Chapter Five
Tavin twirled his blade in a flurry of steel as the two opposing forces slammed into each other, a mixture of blood mingled with rotting flesh joined the orange night sky as the Argent Dawn and Scarlet Crusade clashed with the mindless Scourge, decimating them with both steel and Light alike.
"Byron!" he yelled through the fray, calling out to his friend.
From within the mass of Scourge and people, Byron's voice came "Yeah?!" evidence of anxiousness in it as he skillfully sidestepped numerous lunging reanimated zombies and skeletons.
Tavin grinned wryly as he separated a Scourges rotted head from its body, and shouted back "What's your kill count?!"
Of course, between the two, they found a way to make killing the Scourge more enjoyable, by seeing who could kill the most… which was quite ironic, considering the cursed things were technically dead already.
"Thirty two!" Byron recited through the crowd.
Tavin laughed, almost manically, cleaving another couple of Scourge in half. "You slacker! I've got fifty seven and counting!"
He saw a sudden shadow pass over his head as a decapitated Scourge skull appeared at his feet.
He wheeled around wildly as he found Byron standing with a wry grin, the other half of the Scourge at his feet, obvious that he had just saved Tavin's life.
He shrugged and went back to slaying the undead, as Tavin shouted after him "That still only counts as one!!!" he cracked a Scourge across the head with the pommel of his sword, regaining his vigor and continuing to misplace Scourge body parts.
"Intruderssss!!!" a shrieking voice suddenly wailed from ahead of them.
Tavin grimaced as the shrill voice hurt his ears, clearly that of a Banshees… he so hated them.
He slammed into a Scourge, cracking its feeble bones beneath his shoulder as he plowed a clear path towards the Ziggurat.
He glanced up to see the Banshee gliding towards them, a maddened look on her inscrutable face.
"Yoooou feebleee human!" she hissed, blasting a ripple of glowing magic at him furiously.
He sidestepped the magic, and responded by tapping into his inner sense… he delved deeply, searching the depth of heart, finding the golden vein that was the Light within him.
He eagerly broke the barrier between him and the essence, instantly feeling the radiance of the Light flow through him.
He channeled some of the energy down his arm, and into his shield, at the same moment flinging his aegis towards the wailing banshee in a feat of strength.
The steel bulwark flew true, radiating with golden light as the Holy Light guided it towards the foul banshee.
The shield struck her, exploding with a flash of brilliant light, causing her to wail with an ear piercing scream as she slowly dissipated into the night.
Tavin shielded his eyes and ears from the light and cry, both of which were extraordinary, then he unshielded them and walked over to his still pulsating buckler.
He picked it up and dusted it off, still feeling the holy energy within it, he spat on what remained of the Banshee.
Salvias, as the man's name was, charged up to Tavin, and wiped the sweat off his shining brow, nodding at Tavin's skill. "That was spectacular, good job! Were going into the Ziggurat now, cover us!"
Tavin nodded and said "Go, we've got this!"
With that, the handful of vigorous Crusaders surged into the second Ziggurat, swinging viciously as a second carnage happened inside.
Tavin glanced over the fight, most of the Scourge was extinguished, only a few remained, gasping pitifully as they lay beaten and trampled into the charred cobblestone, no match for the powerful Paladins that now stood over them.
"It's a pain to know that someone's mangled soul still resides in those walking corpses." Byron whispered as he stepped up next to Tavin, wiping his blade off and setting them down momentarily.
Tavin nodded, "Aye.. At least when we kill them, they're released and free… that's the only good thing about fighting them…"
Byron nodded silently and wiped his face with a sodden rag, and took a swig from his flask of water.
He offered Tavin a drink, of which he took gratefully, feeling the cooling liquid pass down his parched throat, washing the grime of ash and filth that had coated his mouth from the heavy fighting.
Just as Byron recapped the flask, Salvias reemerged from the Ziggurat, one arm around a wounded Crusader, holding him up as the advanced down the stairs.
Tavin sucked in as he saw the nasty gash on his upper thigh, but the Crusader merely grinned, saying "It's not as bad as it looks."
Tavin grinned back, and waited as Byron quickly renewed the skin, removing the nasty looking hindrance from the man.
The Crusader shook his leg slightly and picked up his weapons, nodding to Salvias.
From within the crowd, emerged Dathrohan, whom Tavin certainly hadn't seen while they were fighting, but he pushed the doubt aside as Dathrohan nodded to the men, "Good job" he said, oddly quiet, he pointed with a shaking finger towards the street that led to the last Ziggurat, "One more" he said.
Tavin sense something different about the Grand Crusader, but nodded and said "Aye" he turned back to the anxious Paladins behind him and said "One more men!!"
He swung his sword forward and began charging towards the last Scourge building, adrenaline still pulsing through his veins.
More Scourge barricaded their way to the last structure, their slack jaws gazing at them mindlessly as they charged forward oblivious to any pain or human hindrances, instead tossing themselves towards the warriors with hunger.
Tavin sidestepped a hobbling zombie, cleaving his torso in half as he went by, twirling the blade back around, shoving it straight through another undead in a frenzy.
Aydeline hopped over a fallen corpse as she sliced through the outpour of Scourge, plowing through the thinning force with ease as they inched closer to the ziggurat.
"Vermin!!" a snarling voice came, as always, from atop the ziggurat stairs.
The voice came from a ghastly man in shadowy robes, as he flung bolts of black and blue crackling energy into the crowd, injuring both Scourge and paladins alike.
Aydeline charged the man, alongside the same brown haired paladin from before, they both skillfully swung their blades at the man, but he parried them with a twirl of his pale staff, whistling it back around to crack Aydeline across the ribs with inhuman strength.
She yelped in pain and skidded backwards, involuntarily clutching her side, where at least two ribs must of fractured.
The other paladin growled and brought his shield up, slamming it into the man, causing his frail form to crash on the ground, his staff skidding away uselessly.
Tavin impaled the necromancer viciously, distaste evident on his face for the foul man, or what remained of him.
His expression turned to concerned as he picked Aydeline up carefully, noting her shallow breathing from the cracked ribs.
"Hold still" he said lowly, placing a hand on her dented breastplate, delving back into his energy, surging the energy up and into her, mending the broken bones instantly.
She smiled grimly and said "Thanks… that's twice today."
Tavin grinned and nodded, turning back around as Salvias charged into the last ziggurat with his Crusaders, a fierce battle cry following them in.
The young girl stepped up beside him silently, trying to partially mend her dented breastplate, with little avail.
Tavin wiped his sweaty face off, taking another swig from his flask as he waited for Salvias to eradicate the last ziggurat.
"Thanks again for back there" the girl murmured gratefully.
Tavin nodded and wiped a trickle of water from his mouth, "Anytime" he extended his free hand towards her, saying "Tavin"
She nodded and shook it, her small mail covered hand vastly different from his encased plate one. "Aydeline" she said.
Tavin heard a roar of triumph as Salvias remerged from the ziggurat, victorious at disabling the last of the ziggurats, leaving finally, the last area open, where hopefully the leader of the local Scourge was, the thorn in their side for all this time.
Dathrohan, Tavin, Byron, Aydeline Salvias, and a three Crusaders took the lead, charging towards the final large gate that lead into the last area, the other part of the force trailing behind them.
As they entered through the first gate… a creaking sound of rusty steel crashed down behind them, sealing the leading eight apart from the rest of the force.
"Tut-Tut, only you to face me…" the same mysterious voice sounded again.
Tavin cursed under his breath and turned around to his men, saying "See if you can force your way in! Otherwise, we've got to go in ourselves…"
He ordered, his nerves on end from the fighting.
"Tavin, I don't believe we have time to wait for them…" Byron said, causing Tavin to wheel back around, a unwelcoming sight to greet him.
From within the square came bumbling forward large ugly abominations… their stitched skin stretched tight, irregular patterns was all that bound them together as they stumped forward, their innards trailing behind them sickly.
Tavin gulped and pushed the rising sense of nausea down, readying his blade for the challenge ahead…
The voice sounded again "Welcome to Slaughter Square…"