Saturday, February 14
Nug's Farm: Part 5 – The Attack
Hillary shut the dogs in, though they were frantic to go with her. They went outside to face Gresty and Atkinson.
Atkinson was an emaciated old man, with gray, heavily wrinkled skin, a scruffy white beard on his chin, and a toothless mouth. Gresty looked much as he had when Kham last saw him; thin, with a small belly that jutted out around his trousers. He had a wild head of gray-brown coarse hair, a scrubby beard and mustache, and very protuberant ears.
Hillary whispered something inaudible. She pointed at the collected goat-men and their cultist masters.
The area surrounding the goat-men was shot through with sheets of roaring flame. The goat-men reeled, screaming and running in different directions as their fur caught on fire. Gresty and Atkinson seemed to find it amusing.
“Why are they laughing?” asked Kham.
Beldin stood his ground in front of them. “Let them come.”
Gresty pointed at Hillary. She clutched her throat, unable to speak.
“That’s it.” Sebastian raised his hands. “I’m putting an end to this—“
“No, wait!” shouted Kham. But it was too late.
“Incendiaries globus!”
A ball of fire engulfed the goat-men, Gresty, and Atkinson. The flames left blackened husks. Only Atkinson still stood. Surrounded by blackened earth, he looked like a lord of hell.
And Atkinson kept laughing.
“Why is he laughing?” asked Beldin.
“I was trying to tell you before they silenced me,” said Hillary. “Those are the Blessed. They are holy to Tizzhet. And Atkinson sacrificed one in a bonfire. I didn’t realize it until I burned them. That’s why Atkinson sent them ahead! He WANTED us to sacrifice them.” She cursed.
In a flash, Kham had his pistols out. He fired at Atkinson, but the old man merely held up a hand. The bullet bounced off of his open palm.
“Why would he want to sacrifice his own people?” asked Beldin.
Kham fired again. Atkinson deflected the shot.
“To summon something more powerful,” Sebastian said morosely.
The ground shook and there was a horrible stench—like rancid meat.
“Oh, no,” said Hillary. She pointed in the direction of the noise. Against the black of the night something even blacker was visible.
“What the hell is that?” asked Kham. [MORE]
Labels: arcanis
posted by talien at
7:33 AM
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