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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cerulean_Wings" data-source="post: 4017250" data-attributes="member: 55060">And here we are, the 2nd chapter of this weekend, just like I promised <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />We're nearing 1,000 views, which is freakin' awesome!  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /> All thanks to you guys who read my story hour, no less  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />Chapter 17DesperationThe giant and the dire bear were at eighty feet from the group, and while the bear charged straight ahead, the giant opted to take his time in reaching them, since there really wasn't a place for the five to hide from him in the long run.Gilliam held his awkward stance, with one arm hanging limp to the side, and the other one firmly gripping a bastard sword. He had sheathed the blade from the broken arm, since he wouldn't be using it for the time being. For all he knew, however, he'd probably end up not being able to use any part of his body if the giant scored a solid hit or two on him.“If any of you have something particularly effective against a raging giant and its animal friend, this is a good time to let the rest know” he practically shouted, since the rumbling noise the two monsters created was almost deafening. Kahleen responded by conjuring a spell, generating a blue aura around her figure. “I'll stop the giant, you'll have to stall the bear” she said after finishing the chant. Out of thin air a great amount of water appeared in front of them, pouring onto the dry ground and turning it into a muddy mess. How in the Hells that was going to stop the lumbering giant, only Kahleen seemed to know.Holding his sword in two hands, Darius shifted uneasy on the spot. “Easier said than done” he mumbled, seeing that bear was twice as large as him, and probably that many times as strong. In a matter of seconds the enormous animal would reach them, and Darius couldn't help but wish he was someplace else, far away from the canyon they were currently in.The soldier heard something click to the side, and saw Gon firing his crossbow at the bear. The bolt was aimed with great precision, and it stuck to its brown hide, but didn't seem to be more than a small annoyance for the charging beast. Gon placed the weapon back on his belt, and drew his longsword, looking troubled.“I'll meet the bear with my shield” Vincent shouted, taking two steps forward in order to be ahead of the group, bracing his shield and spear for the onrushing bear. Gilliam, Darius and Gon stood right behind him, ready to pounce after the initial impact.Kahleen was summoning yet more magic five feet behind the four warriors, and this time the aura she conjured was sand colored. Still, her magic would come into effect after the bear reached them, and barely in time for when the giant made it as well.“I hope you know what you're doing, Kahleen” Gilliam said without moving his eyes from the incoming duo. The dire bear, faster than the giant, reached Vincent first, and roared wildly as it swiped a large deadly claw at the squire. The resulting screeching noise from the claw ripping his shield was horrifying, but the shield had held, somehow, and the fierce attack hadn't managed to reach his armor. Still, another attack like that would probably mean the end of his shield.Vincent held his ground after the bear was right in front of him, and taking a step forward he jabbed the adamantine spear. With his focus going into defense, the weapon didn't punch through the animal's hard hide.Seeing that their chance to hurt it was upon them, the three other combatants leaped ahead and unleashed their combined attack against the dire beast. Darius rapidly switched from a defensive posture, attempting to drive his blade into the bear's chest. To his surprise, he was able to thrust several inches of the longsword into it, drawing a growl of pain from the animal, as well as a line of blood from the wound.Gilliam, right next to him, executed two quick slashes, and would've performed two more, if it wasn't for his broken arm. His bastard sword cut the bear on one arm, but the second attempt was stopped short by the beast brushing it away with that same limb. Finally, Gon emerged from the side, the sneaky soldier jumping over a sweeping slash from the bear as he approached, stabbing it in the leg, making it growl in agony once more. The rest hadn't noticed this before, but it seemed like Gon was trained to be an opportunist, rather than a regular face-to-face combatant. He had hit the animal right where it hurt the most, by the knee, and yet more blood spilled on the barren ground.  The giant's thundering steps were awfully close to them, just when they thought they had gained the upper hand with the dire bear. Looming over them, the large humanoid advanced to position itself right next to its pet, raising his enormous war axe for a devastating strike that no one hoped to survive.He didn't get to make it, however, as the shaman finished her spell just in time, summoning spiritual energies right under the giant's feet, where the ground had been watered by her previous spell. This time, the wet earth transformed into a muddy mess that the giant fell into, and his long legs were swallowed by it almost to the knee. It was all he could do to avoid tripping on the muddy trap, shaking around in the process.“Curse you!” the giant bellowed at Kahleen, trying to free himself from the unstable ground unsuccessfully. The woman held her calm visage, even in the face of such an adversary, and didn't reply. Instead, she drew Blood Moon, and began to aim for the dire bear without conjuring the longbow's magic.The men all breathed out in relief, seeing the giant immobilized for the moment, and their guard dropped, which cost Gon dearly. Whirling to the side, the dire bear mauled the soldier brutally, ripping his leather armor into shreds, and out of pure luck did the man dodge the bear's sharp teeth. While alive, his body was oozing red from deep scars in vast amounts, and he was standing up through sheer willpower. “Boss,” he said weakly “I need a rest”. Gilliam didn't disagree with his assessment, but he couldn't make it happen at the time, with the bear and the giant still in front of them. “Stand back, Gon, we'll handle it!” Gilliam shouted, assaulting the dire bear once again in order to distract it from the wounded man. His rapid movements struck true twice, generating two new wounds, and most definitely drawing the beast's attention.Darius' sword attempted to assist in distracting the bear, but his intended power attack didn't hit the target, slashing only air. Vincent used the same tactic, using brute force rather than precision, and his spear did pierce the tough hide this time. By now, the dire bear was greatly wounded, bleeding from multiple cuts and holes in its body, but this didn't slow its movements down, and rather appeared to enrage it even more.Kahleen was about to release a carefully aimed arrow when she saw the giant stepping out of the muddied hole and getting ready to strike her down. The shaman aborted her shot, and instead shouted “Run! The giant is free once more!”, followed by starting a desperate chant to bring forth another magic spell. The dire bear was poised to attack Vincent, and went up in its hind legs to commence the onslaught. However, it landed back on the ground without doing a thing, looking rather perplexed, as if it couldn't see where his target was anymore. Just then, the rest noticed a greenish aura surrounding their bodies, all due to Kahleen's intervention, no doubt. “The beast won't detect you unless you harm it” she explained quickly. “Now is our time to-”Her next words turned into a sudden yelp of surprise, as the giant's axe came down from above and sliced a large wound from the beginning of her left shoulder to her right leg. A terrifying amount of blood spluttered forward, and the shaman collapsed, unmoving.   “KAHLEEN!!!” screamed three different voices at the same time, as Vincent, Darius and Gilliam saw what had happened to the hermit. In the sudden chaos, it was Vincent who brought order.“Gilliam, get Kahleen, I'll hold the giant!” he shouted, moving as he did to place himself between the giant and the fallen shaman. “Darius, Gon, go after Gilliam, find a place to hide, I'll join you later!”Darius wanted to object, but Gilliam grabbed him by the arm and pulled him towards Kahleen. “No time to argue, do as he says!” he commanded, bending down to hoist Kahleen's limp form over his shoulders. For all the mercenary knew, she was no longer with them, but he moved the dark thought away from his mind: they had to find a hideout, or they would all meet the same fate.While the bear couldn't sense the companions in any way, the giant was still all too aware of their presence. It swung its large war axe in a sweeping arc, intending to chop Darius and Gilliam in one strike, and there was nothing they could do to prevent it from hitting them.Vincent jumped in between the axe head and his allies, then, and turned his entire body into a living shield of steel, absorbing the blow squarely on the side of the chest. How in damnation did the squire remain standing was beyond Gilliam, but he didn't question his friend's vigor, and took flight with Kahleen's body, holding her with his one working arm. Darius followed suit, glancing over his shoulder to see Vincent favoring his uninjured side, the other one showing a huge dent in the armor.Having retreated temporarily after being mauled by the bear, Gon joined the two in their escape, clutching his wounds with one arm as he ran, grimacing at every step. The rogue reached them in little time, and went at their speed.They would get more tired soon, and with their wounds and Kahleen's body to carry, they wouldn't make it very far. If they didn't find a place to disappear from sight, the giant would catch up, and leave their mangled remains behind.The squire didn't want to admit it, but that one blow he took made him feel like his ribcage would implode, if it hadn't done that already. He was breathing heavily, and doubted he could dodge the next attack. Looking amused, the giant decided to stay with the elf, rather than chase the rest, and lifted its weapon vertically over its head, in order to bring it downwards with great momentum.A deity must have been watching over Vincent, right then, for he side stepped in the last possible moment, bashed the axe head to the side with his battered shield, so that instead of cleaving him in two it clipped his shoulder, bouncing him to the side. The force with which the axe collided against the solid earth was definitely inhuman, as the rocks split in two like they were butter being cut by a knife. A large scar on the ground formed mere inches from where Vincent was, allowing him to see what would've become of him had he been struck by the weapon.The giant frowned, finding it hard to believe the elf avoided the attack. Frustrated, it commanded the bear to eat Vincent, but the animal didn't seem to be able to spot anything to eat nearby. Seizing this golden chance, Vincent turned and ran as fast as he could in his clunky plate mail, and the giant was too focused on yelling at the bear to notice right then.Just when he thought he had left the giant for good, he heard a great furious roar right behind him, followed by heavy steps which pressed the earth down as they went. The giant was burdened by his own hides, but this didn't slow him down enough, getting closer and closer with each long stride.Gon, Darius and Gilliam had covered a bit more than a hundred feet by then, but they heard the giant's bellow and his heavy footsteps without a problem. “Damn it, he's going to slaughter him!” Darius cursed, looking over his shoulder yet again. “We can't leave him there, Gilliam, he'll die for sure” he insisted.But Gilliam wasn't agreeing to any of that. “Have more faith in Vincent, Darius, we gain nothing but our deaths if we go back to him” he said in between grunts of exertion. His earlier wound combined with Kahleen's body, light as it was, made it harder to run.Darius didn't say anything, instead halting his momentum, and turned around, taking a hold of Kahleen's bow and quiver in one movement. Gilliam was almost dragged to a stop as well, and he looked at the soldier in disbelief. “What in the Hells are you doing?! Keep moving!”.The man just nocked an arrow, took aim, and said the words of power to activate the longbow's magic.“Paint the ground red, Blood Moon”. The bow's wood turned from dark to crimson red, and Darius felt the most strange feeling while drawing the arrow back in the string.Shaking his head, Gilliam cursed loudly and kept running. “Darius, you brave fool” he said under his breath. Gon hadn't stopped for a moment, but somehow he had disappeared from sight in that short interval that Gilliam had looked away. Where could he have gone to?Vincent had covered some of the distance between himself and the rest, and the giant was hot in his trail, keeping the axe's head back for an attack, once he got in reach. The giant's pursuit was temporarily halted, as an arrow shot into its shoulder, causing him a minor but painful wound. It couldn't understand how this had happened, for it was a tiny arrow that had struck him, and this hesitation allowed Vincent to get away from the giant.The squire was surprised, since he didn't expect to see Darius holding Blood Moon in his hands. The soldier nodded to him, getting ready to shoot once again. By the time Vincent got close to him, the giant had started after him again, and Darius' next arrow got stuck in its massive hides, causing no damage. “Damn him” he cursed, starting to run side to side with Vincent, bow still in hand.“Why did you stop running?!” Vincent asked desperate. The soldier shook his head as he moved. “I don't like leaving my companions behind” he explained. While he was still frustrated, Vincent couldn't help but smile a bit at this.Both squire and soldier ran as fast as their armors allowed, and without warning the steps of the giant ceased. Before they could question why this happened, the answer came in the form of a flying rock as big as them, crashing on Darius' back with great momentum. One shot was enough to knock the wind out of his lungs, causing a massive injury on his shoulder blades.If it hadn't been for Vincent taking a hold of him, Darius would've fallen face first to the ground. They kept running, Vincent hoisting the other upwards with one arm, and Darius realized he could no longer see properly.“I can't see Gilliam or Gon” he said groggily. “Me neither” Vincent replied, filling Darius with dread. Gon, he could understand, but how did the mercenary disappear as well? Another rock came after them, and this time it crashed right by their heels, the explosion sending both men flying forwards to the ground. The landing wasn't painful compared to what they had endured so far, but Vincent's chest felt on fire since he landed on his injured side.“Over here”.All the pain he was enduring must have made Darius hallucinate, for he was hearing voices. Lifting his head from the hard ground, he looked around, confused and dazed. He had to blink several times, as he saw Gilliam's outstretched hand biding the two of them to join him inside a small opening in the canyon's wall.The giant was approaching rapidly, and the ground began to shake once more. To Darius, everything was moving in slow-motion, as he and Vincent stood up, somehow, and made their way to the narrow opening, nearly breathless.They heard another shout from the giant, and another large stone collided near them, but save for the exploding rubble they didn't get touched by it. Hearing the steps right behind them, both squire and soldier jumped with their remaining strength, and both made it within the opening just in time.Gilliam helped them move in quickly, as the giant could still fit his arm through the entrance. Once he accomplished this, they could see and hear from the dark cave that the giant was punching the nearby wall and hacking at it with its axe, more furious than ever. Eventually, the sounds subsided, and the monster walked away, fuming. The space they were confined to wasn't big, but it allowed for the five to have their own resting spot. And while they were safe for the moment, there didn't seem to be any other exits.“That was fun”.The three others glanced Gon's way. He wasn't smiling.</blockquote>

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