Salinaar - Turn 22 

High above the valley, the figure took the brass telescopic sight away from his eye and fixed it back onto his long thin rifle. Turning back, he headed over to the gathered troops…

The leader of the troop pulls himself into something vaguely approaching attention and then tips his hat to Maurice. The head revealed when the hat is removed brings a whole new meaning to the term 'clean shaven'. Maurice motions for the officer to speak.

"When do we chargess?" lisps the very off-colour officer.

Maurice looks at him in the eye. "Right I've had enough of this. The entrance is in a canyon okay? Charges down sheer cliffs are right out of the question."

"But the cavalry awayss chargess to the rescssue."

"I am beginning to regret giving you any sentience. Listen to me before I make you wish you'd never been raised. You cannot charge down into the canyon."

The corpse slumps and lets out a breathy and slightly moist sigh. Maurice rolls his eyes and continues, "Ok, how about this. We charge carefully and quietly along the ridge and then eventually down into the valley leading the horses and then once in the canyon proper you can mount up and charge noisily in an heroic and more importantly futile fashion."

The eye of the officer seems to gleam and he manages to straighten his rotting body slightly. "Now thash the Cavalry way shirr!"

The officer wheels smartly and shambles back towards his troops. "Get ready to move out boysh." The gleaming skulls of the 'boys' reveal exactly what fate befell this cavalry advance scouting party at the hands of the natives…

"Well?" declares Reaver, awaiting an answer to his question.

Salinaar just glares at him and stays near the body of Mystery Knight. It is Celestial who eventually answers him.

"The name's Celestial Clayark. My friends call me 'Lez'. You can call me Celestial. I'll tell you who gave us your 'address,' if you let us go."

"No," says Reaver, "I think you'll find that you'll tell me or you'll die. That is the choice you currently face."

The charge is most impressive, the sound of wavering bugles reverberating through the canyon as the dead twelfth cavalry on its equally dead horses pounds towards the huts situated in front of the mine entrances.

With practically all the gang within the mines, the action is somewhat of an anti-climax.

Out of one of the huts steps Old Joe, the most elderly member of the gang and the one responsible for all the cooking. He stands there in his apron gawping open mouthed at the decayed figures in blue on their decayed horses, rushing towards him.

Maurice is not with the charge. He is with two of his zombie guards off to one side of the canyon, knelt on a boulder. He is staring down the scope of his long rifle and rests his bead on the Old Man who is reaching for the metal dinner triangle which hangs from the porch of the hut.

The rifle crack is not even heard by the old man for the bullet rips through his chest and his blood paints his already dirty apron, the sound only reaching him as he slumps back through the doorway.

"But the cavalry mush chargess!" lisps the officer and Maurice grits his teeth and clenches a fist. "Look how big is this?" he declares pointing into the mine tunnel. "And do you think you'll be able to charge on horseback through there!"

The semi-sentient zombie cavalry officer shrugs and says, "We alwaysh chargess."

"Alright then," says Maurice using a similar tactic to before, "how about this. We leave the horses out here and charge on foot, only we'll be charging slowly and carefully…"

"Well I guess we need a diversion," hisses Remagen to Running Farwhey. Pointing to the crates before her, she continues, "And I think I've found one."

"Someone coming," warns the native indicating back down the tunnel they came down. He listens closely and adds, "Many someones coming…"

As Celestial continues talking to Reaver, Salinaar pumps as much of his curative power as possible into Mystery Knight. Suddenly with a roar, Mystery Knight bursts up from his prone position with Deliverance flying into his hand. As he does so Celestial reacts with great speed and leaps upon him to try and restrain him with the words, "Eh mate don't, you wus nearly dead! Have you got a death wish? Those bluddy bang stick bluddy kill! As much as I hate to admit this, I likes you, you've got the balls of a dwarf!"

"Geg og go ge gu grick!" growls Mystery Knight trying to raise his weapon.

Reaver's men are throwing glances the way of their leader as Mystery Knight and Celestial argue.

Reaver seems to have run out of patience and declares, "Oh just kill them!"

At that moment from across the other side of the cavern comes the sound of shots being fired as Remagen and Farwhey run across to the barrels on the right hand wall, the female detective firing back towards the crates.

With a mighty grunt of effort Mystery Knight flings Celestial to one side and brings his blade up, some of Reaver's men having turned to where the shots are coming from. As shots are fired towards him, Mystery Knight mentally orders the sword. It does as requested and flames lick around it and then suddenly intensify to rush forth in a burst of fire aimed at the men. Several are knocked back from their feet by the resulting Flame Burst. As Salinaar charges to hack through the pistol arm of one of the figures with Reaver, Mystery Knight turns his blade on Reaver himself intending to send forth a Flame Ball only for Deliverance to instead be drawn off to the right.

"Can't have you having all the fun without me," says Maurice towards Remagen and Running Farwhey as he enters the cavern surrounded by some twenty undead figures in cavalry outfits.

"Get out of the way!" shouts Remagen as she continues to fire at the crates, wood splinters flying as the bullets strike them. Running Farwhey has ducked down behind the barrels as shots are fired at the two of them from some of Reaver's gang.

Deliverance has lost all interest in Reaver and following its orders and instead starts to send forth flame bolts in the direction of the undead it has sensed. Such is its fury it speaks… but it speaks through the mouth of Mystery Knight who bellows, "FOOLS! I deliver my retribution! Feel the flames and burn in hell forever! Scream as the fire consumes you and understand the power of Deliverance!"

Maurice gives off a little yelp as first the second undead on his left is struck by a flame bolt and is knocked from its feet and then the one directly to his left. "We chargesss, declares the undead officer as he and most of the rest of his unit start to shamble at as fast a charge as their decayed legs will allow towards the members of the gang. Maurice follows them, but to one side, as the flame bolts from Mystery Knight's Deliverance continue to drop the zombies into burning heaps.

Celestial hacks with his axe into the side of one of the men as Salinaar continues to fight forwards towards the other tunnel exit.

Despite a gunshot wound to her side, Remagen continues to fire at the crates and it all pays off when suddenly one of the crates goes up followed by those around it.

KABABABOOM!BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!CRASH!

Wood splinters fly in all directions, the explosion destroying several of the zombies and blowing Maurice from his feet and sending him dangerously close to the edge of the shaft. It also kills a few of the gang and much of the cavern roof around the tunnel exit the party entered by is brought down in billowing clouds of dust, blocking that exit completely.

Salinaar and Celestial bloodily demolish the last of the men who entered with Reaver and head for the tunnel which Reaver went back down when all hell broke loose. They find that it goes for about thirty feet before it comes to a crossroads which is littered with rotten and broken wooden planking as if at least two of the tunnels had been boarded up until only a few weeks ago…