Beginning of a Hero (Legends of Windemere)

by Charles E Yallowitz

  “More are coming!” shouts one of the archers from the wall.

  All of the students are desperately fighting and struggling to keep their bearings. Selenia sees one of the dwarven students get stabbed in the shoulder by a stinger. The student lops off the tail with his axe and savagely cleaves the monster’s face in two. Selenia smiles with pride until the student begins to stumble from the poison in his body. She is about to run over to him when a curved blade on a chain flies into view, cuts him, and disappears into the crowd again. The steady wind changes, allowing Selenia to catch the brief scent of the magic anti-toxin they keep in the infirmary. It doesn’t take long for her to realize that the mystery weapon was covered in the potent liquid.

  “Someone is using their head,” Selenia whispers as the next wave enters the academy. A cyclops approaches her, but it is swiftly killed by another thundering blast of lightning from her sword.

  *****

  “I think I’ll wait over here,” Nimby mentions as he looks across the killing field at the massive horde of spadix swarming into the academy.

  “I’m scared too. That mess is not something I want to run into, but there are people that we have to protect,” Luke calmly explains, He carefully scans the area and forms a quick plan of attack. “All I need you to do is help that bigger group of students hold the front door. You’re a thief, so it shouldn’t be hard for you to sneak into the spadix’s presence and cause some chaos. A little stab here and a few sling stones there should be enough to get them riled and confused. They don’t look smart enough to figure out that someone is causing them to fight amongst themselves.”

  “Guess we can agree on their lack of brain power,” Nimby nervously whispers, biting his lip until it starts to bleed. “Although you make my job sound a lot easier than it really is. What are you going to do?” They both hear Duggan’s scream of anger before seeing a few spadix get knocked through a hole in the wall.

  “I’m going to make a straight charge at the academy and get the attention of that really big cyclops, so you don’t get noticed,” Luke says, drawing his sabers and twirling them in his hands. “Then, I’m going through that hole in the wall because that is where the least amount of defenders are. Stay on the edge of the forest when you are moving into position. Sprint across the killing field as soon as you see the cyclops start paying attention to me. No clue what he’ll do, so do not try to help me. Just get into the academy.”

  “Is it for her?” the halfling asks.

  “What? This isn’t the time, Nimby,” Luke replies in an agitated voice.

  “Just tell me, Luke,” Nimby adamantly demands. “We’re friends. So, are you running in because you feel it is your job or because Kira is in danger?”

  Luke takes a second to look at the on-going battle. “Both. I have to do this to prove that I’m a hero and not some famous name. I know that I always say that and you’re sick of hearing it. I’ll probably be saying it until I feel that I earned my reputation, but none of that matters right now. This kind of situation is what I was destined for ever since I picked up a sword. As for Kira, I swear I’ll carve out that giant cyclops’s eye and feed it to him if he’s gotten his house-sized hands on her. That a good enough answer?”

  “It will do, but I could have done without the thought of those oversized hands. That thing’s little finger could squish me into the ground,” Nimby says with a shudder.

  “Don’t remind me,” the half-elf mutters, taking a cautious step into the open. “Start moving that way and keep an eye out for a chance to run.”

  Nimby looks doubtful as he takes a deep breath and begins to move along the edge of the forest. He pulls out his shortsword, keeping his eyes on the forty-foot behemoth that has stomped its way into the academy. The screams of the students and the inhuman howls of the spadix make him rapidly inhale in an effort to calm his nerves. Never being trained for large-scale combat, Nimby has trouble handling his fear. His thief instincts tell him to run back into Visindor and hide until the danger has passed. His feet are starting to shift towards the safety of the trees when he takes a look at Luke. Something about the determined expression on the young warrior’s face, gives the halfling the courage he needs to hold his ground. Nimby takes another deep breath and waves his sword at Luke.

  Nimby sets his sight on the mob of spadix and begins counting to ten when he sees Luke rush toward the academy. He can barely hear the half-elf shouting at the cyclops. Nimby starts to run as soon as the cyclops turns toward Luke and shakes the trees with a terrifying roar. The monster’s echoing bellow sends shivers down the halfling’s spine as he races across the killing field. Clutching his shortsword, Nimby slides under the nearest spadix and stabs it in the leg. Before he can be spotted, he rolls under another spadix and scrambles out of view of the first monster. The injured monster turns toward one of its brethren and growls in anger. Nimby takes the chance to dart behind another spadix, hitting it in the back with a broken dagger he finds on the ground. The spadix whirls around as Nimby vanishes into the crowd. The only thing that the enraged monster can see is another spadix wielding long knives with its human arms. The monster screeches before pouncing on its ally and tearing its heart out. Nimby is through the front door and away from the spadix as the entire mob begins fighting amongst themselves. Green poison and brown blood splatter against the wall as the monsters furiously rip into each other. The group of students at the front doors quickly pulls back into the academy. They manage to close and bar the heavy doors as the spadix continue to kill each other on the other side.

  “Guess they were dumber than I thought,” Nimby laughs as he crawls out from behind a crate just inside the academy. A hand claps him on the shoulder and he turns with a high-pitched yelp to see Daniel Skyblade. His armor is covered in blood and there is a shallow cut going across his throat.

  “I take it you are the one behind that insanity,” the warrior says. He signals for the students to take the opportunity to drink their healing potions and check their gear. “I must admit that I would never have thought of attempting what you just did. You bought us some time before they remember what they are here to do. Where are the others?”

  “Aedyn, Fizzle, and Fritz stayed behind to clean up demon guts. If you ask me, they got the easy and much prettier job. As you can guess, the Hellfire Elf is gone for now after the beating Luke gave it,” Nimby reports, still struggling to catch his breath. “Speaking of Luke, he went to the other side of the academy. From the crashes and roars, I think he’s still in the killing field dodging whatever that giant cyclops is throwing at him. I’m supposed to help you defend the front gate.”

  Daniel hands the halfling a small crossbow and two cases of bolts. “I thank you for your help and I pray that Luke will change the tide for our allies like you have changed the tide for us. I trust your aim is true, my friend, for the flawless aim of a halfling is a sign of good luck. Yet, if we are set to die then I am honored to fight by your side.”

  “You’re in battle pep talk mode,” Nimby mutters under his breath. He clears his throat and looks up at the bloodied warrior. “Thanks for the encouragement. Since we’re being honest, I have to admit that I’d much rather be hiding in the forest right now.”

  With a sudden shattering crash, the spadix break down the front doors and the students meet their charge. Nimby stays near Daniel until they get separated in the chaos of battle. The next thing Nimby knows, he is pinned under the dead body of a spadix.

  *****

  The catapult crashes just off to Luke’s right as he continues to charge toward the academy. A familiar equipment shed soars past him before dead bodies begin getting thrown into his path by the towering cyclops. Luke recognizes all of the bodies that hit the ground around him and he lets loose an echoing scream of rage. Luke sprints even faster toward the hole in the wall, zigzagging to avoid the falling debris. With a violent crash, he dives into the horde of spadix and begins slashing his way into the academy. It isn’t long before Luke is covered i
n brown blood and his screams are lost in the sound of metal slicing through thick skin.

  At first the spadix are startled and try to blindly retreat into the academy until they realize that it is only a young boy attacking them. They quickly surround him, forcing Luke to dodge an onslaught of stinger tails and pincers while slashing at any opening that gets within reach of his sabers. After eviscerating three monsters with a spinning slash, he jumps between a pair of spadix only to be knocked into the air by a claw. Luke kicks a stinger out of his way as he lands between two of the monsters, slicing both of them across the throat.

  “Let me through!” he shouts, pushing through the last line of spadix and coming face to face with Selenia. Both of the half-elves are soaked in brown blood and they can feel tremors in the ground as the giant cyclops walks toward them.

  Luke says nothing to Selenia as he races toward the cyclops and dives past it. A quick slash at the back of its leathery heel goes unnoticed by the giant while Selenia leaps onto its foot and begins climbing up its clothing. She stabs deep into its kneecap before she is violently shaken off and sent crashing through the door to one of the dorms. The giant is about to move toward her when a spear thuds into its cheek.

  “Come and get me!” Luke exclaims as he begins to run toward the middle of the academy. A few steps by the cyclops gets it in front of him while two spadix break through a group of students to attack Luke. He is hit in the arm by one of their stingers as the cyclops lifts up its foot. Luke rolls between the two spadix before the giant, mud-crusted foot smashes them into the ground.

  Luke stumbles away from the crushed monsters as the poison starts to affect him. The cyclops easily grabs Luke whose body is wracked by a cold numbness and blurry vision. Luke is barely off the ground when a quick pain hits his arm and the poison is purged from his system, the green ooze seeping out of his wound. The half-elf notices a new cut on his shoulder and he can smell a very potent anti-toxin coming from the wound.

  “I definitely owe somebody,” he mutters. The cyclops begins to squeeze Luke in its hand, but Luke is saved from being killed because of the angle that he is holding his sabers. Luke digs and twists his sabers into the soft palm of the cyclops, but the pain is only enough to prevent the giant from crushing him. With a howl of primal frustration, the cyclops moves Luke closer to his drooling mouth.

  A lightning bolt hits the cyclops in the stomach causing it to exhale a gust of foul-smelling air and putrid spit before dropping Luke. He lands in front of Selenia and they immediately split up to dodge another ground-quaking stomp. Selenia runs behind the cyclops to start swiftly climbing the back of its pant leg again. The giant reaches down with an open hand to try to smash her against its leg when the mysterious chain and sickle weapon flies out at one of the filthy fingers and sticks into the middle of the nail. The cyclops roars in surprise and pain as the weapon pulls the nail right off the finger.

  “Is there anybody in my academy without a secret this semester?” Selenia amusingly asks as she looks down to see Kira clumsily stumble away from the large nail. The girl has a long chain loosely wrapped around her left arm and the chain ends in a curved, pristine blade. The blade is connected to the chain by a foot of bare metal that she clutches in her right hand. Two medical satchels are strapped to her sides and Selenia can see the stoppered top of a bottle sticking out of one of them.

  Kira quickly scrambles to her feet in a panicked attempt to run away when the cyclops turns toward her. The monster raises its foot to squish her, but freezes when Selenia stabs it in the back of the knee, her longsword sinking up to the hilt. The cyclops pauses long enough for Luke to shoulder rushes Kira out of the way. Luke flips his blades upwards when he sees the monster’s foot coming toward him and waits for the perfect moment to move. Before the bare foot can finish its awkward descent, Luke runs out of the way, dragging his sabers through the leathery flesh.

  “Don’t ever try that again!” Luke shouts at Kira. He begins to back up toward the fountain, cautiously watching the cyclops hop in pain.

  “Toss me one of those bottles, Grasdon!” Selenia yells, continuing to hang onto the cyclops. “That stuff does wonders on things that aren’t poisoned!”

  Kira throws one of the anti-toxin bottles to Selenia who slices into the monster’s leg and shatters the bottle on the fresh wound. Without any poison to destroy, the magical liquid burns into the open wound and begins to weaken the leg muscles of the cyclops. Selenia tries to move further up the pants leg, but the clothing tears and she falls to the ground. The mercenary is on her feet in an instant, carefully backing toward Luke.

  “This is a stalemate until he manages to step on us. Got any ideas, headmistress?” Luke asks as they continue backing away. Luke can hear the gurgling fountain behind them as the cyclops roars in frustration.

  “Give me a minute to think. A cyclops of this size and power isn’t natural,” Selenia replies, her longsword sparking and humming.

  “That isn’t reassuring,” he mutters.

  A glimmer in the eye of the cyclops gets their attention and the two warriors quickly leap out of the way of a spiraling blast of green energy. The grass where they were standing is left brown and dead as the cyclops attempts to fire another beam at Selenia. She blocks it with her sword, the deadly magic being absorbed by the blade. The force of the attack still shoves her back a few yards, leaving shallow ruts in the ground. The cyclops slowly turns toward Luke who backs up until he bumps into the fountain.

  “Catch, kid!” Kevin shouts as he hurls his arrowhead-shaped shield to Luke. The half-elf catches it just as the death beam spirals toward him. He awkwardly gets the shield up in time to reflect the blast back at the cyclops. The energy hits it in the eye, melting the bulbous orb into brown ooze. A large shockwave ripples through the ground as the screaming monster stomps and flails with all its might. A wave ripples through the earth and tosses Luke into the fountain before he can get to safety.

  “What are we going to have to do to kill this thing?” Luke groans, dragging himself to the fountain’s rim. The cyclops begins a charge toward the fountain, which abruptly turns into a slow, clumsy stumble. Luke watches as the monster pitches forward and impales its throat on the statue’s sword. A waterfall of blood covers Luke before he can make any attempt to dive out of the fountain. Luke stays where he is, quietly trying to figure out what just happened. The last thing he expected was for the cyclops to trip and fall on a statue’s sword “Hope you didn’t plan on being the hero of this fight,” Nimby says, coming up to Luke with a wide grin. Nimby has a few cuts on him, but he is covered in slick, brown spadix blood.

  Everyone watches and cheers as the remaining spadix retreat into the forest. As the last of the spadix vanish into the tree line, the students begin gathering behind Selenia who calmly approaches Luke and Nimby. Kira frantically pushes her way through the crowd, even shoving Selenia to the side, to help Luke out of the fountain. She tries very hard to ignore the thick blood that is dripping off of him.

  “What are you talking about, Nimby? Did Selenia or Kevin get it?” Luke asks. Nimby proudly points at the large corpse and Luke obediently follows the path of his finger. Embedded at the base of the monster’s skull is Nimby’s shortsword, which shimmers in the sunlight. Luke stares in shock at the precise shot that saved his life.

  “I was actually aiming for an inch more to the left so the big guy would drop and not get that extra step,” Nimby sheepishly admits.

  “That is the greatest shot in the history of Windemere, Nimby,” Luke declares, continuing to stare at the shortsword. “I think I’ll hide behind you from now on. If you were Kira, I would kiss you.”

  Kira and Nimby both ask, “What was that?”

  Luke blushes under the gore and is about to defend what he said when Selenia clears her throat. Her longsword is already sheathed and a genuine smile of pride dances across her face. Everyone moves aside as Kevin limps his way through the crowd with the help of Daniel. Both warriors are gasping for air and
grinning as they look at the dead cyclops. Duggan can be heard shouting dwarven curses at the retreating spadix from the top of wall. A few students laugh at the bellowing dwarf until he begins threatening them with a wave of his warhammer.

  “I must say that I am proud and impressed with everyone. I don’t even know how to put into words how shocked I am that Nimby killed the giant cyclops,” Selenia says, exhaustion starting to set into her bones. She rubs her eyes and flexes her shoulder until they pop. “As for you, Kira, I never thought you would be one of the people who saved my life. For your actions, I have a special assignment for you. I want you to take two classmates and tell the students in the cave that the academy is safe. Now, Luke, I want you to take a bath and give your clothes to Betty for them to get cleaned. Duggan or Kevin can clean your armor, but that may take some time. I want to see you in my office within two hours. Aedyn and Fritz should be back soon, but I will need them and Nimby to help with the repairs. You will be on your own for a while, kid, so don’t overexert yourself.”

  Luke nods as Selenia turns on her heel and heads for the main building. Luke avoids eye contact with the crowd of students around him as he cleans his sabers with a waterskin he finds by a dead spadix. Nimby and Kira watch as he silently leaves to take a bath and prepare himself for whatever is next. He doesn’t bother turning back to say anything to them as he walks away.

  “You think he’ll be ok?” Kira asks in a voice full of concern.

  “He’s made it this far, but I don’t want to make any bets on his next fight,” Nimby replies, climbing the dead cyclops to retrieve his shortsword. “That Lich gave Aedyn a hard time from what I was told. If a priest trained to take out the undead has trouble then it might be impossible for Luke to win, especially since he doesn’t have any magical gear or spell casting ability. Though, I guess you already knew all that.” He hears his name called from across the courtyard and goes to help a few students from his carpentry class.