A surge of energy rang out as Yed’s great ax collided with the Chacali leader’s cleave-sword. It dislodged the weapon from the leader’s grip. Yed stood there, breathless, he had not even removed the arrows from his back. His eyes were pitch white with no pupils. This must have been the trance he talked about.

  Yed slashed at the larger Chacali, who jumped back to gain some distance. The pack of jackals scurried past me and pounced on Yed. They all dug their teeth into him and hung off his flesh but he didn’t care. Yed merely grabbed each of them and ripped them off. Tears of skin coming with them.

  Yed looked at me, “Collect the others. Make sure the duchess is okay.” he said, “This is the pack leader. We take him down and they run and hide.”

  I nodded as I spit the blood out of my mouth. I got up but fell to the ground immediately. The bite on my calf that the jackal had caused flared with pain. If I had it this bad from just one… I can’t imagine what Yed must be feeling right now.

  The Chacali squadron leader snarled and told one of his men to remain with the children while the others circled Yed.

  “Second Wind!” I cried. I suddenly felt my tiredness slip away from me. My energy replenished and I could even put a little more weight on my foot. I took my sword and while the one enemy attempted to herd my troupe, I stabbed him in the thigh. It howled as it dropped to one knee.

  “Get him!” I yelled at the boys, “Now!”

  They all steeled themselves and stabbed at him. They punctured the jackal like a pin-cushion. Each stroke of their spear was met with a new disgusting sound as the jackal’s life escaped his lungs.

  “Jesus!” I yelled, sliding my sword out of his thigh.

  “Tuf!”I yelled, “I need you to help carry me! I'm injured.”

  “What should we do?!” cried Kaavi.

  “The cavalry are dropping like flies. We need to protect the Duchess!”

  “What about Ghala? What about Ruglio?!” Kaavi asked as he pointed to our cohorts, manacled and lying unconscious against a rock.

  “I’m… not sure.” I said, “Fuck!”

  I looked at Yed fighting. One of the Chacali slashed at him but he blocked it with the hilt of his ax, shucked the weight off and spun so his battleax was now above the Chacali’s head. The blood from the creature's neck hit us from fifteen feet away.

  “They’ve got Yed to help,” I said, “We’ve got a job. Let’s try to protect the Duchess while we can.”

  Tuf grabbed me. With Second Wind and the adrenaline pumping through my veins, I could largely ignore the holes in my calf for now. The battlemasters were now fighting both the footmen and the Chacali cavalry. Our side had one horse left standing.

  “Aim for their mounts’ legs.” I ordered. We rushed to the battlemasters’ aid, hoping the chaos of eight tiny people would help turn the shifting tides of the battlefield.

  Yed let out a frightening yell, more harrowing than even the Chacali’s howls. The enemies covered their ears, giving Yed a chance to strike down another one. He got the creature on his shoulder and it dropped to its knees. Yed released his grip on his large battleax, took out two hand axes holstered on his chest, and plunged them into the Chacali’s head. The leader slashed Yed’s exposed arm. Blood gushed from the wound. The jackals had also begun circling him. He pulled his battleax from the slain opponent and only had two big guys left, as well as the trained jackals. He swung his battleax like a golf club and launched the jackals out of the way.

  No normal mortal could take the abuse that Yed was taking. Ten men might have been slain but Yed was still going while in his rage state. The leader of the Chacali sliced down on Yed. Yed blocked it with the battleax but the injury sustained on his arm made him wobble. The lead kept striking down, each time applying more pressure. It began to wear on Yed, even through his barbaric rage. Clang clang clang! I could hear each strike of metal on metal yield more in the lead’s favor.

  The bard pulled his head out of the carriage and said, “I can help!” He then started playing a frantic tune with his mandolin.

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  What the hell is that guy thinking? Right place, wrong time. Save it for after the battle. I thought. But the melody hit my ears, and I felt it work its way down to my wounds. My bitten leg got patched up, as well as other people’s wounds. We all felt renewed. Holy shit, go, bard!

  With a healed leg and spirit, I slashed at the monstrous mounts. It roared at me and flashed its disgusting teeth my way, one swipe of the tail and it got about half of us. This would not do. A group of elementary school kids could not take this thing on. The one cavalryman left trotted his horse back and forth, constantly whipping his spear, daring the Chacali to come near, but secretly pleading for them to stay back.

  “Barth!” I yelled, “You got any other spells you can hit me with?”

  “I shall make your blade strike true!” He yelled.

  I rolled my eyes. This guy loved to talk like that. Was Strike True even different from True Strike?

  “Sure. Make my ‘blade strike true.’”

  “A blade from when it always came

  Return to home in fighter’s game.

  A spell so wicked and above all new

  I beg thee Egen to please strike true.”

  Holy shit that sucked. But I looked at my blade. The little notes were like purple sprites that circled my sword.

  “What does this do?” I yelled.

  “It makes your weapon strike…”

  “Oh my god, Barth please! Please just explain a little more.”

  “You will hit your opponent!”

  “Then that’s all I need to know.”

  The two mounts that were getting closer to the last remaining cavalryman. After that they’d have Yajaira. Falloutboy was not going to be much help in direct combat. The other battlemasters were still tangoing with some chacali themselves. Then there was Yed, running out of steam and still surrounded by two guys. Making the wrong choice meant someone’s life.

  The mission was to protect the duchess. If that involved letting Yed fight alone then so be it.

  “Stride!” I shouted. My legs became imbued with paladin magic. While my teammates distracted one of the mounts, I galloped toward him. I ran on a rock and used it to launch myself in the air, hurtling toward the mounted Chacali.

  “True Strike!” I exclaimed, and suddenly felt the very same magic that affected my legs affect the tip of my spear. Hopped up on Stride, True Strike, and Strike True, I barreled toward the Chacali who didn’t see me until it was too late. He stuck up his hand to try to protect himself. My spear pierced his hand and collided into his throat. He whistled and gurgled as he dropped from his mount. Dead. We both dropped together, and his mount kicked up, made a horrid ‘mooing’ sound and ran off.

  Yed was waning badly. The lead and him were fighting, and whenever there was an opening, the other Chacali would strike with his own knife, slowly tearing away at Yed. I noticed behind the two, Ghala had gained consciousness. The Chacali meant to guard him had his back facing Ghala. The guard had his cleave-sword up, engrossed in his teammates’ battle with Yed, waiting to be needed. Ghala took his manacles and crawled behind the Chacali. When the distracted guard shifted his foot, Ghala was able to run his chain under the Chacali’s leg. Ghala cried out “Second wind!” and with all of his might, yanked upward and out, all while pushing on the Chacali’s center of gravity. The critter fell. The spellcast distracted the smaller Chacali fightingYed, and Yed stuck his hand ax in his neck.

  The tide was turning in our favor. We had whittled their numbers down. I turned to see how the battlemasters were doing. My soft smile faded. They were downed. The other barbarians were on the floor, bleeding out, the pupils reappearing from the completely whited out eyes. They had many more foes to face than we did. The remaining Chacali were approaching us.

  “Enough of this” The lead leapt backward and snatched Ghala up.

  I turned and saw that the Chacali were on us. Six more opponents and the only adult left was Yed. The rest of us, the bard, duchess, and handmaiden included were all children.

  “What do we do?” Kaavi asked, all of them had their swords up, ready to fight.

  We were about equal in numbers but we were still children. If I asked these kids to fight for me, they would surely die. Yed came to the same conclusion. Upon seeing Ghala captured, he began releasing from his rage state. I could see the wildness leaving him and logic reentering. He dropped his weapon and stuck his hands up.

  “We surrender,” I said before following Yed’s lead and dropping my spear.

  The kids were devastated. All that fighting but… they followed my lead. They dropped their weapons and stuck their hands up. The Chacali grabbed the shackles from their belts, turned us around and started restraining us. Eventually they headed into the carriage where they got the Duchess and her crew.

  The lead took Ghala’s chains and strung them through his own belt, so that Ghala had to stay close by.

  “Sorry,” The leader explained, “Young alive. No adults though.”

  Yed looked at me and simply said, “Remember the mission.” Then the lead slashed his throat. Yed fell and his eyes rolled back into his head as the blood from his neck wound dripped onto the ground.

  If that was what he did to Yed… What did they have in store for us?

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  LilTwerp