by P R Glazier
Chapter 51. In the Heat of Battle.
Alonso had ordered the first volley of arrows to be fired, the skies above them darkened with the many flights of darts as they sped towards the target. Many hit their mark, but most just bounced off the metal armour of the soldiers advancing upon them. Some arrows found a weak spot a joint or some other orifice, but this did not seem to stop the advance of the soldier. But then he heard a loud report behind him, something hit one of the advancing soldiers in the midriff and exploded, hot metal whizzed past Alonso, he watched as several of the soldiers were blown sideways by the blast.
Alonso strained his eyes to see into the gloom and the mist above. Where was the Gnome and the leviathan?
Jones fired a few more rounds into the Startmektoken army, but reloading the ri’fal was too slow and soon the advancing army was upon them, Alonso planted his feet wide feeling the heather under the soles of his boots, he drew back his heavy spear and when the nearest soldier was in range he plunger forward pushing most of his weight behind the spear head. He was dismayed when the spear glanced off the thick metal armour of the advancing soldier and Alonso almost over balanced. He relinquished his grip on the spear with one hand more to keep his balance than anything. When he tried to tug the spear back to a position where he could lift it up, he found it would not move; the soldier he had attempted to plunge his spear into stood on the shaft of his spear looking down at him. The soldier then raised the battle axe he held. Alonso decided his spear was not worth his life so he dropped the shaft and jumped backwards out of the way of the falling axe. A motion to his left caught his attention, Shanria was standing just across from him swinging one of her scimitars, the blade sliced clean through the wooden shaft of the soldiers axe and the axe head fell to the ground. Alonso almost laughed in amusement as the soldier raised what was left of the shaft of his axe looking at the end as if to wander at the disappearance of the axe head. But the amusement was wiped from Alonso’s face as the soldier raised the shaft anyway with the obvious intention of bringing it down onto Alonso’s skull. But as the soldier raised its arm and exposed his underarm. Shanria sprang up and with one hand held onto the rising arm of the soldier, she was lifted off the ground. Then with all her strength she plunged the scimitar up into the soldier’s armpit. The blade entered through a metal joint and stopped. The soldier looked down towards Shanria as she hung from his arm, she smiled into its face and gave her blade an additional shove and at the same time twisted with all the force she could muster in her wrist. She heard the sharp intake of breath through the soldier’s helmet; she quickly withdrew her blade and jumped back down to the ground. The soldier shuddered slightly, he brought his other hand up as if to touch the part where the sword had entered, but before it could reach the point, his hand stopped dead, sparks and arching power suddenly erupted from the gaping wound and the soldier fell, dead before he hit the ground.
Both Shanria and Alonso ran. Just as well for other soldiers were now moving towards them intent on the revenge of the death of their fellow. Shanria looked in disbelief at the end of her scimitar, it still shone a dull red as if it had just been taken from the furnace in which it was made. Alonso found he was relieved that the Startmektoken did have a weakness; it made them seem more mortal, more ‘normal’ somehow. Shanria shook her shoulders and gave a satisfied nod of her head. Alonso grabbed her forearm and pulled her back just as another axe whistled through the air where her head had been moments before.