by Billy Wong
Loreen was noticeably agitated by Rose's departure. "I sure hope you know what you're doing, Finn. Not too happy about splitting up."
"Don't worry," he reassured her. "I'm more than capable of fighting my own battles, and you're not too bad yourself. We can probably handle this place minus Wilner." And, he felt proud of being able to trust Rose against him.
"I doubt all of his elite warriors were killed. We'll have to be very careful from now on. Who knows where they're hiding out?"
A frightening thought arose in Finn's mind. He sure hoped Wilner wasn't luring Rose into a horde of those giants. But he left his worry unspoken, and simply began walking faster towards the screams.
#
Derrick continued to scream as if in agony, his jailer watching the door intently as he did so. Wilner had threatened to torture him into screaming to attract his friends. While he was not at all eager to lead them into a trap, he knew he could not resist torture for any length of time and decided to save himself some pain. Besides, if he wasn't tortured, he'd be more fit to fight once somebody released him.
He clung desperately to that hope, as all his attempts to loosen his bonds while unattended had failed. He just hoped his friends could survive long enough to free him—and win. The door burst open, and Finn and Loreen stood in the portal. Huge man and slender woman alike stared disbelievingly at the scene before them, and Derrick's captor laughed as he surged like an angry tornado at the dumbfounded warriors.
#
Rose's chase led her into a vibrant courtyard garden, and she deflected another thrown axe as her opponent turned, having come to an apparent dead end. It displeased her to find herself already breathing hard, still weakened by the grievous wounds she had taken at Wilner's hands. She charged the helmeted prince, his sharp blue eyes almost sad as they met hers. Why wasn't he scared, when he'd been running so desperately just now? Wait. Blue eyes? Wilner's were grey!
"Who are you?" she yelled as their blades clashed together hard and the man, decidedly weaker than the real prince, staggered back a step. She could hear movement behind her. A lot of movement. She turned to regard the new arrivals. At least a score of huge men filed in from where she had entered, and she wondered where they could have been hiding. "So you're what's left of Wilner's guard," she muttered. "All at once, huh? That's just not nice. Well, if you're going to kill me, you might as well show your face, 'prince.'"
The man opened his helm. To her shock, it was her former ally, Peter. He'd been one of the last people she would have expected to switch sides. "Sorry, Rose," he said with real regret. "I just wanted to save my men, so when things started looking grim and I knew the cause was lost, I surrendered to Wilner as soon as I could. Better to risk the torments of imprisonment than battle to a wasteful death. But Tom and your stupid scholar friend rallied the poor young fools saying I gave up too lightly, and got most of them killed.
"Out of anger, I captured him and turned him in to Wilner. I never wanted to ally with that vicious man, but some of my soldiers had survived, captured by the Coblan army. So just this once, I'm going to help him, in exchange for my men's lives. He's with your friends now, killing them. It's an unfortunate lot of choices I've made recently, but they couldn't be helped. Goodbye, Rose." He closed his visor.
"I could help you save your men," Rose offered. "I'm your friend, I don't want to have to kill you. It's never too late to turn from the path of evil."
Peter seemed to consider, then looked around at the massive elite of Coblan. "It's a little late for that, isn't it? You're about to die, and I've no intention of joining you."
She felt sympathy for the man, who was only trying to preserve the lives of his troops. However, she was still angry that he was about to try and kill her, and looked sidelong at him as he tried to circle around. "Don't you know, I always make sure traitors are the first to die?" Peter stopped dead, eyes darting about as if preparing to run. Then Rose charged—not at him, but directly into the pack of huge armored warriors.
She took one down with a lunging slash through his sword into his face, a second with a thrust to the groin, and a third with a quick feint followed by a blow that cleaved through his collarbone. Then she had to leap back from whooshing blades, one of which opened a cut along her chin, but slashed another foe's throat as he rushed after her.
The others hesitated to follow, and Rose took advantage by charging again, this time at the edge of the crowd. She hit her target with a tremendous shield-rim blow to the head that broke his skull. He went careening into two of his allies, knocking one down and sending the other stumbling away. The fallen man she stabbed through the midriff, but as she stepped towards the unbalanced one she felt something rush at her from behind.
She wasn't about to get stabbed in the back this time. Peter's sneaky blade went right over her as she ducked low and grabbed his arm to throw him into the oncoming mass, bowling several over. Two untouched by the projectile of flesh and armor advanced simultaneously on her, attacking frantically with heavy blows. A third man joined them, and Rose was hard-pressed to ward off their strikes.
One guard left an opening which let her slice through his leg, and he fell into another. Rose took the chance to kick her third opponent to the ground and split his chest with an downward chop, then skewer the man distracted by his legless comrade. Peter sat up, staring at her in disbelief. She eyed him back dangerously.
"Not quite the first, but it'll be your turn soon enough."
#
Finn sprang forward to meet Wilner's charge, while Loreen tried to creep around to free Derrick. The prince stunned her with a backhanded fist to the head as she passed, knocking her flat on her back. Finn tried to take advantage of the distraction, but Wilner was too quick and dodged his swung mace almost without looking. Before he knew it Finn was backing away, flailing desperately to deflect the blur of axe and sword Wilner launched his way. How had Rose ever beaten this guy?
The prince forced him into a corner of the room, grinning all the way. He tried to charge out after blocking a blow with his shield. Wilner stepped aside and tripped him. Finn rolled over just in time to catch Rose's sword on his shield, and was alarmed to see a huge dent appear in the metal as his arm went numb. Wilner put him back down with a kick to the face when he tried to rise, and his vision swam. Where was Loreen?!
The one-armed woman freed one of Derrick's hands and left him a dagger to do the rest, then attempted to strike at Wilner from behind. He turned quickly, parrying her swing in the same motion. Facing two opponents hardly seemed to faze the prince, who pressed Loreen hard with only his axe. With Rose's sword—he seemed to like the irony—he continued to harry Finn and keep him from regaining his balance.
For his part, Derrick tried to distract Wilner with words while he struggled to get free. "They've done nothing to you! Are you so heartless as to kill them for the sake of vengeance alone?"
The prince kicked Loreen in the small of her back, causing her to cry out in pain, and shook his head. "Nothing? This big oaf killed many of my men to avenge his woman, who will soon actually be dead. And the cripple? She ran out on her duty over a rightful demotion, and now leads enemies right into my home. That would warrant execution anywhere, and in my case, I'll just be doing my own dirty work."
#
A half-panicked fury seemed to fill the remaining members of Wilner's guard, and they surged towards Rose as one. Though she laid about herself with great swings which kept many of the enemy at bay, her old hurts made her feel slow and clumsy at times, and she could hardly defend herself from every attack.
Soon she took an agonizing spear in the groin from a man she'd already felled dying to the ground, then a mace to the head which made blood leak from her ears, then a long, deep slash down her upper arm. Awful wounds. But she gave back far worse than she got, and even as tear after tear marked her flesh, foe after foe crashed down around her. She waded forward against the tide of men and steel, heedless of the blood running down her trunk and limbs.
At last only Peter and two others remained, a colossus twirling a great morningstar like a toy and another with two thick shortswords. She noted the former also carried her trusty old shield, and made a mental note to retrieve it later as she looked meaningfully at Peter.
"It was Tom," he explained, understanding the question in her eyes. "I think he wanted to have something to remember you by—not such a bad intention. Poor boy..."
She couldn't feel angry at him for robbing her grave. Rose met the last of her enemies as they charged her. The shortsword wielder was fast and strong, but unprepared for Rose using her shield to smack the ball of his partner's morningstar into his face. She then grabbed the chain and jerked its owner neatly onto her blade. A whack to the head of the other man as he clutched his face rendered him senseless, and Rose turned her attention to Peter.
#
Derrick finally cut the last of his bonds as Loreen hugged herself bleeding on the floor, having collapsed after several slashes from Wilner's axe. Finn wasn't doing so well himself, taking repeated cuts as he grew weary trying to defend himself from the quicksilver strikes. Though he was nearly Rose's equal, they were not identically fast; and against Wilner, the gap in speed proved just too great.
Finn put up his shield and tried to bowl Wilner over with his great weight. The prince laughed and used his own momentum to throw him against a wall. Using a sword pulled from Loreen's belt, Derrick blocked the axe that swept down to take his friend's life and was punched away for his efforts. Wilner broke the sword with the next swing of Rose's massive broadsword and sighed.
"You're a persistent lot, to your credit. However, I think it's clear you're outmatched."
Derrick scrambled away on his back, talking to buy time. "Why are you so determined to take the Brushknoll, anyway? There's nothing much there. It certainly won't be key to taking the rest of Kayland."
At this, Wilner merely laughed. "Everything starts somewhere, boy. Besides, it's also a favor to a friend—one that will buy me the invasion of Kayland by vast Sevria."
#
Peter glanced nervously about the garden, its lush foliage moistened as if by a recent red rain. His longsword waved unsteadily before him as Rose advanced. Summoning his last bravado, he smiled. "Not nearly the first, huh Rose? You don't have much in the way of seer skills." She slashed, and he shuddered as he barely parried her huge sword. He retaliated with vicious blows using all his speed and power, which he knew inevitably would not avail him.
"Why are you still fighting?" she demanded. "You can't want the same fate as the others. We'll kill Wilner together, and save your friends."
Peter slowed not a bit in his attack. "After all your talk of killing traitors first, now you want to help me? Ha, better to die a man's death than be executed like a pig at slaughter—if not by you, by those who dispense 'justice' in the name of the king. I've doomed myself, but I'd at least rather die at a worthy opponent's hand, than like a criminal."
"I'll vouch for you! You only did it to save your men."
"No, Rose, don't you understand? We're enemies now. I'll kill you and Wilner will free my men." She didn't realize that even he had no chance of defeating her, he'd failed those kids too badly and could not do anything that might get the ones left killed.
Rose met his fierce gaze with a resigned one. "So be it." She took a deep, pained breath and went on the offense, blitzing him with short but powerful slashes which seemed capable of coming from any angle. Even in his plight, he could appreciate the incredible way she handled the enormous blade like it weighed no more than a fine rapier. Then an overwhelming pain engulfed his arm, and his sword dropped to the ground as his knees buckled.
He could feel the blood pouring down his limb, and knew it had been all but severed. "You're fast," he said earnestly.
Standing over him, Rose raised her sword. "Well, I am used to a heavier blade. Give up now? I'm still willing to stop." His good hand reached for his dagger, though he knew it a futile gesture. The sword scythed towards his neck, and he felt only a moment of pain before nothingness claimed him.
#
Derrick hurled the tall vase at Wilner, who brushed it aside with an armored forearm. His knees quivered as the prince charged and he nearly turned to run, which Finn knew would have been the end of him. Somehow, he held death off a couple seconds more by offering Wilner's blades the chair he'd been tied to in place of his flesh. It shattered in an instant, and as the tip of Rose's sword nicked Derrick's skin and traced a line down his torso, Finn shuddered to think what would have happened had Wilner been an inch closer.
The prince's axe swooped through the air again. Finn darted in front of Derrick to save his life, though he was pushed into the scholar by the impact on his shield. They both fell, Finn landing on top to drive the breath from Derrick.
"Sorry," Finn said, right before Wilner's two heavy weapons came down on his shield and Derrick cried out as his body was crushed against the floor. Wilner smiled at Finn's pained expression while his arm absorbed the force, but with a scream Finn sat up as the prince raised his weapons again and drove his mace into the royal crotch. Wilner staggered back and fell, writhing and moaning in pain.
Finn stood and walked purposefully towards the fallen prince. But as he raised his mace for the killing blow, Wilner rolled up and slashed his side with Rose's sword. He stepped back, clutching the wound. Wilner tripped him with the haft of his axe and leveled the massive sword at his face. "Try to unman me, will you? Now you die!"
Now it was Loreen's turn to save a friend's life as, covered with wounds, she leapt onto the prince's back and rolled him away from Finn. The only thanks she got was the tip of a sword deep in her shoulder, as the unstoppable Wilner clambered to his feet before she could even roll over. Derrick came at him from behind, only to be driven to his knees by a heavy kick to the stomach.
Wilner was so confident he slowed his assault a bit to talk, only halfheartedly attacking Finn to keep him on the defensive. "Victory will be mine soon. It'll be Rose's turn once you're done, and she won't have the heart to fight me once she sees you dead." Now he knocked Finn down again, and allowed him a chance to stand up. He tried and fell back with a groan on the hard stone. "You put up a good fight, but you're all far too slow. Still, better luck in the afterlife."
Wilner stabbed down at Finn's chest with his own lover's sword. Then his eyes widened in surprise as Finn put his forearm directly in the path of the sharp point, stopping it only after it had completely impaled the arm, armor on both sides and all. Wilner must have wondered why Finn had abandoned his shield, but got his answer as he tried to pull the sword free, only to find it coming far too slowly.
"A little 'technique' I stole from Rose," Finn spat through gritted teeth as he swung his mace towards the royal head. Wilner let go of the sword and fell away, sparing him the death most others would have found, but a graze from the heavy club put him on his back. Strong legs tried to wrap around his neck from behind, but he twisted around before the woman could get a good grip and raised his axe above her scarred face.
He could have killed her then and there, but her quick words froze him as if by magic. "I gave you everything, and you tossed me away. Did you throw away the lives of the rest of your guard as easily?" Loreen demanded. For a moment, he knelt there over her, his axe beginning to droop as guilty eyes acknowledged the sacrifice he'd made of his men.
But it was only a short respite, and with a savage scream, he brought the blade up as if to silence the nagging of his conscience. Then the axe fell with a clang dangerously close to Loreen's head, making her shout in fright, and Wilner stared as he realized that his hand had fallen with it.
Finn raised Rose's sword again to end it all, wondering how his love was doing as he did. A spray of blood blinded him, and he recognized the prince had used his stump as a weapon. How tough was he?! A stunning blow dropped Finn to his knees, and he felt blood pour from his nose. Desperately, he tried to wipe his eyes clear before it was t
oo late.
He regained his sight in time to see Derrick leap at Wilner from behind and try to drive a dagger between his shoulder blades. The blade snapped against thick armor, and the prince turned fast, smashing Derrick's teeth with his steel gauntlet. He drew a lethal wide-bladed knife, but Loreen stopped its descent by hooking his arm with her own. She screamed as the much stronger prince pushed down on the blade, and her wounded arm strained to stay his hand.
Suddenly, Wilner screamed louder as Finn plunged Rose's sword into his back and lifted him into the air. "Here's your payback for what you did to Rose. Enjoy." Saying so, he carried the thrashing man to a nearby window, grasping his wrist to stop his desperate attempts to stab backwards at him. Then, Finn kicked him off the weapon and out the window.
He saw many people watching the gruesome scene from outside the castle, and they stared in shock as their invincible ruler plummeted towards the moat. The heavy body hit the surface with a splash and sank quickly to the bottom, the blood gushing from torn flesh hardly showing in the dark water.
#
Rose ran limping into the room, eyes filled with worry. She smiled in relief as she saw all her friends alive, if not a little hurt. "Hey, that's my sword! Where'd you get it?"
Finn laughed and threw it back to its rightful owner, who lightly caught one-handed the blade many men could hardly lift. "The prince had it, but I took it back for you."
Derrick looked expectantly at her. "Aren't you going to ask us what happened to Wilner, Rose?"
She chuckled. "You killed him, of course. I always knew you could take him. After all, I did it, and there's only one of me." Derrick stared at her with bewilderment, but Finn clapped her great shoulders in approval.
Loreen bore a deep wound in the shoulder of her one arm, and so grimaced in pain as she wiped blood from the cut on Rose's face. It'd surely add a new scar to her collection, but the big woman only grinned at her friend's concerned expression.