Chasing Sparks

Chapter 23.2

It was mid-afternoon and Wren had been sitting on the uncomfortable rock for hours now. He was feeling restless and growing increasingly worried about Quizi. He then noticed Lind was no longer staring at him. The man had been watching him non-stop since Quizi had left but it appeared something else had gotten his attention now. The Barbarian was looking off to the west, shielding his eyes against the afternoon sun.

Curious, Wren followed the big man’s gaze and spotted what he was looking at. Three forms were heading this way. They were not coming from the same direction Quizi had gone and this concerned Wren. It seemed to concern Lind, too, by the way he was looking and holding his big hammer.

The three figures coming this way were big, Wren could see that. Barbarians from another clan, Wren thought, but something about the way the figures moved didn’t fit. Wren could see even from this distance, the shapes almost rolled side to side as they walked, suggesting big lumbering strides and a very big wide gait.

As he watched for a little longer, he became increasingly sure, he was looking at his first ogre. Or, first three ogres. And this was not good news. As far as most people were concerned, the first ogre you saw was nearly always your last. They were huge, ridiculously strong beasts.

Lind was walking towards Wren. “Ogres”, he said.

Wren nodded.

“We fight and die now,” Lind continued.

Wren looked at him with a puzzled expression. “We run and hide.”

Lind spat at Wren’s feet, “Lind does not run and hide.”

“But there are three of them and only one of you.” Wren said somewhat exasperated. "There is no shame in running from a fight you cannot win.”

Lind spat again. This time hitting Wren square in the chest, “Lind does not run and hide.”

Wren shook his head and picked up his stick and started walking east away from the Hun and approaching ogres. It’s your funeral, he thought. Crazy Barbarian.

He heard Lind spit for a third time but didn’t bother to look around to see where this one hit him.

Wren was angry, Lind was going to die completely needlessly. Stupid Barbarian. He had walked about a hundred paces, when he heard the ogres scream. They had obviously spotted Lind. As Wren looked over his shoulder, he saw the crazy Barbarian had returned to the hillock and was standing there with his hammer held high in both hands. The complete opposite of hiding. Crazy Barbarian.

The ogres were moving more quickly now. Their rolling gait even more pronounced as they ran. Looking at them, they must each be above eight foot and the middle one was likely over nine foot tall. Wren watched them closing in Lind. The fool stood there impassively, clearly embracing death, not a trace of fear in his posture. Wren willed his legs to keep walking but he couldn’t stop looking now.

The ogres were picking up speed as they got closer, each one eager to be the first to kill the Barbarian. Wren could feel the anger inside him growing. Stupid Barbarian. Stupid Barbarian.

As the ogres started up the hillock, Wren found himself running back towards Lind. He couldn’t believe he was doing this but he also knew he just couldn’t just leave. So he picked up his speed and charged up the hillock, keeping his eyes on Lind. The biggest ogre arrived first and swung its club with huge force. Lind dodged deftly for a big man, before crunching his heavy maul into the hip of the ogre.

Wren winced at the power of the blow. In that instance, he knew Lind was a strength affine, the power of the strike, truly awesome. Enough to knock the big ogre off its feet onto the ground. It was then that the other two ogres arrived, within a heart beat of each other. The first bowling straight into Lind, knocking him to the ground. The other bringing its huge club down with a loud crunch on Lind’s shoulder. Smashing it.

Lind grunted in pain as his arm fell limply to his side but still had the presence of mind to roll out of the way of a second blow, despite the pain he must be feeling. Lind then managed to struggle to his feet, holding his maul in his offhand, waving it at the three ogres in an attempt to fend them off.

The biggest ogre had struggled back to its feet by now. Its hip, badly damaged but it was able to stand, albeit with its weight on the other leg. It roared in anger, as it raised its club to strike. Lind simultaneously screamed a Barbarian warcry, as he maneuvered his maul into a defensive position and skillfully deflected the ogre’s swing above his head. If it was possible, this made the already enraged ogre even madder.

The ogre’s attention was entirely focused on Lind and it never saw Wren hurtling up the slope from the other side. That was, until the point of Wren’s spear pierced its thick skin.

Fortunately for Wren, the ogre wore no armour but he still felt considerable resistance as his spear hit the ogre just below the ribs. He even felt the stick shift in his grip and for an awful moment thought the spear would bounce off the ogre’s toughened hide. But Wren had positioned his body so that his hips provided considerable momentum to the thrust, and he felt the initial resistance suddenly disappear and the stick’s point penetrate fully inside the ogre’s body.

The ogre was so large and the angle of entry so steeply upwards, that the stick passed directly through the ogre’s chest, piercing its heart. The nine foot giant’s eyes widened in surprise, before they rolled to the back of its head, and it collapsed dead on the ground.

One of the other two ogres turned to face Wren, swiping its club in a large arch towards him. Wren, immediately let go of his weapon and ducked under the club, before moving back out of range.

The other ogre was still pressing Lind who was using his considerable strength to fend it off, but as his main hand hung useless at his side, it was clear to Wren that it was just a matter of time before the ogre got the better of Lind.

Wren knew he had to try something desperate. So he lured the ogre attacking him down the hill, hoping Lind could hold out for a little longer. As they approached the bottom of the hill, Wren suddenly dodged under the ogre's latest swing and sprinted back up the hill towards Lind.

Lind was on his knees, literally, holding the maul above his head blocking a vicious vertical strike from the ogre in front of him. Lind successfully deflected the blow to the side of him and as the ogre raised its club for the next strike Wren took his opportunity. He moved next to Lind and reached out for the Barbarian’s injured shoulder.

As he felt his hand make contact, he whispered the healing words and dumped the whole of the spark’s healing energy into the shoulder. Wren saw Lind’s eyes widen in surprise but only for a split second.

Lind was a seasoned warrior and adjusted quickly to his change in fortune. As the ogre’s club fell for a second strike Lind didn’t try to block this time but rather rolled to the side, right on top of his previously damaged shoulder.

As he stood back up he was already swinging his maul in both hands at the surprised ogre. Wren heard a sickening crunch as the maul connected with the ogre’s head. The huge behemoth then dropped like a sack of stones, dead on the floor.

The remaining ogre had since returned to the top of the hill and swung hard, catching the preoccupied Lind in the hip and knocking him to the ground. As the ogre moved to finish off the prone form of Lind, Wren knew he had to act now or all his efforts would have been in vain.

With no spear to help him, he did the only thing he could think of. He jumped up on the ogre’s back and grabbed it round the neck. He then locked his legs around its waist and bit as hard as he could into the ogre’s neck. A move he had seen before.

He could feel the ogre trying rip him off but he held on as if his life depended on it. He then saw Lind’s maul flash below him once then twice.

His teeth were still buried deep in the ogre’s neck when he felt himself falling. Even as he fell he refused to let go of the ogre’s neck. He remembered thinking Quizi would be so proud, before his head hit something hard and everything went black.