clicking of the Forsaken's voices below as he began to knock over weapon racks, chairs and tables overtop the doors. Zelus hit the end of the line as he stared out over the wall. He had run out of places to go. Zelus turned around and ran toward the side of the room overlooking the doorway, taking up his stance, he prepared to take as many of them as he could with him.

The Forsaken began to tear through the barricade and though he could not understand the clicking and chattering, he got the sense that there was nothing beyond the barrier save malice and hatred. Zelus could see clawed hands reaching up and moving pieces of furniture out of the way.

Lunging out, Zelus began hacking away at their hands as they attempted to enter. He could hear them hiss in agitation as he cleaved their hands away. After the seventh or eighth hand Zelus claimed in this fashion, the Forsaken began to pull away. Zelus ran across the room to the window and looked out over the wall and watched as a force of horsemen could be seen coming over the hilltop. He saw a flash of light from up above, Eliza's signal that all was well and they were ready to begin their assault. Zelus flashed back, capturing the sun's rays on his sword blade, so that Eliza knew he was alright. Turning to face the window frame, Zelus stood triumphantly with his hands on his hips, one foot up on the windowsill and took up his hero's stance.

"BOOOM!" the building around him began to shake and shimmy, as a malevolent force pounded against it. Zelus dipped his head out and saw a massive hole had been blown into the wall and more Forsaken approached. Beyond them, he could see the horror that was Belias, his massive black sword held high commanding them to charge. For a split second Belias' head turned towards Zelus almost causing him to seize up and faint.

"BURN LITTLE VALASCAAN WORM!" Belias boomed holding out one hand in front of his face as if offering up a gift. Zelus' eyes shot open wide, as it appeared Belias blew into his palm, spewing fire forth like the dragon gods of old. Zelus pulled his head up in time to avoid being seared alive. Zelus turned back towards the window and estimated his chances of survival should he have to jump. He looked to the right, the left and straight down and found nothing that he could jump to. He turned back towards the staircase, which was now filled with flames.