The Beginnings Omnibus: Beginnings 1, 2, 3 & Legend of Ashenclaw novella (Realm of Ashenclaw Beginnings Saga) (55 page)

Elec sensed another presence nearby, and then heard a low growl that confirmed his suspicion. Kicking out from against the wall where he was hiding, he launched himself forward with both weapons drawn and at the ready.

Something huge growled and lunged at him, but he dove nimbly out of its way, continuing his initial momentum. He took note that it was another worg, not a frost worg, but a typical dire wolf. He somersaulted forward and over the worg, landing on his feet. The worg attacked a second time and managed a loose bite on the leg, tripping him inadvertently. As he landed, the worg clamped down on his left leg, getting mostly his shin in the process.

Elec remained calm and saw an opening. Ignoring the pain of the bite, he managed to direct his dagger through the beast’s chin, driving the blade hard into the flesh and bone, causing the worg to release its bite on his leg.

Jaw bleeding, the worg lunged once more, chomping on a piece of Elec’s cloak, which he held out in front of him as a feint. The worg dove straight into the cloak, expecting to bite the flesh beneath, but instead found empty air.

The elf’s sword dove out and the blade struck flesh, biting deeply as the worg howled and fell to the ground. Elec quickly dove back into the shadows, near the natural pool, and removed a remedy to tend to his wounded left leg.

Just then, Barguth noticed that there were other figures entering from the opposite side of the cavern. The goblinoids moved to intercept them.

Barguth looked back to see his worg slump to the firm cave floor and he snarled in anger, not knowing if the beast was dead or alive. He mounted a charge directed at the man responsible, but paused as he could not locate him. Then he spotted him near the pool of water, intermixed with the shadows and apparently preoccupied with something. It was an elf, he noticed, not a man. Barguth growled even more fiercely as he brandished his dagger and ran straight for him.

The elf did not notice Barguth until he was less than ten paces away, at which point the elf dropped his flask and reached for a weapon, but the goblin was already on top of him.

Barguth launched himself at the killer of his dire wolf with ire!

To the goblin’s surprise, the elf somehow managed to strike him in the side of the helm with the hilt of a dagger and avoided his ambush.

Barguth landed hard on his side, but recovered quickly, circling the prone elf who’d reached his feet and downed a potion—something to dull his senses, Barguth hoped.

He dove at the elf once more, who was limping a bit, but still managed to deflect the dagger’s strike with his own blade. Again he charged, and again the elf fended off his strikes or simply dodged them now, obviously ignoring the wound on his leg.

What is happening?
Barguth thought suddenly, so sure only a mere dagger thrust prior, that he had a tactical advantage as the elf was undoubtedly wounded. And now, he behaved as if nothing was wrong.

 Suddenly, the elf approached him—more quickly than Barguth anticipated—
and
with two weapons in hand! Barguth removed his shield from his back and slid it defiantly onto his left arm to counter the sword and dagger combination.

The elf lunged at him and he warded off several strikes with his shield, and then responded with a pair of dagger thrusts of his own. Back and forth they went as neither of them could find an opening. Then after many traded attacks and parries, Barguth finally got the opportunity he needed.

The elf appeared to tire, leaving his right flank exposed.

The goblin grinned wickedly, sensing a weakness in his opponent’s defenses. He thrust his dagger with tremendous force at the defenseless area, meaning to end the fight right then and there.

The elf however, dodged swiftly to the side, causing Barguth’s brow to furrow in confusion.

How did he…?!
Barguth realized too late what had happened.

They had wandered close to the pool’s edge and the elf purposely left his flank open. He had offered it to Barguth openly, knowing it would draw an aggressive swing from him.

Barguth realized with regret, that he had obviously underestimated his opponent.

The elf spun his body out of the way, avoiding the strike that sent the goblin off balance and his helmet flying. The elf continued to spin completely around to place the heel of his boot into the back of Barguth’s head, sending him into the nearby pool.

Barguth felt the tremendous force of the blow and the splash of the water on his face just as his vision went black.

Garius arrived just in time to see Saeunn run headlong into a group of goblinoids. He felt the weight of
The Repentant
relieved from his back as he removed it quickly. He then gripped the enchanted implement of his divine justice in both hands and charged the goblinoids. As he did so, he channeled holy energy into the hammer, infusing its runes with divine power.

As Garius started toward Saeunn, he was intercepted by a huge goblinoid creature. It was bigger than an orc, with grayish skin and thick dark patches of hair all over its body and head. It was an ograth, he recognized, the strongest and largest of the goblinoid creatures, and it now stood between him and Saeunn. It clutched a broadsword and shield in its clawed fingers and uttered a snarl at Garius.

The Inquisitor looked back to catch a glimpse of another orc that attempted to gain his right flank. He spun back toward him and his hammer lashed out truly, connecting soundly with the surprised orc’s head, which sent him sprawling to the ground. He managed to spin back just as the huge ograth lunged for him.

A blade smacked hard into his armor, deflecting harmlessly off his breastplate and drawing a surprised gape from the ograth, who obviously hadn’t fought anyone with this quality of armor before.

Garius and
The Repentant
responded with a two-handed strike. It bounced hard off the ograth’s shield, which the creature had just managed to get into a defensive position. The shield held firm, despite the impact of the blow and the ograth countered with one of his own. The massive goblinoid rained blows upon Garius’s defenses, looking for an opening.

Behind him, the orc Garius had struck earlier, was attempting to rise, but was uncertain on his feet. Garius refocused on the ograth, fending off the vicious attacks with the sturdy hilt and handle of the warhammer.

The ograth swung its weapon frantically, closer and closer to scoring a hit on Garius as
The Repentant
could not keep up defensively with the lighter and faster broadsword.

The second orc behind him finally got to his feet and growled mightily at Garius. The ograth approached him too, on his left flank and was closing fast. Garius needed to eliminate one of his foes right away or he’d be outmatched.

 He decided to change tactics.

The Inquisitor stepped back, held
The Repentant
out before him with both hands, and began to utter a prayer beneath his breath. The sudden change of tactics drew a quizzical look from the ograth, who hesitated before continuing to approach.

 The Inquisitor threw his head back as the spell reached its crescendo and he began to channel necromantic energy into the ograth, stealing its life force from within. It all happened so quickly. The ograth convulsed and fell to the hard stone floor, its large frame lying lifeless as its essence flowed into and around the Inquisitor.

The orc behind him witnessed the event and stopped, both horrified and disconcerted by what he’d just seen. Before he could react, Garius swung the mighty hammer right to left, catching the orc in a state of paralyzation. He expended some of the ograth’s life force he’d just consumed, redirecting it as holy energy through
The Repentant
.

The physical force combined with the burst of divine energy was more than enough to crush the creature’s skull.

Saeunn saw and heard the not-so-distant sounds of battle—specifically a growl—some distance away. She raced into the cavern avoiding the jutting rock formations in the ground, thinking that Garius was only a few paces behind her. As she passed the stalagmites, she found herself running headlong into a group of orcs.

She recognized immediately the symbol of the Bonemasher clan on their shields, which she knew to be the same tribe responsible for both the destruction of Chansuk, and the death of her father. She paused her charge for a heartbeat or three, letting that realization wash over her, before she continued her charge with a howl of anger the likes of which she hadn’t thought possible.

A pure bloodlust fell over her.

The howl continued as she sprang into action, smashing her greatsword across the first orc’s shield, knocking it completely out of the stunned creature’s hands and forcing him to fight defensively with a morningstar. A second orc attempted to thrust a sword into her right side just as a third orc advanced hastily into her left flank.

Saeunn sensed them coming, corded her leg muscles, and sprung forward over the first orc, causing the two charging orcs to slam into one another. One was mortally wounded by a precise, but accidental stab wound to its neck, while the other took a massive blow to his shield arm, causing him to drop it to the ground.

Saeunn landed on her tattooed forearms, scraping them hard on the cavern floor, but she did not care. She used that pain to propel her on. She rolled a few times until she came to a stop and then knelt on one knee. She clenched her heavy blade in both hands and awaited the renewed attack of the two remaining orcs. The furthest one wrapped a bandage frantically around his shield arm as the closest picked up his shield and rushed her, swinging a blade wildly.

“For Chansuk!” Saeunn countercharged.

The orc’s assault was met by her mighty blade, which hit with so much force, that it sent the orc’s weapon flying from his grasp. She continued the spin full circle, driving a back kick in an upward fashion, catching him in the gut with her heel, and lifting him up off the ground. The force of the kick sent him sprawling many paces up and away. He came to rest, eyes wide in disbelief and pain, directly on top of a fortuitously-placed stalagmite, its sharpened tip protruding from the orc’s belly.

“For Scarr!” Saeunn continued sadistically, contented at witnessing the gruesome sight of the mortally wounded orc resting lifelessly upon the sharp stone. She ran off toward the one who had just finished bandaging his wounded shield arm. That orc looked from her and then to his dead companion, his expression bubbling over with anger as he picked up his shield and charged her with sword in hand.

Saeunn met the oncoming orc’s assault. She swung her weapon once more. It bounced off his shield, but caused the orc to drop his arm low, stinging from the impact. The orc did manage a fairly deep slash on her arm, but she was unconcerned. Her only thought—nay, her only purpose at that point!—was to send these orcs to meet their makers. She rolled into a ball and sprung up into another combat stance, feet wide, waving her greatsword before her.

The orc came at her once more. This time she waited, jumped through the air to land just in front of him, timing it so she rolled forward with such momentum that is shot her forward with tremendous impetus. She was able to adjust the blade as she came out of the roll with the sword tip held out firmly. The enormous impact of the collision was enough to easily pass the stunned orc’s defenses as she jammed the sword tip completely through his chest cavity. As an added bonus, the blow hit the orc with such force, that it was enough to break his neck in the process.

She came to a stop, looked at the dead creatures and spat at them. She placed a boot upon the dead orc’s chest, grasped her hilt and shoved him off, retrieving her great blade, which she sheathed without cleaning.

She felt an overwhelming sense of satisfaction, but felt she needed more to sate the Call of The Champion.

Elec stood only a few paces from Saeunn and could not hide his surprise at having witnessed the savagery and ferocity of her recent attacks.

The legend of their battle prowess is not an exaggeration
, he decided unequivocally.

Garius arrived and stood by the side of the powerful barbarian woman. He noticed a deep wound on her arm and moved to tend it. “Allow me—“

“No,” Saeunn growled at him, ripping her arm free from his grasp and ignoring the flow of blood that oozed from the cut. The blood was flowing in such a way as to make it seem like many of her tattoos were changing color.

Rose appeared just then, stepping from the darkness of a shadow to move beside them.

“If there are any enemies nearby, our presence is no longer a secret,” she remarked, Elec realized, in an attempt to lighten the mood with a smile, not knowing what exactly had happened.

 Saeunn said nothing, her eyes glazed over with ire as she turned away from them. She hesitated, and then Elec watched helplessly as she stalked away into the darkness of the cavern.    

When Saeunn was finally alone, she gazed at the pool before her. She immediately thought to dive in and submerge herself, to clean her wounds and the blood stains from her flesh.

But that would not wash from her mind the various thoughts and emotions she felt—blame, guilt, sadness and hate.

If only it could, she lamented with a tear in her eye.  Instead she stared hard, seeing her own reflection in the huge pool, and attempted to let the
bloodlust
dissipate.

If she hadn’t been in such a vulnerable state, she might have noticed on the opposite side of the pool, the stationary form of a tiny goblin.