Will the three defeat the feindish sarulaan warrior and find a way to escape the Arbiter's crumbling empire? The fourteenth installment of Axiomatic Anarchy has the answers and everything you'd come to expect from a Gritgut tale - furious action and a gratuitous helping of mayhem!

However, all good things must come to an end, and so it is with Axiomatic Anarchy. This installment will be the last, but have no fear! If you enjoyed the tale, there is more anchor swinging action available in The Bonds That Bind Us. It is just one of the novellas within Skein of Shadows, a novel written by the Wandering Men!

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An argent column of electricity jumped from Landon's palm, arching toward the sarulaan's back. The demon spawn extended his other arm, and the bolt slid harmlessly through him, leaping from his extended hands to slam into the lumilon. Solis crashed into the waivers. Parchment curled and blackened before bursting into flame from the power of the blast. The sarulaan widened his grin as the loresinger twitched in agony. "Thank Xigx's for that trick, lumilon."

Suddenly, the fiendish creature launched itself backward through the air, escaping the vicious anchor swing that would have ripped into his chest. Gritgut's eyes were black with bloody ire. The barbarian whirled, following his enemy's movement with powerful cross slashes. The sarulaan fighter easily deflected each strike, deftly drawing the oltreggan closer and closer to his eager claws. He plotted when he would play his reversal, he could almost feel the brute's blood on his hands, but the sarulaan stepped back into a viscid ooze and lost his traction.

Landon's had finessed the spell, the grease had appeared precisely where he wanted it, and he charged forward down the twenty foot stretch. He crouched and caught the back of the fiend's legs, destroying the fighter's balance, before he tumbled out of the way. Landon watched as Gritgut stepped forward to usher the finishing blow, but the oltreggan's boot landed in the grime and he too lost balance. Combat instinct asserted itself, the barbarian shifted and brought his collapsing weight down on the sarulaan, the anchor cracking across the warrior's knee.

The two locked in melee, slashing, pounding, and biting with intensity. All around them the flames continued to spread, from waver to waver, wall to wall, acrid smoke hung overhead, and soon the whole room would be be alight. Gritgut locked two fingers in the deep scars of the sarulaan's neck, only to find a vice of mithril squeezing his own. The warrior sneered at the savage. "You'll perish first, especially if your friend helps again!" The sarulaan's claws extended, boring deeper into the muscled layers, they sought Gritgut's lifeblood.

Roaring, the oltreggan rolled out of the grease and slammed the demon spawn into the burning waivers. The tarry ooze caught fire and began singing both. The sarulaan seemed to ignore the growing flames. He pushed his claws deeper as his smile broadened with each passing moment, soon the fighter would decapitate the oltreggan.

A fluted voice singing a song of insurmountable liberty rose from the smoky haze where the fire originated. Solis emerged from the soot, a figure of light amid the shadows. He touched the oltreggan and a whisper graced his raging ally's ear, "You must fight another way! He'll slay you thus!"

Gritgut didn't appear to acknowledge the quiet voice, until he slid from the fatal embrace of the sarulaan. The fighter stared humorously at the oltreggan, who angled toward his anchor. "How unheroic of you, bard...And you, oltreggan, for listening to his cowardly advice."

Landon, unnoticed by the two combatants, finished his long incantation. The smoke from the flames, which had consumed the walls and transformed the chamber into a death trap of acrid fumes and cinders, pulsed and writhed. The smog at the crest of the dome slithered down to float before the mage, who shouted in a dry voice and pointed towards the sarulaan, "Strangle the fiend!" Landon's watery gaze seemed constant despite the swirling ash.

The elemental being of smoke and ash nodded and pulled more soot into itself before rushing toward the sarulaan. The fighter clamped his mouth tight and dared not breath as the choking cloud enveloped him. He knew this foe could not be faced with claw, so he retreated into the clean air of the treasury.

The smoke elemental and others followed after, Solis and Landon taking cover in the smog and shadows. Gritgut barreled forward, scattering tendrils of smoke as he spun his anchor on its chain. His makeshift flail wrought havoc as he passed, shattering stone displays and scattering the rare weapons resting upon them. The fiend seemed to be walking some sort of intricate dance, but the oltreggan heedlessly charged forward. Suddenly, darts, blasts of force, and various curses, traps meant to protect the numerous treasures in the room, whirled through the air. Only Gritgut's primal instincts saved him, but he still suffered multiple nicks and scratches as he threw himself out of the way.

Landon grabbed a wand from his belt that hummed with evocation energy and aimed it at the fiend. A chill swept up his arm as he called upon the magic within the rod and the spindle of ash and silver began to crust with ice. A blast of frost rushed forward that consumed the smoke elemental while it entombed the sarulaan. The bits of the fiend's mithril skeleton gleamed with arcane radiance as the frost congealed on the fighter.

Gritgut, the traps forgotten, launched himself at the sarcophagus of ice - each titanic blow from his anchor rived shards from the frozen block. A blinding flash lit the room. The whole cocoon fissured, and a mystic force threw the barbarian back. Free, the sarulaan warrior stepped from the temporary prison and his blazing gaze swept over his foes. He scowled and headed for a wickedly crafted spear that was fit fit for a giant, but he easily hefted the massive weapon. A breath later, the fighter whirled, hurling the spear at Landon as he turned, and he uttered a hoarse cry like the creaking of a coffin, "Compliments of Baetor!"

The barbed shaft slammed through the mage's side, blood pouring down its length. He stumbled to the side, trying to balance the immense weight of the spear, but his efforts only twisted the various blades deeper. Landon collapsed against the wall, barely able to see the warrior's dark figure hurry out a hidden door. "Follow...him!"

Gritgut, so focused on his rage, was already barreling through the door, anchor leading his charge. The sarulaan was above him, scaling the last few steps of the incline. Before he had crossed a third of the space, Baetor turned and slammed a fist into a wall panel. The stone sunk in deep and the walls near the barbarian disintegrated in a gout of flame and power. The oltreggan dove backward, but the edge of the thunderous explosion still caught him. The heat and force overwhelmed him in a rush of pain, rolling him over serrated edges and blunt surfaces. The fiend had sealed the passage.

The oltreggan, worn and bloody, trudged back to Landon's side. Solis was studying the wound, while coercing the mage to sip at some grog. Gritgut placed a hand on the shaft, only to watch Landon squint in agony. "Mez sorry."

Before Landon could reply, the oltreggan tore the spear from his side. Blood poured out of the mage's side. Solis muttered a curse as he pressed all the cloth he had onto the gaping wound, and he poured all his remaining strength into healing the damage. Landon gritted his teeth, splitting his lips to stifle the rising wail. The three watched the wound close until it was a simple deep cut. The mage's grimace lifted into a smile even as his eyes rolled into the back of his head and the fainted. Beside him, Solis nearly succumbed as well, but Gritgut placed a vial to his lips. The bard drank deeply, the potent taste of the rare healing draught coursing through his body.

He scowled and pushed the vial away. "You mustn't waste that! It took many a day to recover one of those from the dead cleric's crypts!"

Gritgut shrugged again, waiting for the loresinger to finish tending Landon's wounds. Once it appeared Solis was finished, the barbarian hefted the human onto his shoulder and headed toward the caldera of haze. Solis placed a hand on his companion's arm. "Where are you headed?"

"Wherever Shiny lead me. Hez know weer ta go."

Solis nodded. "Aye, but I already know these tunnels well. Follow me." The two passed through the cinders and headed for the entrance that the loresinger knew well. He had walked through it in bondage, but now it would take them all to freedom. The lumilon considered what had come to pass in his presence, the destruction of the Arbiter's empire, and it brought a smile to his lips. It would make a great tale.

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