Chapter Seventy Four

The Archers' Battle

MELODY

Melody joined Janus' side as Kane moved nearer. From the peripheral of her eye saw Elsa and Eleanor lock horns, preparing to engage each other in what would be a battle of the two most powerful magic wielding titans on the continent, and perhaps the known world. Her attention flicked back to the general before her.

Never in her life would she have thought that she would fight alongside a former enemy, especially one such as the hooded mercenary, but as she regarded him now, he was fully on the side of the Warriors, and he was undoubtedly an asset. Janus stood unwavering in the face of their looming enemy.

Two years ago when she'd last fought Kane, it had taken Melody three attempts before she finally managed to beat him, and even then, it hadn't been without Elsa's timely intervention. Then there was Janus, who in spite of his own brand of ruthless effectiveness, had his back broken by the vicious, merciless general. Both she and Janus didn't stand a very good chance separately, but together…

Her eyes met Janus'. He seemed to be having the same idea, and acknowledged her with a brief nod before turning back to Kane who had arrived within striking range, brandishing his falchion expertly. Even without magic this time, Kane was still a major force to be reckoned with.

"Last chance, Kane." Melody gripped her bow tighter. "You don't have to do this."

He regarded her with determined eyes. "You don't understand, do you? I have no choice."

"I know that the Empress offered you a chance to have your family resurrected." Melody said. "But you of all people should be smart enough to know that she won't fulfil her end of the bargain. She's insane and will get rid of you once she has no need of you anymore."

"I don't care." Kane growled, raising his guard. "This is my last chance to see my family again."

"Think about this, Kane! She won't give you what you want!"

"It's worth the risk." he set his jaw and narrowed his eyes. "You stopped me once before, but that won't happen this time. I'm not insane anymore. There's no snake totem this time to cloud my judgement. Nothing, and I repeat nothing, will stand in my way this time. I will see my family again." He turned to Janus. "And you, I broke you once and left you for dead. This time I'm going to make sure I finish the job."

"You may try." Janus' voice was low and mechanical, as usual, from behind the mask. It sounded to Melody like there was no fear in his voice. Good.

Melody observed Kane intently, watching his every movement to analyse his strategy. She knew that he was right. He was in his right mind this time which made him a lot more dangerous, and that meant that he would be far harder to beat, even though it was now two against one.

Having fought him before, Melody knew for a fact that Kane was going to bank on his brute strength and disturbingly fast reflexes for someone his size. But then Janus was arguably faster, and his strategically placed blows packed quite a punch. She could testify to that first hand. So what was going to be the best play?

Janus answered that for her, by hurling a pellet directly at the ground in front of them, and pulled her back quickly. Thick black smoke exploded from the pellet as if a twelve pounder cannon had just gone off with powder dye, covering the immediate grounds.

"You've fought him before." Janus said, his words sounding more like a statement than a question.

She nodded and glanced at the smoke, to see Kane attempting to clear the air with his big meaty hand. He was in the Exonian red uniform and without armoured vests this time, which left him slightly more exposed than the last time they had fought.

"Go for the weak spots." She said. "Back, knees, abdomen, joints, you know the drill."

He nodded. "Let's disarm him first and get rid of the falchion."

"Right." Melody turned back to the front to see Kane emerging from the smoke which had mostly been cleared. He stood in what remained of the smoke, his eyes contemptuous.

"Is that the best you've got?" Kane looked unimpressed.

"No, not really." Melody nocked her arrow and drew it back with unparalleled speed owing to her new compound bow.

"Haven't we done this before?" Kane looked at her with disdain. "We know that's not going to work."

He was right. She knew that Kane was fast enough to catch her flying arrows mid-air, but that was what she was counting on. Her fingers tightened on the bowstring. "I know."

She let fly, and as expected, Kane caught the arrow deftly in his free hand. But what he had not been expecting was for Janus to charge straight at him as she released her arrow, and he swung his longbow horizontally at the general's abdomen, catching him squarely in the midsection.

Janus moved to the rear and attempted to plant the riser of his bow on the back of Kane's knee, but the general was now privy to their strategy. He spun round and delivered a solid punch to the mercenary's jaw, his hand still clenched around the caught arrow.

Melody wasted no time in springing forward to strike the small of Kane's turned back, but he whirled and with a backhand swipe sent Melody flying a few feet backwards. She landed on her feet, and apparently so did Janus. They stood on opposite sides of Kane, who began circling round to a more favourable position where he had both on them in front of him.

"Smart play." He snapped the arrow in two with a tightened clench of his fist, and the broken arrow fell away in ruins. "The numbers game. But it won't help you." He stood, waiting for either of them to make their move, now fully aware of what they were trying to do.

JANUS

Damn it. Janus felt a throbbing pain lingering in his jaw. The general could really pack a punch. He resisted the urge to touch his jaw, knowing that it would result in a shooting pain which he didn't need to endure right now.

General Kane was incredibly fast for a man his size, though really he relied on brute strength and a rich amount of skill. No one had really beaten him so clearly in combat before as Kane had done back in the Maine where he had broken Janus' back. He grimaced a little at the memory of the snapping pain as his spine was brought down against Kane's knee.

No, now Janus knew that he couldn't match Kane's savagery. Usually that would have worked in any other fight, but not against the ruthless general. No. He had to fight smarter and faster, and he was sure that Melody was acutely aware of that too.

Kane's eyes were darting back and forth, as if daring the two of them to land the next strike. Janus decided that it would be him. Drawing his fresh, unblemished longsword from the scabbard on his hip, Janus held both the bow and the blade in his hands, and sprang into action.

Swinging bow first at Kane who parried with his own sword, Janus slid and with his other hand brought his blade horizontally in a slice aimed at the general's leg. Kane was just a tad bit too fast, and faded out of reach.

Melody then went on the offensive as well, aiming high for Kane's collarbone with the riser of her bow which was heavier and would pack a lot more punch. She narrowly missed and caught him on the chest instead, which didn't do very much to stagger him. He swiped her bow out of her hand with a single backhand slap, and then with the same free hand swung a haymaker, which she managed to dance away from at the last moment.

With the general distracted, Janus threw his bodyweight into the back of Kane's knee, and the big man buckled. Melody sprung and used the momentum to carry her sideways just past Kane, and hooked her arms around his neck, manoeuvring herself to the back as Janus ducked out of the way to get to the front.

Kane growled and staggered a little at the sudden deadweight on his back, his arms swinging to swat her off. Her slim frame allowed her to remain elusive, and she applied a sleeper hold, legs wrapped tightly around the man's chest to provide herself more stability.

She'd given him a good opening. Janus seized it and raised his longsword, ready to finish it quickly.

Twisting his body with such force that might have caused Melody whiplash, Kane managed to reach her with his big, inflexible arm, and threw her off like he would a bug, and parried Janus' thrust at the last second. His falchion's blade ground hard against the longsword with a grating, shrieking noise.

With a upwards jerk, Kane's pure, unadulterated strength tore the longsword free from the parry and sent it flying away. The hilt of the falchion was brought up and smashed against Janus' masked face, sending him reeling backwards.

Dazed, Janus tumbled to the ground and on pure instinct alone rolled out of the way before Kane's enormous boot could crush his head against the ground in a bloody ruin. With great difficulty, Janus managed to put some distance between himself and Kane as the latter came after him, trying to squash him flat like an ant. In the split second that he had before Kane's next move could potentially cripple him, Janus glanced over at his fallen partner.

Melody was still levering herself to her feet slowly with her hand pressed to the side of her head, trying to recover from the sudden jerk that had sent her flying a few feet away. As she tried to take a step forward, she collapsed again in a heap, struggling to get up. It was evident that she was out of the fight for the moment.

He snapped back to reality and faded sideways as Kane brought his falchion downward in a cut, gripping the bow tighter in his hand. His vision was still slightly blurred and starry from where Kane had struck him. Every blow from the general was like a load from an eighteen pounder cannon that had slammed into him dead on.

Janus parried another blow, but this time disengaged before Kane could disarm him again. He quickly reevaluated his strategy. I need to get that falchion away from him.

Janus dropped his longbow, leaving him both hands free, which was the domain where he really excelled in. Hand to hand combat. Kane thrust at him with the falchion, and Janus turned his body sideways, letting the blade fly past his face. He could feel the whoosh of the sword's sharp edge stab just inches in front of his face.

With Kane's arm fully extended, Janus seized his wrist, and used his other arm to slam his forearm into Kane's inner elbow. Kane dropped his sword and growled, swiping away Janus' subsequent attempts at landing jabs and right crosses.

He made a grab at Janus, who slipped sideways again, and this time grabbed Kane's forearm. Janus then dropped to a crouch, still clinging to Kane's forearm, and barrelled through the gap between Kane's legs. The manoeuvre forced Kane to stagger and fall to a knee, which was really all that Janus needed.

With all the strength he could muster, Janus threw his right shoulder against Kane's body, forcing the bigger man to the ground. Climbing on top of him, Janus began landing systematic, well placed blows to the general, who wisely shielded his face.

Kane grabbed Janus by the collar, growling like an angry bear, and rolled them both over using his brute strength. Janus now found himself on the receiving end, and hurriedly brought his forearms up quickly to block Kane's blow. The general swatted his hands away and delivered a stone-disintegrating blow across Janus' face. He then pulled back the hood and wrenched the mask away.

"You call yourself Bruvesqk's best mercenary?" Kane tossed the mask aside, and balled his hand into a fist again. "You're beaten. Again." He landed another strike, which Janus was too discombobulated to fend off.

Janus' head flopped back, seeing nothing but shiny stars against deep black. Pain lanced through his head and he found that he could do nothing more to protect himself. He was horizontally hoisted into the air above Kane's head, carried with ease as if Janus weighed nothing more than a rag doll.

"And this time, I'm going to make sure you're dead." Kane lifted his right knee.

Through his fuzzy mind, Janus was aware of only one thing now. Kane was going to crush his back over his knee again. And something told Janus that this time, he wouldn't survive it. But in his weakened state, there was nothing he could do to defend himself but wait for the inevitable snapping of his spine.

MELODY

"No!" Melody fumbled for her quiver and her fingers clumsily found an arrow. She nocked it and drew her bow back. Her vision was still slightly hazy, but she forced herself to focus.

She had looked up to witness Kane lift Janus above his head again without much apparent difficulty, about to snap his spine for a second time. Janus' body was already limp, and he was unable to twist free from Kane's iron grip.

Melody sighted as best as she could and let fly just as Kane was about to bring Janus' back down over his lifted knee. The arrow shot right through Kane's raised shin, and he let out a grunt of pain before the lack of balance got the better of him.

Kane toppled off balance, and Janus somehow managed to tear himself free from the general's iron grip. Even more surprisingly, Janus found a way to land on his feet in a crouch. He began to fumble with something in his jacket, and produced something small in his hand that Melody couldn't see.

Janus hurled the item in his hand at Kane's feet and with great difficulty dove out of the way as far as he could get. Kane, having staggered to a knee, was once again punched off his feet by a small, controlled explosion from whatever Janus had hurled at the ground. The general was sent flying a few feet away, and Melody took the chance to regroup with her ally.

"Are you alright?" She asked. He had levered himself to his feet by the time she got to him.

Unmasked, he nodded and she could see a big bruise forming on his face that was growing blue quickly. "Thank you." His voice was strained, and dabbed gently at his mouth with his gloved hand, which was immediately stained with crimson trickling richly down his finger.

"Listen, I've got an idea." She said. The idea had formed in the depths of her fuzzy mind as she'd tried to shake off the feeling of being rattled by Kane.

"I'm all ears."

"Stay close. He can't hit both of us at once. When I take a hit, you capitalise. And vice versa."

Janus glanced at the general, who had already gotten back up and was in the process of ripping the arrow out of his shin in one quick motion. "Sounds good to me."

"Alright." Melody watched as Kane threw the arrow aside and limped forward towards them again.

"You shouldn't have done that." Kane now had a very nasty burn on the right side of his face from the explosion. He was badly injured and horribly scarred, but somehow still standing.

"There's no way you're going to win this, Kane!" Melody shouted as he limped closer, and felt a throbbing in her head as she made the effort to raise her voice. "Last chance!"

"There's only one way this ends and you know it." Kane unsheathed a knife from his belt, and now that he was nearer Melody could see that the right side of his face was a bloody mess. "You both die, or I do."

"I can live with that." Janus said. He produced a dagger from seemingly out of nowhere and it hurtled towards Kane.

As Kane fended the blade off with his own knife, Janus and Melody dashed towards him in tandem. Janus, just a millisecond ahead of her, zipped left, and Melody took his cue to stay on the right.

Stooping low, Janus went straight for Kane's injured right leg to chop it out from underneath him. Obviously Kane saw him coming, and moved back to avoid him. As he did, Melody exploded off the ground in a spring, bow raised, and struck Kane's rotator cuff with the riser.

Her weight caused him to stumble backwards slightly, but he quickly countered by grabbing her arm and hurling her against a nearby tree. Pain exploded through her body as she hit the tree trunk back first. In that moment she didn't know if it was on pure instinct of whatever lucidity she still had, or if it was simply the law of gravity, but nonetheless she dropped to the ground just as Kane slammed his clenched fist into what was meant to be her head, sending fragments of tree bark splintering everywhere.

Janus capitalised and leapt, bringing a running knee into the small of Kane's back, driving him against the tree. He removed another dagger and stabbed it into the back of Kane's left thigh.

Kane spun round, swinging an arm at Janus and catching him squarely on the cheek. The effort to do so caused Kane to falter, dropping to a knee. Spitting blood from her mouth and nursing her back, Melody forced herself to her feet and mustered up whatever strength she had left to dash towards him, trying to time her attack perfectly.

As hoped, Kane was in the process of getting back to his feet, and she sprang off the ground. Melody's legs made contact with him, and she quickly hooked her legs around the back of Kane's neck, and leaned backwards quickly to try to topple him off balance with her weight.

Under normal circumstances, that would have been a wasted effort, since the general was a big man who could centre his weight easily. However, owing to his injured limbs, he was unable to keep his balance and lurched forward once she tugged, and Melody quickly unhooked her legs and disengaged before he crashed on top of her.

As Kane fell to the ground, he used his arms as a brace so that he would not land face first. He propped himself up on his elbows, only to take a spinning roundhouse kick from Janus, which sent him reeling.

Getting up again which took considerably more effort this time, Melody saw Janus drop to his hands and knees intentionally.

"Finish this!" He croaked.

Blood pounding in her head, Melody willed herself to sprint with everything she had left, which wasn't much, but just about enough. When she closed the distance, she used Janus' arched back as a stepping stone, springing off the ground and into the air. She raised her bow back, and as she came down towards the floored general, she timed her strike perfectly and landed the riser of her bow on the back of his head with such force that Kane quite literally fell face first onto the grass.

She stepped away and fell back in a daze from the exhaustion. This was probably one of the most intense battles she had ever engaged in, apart from fighting Janus himself. She felt herself fading slowly as she dropped to her knees, breathing hard. Through her increasingly blurred vision, she saw Janus kneel by her side.

"Did we win?" She asked weakly, sinking into a seated position.

Janus, breathing hard as well with blood trickling from his mouth and nose, glanced over his shoulder for what felt like a long minute. Finally when he was satisfied that Kane wasn't getting back up, he turned back to her. "I think so."

"Good." That was all she could muster before she faded away into the sweet, blissful peace of darkness as the sounds of the battlefield continued to rage on around her.

Author's Commentary:

I just saw Disney's latest film: Raya and the last Dragon. It was absolutely beautiful and visually breathtaking. A 100% must watch.

And on another note, I also saw the latest release of Justice League. Yes, the 4 hour version. I'm sure you've heard of it. It's given me some ideas that I could possibly incorporate into potential sequels…

It's getting increasingly hard to find time to write, what with my hectic university schedule. Studying and organising a freshmen camp has taken up much of my time recently, and I haven't made much progress. Hopefully I'll find more time soon.