Fretly Quickfinger, taking advantage of the mercenary from
Farpoint being held still by his friend Farley, picked up Balto’s battle axe,
dodged the glaive knight’s swinging sword and ran off. He couldn’t go too far, the axe was heavy and he had to drag it after a few paces. The wound in
his side burned and still seeped blood. He thought of Fairewood, the only home
he had known. He had been so eager to leave, to see the world and seek adventure.
Quar’goth had approached him first with the deal, fight for him in a tournament
and your travel and all your needs will be paid for. Away
from Fairewood had been the key phrase. Fretly seized the chance without
hesitation. His time with the Urchyn’s Clan was coming to an end as he reached
adulthood and Fairewood had grown boring. Oh, it was exciting and entertaining
for visitors, but it had become too predictable for him. He convinced Farley to
come along, see Veratar, visit the homes of all those who came to Fairewood on
holiday. What could go wrong, he had asked his friend. They had no answer then.
“We could die,” thought Fretly now, as he put down the axe and turned to rejoin
the fight.
“Quar’goth is still afraid to move, try to free Balto” Xela
called out to his sister the glaive knight. She was already on that tip and
spun around, piercing the vulnerable anvyl’s armor with her sword. The Kirzan
cried out in pain, but his grip on the mercenary did not lessen. The urchyn
came running up to defend his friend, but Xela stepped between Fretly and
Farley, whipping their wounds with the sharp ends of his robes. Fretly was able
to reach into Xela’s robes while being attacked and steal one of the savant’s
healing elixirs. He popped open the phial and drank it.
“You think stealing that will prevent me from healing
myself, urchyn?” Xela scoffed at the boy. The savant closed his eyes and lulled
himself into a meditative trance to build up his strength and mental acuity.
“You may be a mental master, but I am road-wise, I know how
to survive on my instincts,” thought Fretly. The urchyn snuck around the savant
and sucker punched the glaive knight. “Hm, maybe I shouldn’t have done that,”
was Fretly’s next thought as he watched Ceylina’s face turn red with rage. She
unleashed that rage with an elegant grace and fury, dashing and slashing around
the anvyl and the urchyn, leaving them both bruised and bloodied.
Fretly shouted at his team leader, “what are you doing
cowering over there, come and help us fight!” Then he had a thought, “we have
to stop the savant so he can’t heal himself or his teammates anymore.” The
urchyn leapt through the air and crashed into Xela knocking him to the ground.
With deft hands, Fretly searched the savant’s robes, stealing his remaining
healing elixirs.
Before Fretly could bring his friend Farley an elixir, he watched the glaive knight launch into her spin move and once again
pierce the armor of the anvyl. This time, Farley did not cry out, but crumpled
to the ground, releasing Balto. “No!” Fretly cried as the anvyl’s body let go a ragged death
rattle. The urchyn ran at his closest enemy, the mercenary, and sucker punched
him, knocking Balto to the ground. Fretly stood over the mercenary readying to
land another blow. Before he could connect, Ceylina pierced the boy’s back with
her sword and he fell dead on top of his friend’s body.
The sight of his two teammates meeting their end snapped
Quar’goth out of his panic attack. “The odds are not in my favor,” thought the
cipher, “but that’s the thing with odds, no matter how small, there is always
that chance that they will fall in your favor at any moment.” The cipher called
out to the savant, “Xela, even with this fight now being one against three,
with my superior calculation ability, I still have the upper hand.” With that, he snapped together four radia
pieces and bludgeoned the glaive knight with an invisible force from afar.
Xela stopped to consider the cipher’s words. He did feel intimidated
and a little afraid of the truth in Quar’goth’s words. Ceylina, on the other
hand, shook off the blow from the cipher and sought to strike back and position
herself to protect her brother. She ran, leapt, tumbled and popped up next to
the cipher and slashed him with her sword. “Balto, get your axe,” Ceylina
yelled to the mercenary after her thrust met its target.
“Heh, is that all you can do, glaive knight?” sneered
Quar’goth, even though his wound was deep. His words gave Xela pause again. If
the cipher could withstand Ceylina’s blows, perhaps he was stronger than anticipated.
Ceylina shouted at her brother, “Xela, do something!”
Ceylina didn’t wait to see if he did do something and again slashed at the
cipher, slicing off a swath of his black robes, exposing a skinny leg with
blood running down it into his boot.
Balto reappeared behind Quar’goth and brought his axe down
to finish the fight. The cipher was quick enough to fit together all six of his
radia pieces just as the axe blade would have struck him. In a blinding flash
of orange light, Quar’goth blinked in out of existence long enough for the
mercenary’s axe to pass uselessly through the air and strike the ground beneath
his feet. A concussive blast knocked the mercenary down and he struggled
to regain his breath.
Quar’goth, still alive and still fighting, returned a piece
of radia to his pocket and snapped the remaining five into a bracelet around his left wrist.
He punched the glaive knight in the face with that fist causing blood to shoot
from her nose. Despite the bolt of pain in her head that blotted out everything
in sight but the cipher’s gaunt grin, she raised her sword and struck at the
white teeth in front of her. The point of her sword bashed open the cipher’s mouth
and smashed through the back of his skull. The fight was over.
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