vengeance

chapter 2 part 4

 Twice they had been delayed , drawn into fights between Celts and orcs . Lunn killed his first orc by ducking under the swing of its axe and stabbing it in the heart through its leather shirt. Ul-ion had killed at least five if not more . Everywhere there was fighting , the night was alive with it as all around the wattle and daub roundhouses of the towns people burned. Lunn followed Ul-ion through the chaos he didn’t have to ask where he was going and he certainly didn’t have to ask why. They made their way through a maze of burning houses . They were not set in straight rows as they were else where in the world and their path threw them was filled with twists and turns .

  But finally they reached the inner gates . Goblins were scaling the walls and fighting the Celts that defended it in an attempt to reach the keep but the biggest threat was at the gates not atop the wall. The ogre that stood club in hand at the gate was twelve feet tall . Its vile milky green skin was covered in scars , black tattoos of crude skulls , flames and symbols Lunn didn’t know , and boils seeping a foul smelling yellow pus .

It wore nothing but animal pelts covered in filth around its waist and a necklace made of various kinds of skulls . The skulls were mostly human save for a couple of wolf skulls , an bear skull and one that Lunn guessed was an orcs.

  The lack of clothing or armour left bare a grotesque oversized belly and arms and legs thick with muscle. It was its face that was the most hideous of all . Square , thick jaws , a broken and flattened nose , thick matted yellow hair , a beard that grew long and platted from its chin and a hollow socket where its right eye should have been . here stands my parents doom.  he couldn’t believe it , it was so close to him it was real not just a dream and it was screaming something at the gate.

  Lunn realised it was shouting in common human speech but the words were crude and made no sense , its voice was too harsh.

“ LORD! give me boy . Give Plat-beard little boy that lived and you live too . Green eyes boy . Little boy all Plat-beard want to kill . Or lord come fight me!” 

  Lunn’s feet moved on their own . A hand grabbed his shoulder but he shrugged it off . All sound faded but the heavy beat of his heart. In the corner of his eye he could see his god forged blade grow brighter with every child . 

 “ how about both monster.” his voice boomed from inside his helmet before he lifted his visor to show the ogre his eyes. It stared at him blankly . He had heard ogres were mindless violent creatures , he would have to be more plain . “ I’m both the boy you seek and the lord , fight me.” 

 It laughed but it accepted. 

 The ogre’s charge shook the ground , Lunn dared not think of by how much the ogre outweighed him but he held his ground . He widened his stance , he watched the ogres club swing and he ducked . The ogres weapon was as terrifying as its wielder . When it was swung the club emitted a high pitch screech . The symbols carved into the gnarled wood glowed with a black light , that you couldn’t see but you felt was there . As soon as the club passed overhead Lunn ran past the ogre slashing at it’s leg as he went. It screamed but Lunn knew that it was only a minor wound .  

  Every time Lunn dodged a hit , jumped aside or ducked beneath a swing he did the same covering the ogre’s legs in cuts seeping black blood. It was all beginning to count for nothing Lunn thought , all around the green skins were over running the defenders and the ogre wasn’t even starting to slow but Lunn felt tired . He wasn’t used to the weight of his armour and his shoulders and neck were sore from bearing the weight. His arms grew tired with the effort of slashing through flesh and his legs felt like jelly .

He jumped to the left of a downward swing of the club and tripped , the ogre laughed and spoke to itself in its own crude tongue. Lunn watched as its mouth twisted into a feral grin revealing cracked and yellow pointed teeth. Lunn stared it in the face , waiting for the end but feeling nothing but shame when a flash of movement caught his eye.

   It was nearly to fast to follow but Lunn recognised Ul-ion’s blue cloak flowing behind him and the dim , pale green glow of swift sickle. Ul-ion ran straight up the ogre’s club and leapt through the air the way no human could. He spun in mid-air and as he came down behind the ogre’s shoulder he swung downwards with his curved blade . Swift-sickle curved point dug deep into green flesh , the weight of the impact spun the ogre around with a cry of pain. 

  Lunn saw his chance , with every ounce of strength he had , he ran at the back of the ogre’s knee driving his sword in point first until it scraped bone. The ogre collapsed on its injured leg howling in pain . It’s huge green hands reached for Ul-ion still hanging from swift-sickle on it’s back. Ul-ion held on to his great sword’s handle , in the other he held his short sword trying to fight off the ogre’s hands . Lunn looked away to pull his sword free of the ogre’s knee , when he looked back Ul-ion was gone . Lunn knew the ogre had him , flashbacks rushed to Lunn’s mind of his father as he searched desperately for a way to help. A few feet away Lunn saw the bloody mess of what was once a man until the ogre’s club had crushed him , but his nine foot iron tipped broad headed spear was intact. Lunn darted over and grasped it , this is it he thought , one attempt. Holding it as near to the bottom of the shaft as he could Lunn drove it upwards into the soft point at the base of the skull . A shock passed through Lunn’s arms as iron passed through bone and into the brain. 

  There was no shout of pain or roar of anger just the sound of flesh and bone impacting on the ground as the ogre fell to the side , dead at last. All around faces watched in shock . Cut off the head , Lunn thought , and the body will fall. the goblins were the first to break , scrambling over each other in an attempt to escape . Soon every green skin with the power of its legs was fleeing except the orc berserkers who fought on , screaming blood . Out matched and out numbered many of their cries were rewarded as surviving Celts and Elves rallied together to slaughter them one by one. 

  Lunn found Ul-ion close to the body of the ogre . His arms had been dislocated from when the ogre grabbed him but he was alive and for that Lunn was thankful. Within minutes the gates of the inner wall were open and the injured were brought inside. Two men in leather came and carried Ul-ion inside , the elf was drifting in and out of conciseness with the pain . Lunn carried swift-sickle for him , as they walked through the gates men on the wall began to cheer.

 “ Lunn the Dragon Celt .” 

“Lunn the savoir.”

 “ Lunn the ogre slayer.” each chant was followed with  a roar of approval . It embarrassed Lunn so he walked looking down as the light of An Claideamh Solais and swift-sickle began to fade. At the door to the keep Lunn was greeted by a crowd of women , children and old men thanking him for his bravery . The only compliment he listened to was his grandfathers 

 “ you did good Lunn,” he said “ you did good.”