Confusion reigned on all sides of the battlefield. Those that were able to cast their attention to that eastern road.
Another look in the dark, the Yarmdon men were closer now, lit up by the light of one of the burning houses... A scream, and then the unmistakable spray of blood.
"BASTARD!" Gorm cried, his anger like the thundering eruption of a volcano. He swatted his hand behind him, as a villager approached with a knife, instantly crushing the man's skull. And then he rocketed off his back foot at an impossible speed.
Within a single bound, he'd closed the distance of several metres. Beam didn't understand what was happening, he had no idea who it was that Gorm had been so angry to see. But he knew he couldn't leave the giant to his own devices, he hastened to follow, as one of his trustworthy Captains took advantage of the moment to raise morale.
"Look!" He shouted. "The giant retreats before our Commander!" He bellowed. He was thick in the midst of combat himself, covered from head to toe in blood, helping to dispatch the last of the Yarmdon, afflicted by a passion he never thought could reach him, yet still aware of all that was going on around him.
The villagers met his words with another cheer, and with renewed efforts, they set into the last of their enemy.
The Yarmdon numbers past ten, as they were cut thoroughly to pieces. Gorm look over his shoulder at the slaughter, as his eyes grew increasingly red with anger. He didn't know the name of his enemy, for he couldn't speak the man's tongue, but the word 'bastard' more than sufficed, so he screamed it once again.
"YOU BASTARD INSECT! TRICKY TO THE VERY GRAVE, WHAT ARE YOU?" Gorm roared.
The giant flew behind his men, but they were already being cut down at an impossible rate. Barely ten of them still lived – and still, Beam could not see who was doing the slaying. He looked to his right, to see Nila posted on a rooftop. She nodded to him as he ran, assuring him of her support, as she let loose another arrow, killing yet another one of those few remaining men.
It was Tolsey that Beam was more surprised to see. The young commander had virtually vanished as Beam himself had been lost amongst the tide of earlier soldiers. Beam had been quite sure that the man was dead, yet here he was, seeming to be well enough – aside from the terrible gash down the right-hand side of his face that rendered his eye fully closed.
Gorm set into them immediately, his rage overtaking him. He'd been stunned into immobilization for just a moment, but now his axe sped with the fury of a startled serpent, more than matching the namesake of his martial style.
"HOW?" Gorm roared, as his axe came crashing down on Lombard.
Lombard smiled a small smile, as he deftly avoided the blow – now that his sword hand had been taken, he dared not risk parrying too many blows from the giant that was Gorm.
"A waltz is done with a partner," Lombard said, "and a battle is done not just between leaders, but between their subordinates. I counted on my subordinates being superior to yours, that is all."
Gorm, of course, did not understand a single word. Beam cut down two Yarmdon men as he watched Captain Lombard and Gorm facing off against each other. He could feel somewhere behind him the battle concluding, and the villagers cut down the last of the men.
"Captain!" Tolsey said, urgently coming to Lombard's aid, as Gorm descended upon him with fury. Continue reading at m|v-l'e -novelhall.net
"Tolsey – attack him, don't defend me," Lombard said patiently. "The only way to bring down a giant is with a thousand spears."
Carefully, Beam kept an eye on their conflict, as he continued to cut down the last handful of Yarmdon men that stood in their way. He soon found himself with his back to Judas. The man gave a clear sigh of relief the second he caught sight of him, even as he wrestled away the blade of an approaching axe with the shaft of his spear.