T Lain - City of Fire

Across the entrance, Early battled bravely against the spear-wielding orc, but he was obviously overmatched. He’d drawn his backup weapon, a dagger, but no matter how he tried he couldn’t get close enough to use it. Every time he pushed inside the orc’s reach, the spear turned and the orc walloped him with the wooden butt. It didn’t cause him much pain, but it backed him up. Meanwhile, the pointed end of the weapon had jabbed Early twice, once in the thigh and once in the shoulder. The big man was tiring and there was nothing Naull could do.

All this seemed like a sideline, though, when the wizard looked down into the cavern. The ogre bellowed its fierce war cry and drove at Ian. With a cry of his own, the ranger leaped forward and somehow managed to get inside his foe’s reach. Stabbing upward with his rapier, he pierced its thick hide. Before the ogre could bring a two-handed smash down on the ranger’s head, the half-elf leaped away again.

What can I do? Naull thought wildly.

She saw her friends fighting losing battles and she tried to clear her head. It still rang from hitting the cave floor and she despaired. Even if she thought of some way to help, what did she have that might make a difference? If only she could get one of them free from an opponent long enough to help another—two on one could make the difference. She just needed to think.

“Everything else is pretty much defensive,” she’d said to Regdar before they came on this cursed hunt. “Not everybody can walk around in their own private golem,” she’d joked. Grimly, she recalled her words. Then her eyes widened and she looked around.

Regdar… Regdar has the best chance of helping anyone, she thought. Boccob, may my magic be blessed! And, she added, Wee Jas, if I die doing this, bring me back to avenge my friends’ deaths!

Naull cast two spells in quick succession. With one, her form grew blurry and indistinct. The other yielded no visible signs of effect, but she knew it had worked just the same.

Drawing her own tiny dagger, Naull leaped to Regdar’s side and shouted, “Help the others! I can handle this one!”

Regdar spared her a glance of amazement and looked ready to argue. She physically shoved him—she knew she didn’t have enough strength to move the man, but she tried all the same.

“Move! Before it’s too late. I know what I’m doing!”

Taking her at her word, the fighter backed away. The orc lieutenant grimaced and said something in a guttural tongue she was glad she couldn’t understand.

“Come on, then,” Naull answered grimly, brandishing her dagger as if it was a weapon of power. “I haven’t got all night. If I don’t kill you before dawn, I’ll never get my eight hours in.”

Whether the orc understood her or not, it seemed outraged by her defiant gesture. Gripping its sword in both hands, it struck at the small wizard with a blow that surely would have cloven her from crown to crotch, if it had landed. But the blade sheared off as it approached Naull’s blurred form and clanged against the stone at her feet. The combination of protective spells would be enough to hold the orc off, at least for a short time. Naull hoped it would be long enough.

Regdar, in the meantime, bounded into the cavern, taking a wild swing at Early’s orc as he passed. The creature ducked the blow easily, but the sudden assault distracted the creature long enough for the farm boy-turned-adventurer to slam his shield against the creature’s flat face. The orc staggered back and tripped, stumbling against the wall. Early slashed with all his considerable strength at the creature, severing its spear haft and burying his weapon deep in the orc’s chest. Orc and man tumbled to the floor a moment later, one exhausted, the other dead.

“Early! Get out of here!” Regdar shouted as he moved toward the ogre. “Get Trebba! Help Naull! We can’t fight this!”

Whether or not Regdar believed they could fight the ogre, Ian hadn’t given up yet. Snarling, the ranger dived in and out of the ogre’s reach, jabbing it with his rapier. The giant howled and bled from many tiny pinpricks, but its massive club came closer to Ian’s head with every swipe.

“Over here!” Regdar called.

He stood close to the fire pit, his bastard sword gripped tightly in both hands.

Naull, who could see the fight with the ogre even as she parried and dodged the orc lieutenant’s blows, wondered whether her partner had called out to Ian or the ogre. Regardless of his intent, the ogre turned and lurched toward him. Perhaps it saw a potentially easier target. Wrapped in heavy armor, the fighter couldn’t possibly move as fast as the annoying half-elf.

For a moment, that put the ogre between the ranger and the fighter. As Regdar stepped back quickly to avoid the swinging club, Ian also jumped back, hurling his hand axe at the ogre’s back.

The creature howled in pain and anger as the hand axe bit deep into its well-muscled back. Just as it started to turn, however, Regdar thrust his broad-bladed sword into the fire pit’s ashes and flung them up into the ogre’s face. Sparks and cinders blinded the creature and it dropped its club to paw at its eyes.

Naull almost cried in relief as she saw Ian scamper around the maddened ogre and that nearly proved her undoing. The orc swung its blade in a wide arc, striking the wizard a glancing blow on her side. If not for her shield and mage armor spells, the cleaver would have cut her in two. As it was, she felt herself smashed against the cave wall, pinned and helpless. The orc grinned evilly and leaned down to finish her off.

Then Trebba sat up.

Early had struggled to the thief’s side and bound her wounds, but when the ogre screamed the man had started back down into the cavern, leaving her on her own. Trebba stood shakily and lurched forward. Naull, even as she felt fear and horror at the thought of dying at the orc lieutenant’s hands, looked over the creature’s shoulder and felt pity as she saw blood leaking down from the thief’s lips. Then she saw the dagger in the woman’s upraised hand.

The orc drew back for a final blow but grunted in surprise. Trebba’s dagger caught it squarely between the shoulder blades. The creature dropped its cleaver, put both hands behind its back, and fell forward, brushing against Naull as it died.

Stumbling against the sudden weight, Naull twisted away and looked up to see Trebba collapse onto her knees. Blood flowed freely from her mouth, and in the light of the spell her dark skin had a grayish cast.

“Pick her up!” Naull commanded.

Early stooped without a word and hefted Trebba into his arms.

Naull looked back, and to her dismay saw that neither Regdar nor Ian had moved entirely away from the ogre. They were both on her side of the creature, and it was obviously still blind and roaring in pain. Somehow it had struck Regdar in the side and Naull could see the dent in his armor from twenty feet away. Ian was shouting and waving his arms—one hand a bloody mess—trying to distract the ogre as the fighter stumbled away.

Naull ran to Regdar and put his heavy arm across her shoulders. He didn’t put much weight on her, which the wizard took as a good sign.

He’s just got the wind knocked out of him, she thought as they stumbled up and out of the cavern.

Crack! The ogre had retrieved its club and the wood smashed against stone. Ian tossed one more taunt then tumbled away from the big monster. He sprinted across the cavern and toward the entrance.

“Let’s get out of here!” he said as he put Regdar’s other arm across his shoulders.

The half-elf bled from a shallow wound on his scalp but looked as if he could still run. They stepped over the body of the spear-wielding orc and ran as best they could toward the entrance. The ogre’s cries of pain and rage followed them but didn’t seem to grow any closer.