“Oh my … what the fuck … Kesla, what the FUCK?!!! What did you just do?” Shay rounds on me now, looking ready to reach out and start shaking me, while Tulen’s clearly too stunned to even try and speak now. I just look down, turning Hefdred over in my hand now as I inspect the condition of the now conspicuously cold and inert blade.
“He’s fine.” It’s a strange thing, I would’ve expected carving all those things apart would’ve put a whole lot of nasty unpleasant shit all over my blade, not just dead blood but … gods, I don’t really wanna think about what they were actually made of. But the steel is surprisingly clean, making me suspect the heat of Corvina’s fire blazing through the blade must’ve been enough to just burn most of it off. So I simply turn the sword around, find the throat of the scabbard, and slide it home again into its sheath. “Look for yourself.”
While Tulen’s just rooted to the spot, clearly still too alarmed to do anything, Shay gives me a really sharp look before stepping to the window to frown out into the night … then lets a long, relieved breath loose as her shoulders fall immediately as she starts to relax. “Oh. Okay, I just …” Her frown still deepens as she turns back to me. “That was a bit much, though. Don’t you think?”
“Maybe.” I know exactly what she’s just seen, of course – Driver 8’s right outside, stood just a little way below the window, likely straightening up again after having lowered a very startled dwarf to the ground after catching him. Probably with the creature Shay booted through the glass still thoroughly crushed under one foot. Now he’ll be waiting for the rest of us, patient and implacable as ever.
“You mean … is he not … what happened?” Tulen blinks now as she takes a very tentative step that way too, clearly a good deal more reluctant in the face of her shock. “Is he okay?”
Stooping to drag Dumoli’s warhammer up from the floor, I have to brace both mylegs firmly to work up the strength to heft it up in one hand now. “Oof … he’s fine. All things considered, anyway.” Frowning down at it for a beat, I realise there ain’t nothing else I can really do with it, so I just pitch it through the hole too. Then I look back down the corridor again.
Gods, there’s more of ‘em, it makes we wonder how the hell they could’ve got so much meat and bone and metal together so quick. Or maybe it’s all the dead in this place, now. I shudder a little at that thought. “Yeah, you gotta go.”
“What?” Tulen don’t seem anything like so shaken now as she starts to protest, instead looking at me like I’m daft. “But what about –”
“Don’t make me repeat myself, Tu.” I reach back over my shoulder now, working on shrugging the corresponding axe free from its harness, but it takes more’n one try to work it loose. “There’s no time.”
“No, I can still fight –” She’s fishing through her components bag again, frowning deeper now.
“Shay, do me a favour, will you?”
For a moment the half-orc just frowns at me, like she won’t actually do what I ask after all, then she lets a short, bitter hiss of a sigh out and turns quick to smash her elbow into glass still left beside her, repeating the process a few times to knock the hole through a bit wider. Then she turns back and grabs hold of Tulen from behind by both arms and immediately starting to steer her forcefully towards the window.
“What? Wait! No … no, no no wait! Hold on, I can still help!”
I’m already stepping toward the quickly advancing wave of horrors, giving my axe a little flourish as I prepare myself to give my friends cover, so I guess I must miss when she starts rubbing her palms desperately together. Not so much the scratchy little catching sound that I’ve learned to recognise from my time spent with Gael, though, accompanied by a little bloom of heat at my back that goes with it enough to give me warning enough as Shay shouts: “What are you … oh shit! Kesla, duck!”
Yeah, I’m already with her, so I duck aside fast as Tulen must throw the freshly lit flame-blast while Shay’s still trying to move her towards the window. Meaning her aim’s more’n a little off, so I just chuck myself into the wall and crouch low, hoping for the best as I feel the terrifying arc of angry hot flames sail through the air directly over my head. Fuck … that was a little too close …
It flies further than I’d have expected, but I was still right, the angle’s definitely a little off, so when the stray wave hits it first bounces off the wall before tumbling down into the midst of the incoming wave. It misses at least four as they manage to dodge, which in itself surprises me some, really. The ones behind go up in a great screaming mess as the flames flare, the fire spreading quickly as the whole corridor starts to burn, and one of the ones that she initially missed is caught in the resulting conflagration too. But there are still three on this side of the impact itself, and the catching heat at their backs lends them extra speed.
“Shit …” I growl it under my breath as I turn just enough to look over my shoulder. “You gotta go! NOW!!!”
“But what about –” Tulen tries to protest as Shay gives up trying to steer her and instead wraps both arms round her from behind and just picks her up. The fact they’re both about the same height makes it look a little hilarious, more so that they must be about as strong as each other, but the dragonhalf wizard just lets her. Or maybe she just realises too late what’s happening as Shay twists round and pitches her through the enlarged hole, taking her enough by surprise the next thing out her mouth is a wordless cry of profound shock. Then the half-orc looks back at me.
“Come on then.”
“Just go. I’m right behind you.”
She frowns at that, but I don’t wait to see if she listens or not, instead just running forward now as I lose what little gap there is left between us and the threat. Which turns out to be less than a handful of long, sprinting steps, actually …
As the first one comes at me, already throwing one of its flailing tendrils towards me as I approach, I don’t even bother ducking aside, instead just dropping into a foot-first slide to its side, and as it hits empty air I’m already reacting to it. My shield batters it aside while I bring my axe round to dig it deep into the main mass, and I let my momentum tear rather than chop so in the end it opens up a deep gouge in it as I skid underneath its defences. Once I’m past I kick off from the wall with one foot and, as I slew round on my armoured back I lash out with the other foot, aiming for the next one in line.
My sabaton makes contact with what feels more like a solid chunk of wood than the butchered side of ribs I was expecting, and it almost hurts me, but I power through enough that it unbalances it instead. So I manage to tip it into a clumsy somersaulting flip that just sends it careening into its predecessor, and as they go down in a mutual tangle that just leaves me one immediate threat to take care off.
Except now I’m down on my back …shit, I didn’t actually think this out half so well as it seemed on the way in. It’s well aware that I’m here, and as it rounds on me now I realise I have, at best, one solid second of peace to get up and respond before I’m overwhelmed. So I try the only real option open to me in the time I got, I kick my legs up in front of me as I shove off from my back in the same motion, intending to snap my feet down under myself as I flip over. A move I have, at best, only managed to effectively pull off maybe three times out of ten in the past. The rest of the time it just brough me crashing right back down on my back and knocked the wind right outta me in the process …
So it’s enough of a surprise when I actually manage to find my feet this time that I almost freeze on the spot, which would lead me to either overbalance again and drop backwards after all, or just leave me open for the attack after all. The sudden, unpleasantly bitter but nonetheless vitalising surge of adrenaline that shoots through me is the only reason I respond in time after all, turning my shield to block the attacking whip of twisted flesh as it shoots at my face. I follow through fast, turning the force of the hit that makes me take into momentum as I hack deep into the middle of the main trunk of this makeshift creature, and I tear again, twisting it aside in a roughly diagonal line to rip it wide open. Then I push back, finding the wall at my back and using it to boost off of as I shove myself sideways, narrowly avoiding getting cut down as it responds with another wild haymaker that I hear shattering wood and plaster where I was a blink before.
As I round on it I feel the blooming flare of heat behind me and it’s enough to tell me the fire’s almost on top of us. My time here’s numbered in minutes, or likely significantly less.
Charging again, I hold my breath until the last possible moment before letting my snarling growl go, not wanting to let it know I’m coming again while it’s still turning towards me, but it surprises me this time, twisting aside in such a way I only manage to land a glancing blow. The manner of its motion reminds me much too late that this thing ain’t actually built like a conventional living thing, built without an actual front, back or sides, any more’n it has a conventional head. So as I chop into it the whole mass of it twists hard, and this time my blade’s caught a little too fast, so it drags me hard along with it as I stubbornly refuse to let go of my weapon. For a beat I’m unbalanced, just towed along after it, but I adapt quick, giving the butt of the handle a hefty tap with the rim of my shield at the same time that I give the shaft and sharp twist, and it shucks free with a wet pop while I’m set free.
Recovering quick, I swing with a good deal more force on the backswing and bite deep enough for the hard, heavy swing to tear right through that first blow I landed on the other side, and while it don’t quite carve it in two, it’s enough to leave it suddenly lolling wide open. It drops fast, losing most of its structural integrity all at once, and I’m already stepping back fast as the quivering mess splatters down at my feet and writhes. I ignore it for now, instead jumping over it to take on the other two as the closer one seems to be recovering now, clearly ready to come for me again.
Then the one right behind it’s suddenly jerked hard to the side and it almost distracts me. ‘Least until I realise it’s cuz Shay’s just cut it down with her sword, slicing clean through while it was still righting itself, and part o’ me wants to admonish her for not listening to me, but instead I got more pressing concerns.
I hear the torn but still sort-of alive creature behind me start to scream the same time I feel another bloom in the heat at my back, and it’s enough to warn me that the fire’s spreading fast now. In the same moment my current opponent twists at my side as if trying a feint, but I react to it after all, and when it attacks after all from that angle I’m already swinging my axe to deflect the blow. I don’t cut through this tendril, though, instead my blade prangs hard on a piece of shredded steel it clearly intended to carve into me with, and instead I just slap it away. Shit … damn it, I really am missing Krakka’s god magic right now, that was so handy before …
Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.
Not wanting to give it a chance to recover, I instead batter it with my shield and put both feet into the shove, charging hard while the construct folds around it and driving it into the nearer wall. I put a little extra spur into the last step, really crushing it into the plaster, and there’s a substantial cracking sound as it buckles some from the force, not quite trapping the creature but at least pinning it enough to slow it down. I back off fast and round on Shay as she cuts two more swift slices through her target, and her eyes are wild enough I’m not sure she actually sees me for right away.
“Oh!” She blinks, focusing on me now, at least, and her frown deepens. “Yeah, look, I am an not going to apologise for –”
“No time!” I don’t give her a chance to react as I just tighten my grip on my axe and charge right at her, and as I open my arms while jumping over the still squirming dismembered pieces settling at her feet her eyes widen as she barely catches what I’m about to do. Certainly she has no time to actually do anything …
When I slam into her I keep moving forward, wrapping my shield-arm around as I charge straight for the window, and as I throw us both forward I hear her bite down on a protest and just take a deep, rattled breath instead. Then she wraps her free arm round my torso in return and we hit the glass and it gives instantly in a loud, glittering explosion and we’re in the air with all the worryingly sharp pieces raining down round us. I don’t even know if Big Man’s had a chance to move, I barely even knew I was gonna do this until I actually did, for all I know we’re about to get really badly hurt … or worse. I may have just killed my friend.
Then we both slam into something painfully solid after all and while my shield bears the brunt of the hit Shay still gasps as all the air’s knocked right out of her, and I feel the great crushing hit of the impact not even a beat after. It crushes my chest hard, driving the wind straight out of my lungs too, and my head snaps forward with such sudden force it’s a miracle I don’t butt Shay right in the face. Instead my chin hits her armoured shoulder with significant force and I feel the crack as a bright white light goes off in my head, and I’m just gone for … well I don’t know how long, really.
The next thing I’m aware of is the painful aching in my chin and much of my jaw, while my head’s swimming and my thoughts are scary slow, my head stuffed with cotton wool despite the throb. I can sort of feel myself getting shifted about, but my limbs themselves won’t respond any as I try to react in kind, more’n a little alarmed now even in my deeply rattled state. I try to speak but all I manage is a low, toneless grunt, and I don’t really hear it anyway, mostly just picking up on a vague buzzing vibration in my skull. Fuck, I am a mess.
Finally I seem to settle and the movements stop, and I try opening my eyes now, very slow realising I ain’t done it already. The light’s low enough I don’t get blinded at least, but it’s so fuzzy … yeah, I can’t see much of anything, just a big blur. There are vague colours shifting in front of my eyes, but I can’t make anything out, and the sounds are as muffled and indistinct as my own voice was before. “What’s … hey, I’m here, what’s going on?” I try to say that, but I doubt it actually comes out of my mouth.
Something very blurry shifts into my vision and I try squinting a little, and there’s maybe some vague recognition in my head now seeing ‘em, whoever it is … then they shift again as another, less familiar shape ducks in close and I only very vaguely feel contact on either side of my face, a gentle probing, maybe fingers. And a low, barely perceptible note to the sounds now, a repetitive thrumming, something I suspect might not strictly be sound anyway …
My head starts to clear slowly, until it’s not, my vision clearing and the fuzz shifting, and then, suddenly, it’s like my brain just pops and everything comes rushing back at once. It’s Shul knelt over me, her face close and earnest, clearly worried eyes locked on me as she checks me over, while I realise the other is one of the clerics from the temple, still muttering quiet prayers under his breath. I start working my jaw, I can’t help it, there’s still pressure in my head like my ears are full of water, but it fades by increments. And now I can see others around me, similarly crouched and kneeling over me.
“Fucking hell … Kesla, what were you thinking?” Shul finally mutters as the healer, a middle-aged halfling, it looks like, lets go of my face. I can sort of feel now, as much as my vision and hearing have come back, at least, and I seem to be lying on the ground, outside the house. I can see brightening firelight close by on the left, the pluming smoke largely indistinguishable from the night’s sky even as it blots out many of the stars.
“Thorin … I just wanted to get us both outta there …” I wheeze, growing uncomfortably aware that my jaw’s still throbbing substantially, despite my head starting to clear. I can move, too, but I still feel all kinds of wobbly, my limbs extremely watery right now.
Tulen hovers into view above me, her eyes very wide and a look equal parts shock and sheepishness writ large across her face as she takes a beat to shift her robes a little before dropping into a crouch. Dumoli’s on one knee on my other side, Zuldrad too, while Lady Naru’s stood close by, leaning into her staff, mostly just looking relieved as she looks down at me.
“Oh …” I grunt with real discomfort as I start to push myself up into a seated position, finding my arms ain’t much good for this but struggling through all the same. “Wait … Shay! Shit … is she –”
“I am spectacularly pissed off at you right now.”
Big Man takes a few very tentative steps closer on my right now, and when I look up it don’t take me long to work out why he’s moving so gingerly. He’s got Deriel’s shrouded body clutched over one shoulder, while Shay’s cradled in his other arm, propped up into a languid reclining position with her head against his shoulder, and she’s glaring daggers at me right now. “My back is killing me.”
“My most heartfelt apologies.” the golem rumbles, and while it’s just the same monotone, something about his posture alone is enough to lend it an air of profound regret. “I was able to catch you both well before you hit the ground, but … I am afraid I am not built for soft landings.”
“Ah … shit.” I wince, as much in rueful sympathy as due to my own discomfort. “Reckon you got a point. You’re all … hard and stuff.”
“You didn’t help matters though, did you?” Shay growls, and I realise now that, while she’s found her own voice, there’s a bit of a slur to her words now, and the way her arms are just dangling slack and her head’s lolling makes it clear she’s pretty out of it too. Crap …
“Yeah, okay, I am sorry.” I sit forward and reach up the best I can, but it still takes me some real effort to manage to find my face with my hands to check it over. Oof … fuck, my jaw is killing me, maybe much as Shay’s back. I’m a little amazed I can even speak right now, never mind how fuzzy my own words sound in my head. As it is, I’m more’n a little surprised when I realise I still got my fully-extended shield strapped to my arm. “Shit … can somebody gimme a hand up?”
Driver 8 does actually start to move, which takes me a little by surprise, but then there’s an immediate hesitation which makes me think he’s feeling a bit sheepish about Shay already being in his care. Besides, Shul’s already on her feet now, leaning forward to offer up her hand, and I gratefully offer my right hand up to her so she can pulling me up as I work on trying to get my legs to start responding too. “What are … oh, hell … I’m sorry, Shul. I just wasn’t expecting to see you and … um …”
“Fenn.” she breathes as she takes hold of my wrist with her other hand and starts to put her back into it. She really is much stronger than she looks like she should be, but then she is a half-hob. “Lady Naru ported back to collect us both when she saw the state you were in after Driver 8 caught you.”
“Someone’s coming!” I’m a little surprised to hear Yeslee’s voice right now, especially quite close by behind the group, and it’s almost enough to make my very rubbery legs give out under me as Shul finally has me on my feet. Thankfully she’s got a good enough hold o’ me by now she just squeezes a little tighter on my arm, and by then Tulen’s got herself into order too, ducking in to take over. It’s a good thing too, she’s closer to my own height so when she drags my arm round her shoulders to hold me up, her other quickly snaking round my back to get a good tight grip on my waist, I can just settle against her without having to worry I might overwhelm us both.
The Fir Bolg ranger comes jogging out of the relative gloom with her bow in hand, clutching an arrow along with it like she’s really to nock already. Her face is still typically calm, but there’s enough of an edge in her all the same for me to still pick up on. Brung scurries up behind her, moving on all fours until he gets close before finally reverting to just two feet again as he slows to a walk. He looks about as indifferent as he always does.
“Looks official, too.” she adds as she arrives, frowning a little deeper as she takes in my rumpled, unsteady condition, and Shay sprawled out in Driver 8’s massive arms. “There’s townsguard, but they have Tektehran troopers with them. Might be time to make ourselves scarce.”
“No shit.” I frown now myself, turning back to look the others over. “Anybody seen my axe?”
“Here.” Dumoli plods forward and holds it out now, his tired smile letting me know he don’t seem to be holding any particular grudge about me throwing him out the window.
Taking hold of it, I turn back to Yeslee. “How close are they?”
“Making their way up the drive. They’re being cautious about it, I’d imagine because of the bodies. But they’ll be here soon enough. A few minutes, perhaps?”
“Great.” Letting out a very tired sigh that I don’t even try to stifle, I look to Lady Naru, then Tulen. “I know it’s asking a lot, but … given there ain’t time for a teleportation circle …”
The young wizard blinks in surprise. “You don’t mean –”
“She does.” Lady Naru sighs, and it sounds almost heavy as mine. “Porting everyone at once, especially with Driver 8 … that’s going to be a lot. Between us I don’t see any reason why not, but …” Another sigh.
“I’m sorry.” I hate doing this, but I got no choice. Nothing good can come from us getting found here right now, not by the townsguard, and definitely not the Terrors. ‘Specially not when I’m dressed up like I am. They’re liable to kill me soon as they see me. We don’t have Madame Daste to pull us outta the shit now. Which might’ve been Vandryss’ point all along. “I really wouldn’t ask if there was any other choice.”
“No, you’re right.” Tulen reaches up now and brushes her free hand back through her hair, looking pretty fretful now as she steps forward, then offers it up to Yeslee while adjusting her hold on me. “We have to. Best just to do it now, before I chicken out, maybe?”
Frowning deeper now, Yeslee considers her hand for a moment, then slings her bow and takes hold of it. The others move forward quickly, the group clustering around us, with Lady Naru finally taking hold of Big Man’s elbow before turning to Tulen. The two mages seem to consider for a long beat, the younger licking her lips as her nerves clearly betray her some, then the elder nods and they both speak the spell into being pretty much as one.
Honestly, I barely have a chance to close my eyes in time, and I forget to hold my breath, but honestly I’m not sure it actually would’ve made a huge amount of difference overall. The transition is a lot rougher than usual, I notice, not so much an internal tugging sensation this time as something close to tearing, it genuinely feels like I might be getting ripped open, not painful but forceful and distressing all the same. And when we drop this time it’s like we’re falling from a great height first, even though we touch down pretty much instantly. My legs fold up straight away, but even so I didn’t really expect to drop anyway. Not like we do.
Tulen’s collapsing along with me, I realise as I open my eyes, and as we drop I see her eyes are rolling over white while there’s blood already starting to run from her nostrils. My legs don’t hold me up at all, we both drop like a couple o’ stones. From the sound of it we ain’t the only ones, particularly as the whole chamber round us shakes to indicate that the golem has toppled too.
At least we’re in the lobby of the Temple, like we planned on. I roll over the second we’re down and reach over the best I can, ignoring the blooming pain in my back and wrenched left shoulder now as I try to pull Tulen towards me. Her head lolls as I paw at her with worryingly numb, limp hands, and I genuinely can’t tell if she’s actually breathing now. But worst is … fuck me, that’s an awful lot of blood coming out her nose.
So I just start yelling at the top o’ my lungs. “HELP!!! ANYBODY THERE?!!! WE NEED HELP!!! RIGHT NOW!!!”