Catch That Steel Horse At Any Cost!

Kyle pushed himself onto his feet and felt the wind blast his face. Blooby was clutching his shoulder and diving into his shirt.

The chugging of the engine below him filled him with glee. He’d done it. It had nearly killed him multiple times, but he’d done it.

He’d built a way to get his village and the others out of an impossible situation. Recreating a train was intense. But he had no other choice. They hadn’t the horses to get everyone out even before their breaking free.

While Kyle couldn’t have predicted going up against orcs or horse archers, in hindsight this was working out brilliantly.

At least it would be brilliant if there weren’t arrows shooting past his face.

On either side of the train, orcs on horseback and wolfback raced to keep up. Thankfully the arrows were more filling the air with death than actually threatening to hit Kyle. And the ones that came close he could bat away quickly with the sickle.

It was when he saw some of the riders break out grappling hooks and start spinning them on rope that he got worried. Kyle leaned over to the engine car and shouted to Benny, “We’ve got company!”

The horn blared again as Kyle started making his way down the train. He hurriedly tried to cast off the grappling hooks being snagged onto the train cars. Some of them he could get off before the orcs scaled the sides of the cars. Other orcs found themselves distracted when pitchforks and lances smashed through the train car windows.

The top of the train was soon crowded with orcish grapplers however. They had just started pulling out their weapons when Kyle lunged at them with his sickle.

He knew the tool wouldn’t be effective against anyone with armor. The only parts of his opponent he could do damage on were the weaker parts – joints, undersides of arms, the neck. It wasn’t that Kyle couldn’t make the sickle work. It was just the difficulty of doing it made him wish the pitchfork hadn’t been broken.

An handaxe span a hair shy of Kyle’s face and sank deep into an orc who’d managed to flank him. Not a moment later, a familiar dwarf ran over to retrieve it and kick the orc off the train. “Boyo, we’ve got to get ye better things to scrap with than farm tools!”

A knife then went flying past York’s face, slicing off some of his beard before it went down to its hilt into the chest of another orc who was charging in. Benny pulled out another knife from its sheathe with his blue arm and stood by Kyle’s side. “Move up! The women are sweeping the cars to make sure they don’t get in.”

Three men standing side to side barely left enough room on the train top to maneuver. But that was less of a problem that Kyle might’ve imagined. The flurry of axe swings, sickle slices, and the business end of a knife were making short work of the boarding orcs.

It was almost a relief to see the horses and wolves falling back. They had kept pace for a while but they didn’t have the stamina for a long ride at this speed.

Kyle heard it before he saw it and his arm moved on reflex. Before he could breathe, he saw an arrow hair short of his eye, his own hand having grabbed it out of the air.

Togoldor stood on the train two cars away, already nocking another arrow.

Kyle turned to York and Benny. “Help the others inside! I got this!” He didn’t. But those two had better odds below than above.

“Right! Benny! Let’s –”

York didn’t finish that sentence. An arrow flew straight and true into him. Blood gushed out as the dwarf grasped at the arrow in his throat. Then a second went between his eyes and slumped to his knees forever.

Kyle could hear Benny scream York’s name. He could see the tears in his eyes. But he also saw Togoldor continuing to load arrows.

“Benny! Go!”

He reached out to try and grab the next arrow, only for its shaft to slip through his fingers and stick into Benny’s sternum. Benny coughed up blood as his two miscolored hands grabbed at the shaft in pain.

“GO!”

Kyle blocked the next arrow with the flat part of the sickle. The train car beneath him shuddered, making him have to brace himself. The rails that had been magically laying themselves in front of the train were now starting to go over a large canyon with a raging river running through it.

Togoldor laughed again. “It doesn’t matter how many bodies you put between us! This hunt does not end until one of us is dead!”

Behind the orc, Kyle could see someone else start to climb onto the top of the train car. Abagail had one hand keeping her glasses on her head and the other on her wand.

Panic started to set in. Kyle had just watched York and Benny get shot, maybe killed. If Togoldor was honest about his boon, if he truly could not lose a fight, then he could not allow Abagail to cast a spell to protect him.

There was only one option. Kyle needed to end the fight now. And without any way of striking Togoldor down, there was only one way that he could do it.

Kyle broke into a sprint. Togoldor already had an arrow nocked, his bow rising to take aim. He would get a shot off before Kyle could close the distance.

The distance was too small for Kyle to hope to block it. The arrow slammed into his left shoulder, locking up his arm. He screamed at the top of his lungs and took a flying leap at Togoldor.

His good arm wrapped around the orc and physics took care of the rest. The two quickly left the train and went into the air, falling into the mists of the canyon below. The two spun around in the air enough that Kyle could see Abagail screaming after him.

As the waters of the canyon came rushing towards him, Kyle remembered why he’d been so reluctant to promise her that he’d come back.

-----

Kyle gasped for breath and coughed up water.

He’d washed up on a shore at some point. There was no telling how long he’d been unconscious.

But the moment he tried to move he felt that sharp pain in his shoulder. The arrow Togoldor had shot was still there. And in the distance he could barely hear that train horn shout. Good. They’d gotten away.

How he’d get back to them was a problem he’d have to solve for later. For now, he’d settle for getting back onto his feet.

Kyle rolled onto his side and saw Togoldor walking towards him. Already on his feet, no worse for the wear.

He had no time to react before the boot came down on his face.