Tara’s Wrath
Tara drew her sword. She was Galen’s equal in might and ferocity: a mirror image of his fighting style. She hacked and hewed off Redcap limbs. An ogre charged. She rolled through its legs and cut it down one slash at a time. A Recap lunged to attack her exposed back, but I smote it with lightning. Aware, I was alive, greater numbers trickled in.
Tara kept hacking away at the orge, until it was low enough for her to bury her sword through its skull. She cut its head off and carried it. She buried her arm through it and held arm’s length as a warning and improvised shield. A few Redcap’s turned and held at the horrific sight, only to be hunted and executed by wandering Cù-sìth.
Surrounded by a small mound of their dead and soaked with their blood, Tara Ogre-Shield fought alone to the last. She slew three more approaching fools and their bodies dropped adding to the pile.
A Redcap warrior, wearing stone plated armour, rode up on the back of a white Cù-sìth. It charged with a chiselled stone spear. The Cù-sìth’s jaws opened wide to spit out a blizzard.
But, Tara, knew. Index finger over her guard and palm resting on the blade, she threw her sword. The blade sunk through its open maw and sliced through the creature tearing through all the organs. It collapsed in a bloody squirt as its life pooled out.
The Redcap warrior leapt from his dead mount. Mid-air, he thrust his spear at Tara.
Tara parried the spearpoint, and booted him down the mound of bodies.
A second Cù-sìth lunged for her, but she blocked its jaws with her shield. She pinned its neck down and snapped it.
The Redcap warrior picked himself up and drew a nasty jagged maul of stone from his side. He ran up and with an aggressive cry, swung for her.
Tara leaned in and raised her shield to absorb the impact of the attack. She countered with a punch to his exposed throat. She grabbed her victim’s open jaw and pulled him into a headbut. She grabbed the head again and slammed it into her knee. Following through with the other arm, she bashed him with the shield. Taking a hold of his shoulder she flung him to the left while she sweeped his foot right.
The Redcap fell to the floor, in rapid succession, she punched his stomach and then cracked her elbow across his temple. She stood up taking heavy breaths and with a vacant expression, she booted his face in until the skull caved in and tore apart the brains.
“She killed the hero! Arrows! Kill the human.”
Tara bent her knees and stretched out her shield. She roared in anticipation. The arrows arced and either stuck or deflected off the decapitated Orge’s face. The Redcap stone tip buried in the fat flesh of the ogre-shield. She said nothing, conserving every breath she could.
Arrows flew towards me, but I activated my ring shield with a thought. The stone points bounced off and tumbled to the dirt useless. I switched it off again and wondered how long it would hold under an Orge’s strikes.
“Enough of this. We will kill the human.” said an Ogre who pushed through a trembling crowd of Redcap archers.
Tara smirked, blood dripped from her brow soaked her lips and stained her bared teeth. She stared down two ogres and less than two dozen Redcaps.
“We are the Slayers of Galen. We kill the mighty human. Give up, be a good pet and bear many babies.” said the other one of the Twin Orges.
She growled with animalistic intensity. She glared at them with open hatred.
“The day I fuck is the morning where the sun doesn’t rise.” But, I am happy to shove your cock down your brother’s throat.” She shouted.
“I’m gonna chew you up and spit you out.” The first twin spat.
“Rend you limb from limb.” the second twin roared.
They charged for her like enraged bulls.
A Cù-sìth grabbed her shield and yanked it to the floor. While another leapt onto her back, its teeth tried and failed to penetrate her armour. The horse-sized-wolf’s weight dragged her to the ground.
Umbra fed me another potion. Whatever Umbra was putting down my throat was working. The first had a powerful restorative effect on my body’s natural healing and the second on mana. They were helpful medicines that tipped me from clinging on the edge of life and death to beginning a quick and effective recovery.
I had healed most of the internal damage to my heart and the torn aorta. I needed another minute then once I was away from death’s doorstep I could more proactively help Tara. My lungs had some severe tearing and there was the wide hole the arrow had punctured through my chest on entry.
A wound made worse causing fatal blood loss when Meredith had yanked the arrow out. What should have killed me gave me the chance to heal once the metal was out of my body.
I brought the lightning, but missed. The spark harmlessly crackled by one of the Ogre Twins. But the strike sent the twins running far wide of Tara, buying her valuable seconds to finish off the Cù-sìth.
Not that Tara seemed to need the help. Her sword hand now held a Cù-sìth head as an absurd, grotesque puppet. She bit and tore at the other Cù-sìth with her improvised wolf head gauntlet. After mauling its face off, she dropped the head and picked up her sword.
If she felt any exhaustion she showed no signs as she lunged for one of the Ogre twins and spun around him so she faced one rather than two foes. The Ogre twin fought with its fists layered with spiked metals that prosecuted without and towards the Orge making each punch an act of twisted penance.
I sent down lightning to zap the other Ogre fuck. The crack of thunder boomed and as the blue bolt struck the Ogre twin shook, wobbled and was shocked into paralysis.
Tara cut the Ogre down with each of their clashing blows. Her enchanted steel shattered and sliced through the larger, slower opponent. Tara with a better weapon, greater skill and speed kept striking first, reducing the shock of the Ogre’s blows.
For her final flurry of blows she carved the Ogre in two, hewing it from shoulder to hip, before it could split she depicted it and then stabbed her sword downwards slicing through all the essential internal organs.
She strolled over to the paralysis twins and hacked it to death. It was a brief, bloody exchange and an anti-climatic, but brutal end.
There was a lull in the attacks, as the enemy were stunned from Tara’s resistance.
I spent the next few minutes healing the last of my injuries from the strange golden metal. Tara sat by my side, her sword in hand, and kept watch. I rose to my full height and called my staff to hand. Tara stood with me.
I turned to Tara and Umbra commanded them, “Protect Morgana. I will get Iris.”
“I’m afraid I can’t allow that, Sorcerer.” A dreadful voice said from behind.
I looked up and saw Maradon’s glaring ember eyes…