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      Copyright (c) 1992, 1993 Charles Tryon / All Rights Reserved
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			T h e   T o w e r s

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6:  Battle

   Sucaba led the charge up the stairs, angrily gesturing to the others to
follow.  GreyEagle, still frustrated that no one had answered her, charged
up the stairs after Conrad.  Trouble and the silent mage brought up the
rear.
   GreyEagle suddenly thought of the amulet as she ran, and clutched at
it, wondering if any undead creatures might lurk ahead of them.  Her heart
chilled just thinking of them, but she was still mindful of Schimray's
warning to her to not let the others know about it until necessary.  For
now, she left the amulet hidden beneath her tunic.
   Sucaba was the first to reach the opening at the top of the stairs.  He
poked his head through to take a quick look around.  Ducking back down he
motioned to Ormec that something much larger awaited at the top for him.
He then quickly scrambled through the opening with Ormec close at his
heels.  His dwarven war cry was mixed with the tower-shaking howls let
loose by the creatures in the room above.  The battle had now begun in
earnest.
   Hearing the cries of battle above, Conrad scrambled through the
opening, followed closely by GreyEagle.  Their way was blocked by two
immense ogres, standing more than twice Ormec's height.  The first ogre
was wielding a two-handed sword in one hand and a long sword in the other
while the second was armed with an immense halberd.  Another stairway
began just to the right of where they had come up, leading to the next
level, and two straw pallets lay on the floor by a makeshift altar which
stood in one corner.
   Ormec was already attacking ferociously, leading the ogres away from
the opening a little to allow the others room to get through.  He had
already scored one blow against the first ogre, and its blood mingled with
the dust on the floor.  GreyEagle and Conrad were still invisible, and the
ogres did not notice them entering.  They carefully maneuvered around
behind the ogres.  One stopped momentarily, as if he had heard something,
and GreyEagle froze in her tracks as it looked around.  Not seeing
anything, it ignored the noise and turned its attention back to Ormec.
His halberd flew over Ormec's head as the dwarf dove between the two of
them.  From behind, Ormec found an opening in the ogre's defense, and his
axe bit into flesh and bone.  With an angry howl the ogre swung back at
Ormec, catching him with the tip of its long sword.  As Ormec cried out,
it whipped the long sword around again looking for blood, but the dwarf
deflected the blow with his shield.  Ormec leapt back at the ogre with his
axe, but in his haste, he slipped and missed the mark.  The ogre tried to
take advantage of his slip, but Ormec was too fast, and rolled quickly out
of the way of the way as the great sword came crashing down.
   Trouble and the silent mage suddenly realized that, with GreyEagle more
than ten feet away, their invisibility spell was now gone, so they ducked
back down from the opening to wait for a more opportune time to join in.
   GreyEagle had not drawn her sword yet, but now that she was in
position, she drew it out, and its light suddenly blazed in the dimly lit
room.  In a second, she was on the ogre, hoping to catch it by surprise,
but just as she did, it dove at Ormec, and her swing went wide.  She knew
now however, that her cover of invisibility was gone, so she planted
herself to wait for the counterattack.  Conrad was more successful in his
attack.  His short sword bit deeply into the ogre, and it screamed its
surprise and stumbled, weakening.
   GreyEagle's sword was almost blinding in this small area and quickly
drew attention.  The second ogre spun around to face her and drove at her
with his halberd.  GreyEagle was prepared for the attack, and neatly
sidestepped the blow.  In the confusion, Ormec struck at the ogre before
him, and his axe once again hit.  The ogre let out a final howl and
stumbled towards Ormec.  At the last moment, it lurched sideways, and with
a mighty crash, fell to the floor before him.
   Trouble's curiosity got the best of him, and he poked his head through
to take stock of how the battle was going.  The silent one, impatient to
see what was going on, pushed him from behind, so he stepped up into the
room, being careful to remain behind Ormec and out of range of the one
ogre which still stood.  The silent one quickly followed him through the
opening into the room.  From his vantage point at the back of the room,
Sucaba heard the noise of cheering coming from the top of the next
stairway.  Squeezing by Conrad onto the stairs, he waved his hand towards
the opening in the ceiling, trying to draw Trouble and the silent one's
attention.  At the opening at the top of the stair, two orcs were angrily
shouting and had grabbed short bows to use on the party from above.
   Oblivious to the danger from above, GreyEagle continued to attack the
ogre, and her sword flashed out in the room.  She tore at the ogre,
spinning to avoid it's blow.  This time, she was quicker, and for the
first time, she drew blood.  Howling with rage, the ogre counterattacked,
wildly swinging its halberd, but GreyEagle was again able to dive out of
the way.  Ormec tried to join in the attack, but couldn't get over the
body of the ogre he had just killed.
   Seeing the orcs which Sucaba had been pointing to, Trouble pulled out
his wand.  However, before he could act, he stopped dead in his tracks
though as he had heard a strange sound.  From out of the mouth of the
silent one came the sound of an incantation, spoken in a low but firm
voice.  With a final gesture and word, the spell was cast and the two orcs
at the top of the stair quietly slumped and tumbled down the stairs.  One
fell off the stairs mid-way down and landed on his head on the floor.  A
pool of blood quickly spread around it.  The other rolled most of the way
down, falling off a few feet shy of the bottom.  Shaking its head with a
dazed look in its eyes for a moment, it tried to get its bearings.
GreyEagle turned on the orc, striking it before it could gain its feet,
and it slumped back down again sliced through the middle.  With the two
orcs out of his way, Sucaba charged up the stairs.
   The others continued to attack the remaining ogre.  With the three
fighters around it, the ogre howled and attacked like a cornered animal.
Conrad swung wildly, but he missed and stumbled.  Ormec stepped in to
cover him, and with a mighty blow, struck the ogre again.  The ogre
stumbled and finally fell in an immense heap on the floor.  Ormec leapt
over the body of the slain orc which lay at the foot of the stairs and
charged up as quickly as possible after Sucaba.
   At the top of the stairs, another orc was desperately kicking three
others lying slumped on the floor.  Still invisible, Sucaba deftly
sidestepped them and moved into the room.  The sleeping orcs awakened just
in time to see Ormec charging up the last few stairs, with GreyEagle
halfway up, in hot pursuit and Conrad following as closely as his short
legs would allow.  Grabbing their weapons, the still groggy orcs quickly
swarmed over Ormec as he burst through the opening.
   As GreyEagle burst through the opening, one of the orcs turned on her.
Before she had a chance to bring her sword around, it struck at her, and
its sword glanced off of her shoulder, gashing her in the side of the
head.  The blow staggered GreyEagle, and she fell heavily against the
wall.  She clenched her teeth as a sharp pain shot through her shoulder.
The gash bled profusely and clouded her vision.  Angrily, she struck back
at the orc and it slumped to the floor.  She staggered back down the
stairs a few steps, moving over to let Conrad past.  Hardly able to see
through the blood which now filled her eyes, she reached into her pack and
somehow managed to find the magical potion of healing.  She quickly drank
it and splashed some on her face.  She could feel the strength of the
potion as it flowed through her, and while she was still covered with
blood, the bleeding stopped and she felt strong enough to rejoin the
fight.
   Just as she entered the room, Sucaba cast a spell, and suddenly, a mass
of sticky webbing appeared, covering what appeared to be about a dozen
sleeping orcs.  Three orcs remained standing, and even outnumbering Ormec
three to one, the they could not stand long before the dwarf's intensity.
They quickly gave way before him as he rained down blows on them.  Conrad
moved around to stand just behind him, but the dwarf shouted for him to
keep back.
   "These slime are mine!" he shouted gleefully.  The orcs were already
bleeding as they backed up against the web which now covered most of the
room.  With no space to maneuver, Conrad stayed put.  Trouble and the
silent one both remained on the stairs below watching to make sure nothing
caught up with them from behind.
   Ormec continued to pound on the orcs before him, but they fought back,
having nowhere to run.  One orc let out a delighted shriek as he caught an
opening in Ormec's defense and left a long gash in his shoulder.  Ormec
ignored the injury and swung back at the orc, cleaving it through the
middle of its head.  Wrenching his axe free, Ormec let out another dwarven
war whoop.  Sucaba began to climb the next set of stairs, but he
encountered a stout wooden trapdoor at the top, and though he struggled to
open it, he found that it would not budge.
   "These are for sharpening my axe on," Ormec yelled at the top of his
lungs.  "Go help Sucaba.  The rest of the orcs have already run up the
stairs and closed themselves in up there.  Cowards!"  GreyEagle shook her
head and charged up the stairs to help Sucaba.
   The orcs continued to attack, swinging wildly at Ormec.  One stumbled,
falling past Ormec and landing at Conrad's feet.  The gnome gave it a
swift kick and it fell through the opening on to the stairs, where Trouble
and the silent one pushed it off to the floor below.  Conrad laughed in
glee, and headed up the stairs to help Sucaba.  Trouble and the silent one
cautiously came into the room, carefully stepping around Ormec and
followed Conrad up the stairs.
   The sound of an orc shouting could be heard through the trapdoor.  "I
will cast a grease spell on the other side of the trapdoor," Sucaba said
when GreyEagle reached him.  "Then GreyEagle and the silent mage can push
again to see if they can open it.  Trouble, you stand ready with your
magic missile spell and I will stand ready with a hypnotic pattern spell.
GreyEagle, you will be the first into the room."  Leaving no time for
discussion or disagreement Sucaba began his spell.
   Below, Ormec and the last orc continued to trade blows.  The orc
feigned and tried to dive through Ormec's defenses towards the stairs, but
the dwarf was not fooled.  As it slipped by him, Ormec swung around and
cleaved its head from its neck and sent it bouncing down through the
opening.  "Well now you've made it down the stairs you cowardly slime," he
shouted after it, howling with laughter.  Seeing the others at the top of
the stairs, he quickly ran up to join them.
   Sucaba's spell had just gone off as Ormec, cursing his short legs,
pushed himself up the stairs.  As GreyEagle and the silent one burst
through the trapdoor, they could hear the screamed curses of an angry orc
as it slid off the other side of the door.  As soon as the door was open,
a small ball of intense light burst from Trouble's hands and struck one of
the orcs in the room above.
   As GreyEagle charged in, she discovered to her dismay that the floor
was still slick from Sucaba's spell, and that she could not keep her
balance.  Sucaba saw her floundering and waved his hand to remove the
spell.  GreyEagle immediately regained her balance, but unfortunately so
did the orcs.  At a shouted command from their leader they hesitantly
faced GreyEagle and attacked, blocking her way.
   GreyEagle fell upon the orcs facing her, the sword blazing forth.
Blood sprang from the neck of one as it slumped to the floor with a
gurgle.  Out of her throat, from deep within her, came a cry, almost
inhuman in its pitch and intensity as she faced the rest of the orcs in
the room, and her eyes burned with an intense fire.
   She quickly scanned the room, taking in the situation in an instant.
To the back of the room she could see the two orc captains hiding behind a
half dozen or so bound prisoners with their blades at the prisoners'
throats.  She froze suddenly as she realized what their intent was --
threatening to slay the prisoners if she didn't lay down her weapon.
GreyEagle's heart tore within her.  She wanted to save the prisoners, and
was tempted to lay down her sword, but she realized that doing so would
probably mean certain death for all of them.  No, the only option was to
attack as swiftly as she could.  Her thoughts were interrupted as the orc
rushed at her.  Whipping her shield around, she deflected the orc's blow
away, and spun around to return the attack.
   The remaining orcs fell backwards before the heat of GreyEagle's
attack.  Sucaba moved into the room, followed closely by the others.
Standing next to her, his wand began to glow intensely, and suddenly orcs
and prisoners alike stopped moving, with their mouths hanging open
helplessly.  One lone orc however, was not affected by the spell, and
seeing that the attackers had no intention of surrender, it quickly sliced
the throat of the prisoner it was holding.  It quickly grabbed at another
prisoner, this time snagging a teenage boy.
   Ormec let out a howl and ducked around GreyEagle and Sucaba to charge
across the room at the orc holding the child in an almost berserk rage.
Heedless of GreyEagle's cries, he rushed the orc.  With nowhere to turn,
the orc slit the throat of the child and flung the body at Ormec as he
came on.  With a scream of anguish, GreyEagle slashed at the orc standing
transfixed in front of her, dropping it to the floor.
   Conrad rushed into the room past GreyEagle.  In his hurry to attack the
remaining orc, he stumbled over the legs of one of the prisoners, and fell
against the orc as it stood there, breaking the grip of the spell on it.
Holding his knee in pain and trying to roll away from the now wildly
swinging orc, Conrad cried out for help.  GreyEagle hesitated for a
moment, unsure of which way to turn.  Sucaba yelled for her to help Conrad
as he dropped his arm, ending his concentration on the spell.  With a last
look at Ormec, she cried out and rushed over to help the wildly scrambling
gnome.  She leapt over the prisoners, screaming to draw the attention of
the orc captain away from Conrad as the gnome rolled out of the way and
scrambled over to join Trouble, Sucaba, and the silent one.
   Ormec continued to bear down upon the orc captain in front of him,
drawing blood.  The orc, screaming curses, began to back up against the
wall.  Suddenly, it rushed him, swinging wildly.  This was no common orc
fighter, but Ormec was no yearling either.  He dodged the blows as the orc
careened past, striking his axe at its back.  The orc stumbled as Ormec
hit him, but quickly regained its feet.  It spun around to face Ormec
again, spitting at the dwarf's feet and glaring at him.  Again it charged,
screaming curses as it came, this time not so quickly as at first.  Ormec
sidestepped the wildly swinging blade, and delivered another blow with his
axe.  Still, the orc lurched around to face him, panting heavily.
   The other orc turned to face GreyEagle.  Its eyes were a deep red, and
it bore the sign of an ugly disfigured red eye on its chest.  It sneered
at her and an evil gurgle came from deep within its throat as it raised
its blade to strike.  GreyEagle gripped the hilt of her sword securely and
felt the magic of the blade is it pulsed through her.  With blinding speed
she leapt into the opening which the orc had left in its defenses, biting
deeply.  The orc fell back in surprise, but this was no common fighter
either.  With a screech and a curse it lunged back at her and GreyEagle
was barely able to swung around to dodge the blow.
   They turned again to face each other, fire against fire, steel against
steel, swaying back and forth, both looking for an opening.  The orc's one
arm draped uselessly at its side.  Still, it gave no indication of giving
up as the evil gurgle continued to issue from its throat.  It laughed at
her, a laugh which made her skin creep.
   Suddenly, the magic of the sword swept over her.  The blade flashed
brightly as it came around again, thrusting deeply into the orc, and
dropping it to the floor.  As the orc fell, GreyEagle too dropped to her
knees, weary to the bone.
   The orc facing Ormec looked over to where its companion lay in a heap
on the floor.  Suddenly panic filled its eyes and it cried out, this time
in fear.  Once again it charged Ormec, swinging in a wild panic.  Ormec
stood his ground as the orc rushed forward and ducked neatly between its
wild blows to bring down his axe one last time, this time splitting the
orc's helm before it slumped to the floor.


   An oppressive silence filled the room as GreyEagle hardly dared to
breathe.  The bodies of the orcs and two slain prisoners lay scattered
across the floor, and the other prisoners, now released from the effects
of Sucaba's spell, were still too stunned to comprehend exactly what had
happened.  GreyEagle's and Ormec's eyes slowly met as they realized that
they had in fact vanquished their foe.


   The others suddenly let out a cheer.  GreyEagle felt no strength to
cheer, and no real joy was in her heart.  The fire which had burned in her
only a few moments before had suddenly gone out, and her shoulders ached.
Surveying the carnage around her feet, she quietly reached down to rip a
scrap of material off of the dead orc to wipe her sword clean.  She found
no joy in killing, even of orcs and their ilk, and she was glad the battle
was over.
   She jerked her head up as a pitiful wail rose from one of the
prisoners, a wail rising from the depths of despair.  She spun around and
once again saw the body of the young boy laying on the floor, its throat
slit from ear to ear.  The woman prisoner, still bound hand and foot, had
somehow managed to work her way over to the body and had collapse over it,
crying hysterically.  Letting out an anguished cry herself, GreyEagle
stumbled over to the boy's body, checking for any signs of life.  She
cursed that she had not been quick enough to save them.  She quickly
pulled out her dagger and cut the ropes which bound both the woman and the
boy.  She gently took the woman in her arms and, turning away from the
others, slowly rocked her back and forth.  GreyEagle wept quietly with
her.
   "Well, that was pretty good work," Conrad said as he looked around.  He
quickly sobered though when he saw GreyEagle.  "Uh, you too GreyEagle," he
said nervously.  He looked around at the others again.  "Let's make sure
there aren't any other surprises before we let our guard down."
   "Remember, we have seen no demon yet," Trouble interrupted as he
scanned the room around them.  "We would do well to search for any secret
passages which may still exist."  Sucaba nodded his agreement, and the two
of them began to search the room.
   Intent on the prisoners, GreyEagle did not hear Trouble's comment at
first.  However, after a few moments, she stopped what she was doing, and
her eyes stared off into space, trying to remember something.
   "Schimray said the demon would not be here.  It is at another tower..."
Her voice trailed off.
   "What was that?"  Ormec asked.
   "Schimray said that we would not find the demon here," she repeated.
   "Perhaps, but there may be other surprises yet awaiting us," Sucaba
grunted from where he was searching the body of one of the orc captains.
"We are not yet finished.  You may attend to these later when we have
searched the tower," he said, pointing his chin at the prisoners.
GreyEagle ignored Sucaba and returned her attention to the prisoners.
   "How long will the web last which you used to covered those slime on
the third floor?"  Trouble asked.  "Do we need to go and deal with them
before we spend a lot of time up here?"
   "The web will last about an hour," Sucaba answered, "but I believe that
all the orcs within were already dead.  I found one to be lifeless, and
cast the web over the lot, fearing that an evil cleric might try to
animate the bodies and use them against us."
   GreyEagle rose and cut the rest of the prisoners free while Sucaba and
Trouble looked on, amused.  She shot an angry scowl at them as she worked,
wondering why no one else helped, yet somehow not surprised.  They were
more interested in treasure than people, she thought angrily.  One of the
prisoners, a little girl, ran over to the dead man and clutched at his
arm, insisting through her tears that he get up and take her away from
this awful place.  One of the remaining men picked her up and held her in
his arms, speaking softly to her, trying to explain that her daddy
couldn't hear her any more.  GreyEagle rose to her feet again and gently
pulled the woman, drawing her away from the body of her son.  All of the
prisoners were naked and covered with bruises, and looked like they had
not eaten in quite a while.
   "Who are you and how did you come to be in this place," GreyEagle asked
the older of the two men.
   "We are miners," the man said.  "We had made an encampment on the other
side of the mountain when a party of orcs attacked us about a week ago.
Nine of us were captured and brought here.  I have no idea what became of
the others in the camp."  He paused for a moment and looked over at the
woman nervously.  He continued slowly.  "Three of our group, including the
girl's brother, were sacrificed and eaten in a ritual to the orc god,
while we were forced to watch."  His voice caught in his throat, and he
swallowed hard before he could continue.  "I have no doubt that we would
have followed them shortly had you not come."
   "Damn these orcs!"  Ormec cursed.  A sudden rage came over him and he
swung his axe and chopped off the head of one of the dead orcs.  "I would
wipe you all out if I could!"  He shook with fury and frustration.
   "Save your effort for the live ones," Trouble scowled.
   "I am Mathur," the man said once Ormec had calmed down, "and this is
Thos Hild."  He looked over at the woman still whimpering in the corner of
the room.  "That is my sister Gloria Mauer, and her daughter Amelia."
   The woman looked up with eyes glazed with fear.  "You must take us out
of this place!" she whispered hoarsely.  "It reeks of evil."  The others
begged GreyEagle to take them outside, so she agreed and helped them
slowly down the stairs, out of the tower and into the fresh air.
   "Be careful that you do not go near the moat," she warned them when
they reached the outer door.  "I do not know what lives there, but I
suspect that anyone who fell in would not return to the surface."  She
rummaged through her pack to see if she had anything to give them for food
or water, She found little, but what she did find, she gave to them.  "We
do not have much here, but our encampment is not far away.  You may be
able to cover yourselves with rags from the slain orcs within the tower,
and I may be able to find a little food which is still edible."
   "We thank you for what you have already done," Mathur said, "for you
have already saved us from certain death at the hands of the orcs.  I will
help you find food and blankets for the others."  The two of them went
back inside and managed to find enough to at least cover all of them, as
well as a small bit of food which had not already gone rancid.
   "Would you please stay with us," Gloria asked when they returned.  She
nervously scanned the area around the tower.
   GreyEagle hesitated.  "I wish that I could," she said, glancing back
inside, "but I must return to help the others.  There may be more dangers
which yet lurk inside.  When I am confident that we have finished our
task, I will return."  The girl began to cry again and Gloria picked her
up, quietly reassuring her that they would be alright, but she still gave
GreyEagle an anxious look.  GreyEagle hated to leave them there like that,
but she could see no alternative.  They remained huddled together beneath
the shadow of the tower as she turned to go.
   Her thoughts turned to Schimray and she wondered how he would have
reacted here.  He too had little regard for people like these.  They were
worth little more than cattle to him -- useful for some purposes, but
mostly a bother.  GreyEagle shook her head sadly.  She had too many other
things to think about to worry about Schimray now.  That time would come
soon enough though.


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Greetings all!

  If you are just picking up here for the first time, you should be able
  to find back chapters (via. ftp) in the directory /pub/frp/stories/towers
  on ftp.cs.pdx.edu.  I will also honor Email requests for back chapters.
  Please make sure you include a valid Internet address, and I will try to
  get back to you within a day or two.

  If anyone is interested, I've scanned in some B&W illustrations I've
  done for the story.  Pictures are at the same ftp site, or send me Email
  and I can send them to you.

  As always, I welcome any comments on the story.  I hope you enjoy
  reading this half as much as I have enjoyed writing it!


--
Chuck Tryon
    work: bilbo@kodak.com                                Your Servant,
    home: bilbo@Bah.Rochester.NY.US                      B. Baggins
 ______________________________________________________________________
   Experience is what you get when you were expecting something else.