Andraste's Chevalier

Chapter 21- The Blighted Ruins

"It was safe to say that I relearned an important principal often recited by Captain Falmore. Don't overestimate yourself."

- From the Journal of Eratus Riverwood

My legs moved on their own. Well, tripped backwards is more accurate.

It was a good thing too because I barely registered the monstrosity's claws swipe did not see the monstrosity's claws sweeping towards me from the right.

A gust of wind blew right by my face as the nails raked the air in front of me as I fell backwards. The giant hand swerved along and crashed into a stone pillar, sending earth-shaking vibrations through the room and spewing stone shards in all directions. The torch that I left on the ground, and the only source of light in the room, spun to one of the corners of the room, causing the shadow of the massive creature to loom over me.

It roared again, tearing its claws out of the stonework.

"Knight-Lieutenant Riverwood. I..."

From that point on, I didn't think too much. Everything boiled down to action and reaction.

I rolled to the side, right as its leg slammed into the ground where I was a moment ago. With my left arm, I shoved my sword into the side of its foot.

Black blood spurted out, and the being howled in pain. Its injured limb reared back, tearing itself free of the blade.

In that moment, I pushed myself back up, and met the being, eye to eye. If the murderous intent wasn't visible already, it opened its jaws, revealing the jagged teeth of a carnivore.

Stories often tell you that the bigger a monster the slower it is. Whoever, wrote those tales have clearly never seen an actual fight play out.

Another arm swiped from the left, whistling as fast as a loosed arrow. I dashed back, this time without tripping myself.

Before I could get my bearing, another arm swiped from the right, as fast as the last one, and I managed to avoid it in kind.

The monster kept its flurry of blows until I backed myself into the wall. Right as the arm came swinging, I managed to raise my arm to throw up a barrier.

I could only muster up a trickle of energy from my core, and the size of the barrier reflected it. Light coalesced into a small shield covering my arm.

The claws struck the barrier, stopping with the impact. Light flared from the clash, causing the monster to yelp then flinch back in surprise.

I took that moment to step forward and shove the sword forward. At first, it seemed like it would go through, then stopped.

The being shrieked into the air. I put more force into the blow with one arm. Then the spun as the thing's arm slammed into my side and sent me flying.

There was sharp pain as I felt the claws tear through the brigandine. One must have cut into the band for my travelpack as I felt the weight of it tumble free from my back. The next thing I felt was a flash of pain as I crashed into one of the walls of the room.

My ripped travelsack landed in front. The contents littered free of the bindings. Bandages and cloth. Glass bottles and bandages teetered along the stone floor.

I put my one good arm on the ground and heaved myself up, feeling every single bruise left from the impact. The monstrous creature continued to scream in pain, then tore the sword free from its belly. The blade clattered along the floor, toward the opposite corner.

I didn't know if the beast was intelligent but judging by how it looked at the sword, then back at me, it knew that I was helpless.

There was blood leaking from a cut in my mouth. Guess I must have bit on accident after hitting the wall. I spat it out on the ground.