/by Valenus » 04 Mar 2011, 02:27
Menacing Slopes of Tirisfal
The haze covering the lower skirts of the hills seemed to thicken as a handful of humans in crimson armor, engaged the charging forsaken. The Deathguard timed the ambush to perfection, flanking the inexperienced squad of Templars from three sides. Yet the heavy armor which humbled their maneuvers spared them the initial casualties this instance, except for the scout who was choking to a certain death by the initial crossbow barrage. The youths braced themselves, forming a defensive position with as much vigor as they could muster. The forsaken captain attempted a grin with his upper chin, seeing they cornered boys in plates.
''Line on brother Colonus!'' ordered Austir, the team commander.
Being the senior in his squad, Colonus held the right end of the line. He put his right foot one step back and leaned slightly as he raised his shield, to avoid losing balance in case he was overpowered by the incoming swing. And overpowered he was by the slam of the great sword, yet lost little more than half a step ground consequently. He answered with several brief swings of sword to weigh his opponent. In a short while he found himself engaged with two of them, and he was not alone in that sense, they were clearly outnumbered. He hastily pushed the closest in a skillful bash of his shield and used the space to reach for the vials of holy water placed on the left of his belt.
As the fight continued Colonus came to realize a grim price of survival and experience would be witnessing the demise of his brethren, and at the hands of so foul an enemy. The youths were true to their purposes though, they felled the larger half of the adversary as they were put to rest for eternity. Even though the odds still seemed to favor the accursed, the Deathguard seemed shaken due to the fall from a definite advantage. What they underestimated was the defensive strength of the well trained shield fighters, so long as they kept their line. In the midst of the battle an assassin broke from the line hardly noticeable, thanks to the intense clash of steel.
That is when the impetuousness of the young Paladin got better of his discipline. Tired Colonus pushed himself forward, supporting his quickened pulse with enthusiasm driven from zeal while dropping his shield and lightening his burden in the hope of catching matching the speed of the sprinting forsaken. His cunning opponent was well aware of his coming, as well as that of his two kinsmen from the direction he was running to. He purposely slowed his pace, allowing Colonus to assume he, himself was rather accelerating thanks to the boiling blend of courage and zeal. And just as he was catching up, the undead jumped forward, holding onto a shabby but solid branch of the dying pine tree, skillfully drew a complete circle and kicked the young Colonus on the chest with the impact of his speed.
Colonus was knocked a few steps back but regained his balance, very happy to see his lightly armored, dagger wielding opponent was as foolish as to engage a heavily armored swordsman head on. And it was when the whistle of the archer’s arrow heralded a scar through the small crack under his scale-like shoulder plate, Colonus understood the rogue’s true motive. He was backed by two others and this time the newly wounded Colonus was not only outnumbered, but also outmatched, being a shield fighter without a shield.
As his opponents closed down on him Colonus braced himself for his final stance. He was content to die a true Templar, on duty and with a sword at hand, he only had hoped to serve his cause and the heavenly will further before he passed away. Regardless, the proud Scarlet Paladin accepted his fate stoically as he raised his longsword one last time.
Then the abrupt sound of a charging rider disturbed the perfect silence of approaching death, and the cry of an old man tipped the spoil of his noble death.
''Take heart brother! The good is on our side this day!''
The rider aimed at the assassin at first, targeting the closest threat to Colonus, but the agile fighter threw himself towards the far end of his lance’s reach at the last moment.
Whether agility or luck the archer was short of, he found the silvery end of the lance somewhere between his two decaying lungs and he found himself flying away with the overwhelming momentum of the cavalry in a brief moment. Luckily enough for him though, he blacked out before he hit the ground. The clash gave heavily armored warrior enough time to take position. He faked a step forward, bashed the chest plate of the armored horse with his two handed sword and immense power, wounding the horse fatally, setting its rider on free fall and getting himself hurled away on the impact.
The Rider fell off, but long years of riding also meant a good deal of falls and he got away with bruises he could ignore with the adrenaline of the battle. With his wide, unblinking, utterly focused eyes and the blank expression even before the apparent eruption of righteous fury, Colonus could recognize his mentor positively from a hundred yards. Valenus was not hard to figure indeed.
Valenus hastily recovered his shield and drew his sword, upon confronting the warrior. Colonus was also on his feet, no sooner than the assassin who was wise enough to note the newcomer was more serious a threat. He felt he had to lift the balanced odds and he threw a handful of blinding powder on Colonus’ face, then kicked him backwards to save as much time as possible by avoiding one-on-one for the sake of outnumbering the elder paladin.
Valenus confronted the warrior on his typical defensive stance, seeking to tire his stronger foe before striking back, but knew he would be denied of the chance when he saw the approaching assassin. The warrior drew strength from the presence of his deadly kinsman and started swinging with keener determination. Valenus started slowly moving to rogue’s opposite direction in the hope of narrowing his striking angle, but was disoriented by the powerful blows on his shield. The warrior steadied his breath again and unleashed the impact of his battle lust on the veteran paladin, forcing him to lower shield this time. He quickly reached forward to collect the fruit of his efforts, swinging on the paladin’s lowered guard. The tip of his sword pierced through Valenus’ armor, tearing apart the symbol of crimson flame and leaving the zealot a scar of remembrance to take to his grave.
Valenus took a step backwards and fell to one knee with the impact, then rose back to his feet on sharp concentration with even widened eyes. The warrior saw him mumbling under his breath, looking down. Valenus felt a slight shiver as holy energy flew through his body and sought exit through the end of his right arm. He affixed his wide, expressionless gaze upon his aggressor as the force bended into existence in the form of a platinum radiance through the open palm of his right hand. The final perception of the forsaken brute was the roar of the Templar in an unfamiliar language before the blast.
''VADE RETRO ABOMINAMENTU!''
The bright light took the form of a silvery volley, flowing towards his foe then struck home; setting the unliving soldier ablaze, causing an almost blinding flash of light alongside a deep, yet intimidating sound. The warrior lost an important portion of his sight as his undead flesh melted at the heat of the holy flames. The incoming rogue resorted to another pouch of blinding powder but his target was less callow this time. Valenus shifted stance lowering his head in an angle that the remaining powder would hit his forehead instead. After several exchange of blows and many dodges on assassin’s account, he pressed for a thrust to gain advantage, and would be successful had his curved dagger not bounced back from the paladin’s protective suit of steel. Valenus could not afford to waste the counterattack opportunity, that he didn’t. The agile rogue dodged another thrust of his sword, this time a bait to get him in position. And by the time he sensed the motive it was too late and Valenus swoop him off feet by the upper cutting swing of his shield. The flying rogue was not able to maneuver and in mere moments the sharp edge of the knightly sword founded the torso of the forsaken. He hit the ground with the greater part of the blade buried in his chest and spoke his final curse of gutterspeak right before the unblinking templar twisted his sword.
Valenus turned away to face the disoriented warrior, only to see him knocked down, and his severed head only a few yards away from the body. Colonus had sheathed his sword half way within the ground and was trying to steady his breath, holding the arrow on his right shoulder. He then took the arrow out with a deep grunt, lowered to the point his pain suppression allowed.
A smile of pride widened on the face of the normally expressionless paladin as Valenus rested a hand on the uninjured shoulder of his bright apprentice.
‘’Well fought brother, ride to Tyr’s Hand now and inform our superiors of the incident. I shall stay here with the rest to tend the wounded and carry the martyred.’’
‘’Aye!’’ replied Colonus, bowing low. And turned away to depart Valenus’ side.
‘’And need I say you’ll be going on a penitence quest for breaking formation, leaving your squad when you’re the second in command and finally; risking so invested a Templar for the sake of pursuiting a routing enemy.’’
[font="Verdana"]Vade Retro Hippie![/font]