Author's Note: I'm afraid I couldn't help myself with this chapter title, some puns are just too good to notuse, you know? Thanks again to all of you reviewing and following! You're the best!
Chapter 18 – May I Have Mine Ogre Easy?
The ogre was beyond massive. Two huge twisted horns rose from its head, and blood dripped from its maul. Serena realized the beast had pulled a man, perhaps one of the guards who was originally meant to guard the tower, to pieces with its great arms and was now devouring him, alive. At her gasp, the beast turned towards them and released a deafening roar.
"And here I thought we could just sneak by, light the beacon and go home..." Alistair whispered beside her, pulling his sword. Rahim swung his staff in a wide arc over his head, a bolt of lightning streaking from the end of the staff to the ogre beyond. It struck the ogre and it bellowed once again, ducking its head to charge. Smoke curled up from its head and Serena could smell singed skin.
"Split up! There's four of us, and one of him!" Serena called to the others. "Rahim, do you have any spells that can slow it down?" Nodding, the mage immediately set to work chanting.
Serena bolted for cover behind a pillar. She didn't know much about these huge beasts, but its eyes were tiny compared to the rest of it, so perhaps sight wasn't its strong suit? Serena peeked around the pillar quickly; Rahim's spell seemed to be slowly it down considerably as Peanut let out a dreadful howl. The ogre shook his huge head slowly, as if the dog's howl had stunned it a little.
She pulled back her bow and let loose a trio of flaming arrows, striking it in the chest with two. Armored at the shoulders, forearms and waist, the chest, thighs and face seemed to be it's only weak spots. Across the circular room, Serena could see Alistair sneaking up behind the ogre, his flaming sword and shield at the ready.
Serena loosened another pair of flaming arrows from her bow and they sunk into the ogre's chest, where he smacked them off with one huge hand. The beast ducked its head and charged, running at full speed towards the pillar where Serena hid.
She dived to the side, rolling across the stones. She felt her elbow catch on a jagged rock and she yelped in pain. The ogre crashed through the pillar and into the wall; glass, stone and debris collapsing around the creature. It roared again, flinging the bits into the air around it as Serena struggled to pull herself under a heavy wooden table to avoid the chaos. Her left elbow was burning, and she desperately hoped it wasn't broken. She tested it slowly, and it moved, but barely. She wouldn't be able to shoot properly until it was healed, though.
Slipping the throwing knives out of her belt pouch, she crawled along the ground towards the ogre. Looking up, she saw her mabari bounding towards the ogre, his jaws wide. She needed to distract it... If she could just get near its face...
Pulling herself up from the floor, she shrieked at the pain in her arm, chucking one of the small knives at the ogre in an effort to gain its attention. Thank the Maker it was her left arm, otherwise she would have been as helpless as a kitten against the giant darkspawn.
The ogre gained it's footing and lunged towards her as she threw another knife at its face. The great creature landed just short of her as she scrambled out of the way, her injured arm jolting her into another scream of pain.
From the side, she saw Peanut leap onto the downed ogre's head quickly, his jaws ripping one of its large pointed ears from its head. Black blood spurted from the wound and the ogre bellowed again, slamming it's fists down onto the stones in rage. The entire floor shook from his smashing fists, and Serena had to grab onto the wall with her uninjured arm to avoid being knocked to the ground.
"Serena! Rahim!" Alistair's shout was anguished, and she saw he was engaged with two short darkspawn that had come in from the staircase. He dodged one, bringing his shield around and slamming it into the pair, knocking them to the ground. Two quick jabs of his blade and they were down, but Serena could see he had a gash across his chest, where one of their short swords had tried to pierce his splint mail armor.
Near Alistair, Rahim sent a fireball towards the now open doorway, blowing another small group of darkspawn back down the staircase to the floor below. He seemed to be concentrating on stemming the flow of darkspawn that were intent on overwhelming them from the door.
Her mabari rounded again and leaped for the ogre, this time his jaws latched onto the beasts' leg, ripping a huge gash into the side. Serena shook off the pain and fatigue settling in her and pulled one of her silverite daggers, determined to down the ogre if it was the last thing she did.
"Serena!" Alistair sprinted towards her, his face clearly showing signs of his exhaustion. Their teasing back-and-forth seemed like it had been hours ago. He slid down next to her, bracing himself with his shield. "It's... they're everywhere! Rahim is trying to block off the staircase, but if we don't..." He paused, catching his breath. "We need to light that beacon!"
"I know," she whispered. "I need you to wrap my elbow, it's... something is wrong with it. I... can't shoot." Alistair cursed softly, pulling a bandage from his pack. He slid her sleeve up and rubbed some cream on it, wrapping it tight. Serena sighed in relief as the healing poultice absorbed into her skin. She flexed it tentatively, pulling her bow again.
"Thank you," she said, nocking an arrow into the bow. She loosened the arrow and it landed in the ogre's lower back as Peanut continued to dance around its feet, snapping at it whenever he had the chance.
"Stay here and keep at it with those arrows, I need to help your hound." Alistair moved to the side, his flaming long sword held at the ready. He waited for an opening and then charged the ogre, his shield slamming hard into the beast's knees and knocking it to the side. The ogre crashed to the ground and Serena felt the floor shake again with the impact.
Pulling another arrow, she took her time aiming. The flaming arrow landed just short of the beast's skull, and into his thick neck. "Damn," Serena muttered, loading another arrow and loosening it into the creatures' abdomen.
The ogre raised itself up and went to grab for Alistair, but she shot it in the hand. "Don't you dare touch him, you filthy-" She pulled arrow after arrow, loosening them into the monster's hands and chest, her mind a flurry of violence and rage. Tiny patches of flame erupted all over the ogres body as she kept firing until she was out completely. Switching to her daggers, she started running forward to attack the beast head-on.
Alistair ran his sword into the ogre's thigh and it fell to the ground again, bellowing, its body now mangled and bleeding from multiple areas by their combined efforts to bring it down.
Serena hurdled over the giants' head, slamming both daggers deep into his chest. One of his giant hands swatted at her, the ogres armored gauntlets swiping near her middle as she tried to dodge the attack.
She brought the daggers down again, and the ogre shrieked as its black blood surged out of the wounds she had made. Alistair swung his blade wide and chopped, and Serena felt the body under her go slack as the ogre stopped moving altogether.
"Is it dead?" she cried, her own body ready to drop. She was still seated atop the creature's chest, her body sucking in huge breaths from the exertion. "Maker's breath, tell me it's dead!" She could feel hot tears she couldn't control run down her face, so complete was her exhaustion. Her elbow had started to throb once again and there was a new mysterious pain in her stomach.
"It's dead, it's dead!" Alistair dropped his sword and pulled her down off the ogre's chest, careful to avoid jostling her arm. "Are you okay? Tell me you're okay." His eyes searched hers, and she could see her own fatigue reflected in his face. He had a large gash down his cheek and she put her fingers to his face, touching him gently. If only she had magic, she could have healed him right there...
"... I'm... I'm fine, but... the beacon..." Serena felt like she was going to faint. She fought to keep her eyes open, Alistair supporting her shoulder.
"The beacon is over here, I'm sure we missed the signal..." Alistair helped her to the side of the room where a large fireplace stood. "Let me just set you down, here, now don't move… you're... bleeding quite a bit..."
Serena glanced down and realized the ogre's wrist blades had slashed through her leather armor. The blood looked almost black to her in the darkened tower... So that was why she felt so sluggish...
"Light it, Alistair, I'm... fine..." He nodded, shouting words over her head she couldn't comprehend as Rahim ran over to her side.
"I'm no healer, but I can staunch the flow a bit," he said, kneeling down. Serena felt a wave of cool magic sweep over her; her skin felt like it was trying desperately to bind itself back together. "I must help your friend now." As he left, a furry face replaced him at her side.
"Good boy..." she whispered, her eyes closing briefly. Soon, the two men returned, stooping down beside her.
"It's lit, Serena, it's lit! It'll be okay! We're all going to be just fine! Oh, Maker... there's so much blood..." Alistair was babbling again, she vaguely realized. Was she really that injured? He grabbed her shoulders and shook her gently. "Please, you have to stay awake."
"I'm fine..." Serena pushed herself up, her legs fumbling beneath her. Her stomach was still stinging, but at least she could stand now. The ogre laid dead a few yards away; other darkspawn corpses littered the top floor near the staircase they had taken. "Should… we stay... here?"
Alistair shook his head, his eyes still full of concern for her. "I... don't know. I'm afraid more of them will flood the tower from below..." He leaned in next to Serena, his voice low. "Are you sure you're alright?"
"Alistair..." She put a gentle hand on his arm, forcing herself to smile despite the throbbing in her stomach. "I'll be just-"
A loud bang interrupted Serena as the clang of the metal door being blown off its hinges echoed across the tower. They all turned as a swarm of darkspawn burst through the door, a group of archers among them.
Before she knew she was doing it, Serena threw herself at Alistair, knocking him to the ground as arrows flew through the air. She felt a quick pain in her shoulder, then another sharp stab at her leg.
Serena heard herself whimper pathetically as Alistair's muffled shouting from underneath her filled her ears. She felt her body roll onto the stones, the stabbing sensation increasing, then a loud roaring, and then nothing as she slipped into oblivion.