Battle in the Plain

Landomer cursed, dropping the girl roughly onto the earth leaving her sobbing and pleading for mercy. He turned to his underlings and looked upon them with utter disdain. They were exhausted, having run for several hours non-stop at a pace even their bodies could scarcely manage. As it was, they insisted they could go no further without rest.

“Insolent whelps!” he growled, pointing a clawed finger at them. “Move now or I will-“

His ears twitched, rapidly moving in all directions to hone in on a sound. Distant, but closing in…hoof beats.

He snarled, “Look smart! We are about to have guests.”

***

They cleared the forest and before them was an open plain with tall grass that just barely graced the flanks of their horses. The night sky was clouded with little to no illumination offered to the earth below from the waning crescent above. The field appeared to be nothing short than a sea of pitch and the lanterns they held in their hands did little to cut through the darkness.

Rayk squinted out into the field, “Can’t see a damn thing.”

Konrad’s eyes glowed faintly red, causing Sophia to lurch back involuntarily in her saddle. Rayk, it seemed, was no stranger to this phenomenon and seemed to look to his master as if waiting for something.

“They’re there,” Konrad called out, then looked to Rayk. “Flare!”

“On it,” Rayk drew a flare gun from his saddle bag, pointed it up and fired.

A few moments later there was a pop and the whole field was washed with a flickering, amber light. A light that caught the eyes of the beasts hiding amidst the grass, glimmering like orbs of ghostly sheen.

Sophia didn’t hesitate, she shouldered her carbine and took aim at the closest one.

BANG

The .433 caliber bullet hit her target, but in the light of the flare she couldn’t see the damage inflicted. Only that the eyeshine of her quarry had disappeared.

The fight was on, and there was an immediate shock when a score or more of bzou erupted from the grass, charging headlong towards them like sharks in water. Konrad pulled the pin on a grenade, the fuse igniting as the arming cord was pulled out. A hiss could be heard along with sparks shooting out of the iron encased explosive as Konrad hurled it into the group. Rayk soon threw another in behind it.

KABOOM

KABOOM

It was difficult to tell what was grass, earth, limb or gore in all the confusion. And there was no time to sort it out. A bzou leapt out of the grass in a bid to knock Konrad from his mount but he was met with a rifle shot that delivered a lead-laced lobotomy to his cranium and sent his body falling back down to the ground.

Sophia shot rapidly into an oncoming group, expelling her magazine and then reaching for a charger clip to reload. Rayk was flanked by a bzou who wore the tattered clothing of a woodcutter. The man beast slashed into Rayk’s horse with it’s claws, causing the mount to squeal and buck him from the saddle.

Konrad fired into the four figures descending on Rayk then drew his revolver to give fire to another group now rushing him. Sophia, having driven the second five-round charger clip into the magazine of her carbine, pulled back the charging handle and shouldered to aim, but not in time enough to engage the bzou that was bearing down on Rayk with it’s claws.

“RAYK!”

BOOM

Rayk let loose both barrels of his shotgun while laying on his back, pulverizing his attacker. He got up onto his feet quickly, drawing his own revolver and engaged the others rushing towards him. Sophia provided cover but soon had to turn to engage two bzou, one a former milkmaid the other a blacksmith, who got too close.

Meanwhile, Konrad had been driven away from the others, and was now engaged in close combat with his saber slashing, stabbing and parrying with rapidity.

Then, the worst happened. The flare's light faded and darkness crept back into the void it left. Sophia was knocked from her horse by an unseen attacker. She recovered, driving the barrel of her carbine into it’s stomach and firing twice as she felt its hot breath wash upon her face.

Within the brief respite, she raised her hands to Elysium.

“Luxa Domínis-Eîs, Aiónios Phôs, daf‘ an-zulmá in shā’ ta krínē. Fiat factum est!”

A bright light, brighter than anything natural, bathed the field as if it were within the light of day. The bzou recoiled, their evil eyes unable to bear the holy illumination, giving time for Konrad, Sophia and Rayk to dispatch them handedly, before the light faded.

The battle seemingly over, all three breathed heavily, their eyes scanning for any other threat that might present itself. Konrad moved to dispatch a few bzou that had survived. But for Sophia and Rayk, all seemed quiet.

Then, abruptly, Sophia was hit with a force that drove her flying across the field. Landing roughly in a series of tumbles before finally coming to a rest.

“Shit!” Rayk shouted, firing blindly at the shadow which hit her, until it turned on him and swiped at his torso, claws sinking into his flesh, tearing away his leather cuirass and knocking him down.

***

The youth before him writhed on the ground, hissing in pain but somehow found the strength to snatch a knife from its sheath and cast it towards Landomer. The blade embedded itself into his forearm, and Landomer pulled it out menacingly as he towered over his downed prey.

He had to give this one credit, he was a fighter, defiant until the end. With hands shaking more from shock than the jitters of fear, the lad grit his teeth through his suffering and tried to reload his weapon. Landomer knocked it away, and stood over him.

A shooting pain then coursed through Landomer’s body when the boy’s boot found his groin. In a rage he roared into the face of the little insect that refused to die and all he got in response was a defiant shout in return. Just as he was about to snap his jaws he felt a disturbance and the world turned red.

***

Sophia, struggling to get up, through half closed eyes spied the manifestation that Konrad had become. A figure she could only describe as an archdemon of Hades.

Though he remained in his human form, still in his dark clothing, still masked. A diabolically red aura now emitted from him as wings sprouted from behind his back. He raised his great Sword of Justice, single handed, and leveled it's rounded tip towards the werewolf looming over Rayk.

His voice, unnatural, unholy, disturbed her greatly.

"Face me."

By the Monad, she thought to herself. So it is true...

The werewolf howled, leaping forward at great speed. Konrad dashed as well, the distance between them shrinking moment by moment.

Sophia watched the coming clash with anticipation…