The Divine War: Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Truth and Reconciliation
    The end of the Loring Pass was met with a steep descending path that shortly leveled off into a small forest.  The start of the path was high enough in elevation that one could see the entrance to the forest all the way to where it ended and the oceans beyond.  Westholme itself could also be seen as it was built on flatland near the middle of the forest in a clearing which was unnaturally cut down long ago by human hands.  It's rectangular wooden wall made it easy to spot in the sea of green swaying leaves.  Beyond the western edge of the forest the trees tapered off into plains.  Further ahead of the plains  the ocean can be seen crashing along the beaches.  

    The three were near the end of the Pass around afternoon.  Sara said, "We should reach Westholme before sundown.  Have either of you felt, I don't know, odd?"

    "No, what do you mean by odd?" Rei asked.

    "It's just this strange feeling I've had for a while.  Like something over the canyon has been watching us.  It almost feels like I can see a fleeting shadow slither to and fro from above."

    "I think the narrow passage is making you see things, Sara," Aralim said.

    "You're probably right.  Never mind me then, let's continue on."
    
    When they emerged from the chasm, they saw what should have been a beautiful scene, but instead what they saw horrified them.
    
    Part of the village's surrounding wooden wall, along with several of the buildings it contained, was on fire!  The trio descended with renewed haste into the forest.  They spoke not a word as they galloped as quickly as they could through the narrow trail through the forest.

    As they got closer to the village, Sara stopped in a clearing where the road widened.  The other two followed suit.  She signaled her hands to her lips and both stayed quiet.   A few seconds passed before she spoke, "Something is following us.  There's rustling in the trees."

    "More bandits?" Rei whispered.

    "Perhaps.  Ready your sword," Sara replied.  She grabbed a handful, at least a dozen, arrows from her horse and stuck them into her quiver.

    Aralim said nothing as she took the black box out of her horse's saddlebag.  She lay the box onto the ground and opened it, revealing twenty of the small containers for her fusil.  She then reached into her coat and wrapped her right hand around the handle of the pistol.

    And then there was silence.  It was near dusk and the sun's rays were no longer powerful enough to illuminate the lurching shadows of the trees.

     Then they came.  From the tendrils of the shadows emerged at least six walking skeletons.  Some still had rotting flesh hanging from their bones.  Rei raised his sword and shield.

    Sara readied her bow and nocked an arrow.  "These things...no costume can render one's flesh transparent!"

    Aralim was stunned, her face whitened with fear.  She managed to stutter out, "It, it cannot be!  The legend is true!  Heaven help us!"  She was frozen with fear and could not even draw her fusil.

    "Don't forget Aralim, Mother's power flows through you!" Sara yelled as she pulled an arrow from her quiver.

    "That's right, don't let your fear make you forget the recitations!" Rei added.

    One of the skeletons skittered close enough to Rei for him to hit and he swung his blade at it.  His sword cut the skeleton in half at the spine and he turned his attention to the others.  Sara shot at one of them and her arrow pierced its skull and knocked it off causing the skeletal body to fall down and immediately shot another one in the same fashion.  The duo easily fought off the skeletons, despite Aralim's inaction.

    "That was almost too easy!  I just bashed one with my shield and it just fell apart!" Rei said.

    Sara had a more worried look and said, "Aralim, we need you to help us!  There is no doubt now that Westholme is under siege by these monstrosities.  Don't let your fear overcome you!"

    Aralim, with a sigh of relief after she realized the skeletons now lay on the floor in pieces, replied, "Okay, I'm sorry I was just shocked."

    "It's okay Aralim, as long as you unders-"

    "Curse my prideful words, I don't want to ruin you two's moment but the skeletons are putting themselves back together!" Rei interrupted.

    "Alright, I know what I must do," Aralim said.  Rei and Sara plugged their ears in preparation for a thunderous scream from her pistol but instead she chanted, "Soulless vessels, return to the Earth, rest and leave the living be, Exorcizamus!"

    The littered bones ceased to move.

    There was a short pause before Aralim spoke out, "...Mom was right!  Everything she said was right!  Gah, then why must I be burdened with this time of trouble?"

    "Aralim, there's no time to cry over your fortune, we must make haste to Westholme before it is razed to the ground!" Sara yelled.

    Their horses were nowhere in sight so they ran to Westholme on foot.  By the time they got there, the eastern half the village had been burned to the ground and many of the villagers were turned into walking zombies.  They fought themselves through to the survivors on the west side using Rei's shield to force a path.  Aralim could only stuff her pockets with five of the fusil clips and still run unencumbered, so she reserved her fire for more desperate times.  Sara had long run out of arrows by the time they had reached the hastily erected barricade that separated the living from the dead and had to make do with the used arrows that were littered all about the ground.

    The barrier was constructed out of a random assortment of materials.  Arbitrarily shaped pieces of wood, scrap metal, and rusted junk made up most of the wall.  The center of the barricade was made of the wall of what appeared to be a tavern.  A single heavyset door allowed any straggling survivors to find safety on the west side.  Archers were on the roof of the tavern.

    One of the archers yelled down to the group, "You three, you appear to still be holding on to life!  We saw you fighting the living dead so we averted our fire from your direction!  State your names and we'll let you enter!"

    "Hail, citizens of Westholme!  I am the High Priestess Aralim, and these are my guardians!"  The archer yelled something down the chimney of a tavern and an old man opened the tavern door.

    The old man beckoned them in and locked the door again.  A heavier man then pushed a bookcase to cover the door.  Several people were sitting on the ground in the tavern, each one had a dagger or rake or whatever makeshift weapon they could find.  The old man apprised them of the current situation as fast as he could speak.

    "Thank Heaven you have come, Priestess!  We were worried our messenger didn't make it to Rasteil, but I believe he is now safer than any of us!  The undead have destroyed half the village and they always rise no matter how hard we crush their bones! Can you help us?"

    Before Aralim could answer, one of the archers screamed down the chimney, "Fire, fire!  The tavern is on fire!"  He and the other archers slid down the chimney and ran out the back door along with everyone in the tavern.  Without the archers staying their lines, the undead crept closer unhindered.

    All the survivors from the tavern huddled around the Priestess and asked her what her plan was.

    "Silence, please!  I need to think!"  She told them.

    She didn't have long though.  The undead had started tearing apart the barricade before she came up with an idea.

    "I think if I can see all of them, I can wipe them all out with one spell," Aralim said as she looked around, "Aha, there, that bell tower!  Rei, Sara, let's get up there!"

    The tower was the tallest structure in the village.  Luckily, it was on the west side so Aralim ran as fast as she could and climbed up.  Sara followed her to the bottom of the tower, but Rei stayed at the barricade to fend off any undead that broke through.  By the time Aralim reached the top, the barricade was already failing at multiple points.  Rei was starting to get overwhelmed as the bones he broke around him kept rising.  The archers were focused on other weak points in the barricade.   Aralim saw all of this and quickly recited, "Heaven's light, purge my sight of sickly blight, Fiat Lux!"

    A great beam of light fell from the sky and burst upon hitting the ground.  All the undead she could see from the tower fell and their bones dispersed into the light.

    She came down from the bell tower to cheers of all the survivors.  Praise was heard all around as the sun's last light faded away.  But she took one step after she got off the ladder and nearly collapsed.  Sara caught her before she hit the ground.

    "Ugh, I feel so tired.  I can barely keep my eyes open.  I think that spell took too much out of me," Aralim said.

    "It's okay Aralim, they're all gone now," Sara said, "You deserve some rest."

    Survivors hiding in the other buildings saw the cleansing light and came out to see what had happened.  There were at least a hundred total survivors, and they had all gathered around Aralim and Sara to kneel in gratitude.

    The old man from the tavern waded through the crowd and told them, "Follow me, you three can rest in my house.  It's one of the buildings still stand-"

    He was interrupted by an earthquake.

    Aralim's eyes shot wide open as if someone had just given her a shot of adrenaline and said, "Wait a minute, mom said that undead are raised by demons to serve them as a personal army.  Why are there undead here but no demon to command them?"

    The ground shook again.