In the Dark

The soft glowing blue ambers of faerie fire faded as the magic of the spell she had cast dissipated but it proved more than enough to betray her arrival to her waiting foes.

As the great hall of Gray Haven fell again into unnatural darkness it was not so dark that her elven eyes could not make out her enemy’s advance. The boldest of them charging forward at her, his sword sweeping a wide arch through the air into the space she had occupied in the moment before. A blow that she easily avoided as the blades edge passed overhead catching only shadows.

Another foe joined the fray not even a moment later swinging a great hammer in downward arch. Again a mighty blow that was easily avoided by the priestess. The hammer striking the floor with a resounding crack that produced flickering sparks as the great stone where she stood not a moment before was split in two.

There was briefly an opening in the Knights defense than. A hole in the underside of the shoulder joint of the Knights armor that would allow a skilled swordsmen the opportunity to thrust a blade between the mans ribs and into his heart but Ursa knew the ruse well enough and pulled back quickly putting herself out of reach of the Knight and his companions as the first Knights blade cut through the air where she would have been had she been foolish enough to take the bait.

She hissed sharply as she backed herself against the great halls outer wall dropping at once to her knee watching as the three knights assumed a defensive stance at rooms center joined quickly by three more who took up defensive positions of their own each staring outward into the darkness unseeing. Listening for some wrong step or careless movement on her part that would betray her position.
Veteran warriors without question, well versed it seemed in the arts of war and were skilled in the weapons they wielded. They were also very human and suffered from very human weaknesses.

The first of these being that they needed light to see in the dark and apparently had assumed that she did as well.

The second of these was that as skilled warriors it was clear from their defensive stance that they had not faced a true spellcaster before and were unprepared to defend against magical attacks. In this instance Ursa was prepared having committed to memory a number of combat spells in the days before that she had hoped would give her the advantage when this moment had come. The only problem being that once the spell was cast not only would her foe’s know she was here but so would every vile horror that still called Gray Haven home.

Ursa quickly made the required hand gestures drawing the symbols into the air. “ Tempestas-de-durum glacies! “

The six Church Knights barely had time enough to realizes the danger they were in as a roar filled the Great Hall just before a literal storm of ice and rock slammed into the unprepared warriors. Knocking them from their feet and into the far wall on the other side of the room.

The effects of the spell were sudden and powerful they were also sadly short lived. The magic that had summoned the storm of ice and rock fading almost at once and clearly not enough to overcome the Knights who were already struggling to there feet again.

The silence of Gray Haven had been broken however and the sound of hollow voices and pitiful moans now filling every corridor and chamber of the ruined fortress. The horrors that had slumbered here had been awaken and soon no one here would be safe.

Ursa dashed for the stairs that led to the upper halls. The last time she and her companions had been foolish enough to try and make there escape via the main courtyard and the Iron Gates and had been quickly overwhelmed. It was only in the nightmares that haunted her dreams afterwards that she learned that the safest place she could be was in the Hall of Ladies. The undead guardians of Gray Haven oddly enough unwilling or unable to venture beyond the doorway that marked its entrance.

She had barely reached the top of the stairs when she heard the fighting breakout in the great hall below.

…