When Dragons Sleep

The vampire was struggling to dig its claws under the elf’s armor, and Thormir was doing all he could to push the vampire off. Bishop got behind it and laid hands on the creature’s back, causing it to let go of Thormir long enough for him to kick the creature off and get back on his feet.

As soon as he was back up, Thormir rushed the vampire and plunged his sword into its chest. It responded by slapping the elf across the face, giving him another vicious facial wound. Thormir twisted his sword before yanking it out, causing the undead creatures dark blood to spray in the elf’s face.

Bishop ran from behind Thormir and swung his morning star at the vampire’s chest. It hit, but the creature grabbed Bishop’s weapon and pulled it out of his hand, then tossed it to the ground. It then lunged towards the cleric, hoping to take advantage of his being unarmed. It tackled Bishop and brought him to the ground.

Thormir attacked with his sword, attempting to impale the vampire in the back, but it was faster than him. The vampire rolled off Bishop at the last second, causing Thormir to drive his sword into the cleric’s shoulder. Bishop was screaming in pain as the vampire leaped over him and tackled Thormir.

Thormir found himself flat on his back with the vampire on top of him again, and his sword was still stuck in Bishop. It was all he could do to keep the vampire from biting him or clawing any further.

Bishop’s right arm was completely numbed by the sword stuck in his shoulder. Using his left hand, he carefully pulled the blade out and tossed it to the ground. Realizing he didn’t have time to hurt, Bishop pulled himself up and drew a stake from his belt. He stumbled forward and drove the wooden stake into the vampire’s back, nearly falling on top of him in the process. The vampire screamed and convulsed for a few seconds, then slowly turned into dust, covering Thormir. Bishop then collapsed over on his back, overwhelmed with the pain in his shoulder. In spite of his pain, he did sense that the evil he had previously felt was no longer there.

"I think we did it. I don’t feel the evil presence any longer," Bishop said.

"My friend, I am sorry about your shoulder. I thought I had him there," Thormir said.

"Yeah, I know. Heat of the battle and all that. No need to apologize," Bishop said as he forced himself to sit up.

"Can you walk," Thormir asked.

Bishop took a deep breath and nodded to Thormir. He slowly stood up, then reached into his pack and pulled out two vials of blue liquid. He tossed one to Thormir and drank the other himself. The potion’s healing properties didn’t fully mend the wound in his shoulder, but it did stifle the pain and numbness enough to be bearable. Thormir downed the potion and immediately felt rejuvenated, although the scratches on his neck didn’t completely heal over.

They both took a moment to survey the room, and noticed a small passageway in the back corner. Thormir carefully approached it and found that it led to an exposed section of an underground stream. The water flowed out of the cavern wall and into an open space that was about ten feet long and three feet wide. It continued flowing into the other side of the wall.

"Bishop, get that lighted rock and come over here. I think I can see something in the water."