Chapter 14: Ghouls in the marsh

The elves killed orcs from the wall all winter and word came from Red Pass that rangers had occupied Motis. When the river ice melted hundreds of orc bodies appeared to float past on the way out to sea. Every time Aveline saw one she would smirk. I finally decided it was time to go and Aveline pointed north through the coastal hills.

We shouldered our packs and walked out to a fresh breeze. We stayed close to the ocean as we headed north into the hills. The hills were covered with short evergreen trees and lots of thick spiny bushes. It was two days before we walked out of the hills. A wide salt marsh stretched to the north and back to the west.

The hills to the west became steep so we finally had to go into the marsh. The first night we got a glimpse of things to come. We were walking on a solid piece of ground and I used my bow to shoot one of the large fish that was following us. It was close to the bank and I grabbed the arrow and pulled it out.

One look and we knew we would not be eating it. It was large and bloated with white dead eyes. It smelled like it had been dead for days and I tossed it back into the water. The other fish went crazy as they went into a feeding frenzy and tore it apart. I looked at Aveline and she shook her head, “We are not wading with them in the water.”

I grinned and turned to start walking, there were few animals and they were all very skittish. We made camp that night but as soon as we ate we put out the fire and climbed into a tree. Before the night was over we had a dozen strange slow moving animals around the base. There were rabbits and small water rodents and even a deer.

What they all had in common was the stench of death and white undead eyes. That kept us up as we expected some to climb the tree. They did not but kept moving around the tree as if looking for a way up. When the sun began to rise we used our bows and killed them. When we climbed down we cut their heads off before removing arrows.

That day it was like we were being forced or directed deeper into the marsh. We killed dozens of the ghoulish creatures as we walked. The deeper into the marsh the more ghouls we saw. After eating dried rations we climbed another tree but this time I sent Aveline higher as I took the first watch.

Again ghoulish animals came to surround the tree and slowly walk around it. In the middle of the night Aveline moved down and I climbed up and leaned against the tree to rest and sleep. In the morning she started using her sling before we used our bows since there were so many ghouls.

After beheading the creatures we started moving. It was noon when we reached an area that was flat with large black twisted trees. We were killing ghouls constantly as we walked. We came out of the twisted trees and into a small clearing. There was a rough hewn stone building like a small temple.

In front of it was what looked like a fire pit except the fire was burning black and reached up a couple of paces into the air. All around the clearing were more ghouls and they all began moving towards us. A ghoulish orc was holding a squirming rabbit as it moved to the fire and dropped it.

We had our swords out and began killing ghouls but I saw the rabbit come out of the fire. It had changed and its eyes were white and looked dead. I stabbed and slashed and kicked with Aveline but stayed beside her as we fought. More creatures came out of the temple and into the clearing, many were ghoulish orcs with a few goblins.

I took the head of a coyote and turned to lunge and stab an orc. That was when I saw the black crystal around its neck. They just kept coming and I finally bumped Aveline, “Back.”

She slid back smoothly and I followed as we continued to fight and kill ghouls. We moved back until we backed onto a narrow piece of ground with water on each side. Each time a ghoul tried to go around the fish attacked. It did not hurt them much but it did cause them to fall. When another orc with a black crystal around its neck approached I swung my sword and hit it.

The crystal shattered and the orc collapsed along with several other ghouls that were close. Aveline pulled on me and I turned and followed as she moved quickly. I was thinking of the fire and those crystals, “We need to return to clearing and that fire.”

She glanced at me and I looked back, “Somehow it is doing this and those crystals are helping.”

She nodded and turned to leap across a watery gap onto another piece of ground. The ghouls still followed slowly as we found another way back to the building and the clearing. Only a few ghouls were in the clearing and three were orcs with crystals around their necks. I moved towards one and stabbed into a reaching arm before turning with the sword and moving.

The ghoul turned with the sword before I shifted and caught the hand and yanked as I continued to turn. It stumbled into the fire and all the ghouls seemed to pause as the fire erupted in a tall pillar. The edge of the flames turned red and orange as the ghoul turned to ash and the fire died.

Half the ghouls in the clearing dropped to the ground and stopped moving. I went after another orc as Aveline followed and killed the other ghouls. This time I stabbed the orc in the gut and turned it before backing it to the fire and then pushing. It fell back and again the fire erupted into a pillar with more red and orange flames around the edge.

I went after the last orc while all the ghouls seemed to be frozen and caught a hand and spun before releasing it. As the orc stumbled into the fire it was consumed like the other ones. The pillar brightened as more red and orange flames appeared. We looked around as all the ghouls fell to the ground.