The party rode into the woods, and
both Annice and Wilhelm were thankful that Rikkard had decided to keep quiet.
They pushed off the path into the untamed wilderness, the horses treading on
uneven land, Rikkard assured Wilhelm there woods were teeming with wild boar,
and they hunt would conclude in less than three hours, but as the gladiator
looked about he saw no signs of the beasts. None of the brush seemed disturbed
and the party found no tracks, Wilhelm began to feel unease as they tracked
further into the thick. Five against two were not good odds, and if Rikkard had
been playing thm for fools this entire times they could be arching to their graves.
Annice was also feeling an unease,
though hers had begun from the moment she sat at the breakfast table. Perhaps
it was due to her not being as seasoned as Wilhelm, never looking a foe in the
eye, or perhaps because Wilhelm was at least human and was not looked down upon
in the same way as her. However the sensation came to her, Annice kept a
watchful gaze on Rikkard and his men, and more than once let out a silent gasp
when she though she saw one go for their weapons. She felt as though she would
get wrinkles with the stress, and elves didn’t get wrinkles.
The hunters continued on for some
time, Rikkard’s unflappable demeanor growing weaker as the man seemed obviously
perturbed by the lack of results in the hunt so far. They had seen a few
pheasants and hares, Wilhelm suggesting they take a couple in the chance they
did not bring down a boar in time, but RIkkard would have none of it. The man
was so assured, so certain, they would find a boar. It was more than just pride
or arrogance, not entirely, it was as if he felt the world owed him everything
he ever wanted, that it was his due for existing. They pushed on.
About two hours out Annice, while
the group was taking a rest in a small clearing, noticed something strange, a
stone structure clearly made by hand. She tilted her head at this, and checked
to see if anyone else had seen it, they had not. She pulled away from the
group, as carefully as she could and approached the stone. It was a pillar, or
at least it was once, aged and crumbling obviously not seeing a tender hand or
care in some decades. The structure looked oddly familure to the Cleric, and
she reached her hand out to touch it. Her arm was suddenly grasped, fingers
digging into the flesh. She called out, and turned in shock to see one of
RIkkard’s men. The hulking man’s gaze bore down into her, a stern and rigid
gaze, it unsettled the woman.
“Best you not get too far from the
group, Elf.” He said, his voice a rumble. Annice narrowed her eyes and tugged
her arm, pulling her am free.
“Of course.” She said, rubbing her
wrist and walking back to the others.
She kept her eyes locked on the man
until she was ten or so paces away from him before looking over to Rikkard. She
happened to see another of his men, leaned over and whispering into his ear.
The man was staring directly at her. Annice pretended not to notice and joined
Wilhelm’s side. She looked at the remaining two men and noted they seemed
suddenly very unnerved. RIkkard suddenly walked from the man who was whispering
to them and joined Wilhelm and Annice.
“I’m thinking the boar must have
migrated, they’re likely on the other side of the forest.” He stated, the smile
Annice had learned to hate appearing again.
“Think that be it?” Wilhelm asked,
quirking a brow.
“Must be. Anyway lets start riding
that way, we need to get over there and bag us one before we lose the light.”
“Awfully interested in getting away
from here, isn’t he?” Annice said when some distance between them and RIkkard
had formed. Wilhelm nodded.
“Yeah seems so.” The large man
said, rubbing his forefinger along his jaw.
They continued on and another two
hours passed silently. It was sudden, though, that the silence broke. A sudden
snort and a squeal rang out, and then the trundling of something large was
heard coming from the group’s flank. Rikkard and Wilhelm reacted quickly,
reaching for crossbows and both firing into the foliage. Bolts wizzed through
the air and found no mark as a massive Dire Boar burst through the underbrush
and charged the riders. Everyone scattered, Ale rearing back with a shrieking
whinney, knocking Wilhelm clear onto his back. Annice was shouting as she felt
her own horse try to bolt to freedom, the poor cleric feeling branches and brush
scratching into the flesh of her face. She pulled at her reigns, but the terror
in her horse overrode the training of man. She eventually managed to fumble her
hand forward and call out a command word.
“C-CALM!” She managed, through she
felt several foreign objects she would willfully not think about enter her
mouth as she did. The magic illuminated in her hand and Kasimaru eventually
settled down and into stop. She spent a moment spitting before dismounting and
rushing to Wilhelm’s side.
Rikkard, at the front of the ride
order, had managed to avoid the boar’s charge and keep his horse from spooking.
He yanked the beast around and began charging after the beast, reloading his
crossbow and letting another bolt soar, it grazed the beast, but found no
purchase in flesh, the boar simply letting out an enraged squeal as it turned
to him. Fear flashed in his eye, and he dove off his horse as the boar slammed
into it. There was a pitiful whinny as
Rikkard’s horse let out it’s death rattle and fell to a crumpled heap under the
boar’s hooves.
Annice reached Wilhelm, who was
thankfully rolling onto his side. The man was alive. Helping him sit up she saw
that the wind had been knocked out of him and he was struggling to draw breath.
She placed her hand on the small of his back and healing energy flowed through
him at her command. His lungs filled with air as he gasped, and nodded his
thanks to her gesturing for her to see to Ale as well. Standing to his feet the
man loaded another bold and let it fly, the dart soared through the air and
sank into the beast’s flank, it let out a snort, but otherwise the creature was
unharmed. The bolt had given Rikkard enough time to dodge another charge,
barely rolling out of the way of the dire boar’s massive tusks… Wilhelm was
very conflicted at that.
“Annice I’m gonna need some help
here!” Wilhelm called to the Cleric “Our Crossbows ain’t gonna take the Boar
down quickly, and we don’t got enough room here for hit and run tactics. Only
thing that’s gonna take that thing down is some magic!”
Annice’s body stiffened, she knew
what Wilhelm was asking, and she nodded. She took one last look at Ale to
assure herself that the horse had no further injuries, and stood. She took a
deep breath and steadied herself, she could do this. She raised an arm, hand
out, palm up. Her heart pounded as the holy energy formed and illuminated in
her hand. She willed it to manifest into a form and suddenly the energy erupted
into a brilliant white fire that burst from her palm. She tilted her hand to
one side, drawing her index and middle finger out and straight, the fire now
licking at the inside of her hand and around her fingers. She saw the boar
rounding itself and prepping a new charge, lining her index finger at the beast
to aim all she need do was launch the magic and ignite the boar in holy flames.
She swallowed and stared at her arm, it was trembling. She glanced back at the
beast, which had started barreling down towards her.
“I can’t!” She screamed, and dove
to the side, the magic in her hand evaporating as the spell failed. She barely
managed to avoid the boar, and she felt the tusk of the beast tear her robes,
the boney tooth dragging along her chain shirt. She collapsed into bush and
felt the branches and thorns dig into her flesh and tangle into her hair.
“Three hells!” Wilhelm shouted,
letting another bolt loose on the monster. It found itself buried in the right
shoulder of the beast, and it seemed to stumble for only a moment before
righting itself, it’s momentum did slow though.
The beast was turning again
readying to trample the lot of them. It was just going to barrel through them
again and again until they were all dead. Wilhelm couldn’t help but notice that
the four men were not assisting in trying to down the beast, they instead had surrounded
RIkkard, seeking to protect him. The Gladiator didn’t have much time to be
annoyed by that fact as the beast had turned it’s attentions onto him. It was
in a full spint, bearing down. Wilhelm dropped the crossbow and drew out his maul,
he had one chance and only one chance. The bolt in the boar’s shoulder hadn’t
sloweed it much, but it was enough to give the human a chance. As the rampaging
animal came Wilhelm screamed and swung as hard as he culd, he felt the head of the
maul connect and he pushed through the resistance, driving every ounce of
strength he had into the hammer. He felt the bone crack and continued, it
wasn’t enough, then it happened. The boar diverted, the hammer carried it’s
head to one side and the beast followed, legs twisting to keep with the
diverted momentum. The creature stumbled, and twisted in the air, crashing and
rolling into the dirt alongside Wilhelm, who called out in pain as one of the
tusks dragged along his forearm, tearing the flesh in a painful gash. Wilhelm
went down, bowled by one of the beasts flailing hindlegs.
Wilhelm groaned out and groggily
pushed himself up to one knee in time to see Rikkard. With the men at his side
he pulled his rapier from the sheath, Wilhelm’s eyes widened as he stared at
the bluish white metal as it stuck into the boar’s throat. It parted the flesh
like water and RIkkard drove deep, a gout of blood spewing forth like a freshly
tapped well as he pulled the blade free. Wilhelm managed to stand, clutching a
bloodied arm as Rikkard calmly wiped his blade with a cloth, sheathing the
weapon. He smiled and crossed his arms, looking the battered man up and down.
“Well, thank you for the assist,
Wilhelm, but I must say that the kill is rather decisively mine.” RIkkard let
out a small chuckle and patted Wilhelm’s shoulder, who winced in response. “Oh,
sorry friend. Didn’t realize you were in such a bad way. Best fetch your Elf,
yes? I think she might be trapped in that stickle bush over there.”
“Rikkard.” Wilhelm managed to croak
out. “Yer blade. That’s…”
“Oh you noticed that? Good eye.”
RIkkard grinned devilishly, it was a grin that sent shivers down Wilhelm’s
spine. “Yes It’s Vorpal.”
