Aster had spent the night with three of his traveling companions, eaten breakfast with them in a very crowded diner, and accompanied them to an even more crowded arena, where literally thousands of people were now staring directly at him. Yet as he stood on the sand-covered floor of the Arena, he couldn't remember ever feeling more alone in his life. His thoughts were occupied with the immense proportions both of the arena that rose all around them, and the Beast which he was expected to defeat with no more than his sword and buckler, both of which the Behemoth could probably swallow whole — along with their bearer — if it had a mind to. He felt absolutely no desire to do anything other than run back through the gate from which he had come and hide from the tremendous Beast.
But the gate had already been closed. He wasn't certain if it was this simple physical impossibility that prevented him from giving up on the spot, but for some reason, against all the blaring warnings in his mind, his feet began to propel him forward. With a low growl, the Behemoth responded to his challenge by setting its own massive legs into motion. At first, it began to plod slowly in Aster's direction, but it was slowly beginning to accelerate as if the Beast itself were having trouble coping with its tremendous weight. Indeed, its colossal size seemed to prevent it from entering into a full gallop — for which Aster was very grateful — but instead it worked itself to a purposeful gait that probably could have kept up with Aster at a run. It was certainly enough to make one very apprehensive when faced with such a creature bearing down on them.
As it became clear that the Beast was likely to simply squash him under its hoofs and be done with it, Aster began to search for ways to prevent his imminent trampling, and decided based on the size of the creature that he had best start diving out of the way while there was still some distance between them. So instead of advancing straight towards the Beast, he began to jog off to his left. The Behemoth, appearing to have a bit of trouble altering its course, plodded right on past him. At first, Aster felt like laughing. Then, he thought of a much better idea, charged forward, and slashed at the Behemoth's exposed side. The sword barely penetrated the tough skin of the Beast; however a bolt of lightning sprung from the weapon as it connected, sending a shudder through the gigantic Beast's form.
As he did this, Aster got his first impression of just how big the Behemoth truly was. He nearly swung his blade too early and missed the creature's flesh completely; when he was up next to it, half the stadium became invisible. He was certain he'd seen whole buildings of a lesser size than the Beast he was expected to kill. The size certainly had an intimidating effect; Aster was so stunned by the Beast's proportions that he almost failed to notice that its tail was swinging around at him. Once he did, he considered ducking, but the tail was so tremendous that all he could do was jump backwards away from it, to lessen the blow. He reflexively held out his shield as well, and was rewarded by nearly having his left arm twisted off. The impact sent him flying off his feet and landing hard on his back. Mainly because of the white-knuckle grip he had been holding so far, he managed to keep ahold of both his weapon and shield, but his breath was quite soundly knocked out of him.
He had also been placed once again in front of the Behemoth, which seemed quite intent upon exacting revenge for whatever minor irritation Aster's attack had caused. Raising its massive head, it brought its twin horns down in an attack that would easily have crushed Aster had he not managed to roll out of the way in the split seconds provided him. Using the time it took for the Behemoth to recover from this error, he scrambled to his feet, bringing sword and shield to what passed for a ready position. Then, recalling his last experience with the buckler, he decided that the entire concept of bearing a shield during a fight such as this was more than a little silly, so he cast it aside.
he said, panting as he tried to circle the Beast and out of the way of its giant horns or crushing hooves. You're really big, but you're really slow. That's not so bad; I can just run circles around you, like — aah! His last outburst coincided with him jumping away from a swipe of the Behemoth's massive tail. In response, he lashed out with his sword, catching the tip of the tail and eliciting a roar from the Behemoth, but clearly doing no significant injury.
he said, shaking his head as he recovered his balance. I'm dead.
After that, he began to work out a method for dealing with the creature. Using his considerable advantage in agility, he would dart in and score swipes against the Behemoth's unguarded flanks, and then run away before the Beast could retaliate. It worked well enough for preventing him from being crushed or trampled or skewered, but in terms of actually hurting the beast, it was less effective. For the most part, the assembled audience reveled in the game of cat-and-mouse unfolding before them, but there were notable exceptions. Gavin, for one, was having one of the worst times of his life.
We have got to do something! he hissed to Kestra, not too concerned that his whispers might be overheard considering the essentially constant uproar that was issuing from the crowd. He's going to get killed out there!
And you think you can help that? Kestra shot back. We don't have any weapons, and with this idiotic dress on I'd more likely trip over myself than do anything useful.
Still, there's your magic! Gavin pressed. We could at least —
Completely ruin our cover in front of Westmarch and every major dignitary in the West?
Gavin paused for just an instant. So what? We've got all the information we need. What good is this damn cover anyway?
We're in an arena filled with guards and attendants loyal to Cardinal, Kestra snapped. Take a guess! As Gavin didn't have an immediate response to this, she nodded sharply back to the battle. Now shut up and watch the damn spectacle!
Aster had been well aware of his plan's shortcomings when he had devised it, but for lack of a better one he had gone with it anyway. Now he was coming face to face with the beginnings of one of its biggest long-term shortfallings. Namely, the Behemoth was demonstrating a far greater resistance to its wounds than Aster was to his own fatigue. He was unused to running around in chain-mail armor, and it was beginning to take a serious toll on him. So far, the fear of imminent death was overriding the complaints of his muscles, but he didn't wager it was too long before something gave up entirely.
In the mean time, the Behemoth snapped at him with its large, tooth-filled and quite foul-smelling mouth, which Aster slashed at instead and nearly lost his sword. he declared as he attempted to disengage himself. I didn't even know Beasts had a smell!
Though more likely due to anger over its new mouth wound than regarding Aster's remark, the Behemoth was unwilling to let Aster get away this time. It charged forward, and though its charge was more of a purposeful plod it was enough to prevent Aster from getting clear of the repeated swipes it made with its horns by waving its head back and forth. Worse, watching this behavior served to make Aster rather dizzy, and ultimately his fate was sealed when he tripped on either a rock or an uneven spot in the sand, or just collapsed due to the fatigue and the heavy armor and the running backwards and the myriad of other factors that had combined against him. He fell, and the Behemoth was on top of him in a second.
For a moment, the gigantic Beast simply stared at him, as if contemplating which means of killing him would be most preferable. Then, it backed up a bit, and lowered its horns into a position where it would be quite easy to simply lunge forward and run the unlucky thief through. Held down by the weight of his armor, Aster did his best to roll over and get up so as to better avoid death, but without luck.
However, the Behemoth's lunge never came. Rather, there was a shout, and a flash, and the Beast spun around. Or rather, lumbered clumsily about to find the source of the magical lightning bolt that had just caught it in its side. Aster first and foremost took this opportunity to get on his feet, but also looked about with great interest for his unexpected savior.
He and the Beast had run up rather close to one of the Arena walls, which were perhaps another six footlengths taller than the Behemoth itself. Standing atop this wall, one arm extended towards the Behemoth in the traditional Red Mages' magic-casting pose, was a single form, clad in red and with long, raven-black hair. Despite the myriad of negative and life-threatening circumstances that surrounded him at the moment, Aster almost smiled at the sight.
As a second, white-clad figure appeared on top of the wall, the first jumped off the barrier, sliding down the steep incline and rolling when she hit the ground quite some distance below. Snorting incredulously in the direction of the new attacker, the Behemoth was now flanked with opponents on each side and seemed torn between its current almost-victim and this new challenger.
You really are completely out of your mind! Linnis called as she ran up towards him. To challenge a Beast one-on-one with no magic is foolish enough, but this? She indicated the Behemoth's tremendous form, as if there was any doubt as to what she could be referring to.
Hey, no one told me I was going to be fighting a mountain on legs! Aster called defensively. Besides, I'm not the one who jumped a thirty-foot wall to get in here!
Well, I decided that if you were going to be this foolish, you might at least — look out!
Aster hit the ground flat as the Behemoth, apparently tired of its opponents' banter, lashed out with its tremendous tail. The swipe caught Aster as he dove, and flipped him over to land on his back, relieving him of his sword and his breath in the process. Linnis shouted something that Aster was too dizzy to hear, but judging by the lightning bold that immediately followed, it was some sort of magic attack. It proved enough to convince the Behemoth that its attentions were best focused on this newcomer after all. Aster struggled to get to his feet, but felt incredibly dizzy and more in the mood to simply sit back down and pass out.
As he was contemplating the possibility of defaulting on his consciousness, a blue-white aura surrounded him and seemed to physically lift him upright. By the time it had dissipated, Aster had regained both his breath and his balance.
I'd be more careful of the tail if I were you, Darren warned from a relatively safe distance away.
Yeah, thanks, Aster replied, hurrying to retrieve his sword.
Linnis and the Behemoth were facing off not far away, with the larger beast appearing to be uncertain how best to deal with this new attacker. Nunchucks in hand, the Red Mage seemed quite handily dwarfed by the tremendous Beast, and Aster had his first impression of how he must have looked facing down the thing.
Taking advantage of the Beast's distraction, Aster shifted his grip on the Templar blade and ran towards the creature's flank, making certain to avoid its tail. Before it had even realized the threat, Aster had reached the creature's left flank and, with a wide swing of his blade, cut a long swath through its flesh. The beast roared, and Aster kept running towards the front of the Beast, nearly getting swiped by its horns in his desire to avoid the tail. Instead, he ducked under the Behemoth's swinging head and, seeing an opportunity, drove his weapon upwards into its neck.
The move only served to make it madder. The Behemoth shook its head violently, and the sword chose to stay with the Beast rather than its bearer; Aster lost his grip on it and was nearly trampled before he could get away from the crazed Beast.
Oh, that was terribly intelligent! Linnis snapped as the now weaponless Aster scrambled up beside her.
Aster replied. I had a sword, and there was a Beast! What the hell was I supposed to do?
Shaking her head, Linnis spared a second to take from around her belt the long sword they had recovered from the Guardsman during their escape from Castle Cardinal. Try not to lose this one.
I happen to know exactly where the other one is, thank you, Aster replied, taking the weapon.
The Behemoth, which had been spending the past few moments thrashing its head about in an attempt to remove the foreign object from the base of its skull, now turned its attention back to the two combatants. Again, it began to lumber forward with the goal of either skewering or trampling the two attackers. Aster and Linnis, exchanging a brief glance, dove off in opposite directions, then spun around as the Beast continued past and each delivered a hard blow against its flank. The Behemoth, not seeming to be quite sure which assailant to respond to, lashed out with its tail against the assailant on its already injured left side, which happened to be Aster again. The thief only caught the edge of the blow, and was spun around but not seriously hurt.
With two assailants to keep the Beast busy and Darren to provide support, the battle actually began to go quite well. At least, in the sense that none of the human participants faced an immediate and painful death; however, the Behemoth itself was proving very resistant to this fate. For what seemed like hours, Aster and Linnis danced around the Beast, slashing and poking wherever they could without seeming to produce any meaningful effect. It seemed to Aster as if they might as well try to scratch the creature to death with thorns.
In one particularly bold move, Aster attempted to duck in and deliver a blow to the creature's head. He landed the sword just behind the Behemoth's left eye; however, the action produced a stronger response than he had expected. He dove out of the way, but was caught by one of the Behemoth's gigantic horns as the creature dipped down its head to sweep him off his feet and toss him a good distance through the air. He landed hard, feeling certain that at least half the bones in his body had been broken in the fall.
Intending to finish off its prey, the Behemoth began to lumber in his direction, threatening to close the distance in seconds. Gathering all the strength he could find within him, Aster forced himself off the ground, but the exertion of simply raising his torso upright was enough to make his vision blur and nearly rob him of consciousness completely. Regardless, he pulled himself back to his feet before the advancing Beast. As he did so, a strange feeling began to run through his body as a new strength seemed to take hold. He was suddenly able to breathe without gasping for air, and his legs no longer felt as if they would collapse under the weight of him. The Behemoth's approach was as if in slow motion, and seen through a haze of red. Aster had no idea what any of this meant, but seeing as the Behemoth was now a fraction of a second away from running him over, he chose to run with it.
As the Beast came on, horns lowered and mouth open so that at least one of them would catch their victim, Aster readied his sword and dove to the left, slipping under the horn and bringing his blade into contact with the Behemoth's skull.
And he dove to the right, slashing the creature across its nose.
And he fell backwards onto the ground, grabbing the sword that was still lodged in the Behemoth's neck as he hacked at the wound again with his current one.
All this took place in the instant where the Behemoth would have rammed into Aster and sent him to death in one of a number of different and unpleasant ways. The thief imagined that the Beast would have been quite surprised at the actual outcome — unless its prey splitting into three different attackers was a common occurrence — but the same could be said for Aster himself. In any case, by the time the Behemoth had run completely past with Aster lying safely between its mighty legs, whatever effect had produced his burst of action had gone, and he could once again barely breathe.
Linnis called forth a pillar of magical fire to keep the Behemoth busy, then helped Aster to his feet as Darren applied a curative spell for his injuries. As the Beast lumbered around, even more slowly than usual, Aster thought he could see a slight rippling in the air around its form, especially about the creature's wounds. It seemed as if the creature might actually be injured.
But any speculation that the fight might be over was short-lived. Immediately the Beast charged towards them again; and when Aster dove to one side to escape its advance, it swiped at him with one of its hoofed feet and knocked him off his feet once again. When Linnis stopped to see if he was all right, the Beast struck her as well with a sideways swipe of its horns. Her armor being lighter, she seemed to fare just as poorly as Aster, who had already been subjected to the treatment three times before.
Darren managed to cure both of them before they could be crushed, but even the magic didn't dispel all of the injury Aster felt as he picked himself up to his feet. The Behemoth, sensing that the White Mage was proving a detriment to its victory, took a swipe at him next, but collided with a magical barrier that saved the human from serious injury.
One of those lightning bolts would be really nice! Aster observed as Darren attempted to run clear of the Beast before it could turn around to pursue him.
I can't! Linnis shouted back, panting. I've completely drained all my magic already! Her hand flew to her pouch. The Tincture! Have you got it?
Aster's hand flew to his own pouch. Maybe. Tinctures are what color...?
Not interested in allowing the others to replenish the Red Mage's magic, the Behemoth followed Darren back in their direction with an angry growl. Giving up on their search for the Tincture, Aster and Linnis readied their weapons and prepared to fend off the Beast again.
An instant later, a terrific fireball erupted around the Behemoth. The creature actually lost its footing under the searing heat of the blast, the two legs on its right side faltering and sending the Beast crashing to the ground. It was a good ten seconds before the blast had completely dissipated.
Aster glanced at Linnis, who was easily as surprised as he. That certainly wasn't me, she declared.
The Behemoth, not quite ready to give in, had just struggled back to its feet when a terrific pillar of lightning stabbed down from the sky and sent it crashing back down. This time, it seemed to be having even greater difficulty raising its tremendous form off the ground. For a moment, it looked as if the creature was done for. However, giving out a tremendous roar, it charged forward again. It didn't get far, however; Linnis, who had continued to search through her pouch for a Tincture, found something more immediately useful, and tossed a spherical container of orange-yellow liquid at the Behemoth's feet. The force of grenade's explosion knocked the Beast off its feet and onto its side; Aster could see patches of glowing red showing in tears of the flesh on its underside.
Still unwilling to close in on the Beast, Aster instead took a short step forward and hurled his blade at its neck. The blade landed squarely on target, seeming to disappear inside the Behemoth's body as it cut open yet another angry red gash. The Beast convulsed violently, and as it shuddered, aster noticed a bright red glow spreading from the wound across its body. The air around him became charged with energy as the mammoth creature dissolved into a crimson afterimage, then faded away altogether.
For a moment, there was complete silence, save for the pounding of Aster's heart and his heavy breathing, both of which he suddenly became very aware of. Then, a thunderous roar erupted from the crowd, enough noise to drown out even the roar of the Behemoth, were it to still exist. For the first time since the beginning of the match, Aster took notice of the multitudes inhabiting the stands; they were so many and so far away that he could not distinguish them as individuals but more a sea of oddly-colored waves. It took him a while to get his head around the idea that all these people were applauding the three tiny forms who were dwarfed by the size of the very arena they stood in. With Aster among them. Applauding him.
Even despite this realization, Aster felt nothing but exhausted. He could barely keep himself standing upright as he went to retrieve his sword; when he saw that the Beast had left behind a good assortment of crystalline magic potions, he actually felt dread at having to stoop over and collect them. However, before he had the chance, a group of guards had appeared to escort them out of the Arena, and Aster felt in no position to argue. The three of them were led back through the gate, and before too long, the announcer could be heard describing the next match to the crowd.
