Close to the Gods

The mist just cleared in front of them and Eolar suddenly could see the structure in the distance. The sun was just setting behind the fortified church giving it a mystic aura of orange light. It was breathtaking. High up the mountain he would be close to St.Cuthbert!

The plan was simple. With this group of battle-hardened fighters it should be no problem to take the church in no time. After preparing for battle they started to jog up the mountain. He could see Thesis, Durin and Bodush vanish and smiled. He knew they are on their way to the building to be able to attack from inside as soon as the others reached the fortifications. They just made it one third of the way when the arrows started to come towards them. As if this could stop them! Dodging a few they continued uphill.

They just made it half way when Eolar saw a fireball explode inside. Something must have gone wrong. The plan had been simple and clear! They should wait for the remaining people to arrive before giving away their presence! Chen and Wer already started to run full speed. Eolar could hear Elogyn breathing hard next to him and also started to speed up.

The next seconds he could see the amount of arrows dwindling and the noise of fighting now could be heard from inside the walls. He could just make out Durin and Thesis flying up and down above the towers, engaged in battle. By the explosions from inside he could guess where Bodush was. What had gone wrong? Were the defenders able to purge invisibility? Did they have powerful clerics or sorcerers? Running on, he went through the list of spells he had prepared last night. Elogyn was close to exhaustion next to him.

Wer and Chen had reached the building and a snow storm broke lose above one of the towers. He tried to run faster! Just a few more feet.....