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/Under ground in the caverns below the village/
Gorge leaned back against the cavern wall limp with relief. They had barely gotten everyone down
into the tunnels in time. No one in the village had ever expected to be attacked in winter time and in
the middle of the night.
After he got Khyle moving he left their home going out into the night again to warn their friends and
neighbors of the danger that was about to fall upon them. With vampiric speed he went from house to
house and woke the residents fearing that the attack would begin before he could get to everyone. But
he got to the last house without incident, and everyone down into the tunnels through the hidden trap
doors in every home.
They made their way through the tunnels to the main cavern, where the magic users set up the spell for
the golems. This spell had been set in place some time before. Only the final steps had to be completed
for the golems to appear and react like living bodies.
The spell had come to them with one of the unmated Companions that had escaped from a massacre
that had ocurred several years ago. The spell had been reworked until it produced an artificial human
being, from clay, that with the activation of the spell could imitate a real human or vampire. The hope
that all of them had is that in the frenzy of killing that the attackers would not look too closely at the
bodies they were killing.
The Golems had no souls and they were not intelligent but they had basic emotions and reactions. It
was a tricky spell in that the golems had to mimic vampiric and human bodily functions. The spells
that create the golems had been worked and reworked and perfected only this last fall, making a
construct of seeming flesh and blood that was as close to real as possible with magic as the life source.
They could speak with simple words, if you cut them they would bleed. Complicated enchantments
that were almost undetectable caused them to seem even more human with warm skin or vampiric with
cool skin. The bodies would disappear when the spell wore off or in the case of the vampiric golems
they would turn to dust.
With a major storm on the way the attackers would quickly leave the village behind. They wouldn’t
want to remain in a village built by abominations and perversions of nature, being afraid they would be
cursed as well.
The survivors could wait out the storm here and the winter season, they had stores down here long
enough to last a year if need be, as well as seeds for planting. The only thing they didn’t have was the
animals. But they had dried and smoked meat. Starvation would not be a problem.
They had planned well. They had lamps and candles for light and firewood had been laboriously
brought down and stacked. They were fortunate to have discovered the caverns beneath the town.
They had stored as much as they could, as often as they could of everything they had harvested or
made for daily life. Everyone had worked in preparing the caverns for just such a night as tonight.
The question was now whether they wanted to remain in this world and rebuild their village. Take the
chance the Council of Watchers would discover their survival, and try to destroy them again, or open a
portal and go to another world where it would be safer for the Companions as a race.
Gorge wanted to go.
/Take my mate and my sons where we don’t have to worry about being slaughtered for just existing/
It had taken everything in him to keep his demon from fighting the invaders. He was a good fighter,
however the plan called for seeming to be caught by surprise and letting the golems be slaughtered. It
was the same reason they couldn’t use magical alarms and wards.
The council’s representatives would witness the slaughter and they would believe them dead. An
entire race wiped out by the fear, jealousy and hatred of a small group of men who thought they had
the right to do so. Only then would they stop being hunted and slain like evil demons, as a threat to
humanity.
/Make them think we’re all dead, that’s the best way to hide/
The caverns were safe for now.