Chapter 20: Watch the Heels

The door was easy to pick, Finn had done it many times before. Without a creak, he opened the door and slipped inside. It struck him then that for the second time that same night, he had snuck inside someone's house.

Thought I left this life behind as an Adventurer.

Just like the last house, this one would have been too dark for a human to see. The place didn't smell or look much different from any other one he had been inside of before. However, it was a bit messy with several little nick-nacks all around, a few pairs of shoes with traces of mud around them next to the door and he could see a few shirts thrown on the living room couch. If he hadn't known, he would've guessed he just snuck inside a simple, single man. Never once would he guess it was owned by a necromancer.

Finn looked all over the place for some sort of trap that had been readied for unwanted intruders as he made his way to the man’s bedroom but found none. It would have made sense for a town wizard to have some sort of boobytrap in his house so why didn’t he have any kind of protection? He could only guess it was for one simple fact, the man was overconfident. Finn would take that confidence away from the man as he entered the bedroom. Inside, Fendrin lay in his bed, his chest rising and falling slowly as he peacefully slept. Finn was staring at a murderer, someone who harnessed unholy energy and here he was sleeping in a bed, living like he was deserving of the money and reputation he had garnered.

Don't kill him. He has to be taken alive.

He felt the dagger that had appeared in each of his hands at some point between picking the front door and now. It would be so easy. One quick dagger into the man's heart and one more into his throat to make sure. If he wasn't an Adventurer he could, if his sister wasn't just outside he could. But he was an Adventurer and she was right outside.

He walked to the sleeping man, hearing the air pass easily between his lips. He put his right dagger's blade against Fendrin's throat. In an instant, his eyes met Finn's.

“Stay still asshole, I won't hesitate,” Finn hissed.

Do it, just give me one reason.

He did.

Fendrin was quick, he had to give him that. Finn saw his hand flick out, grabbing Finn’s hand to push it away. Finn pushed down on the blade as his hand was pushed away, scraping a long gash through the man's neck. There was a split second where he could see the neck wound open up before blood squirted out, splashing onto him.

Finn thought Fendrin would put a hand to his wound but instead, he put both of his hands out as if grasping for Finn. Finn paid it no mind and went for another strike to make the final blow, this time with his left hand. As soon as he did, he knew he had made a costly mistake, as a substance formed in Fendrin’s spread-out palm. The substance was shot out at Finn's hand and it plunged toward Fendrin. He felt searing pain burn through his hand and as the blade touched the man’s chest, the blade crumbled into dust.

Finn immediately pulled back from the bed and stared at his hand which continued to sear with pain. The substance was black and dripped viscously off his hand onto the floor. The pain felt like he was putting his hand into a firepit but the smell of burnt flesh was replaced with rotting flesh. “What the hell is this?” He screamed.

Fendrin didn't answer him but rolled off the bed opposite Finn and let out his palm again. He felt certain it was going to be another attack just like this one. He'd be able to dodge it this time, he was ready. But it wasn't, instead, a cloud of black smoke bellowed out of his palms. The smoke was coming toward him, and fast. Finn knew that if it touched him he'd be a goner.

He got the feeling of being a trapped animal. He looked around the room wildly for an escape. There was no way he could get to where he came in as Fendrin was now blocked that route. He looked toward the window. He hadn’t ever done it before but had heard stories. They weren’t pretty. Even so, he had no other choice.

He took his only way out and dove toward the window, both of his arms shielding his face. There was the sound of glass shattering around him and pain struck him from all around, slicing through him.

He let out a cry. He felt his back hit the ground and felt every part of his brain light up as glass stabbed into his back. He wished he would've just passed out then, to not have to feel the pain any longer. But the world didn't grace him with such mercy. He lay there, pain cutting through every part of him. The world was so dark, why was it so dark? The sun was beginning to break through the clouds just moments ago!

He realized his eyes were closed. He kept them that way, he didn't want to know what he looked like. He had escaped for the time being. But Fendrin would get to him very soon. He knew he had to get away. But when he tried to move his body, it didn't allow him such an action. There was no way out, he was trapped here.

Something grabbed a hold of him. It was Fendrin, he knew it was. He was going to die, there was nowhere else for him to go. What was he going to do? Who would take care of his sister? He couldn't die here. He couldn't!

The voice was soft and feminine. “It's okay, I got you,” Hazel. She was here, she was saving him.

He tried to speak but the pain was too immense. All he could do was let her drag him wherever she desired.

#

I felt a memory bubble to the surface as I watched Finn lay on the ground. They were words, words spoken by a man with a gruff, smoker's voice.

“You see how he smashed through that window? The windows in movies are made of special glass that lets them do that. In the real world, if someone smashes through glass, they could get seriously hurt, even rip a damn arm off.”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

At least Finn's arm wasn't ripped off, but there was blood, lots and lots of blood. It poured out seemingly everywhere. And then there was his right hand that had on it a black, molasses-like liquid that was smoking. It was slowly dripping off but I almost wished it hadn’t as it revealed dead skin and in some places even bone.

Hazel immediately took action and ran over to him. That broke my shock, I began to run toward him too with Gronan right behind me. She slid across the dirt as she got to him and took him by the arms. She whispered something into his ear before she turned to me, “I got him, go get Fendrin!” She began to drag her brother across the ground toward the dirt road.

I looked into the broken, bloodied window but didn’t see him inside. I heard one of the guards call out from the other side of the house, “He's running!”

“Come on,” I told Gronan and took my sword out of the holster. We ran to the other side of the house. Fendrin was only about fifty yards away. Even better, he didn’t look in good shape. He was limping and crimson sprayed rhythmically out of his neck.

Good job Finn.

Fendrin stopped his escape attempt and turned to us. Three guards had been hot on his tail and they were immediately upon him. I thought that maybe they had a chance with him in his condition but I was wrong and we were too far away to do anything about it.

Fendrin put out a hand to one of the guards and even this far away I could see the man's skin get what seemed fifty years older. The guard fell to the ground, limp. Another guard got to him and took a swing at him. Fendrin barely managed to evade the strike and took the man by the arm. Every vein in the man's arm burst and blood spewed out but instead of hitting the ground, it was sucked toward Fendrin’s hand like a vacuum that soaked every last drop in. As that guard fell, Fendrin’s neck wound closed.

Luckily, it had seemed Fendrin had forgotten about the third guard who was in midswing toward him but Fendrin simply grabbed the man’s hand with ease. Fendrin put his other hand up and the black ooze that had hit Finn was spewed into the man’s face. We were getting close now but there was nothing we could do for the man, who was now on the ground screaming.

I readied myself to dodge whatever attack he threw at us. It didn't matter, he put his hand up and I expected something we had seen before but instead, I was greeted with a large, blue shockwave. It struck both me and Gronan at once. I felt the familiar rush of air leaving my lungs as they were crushed by the force and I saw the sky as my back collided with the ground.

I pushed through the pain, we didn't have time for me to stand around and heal all the way. This guy had nearly killed Finn and did kill three guards, I couldn't let him get away. I tried to get up but a pain shot into my lungs and I suddenly felt like I was choking on liquid.

That can't be good.

I lifted just my head, to see if Fendrin was upon us. He wasn't, actually, exactly where he had been moments ago. He had an arm in the air, his palm facing the sky and his hand outstretched like he was holding something. Or he was calling something. Whatever he was doing, he had to be quick. I could hear several footsteps behind me and knew it was guards.

There was a massive crash from behind me as if a car accident had just taken place. I forced myself through the pain to get onto my elbow to see what happened. One whole side of Fendrin's house was rubble and revealed a massive hole in the ground that must've been the basement. Standing there amongst the rubble was a giant, gray monster I could only describe as a zombified ogre with a massive club in one hand.

The world stopped:

Zombified Ogre:

Somehow even dumber than a regular ogre, but still just as deadly.

Not the time!

I felt a large hand grab onto my shoulder and heat suddenly radiated through my body. In that instant, I felt myself able to breathe fully once again. I knew it had to be Gronan. I shrugged the hand off of me. “Save your energy for Finn,” I said. Though, I was grateful for the boost as I was able to force myself up without falling over.

I looked back to Fendrin who had a dark smile on his face as he walked backward. “You might want to handle that,” He said. “That looks like it poses quite the problem for this town.”

Shit!

But he was right. If we chased him down, I knew there'd be no hope for this town, these people weren't equipped for this. They weren't Adventurers, we were. And even as Adventurers, reluctantly, I admitted that neither I nor Gronan were ready to take on Fendrin. He was on a whole other level.

Gronan stood up holding onto his ax handle like a cane. “It's okay, we'll get him later, ready?”

“Let's do this.”

There were already four guards slicing away at one of the troll's feet and two spears were stuck in its chest. As we made our way to help, the troll kicked out at the guards and hit one of them in the chest. They went onto their back and didn't have a chance when the monster slammed its foot onto them, crushing them.

These guys were trying their best but it was obvious they were just going to get in the way. “Get out of here!” I yelled as we made it to the foot of the troll. I swung my sword as hard as I could onto its foot, cutting at least a few inches deep. I pulled away and the familiar black, rotten blood that showed Fendrin's handiwork pooled out of the wound.

Gronan was right behind me and slammed his ax into the same foot, burying it into its flesh. Gronan’s weapon was forced out of the troll as the beast stepped back. I saw a brown blur to the side of us and knew the troll was swinging its club toward us. I pulled on Gronan's shoulder and we both stumbled back. The club missed us by mere inches as a wave of air wooshed by us.

The troll raised the club into the air, going to smash us into the ground with it. We both pushed away from each other as the club slammed into the ground right where we had been.

Gronan didn't waste a beat. As soon as the troll's arm hit the ground, Gronan sent his ax into its wrist. The ax sliced through half of the rotten arm with ease and he jumped back as the troll picked his arm back up. I readied myself to react as the troll lifted its club once again and went for the motion to swing at me. Just as it began its swing, though, I heard a wet, ripping sound as the club-equipped hand was sent flying off with a trail of iron chain following it. That must've been why Gronan's ax hadn't gone clean through, the body had a metal chain inside to keep the creature together.

The creature looked confused, staring at its arm like it didn't know how his hand went missing. Gronan dashed behind the troll and I watched as the troll began to try to pull the chains toward him, dragging the detached hand - still holding the club - across the grass. It was almost funny to watch, if I hadn't seen it step on a guard moments ago.

I turned to see Gronan swung his ax into the Achilles heel of the troll and it immediately went down on one knee, the weight of the creature shaking the ground. Its face was right there, almost as big as me, staring at me in utter confusion.

This was my chance. With both hands, I stabbed into one of the troll's eyes and it roared and reared its head away from me, pulling my blade out. There were gray pieces of brain matter on my sword yet the troll was yelling out in anger, rotten-smelling spittle flying onto me. I should’ve known that wouldn’t be enough to kill this guy.

Just then, I saw a shadow appear above me and I looked up to see Gronan standing on top of the troll's head. He swung with all his might down onto the troll's head and his ax sunk deep through its skull. The troll's angry face grew relaxed and its one good eye opened wide before going blank. Now, that had been enough to take him down. I stepped out of the way as the troll’s chin hit the ground with a thud. We had put it down without me or Gronan being hit. Which, looking at the size of the guy, was good because we probably would've ended up like the squashed guard.

“Good work,” Gronan huffed.

I nodded, just glad none of us had been killed. Or at least, I hoped none of us had been. “Let's go check on Finn.”