CHAPTER 29
Tirr felt his concern grow as he ran to the other staging area to help Maria and Claire. The burst of flame he had seen meant they hadn’t managed to kill the Shard User in their trap. His feet dug into the ground a little harder as he sped up.
The Shard User he had just fought had much better control of the Blessing than he had thought, equivalent to a mid-stage Disciple at least. Not only that, but their power reserves were deeper than he remembered for Followers of the same rank. Maria had learned a lot recently but was still just an early-stage Disciple and wouldn’t be able to last long under attacks by the Blessing of Fire.
As Tirr approached the center entrance he was surprised to see villagers scrambling away, yelling in warning. Doron could be seen on the wall, calling for the villagers to run before jumping down himself.
As he did, a thunderous roar came from the other side of the wall. Tirr arrived just in time to see the wall exploded inward, throwing the villagers who hadn’t gotten away in time and sending dirt and dust everywhere. Doron was launched forward, rolling along the ground and only coming to a stop dozens of feet later.
Tirr ran to him, calling for the villagers to collect the wounded, before letting a small amount of his blessing pass through Doron.
Doron gasped as he woke up, “The last one is coming!” He warned Tir as he struggled to his feet and drew his sword as he faced the rubble of the wall in front of them.
Tirr turned and could already hear the clanking steps of armor as more knights of the 3rd Knight Order marched over the rubble of the wall, lead by the last man that Claire had pointed out to them.
1st Knight Captain Reynold looked over the small village that had been revealed and laughed. The shoddily armed villagers scurried together like ants as his men walked right through their wall.
“Go on boys, we should have some time before our good Commander has the balls to follow up, so have fun while you can!” Reynold called, motioning for his men to attack. His knights roared happily and charged at the villagers who were still collecting themselves.
Doron called out orders as he and the armed villagers tried to move to the front to buy time for the wounded to be carried out. The knights charge hit them hard and without the advantage of numbers the villagers stated to be quickly pushed back, supported only by Doron, who managed to hold off five of the knights himself.
Tirr struggled over what to do, wanting to go help Maria but unable to leave with the situation here being so bad. As he thought, one of the villagers was cut down with a viscous gash along his side.
As the knight stood over to finish him off, a small hand suddenly connected with the side of his helmet. The blow spun the knights head around with a crack, and Tirr shoved the body away before turning to grab the injure villager below him.
He used just enough of his blessing to ensure the man could live before tossing him back and away from the fighting towards where the other wounded were being taken away. As he turned back though, an impact caught him on the side. A burst of heat and power washed over him and sent him rolling.
Reynold looked at the corpse of the boy who had just killed his man, its whole side had been blown away by his flare. He chuckled to himself, wondering over his previous worry, “So much for the Shard Users here, a little strength and nothing more. I can’t believe Kork and Denner have been having so much trouble with these…”
He came to a stop and stared as the body began moving, flesh and tissue spreading itself back as bones grew and connected. The sight left him shocked for a moment as he watched.
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Tirr could feel the drain this healing was having on him, He had been caught unaware and hadn’t had a chance to reinforce his body, leading to more damage then he wanted to deal with. He grunted, making a hard decision as he finished his healing. He kept an eye on his opponent as he brought his fingers to his mouth and let out a loud and clear whistle.
The sound struck the 1st Knight Captain out of his daze and he smiled as he drew his sword and shield, “I’m guessing you’re the god of this place then…” He said with another chuckle. “Let’s see who’s more deserving of the title.”
He stabbed his sword into the ground beneath him and lifted his hand. A ball of flame appeared around his fist, As Tirr watch though the large flame seemed to condense, shrinking untill it was looked like a small bright pebble. Reynold gave a smile, “Let’s see how many of my flares you can stand!”
The pebble like flare shot out towards Tirr like an arrow. He dived away but was still caught by the explosion as it hit the ground where he had been. He rolled to his feet and ran, moving away from where the other villagers were fighting. Another explosion caught him from behind and he was sent rolling once again.
This time, sure he was far enough away to not let the villagers get caught up in the attacks, he grabbed a stone off the ground as he came to his feet. He focused as his arm went back and whipped forward, the stone whistling as it flew at the Knight Captain’s chest.
Reynold was surprised by the sudden ranged attack and raised his shield just in time. A loud crack forced him back a step as the stone shattered against his shield leaving dust and a large dent. He could tell his arm was broken but simply ignored it as he launched another flare at the god child, forcing him to dodge once again.
Meanwhile the villagers were at the brink, more and more were falling unable to hold on and the pressure started to become too much for Doron to bear alone. Tirr could see them flagging but was having too many problems of his own. He tried to close the distance over and over only to be forced back by well-placed attacks.
Doron could feel himself tiring when a group of loud footprints approached from the first staging area. The village fighters had finished capturing the knights there and upon hearing the commotion ran to help. They charged into the side of the knights, excited with their own recent victory, and fought fiercely to relieve their fellow villagers.
At the same time, a group from the second Staging area arrived as well, with news that the Priestess had been victorious and was safe. Their group was smaller, having more wounded in their own fight, but they joined in as well. Their numbers finally giving the villagers an advantage.
The news that Maria was okay and had won was a huge relief to Tirr. He smiled, no longer worried about conserving strength as he called out to the Knight Captain with his usual arrogance, “Your other men are dead! Surrender now and I’ll give you a peaceful death!”
The news surprised Reynold, but he didn’t doubt it. He just shook his head, “You’ve fought well boy but you’re too naive…” The Knight Captain turned as the last 30 Knights of Baron Rills personal guard marched over the destroyed wall. The sight threw the villagers into despair as the Reynold’s knights cheered at the reinforcements.
Baron Rills breathed heavily as he walked up toward Reynold. “Couldn’t you have done a better job of clearing the way so we could ride through? Maybe then you wouldn’t be having so much trouble with some pathetic villagers from nowhere!”
The Knight Captain simply grunted, “Denner and Kork are dead, seems like they had something up their sleeve after all… To bad for them now they’re all out of cards.” Reynold turned towards Tirr with a smile still on his face. “Same offer to you boy, you gave me some fun, so I don’t mind letting you have a painless death. Can’t say the same for your village though…” He yelled out with a laugh, untill he noticed the smile hadn’t disappeared from Tirr’s face.
Tirr just continued smiling at the new reinforcements, “Firstly.” Tirr said, holding up a finger as he took his usual arrogant pose. “I’m not a boy, I’m a God! And Secondly…” He trailed off as his eye’s went behind them.
The Knight Captain had a bad feeling and turned, ignoring his commander’s orders to attack, and felt his body freeze in fear. Standing behind the Baron’s oblivious men was a gigantic Beast. Its mouth was open, showing its terrible teeth and powerful jaws. It stood behind them silent as a grave, crouched down on its muscular legs, prepared to launch forward at a word.
As Reynold stood frozen the Beast suddenly drew itself up and howled. The sound was devastating and many of the knights, with no idea of what was behind them, simply collapsed in panic and fear.
Tirr, hands on his hips, his arrogance plain as he raised his head to look down at the enemies before him happily. “You’re late you lazy Mutt!” He called before charging towards the still shocked Knight Captain. “Avoid the Blessing and deal with the rest Mutt!” Tirr ordered as he sprung forward.
“It’s time to finish this!”