by Noah Layton
My wives launched a flurry of ranged attacks in the direction of the leader, the dog-handler and the pair of swordsmen-mercs, who were all still clumped together.
Arrows, frost and throwing knives – but the leader was too fast.
‘Clypeus!’
His shield flew up again just as the first arrow was fired, striking it and bouncing off into the grass.
Cracks appeared in the translucent barrier, but their individual attacks were nowhere near as strong as my telekinetic blast.
And from the southern side of the land, I suddenly heard the gate break open and the shouts of war begin.
The leader’s shield was still up when-
‘Go get him!’
The dog chain’s rungs struck against each other as it was released from its master’s grip, and it arced around the shield’s edge and sprinted towards me.
It moved so fast that my wives didn’t have time to hit it, and as it sprinted towards me the leader’s shield fell again – my women had to defend themselves from their approaching attackers.
The dog was mere yards away as it sprinted at me.
I was on my own, and I had time for only one defensive manoeuvre.
I fired up the spell-selection wheel and switched to my Shock power stone.
‘Impulsa!’
A stream of lightning burst from my hand and struck the dog’s gnashing maw. It seemed to catch the lightning, yelping and slowing as it thrashed its head about before shaking free of the ailment and dashing at me again.
That was my only charge.
It was too wild and too intent on killing me, and it was coming at me right now.
I had a second to ditch my power stone and draw my sword.
The dog leaped through the air at me as I swung my sword horizontally in a back-handed swipe. The beast caught the blade in its mouth, cutting through its cheeks by an inch, but it wasn’t enough to slow or deter it.
The force of its jump knocked me onto my back, briefly knocking the wind out of me as the dog landed on top of me, my blade still in its mouth as it gnashed madly.
In the moonlight I briefly caught sight of its insane eyes, uncaring about the fact that my blade was ripping through its face.
It wanted me dead, and its teeth were sharp enough to finish me off fast.
My arms shook with the tension of holding up my sword, one hand pressed against the handle and the other on the blade itself.
I grunted, gritting my teeth.
A warm trickle of blood from the blade slicing through the skin on my left palm dripped down my forearm.
‘ARRGHHH!!!’
I yelled out, mustering all the effort that I could.
I had defeated much bigger monsters and much worse men than this thing, but when the moment came, my life could end this easily.
Is this how I end? Does it really happen at the fangs of this thing?
But that was the reality of combat. Sometimes even the most skilled members of your team could be taken out by a stray arrow that nobody even meant to fire.
My eyes locked with the beast.
All of the sounds save for its mad growling vanished.
Boom BOOM BOOM.
A rapid thudding approached from my left. A huge shape began to loom over me. Was this death running late to come pick me up?
‘AAAGGGHHHH!!!’
The huge shape to my left blocked out the moonlight, and a long silhouette swung through the air towards me.
CRUNCH.
Something struck the dog in the stomach and flung it from me. Whatever it was missed by mere inches and sent my sword flying out of my hand and landing a yard to my left.
The chaos of the fighting around me seemed to pause as everyone registered the presence of this new attacker.
I shook my head of the shock and jumped up sharply, snatching up my sword and laying eyes on my saviour.
Aden was brandishing his new war axe like a man possessed. The dog was lying nearby on its side, desperately trying to scramble up to its feet with the huge gaping wound in its side.
Aden’s hulking form stepped up to the beast with wild panting grunts, raised the axe over his head and slammed the blade down into the dog’s body.
It ceased contesting against its oncoming death, turning still.
To my left the warriors of my tribe had cut down the two swordsmen-mercs, and the four attackers remaining – the leader, the dog-handler and the pair of swordsmen from the right side – all took a step back as Aden’s hulking form rose before them, dragging his war axe from the body of the dog.
And from the southern side of the land, the sounds of war roared.
‘Lara, go defend the house!’ I called out, ‘Elera, Ariadne, get to the southern gates and help them, but keep yourselves back. Warriors, Aden, you’re with me.’
My wives took off, while Aden and the warriors moved forward to join me in facing off with the four remaining mercs on this side.
‘Stand down,’ the leader grunted. ‘It doesn’t have to be this way. You’re risking everything…’
‘You’ve lost four men and your beast,’ I replied, readying my sword. ‘We’ve lost nothing. If you’re going to attack, do it already so we can get this over with.’
I was surprised by his next move. He didn’t let his men run forward like scapegoats.
He was the first one to come at me, and his men closely followed.
The dog-handler drew his sword, finalising their position as melee attackers.
Each of us took an opponent – the warriors took on the pair of swordsmen, Aden took on the leader, and I took on the dog-handler swordsmen.
I couldn’t use my power stones in this close of a proximity, even with the smaller area of effect that Arcane Fire and Shock possessed; if the leader managed to throw up his shield once more the deflection could hit me and my men.
It was a risk I couldn’t afford to take.
My sword was now my only weapon.
The dog-handler moved to me with a broadsword slightly shorter than my own. He was burly, standing taller than myself, and despite his defensive hold on the sword he was moving towards me with ready footsteps.
But I was faster.
Or so I thought.
I stayed back, circling to the right as I searched for an opening.
‘Make your move, tribe master,’ the dog-handler growled. ‘I’ll cleave your arms off and beat you to death with them.’
‘Pity,’ I replied. ‘You could’ve used them as chew-toys for your dog… If it wasn’t dead.’
His eyes ignited with rage and he yelled out, leaping towards me faster than I anticipated.
His sword swung back over his shoulder, swiping at me at a downward-diagonal angle.
I barely managed to leap out of the way in time, the tip of the sword slicing through my overshirt and ripping it open by several inches.
Any closer and I would have a huge gash in my chest.
I darted back by a few yards, moving away from the battlefield, where my three companions were still enthralled in parries.
I prayed they would all gain the upper hand; Aden and the merc leader were savagely hurling swipes at each other with their weapons like a pair of giants desperate for blood.
The dog-handler spun around sharply from his failed hit and turned to me. He regained his composition and rushed me again, but this time I was ready.
I threw my sword up, the mad clang of our swords ringing in my ears. His hit was harder than mine, sending me staggering back.
A furious rage filled me up from the fallback. I secured a hold on my broadsword and sprang forwards on my heel, yelling out as I brought down an overhead swing.
The dog-handler deflected just in time, staggering back, but not as much as myself.
I would need to go two-handed to bring this bastard down; I just prayed that I could sufficiently control my broadsword with one hand.
Moving back once more, I afforded myself a few seconds to retrieve my dagger; it resided in my left, whil
e my broadsword was readied in my right.
The dog-handler sprinted at me once more, raising his sword in both hands over his head and slamming it down with the force of a man possessed.
I tensed up my right arm and raised my broadsword. The sheer power of the hit sent a jolt through my arm, forcing my sword back towards me. The flat edge came down to within inches of my head, but the dog-handler wasn’t drawing it away.
As he attempted to force it down with an animal roar spluttering from his lips, I spun my dagger around in my left hand and drove it upwards, slamming it straight into his solar plexus.
The dog-handler’s hold on his sword weakened momentarily. He looked down at the dagger stemming from the centre of his torso, then glanced up to me. A splutter of blood coughed from his mouth.
His face become only more enraged.
‘Shit.’
With his remaining strength he continued to use both hands to force the blade down towards me.
I tensed up my arm and pushed my sword to the side, sending it falling from my grip, and my attacker’s weapon with it.
I drew my free hand up and grabbed him by the neck, twisting the blade in his stomach.
The merc’s huge hands reached for my neck. He was still intent on fighting back.
All of that stopped the moment I dragged the blade up between his rib cage. His hold on me finally weakened, and I drew the blade out.
His body sagged heavily to the ground, and I dashed for my sword.
Snatching it up, I turned to my companions.
The warriors were getting the upper hand on the mercs and were readying to cut them down.
But not Aden.
The merc leader and he parried, Aden’s axe striking his sword, but his enemy deflecting and kicking Aden hard in the knee.
Aden lumbered to the ground, making a desperate swing with his huge axe, but the merc leader kicked out at his arm and sent the weapon flying from his hand.
It all happened in seconds.
The merc leader gave a breathless, self-contented laugh and moved to raise his sword.
‘NO!’
I sprinted forwards and plunged my sword into the leader’s back. He froze up, his sword raised over his head.
His grip faltered and the sword slipped from his hands, thudding through the grass to the ground.
I grabbed his hair from behind, gritting my teeth and driving my sword deeper through his spine and out of his front, before moving myself to his ear.
‘Don’t fuck with the Arakin Tribe,’ I growled through gritted teeth.
I withdrew my sword sharply and he dropped to his knees. I could’ve left him to die like that, but the anger within me was too much.
I swung my sword around, yelling out, and swiped the blade through his neck, cleaving his head from his shoulders.
Both his head and his body toppled to the ground. With our four remaining attackers dead, I looked up at my allies, all of us panting and splattered with blood, some ours, some not.
My warrior-companions had cut down the final mercs on our side, and our small skirmish was victorious.
And the sounds of swords swinging and men yelling was still coming from the southern gate.
I didn’t need to direct my men; the four of us took off at a hard sprint to the south, hurrying across the land as fast as our legs would take us.
Lara was still defending the front door to the house where I could hear a cluster of noise, most prominent of which was Eri’s screams.
We raced past the tree and back to the southern gate, where a scattering of figures were engaged in parries and clashes with each other.
My companions had the upper hand, now outnumbering the mercs because of how many they had slain. My men were fast, and our attackers were too big to equal their sharp hits.
And with my wives carrying out ranged attacks from a distance when it was safe to do so, we were going to win.
Aden, the warriors and myself charged in. The battlefield became an insane blur of dim lights and blood and screams as I hurtled into the mix, slicing at every one of the mercs that came within proximity to me.
Two final mercs were left standing; over my shoulder the warriors swarmed on the first, cutting him down with angered swipes as a collective.
I couldn’t have been happier with their actions.
One more remained ahead, viciously swiping out at anyone who tried to get close to him.
Then, from a distance, Elera and Lara shot plumes of ice and arrows at his body. Half of the attempts missed, but those that struck engulfed and swarmed his body like locusts.
His body grew tired, and his arms slumped. A quick, clean death would have been easy to grant him, but adrenaline had taken control of my mind and my body.
I staggered over to him in my fury like a beast, dropping my dagger as I moved and taking my broadsword in both hands.
I swung my sword in a horizontal arc and swiped it at his torso, cutting him open. There was no sense in my method of attack; this was a vengeful execution.
He groaned out and dropped to his knees.
‘Last man standing,’ I panted. ‘This is what happens when you threaten my people.’
I drove the sword through his face, twisting the blade and mangling his features into an horrific mess of skin and blood.
My teeth were gritted with vengeful rage. The merc’s arms went limp and I kicked him back from my sword, ripping the blade free.
‘Jack! Do something!’
I looked around to the battlefield where the warriors and the sun-elves resided. Among them all was a huge figure upon the ground, being held up by Aden and Cass.
Oden had been stabbed. I prayed that his injuries weren’t as bad as they had seemed, but nothing was on my side. He was on his back in Cass and Aden’s arms, both of them warring with their hands to cover the terrible wound between the base of his ribs.
‘Shit…’
I hurried to them and ripped off the sleeve from my overshirt like a piece of tissue paper and balled it up, collapsing to my knees and pressing the cloth to his wound.
‘You’re gonna be all right, I’m gonna get some healing potions and you’re gonna be fine.’
‘Healing potions can’t fix this, Jack!’ Cass said tearfully.
‘We’ll have something, we will, just wait…’
One of Oden’s huge hands reached up to me. His fingers clenched the shoulder of my shirt, but he didn’t pull me to him.
‘For…’ He stammered, coughing violently as blood spilled from his lips. Aden sat him up. Suddenly his grip tightened on me, and he pulled me close to him, speaking to me for the first time. ‘… For the tribe…’
Another flurry of howls and grunts and screams suddenly broke out in the north of the land. It wasn’t just Eri – there were a multitude of voices.
‘You two, get the medicine from your bags!’ I called to two of the sun-elves, before turning to the warriors. ‘The rest of you, with me!’
My sword clenched in my tensed arms, I set off at a final mad sprint across the land in the direction of the yells. Sharp thuds and grunts were all I could hear beyond the slamming of my boots against the ground as I flattened the pasture.
There was another group of mercenaries. There had to be. Just when I thought that we had taken all of them down and let my guard down for a second, we were under attack once more.
No war cries escaped the mouths of the warriors or myself, just our smashing footsteps and the grunts from our mouths as we raced to confront the final mercenaries of the Hand of Chains.
They were waging an attack on my people.
If a single one of them was harmed…
I rounded the totems and their buildings by my treehouse and laid eyes on the scene outside of the front door of the house.
Lara was standing in the doorway with her bow raised, readying another shot. Three figures stood in the small clearing before the house, two of them huge and one standing around five and a half feet.
&nbs
p; The smaller of the three figures leaped to one of the larger two, clinging to its body like a monkey. The large figure yelped out, and in the moonlight a guttural blackness sprayed through the air like water from a broken hydrant.
The smaller figure swung the larger body around, riding it like a horse before leaping to the second and… Kissing it?
An horrendous choking sound echoed towards me. It was followed by the sound of ripping fabric and something being sliced and slashed.
Both figures dropped to the ground together. More scuffling and choking.
The warriors and I sprinted harder than ever. I pulled ahead and readied my sword as I leaped into the clearing before the house.
The bodies of four mercenaries were sprawled on the ground. One had an arrow protruding from his left eye, spread on his back in a starfish position.
The other three were all lying pools of their own spreading blood. One was dead, the other was choking on his own blood, unable to move – and the third…
The smaller figure, shrouded in shadow, was still crouched atop his body. It withdrew its head and spat to the side, the figure giving a terrible jolt before going still.
The other figure turned and look over at me. Talia’s unmistakable green eyes looked back at me.
She stood deftly from her crouched position and wiped her blood-stained mouth, a pair of small fangs receding into her gums.
‘Holy shit…’ Lara muttered from the doorway, lowering her bow.
‘You never told me you could do that,’ I said, lowering my sword and looking at the bodies below.
‘You never let me fight,’ she replied, panting and spitting the blood from her mouth.
I glanced over at Lara, who was smiling and shaking her head with an impressed expression.
‘Okay,’ Lara conceded. ‘I think now we can trust her.’
It was only then that I realized the overwhelming silence in the clearing – a space too quiet considering a woman was giving birth in a house just a few yards away.
Talia, Lara and I all hurried into the house. Shuddering breaths were coming from the corner, from Santana, from Tormus and from Eri.
And then, the lightest of cooing sounds pushed through the darkness. No crying or screaming; just a small show of life in the darkness that overwhelmed the land.
‘A boy,’ Tormus said, ‘a strong, quiet boy.’
