Here I am again, with yet another chapter for "Medieval Cohesion". It'd seem like our little group of heroes are about to encounter a very familar face, while searching for the traitor Gary. Who could it be? I'll leave it up to you to find out!

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Chapter 32 - The familiar face

It’s early afternoon, and the sun shines brightly, with only few clouds blocking the sapphire blue sky. Fresh air fills our nostrils from the gentle breeze meeting our faces, as it passes through the open field. My eyes follow tiny winged insects that occasionally fly past my sight as I walk on the road leading to the north. The five of us travel closely, side by side, as a gathered group. Fortunate for us, whatever heat that the sunlight provides doesn’t cling so well to my region, compared to how things are in the desert. Everything seemed peaceful around here, and we didn’t expect to find any enemies lurking in this area. But according to the bartender that we found by the ruined tavern, Gary should’ve moved further north along this road, possibly to lead his undead minions towards another town or village to destroy. I certainly hope that the bartenders words could be trusted, since being misguided by false information could have severe consequences at the moment. But I didn’t see any reason for the bartender to lie. His beloved tavern was burned down by the person we seek, so I can imagine that he is just as eager to see him defeated. But our success is far from guaranteed. We have no idea how powerful these undead minions are, but we’ve definitely witnessed that Gary is a formidable fighter, despite of his old age.

We’ve once again made it to the point where fields of wheat stand at both sides of the road, flowing like waves of the ocean because of the gentle breeze. In this area, there were a couple of lonely farms found at random locations, but it was difficult to tell which field belonged to what farmer. I can imagine that this is something they just keep track of locally. Every house in the area seemed awfully quiet though, as if it was abandoned. Perhaps the people living here has evacuated and moved to a nearby town, to stand a better chance of survival. With the undead roaming around in this region, it’s by no means safe to live out here in the open. If they were attacked in their homes, there’d be completely defenseless, and their wooden farms with roofs made of stray are very vulnerable to fire. Since Gary and his undead minions supposedly have passed through this area not so long ago, it was likely that the unusual silence hinted that everyone had already been killed around here. But the farms were still fully intact and there was no signs of battle. Also, the buildings looked like they’ve been abandoned for days, and Gary should be no more than a couple of hours ahead of us. Taken into consideration that it’s been a while since our last meal, we were tempted to search the abandoned farms to find out if anything edible had been left behind. But our time was very limited, so we couldn’t allow any further delay to take place.

Every time that I walk past small humble farms like these, it always brings back fragments of memories from my past. Back when I was a young and energetic cub, I lived in a farm like this myself, alone with my noble and loving father. My mother suffered from a terrible disease and perished only a couple of weeks after having given birth to me. So I never really got to know her. Having lost his beloved mate for life, my father became deeply depressed and lonely, despite that he had plenty of time to prepare for this sorrow. Right after my mother died in her bed, my father decided to raise me on his own. We’ve always been a poor little family, but after having lost his wife, my father needed something in his life to keep him going. Someone to love and fight for. That someone was me. Throughout my early childhood, we quickly became very close and emotionally attached to each other. He took great care of me and worked hard to make sure I had food to eat every day. Even if the only way to accomplish that was to spend days with an empty stomach himself. He was a very selfless, warm and empathetic man. And with no doubt, the greatest father that a young fox such as myself could ever have asked for.

Despite that we lived in a lonely farm close to a forest, my father was not a simple peasant. He was a brave warrior and a holy man. Just like I, he had a noble profession given to him by the king himself, and he was recognized for his excellence in combat. Unfortunately, even though working for the king sounds like a profession that would get you rich in no time, it’s a service that receives a surprisingly low pay. The king will only offer his ultimate trust to those that possess a desire for greater glory and honor. People who only desire gold pieces cannot be relied on, since they are very likely to abandon the kings side when he needs them most. To prove their deep loyalty, the knights that the king trusts most must accept to live by a low pay, before they’re allowed to obtain a high and respected rank within the army. This rule definitely also applies for the kings royal bodyguards. Thankfully, the king supplies his loyal defenders with the required equipment, so they won’t have to worry about that with their low pay. Even today, I still remember that my father kept an old and extremely posh armor hidden away in a locked room. It was from his days of glory, given to him by the king himself. I was so proud of my father, and he inspired me to one day become a knight myself. It became a huge and significant dream for me to tread in my fathers footsteps.

My father smiled with pride and approved of my ambitions of becoming a noble knight such as himself. Every now and then, he’d bring me behind our humble farm and train me in the art of combat. I was no more than 8 years old at this time, but the weapons we used were nothing more than harmless sticks found in the nearby forest. It was first much later in my life that I was given the chance to wield my very first blade. My father always focused on teaching me how to block and deflect attacks. Whenever I grew impatient and asked him to train me in the art of offense, he told me that a true knight is a protector, whose primary choice will always be to defend rather than attack. He taught me how to keep my head cool during combat, and never let my inner desire to inflict damage upon my opponent lure me into reckless attacks, that leave me open and vulnerable. Though he did train me by the code of knighthood, it was clear that deep inside, he just wanted to make sure that I was able to protect myself in combat. Despite having approved of my desires of becoming a knight, his greatest fear was that I’d one day wind up dead, if I were to face an opponent stronger than myself. He may have been my idol and mentor, but not once did he forget that he was also my father.

Unfortunately, these are all the memories I have of my early childhood. My past has always been a mystery, even to myself. I was orphaned before becoming a teenager, since my father somehow perished back when I was young. But despite how strange this will sound, I can’t remember how he died. What ashamed me most is, I can’t even recall his name. This might make me seem incredibly insensitive at first, but according to the people that recovered me after my fathers death, I was involved in an accident that left me behind with a bad case of amnesia. Because of this, fragments of my memory from the past has disappeared, making it hard for me to connect what memories are left. I don’t remember anything about any accident, but when I asked people into it as a child, they said that a boy of my age shouldn’t worry about such things. Once I grew older, my mind was occupied with a lot of other things, so the question faded to the back of my memory and was never asked. Assuming that we get out of this war alive, I might want to look deeper into my past one day, and recover the missing pieces of my memory. For some reason, it feels like I have forgotten something of great importance, and it frustrates me to no end that I can’t recall it. But nevertheless, I suppose this is something I’ll have to worry about in the distant future.

As I was distracted by thinking about the past, and struggling with the missing pieces in my memory, Sinqularis the shaman suddenly noticed my mental absence. My somewhat emotionless expression might’ve concerned him a little. While we were walking down the road between the fields of wheat, he walked up to my side and placed a hand on my shoulder. The physical touch shocked me as if I was caught dreaming during sleep. My eyes blinked and I turned my head swiftly from side to side, looking around in confusion before fixing my sight on the shaman. Once we had eye contact, the shaman tilted his head slightly and had his long hair hang down, looking at me with his one eyebrow raised.

Sinqularis: Are you alright, Wesley?
Wesley: Yeah, don’t worry. I was just thinking about something.
Sinqularis: Is it something you’d like to share?
Wesley: Naw, it’s nothing. Just personal things.
Sinqularis: As you say, my friend. But remember, if whatever you’re thinking about bothers you, don’t hesitate with getting us involved. We’re your friends, and you can count on our support.
Wesley: Thank you very much. I will keep that in mind.

He send me a friendly nod and smiled, before walking back to Zephyr’s side. Our journey down the road resumed quietly from there, at least for a while. By now, we just went past the somewhat hidden passage that led through the wilderness, leading directly to the disgusting bog in which we were ambushed by zombies. We have certainly no intentions of going back to there. But this means that from here on, we’re heading into an area to the north that we haven’t visited before. I sense we’re still on the right track, in our pursuit of Gary and his undead minions. My intuition tell me that it won’t be long now before we will have to face him. There are no longer fields of wheat on each side of the road. The road proceeds out in the open with many wild growing flowers and a beautiful lake in the distance. Even from this distance, we can see ducks swimming in the lake, and lots of water lilies are floating on the surface. We had apparently moved into a rather uneven terrain, as the road went up small hills and occasionally around them. Though slightly tricky to traverse, at least it was a wonderful and enchanting landscape to watch. The nature around us was rather untamed, growing wild. Some of the wild vegetation had even been able to burst through the road we travel on, during its growth. Whoever is supposed to maintain the road within this area, obviously doesn’t come around these parts too often.

Raksasha was quite interesting to observe, however. This was very clearly the first time she had traveled through such a lush terrain. She examined everything closely like a curious puppy, and seemed irritated by constantly having to catch up with our group. Unfortunately, this is no time for thorough exploration. But she was fully aware of that. Time passed, and the road heading north eventually lead us into a small woodland area, with trees and bushes on each side. There wasn’t all that much growth here. But while we passed through the area, our ears suddenly caught a disturbing noise of something going on nearby. There was something going on in this forested area. We all stopped and listened. None of the sounds seemed like anything we could recognize, but something definitely felt wrong about this. Letting our curiosity take over, we all left the road and pushed over way through the bushes, making our way to the location where the loud commotion came from. We chose to approach this with discretion, treading carefully to avoid making unnecessary noises ourselves. Few minutes later, we pushed away the branches of the final bush blocking our way, looking into an open area where we found a person that seemed incredibly familiar.

Inside the open area, we found the traveling sorcerer named Archimedes, the mysterious lemur that we met on our way to the desert. He was still holding onto that strange book that he for unknown reasons bring where ever he goes. But something wasn’t right. The expression on his face displayed great anger, and his sharp teeth were exposed. While holding the open book in his one hand, his second hand seemed to emit a magical glow. He was obviously in a battle position. But who is he fighting? Once we looked in the direction that he was facing, our question was answered. He had apparently been ambushed and cornered by a group of undead skeletons. Not quite the most difficult enemies to face, but they often attack in numbers, making it hard for one person to deal with alone. Especially when unarmed. Most of the skeletons were armed with round wooden shields and old rusty weapons. But a few of them standing in the back had bows equipped for ranged attacks. They all approached him slowly, attempting to surround him. His orange eyes started to glow. Despite that this forested area was somewhat isolated from the wind because of the nearby trees, the sorcerers black mantle motioned, as if it was grazed by a gentle breeze. He was obviously drawing magical energies to his location. Though I didn’t really know the guy, my sense of honor made me want to jump into the fray and back him up in battle.

Before we had the chance to interfere with this battle taking place, several of the skeletons charged forward to attack their greatly outnumbered opponent. Equipped with swords, axes and maces, they attacked him from all directions. But the sorcerer was surprisingly agile. We watched as he ducked into a crouching position to dodge the first blow. Since the enemies fight so closely, the mace swung at him crashed into an unprepared enemy on the other side, making the fragile skeleton fall apart. Right after Archimedes came back up on his feet, he swayed from side to side, and occasionally sidestepped to dodge swords and axes being swung dangerously close to him. All in one swift blur of motion. Once the skeletons eventually gave him a little space and a few seconds to think, he grabbed the opportunity to unleash a devastating spell. From our hiding place behind the bushes, we watched as the sorcerer conjured a pillar of fire, circling around his body. All the skeletons staggered backwards, intimidated by his barrier of flames. Only a few moments later, the pillar of fire burst into a small nova, expanding around the sorcerer. No enemy was prepared for this, and none were able to dodge it. There was no escaping this nova of fiery death. It was a guaranteed hit.

Every enemy in the open area was struck the fiery nova, and some of the fragile skeletons fell apart, leaving only a pile of bones and equipment behind. But a few of the skeletons were only damaged by the spell and could still continue the battle. The flaming nova had turned their undead bodies on fire, but they still charged forward to attack the sorcerer again, desperately attempting to kill him. Archimedes staggered backwards and swayed each time the burning skeletons swung their weapons to attack. He was with no doubt a powerful sorcerer, but I noticed that if the enemies keep him too distracted, he won’t have time to conjure his spells. As most mages, I believe he has no fighting skills at all, and is forced to rely on his magical abilities. With that said, I would think he makes himself awfully vulnerable by traveling alone, with no warriors to keep his opponents busy. Sorcerers are generally fragile and defenseless, and thus, they should never be engaged in melee combat. But then something horrible happened. While the two burning skeletons kept Archimedes busy, a skeleton archer that somehow survived was taking aim on the sorcerer from afar. I gasped as I saw the arrow fly through the air, targeting his torso. The tip of the arrow disappeared into his chest, and it came with such force that it shoved the sorcerer back and nailed him against a tree. He groaned in pain and dropped his book on the ground, before sagging slightly. The poor guy didn’t stand a chance.

Wesley: Come on, we’re going in!
Zephyr: That’s what I hoped you’d say…
Paul: Quick! We can’t let them finish him off!

Though I regret our long moment of hesitation, we finally decided to rush in and help the sorcerer out. But by now, it was probably too late. Only few would survive having an arrow drilled into their chest like that, especially that close to the heart. The remaining undead seemed surprised as the five of us charged out of the bushes with our weapons equipped, but they quickly turned towards us to fight. As I ran forward to attack one of the skeleton warriors, I swung my sword with all my might, but I felt my arm shiver as the blade struck the hard bones. Unfortunately, swords are far from the best weapons to fight skeletons with. I gasped and staggered backwards as the skeleton raised its mace to deliver a devastating counter attack. But before it got the chance, a gigantic axe suddenly slammed down and crushed the skeleton with its extreme weight, making bones burst in all directions. Raksasha was holding onto the shaft of the gigantic axe, panting softly, while the axe’s head was stuck in the soft soil. The next moment, we heard the sound of another arrow flying through the air, which got stuck in Raksasha’s small wooden shield. That was a close one. Raksasha snarled with her teeth exposed, before slowly raising her large axe from the ground again.

But before she had the chance to get her revenge, the shaman suddenly leaped down in front of the skeleton archer, and swung his willow staff at its boney body. The blunt attack broke its ribcage, making the skeleton stagger backwards, before finally collapsing. The willow staff he has equipped is by no means powerful, but at least it can help him against weaker undead such as these. Zephyr had engaged the last skeleton warrior in combat, but just like my sword, his spear wasn’t too effective against their skeletal bodies. But he found an alternative way to defeat it. Taking advantage of the spears length, he plunged it directly into the skeleton warriors ribcage, until the spear’s head got stuck. Then he swung the skeleton over his head, smashing it violently down into the ground behind him. The skeleton’s body shattered upon impact, causing the skull to pop off and roll across the ground. This concluded our small fight with the remaining skeletons. The sorcerer’s powerful nova of fire almost wiped them all out, so there wasn’t much left for us to deal with. But once we regrouped and turned towards Archimedes, I released a soft sigh, as I watched him pinned against the tree by the arrow. His eyes were closed and his body was sagging lifelessly. We should’ve rushed to his aid when there was still time. But for a moment there, I actually thought he had everything under control. They were just too many.

Another brave soul has been claimed by Zervas’ undead legions. And inevitably, many more lives will be taken in the nearby future. But before we went back to the road and continued our journey to the north, there was one thing left that I had to do. We can’t just leave the poor guy like this, having him nailed against a tree by an arrow. He has helped us in the past and showed great bravery in combat. The least we could do was pulling out the arrow and carry him away, so that he can receive a proper burial. Since no one else felt comfortable with doing this, I stepped up to the tree, standing in front of the dead sorcerer. By the looks of it, half of the arrow was stuck inside his chest. That must’ve hurt tremendously. But as I grabbed onto the arrow and wanted to pull it out, I was dangerously close to scream as the sorcerer suddenly raised an arm and grabbed my wrist, startling me greatly. He apparently wasn’t dead yet.

Archimedes: Watch it, fox.
Wesley: Hey, you’re alive! Are you alright?
Archimedes: Yeah. Would you mind pulling that thing out?
Wesley: Of course. This might hurt a bit…

The sorcerer clenched his teeth a bit in pain as I pulled the arrow out slowly. Once it popped out of his chest, I was surprised to see that there was no blood on the tip. What confused me even more, was that Archimedes just brushed the dirt of his shoulders, not seeming wounded at all. Then he reached down to grab his book again, holding it under his arm while facing us. Just as confused as I, Paul asked a question.

Paul: Uh, are you immortal or something?
Archimedes: No. Just remarkably difficult to destroy.
Paul: How do you mean?
Archimedes: Pardon my rudeness, but that doesn’t concern you.
Paul: Fair enough, sir.

While we all faced the sorcerer, his eyes slowly examined our group, but eventually fixed on Raksasha. He looked up and down her body.

Archimedes: It’d seem like your group has become even more unusual since last we met. Quite intriguing.
Wesley: It’s a long story.
Archimedes: I’m sure it is. That reminds me, I never got to ask you, where are you bold adventurers heading off to?
Sinqularis: We are on a quest to gather allies to support us in the war against the lich king Zervas.
Paul: And at the moment, we’re trying to track down a certain traitorous scumbag, who is responsible for having lead undead minions into towns and villages, killing everyone that stand in his way.
Archimedes: Hmm…

Archimedes suddenly became very silent and seemed lost in thought. About half a minute later, he finally spoke to us again.

Archimedes: So you seek to destroy the dreadful lich king, eh?
Wesley: That is correct, yes.
Archimedes: Well, I guess that makes us allies then. I too have a score to settle with that undead wretch.
Wesley: I think we all have. But are you saying that you also are traveling around the world to search for ways to eliminate Zervas?
Archimedes: True. I can see that you had more luck than me, in your attempts to gain the trust of the barbarians. Well done.
Wesley: Each alliance we create, raises our mutual chance of survival. Since we’re apparently allies, why don’t you join us on our quest?
Archimedes: Hmm. Well, I don’t see why not. As long as joining you will lead me to Zervas, I will follow you anywhere you go. It’ll be my pleasure to accompany you, and stand by your side as a comrade.

With a barely noticeable smile on his face, he reached his gloved hand out, offering me a firm handshake. I looked over my shoulder to check on the others’ reaction. Everyone smiled or nodded to confirm that they approved of our new and somewhat mysterious ally. Not even Raksasha seemed to have anything against it, despite that barbarians are known for resenting all types of spell casters. He may not be the most cheerful and lively person that I’ve met, but we could certainly use an ally with such a potent magical expertise. Something makes me think that the fiery nova we witnessed earlier was just a preview of his ultimate capabilities. While facing Archimedes, I found it difficult to keep my eyes off his large and thick tail resting on the ground, naturally decorated with black rings. It was very unusual to find a lemur with such a well grown tail, but it sure looked soft and plushy. Now that the sorcerer has decided to join our group, it is time for us to continue our journey. We still have a very important unfinished matter to deal with. And every second we delay, increases the risk that Gary might escape us again.