Log inOf Fates And Fetters Ch 13
Good evening folks. Sorry for posting late. Was able to write the whole chapter during the week for once, so today was for editing and finishing touches.
And helping my sister out with something that she needed help with. Boy howdy that...oof.
Anyways. Last week was fruitful as I have also written another game review! I still need to give it a final once-over to try and catch any spelling mistakes, so look forward to that tomorrow.
Anyways, here is chapter, hope you enjoy. Please drop me a comment and lemme know!
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Lavitz worked with Dart and managed to shove back the ladder the Sandoran soldiers were using to scale the wall, Dart proceeded to pick up a wounded Sandoran before bodily throwing him over the top of the wall with a shouted oath.
He followed that with a brick he’d found somewhere.
The self-proclaimed ‘mercenary’ who had so far forgotten to negotiate a salary and didn’t seem to care too much one way or another so long as he had food in his belly three times a day, fought like a demon to hold their post, more than once recklessly throwing himself at nearby points that looked about to cave before returning.
Lavitz was having a hard time reconciling this man who was giving his all for the defense of a town that was not his own, with the man who had said unpatriotic and downright treasonous things mere moments before the battle began.
In contrast, Dart threw another brick over the edge gleefully, completely unbothered by the conversation he’d had with Lavitz prior to the start of the battle, he grinned widely at Lavitz while hefting something else heavy, this time a rusted cast iron skillet with a big crack running down its center, likely something else he had picked up while walking around the town, he tossed it over the wall with nary a care. “Like shootin’ fish in a barrel, eh Lavitz!?”
Lavitz was almost thankful for the ladder that saved him from having to awkwardly ask why anyone would attempt bow fishing in a barrel.
Dart truly did not seem bothered by what he’d said about King Carlo, or about exulting Sandora.
Lavitz had no idea how to handle the current situation. So instead he did what he could to concentrate on the battle.
It already felt like it had been going for an eternity, but truly, it hadn’t been long at all, the fervor with which the Sandorans threw themselves at Hoax’s walls surprised him, why not hang back until their Dragon took care of the walls?
If they couldn’t, then where had the dragon gone off to?
Shouts of panic drew Lavitz’s attention. He turned his head just in time to see a Sandoran clad in blackened leather armor kill five militiamen in as many seconds. Before his disbelieving eyes, he saw the black-clad Sandoran use a length of chain as a whip, wrap it around a fellow knight’s neck, then with a savage twist, snapped the knight’s neck like a twig, the report loud even over the rest of the battle.
“Fuck this shit!” Dart snarled, taking a knee next to Lavitz as the Sandoran Elite attacked a knight and began to overwhelm him. “I was fucking joking about the ninja!”
An instant later, Dart’s fire-lance, no, his rifle roared, and with a blinding blue-white plume of smoke, caused the Sandoran elite’s head to snap back, his limbs twitching as his body locked up before he fell over like a puppet with cut strings.
“And now I’m down to five! Fuckin’ hell!” Dart shouted, probably to be able to hear himself speak. Before putting the rifle away and going back to enthusiastically throwing heavy debris over the wall.
This is why Lavitz was having trouble reconciling Dart with the man that had spoken so poorly mere instants before the start of the battle. Why would someone who by his own admission agreed with Doel’s policies fight so hard for Bale? Up to expending nearly priceless and very difficult to produce ammunition?
Lavitz grit his teeth, shook his head, and helped Dart throw things over the wall. He did not have the luxury of distraction, were any of his men doing what he’d been doing, Lavitz would have let them know exactly how much trouble they were in for allowing their minds to wander during battle.
Still, after the battle for Hoax was over, he and Dart were going to have a long and important conversation.
Reinforcements arrived to their corner of the wall, just in time for a collapse at a different location. Dart made a series of strange noises and charged at the Sandoran foothold, Lavitz hot on his heels, fighting side-to-side and at times back-to-back with the self-proclaimed mercenary. After two minutes of intense fighting, they and the Knights of the eighth threw back the Sandorans once again, him and Dart retreating from the wall to take a break and get some water.
Dart surprised him by taking some jerky that Lavit’z mother had made out of his Hand Cache and eating it. The very thought of eating meat while the air stank of blood and offal made Lavitz’s stomach tie into a knot.
Nonetheless, he agreed with Dart’s assessment that the jerky Lavitz’s mother had made was very good.
As him and Dart readied themselves to join others at the wall, refreshed from the short break they’d taken, cries of alarm sounded from the men on top of the arch over the main gate. The only thing Lavitz could understand was the scream of ‘Monster!’ and he feared that the Sandorans had finally tired and unleashed the Dragon.
A titanic impact bent the main gate inwards, showering the ground in splinters and cracking the very foundations the gates were set into.
Two more such impacts later, and the wooden gates were reduced to so much firewood. Through them stepped an enormous man. Eighteen feet tall at least, his body rippling menacingly with chorded muscle, his light-brown skin strained to contain the brute power within it. He was clad in furred boots, a furred loincloth, and a harness holding a pair of pauldrons on his shoulders that, while they’d easily cover Lavitz’s entire chest, looked small on the human-shaped monster.
His face was carved from marble, menacingly painted in savage war paint. His head was shaved bald, except by a single strip of coarse hair that ran down its middle.
“Giganto.” Lavitz attempted to shout but barely managed to whisper.
“Why do we even have the square-cube law!?” Dart snarled, brandishing his rifle, which subsequently roared.
The Giganto’s head snapped back, he took a single booming step back before his grotesquely thick neck strained and brought his head forward again, in the firelight, Lavitz could see a line of gleaming yellow bone on his forehead, blood already seeping from the wound.
“BULLSHIT!” Dart screamed and frantically backpedaled.
Lavitz set himself in front of his friend, if they were to have any chance whatsoever, it lay in the weapon of legend that Dart had rediscovered.
Besides, the Giganto was, as his species’ name implied, enormous. If he was anything like Fruegel, Lavitz would have plenty of time to react to his attacks.
The Giganto shifted his weight into his leading foot.
Lavitz blinked and realized the stars were truly stunning this night. There was a ringing in his ears. He coughed and realized for the first time that he hadn’t been breathing. The ringing in his ears faded enough for him to become aware of Dart’s long and impressively varied collection of progressively more vile oaths.
That’s when he remembered the Giganto and immediately pushed himself to his feet as fast as he could. The sight that greeted him was not a welcome one. The Giganto swung a roughly hewn ax through simple straight attacks with terrifying speed, the simplicity of the Giganto’s techniques the only reason why Dart remained one step ahead of the terrifying monster.
The bodies around the Giganto’s feet, with their chest plates crumpled, showcased that just because the lines of the monster’s attack were simple, they were certainly not ineffective.
Lavitz found his spear, took a deep breath, and charged, stabbing the spear into the back of the Giganto’s thigh. It felt like he’d struck a boulder, the skin of the Giganto receiving a deep scratch.
Lavitz ducked and stepped back, a brown and grey blur whizzing by where his head had been moments before, the wind of the ax’s passage slapping his face.
Dart used that opportunity to attack the Giganto’s back. His sword having as little effect as Lavitz’s spear had.
Their battle settled into a rhythm of push and pull, Dart and Lavitz working in tandem to keep the Giganto occupied, stopping him from rampaging inside Hoax’s walls.
“This bores Kongol.” The Giganto said, his voice two boulders grinding each other into powder. He hung his enormous ax from a loop on his harness. “Kongol no need weapon to defeat puny men.”
Dart slid next to Lavitz, sword held out in front of him. “Lavitz, this isn’t working!”
“What about the rifle!?” Lavitz asked.
“He’s too fast on a straight line.” Dart said. “At this range he’ll reach me before I get the shot off.”
Lavitz mulled that over as the Giganto, seeing they were hesitating, began to stride forward. “If I hold him off. Can you do that attack you used against Fruegel?”
“Can you hold him off for a whole-ass minute?” Dart demanded.
“I am a Knight of Basil.” Lavitz stated. “I will do what I must for the Kingdom.”
Dart swallowed. “Fuck it, we ball. If you die on me, I’m going to punch you in your perfect jawline.”
That almost made Lavitz look away from the Giganto as Dart retreated.
“If puny man not come to Kongol.” The Giganto, Kongol said, stalking forward with a grace something of his size should not possess. “Then Kongol come to puny man.”
“My name is Lavitz Slambert!” Lavitz stated, brandishing his spear. “And so long as I live, you will not step past me!”
He then charged forward, ducking under Kongol’s sweeping arm and stabbed his spear up into the Giganto’s solar plexus.
Kongol’s backhand made his feet leave the ground.
Lavitz landed with a roll and threw himself forward again, using his spear the way his father had taught him, avoiding Kongol’s attacks to the best of his ability.
Until the Giganto’s hand blurred forward, wrapping around his waist.
“Kongol bored now.” He grumbled, then slammed Lavitz twice against the nearest wall, his armor the only reason his chest wasn’t caved in. The world became a blur, the ground receding.
Lavitz barely had the time to realize Kongol had thrown him into the air before the Giganto’s fist met him as he fell, the impact throwing him in a straight line at a wall.
Lavitz woke up part of the way to standing.
Kongol stopped and stared at him as Lavitz stepped toward him on unsteady legs.
“So long, as I draw breath.” Lavitz ground out past his panted breaths. “You shall not, move past me!”
Kongol held an arm out, and this time, now that he was ready for it, he saw the terrifying speed the Giganto could move with in a straight line. Even knowing it was coming, he would not have been able to get out of the way of the attack if he could still move well.
Which indeed, he could not.
Kongol’s arm slammed into him, the impact sending him skidding on the ground.
An eternity later, he was able to cough, and after that his body remembered how to breathe.
He pushed himself to a knee, then to his feet, his left leg refusing to hold his weight, making it more difficult to stand up than it should have.
Kongol scowled, then gave Lavitz a begrudging nod. He cracked his massive knuckles and stepped forward with intent as Lavitz tried to put his hands up in a guard.
A soft white light drew their attention.
Dart stood in that peculiar fighting stance, his body glowing softly, his face holding a tranquil expression. When his eyes opened, they were faintly glowing twin pools of blue serenity. He glided forward, his feet seeming to barely touch the ground.
Kongol snorted, the gravely sound vibrating Lavitz’s bones.
“You think you strong?” Kongol asked, then surprised Lavitz by kneeling, throwing his arms open and baring his chest to Dart. “Do your worst, puny man.”
Dart did not respond, his expression and gait unchanging as he strode to his target. The moment he was in range, he stomped forward, delivering that blindingly fast punch that had nearly vanquished Fruegel. There was a loud ‘crack!’ The impact lifted the Giganto to his feet, carving two trenches into the cobblestone road as the Giganto’s rigid body fought the force brought against it, his back bowed as he skidded back five feet before stopping.
Then, just like when he’d shrugged off a weapon of legend, his massive neck strained and brought his head forward again.
“Oh shit.” Dart said, whatever trance he assumed to make that attack ending.
The Giganto’s blindingly fast punch sent him skidding back twenty feet.
“Your worst is strong.” Kongol said rubbing his jaw as he strode forward and drew his ax. “Not strong enough. But dangerous.”
Dart coughed, Lavitz could see the imprint of Kongol’s fist on his chestplate. He tried rushing forward, but his legs folded and it was all he could do to stay on his knees.
The Giganto raised his ax high as Dart drew a knife and feebly held it in front of him.
Lavitz cursed his weak body, he looked for something, anything with which to fight back, if he survived the night, he swore he’d pick up Dart’s habit of picking up random detritus purely to have ammunition.
Kongol’s head snapped to the side, and he swung at the air. A dark blue light slammed into that strike with the sound of steel striking steel. The light rose, then dove at the Giganto, who parried a second attack, then a third, a fourth cut a line across his cheek and nose. A fifth sent him skidding back ten feet.
Lavitz blinked, and the blurry blue light resolved into a woman, she wore strange armor that did not look to be made of metal, she hovered nearly twenty feet off the floor, held aloft by a pair of bat-like wings, the membrane of the wings glowing an iridescent green. In her hand was a wickedly sharp looking blade that she pointed at Dart.
“Awaken!” She demanded. “Dragoon of the Red-Eye Dragon!”
Dart blinked up at her in confusion. Then he was engulfed in flames. His scream would haunt Lavitz’s nightmares as the flames consuming his friend grew brighter and hotter.
Then the conflagration started levitating. The night vanished as a new sun was birthed over the town of Hoax, the heat it gave off causing puddles to bubble into steam, blood to dry out instantly, and for sweat to break out on Lavitz’ skin as his armor became swelteringly hot. And all throughout it, his friend’s scream increased in intensity, but it had changed, no longer a scream of agony and surprise.
With an enraged roar, the new sun shot down into the town, diving at Kongol who roared back and swung his ax.
For the first time, the Giganto outright lost a contest of sheer might, and in an explosion of force and flame, Kongol was sent flying back well over thirty feet and through the stone wall of a house, the building collapsing into rubble a moment later.
With a heavy thud, a huge warrior clad in iridescent red landed, the cobblestone road beneath his feet hissing and turning orange at the contact. He was hunched forward, his stance predatory, almost animalistic, his shoulders rose and fell in time with his heaving breaths, two wings jutted out of his back, batlike, though their bones were bright red to the other warrior’s dark blue. His head was encased in a full helmet, two burning blue orbs visible in the slit of the ocularium.
The red warrior…the Dragoon stood to his full height, and for the first time seemed to take his form in, he studied the seemingly organic plates of his armor, the sharpened talons of his gauntlets, he beat his wings and stumbled as their movement broke his balance.
The Dragoon remained silent as, with a flash of blue light, a strikingly beautiful raven-haired woman in a short dark blue dress landed gracefully and stood to her full height.
“You! What is this!?” The Dragoon demanded in Dart’s voice, though deeper, reverberating with unnatural power and barely restrained rage.
She raised a slender eyebrow, undaunted by the Dragoon’s anger, anger which literally burned as the heat of a forge washed over Lavitz.
She tucked her hair behind her ear and haughtily said. “A test. To see if you are worthy, boy.”
The Dragoon’s clawed gauntlets tightened into fists. Then the collapsed building shifted as Kongol stood up, a veritable mountain of debris falling off his form.
“Oh wow.” The woman said calmly. “You survived. You’re tough for being a runt.”
“Giganto don’t die!” Kongol said, pushing himself to his feet on unsteady legs and brandishing his ax. “Kongol will pay you back! Kongol never lose!”
The Dragoon took an aggressive step forward, a snarl rumbling out of his chest as wrathful flames danced over his form.
“Kongol pay you back later!” The Giganto said, then turned around and ran away, The Dragoon’s wings beating and causing him to stumble in his attempted pursuit. The Giganto barreled over what few knights and militia were not fast enough to get out of the way of his mad dash to the gates he himself had demolished. Lavitz worried about the state of the battle but seeing the eighteen foot monster running away seemingly broke Sandoran morale, and a horn sounding the retreat soon howled over the wall.
“Fucker!” The Dragoon growled, liquid flame seemingly boiling out of the joints of his gauntlets as he pushed himself back to his feet.
“Dart?” Lavitz coughed, and the Dragoon whirled around.
“What!?” He snapped.
As the two burning orbs within the helmet focused wrathfully on him, Lavitz swallowed and forced himself to ask. “Are you…Are you okay?”
The heat coming from the Dragoon’s form intensified as he took a deep breath.
“Dart!” Shana’s voice drew him up short, his head snapping to her, tension visibly leaving him the moment he laid eyes on her. For her part, Shana stumbled to a stop as she saw the towering, red-clad form of myth given flesh. “Dart?”
“You’re okay.” Dart said, then in a flash of light, the myth was gone, leaving behind the bruised and battered man. Who promptly collapsed face-first against the floor.
