Chapter 14-6

The monster roared as it jumped at Garkhen, who raised his shield and braced himself while Tirel jumped aside. It crashed into the half-dragon with terrific force, teeth and claw-hooves screeching against his armor, but somehow he managed to hold his ground. He hid his surprise at feeling its claws scratch his scales through his armor—how could it get through the enchanted adamantium?

Garkhen soon found he had to focus entirely on holding the beast off with shield and mace, with no time to try to attack. But then Tirel in tiger form jumped on its hindquarters, his own claws tearing at its flesh. It seemed to the Warder that Tirel's claws did not penetrate nearly as far as they should have, but still it forced the creature to divide its attention. It swung its heavy crocodilian tail at the Wyre, but he nimble dodged aside, then renewed his attack. 

 

This finally dragged the creature's attention away from Garkhen. As soon as he could catch his breath, he exhaled a bolt of lightning straight into its hindquarters. It bellowed in pain, but seemed scarcely harmed. His mace in its face as it turned again to face him caused more significant damage, but again the half-dragon noted that it seemed strangely resilient to damage, as if it were made of something other than just flesh. 

 

As it tried to recover from being dazed, Tirel struck again, this time jumping up on its back and trying to bite its throat. It rolled over, and the Wyre jumped back off, growling in frustration. Before it could recover its balance Garkhen struck again, charging forward and bringing his mace down on its shoulder with all his strength. This time he heard something crack, and it staggered, that leg clearly disabled. 

 

Suddenly it spat at Garkhen, and he flinched backwards. He heard a hissing and looked down to see black-red blood eating through his armor. Falling back he murmured a spell-prayer to ward against acid, and was relieved to see it stopped making progress.

He looked back up to see Tirel sporting a bleeding scratch across his muzzle, though the Madness-Touched now had one to match. Warily the Wyre began to circle it. Catching on, Garkhen moved the other way, forcing it to split its attention. It tried to lash out at Garkhen with its remaining good forelegs, then its teeth, but he managed to get his shield in its way each time, and then Tirel again sprang forward. He sank his teeth into one of its hind legs. 

 

Bleating and bellowing, it tried to shake him off. It succeeded after a moment, but the Wyre took a large chunk of flesh with him. He spat it out and growled back at the monster. While it was distracted, Garkhen again swung with his mace, but this time it dodged, though it stumbled a bit as it came down on its injured hind leg afterward. Tirel sought to slash its other leg with his claws, but was warded off by its heavy tail. 

 

After a tense moment of warily shifting position, seeking for advantage, the creature again lunged at Garkhen. Instead of bracing, this time the Warder stepped forward, bashing his shield into its face as it snapped at him. It seemed hardly affected by it, but it put him in position to swing his mace again as it lifted a forelimb to swipe at him. Mace met ankle, and another crack told him that he had struck true. 

 

Tirel wasted no time in exploiting its distraction. He jumped to one side of it and then onto its side, his hind feet still on the ground as he tore at its flanks. Desperately it tried to turn and lash out, but he dug his claws in deeper and managed to hold it in place through sheer might and weight. Garkhen brought his mace down again, clipping the side of its head as it tried to move aside. Then with a great growl, Tirel pushed downwards, taking advantage of its injured legs and feet. It toppled over, and the Wyre was on top of it in an instant, pinning it down.

It struggled and heaved, showing surprising strength in spite of its wounds. It was all Tirel could do to hold it down. Garkhen swung at its head again, missed, then waited for an opening. When next he swung he struck true, his mace striking the top of its head. It jerked, then was still for a moment, clearly dazed. Again Garkhen swung, striking its head once more. This time bone broke beneath his blow, and the Madness-Touched convulsed once, and then lay still.

Tirel returned to his Wyre form, panting almost as hard as Garkhen. “That... was tough.”

Garkhen nodded. “It is... unusual... for one to be... here, yes?”

Tirel nodded in return. “Good thing... we stopped it. Could have hurt... a lot of people.”

************

So, yeah. Tough battle. It's late. Good night.