At first it was a spark - a dot of light in the darkness.

Then it grew closer, and as it grew closer, it blossomed into flame.

The flaming arrowhead drew a long lazy arc, as it descended from upon high

Then, it descended into Elrik's face.

[Duck!]

Elrik, yanked his head to a side, and felt the arrow skitter across the edge of his skull, drawing a bloody line at the top of his head.

What fresh hell was this?

Elrik hung there, his arms and legs still hooked about the rope line, teetering over the furious river. He could hear distant shouts - a scream. There was the quiet ssswp, ssswp, ssswp of arrows clacking into the ground from all around.

Move. Move, Move Move!

"Aaaargh!", that was Agrisu - Elrik recognized his roar. There was a thump, and a figure in dark leathers tumbled into the river, past Elrik, from the bank above

Elrik hung on for dear life. He had to get to the river bank first. He was almost there. Just a few more feet - Elrik crawled, pulling himself up, inch by agonizing inch.

There, he'd made it. Elrik clambered up and onto the river bank.

Oh God

It was dark, and hard to see, but Senu's silhouette was unmistakable as it lay on the ground.

Elrik lurched forward - for a second he had the instinct to check the man’s wounds . But no.. the quiet giant was dead. He lay - head tilted to a side and limbs spayed unnaturally - as only the dead can lie.

Elrik didn’t know how long he stood there, thoughts frozen, staring at the body. Arrows flew overhead all about him. As if from a great distance he heard screams, shouts, the clash of steel - all over the roar of the river behind him.

ssswp, ssswp, ssswp

Then the yelled command shook him out of it, “Kassi! Run! Run!”

Elrik wheeled about and there was Agrisu.

There was Agrisu, and he was fearsome.

The man stood against the night like a bear and fought like a demon. Five bodies lay unmoving in the muddy ground. A sixth staggered away, cut open like a gut fish.

Agrisu swung his bloody great bastard sword about him and bodies flew.

As Elrik turned, a sixth soldier took a kick square to the chest that caved in his ribs and sent him flying away like a ragdoll.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Soldiers in dark leathers seemed to pour out from the darkness one after another, endlessly. Like river behind them, they were like waves dashing on immovable rock that was Agrisu.

Agrisu twisted and slashed, cutting three arrows from the air. He turned and screamed at Elrik, “Run you jakut whoreson!”

Elrik started towards him, before, from the edge of his vision, he saw figures coming at him.

…

Four of them came at Elrik. Under starlight they were just barely shadows, rough outlines, moving fast towards hm.

They carried shortswords, short heavy brutish things. They came at a steady jog, putting Elrik between them and Agrisu.

[Spear. On the ground. Six inches left of your right foot]

Elrik's foot moved almost before he had the thought. He caught the spear with his toe, kicking it up into the air, catching it, before spinning to face the soldiers, all in one smooth motion.

For a fraction of a second, seeing that, they paused. Perhaps they were trying to gauge him. Perhaps they were afraid. But it was all Elrik needed.

With a thought he leapt into them, his spear already flickering out.

Even as he stepped into two armlengths of distance - he sent his spearhead flying - jabbing twice. He took one in the eye and another in the throat. Then he was among them, rounding and smashing the butt of the spear into another one's swordgrip, crushing fingers to pulp. The man gave a cry, dropping the blade and falling back.

The spear moved like a part of him, moving fast as thought.

The last one slashed desperately, but Elrik was already turning, catching the blade on the spearshaft. The shortsword bit into the wooden shaft, but Elrik was already twisting, driving the spearhead into the soldier's face, carving through skin and bone before shoving away.

Elrik felt his heart hammering in his chest. There was rage there. They'd almost been through. Almost survived this hellish night. He'd liked Senu.

Another soldier ran at him, screaming, sword held high.

Elrik felt the blood pounding in his head, but his hands felt cool and steady as a surgeon's. He felt himself fall neatly back, spearshaft bracing against the ground. When the screaming soldier reached Elrik a heartbeat later, the man drove himself straight into the spear. The spearhead drove through him and out the other side, before he gave out.

Another two came out of the darkness. Then a third. Then more.

Elrik’s spear was everywhere. His spearhead darted, flickered and flew. Cutting, stabbing, slicing through eyes and carotids and femoral. The butt of his spear moved in hammer blows, shattering skulls and kneecaps.

At some point he realized he wasn’t even controlling it with any conscious thought. Simply unleashing his rage and letting it run amok. His spear was a living thing.

With a wet crunch, Elrik’s spear impaled a soldier through the heart.

With a start he realized she’d been a woman. She was - no - she’d been - dark haired with olive skin. Her eyes shifted from wide open to glassy in an instant.

Elrik pulled, to yank his spear free of the woman he'd just impaled. The spearhead stuck, caught in a leather cuirace. Elrik gritted his teeth and pulled again, but the spear was stuck firm.

Ah. Well.. Shit

"I said RUN you cursed otaki nikamma!", Agrisu screamed.

He was still standing, somehow. The bear of a man looked dipped in ink, the blood on him looking black in the dark of the night. Like something out of the depths of hell.

He pointed down his blade at Elrik, "Run or I'll gut you myself you idiot! RUN! NOW!"

That was the last he said, Agrisu.

Like a magic trick, just then, an arrow sprouted on him, finding the crook of his neck.

For a second, Agrisu seemed almost puzzled, his gaze drawn by the shaft that had suddenly appeared in his neck.

Then, like puppet with cut strings, he toppled over.

"No!", Elrik shouted and sprinted towards him.

[Quick! Behi-]

He never saw the soldier that barreled into him from the darkness.

One moment he was sprinting towards Agrisu's body - the next there was the sickening crunch of two bodies slamming into each other.

Then Elrick was flying, his body flung out into the dark. The there was the cold, the endless cold of icy water.

Then there was just darkness.

...