The Tenth Hand

Chapter 1 - The Stranger

Screams and dust filled the air. A distant drum beat tirelessly, its thumping echoing high over the sea of bodies.

Drak threw his massive arms open wide and raised his face to the sky, bellowing a deep challenge and adding his voice to the fray. Returning his gaze to the ground, he locked eyes with his opponent and bared his teeth, a threatening grimace plastered on his face.

In front of him stood a towering goliath. It was swinging a thick tree trunk wildly in anger.

He roared in defiance.

Meeting the roar, Drak charged forward, unslinging his shield from his back and raising it up just as the full weight of the tree trunk slammed down on top of him. He was forced to his knees under the strain. Grunting, he shifted his weight and aimed a wide swing underneath the shield, connecting with the goliath's knees and toppling him to the floor.

Drak leapt to his feet and swung his club down, hoping to end the fight fast, but the huge tree trunk came up to block the blow. He struck the club and shield together with a loud crack as they wheeled about each other, searching for the perfect opportunity.

He dodged to the side as the trunk whistled through the air in a wide arc, filling the space in which he had just been stood and then ducked suddenly as it came swinging down from above, slamming into the ground and renting a deep gash in the ground.

Drak charged forward again, driving his shield into the heavy body of the goliath, trying to wind it, to no avail. Pushing himself away sharply he swung his club above his head in a circle once and aimed a swipe at his opponents arm. It connected, hard, but his hopes of disarmament were dashed when he saw the brute heft the tree trunk into the other arm.

With his other arm now free, the hulk slammed his fist into Drak's face with a crunch. Drak saw stars.

All around them faces and bodies blurred and the noise rose steadily. The drums pounded somewhere off to the left, closer now. He focused on the towering shape in front of him and rushed in, aiming heavy overhead swings with his club which hammered into the goliath's huge improvised weapon.

Grunting with the effort, Drak took a step back, hoping to entice his opponent forward.

It paid off. The hulk shambled toward him, raising the tree trunk high over its head, ready to pulverise Drak with one swing.

Drak had to act fast if he had any hope of pulling it off. He knew he might not have any chance like this again. Moving fast, he took another step back and threw his shield into the face of the brute in front of him, blocking his vision temporarily.

Seconds, just seconds, he thought to himself.

As the shield fell to the floor and the thick trunk came crashing down to crush him, Drak attacked. He rained down blow after heavy blow with his club onto the side of the goliath's enormous head, each time making sure to target the exact same spot as the last.

The surprise of this attack caught his opponent off-guard, and he bellowed with rage, trying simultaneously to lift the tree out of the ruins of the shattered shield on the floor and cover his head at the same time.

Evidently he could not manage both and, relenting, he dropped the trunk with a thud and raised both hands to his head to protect himself. He crouched down low, trying to minimise himself as a target.

Drak ended his tirade with a final, hard crack and a shout. Standing triumphantly over his opponent, he pointed his weapon at the mass in front of him, still as tall as Drak was himself, despite being hunched up in a crouch, and said, "Get up, fool."