The Dragon's Wrath: Ashes of the Fallen (32 page)

Before I could ready my next attack, I was forced to duck as a spear narrowly missed my face, grazing past my hair as the warrior next to me fell to a sword thrust into his chest. Unable to maneuver, the four of us were caught fighting shoulder to shoulder in formation as the ten or so players in front of us continued to attack.

Relentless in their pursuit, we kept them at bay with wide arcing swings of our two-handed weapons, slicing air mostly in an attempt to buy time and space.

One player stepped forward in a moment of impatience only to catch the hook-end of my halberd as I pulled him down onto the ground beneath me. A quick switch of grip, and a short wind-up brought the axe down into the man's chest as he rolled face-up right in time to witness the end.

Blood splashing from the open cavity of the man recently executed, I pulled back as my halberd ripped a censored rib out into the open. In the melee, another warrior fell to a spear as he missed his counter swing, and two more dropped down to replace them.

Then, fire started to rain down on our position as we were forced to roll back and retreat. One player was too slow, and was caught in the friendly-fire. Burned to death in front of our very eyes in what couldn't have been more than a second or two, he fell to his knees and ceased his screams.

The other warriors fell back as I held the frontline, standing alone at the entrance to my village. Daring any man brave enough, to challenge me to a one-on-one. A few challengers stepped forward as they attempted to prove their prowess.

Two-on-one was still within reason.

With fire raining randomly down around us and frost bolts impacting the walls, my remaining warriors fell back and retreated to the safety of the village's interior.

The two men circled me as one quickly dashed forward with a lunge and the other attacked with a high-arcing swing of his two-handed sword. Sidestepping the lunge and parrying the bastard sword with my halberd sent a shiver through my arm as the heavy impact jarred me.

Hands numbed, I stepped back once more as they repeated the process.

A side swing this time, I stepped into it and tackled the man to the ground, rolling with halberd discarded and knife drawn to hand. A quick thrust into his neck silenced him as I kicked dirt up in the face of the spear user that had missed his thrust.

Blinded, he swung wildly as I rolled and picked up my halberd once more, turning with legs spread and a knee nearly touching soil, I lunged forth from my awkward position and pierced the man through the abdomen as he dropped his weapon to the ground. Pulling back, the gaping hole in the center of his stomach was gushing blood as he clasped it in an attempt to stop the hemorrhaging.

Raising an arm, I fired off a quick arc lightning as he struggled in place. An arrow soon found his face, and I cut the connection and retreated back to join my men.

A few warriors had fallen to the magic bombardment as I navigated through their corpses that littered my way. Selene and Katherine were in the rear and were providing support with the priests as golden beams of light poured out from the heavens.

Yet, the line was broken.

Flooding my field of vision were numerous players, too many to count but at least forty as ten or so had been killed. Mages, priests, rogues, archers, shield-bearers, axe-wielders, all types, had filled the gaps as they continued to run through the narrow entrance and into the village.

Dropping my halberd a second time, I raised my arms and let out a quickened chain lightning as I yelled to the men, "ENGAGE!"

Chaos broke out as the two sides prepared to clash.

Thunder split the noise of the players and men screaming their battle shouts, while lightning filled the space between. Five players dropped to their knees as heals quickly followed, and a counter barrage of spells soon dotted my vision.

Dropping to a knee, I screamed, "GET DOWN!"

Flashes of red, blue, and white filled the air as fireballs and frost bolts shot out in a line. Burying my face into the ground at a moment's notice, half of the warriors did the same and avoided the attacks as they flew overhead. The other half, too slow to avoid, had been hit and were staggered as they were engaged in melee. 

Swords were swinging wildly as the unsuspecting warriors were caught off-guard and slowed by the frost magic that had hit, including a few freezing rains that hovered above us. Two men fell as one's head rolled to the floor, and then as our own healers returned to the fray with a wave of holy light, the warriors that were left stood tall.

Jumping up with the rest of the men, I commanded them forward, "CHARGE!"

Running full sprint into the mix, I broke my charge with a swing of my halberd into the face of an unsuspecting woman. Taking half her head in single sweep, I brought the halberd back with the circular momentum and pressed forward.

The man to my left exploded in fire as numerous fire blasts hit him. He continued to run ahead while clearly already dead, as his body started to wobble and lose steam, eventually tumbling forward into the dirt below.

Ignoring his sad end, I met the swing of an axe head-on as sparks flew from the impact of the metal. He buckled from the impact as he braced himself by digging a heel into the ground, but it was too little too late as I slipped the halberd down behind his shoulder and hooked his neck.

Yanking forward the man tripped himself up and fell to the floor, where a quick stomp on his head sealed his fate. At that very moment, a fireball hit me in the chest and sent me flying backwards in reaction. My leather scorched and my face singed, the minor burns on my arms were easily ignored.

My stamina on the other hand, had taken a huge hit.

I was down to sixty percent already.

Pushing forward, I ran back into the thick of things as I watched two players engage in melee combat with two warriors. The player used a low side-sweep from his sword to distract the warrior as the rogue rolled deftly to the left and stabbed the man in the side with his short sword and dagger. Before the warrior could pull back to defend himself, the swordsman lunged and thrust the sword into his chest, ending his life.

The second warrior managed to land a blow to the swordsman's shoulder as the player winced in pain and jumped back, only to be healed as the rogue got behind and ended another one of my soldiers with a flurry of stabs.

Reaching my men too late, I dropped a heavy swing on the swordsmen as he attempted to parry. His iron sword shattering upon impact with the axe-head as shards of metal scattered the air. In a blink, he looked at me as I kicked the rogue away from me and brought a circular swing around, lopping the head off of the man in front of me.

Turning to face the rogue, he tumbled and rolled while throwing daggers at me, only to harmlessly land in my thick leather armor. Tired of the shenanigans, I dropped the halberd and began a lightning bolt, and thrust my arms out before he could react.

A feint, he jumped thinking he had dodged.

But I was still casting, and as he fell to the ground and looked up with a smile on his face, I returned a smile of my own. Lightning shot forth from my palms in an instant as it smashed into his chest and rendered him immobile for a second. Grabbing my halberd once again, I raised it up and quickly lowered it down, executing the helpless rogue.

With his lifeless body before me, I risked a glance across the battlefield.

Only looking around for a second, I noticed our numbers had dwindled. Half of our force had been decimated as buildings had started to catch fire. The closest cabins were ablaze with smoke billowing into the sky as a cloud of dark gray ash banished the sun.

In the shadow of the ash, I stood alone.

A glimmer caught my eye as I turned my head slightly in time to see a wave of frost bolts and fireballs heading in my direction. Swinging my halberd wide with the broad-side of the head impacting two frost bolts, the ice shattered and frosty mist sprayed harmlessly over me while a sidestep and a duck allowed me to avoid the rest.

Their casters had wizened up.

Another wave of spells came as I continued to run, dodging by way of leaps and rolls. Closing the distance between the casters, a few of their remaining melees dropped what they were doing to cut me off. Engaging them immediately, I cut down a rogue with relative ease as I met blows with another bastard sword.

The claymore easily parried my halberd with its hefty weight and forced me back. He followed with a wide-arcing swing to my left that I braced for with both arms, meeting the edge with the iron shaft sent shockwaves through both of us as we recoiled from the impact. Recovering slightly quicker, I lunged forward and thrust the spear-tip out but was easily deflected as he brought his sword around.

Pulling back and readying myself once more, the rogues and swordsmen that had surrounded me pulled off and ran in another direction, undoubtedly to push other flanks. I tried to raise an arm, to stop one of them with an arc lightning, but I was immediately sent backwards as a heavy swing rocked me.

The man knew how to counter and our weapons were evenly matched.

I wasn't going anywhere.

A few casters had rotated slightly, to get an angle on me as a fire blast shot through the air and impacted into my shoulder. The sudden explosion blinding my left eye as pain registered in the blistering heat. Grimacing from the pain and wincing as my eyes were left watering from the flickering flames, the bastard sword made its appearance in a quick flash.

Only catching the glimmer of the sword in the sun, I rolled backwards as it clipped my arm and took a chunk of my triceps with it. Right arm impaired, while lying on my back, the man quickly ran forward in an attempt to execute me.

Left palm open, arm extended, I shot a thin pulsating tether of electricity out and connected the two of us. Stopped in his tracts as he started to convulse, I continued the channel while grabbing my one-handed axe with my right hand.

Watching his health get stripped before my very eyes, a holy light engulfed him and topped him off as my mana quickly depleted. Completely ruining my attempt to fell the man, I was soon hit with the warming light as well, and my injuries closed up and began to slightly heal instantaneously.

My arm was still gimp, as the chunk of flesh wasn't immediately returned, but it was enough. Switching hands, I let the man with the claymore charge at me as I stayed on my back, building electricity around my body with the intent to discharge.

Half a second through the cast, he was nearly upon me.

Then with sword raised, attempting to execute me once again, he dropped the sword only to meet a wall of static as electricity exploded outwards all around me, half into the dirt below me, and half into the charging man. Running straight into the wall of energy, the impact threw him back as he was stunned from the recoil.

Grasping his head in confusion as he tried to get back up, I slipped behind him and ran the axe-head along his throat, slicing it clean.

Now clutching his throat as he began to choke, a quick hack into the back of his neck severed his spine and sent the man directly to the floor, dead as can be.

Another fire blast hit me as they were too fast to dodge, and as I recoiled from the pain, I turned to my side and saw a scene that sent chills through my spine.

Surrounded by four rogues, Selene and Barkley were fighting them off in melee as Katherine was directly behind. Selene was obviously trying to stall them from attacking Kate… she was trying to pull her own weight.

Starting to run towards them, the distance of seventy feet was a lot to cover, and my enemies were aware. I was suddenly hit by a freezing rain that attempted to cut me off, covering the land between Selene and I.

Ignoring the rain and running through it, a frost bolt hit me in the side causing me to stumble forward. Regaining my stride, I kept running, nearly closing the distance for a flash step as a fire blast hit me once again.

Falling to the ground, shoulder partially lit on fire, I rolled once and got back up.

The rogues attacked one after the other, as Selene fended them off as best as she could, parrying and deflecting with her two daggers as the eight weapons converged relentlessly. Barkley jumped and landed his jaws on one of the rogues as he attempted to rip the player to shreds, but a second rogue side-stepped and plunged his sword into the back of the poor wolf.

Barkley slumped and fell to the floor with a whine as his body went limp.

Panicking, I rushed as another frost bolt clipped the ground in front of me and nearly tripped me. Ignoring the distractions, I immediately flash stepped thirty feet forward as I rematerialized ten feet away from them.

Out of mana, I threw my axe into the back of one of the rogues as he reactively flinched and retreated. Another rogue attacked Selene with a thrust as she countered and plunged her sword through his chest, only, it left her exposed.

And in a flash, horror struck.

Two swords pierced through Selene's back and out her chest, causing her to lock up and fall to the ground. They went for the finishing blow as I barreled through them, tackling two of them into the dirt, temporarily knocking one out with a blow to the temple, then stabbing the other once, up and under the chin.

Yanking the knife out of the dead rogue and planting it into the dazed one, I finished him quickly as I turned to Selene. Rushing over to her, she had fallen to four-percent remaining health and was bleeding out.