Beyond Smash, Logan could see El in a standoff with three Elfin mages. She had separated herself from Tanel. Logan assumed this was to ensure that Tanel wasn’t a target for any of the three mages and to avoid accidently harming her with a deflected bolt of energy. Tanel was off to the side struggling to free herself from the grip of two warriors who held her arms pulled up tightly behind her back, the anger and frustration was clear in her face as she continued to throw herself forward and back trying to break the warriors’ iron hold.
The entire scene overlaid with the memories of so many years ago, seeing his father brutally beaten down by soldiers, of his mother dying by the blade of a mad man, of his sister being dragged away and sold into slavery. A resolve harder than the iron he worked formed inside Logan.
Not again, he swore to himself. Never again!
A particularly vicious blow took Smash hard. The long wooden bo staff slammed against the back of the big man’s head with a crack that carried across the clearing. Smash stumbled. A cheer rose up from his attackers as they swarmed in against the injured troll. Logan’s breath caught in his lungs as he watched his friend fall beneath a sea of assailants.
Stumbling as he passed the main gate, Logan caught himself with the closed fist of his left hand. His fist struck the earth, steadied his movements and held his balance. It felt natural as his right fist came down to do the same. The added stability strengthened his gait and allowed his powerful upper body to push him to even greater speed. His thoughts flashed to images of the ground-eating lope of the forest ogre he had once met.
How many more surprises, Hephaestus? he asked in his thoughts as he galloped toward home on all fours. A rumbling laugh was his only answer and then the time for questions was over.
Let’s Get It On!
Logan’s first target presented himself the moment Logan saw him draw back his staff, angling to drive the butt of his weapon into the back of Smash’s skull, a potentially lethal strike. Logan charged forward, barrelling into the Elf, catching him around the waist. Logan’s momentum carried them both clear of the conflict and landed them hard on the ground. Logan cushioned his impact with the tall Elf’s body. Leaving the fallen warrior dazed and gasping for air on the ground, Logan turned back to the fight. A second Elf had taken the first’s place and was bringing his own staff up to complete the strike his fellow attacker had failed to land. Lunging forward, Logan grabbed hold of the Elf’s staff. Bracing, he used his great strength to hold the weapon fast as the Elf tried to thrust forward. The bo staff held firm in Logan’s grip and the Elfin warrior whirled around in surprise at the sudden resistance on his weapon. Surprise shifted to shock as Logan yanked the weapon from the warrior’s hands and spun with it, driving the weapon into the side of its previous owner’s head. The Elf was unconscious before he even registered the blow.
The next warrior never really knew what hit him as Logan spun the staff and brought it down across the Elf’s arm. The impact was fierce and the Elf screamed in pain as his arm shattered. The follow through to the back of his head silenced him, knocking him out cold.
Three down in the first couple of seconds, but now the element of surprise was gone. The two closest Elves turned toward him bringing their own staffs to bear on their new opponent. Watching both Elves warily, Logan moved his staff smoothly and steadily in his hands. The constant motion left him ready to defend from any angle. In his mind, Logan went through the lessons Lan’thor had taught him in their countless sparring matches, staying on the balls of his feet, his staff fluid, his eyes scanning constantly.
Logan’s apparent defensive posture heartened the Elves. Thinking their opponent had slowed due to his uncertainty in the face of greater odds, their confidence grew and they adjusted their own positions preparing to take a more aggressive stance. Logan waited and played the game, hoping to use their inherent Elfin arrogance against them. It was a dangerous ploy. If the Elves before him had a greater respect for other races than was common for their people it may go very poorly for him. If, as Logan hoped, they had not interacted with other races in a few hundred years and firmly believed in Elfin superiority over all others then it might work very nicely in his favour.
Purposely looking clumsy, Logan smiled inwardly as he watched the Elves. He could see in their eyes that they were falling for his ruse, their faith in their own superiority clear. The Elf to his left attacked first, a wide arcing blow designed to take Logan in the ribs. It was an obvious attack. A cautious fighter would never have thrown such a blow, it left the attacker far too open to a counter. Logan was happy to oblige and blocked the strike with his own staff before letting his own momentum to take him into a spin. Allowing the staff to slip through his hands, he held it by the very end. The Elf was good and managed to get his own staff up to parry the strike, but with the extra force from the spin behind the blow it merely smashed the Elf’s own weapon back into his face, dropping him to the ground as his nose exploded in blood.
Releasing the staff on impact, Logan allowed the follow through to carry him back into his first opponent’s guard, narrowly ducking under the Elfin warrior’s staff as it came for his skull. Once inside the guard, Logan powered out a punch. The force of his fist cracked bone as it impacted on the warrior’s ribs. A quick flurry of powerful follow up blows left the warrior collapsed on the ground and gasping.
The remaining five Elves had been keeping up their assault on Smash and the closest pair never knew what hit them as Logan reached for them with his over-long arms and used his great strength to smash their heads together, the force of the impact causing a resounding crack, knocking them both unconscious. Logan quickly retrieved a weapon from one of the fallen Elves and prepared to fight on.
Unfortunately, the last three Elves had halted their attacks on Smash, who lay barely conscious on the ground, and were now facing him, spreading out in a semi-circle to give each other room to attack. The centre Elf met and parried Logan’s initial attack. Logan’s blow had been meant for his head, and the Elf successfully managed to tangle Logan’s weapon with his parry. The Elf to Logan’s right took advantage of the situation and laid the length of his staff solidly across Logan’s broad back. The crack of the staff left a painful welt and Logan whirled to face his assailant. Unfortunately, this left him open to the warrior on the far left, who landed a similar blow to the back of his calves, nearly driving him down to the ground, while his original opponent brought his staff down across his shoulders.
Logan grudgingly admitted to himself that these three Elves fought well together, each taking advantage of the openings created by the others. Between them, as they had with Smash, they kept Logan off balance. Scoring time and again, they rained several powerful blows down across his back, legs and shoulders. Unfortunately for the Elves, the blows did little to stop their opponent. Rather, they pushed him, angered him and infuriated him. As his frustration mounted, Logan channelled his rage, fed it into the monster that seemed to live inside of him. Finally, from somewhere deep within, the animal in Logan rose. This time, as he whirled to face the Elf that had just hit him across the back, he stopped himself, spinning back to face the blow that he knew was coming. The Elf’s bo staff slammed into the bone of his forearm as Logan blocked. A splintering crash echoed across the clearing as the staff shattered and bone cracked. Pain shot up through Logan’s arm. This, too, he fed to the monster. Stepping in quickly, he grabbed hold of the Elf, lifting him from his feet with one hand and throwing him forcefully into his partner. The two Elves fell in a heap of limbs.
Logan barely felt the blow that the remaining Elfin warrior slammed down across his back. Turning, he lashed out with his right hand. Pain shot up his already damaged arm as he sent the Elfin warrior sprawling with a vicious back fist. Following the Elf, his rage building, Logan smashed his left hand again and again into the warrior’s face, breaking his nose, shattering his cheekbone and dislodging several of his teeth before allowing him to collapse to the ground.
As the final Elf l
ost consciousness, Logan was already searching for his next opponent. He barely noticed a strange reddish haze beginning to cloud his peripheral vision.
“Logan!”
He heard the call even as the word flashed in his mind. His skin tingled as power arose around him. He recognized the danger in that tingle. The animal inside him could feel the threat and howled for him to run. He looked to Smash, still lying unconscious on the ground. The animal inside screamed at him.
No time! No time! Danger!
The hunter in Logan tracked the newest threat, searched for it. His sensitive ears heard the murmured words. Following with his eyes, he saw the gestures. The threat was clear now. It came from the robed figure that faced El, the Elfin mage the arrogant one who had come to drag her away.
Even as Logan realized this, a swirl of energy flared from the Elf mage’s hands and rushed past him. Following the blast with his eyes, Logan saw it cascade around Smash, stopping just before it could connect with the still unconscious troll. In his mind, Logan could feel the strain that the magical shield had placed on El, but before he could come to her aid he was struck from behind.
The blow to the back of his head sent him stumbling forward, anger flared and his rage surged in his blood. Turning, he caught the next blow on his already damaged forearm. The pain was intense, sending shockwaves pulsing down his arm. Logan smiled with the pain. Pain was good. Pain let him know that he still lived. Tearing the staff from the Elf’s hands, he snapped it in two. A look of shock blanketed the Elf’s face as he prepared to defend himself. With a piece of staff in each hand Logan moved in on the Elf, raining blows down upon him. Head, chest, right knee, face, left knee. Logan was a blur of motion, each strike impacting. Unarmed, the Elf tried valiantly to keep up with the furry of the attack, managing to block many of the blows, sacrificing his hands and arms trying to protect his critical targets, but it was only a matter of time. A strike to the knee staggered the Elf. A blow to his chest was successfully blocked snapping the bone in his arm, while a final strike to the face shattered his nose and sent him to the ground in a shower of blood.
A second swirl of energy cascaded around Smash, again impacting with El’s magical shield. The shield withstood the onslaught, but Logan could feel that El was straining. She had been fighting hard against the combined power of three opponents and Logan could tell she was almost done. The magical shields were draining the last of her energy and the other mage, harnessing the power of his two assistants, was proving too strong.
Sparing a moment for a quick look, Logan saw that Tanel was almost free. One of her original captors must have been Logan’s last attacker and the remaining Elf left holding her had his hands full. As Logan watched she managed to wrench her arm free and surprise him with a quick uppercut to his jaw that snapped his mouth shut and momentarily stunned him. Taking full advantage, Tanel grabbed his shoulders, pulling him forward towards her as she drove her knee up into his groin with all her strength. The Elf collapsed to the ground, curling up into a ball, moaning loudly.
The Elf mage was chanting, he was preparing another attack. From their link, Logan could feel that El was exhausted as she valiantly scrambled to pull together enough energy for another shield. El’s frenzied desperation told him that the mage’s attack would be lethal if El failed to block it, and Logan feared that she wasn’t going to make it this time. Holding back the power of three mages had left her exhausted, but she wouldn’t give up. She would fight until she had nothing left. Unfortunately, that moment was coming quickly.
The Beast Within
As focused as El’dreathia was on Ar’n’tor and the other two mages, she was aware of Logan’s arrival. His anger and frustration rolled into her mind like an ocean wave crashing against the shore. She could feel his sense of dread and caught glimpses of the fears he so desperately battled to hold at bay. She knew those fears, had spent months trying to help him come to terms with the memories that spawned them.
Through their link, she felt him join the battle. She heard the cries from the Elfin warriors that tried to stand against him, felt his rage with each blow they landed. Silently, she prayed that none of those Elves died as they faced him. They were kin after all, however misguided their actions. She felt the adrenaline and the exhilaration surging through him as he fought and found it mirrored in herself. The sensation was heady and intoxicating. A wave of power fired through her veins, and with that sudden flood of energy that poured between them she was able to push back against her attacker’s magic.
Ar’n’tor rallied hard. He drained magical energy fiercely from his two supporting mages, ripping it from them faster than they could give it. Finally, he was able to stop El’dreathia’s progress, but he couldn’t manage to push her back. She was too strong, far stronger than he had anticipated.
El could see the strain in Ar’n’tor’s face. She knew that using so much energy was wearing on both him and his supporters. Unfortunately, it was also wearing on her. She was loath to attack her fellow mages, so she had been fighting a defensive battle, never attacking, simply reflecting back the attacks that came against her. Even with the sudden flush of energy from Logan’s arrival, she was still facing the combined energy of three mages.
The respite that Logan’s arrival had given her did allow her to divide her attention. She was able to watch much of the battle through Logan’s eyes. The experience was as disturbing as it was exciting. It wasn’t so much what she saw, she had been in battle before, though Logan’s perspective was intriguing. Rather, it was how it felt. For her, fighting was a regrettable yet too often necessary action, generally in the service of defending herself or her friends. Yet, for Logan, it was something altogether different.
There was such an intensity of emotion, such incredible anger seething just below the surface, desperately searching for release. It threatened to overwhelm her, and yet somewhere in amongst all that anger was a sense of freedom, a sense of, for lack of a better word, joy. It confused and frightened her at the same time. It was clear to her in that moment, that as well as she might know Logan, as much as she loved him, there would always be a part of him that was primal and uncontrollable, a part of him that she would never completely understand.
Perhaps, she thought with a wry smile. It’s just the way he’s built.
Her attention was suddenly pulled back to her own struggles as she felt a weakening in Ar’n’tor’s attacks against her. He had moved his attention away from her and a quick glance confirmed her fears. Smash was still unconscious on the ground. At the moment, he was completely defenceless and Ar’n’tor, as opportunistic as always, had decided to take advantage.
Holding the three mages at bay had cost her a lot. She was exhausted from her effort so far. She couldn’t be certain that she would be able to defend Smash against a direct attack from Ar’n’tor. She yelled a quick warning to Logan even as she flashed it through their link and then re-focused all her attention back on the mages. Ar’n’tor was already chanting, drawing power for his attack.
A swirling mass of energy and lightning left Ar’n’tor’s hands, the energy crackling blue as it rushed toward the troll’s unconscious form. El weaved her own magic around Smash, creating a barrier of hardened air in the path of the sparkling blast. The clash of energies was incredible and both spells burned out from the impact.
Ar’n’tor frowned at El, but quickly regrouped, drawing more energy from the mages at his back and sending a new blast surging toward the defenceless mountain troll. Again, El was able to weave her barrier in time and again the light and energy cascaded around Smash, burning out before they could harm the troll. She had managed to save him a second time, but as sweat streamed down her face, El knew she didn’t have enough power left to protect him a third time. She had simply spent too much of it already.
Ar’n’tor seemed to realize this and a smile crept across his lips as he launched his third blast. El watched helplessly, unable to raise enough power quickly enough to shield the troll. Sm
ash would die right here before her eyes, and there was nothing she could do to prevent it. She watched in horror as the bolt of blue energy flashed out of Ar’n’tor’s hands, speeding toward her friend’s unconscious form. The shield she threw towards Smash was weak, far too weak to stop Ar’n’tor’s blast.
Logan moved. A blur of motion, he leapt across the distance separating himself from Smash, placing himself between his friend and the crackling energy, using his own body as a shield. The explosion of energy crashed over his body. Lightning flowed into him and through him, his muscles spasmed and contracted. His body screamed at him, begging him for respite. Time seemed to slow as Logan’s mind fled back and away from the intensity of the pain that engulfed him, but it was no use. There was no escape, no safe haven. In that moment, all he knew was pain, all he felt was agony.
Somewhere in the distance he heard El scream. He would later learn that their link had been responsible for that. His action had caught her by surprise and there had barely been time for him to close the link that connected them before the lightning tore through him. Even with the link slammed shut, a lashing of the pain still bled through to her and that’s what caused to her to cry out. But right now, Logan was aware of none of that. His body was on fire from the inside. He collapsed to one knee as the blast of electricity finally dissipated, his muscles cramped and the residual energy sending shivers and shocks through his body.
The Axe's Edge Page 7