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Back to Empire on the HPe3000
... and ...
Harald ran past Telenstil and tried to join the fight, though
Talberth seemed to have things well in hand. The mage used the power
stored in his wand to cast another bolt of lightning down the corridor,
the others turned their heads, and Derue crawled across the floor, singed
by the first electric burst. The two giants were caught within the door,
smoke rose from their clothes and one had his beard aflame after the
second bolt struck.
A creak of rusty hinges brought Harald around, a passageway
door swung open and an ancient giantish matron ran out. She bore a stout
length of wood, a walking stick perhaps, but it could have been the
crossbar that shut fast the doors of a manorhouse.
"Telenstil!" Harald gave shout, trying to warn the mage who had
not heard or paid heed to the creaking sound. The matron, Ingigerd did
not hesitate, she struck the elven mage across the back and head.
Telenstil flew off his feet, so powerful was the blow, and crashed against
a giant chair within the chiefs trophy room.
"Put down that stick!" Harald warned the giantess, he came here to
fight the warriors of the tribe not their granddams.
She laughed at him, and called back for her maids to attack as
well. Harald could see a group of several giant maidens who had not left
the safety of the passageway. Ingigerd swung her club and nearly brained
the ranger, but he ducked and rolled beneath her swing. He brought his
sword around, the blade bit deep and cut clean through her unprotected
side. She gasped in pain, but swung again, heedless of the blood which
flowed like a red river and poured across the floor. The maids shrieked
and one dropped a metal pan and turned away, but another, braver than the
rest, who held some fraction of Ingigerd's spirit within, stepped from the
safety of the hall. She caught Harald across the shoulder, her weapon a
long metal brush, it felt like a shovel flat and the giantess swung it
like a mace. Harald's swing went wide, he cut the crone but with a shallow
glancing blow.
Telenstil had risen while this fight went on, he saw the giantess
strike at Harald, now the ranger had two huge foes to face. Time was on
his mind, each passing moment brought the giants closer and chances of
escape further away. With that thought he cast a spell. "He-Das!"
he said and threw a piece of brown confection at the young giantess and
the open door. The candy spread out and as it did it thinned into a
mist. The brown drops spattered on the giantess with the metal brush and
another who, undecided to fight or flee, stood just outside the open door.
The brush she swung moved as if through thick brown mud, her head turned
slow, the spell had worked and mired her in time.
Harald called again for the ancient one to cease her fight, but
she just laughed again and made a jab with the wooden club.
"Old one, you have the spirit of a warrior," Harald called to her,
and brought his ancient claidheamohmor down with a swing that started far
back behind his shoulders. The blade was very long, its tip cut high
into her shoulder and down across her upper arm, her wrinkled flesh
and wiry muscles opened beneath the razors edge. Ingigerd gave a groan,
her club fell from her hands, and she fell back against the wall. She left
a bloody trail as she sunk down and called to Harald in a weak and gentle
voice.
"I die," she said and beckoned him to come, "You remind me of my
son when he was but a little boy, come let me see your eyes."
"I did not wish this," Harald replied, and took a step to the
old giantess.
She smiled up at him and bared her teeth. Her left hand shot
out and grabbed him by the throat. "I wish this." she spat at him and
squeezed.
* * *
(To Be Continued)