The horse snorted.
Wilhelm shifted over to Annice and
pressed his head to the woman’s, she could feel his lips brushing against the
point of her ear and even at this distance his whispers were so light it was
hard to hear them.
“When they lift the wagon get on
your horse and take off. Full sprint, Kasi is too fast for them to ch-“
Annice shifted and thrust her hand up,
casting the Silent spell a second time. She screamed and cursed herself, tearing
into herself in this moment where no one could hear her words. The Cleric
leaned into the notch again and peered out at the ogres, one was staring
directly at her. The blood froze in Annice’s veins. The creature couldn’t see
her, that much was obvious the hole was far too small to be visible at that
distance, but the unassuming wagon had it’s attention. Annice found breath hard
to take as the creature scratched at it’s greasy beard, tilting it’s head to
the side. Contemplating was not the ogres strong suit and Annice clenched her
jaw as repeatedly mouthed the words ‘just go just go just go’ in a fleeting
attempt to will the situation away. The ogre took a step towards the wagon.
Then it took another. Tears formed in her eyes and she glanced back at Wilhelm,
the gladiator was slowly pulling the maul from his back and Annice saw
something that caused her heart to sink… She saw wet eyes and trembling flesh.
She saw the terror in Wilhelm’s face and it was all too much. She reached out
and took his hand, he stared at her, confused, but squeezed her fingers in his
palms. She knew that they would die, but they would not die alone. The moments
passed and they kept their eyes on each other, any second now…
Many seconds passed.
Annice started to worry, which was
quite odd, to worry about why you weren’t dead. She turned back to the notch
and peered out. The second Ogre had taken the one who had been walking towards
them by the shoulder, yanking him back. The first one pulled away from the
grasp, and the second shouted something… Whatever it said could not pass beyond
Annice’s Silent spell, but she imagined she would not be able to understand ‘Ogre’
as a tongue. The first Ogre pointed at the wagon and shouted something back,
but the second waved its mitt dismissively, more unheard words as it strode off
in the direction they were originally heading. Whatever was said was obviously
not very polite, as the first Ogre bellowed a scream and socked the second in
the back of the head. Annice’s eyes widened as the second Ogre stumbled
forward, seemingly crying out in either pain or surprise, before turning on
heel and swinging the massive tree trunk it carried. The log crushed into the
first Ogre’s stomach, and the creature doubled over. Annice’s brow furrowed
into confusion as she gestured for Wilhelm to join her. The two pressed
themselves together, ear to ear, to be able to both peer out of the notch. The first
Ogre rebounded and swung the spiked mace, a howl of anguish and pain that neither
Wilhelm nor Annice heard rang out as two of the swords sank into the bloated
flesh over the secon’d shouler, thick black gouts of blood poured from the
wounds, and Annice felt sick again, not helped by the added queasiness as
feeling relief at this sudden violence.
The second Ogre bull rushed the
first and tackled it’s once compatriot to the dirt, the bladed mace still buried
in it’s shoulder. The world shook as the two came onto the ground, and Annice
and Wilhelm watched as haymakers and sucker punches were traded by the two
monsters. The fight went on for near an hour with each ogre refusing to stay
down, and the battle traveled back and forth across the path, up the hills, and
more than once dangerously close to the wagon. Annice was sure that any second
one, or hells both, would end up falling atop the wagon and crush the both of
them without even realizing. Eventually the fight took them out of view and the
two spectators strained to find an angle that would allow them to see. They had
vanished in the direction they had been walking, which was the opposite
direction of the way Wilhelm and Annice needed to go. Wilhelm signaled for her
to drop the spell, and the Half-Elf clasped her hand into a fist, the magic
released.
“Alright we gotta risk it, we haven’t
seen them for ten minutes and more now, hope if you can they continued their slobber
knocker down the path. Second I get this up get on your horse and take off, don’t
go full sprint I’ll be right behind you and Ale can’t keep up with Kasi, yeah?”
Wilhelm ran over the plan and Annice nodded.
The gladiator found it much more
difficult to find a good angle to lift the Wagon, but eventually found himself
in a tight squatting position with fingers dug under the wood. There was no
need for subtlety now, the Ogres were either too far to see them or they weren’t…
So Wilhelm grunted and pushed hard, the Wagon came up and over, the entire
thing falling onto it’s side and rolling onto it’s bottom. Annice was quick to
her word and was atop Kasimira and taking off the moment the wagon lifted high
enough for them to pass through. Wilhelm leapt atop Ale and with a snap of the
reigns they were galloping off after the Cleric. Wilhelm dared a glance back
and his own heart sank when he spotted the Ogres in the distance. They were
far, but not out of sight, but by whatever gods above may be responsible they
were still too engaged in their own blood match to have noticed the wagon
overturn and four would be dinners sprinting off into the distance. Eventually
they had traveled far enough that the massive beasts were nothing but a speck
of yellow green in the distance, and the two travelers let out a long and
exhausting breath at the knowledge they would not be spotted.
“Gods!” Wilhelm shouted. “I have
never been that terrified in mah dang life!” He called out, letting out a
nervous laugh to try and sooth his wracked nerves. “Might have to make a stop
to change my armor.”
“Uugh.” Annice was not in such high
spirits as Wilhelm. “I messed up, I’m so sorry Wilhelm.”
“Nah.” He said, reassuring. “Your
first time out on an adventure, right? Cant be easy slingin spells like that
havin never done it before.” He reached over and patted her arm a bit. “You
handled yourself like a pro, got that spell back up lickity split, and when we
was makin our escape you moved with the grace of a dancer. Trust me if I was
killed every time I made a mistake, well let’s just say the gods’d be mighty
confused as to why there were so many of me up there.”
“I’m not going to leave you behind.”
She stated flatly, narrowing her gaze and staring daggers at the man.
“What?” He said, confused, feeling
a bit whiplashed at the sudden shift in tone. Wasn’t he just reassuring her?
“You told me to run. Said to get on
Kasi and take off. I didn’t let you finish but I can gather what you were gonna
say.” She rolled her eyes and spoke in an accent that was a poor imitation of
Wilhelm’s “’Ah’ll stay beehind as uh deestracshun!’ Am I right?”
“Hey now.” He started. “Your horse
is faster than mine, ain’t no way they could keep up with you. Specially if
there was a nuisance like me smackin them with a hammer. What’s the point of
both of us dyin?” He said in his defense.
“I’m not leaving you, Wilhelm. Period.”
She said flatly, not accepting his answer.
“Well fine.” He said. “I make no promises,
but I will try to get that though this here thick skull of mine. You’re stickin
around.” He nodded.
“We have to spend the night here,
and then the next day as well.” She said, staring at the walls of the valley.
It was growing dark as the sun started on it’s decent, slowly passing the
summit of the hills.
“Yeah, we do. Shouldn’t be the
whole day, we made good time.” He said, trying to be reassuring. “Should be in Boughborn
by supper at the latest.”
“Right, then we just need to find
and befriend the group who wants to kill
all non-humans in the Enclave. I almost prefer the Ogres.” Annice stated.
“So would I.” Wilhelm agreed.
The two continued on until it was
as dark as when they first started, the Half-Elf again taking point. It was around
that time that Annice’s spell had worn off and Wilhelm found it difficult to
keep his eyes open, and even more difficult to stay on his horse. Against Annice’s
protests he insisted they continue on for two additional hours, after that even
he couldn’t argue the point and they decided to make camp. They pushed themselves
up one of the hills, walking near half a mile up the steep grade before finding
a cluster of shrub bushes they felt would obscure them. The night wouldn’t be
comfortable sleep that was certain, with branches in their face and belted into
armor, but they were able to settle in and attempt to sleep. Well, Annice
attempted, Wilhelm was out like a candle flame in a stiff breeze the moment his
head found soft dirt. Annice smiled at the man, he was so… sure. Nothing seemed
to bother him and he carried no inner conflict. She layed on her side, staring
at his face, the peace on it, and wondered why a woman of faith could not have
that face. She averted her eyes, it was wrong to do this, she was sure. She
should have never attended the fights, that’s when her problems all started.
Sighing she rolled back on to her back, no, she had to remain confident that
this is exactly where Syrene wanted her. She glanced back to Wilhelm, and
frowned. His peace she envied, but she really wish he would stop snoring!
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