NOVEL NEXT 3.9 A fight to near death
Isran stepped out first, her hands raised with her sword in one of them, the blade pointed to the ground. She wanted to appear as non-threatening as possible. They were only three and Phaedra wasn’t a fighter, Elysi was best at range but if she was against four unknown enemies that advantage could be swiftly negated.
Elysi stepped out behind Isran, pulling Phaedra along with her. “We thought you were monsters! We aren’t bandits.”
The four adventurers began to climb up the hill, the closer they got the better Isran could make out who they were. There was the elf, his white hair contrasting against his obsidian skin, two orcs one a man the other a woman both holding large hammers. The male orc’s hammer had an axe at its opposing end while the female orc’s hammer was bigger with faintly blue glowing engravings. The last member of the group was a gnome holding an open book, he stood a little farther than the rest of his group with his eyebrows drawn down in concentration.
The elf had a staff in his hand that Isran recognized as a channelling staff, a blue gem sat at the top of the staff a faint glow emitting from it.
“Why would you be hiding from floor one monsters?”
“We’re not very high level, we have to stay safe.”
“And this is your entire group?” The elf looked Isran up and down, she had lowered her arms but still held her sword tightly. Red had started slowly moving like there was a breeze but there wasn’t and from the look of the elf he knew very well that the fabric was a cape.
“We were attacked.”
Isran understood why Elysi was being tight-lipped. There was no way to tell whether or not the people in front of them weren’t bandits masquerading as an adventurer’s group. She couldn’t be sure if they were even higher level than them, considering there was no way to tell. The equipment looked expensive though, even to Isran who didn’t know much about the world.
But as she had that thought she realised she didn’t look any better. Both Elysi and Phaedra were wrapped up in cloaks and her armour was literal gold… or tempered steel.
“Not a scratch on the so-called attacked.” The male orc grunted shifting his stance.
Isran kept her head in place but moved her eyes around, analysing the scene before her. They couldn’t see her face from behind her helmet and she was sure it wasn’t reassuring them. But they were acting moderately hostile and she wasn’t taking that risk to assure them that she wasn’t harmful.
“And your friends.” The elf spoke again. “They can’t speak?”
Phaedra shrunk into Isran’s armoured side at the attention of his words but Isran decided to answer. “I’m not the best to have such a conversation with, it’s always better to leave it to those who can.” She didn’t have a real explanation for not speaking if she was completely honest. She just didn’t want to talk to strangers, it was also why she had kept to herself and her girlfriend during the brief expedition.
They were all quiet for a while, eyes looking at each other calculating the danger each posed. The lack of knowledge of each other’s levels and abilities was not helping in the slightest.
The gnome stepped forward his frown focused on only Phaedra. “You’re a healer are you not?”
Phaedra nodded hesitantly. The gnome’s frown deepened and he looked at Elysi. “And you’re a whore.”
“I do not see how that is important to the conversation of whether or not we are bandits but yes.”
The gnome’s face was getting red with how much anger appeared to be on it, he looked up at Isran, the taller woman towering over his smaller form. “And why are a healer and a whore following around a heavily armoured adventurer this far up the barren wastelands.”
“What are you implying?” Elysi’s voice turned sharp.
The gnome’s hand began to glow just as Red strained to dive right, Isran didn’t think twice about the cape’s warning, she dove, nearly tumbling down the hill but righting herself enough to scramble to her feet and block an attack from the female orc.
To her relief, it seemed their strengths were matched and with a boost Isran was still not able to quantify from Red, she pushed back against the heavy hammer.
“Stop!” Elysi yelled. Isran caught a glimpse of the elf waving his staff and both she and Phaedra falling to the group, their arms bound by glowing restraints. “She’s not a smuggler! Stop.”
“Compulsion magic is such a pain.” The elf tisked and waved his staff at Isran. The orc dove out of the way of a gust of wind that threw Isran back. She hissed when her head banged on the floor. She rolled away, air whizzing through her helmet as she narrowly avoided an attack from the male orc, the sharp part of his axe slamming to the ground where her head once was.
Red detached from her helmet and dove towards the running orc, tripping him as Isran swung her sword at his female counterpart. In a move Isran had no use ever dreaming of replicating, the orc sidestepped her swing and slammed her hammer into Isran’s side. Her speed evidently more than Isran’s.
Tempered steel, the strong metal that it was didn’t even bend, but the blow was fierce and Isran swore she felt a secondary lighter blow hit her skin beneath even her clothes. An enchantment maybe.
She tried to step away from the reach of the woman’s hammer but only stepped into the reach of the male orc. Thankfully his attack was delivered with the hammer end of his weapon, unfortunately, he hit her back, the armour wasn’t very far from her skin and she knew a welt would be forming from the blow.
Turning to face the orcs she was blasted back by a beam of blue light, a feeling of underlying discomfort washed over her and her arms became heavy, her eyes stinging. Isran didn’t know much but she was sure she had just been hexed.
“Fuck.” She whispered running as fast as she could backwards to create space. She wasn’t meant to fight four people of equal level to her. The mages were the worst part. If she had just been fighting the orcs she would’ve had a chance but the ranged fighters would disarm her before she could grab that chance.
The hex lasted four seconds but those four seconds were enough to give the orcs an advantage. They both swung at her, their hammers slamming into her chest plate at the same time, the enchantment of the female orc’s hammer giving its delayed attack straight at her lungs.
Isran dropped her sword, her breathing completely halted, panic washed over her. She ripped her helmet off her head, tears filling her eyes as she tried to take in as much air as possible. She still couldn’t feel the air move through her, her chest tightening with each passing second.
The last thing she heard as her brain shut itself off, her panic and lack of air depriving it of function was Elysi’s muffled scream.