Reed cocked another arrow into the crossbow, ready to take aim at the next wave of skeletons.
You’re ill-suited for large groupings.
With a shake of his head, Reed mumbled back under his breath, “Tell me something I don’t know. I need something big and nasty to shoot at.”
From the wreckage of the corpseball climbed three gigantic figures, towering over Reed and the drifters as they fought off the final skeletons around them. Eyes a hollow black and horns curved into spiking points, three undead minotaur began to reconstruct themselves. Reed threw his crossbow up in an instant.
“Dibs!”
The minotaur at the helm of the point swivelled towards Reed’s voice immediately, hooves cutting into the smooth street as it charged with unnatural strength. Reed pulled aside as quickly as he could, but the monster’s sheer strength propelled it forward with a terrifyingly fast pace. Before he could react, the minotaur swung its massive axe into Reed’s whole body and sent him flying.
For a second the world tumbled around him, a flurry of color and light and burning hues. Then, he skidded against the floor of the wall, tearing his skin as he bounced across its length. He felt the Sifstring tighten its grip on his mind, felt the fear of Tai as she tried to keep their connection, felt the panic.
Without her aid, acting on sheer survival instinct alone, Reed threw his crossbow into the ground, bolt down, hoping to catch himself. Right as he passed the edge of the wall, the point finally caught, and he threw every ounce of strength into slamming the crossbow into the ground. His entire body hung off the wall, arms clutched around the top of the crossbow. Below, the raging sea and rocks lashed, warning of a grisly ending.
Reed felt warmth spread through his undershirt, but distinctly decided against acknowledging the wound below. Instead, he forced his arms up into a swing and pulled himself back up. He landed on the wall, unsticking the crossbow and firing a blind bolt at the minotaur. The bolt collided with its shoulder, and it bellowed up and locked eyes again with Reed. Tai yelled, but Reed couldn’t parse what she was saying.
The gladiators took the distraction to pull back the beast, one jumping on its back and the other slicing at its side. The other two minotaurs were raging, one beating the cleric into a bloody pulp and the other dragging a monk along its axe. A few of the drifters looked up, worried, as Reed leaned against the pulpit of the wall. As he loaded another crossbow bolt, he realized that his breathing had gone heavy. The shouting from below increased, arguments over how to get him aid. Reed shoved off the comments and hoisted Fakkenel again, cursing under his breath.
His hunter’s mark shone true, a perfect shot for a perfect situation. The great minotaur raised its mighty axe, ready to slam it into the gladiator pinned below it. As it swung the axe down in a mighty charge, Reed fired off his bolt with deadly precision, glancing off the axe and redirecting its course. The axe overswung, the momentum carrying it back around and decapitating the minotaur. Its body slumped over, quickly shoved off by the fighter beneath.
A cheer sounded from a few below, shouting his name, but Reed stumbled back against the wall’s thin borders. A demanding voice echoed through his head-
Healing! You need-
Reed pressed a hand against his ribcage, hoping it wouldn’t come away bloody. As soon as he touched his chest, his vision blurred and he doubled over onto the parapet in pain.
“N-no…. healer-“ he gasped out. “Dead, below. Trampled.”
Then find-
He threw Tai out of his head with a rough shove, nearly losing consciousness in the process. He could feel her fuming behind the Sifstring, but rules were rules. An injury like this was not to be shared, especially not among just two of them so badly battered already.
Reed, feet now angled to keep him propped against the parapet, reached back to pull another bolt from his quiver. With his strength pooled into leaning against the smooth wood, he nearly caved as the stretching motion sent rivets of pain through his body, but a soft voice filled his ears. With a terrifyingly confusing echo of sound, a female voice whispered past him, and he watched in horror as red strings of light began to sew his wounds shut. They lingered in his flesh, glowing a violent red, but sealing together his body once more.
In a surge of mending, Reed pushed himself back up once more and looked down to see Andel, arms raised and glowing, speaking towards him in a foreign tongue of magic. Reed shuddered but gave the man a quick gesture of thanks, wondering how the cleric had gotten back on his feet so quickly.
“Back,” Reed whispered. He opened the Sifstring once more, and a much more calmer Lantern Carrier sat on the other side, assessing his damage.
Your wounds are healed, but your body is weak. You are exhausted.
“With Andel’s amazing healing, we stand a chance. Let’s give it a few more hours until we let up.”
As Reed fired off a final bolt, hoping to kill the final minotaur, he gave a holler as his friend Kled slid a lance into the beast’s gut. It staggered forward, defeated.
And then it grabbed the demon sword.
With a bellow of dying rage, it threw itself backwards into a full roar. Its eyes turned a blazing purple, and tentacles wormed their way around its arm. The sounds of ships docking filled the air, and Reed realized just how silent the night had become.
Reed exchanged looks with Andel.
“To the Tree?”
“Anywhere that isn’t here.”
Reed pulled away from the fight, grouping with the drifters as they watched the minotaur take up its stance. A pang of fear gripped his heart, and he realized just how close to death he’d come just a minute ago. The weight of the last few days pulled at his bones, and hope escaped him.
**Take heart, Preston. No nobler fight could have been fought. You’ve lost the potion you swore to get, but do not lose yourself.
Reed waved her away with a sigh, pulling the crossbow back to his stitched side. “It can never be easy, can it?”