The Child of Cataclysm

Chapter 3

WHAM

Without warning, the tavern door was slammed open. Jericho and Clarissa whipped around to face the intrusion. Martier craned his neck to see who had come in so abruptly.

A knight stood in the doorway, his large form blocking the view outside. His armor gleamed in the torchlight, his face hidden by the helmet. Gripped in his hand was a longsword.

He stepped farther into the room, leaving space for a woman to walk in beside him. She was wearing a dark green cloak. Her blonde hair was tied back in a ponytail. She had a bow grasped in her hands, and two short blades hung at her hips.

The knight raised his sword and pointed its tip at Martier's assailants.

"Children of Cataclam!" he bellowed, "Your terror ends here."

Clarissa scoffed, "And you are?"

The new woman stepped forward, drawing a handful of arrows and notching one in her bow. She pulled the string taut and leveled it on Clarissa. "Well, since you asked so nicely, my name is Mya. The big guy is Sepher."

Martier shuffled nervously in his spot.

"Pssst!"

Looking up, he saw the bartender staring at him. He was surprised she was still here. Anxiously, she waved her hand, beckoning for Martier to come. He gave the others one more glance before crawling forward. He was barely halfway there, however, when a knife was buried in the floorboards in front of him with a thunk.

"And where do you think you're going?" Clarissa hissed, one of her knives raised, ready to be released. Just as she was about to throw it, however, an arrow knocked it out of her hand. "Hey, Missy!" Mya called, "Over here!"

Clarissa glared at the archer. "Fine. We'll just kill you first!"

Jericho took that as his cue to leap forward, sword lunging for Mya's head.

The knight, Sepher, deftly raised his blade to block Jericho's strike before slamming his shoulder into his chest. Jericho stumbled back with a grunt and found himself backtracking as he had to defend himself from the larger man's blows.

Clarissa threw one of her knives at Sepher, but it only made sparks as it bounced off the knight's armor. An arrow whizzing past her nose reminded her of the other threat. Clarissa whipped towards Mya. "Alright riding hood, you asked for it!" she snarled, pulling out several knives.

The ranger didn't respond, instead opting to dive behind a table that was upturned by the two men to dodge the projectiles. Some of them missed wide, the rest striking the table with multiple thunks, and sticking to the wood.

Mya popped up from behind her cover, quickly firing an arrow before Clarissa could react. The woman cried out as the missile was lodged in her arm. Jericho heard her cry and looked away from Sepher for a split second. The knight took advantage of this and slammed his helmet into the man's head. Jericho staggered back and was unable to recover in time to block Sepher's next move.

He raised his longsword in the air and slashed down. Silence, then the clatter of a sword as Jericho dropped his weapon.

The man's body collapsed to the ground, a red puddle forming around him. Sepher turned to face Clarissa who had watched them in shock. She backed up as Sepher stepped up beside Mya, who had her bow raised with an arrow notched.

Clarissa's eyes danced around in a panic and made contact with Martier's. They stared at each other for a few moments before Clarissa looked back at the knight and ranger, grinning maliciously. "You're hunting for Children, right?" she growled. Martier's heart dropped as Mya and Sepher looked at each other.