How Gods Bleed

by Shane Porteous

  Chapter 11

  There was no celebrating or talks of grandeur to be had, as soon as Gokkus and Zova had reached the others the fire had been put out, packs had be taken and the entire group was moving hastily through the woods. It was now that the light of the full moon and its many star companions were welcomed for it made the journey easier to perform. Tanagy’s memory was flawless as the grouped followed him without delay through the woods and beyond. It was only when the group had made it into the swamplands that Gokkus spoke of the possibility that they may have been seen, ultimately though it was irrelevant for the task had been completed.

  The swamp was far from welcoming to the group and more than once it seemed invested in stopping them. They moved through the entire night at a running pace that incredibly the Helluvans did not struggle to perform. If Gokkus and Zova had been seen and there were enemy troops out looking for them, the group had yet to see them.

  By the following morning they had made their way out of the swamps and it was soon decided that they had garnered enough distance. They found shelter in a simple cave where the Helluvans proceeded to quickly fall asleep lying next to one another. They had been moving all night and though surely they must have been exhausted the act seemed more out of commonsense than a need for slumber. For the entire journey Cada Varl had not stopped being impressed by his companions. There was a reason why they were both feared and renowned for their courage, strength and bravery in both the east and the west because it was all true.

  Cada Varl kept a look out upon the land beyond the cave, noticing that it was a terrain of hills covered with fresh green grass and yet the sky was anything but clear. Beyond the hills the very clouds themselves seemed to hover mere inches off the ground, the mist in the distance was that thick. Even when the Helluvans woke up almost at the exact same time in the early afternoon the mist still had not lifted.

  The group had had roughly four hours of sleep and yet they all appeared to have slept soundly. An uncooked breakfast was then eaten with the only thing being said was a question by Gokkus to the Immortal, asking if there was any sign of the enemy. If he was relieved that Cada Varl’s answer was no than the man dressed in black did not show it. The night before had happened so quickly yet in the mind of the Immortal seemed like it had happened many decades ago, like a thing of legend. In a way it was, or rather it was deserving of a legend. His companions may have been the most skilled and strongest of humanity the east had to offer but they were still humans. The fact they had executed arguably the greatest warrior in werewolf history without being caught or suffering a single casualty was a feat that deserved a legendary status.

  Before Cada Varl could even finish thinking about what a great feat it truly had been the group was already packed and ready to go. Like always the group was anything but egotistical, they may have accomplished something truly legendary but their quest was not over, far from it. Without a single word said between them the group continued onwards moving through the landscape of sloping hills and strange thick fog. Some parts of the terrain felt and looked like an image from summer while others seemed more suited to the cold of a highland winter.

  It always felt like a strange place, the west, for the sheer fact that no matter what terrain they found themselves in the group always could feel a heavy isolation in the air. It was as if this part of the world had not seen humans for so long that it was curious just to observe them and would not allow any creature to go near them.

  After an hour or so it looked as if such a landscape was nearing its end for they came across a massive slope that strained their eyes to see the top of. Moving up such a steep slope they stayed close together moving side by side as opposed to behind one another. Such a small thing would prove itself as lucky as it was vital for what lay beyond that slope.

  Before they had even reached the very top they could see that something was moving up there and as they took their final steps they came into a horrid view. There were not the only life to be found in this place for a group perhaps three times the size as them had been coming from the other direction and like always in the west it was not a friendly group. Enemy warriors, each clad in armor decorated by some kind of orange colouring upon the right shoulder now stood before them.

  Both groups were as surprised as one other upon seeing each other. Both had reason to be surprised for neither was expecting such a sight. The second of silence that followed felt more like a thousand years, as both groups stood simply staring at one another. The Helluvans were the first to act and without a word they all dropped their packs onto the ground shattering the silence with a collective thud. Zova even managed to take out her bow and deliver a fatal shot to her closest enemy counterpart before the werewolves could react. Before the dead werewolf had even hit the ground its kin had rushed forward in a single mass, instinct and training took over. On the Helluvan side weapons were drawn with Cada Varl dropping his pack and being a step behind his companions. These orange uniformed enemies may not have been as well armed as their red wearing counterparts but they did not have to deal with the terrain or Helluvan arrows, this would be a fight as close as it was bloody.

  It seemed the Immortal realized this and lunged himself into the heart of the enemy group, driving his sword straight through the heart of a werewolf, he used its body to block the swipes and stabs of his enemies as he forced his way inward. Like a roof suddenly collapsing the werewolves around him leapt upon him. He was able to slew two of them before he vanished from sight. A second or so later he could be seen again as he fought back with savage ferocity. As a werewolf fell before him its kin quickly stepped back to avoid the brunt of his blade.

  The Helluvans on the other hand simply could not have been so aggressive. Even with the Immortal’s sudden offense they were outnumbered and immediately had to block the blades of Gotianik and other such weapons that came at them from several directions. The Helluvans were pushed back and became separated from the Immortal, forced into a kind of semicircle, with the curve of the shape facing the enemy.

  Out of the Helluvans Leannol was the first to land an offensive blow and she did not waste the opportunity. With awe inspiring skill she easily bypassed the many blades of the enemy and drove the tip of her weapon into an enemy’s heart with enough power to strike through the armor. Instantly she pulled back avoiding the hungry weapons of the werewolves. As she blocked the Gotianik gloves of one enemy Imbaka defended her from another attack, placing herself in harm’s way to protect her companion.

  There seemed little order to the conflict with one side simply trying to devour the other. Gokkus using his double bladed weapon was able to block an enemy attack with one end and attack with the other, he delivered a nasty blow to werewolf’s neck, one that would hurt but would not kill. The injured enemy roared in defiance as if to show the man dressed in black that it was still alive. It attacked with the blades of its gloves while Gokkus was still fending off the attack of another. Gokkus moved his weapon effortlessly so that he was blocking the Gotianik gloves of both enemies.

  Instantly Tanagy exploited the opportunity burying one of his swords into the side of the werewolf’s neck, while at the same time his other sword had been stabbed through the heart of another enemy. His blow had not been powerful enough to decapitate the beast but the axe head of Leannol’s weapon saw that the dreaded thing’s skull was removed from its shoulders.

  The Helluvans may have been outnumbered but they fought with much better unison than their monstrous counterparts. Even the movement they made was fluid, as some blocked attacks while others exploited the situations all working effectively to kill their enemy. They were working so well together it was more like they were the limbs of some strange being rather than 6 individuals. They stayed close, but not to close so they could not maneuver.

  After Leannol had smashed her axe into the face of yet another enemy Imbaka was right there behind her. Using Leannol’s strong shoulders to elevate herself she literally leapt ove
r her red haired companion and finished the enemy off with two heavy swings that decapitated it.

  Hazum Ka-te was proving that the sheer size of the Cloud Cutter did nothing to slow him down as he wielded it as if it was no more than a small stick. The broad head of his weapon allowed him to counter anything his enemies could offer, while at the same time he was able to deliver powerful and effective counter strikes. Using Hazum Ka-te as a kind of living and killer shield Zova wielded her sword with equally impressive skill. Because of the enemies armor she was forced to limit her attacks to thrusts and stabs but this seemed to do nothing to stop her effectiveness.

  Somewhere amongst the chaos two werewolves who were attacking from either side of him forced Tanagy back away from the others. His hands and arms were moving so quickly it was hard for the human eye to keep up with them and yet he did not appear to be struggling to fend off the attacks of his enemy counterparts. He even managed to slash his weapon across one of their eyes before the other suddenly howled in pain as blood began to explode out of the back of its head. Incredibly Gokkus who was locked in a ferocious conflict of his own had not only seen what was happening to Tanagy but had managed to pull out some kind of projectile and accurately thrown it. Like before Tanagy did not waste the opportunity, slaying the beast quickly before focusing on the foe that remained. Twin swords and Gotianik clashed in a fury of sparks and piercing sounds. The fact Tanagy kept up with the creature was impressive enough but he wasn’t even struggling to do so. He was watching the movements of his enemy looking for something that only he could see. Suddenly the fury came to an end as Tanagy’s sword struck the chest of his foe while the other blocked an otherwise fatal enemy strike. Tanagy did not even wait for the thing to fall he rushed forward to join his companions, crossing his swords one way and then the other, delivering a total of four strikes that removed the head of yet another adversary.

  Zova was thrown into Tanagy as she fended off the bladed gloves of a powerful werewolf. But before her enemy could capitalize the Cloud Cutter was plunged into its chest, with so much force that the piercing sound could be heard above everything else and by all combatants.

  Silently Imbaka thanked her armor as enemy blades scraped across it, training and instinct had made her reflexes almost inhuman. Before the enemy blades had even finished moving across her armor she had killed their owner swiftly. As Imbaka fought off another attack Leannol stabbed the spear tip of her unique weapon into one werewolf before hammering the axe head down upon the nape of another’s neck.

  Hazum Ka-te was proving that his great reputation was anything but myth. After stopping the blades of one enemy he killed three others in quick succession stabbing his spear into their hearts so quickly that all three monsters fell to the ground at the exact same time. In this fight the enemy’s armor seemed to make little difference as time and time again the Helluvans killed their enemies seemingly just as quickly if they had not been wearing the protective steel. They were not the only ones doing well for as they fought bravely they could see at least half a dozen or so werewolves being launched into the air behind the group they were fighting.

  How Cada Varl had accomplished this could not be seen but it was clear that he was making the superiority of enemy numbers irrelevant. From all sides they attacked him; he was moving so quickly to counter each of their blows that it seemed more actions of instinct than vision. His arm moved 360 degrees performing angles that were humanly impossible. He was cutting through the enemy mass of muscle, armor and fur like it was nothing more than blades of grass. As body parts fell around him he appeared as if in some kind of morbid scenery were falling snow was replaced by body parts. He had cut through the entire length of the enemy group and now was facing inward.

  Despite the fact they originally had been heavily outnumbered, the Helluvans and Cada Varl had the advantage. Reminiscent of the ‘hammer and anvil’ technique military commanders had been using for thousands of years they began closing in on their enemy counterparts. To say the air was thick as blood was accurate because most of it was actually filled with the substance. The Immortal killed six of the enemies with an ongoing strike causing a collective decapitation where the bodies fell before the heads hit the ground. Cada Varl however was not the only one spreading the embrace of death for with their numbers advantage quickly depleting the werewolves could no longer overwhelm them.

  Imbaka and Zova used their swords to pierce the hearts of any enemies’ close enough for their swords to reach. Tanagy’s swords continued to sever heads, as did Gokkus; Leannol used which either end of her weapon she chose to slay the beasts with as well. Not wanting to be left out Hazum Ka-te added to the collogue of killing seemingly by wanting to paint his spear a bloody purple colour.

  The battle had turned very quickly in the favor of the Helluvans and the Immortal, as it now seemed simply a matter of time before it was over. Such a time soon came as the clashing of steel and piercing of armor gave way to a strange sound that was not quite silence but fairly close. Like almost always not a drop of blood had fallen on Cada Varl or his sword, which was impressive considering the ground around him now resembled a gigantic puddle of vein water. Cada Varl was about to call his name out as the group always did after a battle but something almost out of reach of his eye grabbed his attention.

  He turned his head and could see in the distance a werewolf, it was down on all fours and running at a considerable pace away from the slaughter. He soon saw two others moving just as quickly both in different direction before him. He had barely turned his head before something faster than even his eye could see flew past a millimeter from his nose. It took him a second to realize that it was an arrow fired from the bow of Zova. She paid not an ounce of attention to him as she stepped forward stringing another arrow. Her first arrow had found its target dropping the beast dead. As she fired the second arrow however the wind blew fiercely, yet in spite of this she still hit her target dead on. Now there was only one werewolf left but it was quite some distance away, she strung her bow with a third arrow and the wind grew fiercer, angered that it hadn’t stopped her second shot. Even to an archer as skilled as her the wind was too strong for the arrow to be fired accurately and with great frustration the group watched as the werewolf grew smaller and smaller in vision. Then when it looked that the werewolf would survive this day, there was a break in the wind. As Zova was about to fire, the werewolf vanished into the distant mist. Zova kept her bow raised and the arrow pulled back for several moments but it was now completely impossible for her to make such a shot. She breathed heavily as if in anger though such an action stopped not long after it had started. She took pressure off of the string but kept her eyes fixated on the last spot where she saw the werewolf, cursing herself that it had gotten away. Though it was not her fault, that didn’t change the fact an enemy had gotten away.

  Even when the Helluvans began calling their names out one by one Cada Varl had to speak before Zova did, before she was taking out of her own mind and brought back to reality.

  “Scouting party,” Hazum Ka-te said as purple blood dripped from his helmet, his face may have been stern but his eyes showed that he seemed to enjoy the smell of werewolf blood. He had one of his feet upon the body of a slain werewolf, which had some kind of blue, decorated cloth upon its left shoulder.

  “A large force must be close by,” said Leannol as her eyes searched the distance for any proof of what she said.

  “Move, Move, Move,” was all Imbaka had to say for the group to hastily move onwards realizing the predicament they now found themselves in. There were in such a hurry that they did not even bother to clean their weapons as they ran across the landscape.