Staff of Shigmar: Chapter 16, Part 5

18 July 2026

In this today’s installment from the second book of our epic fantasy, Staff of Shigmar, we reach the conclusion of this chapter as our heroes attack Xythrax directly. . . . (17 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 5

Delgart leaped forward again with his squad, to fill the gap left by the death of most of the third and fourth squads, and the nekerpum fell under the green-glowing blades of the eighth squad. As they pushed again to the right and rolled back, sending another volley of disruptive ice balls, Delgart noticed the ninth and tenth companies following. He turned to look forward and realized two important things.

“This is not going to work,” Delgart said to Grelsor. “Xythrax will simply block our ortheks and rain fire down on us.”

“We just have to keep doing it,” Grelsor said, “as long as we can. Once the Ninth and Tenth catch up to us and begin lobbing ice balls at him, sooner or later, one of them will get through.”

“A lot of us will die between now and then,” Delgart replied.

“As long as we keep him busy,” Luthina added, “he does not have time to raise any more nekerpum.”

“Yes,” Delgart said, “and look what he has done: he has moved the nekerpum from behind him to fill the gaps our ortheks, and his, have created in front of him, leaving his back unprotected. If I could get behind him, somehow, he would be forced to turn and face me, and you could hit him from behind.”

“Maintain!” their captain shouted, waving a red pennant. The company’s progress had ground to a stop.

“Your plan has merit,” Grelsor shot back, “but I do not think I could toss you that far, nor do I think you could leap that far.”

“Leap?” Luthina said, looking puzzled, but then her face changed. “The escape orthek!” she exclaimed.

“Escape orthek?” Grelsor asked.

“We maghem have an orthek,” Luthina went on, “that we call the escape orthek: it allows us, if we are overwhelmed by enemies, to make a great, backward leap, getting us out of immediate danger.”

“It is seldom used,” Hrelga noted without turning, “as the space behind the maghi has to be clear for at least fifty feet.”

“That would be just enough,” Delgart noted, dispatching another nekerpu with a flash of green light.

Grelsor looked toward Xythrax and shook his head. “It wouldn’t be,” he said, “it would land you in the middle of the largest nekerpum next to Xythrax.”

“One of us could lift him up,” Hrelga said, “then the other could cast the escape orthek on him; that would give him the extra distance he needs to get there.”

“Just do it!” Delgart exclaimed. “We cannot hold out much longer!”

The Third and Fourth Legions had both stalled in their forward progress; the First and Second were driven back; all were taking heavy casualties, further enraging the nekerpum.

“Face the direction you wish to go,” Luthina said.

“I thought you said it was a backward leap?” Delgart said.

“I’ll substitute ‘forward’ for ‘backward,’” Luthina said, “that way you can see where you are going.”

Grelsor touched Delgart’s swords again, renewing the disruptive orthek.

Marilee turned to him, holding out her sword. “Mine, too,” she said, looking sideways at Delgart out of the corner of her eye.

Grelsor gave her a sharp look but did not speak; he touched her sword with his glowing staff.

Hrelga pointed her rod at Delgart. “Steighud-ko,” she said, lifting Delgart into the air.

“Not too high,” Grelsor said, “or he will land badly.”

Delgart floated about shoulder height above the ground, facing Xythrax, swords ready.

Luthina raised her rod, holding it upright. “Pedamoro-port,” she said, and in the time it took her to lower her rod and touch Delgart’s right boot, Marilee sheathed her sword and jumped up, wrapping her arms around Delgart’s waist. Both flew forward over the heads of the nekerpum between the eighth squad and Xythrax, landing just behind the chief purgle. Marilee let go of Delgart, pulling her legs forward so that she could land on her feet running; Delgart did the same, turning and shooting an angry glance at her. She smiled in response and drew her sword, moving to attack Xythrax; Delgart ran toward the purgle, but slowed, seeing first Grelsor, then Luthina, flying toward them. Grelsor rolled several times before getting to his feet; Luthina landed on her feet as gracefully as had Marilee.

“What are you two doing here?” Marilee hissed.

“You’re one to ask,” Delgart quipped.

“You need us,” Grelsor spoke softly. “He is a powerful black maghi, and you need us to protect you from his ortheks.”

The three of them grinned at Delgart, who frowned back.

“We’ll need to break his shield first,” Luthina said.

Delgart shook his head. “Let’s go, then.”

Delgart crept forward carefully, hoping that Xythrax would not notice them until they attacked. The chief purgle pointed his rod toward the squad attacking him with disruptive ice balls, and a bolt of blue-white lightning shot toward the squad, forking into four separated bolts that struck the two kailum and the two maghem square in each chest. From each of these four, smaller bolts shot, striking the other members of that squad, holding them shaking in place. Seconds later, the first four exploded, stunning the rest. The nekerpum pulled down the stunned members of the squad, tearing them into pieces that were quickly eaten. Delgart, Marilee, Grelsor, and Luthina exchanged looks; Delgart knew that could happen to them, if they did not strike quickly. They stopped at the point where they could just see Xythrax’s shield shimmering in front of them.

“As soon as the shield breaks,” Grelsor whispered, “attack; we will have only moments.”

Delgart nodded; Grelsor and Luthina raised glowing staff and rod, each stabbing his staff or her rod into the clear shimmering shield around Xythrax; green and white sparks exploded from the point where staff and rod contacted shield. Grelsor and Luthina continued chanting the shield breaching orthek, pouring more energy into the shield; sweat beaded on both their foreheads, running down their cheeks and streaking the dirt on both their faces. Xythrax turned to see who attacked him from behind, and to strike at them, when he saw Marilee and Delgart, weapons poised, he laughed, sounding like dry bones clinking together. As they had seen before, he became a bolt of red lightning, shooting into the sky and toward the north; he dropped something small and red as he shot into the air. Both Grelsor and Luthina grabbed Delgart and Marilee and pulled them to the ground. Light grew brighter, and the thing dropped by Xythrax exploded into a ball of expanding fire. As the light brightened, Grelsor raised his staff and shouted the orthek, “plotoskoit!” Even as Delgart felt himself singed by the expanding flames, Grelsor’s shield of flowing water covered them and quenched the flames, but then the shock wave from the explosion hit them, wiping out all conscious thought.

As the echoes from the blast died away, a whispering breeze blew across the battlefield from the southwest, and the fighting paused to hear the words whispered by the wind. The maghem across the battlefield heard the words of a orthek that they should chant; all raised their rods to the sky and began to chant the words they heard. The seklesem heard whispers telling them to defend their maghem and kailum from all attacks, so that the maghem and kailum could work without interruptions; all surrounded each squad’s tekson, turning their faces and swords to face the nekerpum and their purgle masters. The nekerpum and purgle heard words that pacified and slowed them, making them more easily cut down by the seklesem as they began to move in slow motion. The kailum heard other words, as dark clouds gathered overhead, words that they, too, should chant, while pointing their staves at the storm gathering overhead; all kailum raised their staves and started to chant. The winds whipped around them; green light flashed across the dark clouds followed by rumbling thunder that shook the ground. The nekerpum and purgle cowered under the sound, but the seklesem felt only hope as cherry-sized hail began falling from the storm clouds, but this hail was surrounded by green light, and any nekerpum or purgle hit by one of the hailstones shuddered and fell to dust. Moments later, all the maghem and kailum stopped chanting, letting their arms holding rods and staves fall to their sides; the clouds cleared and the bright sun shone down on the entrance to the pass, miraculously cleared of all nekerpum and purgle.

Next week on Tuesday we return to Klaybear and the others as they enter Shigmar’s tomb–the actual resting place, finally obtaining Shigmar’s fabled staff! Until then, get a full ebook copy from Smashwords for free! If you prefer print, purchase your copy from the link provided. Good reading!