The sword flashed towards the Eldest, powered by all the force that Ivkarha could muster, aimed not for the body but the single, glowing eye of the Atherdan. The broken sword could not hope to contend with the nigh impervious flesh, but the towering Atherdan, much like the snake, still remained vulnerable if aim was true in one spot; its sole eye.

The Eldest flung up its arms as the blade whirled towards it, seeking to shield its face and eye; Ivkarha had in part feared this might be and so she was already running almost as she released the blade, charging full at the creature.

She crashed into it, driving her shoulder into its legs, tackling it as she did. The creature, despite its size, and the sorcery by which it had made itself resisted to weapons, was not as solid as she had first feared; there was an almost fragility about it. Her shoulder did sting from the impact, but it went down under her assault, crashing to the ground of the balcony. She was on it in an instant, battering aside flailing arms, to launch a frenzied assault upon it, fists slamming to its face. Each blow stung and soon blood showed on her abraded knuckles, but she did not relent.

The creature screeched inhumanely as it sort to ward off its assailant, long limbs grabbing at her, hauling at her; it had a strength to it still and prised her off, tossing her aside, to slide across the stone balcony into the wall of the tower.

She picked herself up, wiping blood from a lip that had split, her grim eyes filled with a fiery vengeance, panting heavily. The Eldest unfolded from the ground, his face bearing the scars of her assault, for white blood trickled from nose and mouth.

It hissed at her, yet seemed confused from the assault, uncertain as to what to do, or how to react; here was a foe that he could not overbear with his will, who would not accept defeat and had laid hands upon him in a manner he had not previous experienced, a simple savage who should be so far beneath him yet challenged him in a way that spoke that she felt she was an equal.

Once more the Eldest raised his arms and once more the mists around him began to coalesce, to form shadows in the mists. Ivkarha readied herself; she bore no weapons but the one in her heart. Whatever came, she would face it as a proud warrior of the Ra-Armal, defiant to the last.

A roar sounded and a burly figure crashed into the Atherdan, white furred and rangy, more bear than man, snarling, fangs bared. Aedmorn had unleashed the hidden beast within, the shifting, warping form that touched the natural world, a remorseless foe of rending and tearing fangs and claws. Little could they do against the stone like skin of the Atherdan, but the giant grey skinned man staggered back under the impact of the collision, stumbling back into the barrier around the balcony.

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With a heave of its arm, the Eldest shrugged Aedmorn off despite the man’s bulk, sending him tumbling way to land heavily on the ground.

Ivkarha was running even before Aedmorn had landed and launched herself, feet first at the Atherdan; her feet landed firmly upon it as she kicked her legs out. The giant figure stumbled as she hit it, up against the railing. It grabbed out for it to hold on, to stop itself pitching over the edge as Ivkarha bounced off it, to roll across the ground. Despite her efforts it remained standing, half tipped over the edge.

Aedmorn crashed into it again, the beast-man launching himself at the Eldest’s head. An arm hooked around its head as he went over the edge and the Eldest was wrenched over with it as well.

A long wail sounded, receding into the distance as the Eldest fell towards the ground far below. Ivkarha let out a cry as she stumbled to her feet, and staggered over to the edge of the balcony, barely able to look over it.

Of the Atherdan there was no sight, for he had fallen far into the mists that shrouded the ground far below. Aedmorn, somehow, had twisted as he went over the edge and with a free arm had latched onto the edge of the bulky; there now he hung by one arm, straining to retain his grip lest he too plummet and join the Atherdan in the long fall.

Reaching over, Ivkarha fastened a hand around his wrist, trying to haul him back; to no avail.

“You are too heavy,” she grunted. “And the ledge too high to reach over.”

Aedmorn growled, fangs showing as his feet scrambled to try and find purchase on the smooth stone of the wall. Nothing could he find and his efforts served only to weaken her desperate grip. He shook his had and his whole body trembled, the beast melting away, leaving the man behind.

“Hold on!” Ivkarha gasped, bracing her legs against the railing, hand locked tight around his wrist, yet slowly ever slowly it slipped. Her arm, already sore from hen she had struck the Atherdan, felt like it was tearing, pain like burning fire ripping through it.

Aedmorn looked down, towards the mists that obscured the ground, then back up to her again.

“Release me,” he told her, voice calm, accepting.

“No!” she gasped, shaking her head fiercely; she would not do so, not willingly.

“You must,” he told her. He looked her straight in the eye. “Trust me.”

For a moment they existed there, no words needed to be said, only a look. She trusted him with her life; this, though was a level of trust beyond that. “Az-Ashar’s Breath! Don’t do this to me.”

“You need to, old friend. You can not save me, but there is hope left still. I will see you at the bottom.”

With a half strangled cry she let go of his arm and he fell away; the last that she saw from him was a knowing smile and then he as gone into the mists.