by Billy Wong
She stood and a Kayland soldier ran at her from the side. She sidestepped his sword thrust, grabbed his face with one hand, and squeezed. Bone crumpled like an eggshell and she dropped the corpse. Finn whistled in admiration. She planted her halberd's butt into the ground, flexed long fingers as if challenging him to a test of strength with a grin. Tucking his mace into its holster, he gladly accepted. They locked up, massive bodies straining against each other. At first they seemed even, then Finn leaned more of his weight into it and slowly began to overpower her. She broke the grapple by headbutting him, driving him back.
"Now who's throwing cheap shots?" he asked while she snatched her halberd back up. She swung it in a huge, hard to predict arc, and the blade bit into his side when he kept his shield an inch too high. Staggering back, he lured her into pursuing without adequate care. He dodged a stab from her halberd spike and hit her right in the face with his mace. The impact made a gruesome squish, and she fell backwards with blood spraying from her visage.
"Ah, gods... ah..." she moaned, trying to roll to her knees. Dark red poured out between her fingers as she clutched her face.
"Get up, big wench. Or are you going to cry and disgrace the Laros name?"
#
Joghra's massive maul swept through the air, only to be caught right below the head by Rose's sword. She pulled hard and jerked the Death General forward, slamming her shield into his helmeted head while he stumbled past. He stabbed backwards with his hammer's handle, and she realized a hidden blade had sprung out of the end. She didn't dodge quite in time, and the point drove deep into her side. Joghra twisted as he tore it painfully free and Rose fell to one knee, gushing blood. The huge hammer blocked out the sun. Terrible pain shot through her arm as she tried to deflect it with her shield, the rim bending with a screech at the impact.
"Foolish woman," the giant spat, raising the deadly maul again, "no match for me except in cowardly ambush."
The taunting words made her blood boil, for it'd been he who first attacked her by surprise. She used her shield to knock aside the hammer falling at her like an avalanche and came to her feet with an upward slash that tore away the leering mask. The surprisingly handsome if piercing-covered black man sneered. Rose pressed him hard with short but powerful blows with her sword, driving him back. But he grinned as she suddenly lost her balance, and taking advantage swung his hammer into her ribcage.
Knocked sideways, Rose fell to the ground. In addition to her screaming ribs, she felt incredibly weak, and Joghra put his foot triumphantly on her back. "Didn't you realize I'd poisoned you with my blade? You should have run when I stabbed you. Now you'll die, and no one will stand against my conquest of Kayland." The Death General raised his hammer, again about to live up to his name.
Rose got her arms under her and heaved upwards, though it felt like her body wanted to shut down completely and every movement took a tremendous effort. The giant standing on her lost his balance and stumbled off her. Rose forced herself up and brought her broadsword down hard at his face, putting a deep notch in the head of his hammer when he blocked.
"It'd be a disgrace to be killed by a coward like you," she taunted as she forced herself to fight on, drawing hope from Joghra's shocked expression.
He drew another blade then, a sturdy dirk made for defeating armor which shone with a clear liquid coating. He thrust at Rose several times, all the while still swinging his hammer one-handed. But she warily kept the dirk from her flesh, and at last the frustrated general threw it at her face with all his force. It merely clanged against her dented shield and fell harmlessly away. The Death General's eyes lit up nonetheless as Rose stumbled, her strength apparently close to failing. Her arms dipped, leaving her upper body undefended. He swung his maul, his clear intent to take her head clean off.
Rose caught the huge weapon between her sword and shield, though the blow threw her off balance for a moment. Its own momentum aided her as she turned and ripped the hammer from Joghra's hands, throwing it far behind her. Realizing her feint, the giant did not falter, but hit her with a powerful blow of his fist. Knocking her down, he mounted her and pounded her head against the ground with another vicious punch. Rose hit him back. Even unable to put optimal force behind her blow, she bloodied his mouth. The snarling man spat blood into her eyes, blinding her momentarily, and hit her again.
Rose tried to gouge his eyes, but only scratched skin before he stood and kicked her head. He touched his face where furrows marked her nails' path. She took another hard kick on her forearm while she sat up, and wrapped both arms around his thick leg. Using her immense strength, she threw him over her head from the awkward position. But he showed surprising agility by rolling up upon landing, then sprinted away to snatch his weapon off the ground. Retrieving her own sword, she rushed him as he turned and the confident giant met her halfway.
This time the angry Rose knocked him stumbling back with the force of her charge. With repeated blows to the same spot, she broke the head off his hammer. Turning the handle around in his hands, Joghra tried to use the point on the bottom as a spearhead. Rose evaded the poisoned blade and caught the shaft under her arm. She tried to wrench it away, but he held determinedly firm until she blasted him under the chin with the rim of her shield. Staggering away, he snatched a dropped spear from the ground and thrust, but it splintered against her great shield.
Joghra ducked a slash at neck level, and grabbing her legs lifted her high into the air. Her fist to the back of his head made him put her down. But then, pointing his hands at her, Joghra made strange upward motions with both fists. Before Rose realized what was going on, two thick steel bolts shot from beneath his forearm guards at close range and buried themselves in her midsection. She crumpled.
Rose wailed while liquid fire coursed through her veins, a much worse feeling than when she'd been poisoned before. She saw Joghra pick up his hammer-shaft slowly, deliberately, as if wanting to savor his victory. The Death General looked down at his victim as he advanced and smiled in anticipation of his glorious triumph. Standing over Rose's moaning form, he raised the spike high over her chest and plunged it down.
Somehow, she raised her shield into its path. Skidding off the curved metal, the poisoned blade hit the hard ground and broke off. Despite her anguish, Rose wrapped her legs around the off-balance giant's head and threw him with a quick twist. Rolling onto his side to face her, Joghra reversed his weapon, and drove the sharp point of the metal shaft where its head had broken off deep into Rose's left breast.
"Why won't you fall?!" the amazed general gasped. Rose, blood pouring from her mouth, stabbed her broadsword through his shoulder and pinned him to the ground. Joghra's eyes widened in fear when Rose raised her shield to crush his neck, but he managed to push her away with a kick to her injured abdomen. With a desperate scream, he pulled the huge sword out and both warriors stood facing each other, bleeding profusely. The Death General began to back away as Rose tore the stake out of her chest and raised it to throw. Then, she caught sight of a Sevrian officer raising a sword over a fallen General Lipner and hesitated.
Joghra's eyes lit up in triumph while she aimed her cast at Lipner's attacker. The giant charged, bringing up her own sword, only to find the bloody pole flying directly at him. He raised his arm to protect his throat, and dropped the sword as his forearm was impaled by Rose's mighty throw. Turning, he ran, leaving Rose to walk shaking with pain towards her blade before falling again to the ground.
Unaware of the terrible battle that had just ended, the Sevrian she'd aimed at seconds ago plunged his sword down through General Lipner's heart.
Chapter 5
Joghra helped Fiona over the barricade after he climbed down, himself unsteady with pain and blood loss. She was severely injured, but he had to admire how long she'd stood against a heavier man with magic on top. It'd been a good day, all in all. They hadn't killed Rose and Finn, though Rose should probably die from the poison he'd filled her with, but the officers they had enabled th
eir troops to slay would soon throw the Kaylanders into disarray. As they started back towards camp, Fiona leaning on him, a voice reached Joghra from behind.
"Die!" the young but balding man yelled, and charged raising his sword. Wasn't this that fool... Joghra backhanded him, sending him sprawling in the dirt.
Fiona detached herself from Joghra and raised her halberd. "Rose's friend. At least I get to kill you."
"No," Joghra said.
"What? No? But he's..."
"Not this one. He amuses me. Doesn't he amuse you?"
She watched the balding man point his blade at them with no fear in his eyes, challenging, daring them to come forth. "A little bit," she admitted.
"Then we'll walk away, and see how he kills himself in the end." They turned.
"Yeah, you two better run!" the man said behind them.
#
Through blurred vision, Rose saw two Sevrian soldiers advance towards her, triumph in their eyes. She reached out a weak, trembling hand for her sword, and with a scream cut through the thigh of the first to try and finish her with a stab. As the other one stopped and thought twice about his intended action, a thrown axe buried itself in his skull and laid him out on the bloody earth. Rose could barely hear the voice calling to her through the blankets of pain which threatened to smother her.
"Rose!" Finn cried while he reached her side and knelt. He bore some wounds and looked battered, but moved well enough. "Say something!"
"I just killed a man," she whispered. "So I guess I still have some life left. Fiona?"
"Ran away when Joghra did."
"Damn, then they both live... we gave it our all, and they still survive."
"Hey, it's not like we didn't give them a good beating—they'll probably be nursing their wounds for weeks." He lifted her in his arms. "Are you badly hurt? Where?"
Gasping, she breathed, "Belly. Chest. Side. But worst is the poison. Like being set on fire on the inside."
"Please don't die," Finn begged. "I need you. I really need you."
Rose forced a smile, coughing up blood and phlegm as she said, "Since when do I die so easy?" She was deathly afraid, the pain so agonizing she dared not imagine what happened inside her. Her organs felt like they were melting. But she didn't want her love to share that terror, and tried to hide it from him. "What happened to General Lipner? Did somebody save him?"
Finn looked around, and Rose knew from his eyes the news was not good. "What happened?" he asked her.
"A Sevrian had General Lipner at his mercy," she said weakly, "and Joghra was charging at me. I had to choose my target, and I chose Joghra. Is Lipner..."
"He's dead. Rose, you had to. If you'd left yourself defenseless against Joghra, he would've killed you."
She didn't respond, out loud at least. But she looked shamefully away as she thought about what happened. Finn's words might've been true, but then, she still had her axe. She thought she'd forgotten about it in the heat of the moment—but would others think so?
Her love recognized the guilt in her gesture. "Don't worry. I probably wouldn't have saved him either, after what he did."
"Damn, Finn, I didn't do it on purpose." She gasped, and blood ran from both corners of her mouth.
Lovingly, helplessly, he wiped at the crimson rivulets flowing down her cheeks and smiled gently. "I would think not. You're a better person than me, then. Hang on, Rose. You'll be okay."
"How the hell is it," Rose wondered with a pained smile, "that nobody's attacked you while you sit here with me in your arms? And why haven't you taken me inside yet?"
Finn blinked. "Sorry, I was too worried about you to move. I'll get going now. I guess maybe the Sevrians really are too afraid of me to attack." He looked around to see if that was really the case, but saw as Rose did that there weren't many enemies close to them, moving ones at least. "No, it seems the Sevrians ran away once they did what they came to do. No point staying in the middle of our camp to get killed."
He stood and began walking back towards their tent. Each step sent spears of pain lancing through her body, and Rose struggled to stay conscious, every step a grueling eternity. "I failed," she muttered a few feet into the journey, trembling.
#
Finn looked down at his poor Rose. "If that's the case, we all failed. If I had beaten Fiona more quickly, I could've helped you against him. I left you alone, and now you're paying for it. I promise I'll make it up to you, somehow."
"It's okay," Rose assured him as she reached up to stroke his face. "I wanted to face him. They're worthy opponents, even if Joghra is a cheat."
"Giant girl put up a fight," he agreed. "I enjoyed it, hope to fight her again!"
Coming into the tent, Finn laid Rose on the floor, his heart tightening at her moans of pain while he put her down. Howard and Loreen were already there, the former's eyes full of pride though the side of his face was massively swollen and he looked dizzy. They laid frightened eyes upon the horribly wounded Rose and asked what had happened. Finn told them the story as they did what they could for her visible wounds, deep and nasty in their own right, and all remained silent for a time.
Then Loreen asked, "Do you know what poison Joghra used on her?"
"I don't know," he replied uneasily, "only that terrible agony wracks her entire body."
At that Rose groaned, and whispered, "Really terrible."
"It's a good sign that she's awake, right?" Howard asked sheepishly.
"No," Rose herself answered. "It's not a good feeling."
Loreen held her friend's hand. "If we knew what was in you, we could try and get you an antidote so you wouldn't suffer so. Gods know a normal person would probably have died the first time Joghra poisoned you, and somehow you shrugged it off then, but now you're hurting so bad... I'm sure Joghra has the antidote to whatever this is, in case he accidentally poisons himself. Do you want us to try and get it for you?"
The stricken warrior shook her head slowly, face twisted with excruciating pain. "No, don't try to get it from Joghra. And don't you dare think of trying to avenge me, Finn. He's too dangerous—Wilner's match, only even less honorable."
Finn put an arm over Loreen's shoulders and laughed. "The two of us along with Derrick beat Wilner, and we have Howard here to take his place. Plus I have magic now, which I didn't then. I think we can get you what you need."
Rose looked worriedly at him. "You can't afford a touch of his poisoned blades, which is all that's needed to bring down a normal man. You might be able to fight it for a while, Finn, but..."
"Always rubbing it in that you're tougher than me," he said with a smile. "But you beat him, didn't you? And there's three of us, four if Justin helps."
"You're completely ignoring Fiona and the rest of his men. Besides, I couldn't kill him, and though I drove him away I'd say he hurt me worse. If you got poisoned like me, who would drag you back here? It's too risky to try and take the antidote, especially considering he won't take the field again until he's healed from the wounds I gave him. Just keep fighting the war, but don't go after him and throw your lives away!"
Loreen's face grew distraught. "But Rose, what if even you aren't strong enough to survive this? What if you die? I couldn't bear it, and Finn moreso." He nodded grimly. "Please Rose, let us help you! We're your friends, you can rely on us!"
"Not like this," she gasped. Then she went into another fit of coughing, bloody spittle flying into the air. "I'll be fine. Please trust me."
"She can't live like this," Howard said as he observed her tortured frame.
Finn put his hand on her shoulder. "Rose, are you sure you don't want us to help you?"
"Yes, I'm sure," she insisted.
"All right." He tore his gaze from her pain-filled eyes, and soon Rose fell asleep.
Loreen looked around at her friends. "We're not really going to listen to her, are we?"
Finn felt conflicted. "She could recover from this. She's survived numerous hurts that would've killed anybody else. She's the
toughest person around, and usually dead on about what she can and can't do. Maybe we should just trust her."
"She's dying," Howard said. "Surely you can see that."
"She isn't dying." Finn heard the desperation in his voice, his trust in his own words tested while he observed Rose's tortured breathing.
Loreen looked at him with sad eyes. "I think Howard is right. She can handle the first dose of poison, if it's the same thing as before, but the stuff on the gauntlet bolts? Look at her. If you didn't love her, what odds would you give to her survival?"
"Really bad ones," Finn admitted. "So what do you want to do? Rose seemed so sure we couldn't beat Joghra—and we don't even know what poison he used on her! If we do kill him, how will we know which of his vials to feed her? We could end up giving her more poison! And taking him alive out of camp seems pretty unfeasible..."
Although, Sevrian culture did place high value on their leaders. If they did capture Joghra, they could probably use him as leverage to get the whole Sevrian army to back off. Such an outcome seemed too optimistic to hope for in this situation, though.
"Maybe we could talk to him," Howard said.
Loreen stared. "Talk to him? He is the Death General of Sevria! He isn't known for his willingness to bargain with enemies."
Howard's face grew dejected. "Sorry. I didn't really think about it before I said it."
"Wait," Finn said, "this idea might actually have some merit. We could talk to him, because we have something to offer he'd surely want, and no one else could give him. My magic."
Loreen gaped. "What?!"
Hope growing within him, Finn smiled. "I'm sure he'd trade us an antidote to Rose's poison in exchange for something I could offer him. He doesn't know my better spells can't be used by anyone else, so maybe we can trick him by giving him some of those?"
"I'm sure he'd also ask you to promise that you and Rose won't fight him anymore," Howard said.
Loreen shrugged. "Promises are meant to be broken, when the one you're making the promise to has no honor himself."
