The Hills of Jutonfar
"I wish they lacked celerity," Bohdan muttered as he tried to keep up with Kyner and Ciara, "as well as vigilance."
Hours ago the party had been eating what sufficed for lunch on a hilltop when they were startled by a sudden clamor of charging gnolls. Bohdan had relaxed when it turned out that the gnolls were charging over the hill beside the one they were occupying but the old man had seen fit to grab his gear and promptly chase after them. The girl simply shrugged and then followed the blasted fool.
They had been pursuing the gnolls at breakneck speed for nearly two hours. Bohdan was certain that Kyner was deliberately not overtaking the band of ravenous hyena-men and had uttered innumerable curses against the both of them, but not too loudly of course.
Whenever we finally arrive at wherever the gnolls are going I won't have the strength to fight them.
Then he saw the thing that the gnolls were heading to: a small stone fortress that sat on a hill in the distance, from it came the ominous sounds of spell casting and the ring of steel. Kyner stopped on the crest of the hill before the fortress.
A mob of gnolls were gathered around the fortress' gates, trying to break through with a battering ram that was no more than a sharpened log, while a few gnolls with longbows fired at cloaked warriors who defended the fortress from its parapet.
"They pay no attention to what may be behind them," muttered Kyner as he drew Issgar, "I'll go first. Bohdan, I want you to make your way up the hill and kill as many of their archers as you can. Be careful not to endanger yourself."
"And what do you plan to do, charge in?"
"Yes."
"Sounds like your endangering yourself to me."
"Gnolls are brutes utterly lacking in skill. I will be in no danger. Ciara, I want you to stay out of–"
"I can fight," Ciara protested, "you saw that on the river boat."
Kyner grimaced. "Very well," he said, "use your discretion, and don't forget about your potions."
Ciara nodded and checked her satchel to ensure that the potions were still in there and easily accessible, then drew Aitana.
"The fool's going to get us all killed," grumbled Bohdan as Kyner hurried down the hill.
Kyner didn't even break a sweat on the river boat, thought Ciara, and he certainly doesn't seem worried now.
The gnolls failed to notice Kyner until he had halved one of their archers. The old warrior then ignored the other archers as he rushed towards the bulk of the gnolls, around the gates. These gnolls reacted faster than the archers did. Kyner ducked under the swing of the first gnoll's halberd and lunged forward to impale the gnoll that he found in front of himself. He then swung his blade rapidly to the left and the sword dug deep into a surprised gnoll's chest. The gnolls only became more confused as Kyner swung harder to his right and spilled the intestines of the gnoll that had been standing there. Then Kyner disappeared as he was surrounded on all sides.
"That's our cue," said Bohdan and he ran down the side of the slope. Ciara looked to see where he was going but the man had disappeared.
After clambering up the slope of the fortress' hill, Ciara saw that gnoll archers continued to fire at the cloaked warriors atop the castle.
Then Ciara saw a blur of motion out of the corner of her eye and turned to see Bohdan ram a short sword through a gnoll's back. The gnoll may have tried to scream but only gasped ineffectually, Bohdan had pierced its lungs. Ciara wondered what might be going through that creature's mind as it died, wondered if it would die of blood loss or suffocation first.
Ciara heard the feral laughter of an archer as it turned toward her. The gnoll drew an arrow back and Ciara stared unflinchingly as it took aim, then sidestepped the shot. Angrily, the gnoll threw down its bow to pull a hefty mace from its belt.
While the creature raised its mace for an overhand swing, Ciara stepped forward and swung her long sword, but the gnoll had surprising speed and parried the swing with a more aggressive swing of it's iron mace. The impact set Ciara off-balance and she took an awkward step back.
The creature glared down at Ciara triumphantly and swung it's mace again. The girl sidestepped the cumbersome weapon and made a deft cut with Aitana that severed the Gnoll's leg from the knee down and the creature fell heavily. Ciara looked past the dying gnoll to see that two gnolls had broken off their attack on Kyner to deal with her.
As they approached, the two gnolls separated and moved in on either side of Ciara. The first gnoll charged at her with a confidant howl and swung its poleaxe at Ciara. Ciara meant to simply parry the poleaxe but when the shaft of the gnoll's poleaxe struck her blade Aitana cut through the shaft as if it were no more than paper. The gnoll seemed dumbfounded for a moment as it held the cloven pieces of its weapon and Ciara took advantage of the moment to run the creature through.
After pulling her sword free, Ciara turned to face the other gnoll, only to see it lying on the ground beneath Bohdan and his two blooded short swords. Ciara gave him a brief, but grateful, smile. More gnolls were coming.
Ciara heard the rush of heavy paws on the ground and turned to see a gnoll rushing at her with its halberd lowered, spike aimed at her gut. The girl parried the halberd at the notch between blade and spike then directed the momentum the gnoll had put behind the weapon into the ground. The halberd was effectively stuck in the earth. The gnoll was still letting go of it's weapon when Ciara freed her weapon and swung it in an arc that opened up the gnoll's throat.
Ciara felt the putrid breath of a gnoll behind her and raised her sword horizontally above her head in time for the blade to parry a gnoll's axe. She turned about to face the gnoll while at the same time bringing Aitana down in a slash that hamstrung the creature then leapt back when it fell, flailing about wildly and snapping its jaws in the hope of biting onto something.
Another gnoll collapsed nearby as Bohdan finished it. Ciara heard the gates of the fortress open and saw the cloaked warriors emerge and engage the gnolls with a combination of spears, long swords, and scimitars. Ciara watched as the gnolls at the gate dispersed while Bohdan rushed off to attack more of the gnolls.
Then she realized one of them was coming straight for her. This one was shorter than the others but looked much stronger. It carried a great sword and it's fur was covered in blue and orange war paint. A feral rage permeated it. Ciara readied herself.
The creature rushed forward and Ciara was hard pressed to evade or parry its swings, which were many and frenzied, the great sword seemed alive in the creature's hands. When the powerful gnoll raised its weapon above its shoulders Ciara saw her opportunity. She promptly turned from retreat to advance and hacked off the gnoll's right forearm. It nearly dropped its great sword but held on with its remaining arm. Ciara prepared for the creature's next swing but a long blade suddenly jutted from its chest and withdrew just as quickly.
Kyner pushed the dying creature to the ground and approached Ciara.
"You are hurt?" he asked.
Ciara looked at Kyner and wondered why he was asking her that. His cloak was torn with numerous slashes and arrow perforations, his breastplate had several new dents. There was a gash across his forehead.
"You're the one who's wounded," Ciara exclaimed and made to wipe the wound with a cloth from her satchel. Kyner smiled but caught her arm.
"It's only a scrape really," said Kyner, "I've already had a potion, the scratch will seal itself without so much as a scar. Ciara, you did well today. Few people at all can claim to have bested a flind," and Kyner motioned to the fallen gnoll with the war paint, "he was probably a chieftain of his tribe. Your prowess is unusual for one so . . . inexperienced."
"Most haven't grown up with your training," Ciara responded.
Kyner hesitated, "Even with the best training, a real fight is something altogether different."
Bohdan approached the two and sheathed his short swords. Then the three of them turned toward the expectant looking warriors they may have just saved. The warriors had thrown back their hoods now and were clearly elves. The finely wrought chain mail, extremely light but stronger than plate mail, would have proven that even if they had kept their hoods on. There were maybe ten of them and more were leaving the fortress, many of those just now leaving the fortress were unarmed and raggedly clothed.
"Well met," said Kyner to the elf who stood at the front, "my name is Kyner and I would like to know what your company is doing in this land."
The elf nodded, "Kyner, I believe I have heard of you. My name is Taurnil. A number of my brethren living on the border of our wood had been captured by gnolls and I took my company to recover them. I followed the gnolls to a fortress farther north and liberated my brethren. Unfortunately the gnolls would not leave it at that. We were harried for many days as we proceeded south back to Aeterveris. Last night more gnolls were closing around us and we decided to take shelter in this fortress. The gnolls didn't start attacking until first light and their assault grew more intense throughout the day, until you came.
"I must say, I've never seen anyone wield a great sword so deftly in close quarters. Are you the Kyner who traveled with Gorion?"
"The same."
"Now," said Taurnil, "I would like to know why you are here."
"My companions and I were on a ship bound for Hreispell out of Keep Noatun. Our ship was disabled by gnolls and floundered. I figured that it would be safer to go on foot through gnoll territory than wait for the gnolls to come and butcher us while the crew attempted to make repairs."
"You left them?" Taurnil seemed surprised.
"I presented them the choice to either come with me or die on the ship," Kyner replied cooly, "Bohdan here was the only one who accepted my offer."
"You still intend to go to Hreispell?" asked the elf.
"We do," replied Kyner.
Taurnil thought for a moment, "I believe that we could arrange passage for you. Some of our ships still travel to Hreispell at this time. If not, I'm certain special accommodations can be made for you."
"Thank you. Do you think more gnolls intend to pursue us?"
"After that display of force I find it unlikely."
"Then we had best make way before they can regroup. If you have any wounded, distribute your potions or whatever healing spells you have. If you don't have enough potions you can use some of mine. I want us moving in less than half an hour."
"Understood," Taurnil responded to Kyner as a if he were his commander instead of a stranger and immediately set to carrying out his instructions.
"Were you ever in an army?" asked Ciara when Taurnil was out of earshot.
"I took part in several armies and many campaigns in my youth. Even at this age I find I am still as restless as I was then. Maybe even more restless."
Ciara reflected on how Kyner had taken frequent and long absences from Noatun. Even when she was young, he hated staying in the same place for long.
"It must have been strange for you to stay at Keep Noatun for so long," Ciara said. Kyner grimaced.
"I did it for your safety. I realize now that I was wrong to isolate you like I did but . . . we will speak more of this. I promise you."