Sunday, September 5, 2010

Chapter 10: ...We're Just Waiting for the Hammer to Fall

Brant cut through goblin after goblin until he saw it, the cave troll. It brandished dead militia men in one fist and a gigantic maul in the other; then roared. The battle, which had pressed in on all sides before had moved away from the troll and Brant. It threw the man at Brant and brought the maul smashing down towards him. Brant ducked under flung corpse and sidestepped the maul. He swung his bastard sword deep into the monsters exposed leg; it bit deep into the troll’s hamstring. With more speed than previously shown, the troll swung his arm around and knocked Brant flying. With a thud, that Brant was sure to have left an impact, he landed. By the time he could shake away the stars, they were replaced by the tremendous silhouette of the troll standing over him. It had raised the maul again high over head and brought it down directly towards Brant’s soon to be pulverized ribcage.

Brant sat up with sweat all over his face. It had been a dream. Thank the gods it had only been a dream. It had been so real, but his ribcage was still in one piece so he assumed he would be just fine. He sighed ruefully as he saw the sun had already begun to fall and was already a quarter covered by the horizon. He splashed some water on his face, raked his hair into place with his fingers and re-donned his armor.

It appeared he had gotten down before any of the other casters and decided to grab some food while he had time. It seemed some bread, cheese, and dried fruit would be his last meal. He ate slowly, savoring not the flavors, but the time. He was nursing a half-pint along before the rest of his party came down to pick over the stores provided.

As they nibbled and drank quietly, Branwyn came in to see how they fared. After replies to the affirmative, he started to lay out what he had planned for the village defenses. Ryan, Brant, and Edir all added here and there till there was a solid, unified understanding of what they would do. Edir would shield the eastern side of the village to allow the village to focus on only one side. The maintaining of this would be Edir’s main focus. Tywed would set up a sort of medic tent next to Edir. This neatly isolated the number of militia men necessary to guard them. Branwyn hadn’t been idle while the casters slept either. He had finished several make shift palisades and accompanying earthwork. This allowed, with Edir’s shield, to funnel the numbers to only two points of contact instead of the massive tidal wave that it could be. The Fools would defend these key points and stem the tide as best they could. The sheer numbers seemed daunting, but there were a few factors that held in the Fools’ favor.

First, the town had a few scrolls and wands that would be passed out to any caster that wanted one. A few weren’t that impressive, such as spells like erase or feather fall. There was, luckily enough, a wand of cure light wounds that was given to Tywed so he wouldn’t have to use all of his personal spells during the fight. Steven and Peace wouldn’t be focusing on protecting a point. They would instead stay back offering ranged help; Steven with his bow, Peace with the many combat spells the town had come up with (including a wand with a few fireball spells left in it and two scrolls of chain lightening) and those of his own.

The second was that they doubted they needed to kill all the goblins, just enough of them to make them feel the town wasn’t worth the trouble. These things made the huge numbers difference into much less of a problem. Having decided a plan of motion, the Fools filed out of the Inn and headed to their positions. Brant and Renee had been paired up on one side and Ryan and Beard had been given the other.

Everyone had their weapons, physical or metaphysical, drawn and their shields at the ready. There was a nervous feel to the militia as they stared at the huge surrounding army. Brant thought about his dream and the fight ahead, then smiled. He wove his fingers intricately for the somatic component and the hummed a few bars to set the way for his ghost sound. The intro guitar riffs surprised the militia men, but Ryan just looked over at Brant then nodded. Brant decided that as the enemy now beginning to approach with the failing light, it was a good time to try and boost morale.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Here we stand
and here we fall,
History won’t care at all
Make the bed, light the lights,
Lady mercy won’t be home tonight

Ryan shouted in, “We don’t waste no time at all.”
Don’t hear the bell, but you answer the call,
Ryan and Renee rejoined, “Comes to you as to us all”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Brant rushed forward along with Renee to meet the now charging goblin horde as he shouted, “Yeaaaaaahhh, We’re just waiting for the Hammer to Fall.”

The clash was thunderous. Brant’s bastard sword cleft through swaths of the goblin front line. Renee’s war hammer was falling in time to the beat Brant had set up; her shield swinging out to intercept blows and knock back unwary attackers.

The militia men joined in, thrusting their spears to keep flankers off the outset Fools. Ryan could be seen at the other gap, walking over the bodies he and Beard had slain. Beard’s eyes were rabid as he waded headlong into the flailing goblin blades, either impervious or not noticing them as they banged off his hide armor or barely finding purchase in his skin itself. Ryan could be heard calling out orders to the militia men, guiding them to make a kill-pocket formation with their spears.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Every night and every day,
A little piece of you is falling away

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Steven’s presence could be felt through the number of feathered corpses littered amongst the other slain. Each arrow sinking home, whether it hit bare flesh or had to pierce their boiled leather armor. The number of feathered fallen was matched by those that smoked and smelt of ozone as Peace let tongue after tongue of lightening or flames fan out over the masses of pressing goblin troops. Eventually this cleared a small area for the two gap teams to press the advantage forward. It was then that the troll lumbered forward with cadaver and maul in hand. It was too much like the dream. It was so unreal and yet all to real at the same time.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

But lift your face the western way
Build your muscles as your body decays.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Brant again dodged the flung dead weight, and rushed forward to meet the troll.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Toe the line and play their game
Let the anesthetic cover it all

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

He swung sword against maul, angling his blade to redirect the deadly force that pursued him. He brought his blade up into his raised guard and miss guessed the angle of a swing, putting him seriously off balance. The troll continued with a sweeping backhand that sent Brant flying. He looked up from where he had landed to see the hammer high over his head. As it started its decent the next line echoed in his mind:

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Till one day they call your name
You know its time for the Hammer to Fall.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Brant closed his eyes as it neared him, then opened them again to meet his death to its face…only to see a blossoming bloom of fire explode into the trolls exposed flanks. Brant looked over to see Peace had entered the field to get a better vantage. The Troll had decided against hitting Brant and turned to face this new threat that he could not regenerate from.

Brant watched it start its trek over singing out loudly over the battle din:

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Rich or poor or famous
For your truth its all the same (imaging Peace hurling more balls of fire in time to the oh no’s here)
Lock your door the rain is pouring through your window pane
Baby now your struggles are all in vain

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Peace was dancing out of reach continuing to sling ball after ball at the troll, keeping it off its guard. Steven was picking off goblins that thought it a good idea to try and backstab Peace in the midst of this. Ryan was ordering injured militia back to the med tent and yelling for the next line to come forward. Beard had literally disarmed a goblin and was using both his battle axe and the sword still clutched in the goblin’s hand to allow space for them to come forward. Renee had her war hammer whizzing around her body with immense kinetic energy, only changing its glowing path with every crushing smash of connected hammer and goblin flesh. The Fools were doing it some how, they were keeping the swollen masses at bay, ripping the shrinking difference down with every swing, spell, and twang of the bow string.

Brant started to run forward to aid Peace in his fight…

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

For we who grew up tall and proud,
In the shadow of the mushroom cloud,
Convinced our voices can’t be heard,

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Peace threw another burning sphere at the troll to give him time to adjust his stance, but the troll threw its club in an intuitive counter and side-stepped the fireball. Brant watched in horror as the hammer collided with Peace full in the chest; Peace's eyes wide with shock.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

We just started screaming louder and louder
What the Hell we fighting for!?
Just surrender and it won’t count at all

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

A yell ripped out of Brant’s throat as he jumped up on the troll’s exposed back; ramming his bastard sword into its skull. The giant wavered for only a moment before falling forward. Brant rode its body to the ground then ran forward to Peace. It was too late. It was just too late. Brant looked up to see the remaining goblin horde retreating and falling back into the forest. They wouldn’t trouble the area anymore, moving on to easier prey, but it was still too late.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Just some time to say your prayers
While you’re just waiting for the Hammer to Fall

5 comments:

Rubble said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Rubble said...

I can't believe I have never had this posted. I have had it written for months. Well anyways, the next chapter is shakily under works now.

Rubble said...

I can't believe I have never had this posted. I have had it written for months. Well anyways, the next chapter is shakily under works now.

Ryan said...

YAY KEEP GOING!

Unknown said...

I totally saw that coming. At least in this work, I have the satisfaction of knowing that my death will probably be only temporary.\

Write more! I liked the part where I threw around lightning and fire.