Part 60

Greza faced the giant human and went into her defensive stance. She looked him over for weaknesses to exploit. He wore heavy army that would stop her punches. He was large and strong and couldn’t grapple with him.

Only two things she could do. She could try to go for his head, but it was out of her reach most of the time. Or, she could go for his joints. No matter how big and tall he was, a well placed strike would still break them.

Those were her only options.

The giant charged forward at a calculated pace she recognized from her own training. He maintained control of his movement, able to act and react with little hindrance.

She took up a defensive stance with her arms up and to the sides so as not to block her vision. It was called the “Bull” stance.

The man reached her and jabbed at her. It was a probing attack to test her defense. She knocked it to the side to open him for an attack of her own but his other hand was already reaching for her. If he managed to grab her, the fight would be over. He could pick her up and do whatever he wanted.

She stepped back out of reach just in time to dodge another fist. He was fast and kept her ducking and weaving to avoid being hit. His reach on her was so great that she couldn’t get in enough to land a shot.

There was no way she could win this fight without getting very lucky. All she could do was wait for an opening that might not happen.

He punched with his left arm and left his side open for just a fraction of a second. She took it. She pushed his arm further in the direction it was already moving to throw him off balance. As his side was open she snapped a kick to his knee.

Before her foot connected his left arm surged back like a landslide, pushing her away and struggling to stay on her feet. He was strong. She was strong as well, but this was about weight. He could push her around all day because he had the leverage and she didn’t.

She backed away from him as he approached at his measured pace. His arms were up and ready to attack.

Greza knew she couldn’t beat him. He was just as strong as her but had more reach and weight. If she ran she’d leave the path open to Verin and that wasn’t going to happen.

Her trainers would tell her that when she was in trouble to open her eyes and look around her. She was definitely in trouble.

Greza continued to step away from him while keeping her guard up and looked to her sides and glanced very quickly behind her.

Nothing to her sides, but behind her was a squad of gunners running up to the front lines. Only there were allies on the other side of this man. If they missed, they’d hit friendlies. She had to get him closer, but she didn’t know if she had time for that.

The man charged her, ignoring caution. He was confident and had every right to be so.

She continued to retreat while fending off his attacks. What she didn’t dodge she deflected out of the way.

“Gunners!” She shouted back while keeping her peripheral vision on her enemy. “Gunners! Shoot this man!”

She spared a quick glance and saw that two of them were pointing her direction.

That glance cost her. An armored fist struck her breastplate and she was lifted into the air and landed on her back. Her helmet flew off and for a second she couldn’t breathe. Blackness threatened to encircle her but she remembered her training and rolled out of the way just as his foot came down right where her head had been.

She felt the thump the ground took from his massive weight. As strong as her bones were, he would have crushed her skull.

An enormous hand clamped down and grabbed her by the hair.

“You were entertaining, Ork.”

She tried to pry his hand off but this man was unusually strong, stronger than what was natural.

Then there was a loud crack and the metallic ‘ping’ of metal striking metal.

The man let go of her hair and stepped back.

Greza rolled away and leapt to her feet.

There was a small hole in his breastplate. Then another gun fired and another hole appeared in his bicep armor.

The man looked up at the gunners and bared his teeth. Another gun fired and she heard the ball streak through the air just passed the man’s unarmored head.

He brought his forearms up to cover his head as he turned and ran. Gunfire followed him as he disappeared into the chaotic battle.

She took a moment to catch her breath.

One of the gunners ran up to her. He had a simple breastplate and helmet with a wide circles for eyes.

“You alright, mam?”

She nodded.

“I am now.”

After resting for a minute, she dove back into the battle. She grabbed an enemy soldier’s halberd and bashed the haft into his face. Another enemy she punched his helmet in. Blood spilled down onto his shiny but thin armor. Their armor was more fit for a parade than a battle.

She could tell they were winning. Even from the most chaotic mess of things, she could see the enemy were falling back.

Suddenly there was a loud ‘thump’ sound that she felt as a warm wind on her face. She looked over and saw a giant fireball rising up from the middle of their army. Bodies flew into the air as another explosion blasted a hole in their army.

“Magic!” Someone shouted. Then dozens more began shouting something about a wizard. Many began running away but she ran towards the trouble.

A blast of lightning shot into the air followed by another one that she saw tear through their ranks. Arcs of purple lightning weaved its way through several squads at once, locking its victims in place as they cooked in their armor.

A unit of gunners opened fire but their bullets hit an invisible wall before they reached their target.

The enemy sorcerer was a clean shaven human. He was old but was standing upright with the health of a young man. He walked at a leisurely pace as his stretched out hands shot lightning and fire.

Then a streak of what Greza could only describe as ‘black light’ came from behind her and hit the enemy wizard. An explosion of white light erupted a few feet in front of the wizard. The dark ray left the afterglow of bright light on her eyes as she tried to blink it away.

Greza looked over and saw Alethia strolling through the retreating troops. Her black hair was blowing behind her from the wind of the explosion.

The Imperial wizard looked around and backed up a few steps.

“Run and I’ll let you live,” she said.

“What are you willing to sacrifice to beat me?” He called back in a clear voice.

“Everything,” she said.

They looked at each other for a long moment, judging who would give up their most cherished memories to defeat the other.

Apparently the wizard saw something in Alethia’s eyes because he nodded and turned away.

She had never seen magic unleashed on the battlefield before and now she wished she never had to see it again. One person could cause so much damage. If Alethia wasn’t there then they would have been nothing they could do to stop him.

Around mid-day their forces began to break up and go into full retreat. As the battle ebbed away from her she picked up a random helmet from the blood soaked and muddied grass and walked back to the hill where Verin and the other generals were.

Alethia wasn’t there.

She walked up to the gathered officers and sat down on a rock.

Verin noticed her and smiled.

“Greza, there you are. I’ve been looking for you.”

She was too tired to form a coherent sentence so she just nodded.

“Glad you’re here,” he said.

He broke away from his officers and walked over to her.

“You’re unhurt?” He asked.

She nodded.

“Thank the Divine Lights.”

He paused, then patted her on the shoulder before returning to his men.

Onata came up and sat down beside her. She was covered in black gunpowder marks and dirt. Her hair was a mess and she was holding her dented helmet in her lap.

“Hard day?” Greza asked.

Onata nodded.