Fight and flight
Filed under Fiction on July 10, 2009
Tagged: Chronicles of Jord, Keldon's War Journal
I stood with my back to the wall around the corner from the top of the stairs and listened to the thump and click of heavy, clawed feet climbing toward us. Pelban waited behind the doorway across from the stairs. I let the first lyzar walk past. Pelban charged from his hiding place and thrust his sword into the scaly hulk’s gut. The abomination hissed in pain. Pelban jerked the blade out with a sideways motion, tearing flesh and splashing gore onto the floor.
Another lyzar reached the top of the stairs and I swung my hammer up at its snout. Bone cracked as the blow connected. I let the momentum of my swing bring my hands back around and smashed the hammer into the reptile’s rib cage. The creature tumbled down the way it came, and I heard a tell-tale snap as it bounced and rolled.
Two more lyzar appeared at the bottom of the stairs. They advanced at a slow and steady pace, their large, spiked clubs held ready before them.
“We’re not going to be able fight them all,” I told Pelban over my shoulder. “They’re too big and strong, and we don’t have the element of surprise anymore.”
“You’re probably right, brother. So what do you suggest we do?”
I thought for a moment. We had to leave town and find a place to hide. “Tie some bedsheets together and anchor them to the bed. We’ll climb out the window and make a run for it. Hurry. I won’t be able to hold them back for long.”
Pelban disappeared back into the room and I could hear him wrestling with the sheets. The lyzar rushed forward, perhaps sensing our desire to flee. I stepped under the lead lyzar’s swing and struck the abomination in the knee with my hammer, smashing the joint. The creature fell to the side, its leg unable to support its weight. The second lyzar brought its club down in a powerful arc, but I retreated a step and the blow slammed into the floor, shattering the wood plank.
I barreled into the lyzar, hoping to topple it back down the stairs, but an iron grip snared my ankle as I charged. I smacked the floor face first, and my hammer bounced out of my hand and skittered across the floor. I scooted to avoid another blow from the lyzar’s club and saw the first lyzar’s scaly hand wrapped around my foot. I kicked and twisted, but could not break free.
Pelban returned to the fray with a bellow and stabbed the lyzar on the floor. It released my foot and I scrambled for my hammer. I looked up to see Pelban and the second lyzar circling each other. I waited until the lyzar’s back was to me and I leaped, swinging my hammer over my head. The blow connected with the crown of the lyzar’s skull, and its head exploded with a crunch and a shower of gore. I stood panting from the exertion, covered in filth, three dead lyzar at my feet.
“They’re still coming.”
I looked and saw more shadowy hulks gathering at the base of the stairs. “Help me with this,” Pelban grunted as he started shoving one of the corpses. I joined him in rolling the bodies down the stairs. Then we sprinted to the bedroom.
“You first,” Pelban said. I wiped my hands and my hammer on the sheet, tucked my weapon into my belt, and climbed out the window with the makeshift rope in my grasp. Pelban appeared moments later and we dropped to the ground. A quick glance revealed no immediate threats, so we bolted off into the darkness.
