GENESIS - THE BEGINNING. Book 1

CHAPTER 18 ... Come Death

Tobor brought them to a silent halt some two hundred meters from the closest fighting.

They stared aghast at the sheer brutality before them. The overpowering smell of loosened bowels and spilt blood. Swords flashed as death descended. Duals sprang up seemingly in all directions. Wherever they looked there were bodies lying about. The dead and the dying piled up one on top of the other. Human gristle lay where they fell or were kicked. Limbs, arms, legs and hands trampled underfoot and unnoticed by the fighting humanity.

The wounded tried to crawl out of the way or slashed at those close by with their blood encrusted swords, trying to take at least one more person with them. The screams and cries of the wounded and dying interspersed with curses and the resounding clash of steel on steel.

"Adelia, you and Megan step forward between Katya and myself." She and Katya made space for them. "It's time. Remove your arrows and stick them in the ground where they are easily grasped. Yes. That's perfect. Not too close together." A short moment later all was ready. "This is not something we would have done were you trained but it will have to suffice." She said, keeping an eye on the fighting, cursing melee. "Remember now. Your first arrow to get the distance and from there try and get as many arrows in the air as possible. Ready? Then ... Fire."

Two arrows sped away. One flew into the fighting horde at an enormous speed as the other fell some fifty meters short. "Again. A stronger pull Megan, and aim higher."

Two more arrows sped away. The one disappeared once more between the fighting Contenders. Megan's arrow, although slower, rose higher and fell short of two battling men.

"Again. Pull harder Megan."

This time the two arrows sped true and both entered the killing ground.

"Ok. Fire off all your arrows as quickly as possible then dump your bows. The shit's going to slap us in the face. Soon. Faster. Faster. Get those arrows out. Don't aim, knock and pull..."

A slow stream of arrows sped away and slammed into unprotected arms and necks. Unseen by the four women, a descending arrow punched through the left eye socket of a man who was in the process of dispatching a challenger. The arrow sliced through the nasal cavity to exit the base of the skull and the man fell dead at the feet of his would be opponent who stared at the arrow in exhausted, numb surprise. That surprise lasted only seconds as the churning legs of other fighters pummeled and kicked him as they sought better purchase. The man ducked between fighters and clashing blades seeking a sword. Finding one, he rose to his feet in time for a double bladed axe-wielding fighter that had cleared a path around himself to cut half his head off. The axe-wielder swung his axe all the while moving forward into the knot of fighting humanity. A large blood bespattered man with brush-cut iron-grey hair. A fixed grin plastered his face as his axe clove into the back of a another fighter. The axe blade passed horizontally through the man's back and chest with ease and took the wrist off another. Blood flew through the air as another scream joined the cacophony.

A step forward.

A sword thrust from the left. Blocked. Swept aside with so much force that the swordsman lost his balance, and his life, as the axe made a reverse sweep. A sudden round-house sweep with the double bladed axe sliced unhindered through the neck and left shoulder of the woman creeping up behind him. Cries of danger.

He advanced another step.

People pushed and shoved to get out of the way of the death dealing double bladed axe only to step into the blades of those ahead. The ghoulish grin on the axe-wielder's face did not change as an arrow pierced the fleshy part above the elbow of his left arm. Unnoticed. He swung the axe from overhead sweeping away two swords and as quickly dispatched their owners. He ripped out the arrow, tried to move forward, but corpses lay one on top of the other. He clambered over them to get to his opponents. Large sausage sized fingers grabbed a corpse that was missing half its face and swung it with ease out of the way. It flew four feet through the air to come to rest in a bloody tangle. More bodies followed until, like a battering ram, he ploughed into a shocked and scrambling group of fighters who, within moments, lay pumping their life's blood over the dead underneath them.