`Stay in cover, and wait. Do nothing, but watch your backs!'
They all retreated to what cover they could find. Fifteen of them were left alive. Lornydel and Emrayeld diligently kept raining arrows over the camp, but their arrows only hit the ground. Then, they suddenly stopped.
`That's it. Those two are done for!' said Gaxev.
Then I understood. They ran out of arrows...
Gaxev then pointed towards Emrayeld's direction, and then towards Lornydel. He had spotted them earlier...
`There, and there! Attack! Kill them! Except you four! You stay close to me. We must watch out for the last archer, and for their sneaky ally!'
Then they all lunged out of their cover. I followed Gaxev.
I knew it was too late to rush to the elves' aid. I could not save them. Besides, I was not there to save them, but to be their black hand of death. I had to kill Gaxev, and that was what I tried to do.
In the end, Gaxev positioned himself and his four men halfway between the two trees where Lornydel and Emrayeld were taking cover. His other men formed two groups of five, and rushed towards Lornydel and Emrayeld. The elves jumped off the trees, drew their longswords, and took up a defensive stance. They waited for their enemies to strike.
Five humans on one elf. Neither elf stood a chance. But Flora was still out there, waiting to strike. In the background, the mercenary camp was now completely ablaze.
Gaxev's four men had formed a circle around their leader, each with his back facing Gaxev. I had no chance to stab them in the back. So, I chose to reveal myself to them.
I appeared in front of the one who stood right behind Gaxev.
`He's here!' he screamed, but by the time the others listened, it was to late. I struck with my sword towards him. He tried to parry, but his own weapon was too weak. It broke under my strike, and my blade rushed further, into his flesh, and bone. The blade cut right into his skull, over the left eye, sinking several inches deep, nearly cutting off the left side of his head.
Gaxev turned around exactly as I pulled my sword back. He raised his weapon, a large, vicious looking spear, and let out a battle cry. He charged at me, but I molded into my shadow and he fell over me. He could not slow himself.
I knew he would not be easy to kill because of his armor, so I decided to deal with his three remaining lackeys first. They were all staring at the place where I last vanished, so I could easily sneak up on them. I stabbed one in the back, and could still strike at another as the other two turned around. He parried my strike with his sword, but could not counter my blow. Then I struck again, from the side towards his waist. He screamed as my sword cut into him, then I drew the weapon back and thrust it towards his chest. In his pain, he failed to parry, and my sword pierced him easily.
I pulled my weapon back and faced the last one. He was more cautious, standing in a defensive stance, and armed with a halberd.
`Come on! Come and die!' he said, taunting me.
I lunged forward, but he could easily parry. I didn't let him counterattack however. His weapon was slower than mine, I could attack again before he could. He saw this, and quickly pulled the halberd back. He was just defending himself.
How familiar...
I dealt him over a dozen blows in succession, but somehow he always parried. Then I stepped back. He didn't attack. He was glad to catch his breath briefly. Still, I was impressed. He was a good fighter.
`Not bad.' I told him. `But you have to do better than that to survive.'
Then, he launched himself forward, trying to impale me on the tip of the halberd. I swiftly stepped aside, and swung my sword towards his back as he passed me by.
He screamed when my blade cut into his back, but he didn't drop the halberd. I could have then molded into my shadow, and used the chance to sneak behind him and stab him to death. But I wanted to finish this fight honorably.
I let him turn to face me. His face was contorted by the pain, but he would not drop his weapon. He attacked again, this time sweeping the blade of the halberd towards my face. I ducked and lunged forward, thrusting my sword towards his belly.
As my sword pierced him, he let out a painful yell, then dropped the halberd. As he fell, I arose with the bloody sword in hand. I looked around, seeking Gaxev. But he was gone.
*
In the time I spent dispatching his three lackeys, he decided to go after the two elves instead of me. I found him fighting Emrayeld in a circle of seven men, all of whom were nervously glancing around. A short distance away I saw Lornydel on the ground, dead. His innards were hanging out of a large wound on his belly. Like he was pierced by a spear.
Also nearby, I saw three dead mercenaries, all of them with an arrow standing out of their eye. Flora was nowhere in sight, but I was certain she was close by.
I hid in my shadow and tried to sneak up on Gaxev. Before I could get to him, he impaled Lornydel on his spear. The mercenary leader then lifted him off the ground, shook him, and finally tossed him off the spear. He was dead.
Gaxev looked around victoriously.
`Can you hear me? Your last ally has fallen. Come out now, and face me if you dare!'
He was speaking to Flora, no doubt. He was forgetting about me. Or perhaps he expected his three lackeys would kill me.
`Do you hear me? I want you, and I'll have you!'
In response, an arrow flew through the air, taking one of Gaxev's men in the throat. Now there were only six of them, not counting Gaxev.
They all glanced around, nervously, futilely trying to spot her. I used their distraction to sneak up on them. I appeared behind one of them and struck him in the back, then took another one by surprise quickly, before retreating to my shadow again.
All the others saw it this time.
They glanced at each other in disbelief.
`I don't know what you are, but I will kill you myself!' screamed Gaxev at last. In the next moment, Flora shot another of his men right in the eye.
`Every elf is a coward!' he sneered. `You can only fight with the bow, from afar! You use such shadowy lackeys to aid you! You are pathetic!'
Then Flora did the unthinkable, and showed herself to them. She was atop a nearby tree, and she jumped off in front of Gaxev and his men.
`You speak of cowardice after what you did in Endithu?!' she told him.
`So, that's why you are here, is it? Then you might as well leave now, for you have achieved your goal. The one who killed that elf in Endithu is already dead. He never came out of that fire...' he said, pointing towards the flaming remains of their camp.
`You were there, too...' she said, and she prepared to draw the string of her bow.
Gaxev then screamed at his men.
`Kill her!'
I appeared right in front of them and attacked the nearest one. They could no longer rush to Flora, and she was free to fire her bow again. I cut down the mercenary I first targeted, then swiftly turned to face another, and struck him in the stomach. As he fell, I saw Flora firing an arrow directly at me. She did not expect me to kill so swiftly, the arrow she fired was meant for the mercenary I got in the stomach. It was all in but a fraction of a second, but my senses and my meager magic powers saved me. I caught that arrow in mid air with my left hand, as it was just an inch away from my face.
Flora could barely realize that she had almost killed me, she already had to face the shock of how I was able to cheat death. She looked at me in awe, but there was no time for words. I tossed the arrow back to her, and charged at Gaxev.
He and his last surviving lackey were standing back to back, but it did them no good. I attacked Gaxev, and he was forced to defend himself with the spear. Their stance was disrupted, and Flora had her chance. Once more she fired that arrow which had almost killed me, this time more carefully. It got the last mercenary right in the eye. He fell, dead.
Now it was just Gaxev, and no-one else.
I attacked him over and over again, but he parried three of my moves in quick succession. Then
he managed to push me away, and then launched himself forward. So as not to get impaled on his spear, I hid in my shadow.
As once before, he passed right over me, but this time he did not fall. Instead, he changed his direction in a semi-circle and charged towards Flora.
I could already see how she would fare like Lornydel and Emrayeld did, and I do not know why, but I didn't want her to meet such a fate. I did something very stupid. I came out of my shadow, moved as fast as I could towards her, and pushed her aside. I no longer had time to jump away or hide in my shadow. Gaxev got to me, and he put all his weight into the strike.
The spear got me in the stomach, impaled me, and nailed me to the ground. Gaxev abandoned his weapon and left me there, nailed to the ground, to die. He sought Flora.
It took me a while to pull the spear out. As I finally did, I tried to get up, but I was too weak. I felt that my consciousness was slipping away. I lay on the ground, and half conscious saw as Gaxev faced Flora alone. He was unarmed. Then Flora dropped her bow.
Gaxev smiled. He was around seven feet tall, a giant of a man, full of strength. He looked to have a clear advantage. At the time, I was certain Flora was doomed, and she was foolish to drop the bow. Fortunately I was wrong. And how wrong. That's when I understood why she carried no melee weapon with her.
Gaxev tried to grab her early on, but she easily leapt out of the way. She leaned down and delivered a sweeping kick to Gaxev's left knee. This surprise attack knocked him off his feet, and he grunted in frustration. As he got up into a kneeling position, she immediately kicked him in the jaw, sending him back to the ground.
He rolled several feet away and somehow got up on his feet. He stared at Flora with anger. He was no longer smiling. He spitted blood and then lunged towards her.
Again, she jumped aside. Gaxev moved too fast to slow down in time. As he passed her by, she jumped up in the air and kicked him in the back of his head with a spinning kick in mid air. It made him dizzy, but he didn't fall. Flora wasted no time, and rushed in to take advantage of her opponent's situation. She kicked him square in the back with a standing spinning kick, and then kicked him in the back of both his knees.
This almost made him fall, but still he was standing. She then leapt on his shoulders, and tightly hooked her legs around his neck. Then she flipped back, shifting her weight such that it made Gaxev fall backwards. She leaned back completely and landed safely as Gaxev fell over. She used the momentum thus gained to send him rolling as she finally released his neck. Gaxev ended up face down a couple of feet from her.
She jumped to her feet quickly, while Gaxev was still on the ground. She picked up her bow, and jumped on Gaxev's back. She hooked the bowshaft under his jaw and tried to use her weight to pull it back enough to snap his neck. Gaxev shook her off his back, and started to stand up.
She rolled aside and jumped to her feet. She waited for Gaxev to rise to his knees, then she relentlessly kicked him in the face with another standing spinning kick. He still didn't fall.
`I'm gonna kill you, bitch!' he sneered with a crimson face.
She didn't reply. She just kicked him in the face again. And again. Then she grabbed his head and forcefully planted her right knee into his face.
Then she punched him in the nose with the bottom of her right palm.
Then he fell.
`Bitch...' he said, laying on his back. `You will die...'
She pulled an arrow from her quiver, and walked to Gaxev. She drew the bow, and aimed at his eye. Gaxev was too weak to do anything. All he could do was stare at the arrow just inches from his eye. And from right there, from point blank distance, she shot him in the left eye.
The arrow reached all the way to the back of his skull. Gaxev died immediately, he couldn't even scream. Then Flora pulled out another arrow, and shot it in his right eye in similar fashion. Then she just stood there and stared down her fallen enemy silently.
Then I slowly lost my consciousness.
*
I awoke to the soothing sound of campfire. I opened my eyes and I could see it was almost dusk. I had been unconscious for long. I looked around. I saw a dense forest all around us, and there was no sign of the burning mercenary camp. Flora was sitting a bit further away, looking into the fire. She seemed to be lost in her thoughts.
`Where are we?' I asked.
She startled, and turned to me.
`In Endarryn, close to the border.'
`How did we...'
`I carried you here. I didn't want us to stay in that place. Fortunately we were not so far from the border.'
`I see.'
`Actually I wanted to set camp where we were last night, to tend to your wounds. When I saw that the wounds had already closed up by the time we got there, I decided to move on. Tell me, how is it that such a severe wound healed so fast?
`Magic...' I told her. I did not want to go into details.
`Must be some powerful magic.' she nodded. `You regenerate like a troll.'
`Yes. I was born this way.'
`You're one lucky bastard! I've never heard of such a thing before.'
Lucky?
No...
Cursed.
Damned.
But I didn't want to tell her. I just sat up and leaned against some logs. I looked up. The sun had not yet fully set, but the moon was already visible. It was just a few days to full moon.
`What of your friends?' I asked.
`I had no time to bury them, nor the strength to carry them. I hurriedly set up a pyre and burnt them.'
`May the wind guide them all back to their homes.'
She looked at me like she hadn't expected me to say such a thing.
`Yes. May it be so.'
She looked away and stared into the fire. I rubbed my eyes and only then did I realize that my hood was not covering my face. I quickly put it back on.
`No need to cover your face from me. Those wounds don't bother me. I've seen more horrible things.'
The wounds... Yes, of course.
`If you wish...' I told her, and removed the hood again.
`This way I can at least see your eyes.' she said with a slight smile.
We sat in silence for a while, both of us looking into the fire. Until suddenly, she broke the silence.
`It was foolish of us to have attempted this.'
`A very wise man once told me, that life is not worth to waste on revenge.'
`A wise saying...' she said looking straight in my eyes. `Would that I had heard it before we embarked upon this journey.'
`Would you have heeded the message of this saying before you came on this journey?'
She sighed deeply.
`I guess not. I guess I'd have come anyway.'
`Then don't blame yourself for anything. You did what you felt you had to do. You had to face the truth to learn it.'
`The truth?'
`Yes. The truth. The truth, that those who still have a life to live should not waste it on meaningless things, but should live.'
`This revenge didn't seem so meaningless back then...'
`How do you feel now?'
She bit her lips and looked into the fire.
`If I think of my friends who died here, it makes me think this whole endeavor was meaningless, yes. But when I think back to Engnal... I guess this is one of those foolish things that we simply had to do no matter what, even as we knew what would happen in the end... Do or die...'
Then she looked at me again.
`If it weren't for you, I'd be dead, too. You saved me. Thank you!'
I just nodded to her. I didn't know what to say. I didn't even know why I had done it. I could find no logical reason. It had to be a reason beyond logic, for I had lived a life governed by cold emotionless logic for so long, I should have understood the logical reason behind my actions, if there was one. What I did defied logic, and to this day I do not know what the reason was behind my actions...
She looked into my eyes for long, then turned back towards the f
ire. She rubbed her face before continuing.
`I left those murderers there for the wolves and vultures, you know. This thought fills me with satisfaction. As much as I regret having done what we did, as much as I mourn for the loss of my friends, I can't help but feel satisfied. It makes me ashamed...'
`That's the nature of revenge. It bring satisfaction, but always at a price, and never does it stay long.'
`Sounds like you speak from experience.'
`I do, but I'd rather not talk about it.'
Again, we spent some time in silence for a while. It was starting to get dark.
`Who is Th'Mesh?' she asked after some time.
`What?!'
`Th'Mesh. You spoke this name in your sleep while you were recovering.'
`What did I say exactly?'
`That you would kill him. Him and his children. That you'd already killed most of his children, and that after you killed them all you'd kill him, too.'
Feverish dreams. I did not remember them, but it seemed like I had said it all aloud and she had heard it. I might as well tell her more, I thought to myself.
`Then I spoke the truth.'
`Is this the revenge you didn't want to talk about?'
`Yes.'
`I'm sorry. I didn't want to press the issue.'
`It's all right. It's been in me for so long anyway. I never told anyone about my predicament. I'll tell you about it if you wish.'
She nodded, and I slowly told her my tale.
`Th'Mesh is a demon from the Hellish Planes. More precisely, a Demon Lord. A very powerful one. One of the two most powerful ones, I was told. Fortunately he cannot simply invade this world, no matter how powerful he is. He desires to spread death across all Arghard, and has been trying to form a manifestation here for who knows how long, but he doesn't have power enough to stay in our world for long.
One day he came up with a plan. To spread his seed across Arghard. To impregnate women and make them bear his children. His spawn. Half-demons that carry a fraction of his own demonic essence.
These half-demons can spread destruction by themselves, but they can also become a full manifestation of their father in time. Fortunately, it never came to that. Otherwise, much of this world would lay in ash and ruin.
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