Staff of Shigmar: Chapter 16, Part 4

16 July 2026

Good day to all, and welcome back to the next installment from the second book of our epic fantasy, Staff of Shigmar. Last time we saw how Delgart’s suggestion for fighting nekerpum worked, and now this information will be shared with their legion and put into practice in this battle to go and rescue the school of the kailum. . . . (10 August 2015) We remind all readers that this book, Staff of Shigmar, as also the first book, is free for download from Smashwords! Glossary links: Book 2, Book 1

Chapter 16, Part 4

The horn below blew a double blast, and the horns of the Third and Fourth Legion replied.

“Quickly,” Grelsor said, “try it again before we are called back.”

Hrelga raised her rod and created a ball of blue ice; Lidelle began the chant, touching the blue ball and turning it green. Hrelga sent it toward a purgle; Lidelle followed it with his staff, still chanting. When Hrelga jerked her rod suddenly up, the horn signal came from above, calling them back to their position in the Eighth Company of the Third Legion, but the results were the same: the purgle turned green, crumpled, and became golden dust; the nekerpum fell apart.

“Let’s go,” Marilee said, starting them back up the hill.

Lidelle wiped sweat off his brow. “That is very difficult,” he noted.

Grelsor nodded. “We cannot do that very many times before dropping from exhaustion.”

Delgart was not smiling, but he kept looking back over his shoulder.

“What?” Marilee asked him.

Delgart frowned. “I did not count on it being so draining,” he said.

Marilee shook her head. “You just gave us another way to fight the nekerpum and their purgle masters,” she laughed, “don’t be so hard on yourself.” She turned to Grelsor. “Can you write directions for doing that?” she asked. The rest of the legion was moving downhill toward them.

“I can,” Grelsor nodded, “but not while we are moving.”

“Squad, halt,” she said, stopping them. “Quickly, now,” she said to the kailum and maghem, “write down instructions for what you did, and we’ll pass them on.”

They nodded, pulling bits of parchment from their pouches along with fine, sharpened sticks of charcoal. When they finished, Hrelga and Luthina tapped each one with their rods, mumbling and creating several copies of each original. Their company commander rode up at this point, followed by what looked like all the messengers of the Third Legion, and they handed the small, duplicate squares of parchment over to the messengers. Hrelga and Luthina continued to mumble and tap the originals; messengers ran off as each received several copies of the instructions.

“Good thinking,” their captain said to the kailum and maghem of Marilee’s squad.

“It was not us,” Grelsor admitted, “but Delgart who gave us the idea.”

“I merely suggested . . . ,” Delgart started to protest, but their captain interrupted him.

“Do you intend to remake us in a single day?” she asked, smiling.

“I’m sorry, captain,” Delgart said, feeling contrite.

“You saw a need,” she replied, “and you filled it. We will honor you, when we have the leisure.” She looked around and saw the faces of the kailum and maghem in the other squads of her company lighting up as they read and understood what the eighth squad had discovered.

“Captain,” Delgart said, still looking flushed.

“What is it, Delgart?” she asked, still smiling.

“Our kailum learned that the orthek is quite draining,” Delgart began, feeling all eyes upon him, “that they would not be able to cast it very many times before losing all their power. Wouldn’t it be wise to focus on the purgle who is leading this army? If we could take him out, the others might lose heart and flee the field.”

“That is what they tried to do to us,” she replied, “but getting at Xythrax will be difficult.” She pointed to where Xythrax stood at the back of the nekerpum. She thought for a moment. “I will get permission from the legion commander to move the Eighth Company toward Xythrax.” She turned and rode toward the front and center of the Third Legion.

The Third and Fourth Legion jogged forward, toward each other, to crush the nekerpum between them. The Third Legion halted just short of the nekerpum, to give the kailum and the maghem the opportunity to try out their new method of attack. The captain of the Eighth Company rode back from the front and center of the Third Legion.

“The legion commander agrees that your idea has merit,” she said, “so he will signal the fourth that we, the third legion, will angle our attack toward the pass and the rear of the nekerpum. He will signal when he wants us, the Eighth Company, supported by the Ninth and Tenth, to break toward Xythrax.”

Marilee and the other squad leaders of the Eighth Company nodded.

“Grelsor,” Delgart asked after their captain rode off, signaling that they begin using their new attack on the nekerpum, “could you put the disruption enchantment on my sabers?”

“Maces work better against the purgle . . . ,”Grelsor started to say.

“But the nekerpum have more flesh,” Delgart interrupted, “so the blades would be better.”

Grelsor shrugged. “They are harder to disrupt, but we can enchant your swords,” he said, reaching out with his staff. He chanted the words and touched each of Delgart’s sabers; both blades glowed with green light.

Delgart turned to see how the battle progressed. The First and Second Legion had turned to face the nekerpum pursuing them; the Fourth had crashed into the other side, angling toward the First and Second Legions, attacking as he had seen. The Third stood motionless; balls of green-glowing ice began flying toward the purgle on their side of the pass, and this first volley melted the purgle and nekerpum facing the Third Legion, like morning frost touched by the first light of the dawn. As the second volley of ice balls sailed toward the next closest purgle, these shielded themselves from the exploding balls, so that the disruptive effect of the orthek only destroyed the nekerpum in the radius of the blast’s effect. This, however, was almost as useful as hitting the purgle himself, so the kailum and maghem of the Third Legion continued to send the disruptive balls against the purgle. The second rank of companies of the Third Legion moved forward as the entire legion spread out on the flank of the army of nekerpum. The captain of the Eighth Company saw the signal she was waiting for, and turned her company to jog along the flank of the enemy toward Xythrax; the Ninth and Tenth companies followed to help the Eighth drive as close as possible to Xythrax, giving their tekson a better opportunity to attack Xythrax directly. Taking a hint from the eighth squad, the kailum and maghem of each squad cast the disruptive enchantment on the blades of their squad’s swords, hoping that the orthek would remain effective until they got closer to their target. Xythrax had surrounded himself with, not only corpses of wethi size, but also corpses of megatrem, krugle, and wedaterem, fewer in number, but the battle presence of each one more than made up for the difference in numbers.

When the eighth squad’s turn came, Delgart leapt to the forefront; his pair of green-glowing, curved blades flashing light like lightning around him, disrupting any nekerpum his blades slashed. Delgart’s prowess inspired the rest of his squad to greater achievement; no one was lost from their squad the first time the squad moved forward and pushed to the right, rolling back and returning to the breach for the second time. The other squads were not so lucky; the screams of pain and terror rose around them. When a squad pushed to one side or the other, the kailum and maghem of the squad would take their moment of standing still as an opportunity to send a disruptive ice ball toward Xythrax. The chief purgle easily blocked these flying ice bombs, bouncing them back, but the nekerpum surrounding him, some of the largest, withered under this icy rain. Xythrax raised his rod to the sky, and suddenly, the sky grew dark; angry red clouds developed and covered the sun. Streaks of flames fell like rain, pelting the seklesem of the Eighth Company and the nekerpum near them with fist-sized hail of molten stone. Not all of the kailum noticed in time to raise shields of stone, or shields of flowing water, effectively to block the rain of fiery stone: the third and fourth squads, fighting at the front of the company wedge, were decimated by Xythrax’s orthek. When the sky cleared moments later, Delgart saw that more of the nekerpum were destroyed by the orthek than his fellow seklesem, but Xythrax could more afford to lose his own troops than could the seklesem. Xythrax waved his arms and the nekerpum around him shifted to his front; Delgart reckoned that Xythrax must have realized their plan of attack and his danger.

Come back on Saturday, and see how Delgart again changes things, and helps to win the battle. Until then, get a full ebook copy from Smashwords for free! If you prefer print, purchase your copy from the link provided. Good reading!