Sieged

Chapter Seventeen

Fey. 

Looking at the beautiful face of my only love, I reach out but she's too far away. I try to move but my legs won't shift. 

I'm so sorry, dear. My anger got the best of me as always. Please forgive me. 

I reach out for Fey again but another figure joins her, swirls of dust cascading down to form his cloak. 

My elixirman. 

The two stare at each other as if lovers before resting their eyes on me, an aura of pity and guilt washing over them. But their features soon turn sinister as if I've set my sights on the Night Cleaver himself. They open their mouths and burst forth the most heinous, spine-tingling of laughs. A laugh that ruffles the now existent antlered giants above. 

In a flash, the two disappear in an eruption, yet the particles soon conjugate once again to form another. 

It's a young woman. I don't recognize her face, her blue eyes seemingly resting on her high rosy cheeks, yet I recognize the clothes she's wearing. A yellow flowery dress but there are no tears or cuts in it and it's not drenched in blood. 

I remember her name. It was Collette. She was the second victim of the Night Cleaver. 

The young woman distorts, her dress transforming into a ruby gown with puffed sleeves before her features recast into someone older, the third victim of the Night Cleaver. With greying hair billowing from her wrinkling powdered mask, it's the first time seeing her face too. 

Without realizing, all the victims of the Night Cleaver start to churn before me, the last being the woman from the park. 

'I'm sorry,' I yell. And again, it's not my voice and it screams instead, 'I'll gut you all.' 

But then the dust in the hollow falls back to the ground in a crash, as if someone had just cut its string. Gnisqua still gallops but quickly turns back into the king's steed, the flames rushing to the fire. 

Is this nightmare over? 

Yet ease doesn't come. 

The king's steed stops before me, snorts madly and begins to stomp her front hooves. 

She's frightened. But of what? 

Another sound rings in my ears. A sound I know all too well. It's the clanking of armour plating. 

It's right there that I see several boots appear on the tops of the walls of the hollow from the darkness above. And the boots stretch into legs that contort into dragon scales. 

Bandors. Many of them. 

I'm surrounded again. 

'To disrespect His Greatness,' says one of them, his greasy dark hair shimmering like black pearl, 'is to die a painful death. His Greatness wants your head as decoration and we will retrieve it.' 

'I dare you to try,' I bellow back. And in a blur, I leap to my feet and brandish my sword. 'I'll gut you all, swines.' 

A howling bandor meets my rage. Our weapons clash, sparks flying with contact. I dip. I swerve. I dodge. I pivot. 

I feel alive. I feel immortal. I feel at peace. 

I play with him for a while before spinning around, evading his lunge, and planting my blade into his back. And I don't rip it out cleanly but thrust it through his upper body and head. 

Blood spurts. 

Flanking me, two more bandors come to dance. But with a slash, I decapitate one swiftly before targeting the arms of the other. I swing and swing again, his limbs floundering to the ground. He screeches in agony but he fights on, though feeble it is. 

Admirable, I must say, but his weak kicks quickly bore me. I hit him with my hilt and he crumbles to his knees. I finish him off by impaling his eye, the squelch it renders giving me utmost satisfaction. 

Now the rest charge. 

A worthy challenge. 

With speed, I sweep at three, severing their legs at the knees before the others rain down on me with their weapons. And again, I shirk and evade, deciding to have some more amusement. 

I plunge my weapon into the ground before clawing wildly, like some rabid creature. I grab a face, gouge my fingers into the jaw and rip. The head splits apart, the cracking of the skull echoing inside my mind. And brains fall, fouling my hands. 

Another head is next. And I squeeze and squeeze, it caving in with a mighty crush. Then I swing my arms, wrap them around a neck and constrict like a snake until it parts. And as the beheaded body thumps to the ground, my eyes descend on the two remaining lunging towards me. 

I grab my sword, take aim and slash, my blade sending a weapon flying. I then kick, dropping its owner to the ground before finishing off with a heel to the crown. One more kick pounds crotch and I too send its owner to the afterlife with a thrust to the heart. 

I roar in delight, my body yearning to spill more blood. But as I scan for more enemies, I see none, all the bandors dead and lying mutilated at my feet. Though still craving, euphoria suddenly takes hold, making me cackle until my breath is taken away. 

I fall to the ground dizzy and the world goes blank.