Drummen looked at Cliffhopper with a serious look. "We have a problem..."
"They're coming... Kill them all. Drummen I know you can hear me... Kill them all."
He nodded. "Yes, Yes... I know..."
"What do you know brother?" Drummen shook his head and cleaned his ear with his finger. "Trolaiths are coming... Not just drones... We're about to be invaded." He turned and looked at Mouse's arm as it mended in front of them. "Mouse... You have to teach me how you do that." He saw Mouse shake his head and cursed. "Why not?" Mouse started to sign at him.
"He said, the only way you can do that, is if your legs were taken, and replaced by trees. If you want, I can do that, but that also means your little brother is going to no longer work."
Drummen cursed and looked at Mouse. "Are you telling me, your precious jewels no longer work?" Mouse nodded, signing. "He said, I lost that ability when I lost my legs and voice."
Drummen turned around and touched the ground. "Stannir we've got a problem."
"How big of a problem." He turned and looked at Stannir. "Say a few hundred to a few thousand... A mix of trolaiths and drones."
He heard the firewarrior curse. "How far away would you say that are?"
"You lot better kill them all. You hear me Drummen? Kill them."
He frowned, scratching his ear. "With how fast they're moving, maybe half a mark or so."
"Everyone get ready for another battle to defend this place." Drummen cursed and looked at the storm and the sea. "Can't we move the storm or something? They seem to be coming from the nearby islands."
"Mouse... The beach is yours. None shall enter the city." Drummen waved his hands, and pointed at the walls. "None of them are getting through these walls."
"I hate to say it, but some of them are flying... We're about to be surrounded by trolaiths and drones." Drummen sighed and took a long drink from his wine skin. "Then, we have to defend and keep this place clear..." He looked up at the moons. "If there is a large number coming this way, that means, the other cities will be almost empty?"
"Drummen you're a genius... If we take them all out here, that means the other cities, we'll be able to save easier... Good job brother." He smiled and scratched the back of his head. "Was just thinking aloud..."
"Doesn't matter... Lets turn these all into ash... No holding back."
"BOOMMM!"
Drummen felt the ground shake... "It seems that some have entered our first line of traps." He turned forming his staff with one hand and looked at the direction of the explosion. He looked at the others as they also prepared.
"Brothers... back line... Take anything out the gets past us, Star anything that flies is dead... Harnio, move that storm of yours and place it around the city walls, preparing to flood the square if needed... Fire eaters and Mouse... Lets go hunting."
"Good Drummen you're listening to me... I'll have something special for you after this... a very nice dream I think." Drummen smiled. "What type of dream are you talking about?"
"One that you will wake from... Hahahaha... Now focus on killing them, and not of the hundreds of possibilities running through your mind. Go to the south of the city... Kill those coming from that direction." He looked at Cliffhopper. "I'm going to keep an eye on the south side of the city..."
"Why that side brother?" Drummen shrugged his shoulders in the air. "No idea... Just my intuition is telling me to go there."
"If lady luck is telling you to go that way, I won't stop you... Just kill them all." Drummen nodded and started running towards the south of the city.
"Let him go Mouse... He knows what he's getting into..."
He turned and smiled at the group. "Don't worry about this monk here. I have tricks up my robes, and I know how to use them... I'll show you all why I'm a guard, and how I keep people here safe." He turned and kept running forming a second staff in his other hand, twirling them around his body. "Mind over staff... We're going to fight for this, and fight hard."
He got to the southern wall of the city, and stood looking at the rows and lines of Trolaiths and drones standing in front of him. He jumped and landed between the wall and them. He leaned on one of the staffs, and looked at the large numbers in front of him. "This looks like a moment, that I need a drink."
"Trust me... You can win this... You have me after all." Drummen looked down and smiled. "Yes. I have a nagging voice inside of me, telling me what to do."
"Is that how you see me?" He turned and stared at the dark haired curly woman as she walked up to him. "So you're going to fight with me?"
"That's correct... We'll both be fighting here..." Drummen nodded. "Than lets kill them all."
"Við skulum breyta þeim í ryk"
"No idea what you said, but I hear anger in your voice... I'm in."
"One day you'll learn this tongue of mine... In more ways than one." He felt his face turning red and picked up a large boulder, throwing it at the lines.
"BOOOMM!" He looked at the hole in the ground, and the hole in the lines smiling at the curly haired woman. "What? It was just a warm up. I'm not showing off to a beautiful woman or anything..."
"Than, how about this for a warm up?" He watched as earth spikes shot through the lines leaving deep scratch marks in the earth. He cursed and looked at her. "How did you do that? You have to teach me."
"You need to have nails for that monk... Monk. I like that better than Drummen." He cursed and watched as the lines started to move forward towards them."
"I don't see any fliers in this area... That's a good thing for us I think."
"How about a clap?"
"A clap? What's that?"
"Watch and learn my handsome monk." He watched as mountains started to grow out of the ground on both ends of the lines. "You start with some mountains, and than you clap."
"BOOOMMMMM!"
Drummen's mouth fell open as he watched the mountains raced together squashing everything in their paths, before exploding and wiping out a lot of the line. "That is a clap."
He smiled. "That one I can do." He picked up his staffs, and started running."
"Monk... Why waste energy in running when the earth can take you? You need to be more efficient you know?" Drummen nodded and looked at the ground. "Lets move..."
"CRRASSHH!"
He cursed as he smashed into the remainder of the front line while the earth continued to push him through the lines. "You want a piece of this monk? Come and try to take me..." He swung his staffs around causing drones and trolaiths to fall to the ground unable to move. He looked back as the earth swalloed the bodies of the fallen, before shooting them at the enemy. "Efficient... Don't waste energy... You need more control."
Drummen nodded, and watched the woman cut through the enemy with earth spikes, before shooting them down as they ran from her. He frowned. "I'm not much of a sharp pointy end type of person..." He threw the staff as it broke through the skull of a trolwaith and swung it into a swarm of incoming drones, causing them to fall back."
"If they were human, I understand... These here are mindless beasts... and corrupted soul batterys... They're not human anymore... Their insides call out to be released... Can't you hear their cry?" Drummen shook his head, while punching a drone sending it back into another group. All I hear is your voice in my head constantly, and I can't get it out."
"Hahahaha... I like that... It makes me feel something towards you... You're lucky... Even though you call me lady luck, you really are lucky." He turned and raised his hand sending large groups into the air. He turned and watched as the woman shot them with large earthen spikes. "You're definitely more fun than others I've met in my lifetime." Drummen threw his staff, and called it back in his hand, using it to break open a skull of a drone attacking his back. "What do you mean?"
"Your not the first one I've been tasked to guide on the path..." He ducked and swung his staff breaking the arms and legs of a jumping trolaith.
"I thought Cliffhopper is my guide for the trials?"
"Hahaha... He is a guide... But his job is to guide you to me... I do the rest."
Drummen cursed and stood up looking at her. He looked at the group coming for him. "STOP IT!" Spikes of earth shot from the ground under him and struck them down... turning them to dust.
"What do you mean? Have I been on this trial, I thought I told him, I don't want any part of it."
"You're cute when you're angry... I like that in a man... I know you didn't want to be a part of any trials... So I was guiding you through my voice... Our trial for you has been very different."
"What do you mean?"
"BOOOMMMMM!"
He looked up as a large piece of earth fell on the enemy line destroying all that were left. "Because, I'm not the only person you're going to meet... Do you remember all the voices in that dark place, when you got those mouths on your feet?" Drummen nodded. "Well, My job is to help you open up and use that gift, to get stronger, so that when you meet him... He won't tear you to pieces."
"Him? Who's him? Is he like your husband or partner?" Drummen felt a sudden pain in his heart. "Hahahaha... No. You could call him a brother of mine... The reason why you needed to be in the south of the city, is because you're about to meet another of my family..."
"Are you all very old grandmas and grandpas, looking to cause trouble for little old me?"
He watched as she walked up to him and touched his cheek with her hand. "I'm not that old, just I age very slowly... Look... Here he comes... Don't be scared or anything..." Drummen smiled at her as he held her hand. "Why would I be scared about meeting your family?"
"Let's just say they aren't the usual type of family people have... Especially since, I have called you mine." Drummen nodded and felt the earth shake. He frowned and looked at where the shaking was coming from.
"This is the one we gave the gift too... You've chosen well." Drummen's face turned white as he stared at the one the woman called her brother. "Hello... thank you for your help with the beasts and drones."
"Welcome to the family kid... It's not a normal family, but you've been using the gift we gave the right way... You really are a guardian of Athlos... There hasn't been a good guardian for a very long time." Drummen smiled meekly. "Thank you sir... I never knew you were the guardians of Athlos... I've never heard of them..."
"We like it that way... It's better... Should I call you brother in law now, or after?" Drummen gulped loudly. "I didn't even know I was married yet..."
"Hahaha... Our culture is different to the ones humans live... Once a woman's mind has made her choice, we men can't argue with them, and just accept it... I don't know about the others, but I'm on your side brother in law."
"What have I got into?"
"That is what the trial is about... To gain our blood... To join our family, and be one of us... You've got to get stronger or the elders will just kill you... Especially our mother..."
"Mother?" Drummen looked at his feet. "Yes... She's been in the human world for a long time, she said she has found someone suitable for our blood, and sent my sister here to find him" Drummen nodded. "Who was that?"
"You... She found you, and my little sister has been chasing after you since then... Don't do my family wrong brother in law... Or I'll come after you for breaking her heart."
Drummen looked at her and smiled weakly. "Looks like I have no choice in this matter?"
"No... Mother has already decided... Go back to them... We have to go on a trip soon. There's an island you need to see... A door you need to look at... That's the end of the trial."
Drummen smiled and looked at them both, while drinking from the wine skin. "A door you say... Well, that doesn't sound difficult at all."
"Depends?"
Drummen looked at the woman in confusion. "What do you mean depends?"
"It depends on what you do, when you see that door... If you do something stupid, than we'll have to kill you, and I'll have my heart broken, if not... Than a lifetime of happiness, joining my family."