Chapter 11:

10. Count Your Bones

Heart Dream - How I Got To Chase My Dreams and Myself In Another World!


After the first echo, Mazanlold said:

- "I feel a fight incoming" - Isabella did not hesitate:
- "Time to retreat, comrades, back to the city if we can." - she swiftly moved and the others followed her out of the two pillars area. As they retreated, more and more echoes filled the canyon. It seemed like bones creaking and cackling and metal clanging. They were able to move into an open area but what they saw kept them from leaving.

From every side, they could see child sized skeletons crawling in their direction. They sported gloves, boots and weapons of all sorts, thrice their size. Richard shivered, it was the scariest thing he ever saw. On the other hand, Isabella held her sheathe and Mazanlold smiled saying:
- "It seems I'm gonna be useful today." - he grabbed his morning star from his bag, his weapon of choice - "should we count our bodies?"
- "You know I don't back away from a competition" - said Caoilainn, spinning her staff.
- "That's the thing I like about you, Caoilainn" - he laughed - "And you, lady Isabella?"
- "Isabella" - she was sharp - "Let's count but play it safe. We want the four of us to make it out of this" - as she said that, skeletons were already getting closer. Mazanlold completed:
- "ARRGH!" - he leaped in front of them. With swift movements, he smashed one, two and three skeletons who were getting close before they could do anything. - "Three!" - he shouted as they were hit, leaving a trail of gray smoke. Mazanlold turned around and saw a longsword being lunged at him, but Isabella's sword cut the owner of the weapon. She blinked and he saluted her.
- "Watch this" - said Caoilainn as she took her staff and sent a line of fire through 4 of the skeletons - "Four! It seems I'm ahead!"
- "Not for long" - saying that, Mazanlold leaped to continue attacking and Caoilainn followed him.

 Isabella on the other hand, kept close to Richard and said:
- "I will watch your back, defend well and trust yourself" - he gulped and replied:
- "I will try" - at the same time a skeleton lunged at him with a longsword. He defended from the strike, the skeleton tried again and he defended again. As he prepared for the third strike, Isabella's sword smashed it, unleashing a puff of gray smoke.
- "Five!" - she shouted. She looked at him - "Richard, you are doing well, but you need to get faster. Behind you!" - he turned around lifting his spear and defended from a skeleton wielding a mace. Another one came behind it and Richard stroke him with the back of the spear - "Good move! Keep it up!"
- "I will!" - and as Richard said that, he hit the first skeleton, flinching it. Isabella took down one skeleton and then wiped those two.
- "Eight!" - she kept her count. It was clear she gave it all when it came to fighting.

At the same time, Caoilainn sprinted through the canyon burning with fireballs and fire streams every skeleton she could, keeping her distance from their foes and from the edges. At the same time, Mazanlold smashed through the skeletons keeping close to the edges.
- "Seventeen" - she shouted.
- "Eighteen" - he replied. On their wake, they left a huge trail of smoke mixed of skeletons and fire. Even thought they did not admit it, they fought very well together.

Back where they started Richard was being able to hold the skeletons enough for Isabella to kill them safely. Slowly they progressed, to gain terrain and to leave the smoke behind. Richard was baffled at Isabella's posture. His posture, however, was still really rough, always a bit clumsy, and some skeleton attacks affected his balance. Isabella cried:
- "Twenty" - Richard thought she lost one or two of the count. However one thing she did not stop doing - "Come on, Richard! You are doing well!" - which was incentivizing and protecting him. His eyes shone a bit, inspired by the lady - "Do a wide swing!"
- "Aaaah!" - he shouted for strength and obeyed her. Three skeletons wielding long spears jumped away from his swing and entered in Isabella's range, being smashed into pieces the following second.
- "Good job! The ones with spears have a range advantage! Take care!" - she said - "Twenty three!".

Closer to the where the canyon met the forest field, Caoilainn set her staff to the ground and created a horizontal line to burn seven skeletons. They wailed, but before they exploded, Mazanlold passed running, smashing them with his morning star. She shouted:
- "That's gonna make counting really hard if you steal my kills!"
- "Divide them between us if you want!" - he laughed, satisfied. They kept fighting against the few remaining skeletons.

With the coast getting clear, Richard and Isabella started running. Isabella smashed two skeletons Richard was already defending against. Then, they were halted by a line of five skeletons wielding five different weapons. Isabella stood tall and said:
- "Watch your back, these five are mine" - before Richard could even react, she started her attack. She lunged at the skeletons one by one. She left herself exposed, to bait their attacks, parry and smash them. It was a dazzling view for Richard, who stood there amazed. He was interrupted, however by the sound of steel clanging behind his back and jumped.

He turned around and saw a skeleton with a short sword missing a overhead smash in his direction. He was able to recompose and start his defensive stance. The skeleton tried a left to right attack, then a right to left and another overhead one, but Richard defended against them all. The skeleton got impatient and went for a thrust. Richard smiled as he counterattacked with a thrust of his spear into the skeleton's head. A puff of smoke covered his glasses.
- "Richard, are you alright?" - said Isabella.
- "Yes, let's continue" - he said spitting smoke. They ran towards the others. No skeletons seemed to be around anymore. Mazanlold, instead of worrying about safety, just asked:
- "How many?"
- "Thirty three!" - said Caoilainn.
- "Thirty three" - said Isabella.
- "Thirty three" - said Mazanlold - "but I'm sure Caoilainn is wrong" - before she could answer, Richard replied, almost whispering:
- "One..."
- "Congratulations, Richard!" - said Caoilainn - "welcome to the club" - before they could continue with the small talk, Isabella said:
- "Let's walk and talk, we don't know if there are any more skeletons here to ambush us!"
- "We will just burn then down!" - said Caoilainn. Right after that, they could feel a chilling gust of wind.
- "Let's hurry" - said Isabella, hiding her discomfort. She started in a fast pace, followed by the other three, without any more conversation. 

Solerite
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