english journal 8 (1/08) the gunnery washington, connecticut

He cave itself was nothing special. It was a typical limestone cave formed by running water.But it was deep and dark, almost unnaturally dark. It did not make the sorcerer pleased to seethe unnatural dark. He feared that another sorcerer could be helping the bandits and using hismagic to keep the cave unnaturally dark.The sorcerer stepped into the cave and immediately cast a spell to help him see in theunnatural dark. “Light of the holy one above, whose light is as brilliant as the dawn, grant meyour saving light. Holy Light.” With the completion of the incantation a small orb of lightappeared over the sorcerer, lightening up the area considerably.The cave was long, possibly a league long, and filled with many nooks and crannies. Thesorcerers knew that getting to the end of the cave without detection would be impossible,unless the bandits didn’t have sentries, a slight possibility. He did not really care though. Letthem know that I’m coming he thought to himself. Let them know that their doom is at hand.With that final thought he began the long walk to the end of the cave, not knowing that morethan just humans inhabited the cave.As soon as the sorcerer stepped just a few steps a hoard of goblins came out of hiding, theirprimitive clubs raised in an attack stance. The sorcerer was surprised by the sudden attack, andwas actually put off balance for a short time. It was all the time needed for the goblins to makean offensive.The goblins rushed at the sorcerer, their clubs raised high, ready to kill the man. The sorcererquickly regained his balance and backpedaled to dodge the first blow. He drew his sword andslashed at the nearest goblin, downing it almost instantly, and jumped into the air as anothergoblin charged at his position. When he landed he slashed at two more of the goblins, killingthem instantly. Unfortunately by this time more goblins had come into the fray, putting thesorcerer at a very large disadvantage.“Damn it all, they just keep coming,” shouted the sorcerer, clearly realizing that the situationwas growing more dangerous by the minute. He placed his sword back in its sheath and raisedhis hand into the air, drawing the outline of a magic circle. “Great wind of the eastern plains,whose gusts no know equal, grant me your assistance and blow down the foe before me. GALEFORCE WIND!” With the completion of the spell, a sudden gust of wind came into the windblowing over all the goblins, killing or seriously wounding many of them. The rest he finishedoff with a quick follow-up of his sword. The threat was over.The sorcerer continued his trek through the cave without any further incident. It scared thesorcerer that nothing else had attacked him since his bout with the goblins. The fighting hadbeen quite loud at its peak. It would have been impossible for anybody to not hear it. It scaredhim because that meant that the bandits were ready to put up an offensive the second hestepped into the final room. “God, this is going to be a pain,” he said in pure frustration.English Journal 8 (January 2008) 60