In the Blade's Hilt |A tale from Triterra|

Chapter 23 - "More bloody skeletons!"

Zandor smiled unpleasantly.  He pointed his staff at Marianna,  Suddenly, black chains burst forth from the shadows and chained her to the wall.  Her large hammer clattered to the floor.  He rubbed his hands together.

"Now then," he said as he turned towards the three," what do we have here?"

His eyes darted from Jenna, to Blue, then to Ty and then back to Blue.

"Ah, the boy from Swiften, is it?" he asked, his voice never wavering.

"I don't know you!" came Blues reply.

"On the contrary, my spell-stealing friend, I know you all to well"

Blue was confused.  What was this madman talking about?

"Anyway," said Zandor while he nonchalantly checked his nails," While I prefer to stay out of combat myself, I have a few friends that will enjoy your, hm, "company" let's just say"

He tapped his staff on the ground and vanished from sight.  In his place was a dark, swirling portal.  Several skeletons stepped out.  They were holding strange weapons.  As the portal closed behind them, Blue noticed that they were made of bones.  A skeleton holding a bow made from vertebrae and strung with tendons, noticed the trio and gave the cry.  They began to attack.

"More bloody skeletons!" roared Ty in anger.

"TY!" shouted Blue over the sound of bone clashing against steel,"I have an idea, but your gonna have to get all these guys in the same spot!"

"As if things weren't hard enough already!" Ty yelled back as he ducked a swipe from a skull mace.

"Don't worry, I'll help" replied Jenna,  letting fly bolt after bolt from her crossbow.

Ty slowly began to gather a group of skeletons into a corner, with Jenna picking off any stragglers.  When they were all in the same corner, Blue braced himself.  He had only acquired this spell recently, so he was not used to using it.  He cleared his mind and visioned the runes in his head.  He spoke them over and over again in his mind, like a strange, mystical chant.  He felt his hands turn tense.  He guided the feeling to his left foot, where it grew more intense.  A soft brown glow came from his left boot.  Blue slowly lifted his left foot off of the ground.  He looked at the spot of tiled floor where his skeleton enemies were standing.  He suddenly brought his foot down and the glow vanished.  Suddenly, a gigantic spike made of stone erupted from the floor, obliterating the skeletons and sending tiles flying.

"Earth spell, huh?" said Ty as he re-sheathed his blades,"I admit that was a pretty good idea"

"A good idea yes, but a rushed and under-thought one.  I must say that was quite unexpected" said a familiar voice.