Firien strained his upper body around to see the oncoming frog. His feet were firmly attached to the earth so running was out of the question.
Quickly he went over options in his mind and found that he had none. All he could do was fight.
Taking the unorthodox route once more, he turned his back on the frog, even knowing that it was almost upon him. In the split second he had left before it hit him, he took a deep breath and focused his mind and drew upon his inner strength. He conjured up the image of Dianna again and fury welled up within him anew. Raw determination burned in his veins, fear was gone from him now, all he could feel was rage.
In a blur of motion he drew his hunting knife with his left hand and his sword from over his shoulder with his right.
*Ssshing!*
In the next instant he was bent over backwards, slashing at the frog that was right behind him. He managed to score 2 ugly gashes on the frogs inner thighs before it backed up far enough to be out of his range.
The frog was no fool, it stood there perplexed for a while considering how to attack the howling elf. It could not approach without having it's lower extremities exposed to the elf's weapons. Usually the frog would just get in close and use the length of it's opponent's weapons as an advantage rather than a hindrance, but with the attacks coming from below its reach disadvantage was multiplied.
Suddenly inspiration struck. It crouched down low and wobbled into the fray.
*Katang katang! ting ting ting!*
Firien slashed and stabbed with blazing speed but the frog parried unerringly. Now on the defensive, Firien turned his body sideways to avoid the downward slash of one of the frog's meaty fists.
The blow whistled through the air, scant inches away, but Firien did not have time to relax. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the frogs other shoulder bunch up as it swung horizontally from the other side.
With no other way to dodge, Firien straightened up to a standing position, which meant that he was unable to see the frog behind him. Innately, he sensed the next blow coming, and bent forwards just in time. The frog who had aimed for the back of Firien's head and who put it's whole weight into the force of the blow was caught by surprise by this move. It over-extended it's attack and toppled headlong over Firien, crashing to the ground at his feet.
Now on the offensive again, Firien stabbed and stabbed with his sword and his dagger but again the frog was able to parry most of the blows and roll out of the way without serious injury.
"Have at thee Froglock! Thy death is at hand!" Yelled a beautiful Dark Elf female who was brandishing a huge two handed sword in one hand. She pointed her challenge at the frog as it managed to regain it's feet.
"Pricella!" Firien cried out with relief.
Another Dark Elf wearing a human skull over her own tiny head advanced upon the Froglock and slashed at it in a flurry of paired swords.
"Hey!" Pricella complained and stomped her foot. "That was my frog Alsymaya!"
"Finders keepers sis." Alsymaya called over her shoulder as she stepped up the speed of her attacks and pressed forward. The frog was being pushed back but managed to hold it's own against her.
Pricella joined the fray coordinating her wide and powerful slashes in perfect timing with Alsymaya's darting movements so that they complimented each other as if in a dance.
"Fight with me Frog!" yelled Pricella, "Not her!"
"You're wasting your breath sis." Alsymaya replied with a smirk in her voice. "I think it's too stupid to understand."
"Bah!" Pricella retorted. "Your mother was an ogre and your father was a salamander!" she screamed at it.
Driven to utter frustration by the Dark Elves' taunts, the frog let out a screaming croak of indignation and flickered a glance back and fourth at the two Dark Elves for a moment, trying to decide whom to attack. It then charged mindlessly at Pricella swinging wildly as if in a berserk rage, exposing it's entire back to Alsymaya's vicious blows.
"Eeeee!" Pricella screamed as she backed away from the whirlwind of attacks coming at her. Alsymaya followed behind the frog… laughing.
Behind the twin Dark Elves, Firien could see the others approaching, Koba began to cast a spell.
Turning around again to see what was happening in the large melee with the guards, Firien saw Koba's spell hit one of the warrior frogs and immediately it's eyes rolled up as if asleep. Aware of what was happening, the wizard Krup slapped the warrior awake again.
"Hmmm!" Firien could hear the surprise in Koba's voice. Most of the frogs were now free of their individual combats and began hopping towards them.
"That's not supposed to happen!" Beaumont shouted to Koba.
"Aye" Koba replied, "I think were in for a tough fight here."
Koba and Beaumont both began to cast spells.
Squinting it's red eyes warily, the wizard Krup stopped it's forward advance and put out it's arms to stop the two frogs nearest it. The other two had gotten ahead and made a bee-line for Firien.
Koba's spell hit the frog to the wizards left side and before it could wake it up, Beaumont's spell hit the wizard.
Koba began to cast a spell.
Now realizing why the wizard had stopped it, the frog to the wizard's right slapped the wizard.
Beaumont began to cast a spell.
The Frog on the right slapped the frog on the left.
Koba's spell hit the frog on the right and it fell unconscious.
The wizard slapped the frog on the right and then was hit by Beaumont's spell.
Koba began to cast a spell.
While the flurry of spell casting was going on, Firien was being attacked.
Valiantly he struggled to avoid the blows but he could not keep track of both of them at the same time, before long he was being pummeled and the sickening sound of his own bones breaking filled his ears.
His shoulder…
His arm…
His ribs…
***
(below on the forest floor)
Sayuna ran as fast as her legs could carry her in the eerie dark silence of Greater Faydark.
She knew that above her a massive thunderstorm raged, but the forest canopy was so thick that it blocked all of it out.
All she could hear was her own labored breathing and her footfalls on the dirt path below her feet.
Suddenly as she ran, the air became cold… very cold. She stopped running and glanced around her nervously. A plume of white steam escaped from her mouth.
"What is this?" She said to herself.
Around her the shadows seemed to draw closer and the silence became absolute. A strange and chilling white fog rolled in silently from all sides.
She exhaled another plume of white steam. "What the hell?!"
Ahead, she caught site of movement further along the trail. Unnerved by the sudden cold and fog, she quickly ran forward to see who it was. Perhaps they could travel together?
She stopped dead in her tracks as she crested a small hill. A limping figure in a deep black cloak struggled off the path and into the brush. Behind it, a wide trail of blood marked it's passage.
"Oh my god!" Sayuna breathed. How could someone loose so much blood and keep walking?
"Wait!" Sayuna shouted and ran to catch up. "Wait, I am a cleric I can heal you!"
As she ran, the figure before her was lost in the thickening fog, Shadows of the great trees were barely visible at the edges of her vision, Beneath her feet, the bright red trail of blood stretched on into the blankness.
Something was wrong. She stopped following and held her hands to her face nervously. This was too much blood, no one could possibly loose that much blood and still be alive.
A shiver of fear ran down her spine and she instinctively grasped the platinum medallion of Tunare at her neck. It was warm, almost hot. She looked down and realized that it was glowing a dull blue light. Was she was in Danger!?
Immediately she turned around to go back to the path but the blood began to disappear before her eyes. It seeped into the grass as if the ground were drinking it up greedily. In a few moments it was gone and she was lost in the white and featureless fog with no idea which way she should go.
"where…" a gurgling voice whispered to her from somewhere off to her right.
The hair on the back of her neck stood on end and she readied an offensive spell in her mind.
Her heart pounded and her eyes darted everywhere. Whatever it was, it was unnatural.
"Where…" the gurgling voice was now directly in front of her somewhere and seemed to be getting closer. Sayuna backed away hurriedly! Beads of perspiration dotted her brow and she fought hard against panic. If she lost her head and ran she would be defenseless, her spells were no good if she didn't have the breath to cast them.
Directly in front of her, the figure in black appeared out of the haze limping towards her with it's head bent over at an odd angle as if it's neck were broken.
"Stay back!" she warned. It hobbled towards her a little faster.
She continued to back away and her foot splashed into a puddle.
Looking down, she saw that she stood in a pool of blood. Looking up again, she saw that the cloaked figure had disappeared.
Breathing heavily, Sayuna backed up against a tree with her hand upon her medallion. She started to hear shuffling noises coming from somewhere but she didn't know where it was coming from.
All she knew was that it was close.
Suddenly the noises stopped. Her heart pounded in her ears and her own breathing seemed so very loud.
Did it get behind her?
She looked to the right at the trunk of the large tree she was leaning against. Was it on the other side of this huge tree?
She took one step in that direction, her foot made a small splash in the pool.
The hair on the back of her neck began to stand on end again as she had the chilling thought. "What if it was sneaking up behind her from the other way?" Quickly she spun around.
Nothing...
Sayuna fought back the urge to scream. She wanted to run away!
Her breathing was coming in ragged gasps now, she leaned back against the tree and closed her eyes trying to calm herself.
Something dripped onto her cheek from above.
She wiped it away and raised her hand so she could see it. It was blood.
"Oh god… " Slowly she looked upward.
High above, Sayuna could see a battered and broken body of someone who had fallen a great height through the forest canopy. Above it was the platform city of Kelethin.
Sayuna looked around again for her pursuer and found that the unnatural cold and fog had disappeared. Was it a spell? What ever it was it seemed to have been broken.
