3
Akumu
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Though the canopy of trees surrounding the ravine was relatively sparse, it was more than enough to cover us from the rest of the battlefield. Just as Vault had said, our entry point had indeed led us behind the enemy’s formation, and to the mouth of the larger canyon beyond it.
Hicks crouched down, taking cover next to a fallen log. He spent a few moments observing the mass of monsters in the distance, all facing away from us. After a few minutes' wait, several inhuman cries of anger and pain came from the horde, drawing a fierce smirk from him. “That’ll be the captain… Alright, boys! Now’s our time!” He cried, as he led us forward.
We made good progress into the winding gorge, more than halfway through, before things began to go awry.
As we rounded a rocky corner, we came face to face with about five orcs. Their eyes were wide, as if they were just as surprised to see us as we were to see them.
Before I had time to even think of reacting, I saw Young Edd move from the corner of my eye. In a smoothly flowing motion, his hands fell to his belt, grabbed a pair of knives, and chucked them at the orcs. His aim was true, the knives stabbing deeply between the eyes of two of the orcs.
That roused the others into action. The orcs rushed towards us, letting out roars that echoed, and Fat Edd, Landel, and Ryam stepped forward to meet their charge. Their combination of shields and polearms made short work of the enemy.
“Godsdammit,” Keane hissed, cringing. “They’ll probably have heard that.”
Landel scoffed at that. “What, you think they’ll notice that over all the racket they’re making?”
“Just listen, you ass. This canyon makes practically everything in it echo. We’ll need to reach the chieftain before--”
He was cut off as a spear zipped through the air, impaling itself through Landel’s throat. He fell to the ground with a barely audible gasp, the light swiftly leaving his eyes.
“Shit!” Young Edd shouted, as several dozen more aberrants approached from further within the canyon.
I brought up my shield to block the incoming projectiles. What were they even doing here? Had we been spotted beforehand? Had Vault’s charge been too successful in driving them back? Regardless of the reason, we were now faced with the exact enemy force we’d been counting on avoiding.
“Damnit,” I shouted, “that’s way too many--! Hicks! Hicks, what do we do?!”
Hicks hesitated, looking between us and the incoming horde, weighing his options. “Fuck this,” he finally decided. “No way we’re getting through that-- Fall back! Retreat!”
I formed a small shield wall along with Fat Edd and Ryam, covering everyone else’s backs. With our formation, we were able to down the ones that got too close. Meanwhile, Young Edd continued aiming for the distant ones, his knives whistling through the air as they felled aberrant after aberrant.
We’d almost made it to the mouth of the canyon, when Reese let out a dismayed cry. “Wha--?! They’re in front of us too?!”
Everyone’s heads snapped back simultaneously, so quickly that I was amazed none of us got whiplash. Indeed, I saw that several more orcs were coming at us the same way we were going. They weren’t as numerous as the ones behind us, but only just.
“Gods, what the hell!” Hicks snarled. “Cut and run! We’re getting out of here!”
We all started sprinting in earnest then, ducking and weaving, and striking back at the enemy once they got within range. The monsters kept coming, but the exit was getting close as well.
Fifty feet became forty.
Forty became thirty.
Twenty.
Ten--!
“Agh!” I heard a pained yelp behind me. When I looked behind me, I saw Young Edd fall to the ground as an imp leapt up and latched onto him, biting deep into his shoulder. “Help! Help me!” He screamed, eyes wide and desperate as he stretched out a hand towards the rest of us.
The Hounds hesitated, grimaced… but they kept running.
‘We can’t afford to go back for anyone,’ Keane’s pragmatic advice echoed in my mind. I knew that, but...
My feet began carrying me towards him anyway.
Someone, I’m not sure who it was, shouted after me, “Ansel, you stupid fuck!”
I couldn’t really blame him.
I knew it was a reckless move, that I was jeopardizing the entire battle with this, but… Edd was right there. I couldn’t bring myself to just leave him behind for the horde.
...Hah. I suppose this type of rash behavior is how I ended up nearly getting my head bashed in, in the first place.
I was at his side within moments, my sword slicing the imp nearly in half.
“Come on, Edd!” I shouted, grabbing at his arm and pulling him up. His steps were clumsy, but he managed to regain his footing quickly enough that he didn’t need to lean on me to run. The others had already made their way out of the canyon, but they didn’t move from their spot.
They’re waiting for us to catch up, I realized. Despite their grim determination to do the opposite… They were still here. That thought bolstered me, as I shouted to Edd, “Come on! We’re gonna make it!”
He nodded and drew his sword, having run out of knives to throw. Together, we sliced our way through the crowd.
Before we could be completely overwhelmed, several incoming orcs suddenly stopped completely, their skins turning a pale white as they were frozen solid by Keane’s magic.
“Oh no…!” I let out a gasp as the aberrants shifted their attention from me and Edd to the Hounds ahead. I saw Keane grimace and charge up another spell, once again sending fiery lances at the enemy. The others began cutting down those who got too close.
It wasn’t anywhere near enough.
Seeing that they were about to be overwhelmed, Hicks stopped it all and called once again for their retreat. Our eyes met, and I saw his mouth move as he said something I couldn’t hear.
Maybe those were words of encouragement.
Maybe it was as simple as “sorry.”
Regardless of which it was, he was soon obscured from my sight by the mass of aberrants.
They stood at the entrance of the canyon now, completely closing off all avenues of escape, and tying the noose around our necks.
“Stay close to me,” I told Edd, as we stood back-to-back against the horde. I knew it was a futile gesture, but… We were in this mess together now, so it was the only thing we could do.
The enemy turned their attention fully upon the two of us now, their gazes cruel and filled with malice. They approached us slowly at first, but their omnidirectional charge gained speed, as they readied to strike at us.
And then came a single mighty roar, resonating like a thunderclap throughout the canyon.
“AKUMU HARA MO’KA!”
And to my utter amazement, the horde stopped.
Their eyes, filled with primal rage, remained focused on both me and Edd even as they ceased their stampede and slowly stepped back, forming a loose circle around us.
And then, one stepped forward, the crowd parting to let it through.
It was easily the biggest orc I’d ever seen in my entire life, almost reaching the height of Ghirem. Nearly every inch of his brownish-green skin was covered in deep, vicious scars, and he was clad in… bones. Bones of humans, and orcs, and imps, and creatures I couldn’t even begin to identify decorated his joints, chest, and loincloth. Over his shoulder, he carried a claymore, stained red by blood. It wasn’t as big a weapon as Vault’s Thousandlimbs, but he carried it as easily as any normal man would carry a knife.
It was evident that this orc was a slayer of men, the veteran of countless battles.
The chieftain threw his gaze over me and Edd, but he dismissed the latter with what sounded like a dismissive snort, focusing his attention on me. When Edd drew his sword and moved to stand beside me, the aberrant growled in threat, prompting him to back down. The chieftain brought up his claymore, pointing it directly at me in a clear challenge. And in a deep, distorted voice, he said, “Akumu kill Man Swine.”
What the hell? Was he… challenging me to single combat? Did such a concept even exist for the aberrants? None of the other orcs came to attack us, so… I can only assume that this is the case.
“Edd,” I said, as I stepped forward, “j-just stay back. I’ll… I got this.”
I didn’t believe a word of what I said for even a second. Me versus the orc’s chieftain in single combat? The conclusion was foregone. The very notion of my victory was so absurd it felt like a sick, demented joke.
Orcs, as a rule, were vastly superior to humans in physical ability. And that, coupled with the Dark Queen’s blessing, elevated this monster to heights no single person could ever reach. I realized now that this was why Vault had sent us as a strike force; we’d need at least five men to bring down the chieftain. Keane and his magic would have been a force multiplier, but even then, this would be an exceedingly close call. And now he was here, away from the front lines, away from Vault, and away from our squadron, just so he could cut us down himself.
Gods… I’ve really made a mess of things, haven’t I?
Edd looked at me, making no effort to hide his fear. “Okay… Okay,” he said, hesitantly nodding, making sure to stay well behind me.
I licked my dried lips, feeling anxiety roil through my guts, and took a ready stance: my sword low and to the side, my shield in front of me.
I took a deep breath, then banged my sword against my shield, shouting out my challenge.
The orc smiled a dark, malevolent grin. And then he was on me.
A gasp of surprise nearly escaped me at the sight. In just three mighty steps, the chieftain had almost completely cleared over a dozen feet of distance between the two of us.
I managed to gather myself in time to duck and roll away from a swing that would have lopped my head clean off. The chieftain didn’t let up at all. He continued advancing towards me with fast, powerful swings my eyes could barely follow. It was all I could do to not be immediately killed.
I continued keeping my distance, slowly being pushed back without any chance to retaliate. Even the tiniest slip-up on my part could have been disastrous. The chieftain, meanwhile, continued raining blow after blow on me with wild abandon, knowing that I couldn’t possibly match him.
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Step after step, I was driven back towards the edge of the ring, desperately ducking, parrying, and blocking his attacks with my shield.
“BEHIND YOU, ANSEL!” Edd’s warning cry jostled me out of my defensive trance. Stupidly, I just stared at him in confusion, up until the club slammed down on my right shoulder.
I screamed as I fell forward, the shield falling out of my grasp, but still had enough presence of mind to move with my momentum, stumbling into a roll.
Behind me, a minotaur had stepped into the ring, wielding a club as it snarled down at me. It raised its weapon high over its head, ready to strike me again.
Then the chieftain let out a howl of sheer fury as his claymore came down, easily cleaving the minotaur in half. I watched, stunned, as he faced down the rest of the snarling horde, daring them to come and interrupt his fight again. The horde growled back and gnashed their teeth, but did not dare to meet his eyes and face his wrath.
Of course… This wasn’t a duel for honor. It was stupid of me to ever think that. The chieftain was prideful and headstrong, but nothing more than a predator relishing in the sport of killing his prey personally.
My vision was marred with stars as I struggled back onto my feet, unable to hear anything beyond the pounding of my heart as my ears rang. I picked up my shield, testing the damage on my arm.
The jolt of pain shooting up my shoulder was dizzying, but I could still move my arm. I’m not sure whether it was broken or just severely dislocated. Not that it mattered either way; so long as I could still use it, I’d just have to bear through it.
The chieftain paused as he turned back towards me, assessing whether I was even worth him bothering with anymore. I spat a glob of blood onto the ground before him, shouting, “C’mon…! I’m still here!”
That dispelled any doubt he may have had, and I realized I had just made a terrible mistake. He leapt at me with a roar, his rage redoubled after my obvious insult. With my wound, my defense was sluggish at best, and my opponent was now scoring numerous strikes on me for every one I managed to defend against.
This strategy was untenable, I realized. My flawed defense was tiring me down, and eventually I’d be left exhausted, easy pickings for the chieftain. Or even worse, he would get frustrated before then and simply let the horde come at me and Edd, and that would be the end of that.
But even past that, there was a much more important factor limiting my time. Beyond this small combat, the Alliance, the militia, and the Hounds were still embroiled in the larger battle. Good people were dying while we fought.
So, even if it was futile, even if I couldn’t land a single hit, even if it killed me… I was here. For Edd, for the Hounds, for everyone’s sake, no matter how grim the odds were, I at least had to try. I had to fight on, no matter what.
My traitorous arm protested every step of the way as I grasped my sword with both hands. My swings were slow and clumsy, and the chieftain was easily able to weave around them. Despite my determination, I was steadily losing ground, tiring faster than ever with my hopeless advance.
The chieftain, meanwhile, seemed to be a well of endless wrathful energy, as he relentlessly continued to rain his attacks down on me. Even the blows that glanced off still managed to hurt, as the strength behind them shocked my bones to the core, turning my battered armor into an afterthought.
With every subsequent strike, the inevitable conclusion to this combat drew nearer and nearer; I was going to lose.
The chieftain pulled for a moment, rearing his blade back for a devastating strike meant to end me. All my limbs ached as I brought up my sword in an attempt to parry his claymore.
And then, the chieftain swung.
I felt my heart fall, as with a loud, discordant clang, my sword shattered in my hands. Its blade fell unceremoniously in a myriad shards, the sheer force of the impact throwing me back several meters. When I skidded to a stop, I was left only with the broken sword’s hilt, which now held nothing but a pitiful inch of jagged steel.
The chieftain roared and lifted his thick arms, and surprisingly, the horde joined him, declaring his victory.
This is it, I realized. I couldn’t think of a way out, my only weapon was broken, I could barely get my body to move or breathe… It was over.
“Ansel!” A voice screamed, so loud that I could hear it even through my ringing ears. From the corner of my eye, I saw Edd looking back at me, his eyes wide and his mouth agape, knowing that we would...
Wait…
Edd!
My eyes drifted down to the sheaths along his belt, all of them empty. I drew in a sharp breath as I understood his last-ditch plan. Edd’s lips quirked up into a grin, as he shouted a command:
“Catch!”
My hand shot up above me and snatched his shortsword out of the air, gripping it tightly as if it were a lifeline.
I inhaled, pushing through the overwhelming pain to bring myself up to my knees.
I exhaled all the air in my lungs with an angry, incomprehensible shout, prompting the chieftain to turn his focus back towards me.
And then I threw the sword.
Its flight pattern was nothing short of a miracle. Edd’s sword soared through the air in a perfect arc, furiously twirling as if its true purpose was to be a projectile, before embedding itself deep into the chieftain’s right eye.
He howled in pain and anger, letting his claymore slip from his hands and plant itself on the ground as he stepped back. But… he was still standing. Maybe the blade hadn’t gone deep enough to reach his brain, or maybe I just hadn’t aimed right, or maybe he was just that tough. Regardless of which it was, rather than enter into his death throes, the orc grabbed the hilt with a pained grunt, and began pulling it out of his eye socket.
“No…! Like hell!” I snarled back, scrambling forward to grab hold of his discarded sword. The claymore was almost too heavy for my wounded arms to carry, but I only needed one motion to end this.
Again, I shouted, and stabbed the sword into his stomach. I felt it easily pierce through muscle and organs with a wet, squelching sound, before the chieftain batted me away.
“Oh, come on… You can’t be serious!” I gasped, feeling horror and frustration seize my heart as the chieftain remained standing. His one remaining eye focused on me and glared with an absolute hatred, as his hands moved down to grab the sword lodged in his stomach.
That was a lethal wound. No matter what kind of creature it was, there was no surviving a sword to the gut. But even if he died from this injury later, the fact remained that right here, right now, the chieftain was still alive and angry and ready to fight.
I was wounded and tired. But he was wounded too, and the momentum was in my favor. I couldn’t let it stop now. “Well,” I mumbled to myself, “when all you have is a hammer…” I brought up my right arm, gritting my teeth through the pain the effort brought, and put my fist up near my shoulder, so that the entire right side of my torso was covered by my shield. And then I charged.
I barely managed to catch a glimpse of the chieftain’s bewildered expression as I shoulder-tackled him, using my shield as a battering ram to push the claymore even further into him. For a few moments, my mind blanked out completely, pain exploding across every inch of my body.
Push on, push on, I told myself, as my vision slowly un-dimmed. I was nauseous and dizzy, but I somehow remained standing on unsteady feet.
In front of me, the chieftain had fallen to one knee. He was reeling and his breathing was unsteady, but his will to fight wasn’t diminished in the slightest. His arms twitched furiously, as he tried but failed to bring them up.
Well, that was fine by me-- I couldn’t move mine, either. Guess we’re two of a kind in that regard.
With no other choices remaining, I tilted my head back. The sky above me was the same as it was before; still blue, still infinite, still absolutely breathtaking.
I clenched my teeth as I drove my head forward again, putting the weight of my torso into the motion. My forehead slammed into the sword’s pommel, driving the blade just a few centimeters further into the orc’s brain. With one final gasp, the light left his remaining eye.
The horde was silent as the chieftain fell. And then their wild red eyes were upon me, shocked. That shock transformed into awe, then fear, and finally, wrath.
Edd scrambled to me, clutching my shoulder. “Ansel! Ansel, they’re gonna kill us! Can... you still...?” He trailed off as he came to the same realization as me:
This is the end.
I couldn’t move my arms to defend us, no matter how badly I wanted to. I’d defeated the chieftain, but the horde still remained, maddened and directionless without their leader, and staring right at two helpless victims. We were going to die here… It couldn’t have ended any other way.
If nothing else, I’d at least managed to follow Keane’s advice, and taken one of them down with me.
I gave him an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, Edd.”
After a few more moments of tension, an orc howled in rage, and the rest joined him. With that, they began their charge. I closed my eyes.
“AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” A deep, boisterous laugh boomed throughout the canyon, stopping everyone’s movement. “It’s been too long since I’ve last witnessed such a fine fight!”
My eyes snapped open and rose to one of the cliffs. There stood Ghirem, grinning widely with his hands on his hips. “What-ho, Ansel!” he called, “I’d like to congratulate you on your victory! But first, allow me to make sure this lot doesn’t cut you down before I can do so!” And with that, he leapt down from his perch. Like before, the ground cracked beneath his feet as he landed, slicing through the monsters with wild abandon, laughing all the while.
And then, from the east, I heard even further shouting, as half the aberrants turned to face that way and began dying in droves. Around one of the canyon’s rocky corners came the Black Hounds’ banner, flying high in the air.
Beside me, Edd gasped. “That’s… That’s Vault! He made it through!”
Gods, Vault! In the heat of the moment, I’d completely forgotten about Vault’s charge.
Within moments, several horsemen broke through the horde and circled the two of us as the aberrants began to flee. Vault, the rider at the forefront, dismounted his horse and approached us, taking slow steps as he surveyed the situation. He stopped, almost surprised at the sight of the chieftain, then turned to me and Edd.