It was the third day in Cliffpeak Village. The bear lord and
his men fought the invading shadowmen forces every night and every night the
number of shadows grew. On the last night Nathaniel saw a slightly larger
shadowman wielding a shovel. This worried The Bear lord because he feared that
these shadow creatures might be learning how to use the weapons and armor they
had been stealing after every raid. The trouble was that for every dozen
shadowmen that the warriors killed, it only took one shadowman to steal a
helmet or sword while during the fight. Having their equipment stolen every
night meant they were slowly becoming less prepared for each night.
Nathaniel knew that
it would have only been a matter of time before he and his men were too
ill-equipped for fighting hordes of shadows. On the second day Nathaniel had
sent his fastest scout to leave for the castle and alert the other Forest Kings
to the shadow portal that had opened in their realm. Since it would be a two
day ride to the castle and at least two days for reinforcements to arrive,
Nathaniel knew he only had to hold back the growing horde of shadows for
another four nights.
Nathaniel
and his men slept during the day while the villagers kept watch and tried to
continue their daily work, then each night the villagers would try and sleep
while the bear lord’s forces fought the enemy. No one slept well.
Sir Richard
the Bear lords knight sat up in bed with his hands covering his face. “What is
the trouble Richard?” asked the bear lord. “We won’t last like this, we have no
idea what is on the other side of that portal. We don’t have magic to close
portals and none of us have ever seen a real portal to another world before”
Richard whispered, clearly demoralized. “If the situation grows so dire then I
will travel through the portal myself and close it by force” Nathaniel said
with a determined tone. Richard nodded “I would join you through that portal,
Sire. Your men would never let you go alone” Richard said. He laid back down
and tried to sleep before the night came.
Night crept
over the town, cool air and light rain joined the darkness setting up a night
that would usually be considered a sleepy lazy night, but considering the
constant threat of shadowmen, the rain and darkness made everyone more uneasy.
Nathaniel
drew his bow and rode toward the area outside of town where the portal had
opened for the last three nights. The bear lord stood with his bear and
nineteen men, all ready to battle the shadows. Dark clouds parted in the sky
and the bright moon added some light to the soon to be battlefield. Sparks and
flickers of purple light started to appear from the air, then the portal opened
in front of the group of soldiers. “Steady men” said Nathaniel as he readied
his bow. The tension was thick in the air and the light rain come down like a
mist, dampening skin and fabric. The first shadowman came from the portal,
small and useless like the others, but this one was alone and charged forward
without an hesitation or regard for the armed soldiers. The shadow was hit with
an arrow from Nathaniel’s bow and the shadowman vanished. A small laugh was
heard down the ranks of soldiers. It was a small release of tension but the
soldiers knew they couldn’t be overconfident.
Then a
large head appeared from the portal, followed by small hunched shoulders, long
arms, a torso and long legs. This was a twelve-foot tall shadowman emerging
from a nine-foot tall portal. The large shadow creature had hands like dinner
plates and long spindly fingers that twitched and moved in unnatural
directions. This creature stood for a second then charged at the group just the
same way the smaller shadowman did. This action was followed by dozens of
regular sized three foot tall shadow creatures to pour from the portal.
The extra
time it took for the large shadowman to emerge from the portal gave Nathaniel
and his other archers enough time to target the beast. When the tall shadow
sprinted forward a volley of arrows were already on their way to meet him head
on.
The large
shadow creature reached out its large hands and grabbed several arrows out of
the air. Two arrows struck the creature in the chest and one arrow struck the
head. The giant shadow fell forward on the arrows and melted in the ground, but
the arrows remained. The dozen arrows that had been fired were now black and
covered in ooze.
The knights
charged forward with their swords and shields to meet the smaller horde of
enemies while the archers took aim and reloaded arrows in their bows. Each
slash with a sword or strike with an arrow killed the small shadowmen. The
fight continued on like it did the night before, with large number swarming the
area and the Bear lord’s forces holding them back.
Then during
the fight the black ooze arrows sprung up from the ground and each arrow
transformed into a normal sized shadowman. Nathaniel wondered if everything the
shadow creatures stole was just used as food to make more shadows. The extra
shadowmen caused the tide of the battle to shift and the Bear lord forces had
to fall back several feet so as to not be swarmed on every side. Doing their
best to keep the enemy in front of them, the soldiers of the forest fought with
all of their might. Nathaniel was unleashing arrows, which would destroy a
shadow in one hit, but worried that each arrow he fired could be used later to
make another shadow creature. Then a shout was heard. Nathaniel and his knights
ran toward the soldier crying out and found it was one of the archers was being
overwhelmed by shadows. He was knocked to the ground and his entire bundle of
arrows was stolen. The thief responsible was already halfway to the portal and
surrounded by other shadows so Nathaniel couldn’t get a clear hit. The downed archer
was dragged to safety and soon after the shadowmen began to withdraw.
Nathaniel knew he had to last till the sixth night alone before reinforcements arrived , but worried if he and his soldiers would last that long.
