That slow clapping had me shiver. With trepidation I turned in the direction it was coming from to see two figures stepping from the flames, as if the fire was nothing more than a slight inconvenience. Leisurely they crossed the two dozen or so paces that the last minute counter fire had cleared beyond the actual clearing. Their feet sunk deep into the still hot ash but that didn't bother them either. The one in the lead, the one clapping, was a heavily armored man. Chain mail covered him from head to toe. Even his face was obscured by a silver mask. Only a few strands of tangled gray hair sticking out in between the mask and the chain cowl he wore let me know that he probably was pretty old, for a human. Under the chain mail he wore a thickly padded arming doublet and above it a surcoat bearing the colors of Gothol'uin. Dangling from his sword belt were two rather ornate blades.

The other figure followed a step behind him. This one wore a heavy, hooded robe of thick red cloth. It probably was a woman, judging by the long blonde hair flowing from her hood, the fine, gloved fingers resting on the iron bound tome at her hip and the rather delicate footprints she left in the ash. She had to be a spell caster of some kind. A court wizard or something like that. She didn't carry any weapons. At least not as far as I could tell. She could easily be hiding a dagger or two under that robe. Not that she would need any weapons. It was probably a spell of hers that had allowed them through the inferno unscathed. Or rather mostly unscathed. I couldn't help but grin as I noticed that the hem of her robe was smoking ever so slightly in several places. That was only a small comfort though. They both were dangerous. That much I could tell at a glance.

I was getting a little dizzy. Could I win another fight? Could I face off against the one who was probably the master mind behind this whole mess? Would I be able to win and walk out of this alive? I wasn't terribly sure about it. I certainly didn't like our odds. We had been fighting for too long. We were exhausted. We were hurt. Still I gripped the shaft of my weapon a little tighter. Not fighting wasn't an option. Khuzan and Kivilan must have shared my sentiment, as they took position to either side of me once more. I didn't look at them. I didn't have to. “One more fight, my friends. One more fight, one more enemy to kill to put an end to this misery.” I tried to sound brave, although my heart was fluttering.

The unequal duo stopped at my words. The spell caster tilted her head ever so slightly while the old warrior simply drew the longer of his two swords. “I take it, you have to be the new lady of this domain.” His voice had my blood run cold and my heart skip a beat. It sounded old, much too old, more like a dry whisper fresh from the crypt than the voice of any living man. Only after a moment did I really register his words. What was he trying to say? He must have noticed my confusion. “Your mother had the same attitude as she led her banner against me. Kill him now to stop it all.” He laughed a nasty dry laugh. “And as she realized her folly she still kept fighting to allow the others a chance to retreat.” All of a sudden all mirth was gone from his voice. “I had her staked in front of my tent for all to see.”

That was like a blow to the gut. I stumbled back a step and I might have fallen altogether if Khuzan hadn't caught me. That couldn't be true. He was just trying to goad me into making a mistake. Yes, that had to be it. “Lies and slander.” I spat in his face. He just laughed and sprung into action with speed that belied his apparent age, swinging his sword in a heavy two handed blow. I had to be wary of that sword. Its steel blade would probably cut through my leather scale mail with ease. I would have to either parry or dodge it. At least that was my initial thought. Then Khuzan gave me a little shove. Of course, I wasn't fighting alone.

I left parrying the incoming attack to him. Out of the corner of my eyes I could see him deflect the blow with a shield of magic force. It barely held long enough to redirect the attack to the side before shattering into sparkles of light. That blow must have been truly monstrous! I didn't let that stop me. I went for a heavy two handed strike as well, using my build and the long handle of my weapon to build up extra momentum. The old warrior's side was exposed for a moment as Khuzan deflected his two handed attack. I aimed my strike to smash into this hole in his defense. Even if the blade would not smash through the chain mail the momentum alone should break some ribs. That was what I thought anyway. Instead he barely budged after receiving the blow, taking a step to the side to bleed the momentum I had imparted upon him.

No, that wasn't it! He used the force of my attack to build up momentum for his own next swing. Damn crafty bastard! He turned the step into a twist, to spin his blade around in another two handed chop with even more force behind it than the last one. A powerful move. Not too hard to dodge though, as he telegraphed it pretty badly. We all saw it coming from a mile away. For a moment I was certain that we would only have to let the old man tire himself out. Then I realized that this apparent miss had achieved a second goal I hadn't been thinking off up until now. All three of us had dodged the attack with relative ease. And in the process of doing that we had spread out. Like this we would have a tough time supporting each other.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

I looked at Khuzan. He must have realized it as well. “Kivilan. Get around into his back.” As I said that I had my eyes on the spell caster though. She hadn't entered the fight yet. At least not in an obvious way. She might have bolstered the old man with a spell or two. It would be for the better if Kivilan could take her out before she got a chance to do anything else. Hopefully he got what I meant. Unlike Khuzan he hadn't been training at my side for years after all. Before I could think on it any longer I had to dodge the next attack, another powerful swing, though. No, actually, I didn't have to. “Khuzan! Block his leading arm!” I trusted my companion to do just that and stepped into the attack, bringing the butt of my weapon up and into a jab right into the old bastard's face.

Hah! Take that! The warrior's sword went flying, slipping from his grip, as Khuzan blocked the arm the old man had used to direct his attack, with another shield of magical force. Then he went stumbling back as my attack connected with an equally sickening and satisfying crunch. The silver mask came undone and dropped to the ground, finally revealing the face of my enemy. With anyone else I would have expected my attack to shove the remains of a broken nose straight up into the brain. With this one I would have settled for just a broken nose. What met my eyes though chilled me to the core. The face under the mask was no real face at all. What met my gaze instead was only the dried out husk of a face. It was nothing but a mockery of life!

“Ghoul!” That shocked gasp had come from Khuzan, who had found his voice again, before I myself could recover from this revelation. The creature laughed its disgusting dry laugh again, drawing its other sword. This brief break was all the respite we received. The next moment the creature of The Devourer was upon us again. Even with the smaller blade, which the old terror wielded one handed, his blows were still of tremendous strength. I was barely able to deflect them. Khuzan and I took turns attacking and blocking. Ever so slowly we managed to deal the monster in human shape some damage. It wasn't enough though. Like this the both of us would be exhausted long before we got a chance to finish the ghoul off. And once exhaustion claimed us, death would follow soon.

At least Kivilan had a little more success. He feinted against the Ghouls back a few times as well, moving closer to the sorceress all the time. He was actually pretty good at that. Finally he struck. He only had one of the knifes we had taken from the head hunters but it was enough. The robed woman wasn't wearing any armor under her wide outfit. He sunk the blade into her chest to the very hilt. A wailing screech filled the air around us and we stumbled. The woman's hood fell away, revealing her face. A face contorted not in pain but in rage. I was too busy not getting killed myself to see what else was going on there for the better part. Once I managed to sneak another glance Kivilan had grabbed her in a bear hug while she had buried her teeth in his flesh. Was she another creature of The Devourer's dark war host?

I didn't get to find out as Kivilan charged off into the flames with her. Then I had to focus on our opponent again. He seemed displeased by this development. For the first time his desiccated face showed something like emotion as anger twisted it into an even more disgusting shape. I let Khuzan do the maneuvering for a change, focusing on defense instead. It seemed he had a plan. It didn't take me long to figure out what it was either. He was trying to get at the monsters other sword. Sword fighting had never been one of my strong points but Khuzan was quite good with these weapons. As we got close I switched to an all out attack instead to buy my friend the time he would need.

Thanks to my superior reach I managed to bring the blade of my glaive down on the Ghoul's chain collar. Chain links burst and went flying wide. The piece of armor slipped from its place, finally exposing some more of the dried skin of the monster. Khuzan took that opportunity to strike with the large sword. It was a weapon of exceptional quality and it sunk deep into the undead flesh of the Ghoul. Khuzan withdrew it and struck again, this time at the other side of the creatures neck, finally separating its head from the rest of its body. The head rolled to the side and the body dropped to the ground, dragging me along with it.

Why did it do that? Belatedly I realized that my all out attack had left me open to a counter and the dead hand of the creature was still on the hilt of the weapon it had thrust through the leather scales of my armor, deep into my side. I tilted over sideways and the last thing I heard, before darkness claimed me was Khuzan's worried shout. “Keza!”