Eyes Up, Guardian

Chapter 6

     I looked to the objective and saw a number of enemies marked on the tracker. I raised my hand, signaling for Echo to call down my sparrow. He did and I climbed onto the slim machine, starting the engine and heading off towards the marked enemies. We rode through old Russia, into the forgotten shores, past a few old ships held by the Fallen who attempted to shoot us as we passed, but missed. We turned left, along a cliff side that led to a large field and a crashed Hive ship. I dismounted my sparrow in the open field, looking around for the Hive threat.

     "Look out!"

     Moving in pure instinct, I lunged forward, narrowly avoiding being sliced through by a thick yellow sword. I scrambled to my feet, whirling around only to catch a blur of a Hallowed Knight going for another swing. Again, I lunged out of the way, barrel rolling sideways before retreating back enough to get a look at my opponent.

     The sword wielder was a Hallowed Knight, Echo provided an estimated health bar along with its name, a jumble of letters that I would never hope to pronounce. The Knight was massive, towering multiple feet over me. It's sword had to be only a bit shorter than I was and as much as I hated to admit it, the Knight wielded it well. Luckily for me, the only weapon it held was a sword, which meant it would only be able to fight me in close combat, so if I stayed away from it I should be able to take it down without much of a problem. Hopefully.

     The Knight, having just buried it's sword in the dirt after attempting to cut me in half, let out an angry roar, yanking free it's sword and started after me. My insides turned cold as I scrambled into action, retreating backwards, facing the knight. I rose my rifle, quickly aiming down my sights to fire at the Knight's middle. I knew it was probably the most protected part, but I wasn't sure my aim would be good enough for head shots just yet. I continued to jog backwards, my heart beginning to pound and panic beginning to take over my senses as the Knight drew closer. Blinded by my panic, I turned around to run forward only to feel pain slicing across my back.

     I hit the dirt on my hands and knees, hearing myself scream rather distantly. My rifle skidded away from me, too far to reach. Ignoring the pain in my back, I looked over my shoulder, watching the Knight advance further as if it was in slow motion. Panic bloomed in me, flooding my senses so much that I didn't even feel the pain of the slice on my back, or the warmth of the blood leaking from the wound.

    Just when I thought it was it, my senses narrowed down on one thing. My knife. Cool and sturdy in my hand, waiting. I was on my feet before I knew what I was doing, I moved faster than I ever had before, faster than I thought possible. The Knight was mid-lunge, I sidestepped it easily, lunging when the Knight barreled forward. I slammed my knife into the Knight's neck, digging it under the heavy armor that covered its chest.

     The Knight howled, throwing me off like I was a rag doll. I jumped, frantically attempting to recreate my training, and found traction. The second jump was something Cayde and I had been working on, it didn't sound hard at first, but I'd found that it was annoyingly difficult and hard to comprehend. It had taken Ikora explaining the way the Light could give me something jump from for me to even begin to try it, so naturally, I was terrible at it. The only thing the jump did for me as I flew through the air was to slow my decent, but still, I slammed into the ground with a heavy thud, the wind knocked out of me and a fresh bolt of pain shooting though my back. 

      I struggled to my feet again, most of the impact having been taken by my hip, I shifted my weight to the other side, feeling the pain slicing through my back with every movement. I looked back at the Knight, seeing it had stopped for a moment, recovering from its wound and tearing the knife blade from its neck and hurling it into the ground. I seized the opportunity, snatching my rifle from where it had fallen and raising it. I began to shoot, aiming down my sights, this time for the Knight's head and praying to the Light that had saved me before to save me once again and make my aim true.