Sardonicus completed his spin and came to ready stance again. The rider he'd knocked off his horse wasn't going to be moving again so Sardy didn't even spare a glance. The other riders were approaching at a gallop up the hill, their horses blowing hard. They had formed into two groups of four, one group heading straight for him, the others moving to his left, possibly to flank him and surround him. Those flanking him seemed to be enveloped in a brilliant ball of light for a blink of an eye. They all seemed to go down. They were still a score of yards away ,so he spun again to see what had happened to the other lead rider. He found him unhorsed too, trying to get up of the floor with an arrow sticking out of his chest. Another arrow finished him off just as he got to his knees, and there he stayed.
Sardy looked up to the tree line and grinned at the two figures standing there, he received a wave from the priest, the girl busy with reaching for another arrow. Then he opened his eyes wide, a boulder seemed to materialize right out of the trees and was rolling straight towards him, gathering momentum as it came
Lufka found himself the subject of interest from two of the elder children. They looked like street urchins, badly dressed and dirty. They were both talking animatedly about the city being over run by some sort of army, and how the priest (Samuel, Nevel or something like that) had saved them by helping them out of the city. They implored him to help their saviour, as it seemed the attackers had caught up with them. "What can we do?" asked one of them.
"Go hide, or climb a tree like that little fellow did" was his reply. He walked across the clearing, passing the dwarf, who was sat on a log and just staring into space, a cloaked woman at his feet.
Lufka waved his hands in front of the dwarf, but got no response, so continued on. As he reached the trees on the opposite side, he drew both of his short swords and slipped silently, into the undergrowth.
Rolling to his feet in one smooth movement, Ulf shook his head at the near miss and unleashed a venomous curse at all things human and horse alike. As he reached for his short sword, he noticed that some of the riders had been despatched. Gesturing at the huge warrior next to him he shouted in a high pitched voice, " Hey you, Ya might be one of the big 'uns but I'll fight next to ya! I'm Ulf, and this - " he shook the weapon in his hand " Is Kill Stick. We've a powerful urge to slit some gizzard an' disem - some - bowel! We'll show 'em what a crossed Gnome and his pal can do, all the way to the fiery depths of the 10th Hell itself!"
"Ulf, don't just stand there, move!!" came Sardonicus' reply and the warrior hurled himself to the ground, tackling Ulf as he did. Just as Ulf was about to retort, a boulder, bigger than the Gnome his self, rolled past. If Sardy hadn't moved when he did they'd both have been flattened!
Sardy, picked himself up and held out his hand to the Gnome. "I'm Sardonicus, " he said, a big grin splitting his face, "And I'm pleased to have you by me side, little friend. Let's finish this fight and you can buy me a drink later!
Sh'andra asked the priest if he could help take out the remaining flankers that were near to the big warrior. She couldn't believe the guy had launched an attack on the riders all by his self! Was the man a fool? The priest, who was going for the darts across his chest, replied that he would try. " They won't remain stunned for long," he said "Do you have any rope with which to tie them up" he asked the mage next to him.
Not wanting to spoil her concentration on the spell she'd just cast, she gave a simple "No!"
She nearly lost control, inspite of trying not to anyway. Her target, the four horsemen coming straight at the warrior, had been blocked by him. However, having seen the boulder, he was now removing both himself and the gnome out of the way. She smiled, they had been fooled, now what about the enemy?
Both Sh'andra and Samuel had started moving, but Nevel only moved a couple of yards before he started praying again.
"Llew, bringer of Light, please aid this group by stunning these attackers with thy Light, Amen"
Again, for a fraction of time, both figures were surrounded by a bright globe of light. Both shook their heads, their movement slowed, but, both carried on moving. Each had a long spear that they gripped in both their hands. One of the figures moved to intercept Sh'andra, the other came on straight for Samuel.
Sh'andra had kept on running as Samuel had stopped, as she ran she slung her bow across her back and grabbed her axe. She saw them shake off the effect of his prayer and closed with one of them. This her first real combat situation she thought of her options, could she actually kill someone who was out to kill her? She decided to go for the knockout and tried to use the flat of the blade of her against her foes head. He parried her clumsy blow, using his long spear like a quarter staff, spun it skilfully in his hands and attempted to slash at her face with the head of the spear. She managed to avoid it, just, the wicked leaf shaped blade passed inches in front of her nose as she jerked her self back a pace.
Lufka emerged at the tree line, he found himself quite close to the young female in the black cloak. His eyes goggled as he noticed she had it fully open and her tight red gown underneath was hitched well up, revealing practically all her legs (though they were encased in leather boots most of the way up). Managing to tear his eyes away from her lower body, he looked at her face, which was was screwed up in concentration. He looked out onto the slope of the hill. Just outside the trees about 10 paces away, the priest looked to be scrabbling at his chest. An armoured figure, dressed in a full suit of chain, with some sort of helm masking his face, was striding towards him a big spear held level with the ground. A further 10 or 12 paces away, he saw that the other female in the group was engaged in melee with another one of these warriors. Further down the slope, a good 25 or so paces away, the big fighter type he'd first seen in the clearing, was helping up a small figure, (a child or halfing? No! It was a gnome!!) from the ground. A large boulder was rolling down the hill, straight towards a group of four mail clad horsemen. They were currently, desperately trying to get their mounts away from the boulder which was heading straight for them. Their mounts looked tired, all were coated in a lather of sweat, which covered their necks and flanks in a white foam. The horses responded sluggishly, two of them rearing and unseating their riders. The other two were either better trained or their riders more skilled, for they managed to get force their mounts to a different direction. The mounts still proved skittish though.
The boulder continued on it's course, passing through the now disorganized mass, nearly squashing one of the warriors who'd been unhorsed, but he managed to roll out of the way at the last minute. Just after it passed this figure, it faded slowly away. Lufka looked again at the girl next to him and realized she must have been controlling the boulder through some kind of spell.
Isiseris' head slumped as the boulder reached the limit of the range of her spell, she'd been worried for a brief moment that her targets were further away than she'd thought. A feeling of satisfaction flowed through her, the spell had worked just as she'd hoped, and although she felt a bit tired from the after effects, it was worth it for the feeling she'd received while the magic had coursed through her for the duration of the spell. Feeling pleased with herself, she took stock of her surroundings, noticed what was happening with the rest of the group and for the first time noticed the youngster stood by her. She seemed to remember him from the clearing, but this close up she saw that he looked a lot younger than his size and stature made him appear from further away.
Samuel grabbed for one of his darts, hurling it at the on coming warrior. He missed but quickly followed through with another. It hit his target in the chest, but merely bounced off his armour. Samuel reached for his dagger and making sure his buckler was firmly fixed to his lower arm, prepared to defend himself. "Err, I could do with some help here" he said, to anyone who was listening.
Sh'andra jerked back from the spear thrust and went into a crouching spin. hoping to cut her enemy down by the legs with her sharp blade. Once again her opponent blocked her blow with his weapon but his return attempt was skilfully turned aside by the young girl warrior. They continued trading blows, each seeking the measure of the other, knowing that the first mistake in this contest would likely be the last for the person concerned.
From his perch in the tree he had earlier climbed, Shaq'il could view the mayhem unfolding beyond the tree line. Seeing the big warrior and Ulf were taking advantage of the confusion caused by the boulder which had been rolled down the hill, until it mysteriously disappeared, he reckoned he could also use the distraction to help the others, without putting himself at too much risk. He looked down and saw the armoured figure approaching the priest, massive spear held before him preparing to skewer the poor fellow. Shaq'il selected a bullet for his sling and finding a spot on the branch where he could use his weapon without being hampered, let fly.
Sardonicus called out to his new found comrade, "Come my little friend, let us take advantage of the mayhem caused by the stone, if it was meant to crush us, it failed!" He shot a a quick look back to the trees and continued "Our enemies shall indeed know the taste of steel before this morning is much older!"
Ulf chortled in glee "They'll rue the day they picked this fight, my big pal. Slight their injuries won't be, loud will be the cries of their widows!". He reached for Sardonicus' hand and accepted it shakily, after nearly being squished by the rock. "I'll tell you what, he squeaked, "If we get through this, it'll be a barrel of ale on me!" The mismatched duo set off towards the quartet of chain clad figures, the pair still mounted were still struggling to get their tired mounts back under control, the others were rising to their feet, reaching for the weapons that had slipped their grasps whilst being unhorse. As they approached the grounded foe, Ulf cried out at them " COOOOME ON, you sons of pigs, ya want some? Y' ave come to the right place. I'll chop ya legs off, I'll rip ya throats out!!" With the last statement, Ulf reached the first enemy who was practically on all fours as he scrabbled for his spear, and swung his sword in a mighty gnomic swing. His weapon cut the air and caught his opponent on the side of the neck. The foe fell to the ground, his head flopping grotesquely at and angle.
Sardonicus meanwhile had gone for one of the horsemen and was engaged in melee, trying to get through the riders guard. The other rider looked to be turning his mount to flee, whilst the final footman had retrieved his spear and was about to avenge his fallen comrades and attack the gnome.
Lufka stood alone, the mage having picked up her backpack and acknowledging him with a nod, had vanished back into the clearing. He saw the priest looked like needing the most help, but wasn't about to make a head long charge into battle like some sucker. He edged into the scrub around the tree line, bending low and moving as silently as possible he made his way towards the priest and his foe. He angled his way through the bushes, now having to crawl, until he was practically parallel with the priest, just slightly behind him and awaited is chance. The armoured warrior was almost upon the priest when there was a loud "CLANG" off his helmet and the figure gave a cry, stumbled and looked about to fall, but recovered. He looked up into the trees from where the missile came. Lufka decided this was his chance to make his move. |
