Reilyn and Garrin jumped out front, Jac, Emyr and Catrin leaping to their sides. Nia and Daffyd positioned themselves in the back. Reilyn scanned his eyes across the enemies, he counted fourteen using physical weapons, plus their commander behind them, readying himself to cast magic. 

“Dispatch them quickly.” The caster ordered. Reilyn glanced at the man’s hands, trying to make out what he was about to cast, but before he had the chance, four attackers rushed forward. 

Two swords and two axes aimed for Reilyn and Garrin. Jac and Catrin stepped forward, crossing their lance and halberd in front of the large man and the Eyll, deflecting the enemy blades. Nia fired a couple arrows, they flew past Reilyn, one missed entirely while the other hit one of the attackers in the shoulder. 

The enemy man cried out, dropping his sword and gripping his shoulder. The other three paused and looked for the source of the arrows. Reilyn raised his casting hand, “Kygniss!” He cast a blast of flames at the four, dropping a couple. “That’s two for me.” Reilyn smirked up at Garrin.

Jac and Catrin swung their weapons outward, away from Reilyn and Garrin, catching a couple lance users who attempted to attack from the sides, pushing them back. Emyr burst from beside Garrin, jumping one of the sword users in front of them. “Mine’s bigger!” He grinned and swung his massive blade down on the woman, knocking her to the ground, slicing into her arm. 

The remaining one, an axe man, raised his weapon to attack Garrin. Garrin twisted his own axe, swiftly driving it into the man. The man groaned, sputtered blood, and fell to the dirt as Garrin’s axe tore through his innards. “One for me.” The large man nudged Reilyn. Emyr chuckled as his opponent whimpered and bled out. 

Four down. Eleven to go.

The lance fighter duelling Catrin lowered her weapon and angled it upwards, catching Catrin in the gut, stabbing into her, damaging her chainmail and her flesh. Catrin wailed and shakily stepped back. Garrin leaped in front of her, ramming his axe through the handle of the opponent’s lance, snapping it in half. His axe plunged into the ground, he grunted and tried to pull it free. 

“Didn’t think that one through.” The lance woman laughed and reached for a dagger on her belt. Garrin rolled his eyes and ducked out of the way as she lunged at him with the blade. He grabbed the broken metal pole, pivoting beside the woman before she could reach him, he skewered it through her partially exposed throat. 

“Two.” Garrin wiped the blood from his face and pulled his axe from the ground with another grunt. 

As Catrin retreated, Daffyd ran to her and muttered a healing spell. “It w-will be okay.” He patched her up, stuttering a few more comforting words. 

“Thank you.” Catrin wiped her bloody hands on her tunic, panting as her injury was treated. 

A couple enemy arrows flew towards the group, one narrowly missed Jac. “Whew!” He whistled as he dodged. The other arrow lodged itself into Emyr’s thigh. Emyr gritted his teeth and raised his sword to block the axe man that charged towards him. 

Nia cursed and carefully aimed a shot at one of the enemy archers. She fired, catching the bow woman in the biceps. The woman yelped and dropped her weapon. “One down…” Nia aimed at the other archer. Before she could release, her vision was obscured by flames. The enemy leader, the caster, blasted fire magic at the group. 

“Get down!” Reilyn saw the flames coming. He shoved Emyr and Jac, not strong enough to move them, but they took the hint and ducked out of the way. “Kygniss!” Reilyn felt the enemy’s flames’ scorching heat on his back as he turned and cast his own at the lance fighter and axe man that were upon them. The axe man was hit directly, stumbling back into his own commander’s fire, screaming as the agony overtook him. “Three.” Reilyn grunted. 

The lance fighter turned on Reilyn, aiming their lance down, Reilyn struggled to raise his sword in time. From the lance fighter’s side, Garrin rushed in, driving his axe into their torso, tearing through their weak leather armour, flesh and bones. The fighter had no time to react as their body was ripped in half, their blood splattering on the large redhead and the Eyll. 

Garrin shook his axe off, blood running down his face, dripping off his stubble. His steel blue eyes gleamed down at Reilyn’s dumbfounded expression, a smirk playing at his lips. “That counts as two.” 

“Bullshit!” Reilyn stood and readied his talwaar. Looking around, from the corpses to those still running towards them, he noted, seven down and eight remaining. 

Catrin emerged beside Reilyn and Garrin, gripping her lance, breathing heavy, but ready to fight. Reilyn looked back to see Daffyd carefully removing the arrow from Emyr’s thigh, pressing down on the injury and casting a healing spell to stop the bleeding. “Watch!” Nia shouted, pointing towards the Eyll. Reilyn’s eyes snapped around as an arrow flew towards him. 

He dodged, just barely, as the arrow nicked his shoulder, tearing his tunic and taking some flesh with it. “Fucking archers!” He raised his casting hand, but before he could block them off with a cawellus re kygnissis, he, Garrin, Catrin and Jac were rushed by three sword users, an axe fighter and a halberdier. 

Jac leaped out front, clashing with the axe fighter, pushing him back. The halberdier ran to strike Jac, but Catrin blocked them off with her lance. “Stay back!” She cried, then gritted her teeth, grimacing, trying to hide the lingering pain from her previous wound. 

Reilyn ran ahead of Jac, meeting a sword woman’s blade with his own. Her fellow swordsmen both rushed Reilyn. “Dyllis’dal.” |Fucking Humans.| He cursed, using all the strength he could to push the sword woman back. He reached for his dagger, grabbing it, and throwing it at the two running towards him. The dagger whizzed past one and buried itself in the other’s shoulder. The sword man cried out, grabbing the blade and pulling it from his flesh. He struggled forward but the pain slowed him and caused him to drop his sword. 

Just as the other man was about to reach Reilyn, Garrin got in between them, axe ready. “Your boss is here to save your ass, again!” He laughed, catching the man’s blade with his axe and kicking him in the stomach, tossing the sword aside. Garrin twirled his axe and grinned down at the man, bringing his weapon down with untold force, Garrin severed the man’s head from his body. “Five.” He turned to see Reilyn struggling with the sword woman. 

From behind, Reilyn heard the whizzing of an arrow. He jumped to the side, letting the arrow hit the sword woman’s arm. She cried out, lowering her weapon. Reilyn heard Nia cheer. “Man, I’m good!” She called out. He rolled his eyes and smiled, jabbing his sword into the pained woman’s chest.

“Taepitu!” Leather and blood exploded from the woman. She dropped her sword and fell on her back, groaning, whimpering. Reilyn stood over her, frowning, he drove his blade through her throat, finishing her. “Four.” 

The axe fighter clashing with Jac managed to unhook his weapon and circle around, raising it to attack. Jac grunted and pivoted out of the way. He twisted his halberd, angled it, and thrust upward, slamming it through the fighter’s gut. The blade got stuck in the man’s flesh, Jac roughly tore side to side in an attempt to free it. But to no avail. The fighter lost his grip on his axe, wailing as he bled out. Jac finally raised his leg and kicked the man from his halberd, a spray of blood erupting from the torn flesh. “Whew.” Jac took a deep breath and wiped sweat from his forehead. 

Catrin cursed, “A…little…help…fuck!” Her strength was beginning to fail. Emyr ran from behind her, slamming his massive sword into the halberdier that was overpowering her. Catrin gritted her teeth and used her lance to trip her foe as they wobbled from the sword blow. They fell to the ground, and by the time they looked up at the two soldiers with wide, fearful eyes, a lance and a large sword were buried in their gut. 

“Teamwork!” Emyr grinned and smacked Catrin on the shoulder, limping all the while. 

From the corner of his eye, Reilyn saw the bowman ready another arrow. He growled and sprinted up to the archer, slicing the bowstring and cutting into the man’s hand. The man dropped his broken bow, gasping at his sliced, bleeding hand. Reilyn kicked the man down, stabbing his blade into the man’s throat. “Taepitu!” The man’s neck exploded into a splatter of flesh and blood, his head went flying. “Five.” Reilyn murmured as drops of crimson splashed against his chin. 

The second archer, the bowwoman with the injured shoulder, quietly sauntered towards Reilyn, behind him, a dagger ready. By the time Reilyn turned to see her, an arrow flew, forcefully embedding itself between her eyes. Without even a death throe she fell to the dirt below. Reilyn saw Nia wave at him from his peripheral. 

The injured swordsman stood, weakly aiming an attack at Garrin. Garrin easily pivoted out of the way, whacking the man in the side of the head with the hilt of his axe. The man fell to his knees with a cry, and immediately tried to stand again. Garrin sighed and brought his axe down upon the man’s chest, tearing his flesh open, crushing him, causing him to gurgle and drown in his own blood. “Six.” Garrin aggressively shook the crimson from his axe.

The caster, the one commanding, was alone. He looked down at his fallen fighters and up at the blood soaked group of seven who’d bested them. Their sweat dripping, scowling faces, were all aimed at him. The caster raised a shaky hand in one final attempt to stop his foes.

“Burn to ash.” He leaped back and suffused the battlefield in flames. “You bastards!” 

The soldiers cried out. Daffyd dragged his comrades from the blistering heat, desperately casting healing spells on their burns. Garrin pulled Jac to his chest, turning his back to the fire, his face twisted in agony as he protected the smaller man. Catrin and Emyr leaped back onto the flames to pull the two men out. Garrin collapsed as Daffyd ran to treat his injuries. Jac looked down at himself, he had no burns on his body. He sighed, eyeing Garrin with gratitude. 

Still in the fire, Reilyn dropped to the grass, holding his breath. He crawled closer to the caster, standing as the flames began to die. ashen patches of his tunic and leggings peeled away. He laughed, “You’re no Eyll.” He slowly raised his casting hand, “What pathetic flames you have.” Reilyn stopped walking, surrounded by mangled, blackened corpses. “Kyortus. Anupet quont’unu boms ku kyut collbum kyut quont anotis.” |Rise. Attack the one who led you to your deaths.| The caster looked around frantically, watching as Reilyn’s magic caused six of his dead fighters to stand once more. Their wounds still poured blood, but they gripped their weapons with new found strength. Reilyn stepped back, holding his hand out towards the enemy commander as the undead rushed the one who was once their leader. 

The caster cried a bloodcurdling scream as his dead fighters surrounded him, slashed and stabbed him with their blades, tore him limb from limb and growled down at him with glowing red eyes as he breathed his last trembling breath. 

Reilyn sauntered up to Garrin with a smirk, snapping his fingers, dropping the enchantment. The undead became corpses once more. “Six.” 

Garrin walked past Reilyn, looking at the mess of limbs and burnt bodies. He shook his head, “That doesn’t count as a point.” 

“It does.” Reilyn crossed his arms.

“Just admit that I’m the better leader.” Garrin shrugged, “I’ll forgive you for your…uhh…idiocy.” 

Reilyn scoffed, “Your idiocy.” 

Nia walked around the two of them, shaking her head and retrieving her arrows. “You’re both children.”