Bron quickly gained on Taino. Taino was not slow, but Bron had always surprised people with his speed. He wasn’t sure why. Brute strength and freakishly long legs would make for great speed. He had expected the inside of the crypt to be dark, but the hallways were lined with candles inset into the wall. Ahead of him, Taino passed a red door. Bron was close to him, but he still should have had time to open it. His goal was further ahead.
“Wait!” Taino shouted, continuing to run.
Was he becoming afraid? “No chance you get away from me!” Bron shouted back. Taino glanced back and continued running deeper into the crypt. He only got a brief glimpse of his face, but he didn’t sense fear from Taino in that moment. Bron looked around more, sensing something was off.
The end of the hallway was another red door. Bron had narrowed the gap to about ten paces. The door must have been half open, because Taino straight-armed it open without bothering to turn the latch. He slammed it shut behind him. Bron charged the door, putting all of his momentum and weight behind his shoulder. It cracked open without even slowing him down.
The room was surprisingly big compared to the low ceilings of the hallways of the crypt. Taino stood at the back of it and the room continued to curl around to the left. It was shaped like a capital L with Taino in the middle. A single large square hole through the ceiling allowed light and oxygen into the room.
Taino turned to face him with confidence on his face and a strange crescent shaped poleaxe in his hands. It had a long spear point on top and another on the side opposite of the axe-head. The killing edges of the weapon glowed as did several runes set into the head.
“Alright you ogre! Lets see what you’ve got!” Taino said confidently.
Undeterred, he stepped forward, he had feared reinforcements, but saw none. “I’m glad I got to you first. It wouldn’t be much of a fight four on one.”
Bron lunged forward with a quick downward slash. Many an opponent had underestimated this simple attack and tried to block it. The sheer weight he put into it made a simple block impossible.
Taino pivoted and caught the axe haft with the side of his poleaxe. With a quick shift in his weight, he pushed Bron’s strike off to the left. Taino’s poleaxe had control and was past Bron’s axe-head. He twisted the poleaxe back and then jabbed it forward. He tried to twist out of the way, but the long spear on the end of the poleaxe pierced punched through his mail and his shoulder with ease.
He stepped back, with a pained howl, to free the spear tip from his shoulder. In anger, he readied another swing, but it was too big and too slow. His leading hand at the bottom of the axe haft was left just a bit forward.
Taino had reach with his poleaxe. Before he could step forward and swing, Taino chopped downward towards the lower part of Bron’s axe haft. Bron expected this. His axe haft was reinforced with steel bars on both sides. A strike that low on the haft could be easily countered with a massive attack from above.
The crescent axe-head cleft through Bron’s axe haft with no resistance at all. Its edge glowed brighter as it carved through hardened metal. It wasn’t a heavy blow, but it continued through the haft, his thick leather gauntlets, and his left wrist as well!
The haft and his severed hand fell to the ground. The cut was so smooth that it took him a moment to even cry out. He stepped back in panic, and then the pain hit him as blood pulsed from the stump!
“Make this easy on yourself and just give up. It’s over.” Taino grinned at this and relaxed his stance.
Bron gathered his wits and his strength once more. He let out a mighty shout that shook the mostly enclosed room. With a third of his axe haft removed, he was able to swing it one-handed with all his force.
Taino had relaxed too much and was caught flatfooted. He blocked the blow with his own axe haft, but absorbed all the force. Despite Taino’s axe haft not being reinforced, it was not damaged by the blow. But Taino himself was hurled against the wall with a metallic ‘crunch’.
Bron moved forward to follow it up, but Taino recovered from his impact quickly, backing away from him. His hope was dashed when a new door at the other end of the L shaped room opened up and two more unaccounted for men stepped through. One man carried a short spear and shield and the other held the same with no shield. He had a longer version strapped over his back.
“Hey boss. We're here to help.” They called out.
Bron realized that Taino was more shaken by his impact with the wall than he let on. He continued to back away, and his eyes seemed unfocused.
“I told you two to wait. But, a wounded animal is the most dangerous. Back me up.”
The pair stepped forward to flank Taino. Taino, with the longest weapon, fell in a few feet behind the other two. All three pointed their spear-points forward.
He raised his axe into a ready position and gritted his teeth, to intimidate them. It slowed their advance, but that was all. They all had far more reach on him, even with his height. And they weren’t intimidated by a one-armed, bleeding man.
'I’m going to have to rush in on one of them. I’d rely on my armor to defend me while I took them out one by one, but that freakish axe went through it like I wasn’t wearing any, and my goddamn hand too! I’d take Taino down with me, but he’s hanging back. No choice is the right one!'
Taino stepped forward with a lunging stab! Bron backpedaled, but found himself directly trapped in the corner of the room! Taino lowered his stance for one final blow.
The metallic ‘thunk’ of an arrow embedding in his back rang out, doubling him over!
He twisted around furiously. “You idiots! You were supposed to watch my back!”
Taino’s two goons spun around with their spears hoisted overhand. Lovell stood in the front of the room holding his bow. He was about to nock another arrow when they threw both spears at him. They were good throws and it was a short distance.
Lovell was quick enough to move, but not quite enough to evade them completely. One slashed through the side of his thick leather vest. The other slashed the side of his knee. He bled badly from the slash to his abdomen, but the damage to his knee was far more dangerous.
Lovell shook his head, gritting his teeth from his wounds, “I did what I could Bron. Good luck.” He turned and scrambled through the door behind him, with a very obvious limp.
Taino forgot all about the cornered Bron and spun around to pursue Lovell. Blood trickled down where the arrow had struck his lower back, but not enough to indicate a significant injury.
“I’ll get the archer!” He roared, as he passed through the door. “Deal with the big guy, but do not underestimate him.”
Bron was still cornered and outnumbered, but fury was back in his blood and limbs. Lovell’s costly distraction had given him back a fighting chance.
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