The trap

The plan was for to lay a trap by using the hoard soul stone. Caine would no doubt be the one to handle the stone personally, and that would be to our advantage.

The options that arose to me were to use explosives in a box. The use of black powder was promising, but no one here was skilled to craft a contraption for the means to my idea.

The one that was settled on was to lace the stone with poison, one so deadly that even by touching it, it could kill. Poisonous plants were to be collected and distilled to create something more potent. The stone would then be coated with poison and handed to Caine. The plan was not fool proof, but Caine would expect assassins lying in wait and would be guarded. In al the commotion of that, Caine would be able to escape.

I noticed he didn’t wear any armour at the meeting the other day, so if we handled the poison coated stone with leather gloves, the poison would not affect the holder. Caine would handle the stone, then the poison would absorb through his skin and into his bloodstream, incapacitating him in a matter of moments, then ultimately killing him.

Luckily there were some skilled chemists at the apothecary to make the potent and dealt poison, next the soul stone was handled with care to be coated in the said poison. The stone was then safely secured in a box, to discern anyone from touching it further.

The word was sent out that we had the hoard soul stone for the Ghanral kingdom, this came a good time, as they advanced further into Steelton’s territory. The enemy had made great strides, taking over towns with their larger numbers. It was hard to predict when they would have made it to Steelton to begin a long and arduous siege.

I wanted Caine to expect the expected, so to speak. So I arranged for a small number of my warriors to hide a distance away from the meeting. The plan was the ‘****’ attempt to be foiled, leading Caine into a false sense of security, thinking that he had seen this coming and stopped it. This could help us with his arrogance at overlooking that the stone was deadly to touch.

We rode out to meet the Ghanral’s commander and Caine with a small number of their soldiers as protection. There were four wagons carrying dead soldiers of Steelton, a couple of wolvir corpses and even some of the Ghanral troops. They were piled high atop of each other, threatening to burst out of the confines of the vehicle. Perhaps this was a show of ****, but why is there Ghanral soldiers mixed with the others?

I made sure to hide some of my warriors in wait, not fully concealing them, so they could be discovered, but just enough so they weren’t standing in the open suspiciously.

Caine wore a smug smile on his thin lips, he was positively beaming at his victory. He stood with guards around him, wearing simple grey robes, the black cross on his head looked like a target for me, I found out difficult not to throw my axe at him.

The hoard soul stone was safely tucked away in the leather satchel that I wore. I also wore my leather gloves, along with my armour. I wanted Caine to think I had outfitted myself for a skirmish.

“Fenrin. So glad you have come to give me what is mine.” He said in a mocking tone. “We could have avoided all this bloodshed, if I thought to offer you wealth in exchange for it, like I did the orc that you killed.”

I stood composed, donning a furious and stubborn furrowed brow, indicating that I was raging at having to give him the stone. I glanced to the hills, making it somewhat obvious that I was looking at something. Caine noticed this, a disgusting toothy smile spread wide on his face.

He then indicated to the wagons of dead soldiers, the Ghanral men around them smashed the fencing on the end of the wagons that caused the corpses to spill onto the ground. The lifeless bodies fell over each other, colliding onto the field with heavy thuds.

“As you can see, the efforts of this war show that you are not capable of fighting against the might of the Ghanral kingdom.” Caine looked towards the hills, where my warriors were concealed, indicating that they were waiting for a command to attack, but that command would never come.

“I expected as much from a mongrel such as yourself.” He gestured to the hills. “Stand down, or the men surrounding them will kill your men.”

“Wait, no need to kill them. They will leave.” I told him.

I gave the order with a raised hand to stand down and retreat.

“Running away?” Caine mocked. “With your tail between your legs. Just how you should be.” He then took out his hand, open palmed and waiting for me to fill it.

“The stone, if you please.” He said in that same mocking tone.

I showed disdain at performing this action, and delved my gloves hand into the leather satchel, pulling out and revealing the blood red stone. It glistened in the sunlight, reflecting the rays in an almost horrific yet spectacular sight. I could smell the concoction of poison on it, my senses were greater than a humans, being able to smell and hear far better. I hoped that Caine would not notice this before I handed it to him.

I carefully walked to Caine, the men closed in around him, on guests in case I attacked. Archers had nicked their bows, aiming them at me, the bowstrings became taught with tension as arrows were placed, readied to be fired. I have no reason for them to attack, making slow and steady movements, my other hand was not even on the hilt of my weapon.

I placed the stone in his open palm, not reacting to how he now held poison. He gripped the stone firmly, and I slowly backed away, my hands outstretched to show I have no cause for battle. I reached the rest of my men, and the Ghanral troops relaxed.

Caine began to laugh, a deep and maniacal sound escapes his throat. I could help but give the slither of a smile, knowing this was the last time he would be laughing.

“To think, I would finally have this in my possession.” He looked at me with a devious stare. “I commend you trying to poison this stone, hoping that it would kill me.”

My face dropped, how did he know, and why was he looking so pleased.

“You don’t think a warlock such as myself would be immune to all manners of poisons? I have dabbled in methods of poisons for years, creating a decoction with my apprentice to be immune to such ways of killing. This will not kill me.”

And as to prove his point, Caine licked the soul stone with his disgusting tongue, lapping up the poison on the exterior of the stone. He didn’t react to it, showing that what he said was true, he could not be killed by poison.

“King Atlus will be pleased that I have the stone, and the next phase of the plan will come into motion.”

“What do you mean?” I said to him.

“I’ll give you a taste of what’s to come.” Caine then held the hoard soul stone close to his chest, he dropped his head and his eyes rolled back into his skull, showing the whites of them. He then chanted in an unknown dialect, murmuring under his breath. The air thickens with tension and something like a foreign forces, like static travelling around us. An energy emanated from him, something powerful and diabolical, it caused my fur stand on end in anxious trepidation.

I noticed movement from the littered corpses, and heated pained groaning. And to my surprise and disbelief, one of the armoured dead rose to its feet. The eye sockets were hollow, no life could be seen behind them, but it was standing. It groaned out again, and shambled slowly towards us. Then all of the dead bodies began to rise up, as if were asleep and waking up from a deathly slumber. Chinks of flesh were missing from their bodies, fatal wounds scarring them, showing how they might have died. Even the wolvir corpses rose, their fur matted and mange evident on their coats.

The corpses held broken and damaged weapons from the battles they fought when they were once alive.

This was beyond with what I thought this encounter would pan out to be. We were now dealing with the undead.