You’ve Got Chain Mail

1. Captain Morgana Silversword

Chapter 1

Captain Morgana Silversword

C aptain Morgana Silversword was dying. She could feel the life leaching out of her with every laboured breath as she lay spent on the stone floor. And as the fight continued to rage around and above her, she regretted that her death wouldn’t be more … heroic.

Dying in battle was never glamorous; Morgana had seen enough of her fellow soldiers fall to know that. But to die from friendly fire because she couldn’t manage to get out of the way? That was particularly embarrassing.

Bone-tired, she looked around at the combat still unfolding in the small cave. The necromancer’s apprentice had retreated into the corner, looking spent. Calamity, who had been responsible for the blaze of fire that had taken Morgana down, had backed herself into a corner. The halfling bard Yorick peeked between her legs as they both fired off spells at three undead enemies advancing on them. Then there was the hulking half-orc Gorlag, whose great axe swung at their enemies from behind.

Morgana smiled as her eyes fluttered closed. They were no longer outnumbered. She may not make it through this, but at least her friends would.

Just as she was sure she couldn’t possibly hold on any longer, she felt a hot breath on her face and two hands on her. A searing pain ripped through her at the contact with her wounds, but it melted away quickly as healing magic coursed over her. She caught a whiff of stale ale and incense, and something tickled her face; she opened her eyes to find it was a wiry dwarf beard.

“I thought I smelled your rotten dwarf breath,” she joked, and Thrormir looked down at her in relief. He offered her a hand, and she took it, staggering to her feet.

Morgana didn’t have much strength, but she had enough to finish what she’d started. She made a beeline for the apprentice, slicing a massive gash in his leg with her great sword. The man dropped to one knee, clutching at his now-bleeding thigh.

“I surrender!” he shouted, his hands held feebly in the air. The sinister superiority he’d shown when he’d raised his undead army against them was now completely gone. “It’s in the fae realm! The catacombs of Thelanoris!”

Gorlag lowered their axe in triumph. They’d all come here for the location of the Supremacy Sphere, created long ago by the apprentice’s master. Now they could let the city guard deal with this nobody whilst they continued their search in Thelanoris, right?

But Morgana didn’t trust it. It had been too easy. And as her companions gathered around the man, interrogating him further, she saw his hands twitch slightly. She readied herself, positioning her weapon again so that the moment a spell formed on his lips, she could strike.

“You’ll never get what you’re after,” he spat. “Many have tried, and many have failed. You won’t find a soul alive who’s lived to tell the tale of their attempt.”

Calamity scoffed and crossed her arms next to Morgana. “We’ll take our chances.”

“And so will I,” the man said, his hands already starting to glow with magic, a spell on the tip of his tongue.

Morgana didn’t hesitate even a moment, bringing her sword down directly on his head, splitting it into two.