The redhead in green stretched out his hand. “Boss! Behind you!”
Hugh released his bolt in that instant. The bolt punched straight through the man’s back. The tip protruded from his chest, straight through the heart. He fell to his knees and collapsed immediately, with barely a groan, his eyes wide in complete surprise.
Lovell loosed his arrow at Taino a moment later. But, he heeded the warning, looked back, and saw Lovell out of the corner of his eye. He tried to spin around to face the threat, and the arrow embedded itself in his back, knocking him to one knee, but missing his vulnerable neck.
Rhunal’s first firebolt launched at him immediately . She launched it as Lovell’s arrow struck home. But it was a slower projectile and arrived a couple seconds late. The flame and rushing sound alerted Taino. He turned his head and saw the projectile hurtling towards his face, raising his quarterstaff to protect himself. The firebolt blasted his quarterstaff in two and scorched his armor. The two halves of the quarterstaff launched violently out of his hands. But, he had survived the first volley. He gritted his teeth in fury; he had not been hurt enough.
*
Brondulf saw Hugh’s first shot open the combat, then he stepped over the edge of the steep slope leading into the clearing. He lifted his axe over his head and let loose a bellowing shout. With the blood-red sunrise behind him, he was almost a silhouette. To the sentry below him, he must have seemed ten feet tall.
Bron rushed down the hill towards the man. The sentry clumsily jabbed his spear in Bron’s direction. Bron countered with a massive swing that made use of his tremendous height advantage.
The axe head caught the spear and slammed it into the side of the tent. The spear ripped free of the sentry’s hand and the axe-head slashed down through the side of the tent. The axe became momentarily lodged; the sentry took that moment to run the hell away. Bron freed his axe and was in pursuit in a moment.
*
Hugh stepped forward confidently as he drew his own arming sword. The bald guy was the only one on the field on his side that still remained armed and ready to fight. Taino and the sentry had been disarmed already and the other was dead. But that didn’t mean that there wasn’t an armed man just six feet from him.
He opened the melee with a quick slash towards the bald man’s bare head. The man blocked his strike easily enough, but did not parry the blow to counterattack. Hugh pivoted the blade and swung it around to the other side of the man’s head. The man leaned back and desperately blocked that blow as well, recoiling from the impact. The fellow was competent enough, but Hugh drove him to the defensive with his skill.
*
Taino was visibly rattled after getting hit twice. He had retreated underneath the overhang and out of Lovell’s line of fire. Rhunal moved across the hill and found a spot to get a bead on him. She hurled another firebolt toward him, but he saw it coming and ducked it. It blasted a small hole through one of the crypt’s red doors.
He watched as Brondulf, with his large strides, quickly overtook the sentry and buried his bearded axe in his back. The sentry flopped to the ground not ten feet from Taino. He shook his head. “Fuck this!” He was not about to fight a monster like that without a weapon. He turned and retreated towards the safety of the crypt.
Bron was just a few paces from Taino as he disappeared into the darkness. He watched him turn and charged towards the door to follow him.
Despite being in the middle of a melee, Hugh saw what was happening.
“Bron wait!” He shouted. But he knew it was futile, Bron, a rookie warrior despite all his training, had just killed a man. His adrenaline was through the roof and the strongest enemy was a few feet from him. He disappeared through the door without looking back.
The bald man took this moment of distraction to finally counterattack. He put all his weight behind the heaviest slash he could. If Hugh wasn’t distracted, he would have evaded the attack and countered, but he still had time to block it.
The blades rang out as they clashed and pushed Hugh off balance for the first time. The bald guy moved closer to take advantage. Rather than swing again he pressed his arming sword against Hugh’s. Then he grabbed Hugh by the collar with his free hand. Hugh was skilled, but his opponent was much younger, shoving him back.
“Don’t get distracted old man! You’ve still gotta deal with me!” the man hissed in his ear.
“Hold still Hugh!” Lovell shouted.
Hugh was calm, but he didn’t have much of a choice in the matter. The man had a strong grip on him and their swords were still locked. The guy tried to choke him through the thick gambeson collar that protected his neck.
He heard the arrow whistle through the air and grabbed his opponent’s hand to hold him still. The arrow buried itself in his opponent’s lower leg. The man cried out from the pain and loosened his grip. He only trusted Lovell with a shot like that, into an active fight!
Hugh pulled his arming sword free from the other's sword and buried it into the man’s neck. The man slumped away from the blade and fell to the ground.
After twenty years of fighting and death, Hugh still felt a pang in his heart as he watched another man die.
He extended a hand to the archer in acknowledgment. Lovell’s face broke out into a broad grin. Lovell had never seemed too bothered about the death of an enemy. That was the benefit of striking from afar. He had come to rely on Lovell more than he had ever admitted to him over the past year.
All opponents in the clearing were dead. But Brondulf had disappeared into the depths of the crypt. Lovell dropped off the roof of the crypt onto the ground, right in front of the door. Hugh had to make a choice. He made it immediately. Lovell was just in front of the door and could catch up to Bron quickly.
“Lovell! You’ve gotta follow Bron! He won’t be too far yet! But, if something goes wrong, get the hell out!”
Lovell half-turned to look at him, a grimace on his face. “All right fine! But just for the record I don’t like this!” Lovell charged into the crypt with no further words.
He heard Rhunal’s footsteps behind him and looked back. “This is bad. The worst thing a party can do is split up in enemy territory. There may be only one man left, but he knows the layout of this crypt and we don’t.”
“Let's move quickly then.” Rhunal said. There was a different tone in her voice. She was remarkably casual most times, but in that moment she was all seriousness. Hugh appreciated the change as the pair moved into the dark of the crypt.
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