Hor was finished. Mariam had been part of a siege before and while this one had been short it was the inevitable conclusion of this conflict. Drinkable water was in incredibly short supply and the same went for edible food, the townsfolk had almost instantly started turning on one another and now their spirit had been strangled in the crib.
The desolation of the grasslands was too much for the town to take and even the Baron had given up. All that was left for them was to admit it. Falling was a quiet thing, the real terror in it was looking at one's descent and admitting it.
Mariam knew that she had to act before that inevitable conclusion came. She had spent hours on the wall studying Henry from a distance and carefully planning her revenge. He clearly tried to hide just how much he had been changed by the Thrall-King, but it the robes he covered himself with slipped on occasion as he moved among the monsters. And Mariam had always had exceptionally keen eyes, even Elarma had nothing on her in that department.
What she knew about Henry was this: he had weird legs, he was stronger, faster, and more durable than her, parts of his body had some kind of natural armor, and he still wielded a longsword as his primary weapon. She could use this information to her advantage and more importantly if she disguised herself he would not see her coming before they were joined.
The fight would have to be fought on her terms and she would have to end it quickly, he would win any battle of attrition with her in his current state. And even if he didn't, he had troops on his side while she would be alone. She had no illusions about what she was about to do. This was a suicide mission and she did it rather than being among the defeated throngs come tomorrow or the few who valiantly tried to hold the walls.
Her team had died. Elarma was consumed or destroyed by her magic, Crabs had been killed by an inferior opponent, and Listig had slunk off like a coward and without really trying to bring the rest of the team with them. They were beyond her each but Henry...he was there and ripe for the taking.
So she looked at the sun which would soon set and rob her of another advantage, as she had no doubt that he could see better in the dark than she did, and wrapped her cloak around her. For one last time she felt to the potions she had saved up and raided to use for this final blaze of glory. Her hand shook and she almost snort laughed as she realized that she was afraid. It took conscious effort to stop the tremor going through her left fist and she spoke to herself.
"Death comes for us all, I will go to it willingly and with a straight back rather than dying while weeping and pissing in my own bed. For the Hornstalkers."
And then she lept down from the wall and hit the dead ground running.
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Mar was busy reveling in the despair she could feel coming from her branded prey. The town rejecting and losing their faith in him must have been devastating for a god, but soon he would know peace. He would be a treasured subject, a living symbol of their inevitable conquest of all that existed in this world.
"Soon...soon you will be mine."
She tried to speak through the vague connection she felt to the brand. The Swarm liked to think that the god heard them and knew what was going to come, but ultimately it didn't matter if they did or not. All of this would be theirs in just one more day, and Mar could wait that long before adding him to their collection.
"Another runner!"
Ant-Termite General informed Mar and the moment was lost and replaced with an exasperated annoyance. Really? Did the litany of screams from the last runner not inform the populace about their fate? Well, this would go the same way and Mar languidly ordered through the Swarm while observing the cloaked figure.
"Henry, deal with the girl."
There would at least be some entertainment to observe before the main event tomorrow, so Mar consoled themselves and "leaned back" to watch the display to come.
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Mariam saw dodged the charging cow that came at her by spinning to the side without losing her stride. She made her movements more clumsy than she could have, all to trap him if he was watching her. Her aim had been pointed east as it was the side of Hor which had the fewest siegers stationed around it and they consisted of slower animals than on the other sides. Cows, pigs, and a few sheep with just an individual dog, wolf, and horse for backup.
Pigs were surprisingly quick as a trio of them charged for her but all she had to do was dodge to an even bit of terrain to make their gate more disjointed. Then she rolled past them after "stumbling" and got up while coming with an exaggeratedly girlish shriek of fright.
"Play to his vanity, make him see you as weak, helpless, and scared of him more importantly."
It took her only a few moments more of running before she sensed his approach, the explosive sound of his freakish feet smashing against the dead ground and rushing at her through the afternoon sun. He was seriously going for that dramatic jump over manuever again?
Mariam looked over her shoulder while making sure that her features were concealed by her hood and bandana. She made sure to shriek even louder this time and sped up, but not so quickly that her armor would make too much sound. Her gambit must have worked because she could practically feel his self-satisfied smirk and hear him speed up.
The animals had seemingly given up chasing her, even the ones that would have been more than capable of catching up. Ahh so the Thrall-King wanted a show, well Mariam was going to wipe the smirk of the horrible spider's ugly mandibles.
Henry leapt over her and dramatically corkscrewed through the air while turning to land on one knee and his right fist into the ground. The asshat hadn't even bothered to unsheathe his sword for the occasion, nor even look at her. His eyes were closed and he was clearly enjoying the moment. If she didn't know better she thought he might be salivating.
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That self-satisfied smirk did not last as immediately dashed forward and used every burst of speed that she could and jumped with her left knee into his head. He swore as the metal-covered knee struck his nose and sent both of them sprawling to the ground. Mariam chugged the strength potion she had been clutching in her fist and got up.
It seemed that the attack had surprised Henry more than it hurt him because he leapt up as fast as a striking viper, but he hesitated and Mariam was more than happy to exploit that hesitation by smacking the empty bottle into his skull. Her enhanced strength sped up her blow and his block was barely too late and she heard the satisfying crash of glass shattering.
Henry punched her in the side of the head and even with the armor, the blow sent her stumbling to the ground. His hand went up to the right side of his face where a few of the glass shards had embedded themselves.
"Wha- Mariam?"
And he then spun as Mariam tried to hurl a handful of dirt and pebbles straight up at his face! Despite her preparations and observations, she had to admit that his speed was astounding, as he managed to dodge dirt with ease. She didn't wait or give him a reply as she rolled forwards and avoided the stomp kick he planted where she had been.
Henry reflexively reached for his sheeted sword and Mariam dashed forwards and grabbed him in an embrace.
"Eliminate his reach and then-"
Her actions were faster than thought as she headbutted his throat and kneed him in the groin. The throat was armored, his groin was not and she felt a satisfying crunch before he threw her off with a roar. Hitting a man in the groin had usually one out of two effects, either it made them collapse in agony or it drove them into a wild rage. Clearly, Henry was a rager rather than a clutcher.
She hit the ground with a loud thunk and her hood fell off to reveal her helmet. A shadow fell over her as Henry leapt up and hit the ground with an exaggerated attempt at a coup de grace and Mariam managed to barely get out of the way and she saw his strike bend his sword as it hit the unyielding earth with unnatural force.
Mariam stumbled to her feet and got into a pugilist stance and backstepped to avoid the swings Henry unleashed at her. Fury radiated from his mouth and he practically howled as he desperately attempted to finish her, he wasn't even smart enough to alternate his strikes. Horizontal swings were seemingly the only offense he was capable of at that moment, and Mariam would not complain about that.
Normally, she would have attempted to parry or block his strikes with her enhanced gauntlets and armguards, but she felt that even her enchanted gear might break against the fury of his swings. She kicked some loose gravel up towards his face as she barely managed to dodge yet another swing, and noticed that he didn't even bother to dodge as the pebbles hit his face.
She also noticed that like the other minions of the Thrall-King he was actually regenerating the injuries she had already inflicted. The pebble attack did provoke him enough to try for a high cut down towards her head again. Caution fled her and she dove forwards at the last moment rather than step backward and her gambit worked as he hit the ground again and the force of his blow snapped the sword.
Henry looked dumbly at the broken blade in his hands and Mariam once again pounced at him before he could reorient himself. Unfortunately, her charge was met with a teeth-rattling slap that almost sent her sprawling again. Mariam spat a gobbet of blood and three teeth out of her mouth and Henry seemed to have gotten out of his fury.
"Give up. I beat Crabs and he was the best duelist among your lot, you cannot best me and you can't flee."
"Heh, you are right in that he was good. Crabs was among the best fencers I have ever seen and I can't flee after this, but."
Mariam had retreated a step and added a slight stumble to her steps. She had noticed that once he took her seriously, Henry had been able to read her every faint and trick that she had used to try to hurt him. Even the dodge that had caused his sword to shatter he had noticed he was just careless enough to not consider the state of his weapon. When fighting someone who could read you and who was better than you, only the truth could be your weapon.
"But?"
Mariam Du Eralt didn't bother replying as she came with a jumping punch towards his face that even a blind slug would have been able to anticipate. Henry didn't even give her the courtesy of dodging or parrying the punch, he simply grabbed around her wrist and she looked away while clenching her fist.
"You can't escape my gri- AHHGEHGGRHG"
She crushed the glass bottle in her hand and the magically compressed acid within it exploded out and shredded through her hand flew right into his face. The pain was greater than anything she had experienced before and in that moment her thoughts were silenced by the white-hot agony going through her misshapen hand. Mariam punched Henry in the side of his head and kneed him in the groin yet again before he collapsed to the ground of his own accord.
Her body fell on top of his and she started headbutting his acid-coated face with the top of her helmeted head and unfortunately for him. Even his enhanced skull caved in when faced with enough force and Mariam fell to the side.
It was done. In her daze on the ground, Mariam couldn't help but think back to the brief conversation that she had with Henry. He was entirely correct when he said that Crabs was a fabulous duelist and could have fenced circles around her at any dueling court, but as scurrilous as Crabs might have seemed due to his odd specialization. Ultimately, he was an honorable man, a true warrior that faced his opponents with wit and courtesy. Mariam was sadly none of those things.
At the end of the day, the reason she had left her prestigious life as a Lady behind was a rather simple one...She really liked killing things. Mariam felt herself be lifted off the ground by some kind of strange appendage and placed against a hard surface. One of those Soldier insects was carrying her on its back while being escorted by several puppets as it took her back towards the enormous spider.
She saw it and Mariam Du Eralt...gave up.