"Are you going to say anything?" Katerin asked, eventually, her patience now worn away by the oppressive repeating sounds of nothing but their horses hooves. They had left the keep hours ago.
"About what?" His tone was tired and sullen, and it sounded as if it belonged to someone who held no hope.
She frowned at him. "About what I did to piss you off?" She rode up next to him and stared at him, making sure he could not ignore her. It was the only thing she had thought of that made any sense, but she had no idea what she had done. "Jon wouldn't tell me... and I—"
He chuckled, but it sounded wrong—no humor or cheer was held within it. "You didn't upset me."
She bit her lip. There were good things about keeping your mouth shut, but Fykes never explaining anything was getting old. She looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to embellish, lie, anything. Any kind of explanation.
He never offered one, and after a few moments, he picked up his pace and rode away from her once again.
Together they followed the curving road as it carried them above the forest into a pale gray landscape of stone and pebbles. Mosses stretched over the rocks, creating a tapestry in shades of green and soft rust-colored orange. Katerin was shaken from her observance of the mosses as they rounded a corner and Fykes let out a tired sigh. The road ahead was covered in large chunks of stone that had fallen free of the hill to their right and made a treacherous mess of the roadway. She looked for a pathway through the mess as Fykes dismounted his horse.
"This is going to be a nightmare for the caravan," he said, shaking his head.
Katerin chewed her lip. "What can we do about it?"
Fykes shrugged. "Not much... I'll send word to the town about it once we get to Anklestrap." He moved back to his mount and grasped the reins in one hand.
Fykes' mount spooked to the sound of falling stones and bolted past him in a second, yanking the leather of the reins from his grip.
*
Katerin turned to see a disgusting form leaping down from the cliff, its heavy tree club arcing toward her through open air. Her breath caught in her throat, cutting off her scream. Before she could react, her own mount bucked under her and she fell to the side, foot caught in the stirrup as she landed with a thump on the rocks. The pain of the fall turned her vision white, and her breath caught as if blocked by a wall.
The tree club slammed into the ground not far behind her. She tugged her foot free of the stirrup with a cry as her horse bolted in the opposite direction, snorting with foam around its mouth and disappearing in a thunder of hoof-beats. Her breath wanted to come quickly to match her state of mind, but it felt more like choking—every breath an unmatched agony.
*
Fykes pulled his blades free and charged the one eyed creature with abandon. His slashing cuts did little to injure it, leaving only tiny drops of blood along its thighs. "Over here, you big bastard!" His voice held a hot anger, as he circled around it, hoping to buy Katerin the time she needed to recover from her fall. "Don't worry!" He called to Katerin, grimacing at his unsteady footing. "There's only one of them!" He knew they were easy to fight, in groups. They were slow, and all you had to do was stay close.
The gray skinned, dark-eyed creature followed his movements sluggishly, lumbering with every step. It reached out with one hand, grasping for him, and he flicked his blade, leaving a long slice along its hand, one that had finally cut well through its thick hide. He danced around its feet, exhilaration and fear mixing, tensing his muscles and narrowing his senses. There's only one, he thought. This is going to be fine.
More stones fell down the hill side, and another ogre appeared, this one tripping over its own feet as it landed, losing its club in the process. The weapon continued to roll until it stopped some distance away in the middle of the road.
It let out an angry howl and tried to push itself to its feet.
*
Katerin was on her knees now, struggling to find air, and acutely aware of the two creatures around her. Ogres wanted nothing more than food. They cared for nothing else, but they were slow and not the most intelligent beings one found roaming in the wilderness. They were easiest to fight at a very long range, but she did not have that option here. Her thoughts spun in a hectic mess as she tried to stand. Finally, she was able to grasp a quick inhale of breath, and she used it to incant a spell, which released a small feather from her fingers.
A heavy gust of wind was expelled from her hand, slamming into the ogre with all the force of a cannon blast. She made sure to wrap the magic carefully around Fykes, who stood in between the two creatures, dodging and dancing in an attempt to confuse his opponent, yelling as he dodged the clumsy attacks.
Katerin hauled herself to her feet, with her heart pounding in her head, and nearly fell right back to the ground as she tried to move her right arm. She bit her lip hard enough to draw blood, and created another spell as she wiped a hand across her mouth, this one of bright and flickering flames. She sent it into the howling winds and watched as the flames blistered over the first ogre as it used its fists in an attempt to grind Fykes into a suitable meal.
The ogre roared in agony and turned toward her, its disproportionately tiny gray eyes narrowed. It hefted a stone as large around as she was and tossed it almost casually, up above the effects of her spell.
She cursed internally and dove aside, hoping and praying to any god that might be listening to save her from the terrible death that flashed in her thoughts. The stone shattered as it met the ground, exactly where she had stood a second before.
She lay on the road once more, panting, and whimpering as stone shards pricked into her skin like too many splinters. The pain from her ribs blurred her thoughts once again.
*
Fykes grunted in effort, doing his best to ignore the cold chill that fear brought him every time he fought, and drove his blade through the back of the ogre's calf as it fought against the now fading wind. He watched from the corner of his eye as the other ogre finally found its feet, reaching with clumsy hands for a boulder to throw.
He redoubled his efforts and forced his muscles to stay loose. One misstep here, and he would be bludgeoned to death. His breath came in quick bursts, and his feet never stopped moving as he tried to confound the creature. He had to keep it occupied long enough for Katerin to kill it.
So he attacked every chance he got, slicing and stabbing into its legs, its hands, anywhere he could hurt it, forcing his breath to stay even and steady.
The ogre grasped a chunk of the mountainside and slammed its arms down towards him as he dodged away. The flecks of stone pattered against his armor like rain hitting a ship's deck.
Another boulder, this one much larger, shattered only a few inches from him. A chunk the size of Fykes' skull slammed into his leg, toppling him, and as he fell, that pain was accompanied by a dozen burning, agonizing slices on his skin. The ogre brought its foot up, and the gray, bulbous appendage blacked out the sky above him.
Fear closed his throat as he rolled to avoid the stomp, reaching for his lost sword as he did so.
He pushed himself to his feet and drew the blade of his sword across his hand. The wound seared like fire in his blood and glowed with radiance for a moment, before the glow faded from his palm and transferred to his blade, instead.
The surge of energy flowing through him like adrenaline, he lunged forward, thoughts no longer clouded by the pain in his legs. He drove his blade into the side of the ogre's leg, then yanked it free with renewed strength. The ogre faltered as it stepped toward him and crumpled to its knees as small crystal bolts bombarded the back of its head.
Fykes' blade flashed in a brilliant arc, before thrusting and driving up to its hilt in the stomach of the ogre. The monster tried to speak as blood dribbled down its chin, but it simply crumpled in front of him.
There was nothing to be joyous about as the first ogre died, for the second was in a rage now. It rushed forward, its footsteps shaking the ground and causing tiny pebbles to plummet from the cliffside.
*
Katerin was on her feet again, only able to stand thanks to a large jagged chunk of stone—the remnants of the boulder that had landed near her not but a few moments ago. The creature ran straight for her, and she closed her eyes as she placed her hands on her shoulders.
Her spell completed in a flash, and suddenly there were two of her. The image moved in tandem with her, flickering. The ogre grunted and slammed down with a foot as it reached her. She jumped away, tears clouding her vision from the pain and the panic. Her duplicate image was ripped from reality with a pop as Katerin hefted her staff and swung. Desperation pulled at her heart like a knife. There was too much pain, and she was by no means quick enough to fight this thing in the state she was in.
Her weapon slammed into the ogre but did nothing, other than shake the fat that wrapped its thighs. She would have cursed if she could have found her voice at that moment. Her magic was greatly limited without the ability to speak, so she reverted once again to the tiny unerring crystal missiles and sent them careening for the ogre's eyes.
The pain must have been terrible, because the ogre stumbled back and tripped over a boulder as it went, slamming down onto its head as it fell.
*
Fykes rushed around it, cutting a long jagged line down its leg as he went. "Are you okay?" he asked, but Katerin offered no answer, her face a mask of focus—already splintering. As he turned back to face the ogre, it was on its knees, hefting its tree club once again.
It bellowed and swept the tree out at both of them. Fykes grabbed Katerin's shoulders and pulled her down, doing his best to land beside her instead of crushing her. More pain became a reality as a broken branch scraped up his back as they fell.
Fykes pushed to his feet and darted for the creature, backing away from Katerin, who was still struggling to find her footing.
"In a second," he called, pausing to dodge the tree club swinging for his head. "I need you to get his attention, okay?" His voice carried like a beacon, and Katerin nodded to him in reply, tears staining the stone dust on her cheeks.
He continued darting backwards, drawing the creature toward the cliff face. Slashing not to injure but to prod. Finally, he waited for it to smash towards him, and as it did, he slashed out at the tendon of its ankle. As it bellowed, he called out to Katerin, and magic sparked through the air.
He had no time to see its effects, however, as he darted for an outcropping on the cliff face not far above the giant. He heard the ogre growling and saw the flashes of magic in the dim light of the setting sun. His thoughts spiraled. She'll keep its attention. She will.
In the time it took him to reach the outcropping, the ogre was back on its feet, facing away from him, attention locked on Katerin.
He pushed away the warnings his mind was giving him and leaped over the edge. His swords pointed out and angled up just the slightest bit. He slammed into the creature, and an overwhelming stench filled his nostrils—sweat, and something long rotten.
He missed his mark, his blades not coming near its throat.
Both his blades cut jagged lines down the creature, but neither was a killing blow. As he landed, his injured leg buckled with searing pain, and before he knew it, he was on his back, dizzy, with stars in his eyes.
*
Katerin lost her spell to her surprise, as Fykes leaped for the ogre, and her mouth hung open as he slammed into the creature. She regained her sense of thought as soon as he hit the ground, and coughed out a moan of agony.
The ogre had paused in pursuit of her, and now it was on its knees, hands grasping Fykes and lifting him up. Fykes coughed and choked, his pale porcelain skin turning a terrible shade. She steadied herself and drew the dagger from her belt, throwing it in an elegant handle-over-blade arc—directly into the creature's wrist.
It only tightened its grip and glared at her.
She stumbled forward, and choked out the words to her spell as a ball of frost materialized on her palm.
She tossed it toward the ogre's eye.
The solid chunk of ice slammed into the creature's nose, and frost snaked out from under its eyelids as it let out a sound comparable to a whimper. It violently shook its head, leaning over itself and dropping Fykes as it rubbed at its eye.
Katerin watched his whole body move as he gasped in a breath, and without hesitation, he drove his still glowing blade up through the throat of the ogre as it shook. It gave one last violent shudder, its arm sweeping out and slamming Fykes into the rocks, with savagery only to be found in a dying creature.
Katerin lunged forward and grabbed Fykes by the collar, pulling him from under the creature before it could crush him. As soon as the creature fell, she sank to her knees, gasping and shaking, fighting to find a breath.
Fykes blinked at her from his back, pain written clearly across his face.
"You're not sane," she said in a breathless pained gasp. Trying to keep the terror and agony from her voice.
"I'm not the only one." He sat up, his leg stretched out in front of him, and let out a cold laugh.
Katerin shook her head at him. Now is not the time to laugh, she thought, as her ribs protested, tormenting her. She groped for the potions in her cloak and held one out to him with trembling hands.
He shook his head. "You need that more than I do."
"I know," she said, and pulled another potion free of her cloak, looking at him with insistence. "It's the last one, so I'd suggest you make the most of it."
He huffed out a breath and drank the potion in one gulp, groaning as the magics went to work. There was a flash of light from his blade, and an almost imperceptible glow faded from within him and the weapon.
Katerin thought it odd, but she was too preoccupied with her own pain to voice her curiosity, for once. She followed suit, and wanted to cry in relief as she felt the majority of the pain leave her, but the ache in her ribs remained, clouding her vision. Magic in a bottle could only do so much. "I'm going to need a... a minute," she said, her voice still as quiet as ever, now tinged with pain and fear.
"Of course," he said. He pushed to his feet and whistled for the horses.