AN: Gingeraffealene, great minds think alike! Or I'm getting predictable – not sure which. And yes, I love the cliffhangers; they force me to keep writing because I can't just leave the poor characters stuck like that.Gingeraffealne and gaylelbf, you'll have to wait one more chapter to see Merlin "pull out the big guns" and fight the dochraid, but it's coming!
CHAPTER 19: Battle Royale
I watched the war of attrition against the monster made of dirt, my mind whirling. I couldn't really see Arthur and Gwaine, since the stupid monster took up basically all of the hallway, but I could tell that Percival and Elyan were going to get tired long before the monster was reduced to rubble. How do you get rid of dirt? Maybe if Merlin somehow got through the rock slide, he could conjure up a giant Roomba. Or...the world's biggest washing machine. Washing...
I remembered the trip in to the dochraid, when I'd been dragged the length of the tunnel, and I had an idea. "Hey, guys!" I yelled. I didn't want to distract anybody, but I needed them to hear me. "I think I know how to beat this thing, but we have to get it to go down the tunnel."
Percival ducked under a roundhouse punch and turned halfway toward me, panting slightly. "Are you certain your plan will work?"
"Reasonably." I winced as the creature very nearly grabbed Elyan. The one good thing about it was its predictability – it always went for whoever had hit it last or who was the closest – but the knights couldn't avoid it forever. "But you can't win this way."
"Arthur!" bellowed Percival, startling me. "We need to get this thing to go down the tunnel toward you. Any ideas?"
"Then...we need to get Leon to safety first," called the king's voice.
"Percival and Elyan, we'll need to work hard to distract it so Arthur can get Leon free," called Gwaine, and my heart did a happy little flip flop to know that he was safe, at least for now. I was also glad that Arthur was okay, and that Leon was still alive.
"Elyan doesn't have a sword," I reported at a yell.
"Alright. Elyan, going to throw mine under the golem's foot that's to your right in 3...2...1..." A sword slid across the rocky floor, just under the stomping foot, and Elyan snatched it up. "Everyone, attack that foot at once to keep it busy!" Arthur directed further.
"We've got it, Arthur. Get going," ordered Gwaine. I held my breath as the two knights I could see obeyed without question. I wished I could better see what was going on. It was nerve-wracking enough to worry that people would get hurt, but to just imagine how they were doing was somehow much worse. I kept picturing the worst. After far too long, Arthur's voice called out again.
"How are we going to get all of you to this side of the monster?" He had a good point. It took up three quarters of the width of the hallway, and threw itself around with utter abandon, smashing into the rocky sides as it tried to pummel the knights. Any person that got caught between it and the wall wouldn't just be dead, they'd be nothing more than a smear. "I don't think it will follow us if you are still behind it."
"If we attack its foot, it lifts that foot to try and stomp us," reasoned Elyan. "If we do that a few times, Percival and I can run under its foot. But I'm not sure about Mina."
"And Merlin," added Arthur.
"Um, Merlin is trapped behind a rock slide. We can't help him right now," Elyan had to explain.
"And I can make it," I added. "I'm quick enough." I left out my exhaustion and the fact that I was barefoot, and my feet would get all cut up running on the jagged floor. As I said it, Percival slipped just slightly, and a massive fist caught his shoulder, sending him spinning to the floor. He was up quickly, but it only illustrated that time was running out.
"We have to try," called Elyan, guessing at the king's hesitation. "Then if Mina is right and we can defeat it, we'll all come back for Merlin."
"All right. All right. Let's do it then." Even though he was shouting to be heard over the sounds of the fight, I could hear the reluctance in Arthur's voice. He didn't like the risks, but knew as well as the rest of us how few options we had. "Everyone, attack where I am. Elyan, you come through first."
I could just make out motion past the golem and see figures flitting around the leg to our left. Percival joined from our side, and the golem lifted that leg high. I held my breath, hardly able to watch as Elyan dashed under it without hesitation, going low like he was sliding into home. I winced. It was a good thing he had chain mail on. If I did it that way in my nightdress and bare legs, I'd get cut to ribbons. Percival might have been thinking the same thing, because once they yelled to us that Elyan was safe, he called back, "I'll carry Mina. Let's attack the other foot." He gestured with his head for me to come close. I looked at the giant, swinging arms and stomping legs and tried to pull on the dregs of courage I had found before. Making myself crawl toward it was one of the hardest things I'd ever done. Still, there was only death in my future if I stayed put, so with great reluctance I moved.
With a suddenness that caught me by surprise, Percival threw an arm around my waist and darted forward. I couldn't help but squeeze my eyes shut. I don't know if the golem thing expected the move after Elyan's trick or if we were slower or just bigger, but we didn't quite make it. The foot came down and forward, and we came apart and went rolling across the cavern floor. I think I hit every single bump in the place, then was pulled to my feet by – "Gwaine!"
"Good to see you, dumpling. Can you run?"
"Oh, yes!" Behind me, Arthur was pulling up Percival.
"Let's go!" called the king, and we took off running. I lead the way, because I had a destination in mind. Also, they all had that hero complex I mentioned earlier. I had no doubt they'd cover me if the golem caught up.
"Almost there!" I panted over my shoulder. I risked a glance and wished I hadn't. The golem's size was working against it, as it had now had to bend to fit, but it was still within a handsbreadth of Percival. I could hear the wonderful sound of running water. A fist crashed down, and Percival barely dodged out of the way. The golem smashed the other fist against the wall in apparent frustration and small stones rained down on our heads. I noted in passing that we had picked up Leon somewhere along the way, and he was stumbling along with Gwaine on one side and Arthur on the other, which slowed us even more. I realized that Percival was as close as he was to the golem on purpose, keeping its attention. "We have...to get...it into the water," I gasped, embarrassingly out of breath as we stumbled into a room the size of a small ranch house. The floor had about 8 inches of water, and a stream of water maybe two feet across poured in from an opening in the stone ceiling. It drained out somewhere we couldn't see, because the water level was the same as when the kobolds had dragged me past it.
I gracefully fell face-first into the water and Elyan jerked me to my feet. There was a crash and a yell behind me, but my hair was a sodden curtain that blocked my vision pretty completely. "Waterfall," I wheezed. "Behind the waterfall." Elyan's hand was the only thing directing me, but instead of coming with me, he pushed me the right direction and let go, calling out for Arthur.
I kept stumbling forward, then the water was pounding on my head for a split second. I fell again from the force, the slippery rocks, and the blood on the bottoms of my poor abused feet, but I hardly noticed. I climbed to my feet, then was past the waterfall. Shoving my hair out of my face, I turned back and whatever breath I had rushed out of me.
Gwaine was face-down in the water practically under the golem's foot, and Arthur was held up in the air in the punishing grip of one gigantic hand like a male Fay Wray. His face was turning purple as he strained against the monster's hold. Percival and Elyan were running toward them, and Leon was sitting in the water to my right against a small outcropping that kept him out of the line of sight of the golem. He was conscious, but only just, and swayed even as he sat.
I had a sudden fear that I was about to see the death of the king of Camelot and probably Gwaine and the others too. Then the fear began to bubble and boil within me, and it heated into rage. The quiet, uncertain girl I'd been melted in the crucible of mortal danger. Instead of cowering behind the waterfall, I stepped forward and waved my arms. "Come here, you pile of manure! You don't get to hurt them! You're nothing but angry dirt. So come here, and see if you can get me!" I scooped a small stone off the bottom of the pool I stood in and threw it, striking it at chest level. I could see that Gwaine was on his feet, and he yelled something to me, but I was so far beyond listening. I screamed so loudly it echoed painfully. "I'm the one you want, you imbecilic mulch-man!" I screamed again and waved my arms, and wonder of wonders, it took two steps my way. It began to shrink a little in the water and I felt a stirring of hope in the middle of my seething anger. I screamed again. "C'mon, rocks for brains! You know you want the screaming to stop!" Seeming to make up its mind, the golem rushed toward me. It melted with each step, but it still towered over all of us. Another step and I stepped back behind the waterfall. There was only a space of maybe four feet back there, then I was up against the stone. It was going to reach me before it melted completely. Well, that sucked, but at least it wouldn't get to step on or squish anyone else.
Three more steps and it was only about 10 feet tall, then 8. Arthur fell from its hand and it raised both fists together to smash down on me as it stepped into the waterfall. I stared right at is as those hands began to come down, then it was knocked sideways as Arthur pushed it down. Percival and Gwaine jumped on as well, and as they held it down, it dissolved into nothing but a swirl of mud in the water.
It took my brain a moment and my body much longer to realize that the danger had passed, and I sat down right in the water. My hands began to shake and I was suddenly freezing. "Holy fuzzballs." My voice was shaking too. "Did we win? Is anybody dead?"
"I think we're all still here," answered Gwaine, with a wisp of a smile.
And that's when seven more golems rose up from the ground.