Vikare hurried behind a running Grimwin, who seemed to have gained a substantial amount of stamina out of nowhere. Behind him was Theylandu with Maris under his long arms. He had never felt so useless in his entire life. He watched in desperation as Revy battled the horde by herself. He screamed out her name when he saw her slender body thrown across the air like a ragdoll. He begged his companions to let him go, but all of his outbursts were met with silence. The four have been running non-stop since they crawled out of the river. It has been roughly 20 minutes, and the sound of rushing water had disappeared from his eyes.
"Please, we must stop." Vikare begged once again.
"Not until we are at Chillwind camp." Grimwin responded between huffs.
"We can't just leave her like that! Dammit!"
Silence rang across the four travellers.
"We're just going to let her die like that?"
Grimwin glanced back slightly, his face angry, "grow up lad, Revlise is taking responsibility and protecting all of us. Ye can at least play your part and be safe so she didn't die for nothing."
Vikare halted in his track, his chest heaving for breath from the run. He waited until the group all stopped and were watching him. "She is not going to die." He glared at the dwarf with determination and persistence, "She is MY responsibility. I dragged her into my quest and I'm going to make sure she is alive when I finish my quest." He slammed his hammer into the ground in frustration and stared at it as it lay still in the ground. "And if she was killed by those horde because she wanted to protect me, I don't think I can live with myself" Vikare finished quietly.
Grimwin sighed deeply, he glanced at Theylandu behind the paladin; strangely the mercenary showed a hint of concern for their female companion. Next to him Maris had his hands on his legs as fought against exhaustion, but his eyes shared the same feeling.
The dwarf turned back at the paladin, who stared backed him with an eager and serious expression. Damn lass, you sure left a pretty good impression on this motley band of people. He thought to himself amusingly.
"Alright lad, ye made yer point. Let's go save yer little princess."
Revy panted heavily as she supported herself on her right knee. Scratches and bruises scattered around her battered body. The Tauren had been trying to bash her in with that damned mace of his for what seemed to her like an eternity. She has managed to avoid every swing, but it was draining her energy. Several times she had tried to counter-attack, but her wounded state made her attacks clumsy and predictable. If only I could get to my shield and didn't have two damn arrows lodged in my shoulder, this Tauren wouldn't be so cocky. Revy's tried eyes glanced at the two figures behind the mace-wielder; the orc was bandaging the Troll's head. She could see the irritation on the leader's face, probably reprimanding his companion for getting shot in the head. Turning back into the fight Revy managed to dodge a mace swing just in time. Landing a distance away from the weapon, she tried to hold herself upright, but her legs gave, dropping her on the ground on all fours. Revy huffed for air; her muscles were stretched to their limit. Her left arm was now completely unmovable without causing excruciating pain racing through her shoulder.
Tilting her head she checked on the Tauren. He was panting quite heavily too. The wound on his back has started to weaken his strength. Plus he had been swinging that massive mace of his non-stop for prolonged amount of time, and it was beginning to tire him. Churikie grunted in irritation; the human was surprisingly agile for someone with two gaping holes in her shoulder. Every time he felt he had managed to corner her, she always seemed to find a way to miraculously dodge his blow and escape unharmed. Churikie narrowed his eyes, he can sense her nearing the edge of her energy, but he wasn't in much better shape either.
Gonna have to finish this soon, can't let a pin size of a woman take the best of me. Churikie thought as he lifted his mace again. With a piercing roar he swung his weapon once more. The woman rolled her crouching body backwards, and the mace thumped into the ground. Following up his strike Churikie ran forward to kick the woman, who had moved to a kneeling position and guarded her face with her right arm while the left limply protected her chest. The impact knocked away her balance, and the female stumbled and fell back on her backside. Taking the opportunity Churikie pulled the great-sword from behind and quickly executed a downward slash. The woman panicked and lifted her short-sword up horizontally to block the blow, but her right arm alone was not strong enough to resist the power and the Tauren's blade swept down, ricocheting her blade away and cutting down her right side and part of the right thigh. The woman cried in pain, and instinctively crawled to cuddle her mutilated right arm with her body. She then turned and flashed at the Tauren with tortured eyes. Her teeth clenched like a vice trying to resist the pain. Churikie spat at the ground next to the bleeding human. He was now at the point of exhaustion himself. The only thing he wanted was to ram his great-sword through her heart. Ferdruk can go rot as far as I care, I'm not doing all the work just to let him take the thrill of the kill off me. Lifting his blade over his head one final time, Churikie prepared to push the metal down.
What transpired next felt like it was in slow-motion. Churikie watched as he pushed his blade down. But as soon as the blade moved, Revy's left leg flung up and kicked the flat of the sword. The force redirected the blade's course up and it stuck itself into the ground by the woman's head. Taking the chance Revy reached out for her disarmed short-sword to her left. Picking it up Revy sat herself underneath the Tauren and stabbed his right kneecap. Churikie howled in agnoy and slumped down, leaning on the great-sword for support. Not wasting any time Revy let the short-sword rest in the leg and went to grab the hilt of the giant blade and pulled it under the Tauren. The great-sword titled and eventually freed itself from the ground as the woman dragged it directly beneath her enemy. Losing the support of the sword, Churikie fell forward. He looked down under him; his great-sword was suspended just before him with the blade's edge facing upwards. Not wanting to slit his own throat he opened his hands to let the blade drop on the ground. Time past and the sword remained in suspension. Panicking he shifted his eyes towards the hilt, and pure panic rushed through him.
Around the long hilt was a slender feminine hand. Revy held onto the great-sword as the Tauren fell forward. Keeping her grip, she jumped around the falling body and landed herself on Churikie's back again. Settling herself on his lower back she let gravity push her down. The Tauren's head let out a short cry before the suspended great-sword decapitated him. The headless body landed on the ground with Revy resting on top. Once she was sure the Tauren's body had stopped shaking she released her grip on his giant sword, and allowed herself to drop next to the corpse. Revy took a minute to catch her breath and let her logical mind catch up with her.
Was sacrificing your right arm trying to lure him into an opening really the BEST strategy you could think of? Revy weakly smiled at herself, rather satisfied at the success of her reckless plan, Better than dying. Plus I couldn't have done much with that arm anyways.
She allowed herself to rest for a moment longer before gradually lifting herself slowly from the ground, gripping her tattered arm in the process. Steadying herself once she stood upright Revy looked up before her; Ferdruk stood a short distance away with a calculating look on his face and two hand axes ready for battle.
Revy moaned inwardly at her rotten luck,
Give me a break…