City of IF

[LordoftheNight]

Chapter Seventeen: Darkness Adjourned

Ulliana stared at in horror at the trio, before glancing towards Enthral. The Sic’lian showed no sign of fear, calmly slipping his golden death-mask over his tattooed face.

“I am prepared to fight for you. To kill, and if necessary – to die,” he stated simply. “We have but a few minutes – then it begins.” Ulliana swore, tearing her sword free from its scabbard.

“I have not fought free from Alphbaks, battled Wraiths and slain beasts, just to die in this Kronous damned clearing,” she shrieked - her anger at the beasts, and the world in general getting the better of her. Ignoring Enthral’s words, she started towards the trio glaring up at Kharnre.

“Tell him,” she demanded gesturing wildly towards the giant Beast-lord. “Tell him I want to fight him! I challenge him!” Lord Kharnre snarled, evidently understanding what she wanted without the aid of translation.

“He accepts,” the shaman smiled wickedly. The wizened beast strode forwards, placing its staff upright upon the turf, and stepping away, leaving the gnarled wood standing upright. “When the Sly-Gods have adjourned, you may begin.”

The scimitar wielding beast spoke angrily, the harsh guttural tongue of the creatures carrying across to where Ulliana and Enthral stood. Kharnre merely shook his head, dismissing whatever plea he may have had.

“Let me fight him instead,” spoke up the Sic’lian. Undoubtedly he had understood the other’s complaint, and was repeating it himself. “I have sworn to protect you – don’t throw away your life like this.” Ulliana shook her head.

“It has to be me,” she explained. “They think I’m one of them – or little better. I expect a challenge from a human would merely be laughed away.” Enthral starred at her for few seconds, then bowed his head. “Of course,” she added, “if I can’t defeat him, feel more than free to avenge me.” Enthral’s eyes, barely visible through the slits in his golden mask, flickered up to the sky.

“It is time.” Ulliana glanced upwards following Enthral’s words. It was true – already the unearthly golden light that lit the clearing was beginning to fade. The beast-lord snarled menacingly, and strode towards her, swinging his axe from across his shoulders.

Enthral stepped backwards, giving the combatants room to battle uninterrupted. Already Ulliana had drawn her blade, and was sizing up her opponent, watching the way Kharnre strode towards her. From his stride it was evident he was more than confident of victory, his entire body tensed with powerful muscles.

With a mighty bellow the beast-lord attacked, swinging the great-axe around to bury itself deep in her midriff. Or it would have, had Ulliana not rolled under the blow, slashing upwards with her blade. For all his size, Kharnre’s reaction time was far greater then she expected, lifting his knee to catch the blow. The razor edge sliced into his flesh, a cut which would have at least impeded, if not crippled any human. The Head-Taker though merely ignored the blow, lashing out with his injured leg and catching Ulliana a glancing blow to the head. Enthral, watching the fight warily, had no doubt a clean blow would have killed the Rakshasa.

The feline sprawled across the ground, blood leaking from the gash to her skull. As the beast-lord reared above her, axe raised, Ulliana kicked out with her right leg, her foot aiming at Kharnre’s upper knee joint. The strike bounced from his thick hide, causing Kharnre to let out a roar of anger, half dropping his axe. Pressing her momentary advantage, the feline lunged upwards with her blade, scoring a slashing would across the Head-Taker’s abdomen.

Bellowing in rage, the beast stamped down on her sword arm, the bones in her arm shattering like glass. Gasping in pain, black spots erupting before her eyes, Ulliana snatched the knife from her boot and plunged forwards, sinking the blade deep inside the beast’s gullet. Snarling in anger, Kharnre jerked backwards sharply, the weapon snapping off at the hilt.

For a brief moment the feline thought she had won, that the beast-lord’s injuries were too severe for him to continue. Roaring in anger, Kharnre knelt down and grabbed Ulliana by the neck, hurling her into the rocky out-crop. Her head slammed against the hard stone, she momentarily blacked out.

Instantly, Enthral’s blades snaked from their scabbards, and he darted forwards to impose himself between Kharnre and the fallen Rakshasa. A howl of anger surged from around the watching beasts, flickers of movement as the herd flowed forwards to engulf the lone Sic’lian. He hurtled himself towards them, intent on cutting down as many as possible before falling himself.

Dashing through them, he cut down the first three beasts who reached him, before his impetuous ran out. Within seconds, the weight of numbers forced him back to the clearing, almost stumbling over Ulliana’s prone body. A harsh guttural bark from behind him caused Enthral to spin around, just in time to parry a blow from the beast who had come forwards with the Head-taker.

Seeing a second challenge issued, the beasts backed away, forming a tight circle around the pair. Both armed with duel blades, they lashed out at each other, sparks flying. While Enthral was clearly the superior swordsman, the beast was stronger, and more resilient than any mortal could hope to be. The Sic’lian scored several small cuts in the creature’s arms and chest, none of which impeded the creature, while the swordsman was already growing weary.

Lashing out in a desperate lunge, one of Enthral’s blades became embedded in the beast’s shoulder, the sword breaking off half-way along from the hilt. The Sic’lian ducked under the return strike, and rammed his broken weapon forwards, the razor edges severing the thick hide protecting the creature’s throat, arterial blood drenching the human. The beast glanced down at the ichor spewing from his gullet, and coughed once in surprise before bringing a meaty cleaver slicing down, separating Enthral’s head from his wiry shoulders. The two warriors collapsed to the floor simultaneously, locked together in death’s embrace.

Ulliana’s eyes had blinked open within moments of sustaining her injury, just in time to see his attempted sacrifice. Still too weak to even move, she was helpless as Lord Kharnre reared up above her, one meaty fist reaching for her, and bludgeoning her thoroughly into oblivion.

[LordoftheNight]

Well, there you go. I'm still not happy with this chapter, and don't suppose I ever will be - does anyone else detest writing fight scenes?

On the plus side, my laptop's working again, so that's all right.

There's no decision point - for obvious reasons. If you want someone to blame, then look only at yourself (and the dice). Getting killed on a mere side-quest - honestly. You should be ashamed.

[Chinaren]

~Fails to be ashamed, but nearly falls over from shock at a new chapter from Lordy~

Woop! Blood and guts, it's all good. :D

One dooda:

Quote: Kharnre’s reaction time was far greater then she expecte

I think you probably mean 'less' or perhaps 'faster'

Anyway, as for the DP... oh wait.

[LordoftheNight]

Yeah, far greater doesn't really work, but far faster just sounded strange to me.

[Lilith]

lordofthenight wrote: - does anyone else detest writing fight scenes?

Yes, I do. They are just slightly irritating.

Anyway, do you seriously mean this is the end, Lordy? A weak ending to say the least if it is.

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[LordoftheNight]

Lily wrote: Anyway, do you seriously mean this is the end, Lordy? A weak ending to say the least if it is.

Well, I'll just say that I haven't given myself the 1,000 fables for finishing a SGotM, and leave the rest up to your imagination.

Zephyr wrote: If you DO end it here, another story which picks up where this one left off, following the path of the sword itself, would be my suggestion. There needs to be some meaningful story 'core' that reaches fruition somehow.

*shushs Zephyr* Mind reading is not allowed Zeph. If you want to guess, guess something I haven't already decided upon.

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[Satanic_Mechanic]

Ok, I read it.
Are you happy now? I've had a crap day and it's almost midnight and it's about the millionth night in a row I haven't had a chance to watch Blackadder.

But I bloody read it.
So...no decisions needed here, as far as I can tell, about from waking up...yeah, the story would differently benefit from her waking up...

Btw, what chapter are you up to on Collision? Cos it's almost over, I might as well send you the whole thing...

Lemme know when there's an update ok? I like it, it's good, not usually my genre of choice, but still bloody good.

[Kalanna Rai]

I like writing fight scenes...and YAY! It's over....boo...

[dragon_fire372]

Wow, good chapter...is it really over? Waking up with a big blooming headache would be good now, or maybe a deus ex machina. But if this is impossible, I look forward to whatever you write next. Spinoff, maybe? Sequel? The avenging ghost of Ulliana returning to smite all world's cows?