Send a spelling or grammar correction to: Tracy Johnson
The Bow of Haladan Part VI
The soldiers yelled as they charged, the noise drowned out the
horn which blew the advance on and on. No longer did the boulders fly,
Kyle and the eighth company ran toward the ruined inn, they could see the
giants towering above the fallen walls but with their backs to the
advancing men.
A dark shape went flying through the air but it did not go far,
it was tossed over the giants shoulder and struck the ground with only a
bounce or two. It landed in Kyle's path but far enough ahead so that he
did not even flinch, he leapt it and kept on running.
Kyle was the first to reach the wall, the young signalman was
next, and clambered up beside him. The scene beyond was a desperate fight,
a score of troopers faced two giants, another score lay scattered about,
broken, bleeding and dead. Beneath his feet Kyle could have stepped out
upon the head and shoulders of another giant, wounded, perhaps crippled,
one hand holding its knee, the other waving a club at three soldiers
who darted back and forth trying to get a sword within stabbing reach.
The giant jabbed with its club and knocked one man aside, another
darted in and slashed its arm, but its other hand lashed out and grabbed
the daring swordsman by the head. There was a snap and the sword dropped
from the lifeless grasp, the troopers head crushed like a walnut in the
massive fist. Kyle cursed and thrust his sword into the monsters neck.
The giant tried to roar but only a whispering gurgle escaped,
the sword had pierced its throat. It let go its club and grabbed its
throat trying to close the hole that Kyle's sword had opened.
Two soldiers rushed in, one buried his sword up to the hilt in
the giants belly, the other thrust up and under the trunk like arm but
the huge fist came down and hit him squarely across the head. The soldier
fell, head lolling at an obscene angle, dead.
The two giants were circled now, still they took a fearsome toll,
swords cut them from behind, sling stones bounced from face and head and
off of mountainous shoulders and chests. One fell, a tendon severed behind
the knee, the other took flight. He bowled over or crushed all those who
stood in his path. The giant ran through a thicket of swords, the blades
gashed him, but struck no vital part. With strides longer than a man
was tall the giant soon left the battle scene behind and ran off into the
night.
Fallen on its face, the cut tendon had sent it crashing like a
tree beneath a woodsmans axe, the giant tried to push itself to its feet,
but a dozen swords hacked it down. Swords cut into it from foot to crown,
they hewed at arms as thick as a fat mans waist, they stabbed it, sought
its eyes to blind, glanced of ribs like barrels staves and finally the
giant died. The troopers kept slashing long after it was dead, they did
not stop till it was a bloody hash and tired arms could lift their dulled
blades no longer.
Atop the wall Kyle fought the giant which crouched below him. He
used both hands to bring his sword around and caught it in the brow. The
blade sunk in above the giants eye into the jutting bone, it snapped,
cheap steel fractured at the hilt, the length of sword lodged tight within
the giants skull.
Below, the last swordsman retrived his fallen comrades sword, his
own was sunk too deep within the vitals of his foe. He slashed the giants
upraised arms, it struck the wall, ignoring his attacks.
Above, the horn gave a wailing off-tune note and the signalman
tumbled from his perch. Kyle grabbed out, but could not stop the troopers
fall, he hit the ground head first then was crushed beneath the giants
thrashing side.
"Damn." Kyle cursed and threw the useless hilt at the giants face,
it left a scratch but did naught else. Kyle pulled the dagger from his
belt and remembered the other knife that Giffard had handed him, he drew
that as well, letting the fine sheath fall carelessly away. With knives in
both hands he threw himself upon the giants chest.
* * *
(To Be Continued...)