Chapter 28

Maria and Claire left Tirr and ran towards their assigned staging area, where teams of villagers and fighters were already set up. As they arrived the soon saw the flag that signaled a group was coming towards them. The villagers ran to get into position and Maria followed suit, leaving Claire on the walls to give the signal.

Along a section of the wall were wooden beams set into the bottom. While that section looked the same as the others, Tirr had purposefully designed it to be weak and unstable. Maria took her own position, waiting for Claire to give the signal. They wanted to make sure that the Shard User was caught within the worst part of the collapse.

Soon Maria could hear hoofbeats getting closer as the knights followed the carefully designed path. Other villagers on the wall were still yelling and throwing rocks to make sure they kept moving. Eventually the sound grew louder and louder, some villagers started to panic, worried they might miss the timing, but Maria hushed them, deciding to trust in Claire.

It was a relief when Claire gave the signal and came down from the wall. The villagers set to work, instantly raising the heavy wooden beams. Maria lifted as well, channeling some of her blessing through her body as she raised the beam. The wall of dirt stone and wood shifted and just as it was at it’s most unstable. A cry of alarm came from the other side of the wall as the knights came upon the dead end, some moving too quickly to properly stop.

Denner, sensing something the moment they found the dead end tried to get his men to turn and leave the tight space. But it was too crowded and difficult for the horses to maneuver. As he yelled, he noticed a slow rumble and looked up just in time to notice the tall dirt wall as it collapsed towards his men.

He didn’t have the chance to even curse as they were swept up in the wave of rocks and dirt. The villagers took their chance, yelling and rushing in after the collapse of the wall. They moved in groups, going for the knights that had avoided being buried first. They viciously let out all the resentment and frustration they had dealt with since the first attack.

Though the knights were much better equipped and trained, surrounded and disoriented, they fell quickly as groups of 6-8 villagers attacked them confidently. One knight was held down, the villagers stabbing into any unarmored part they could find untill his yelling stopped.

Maria watched as the villagers fought keeping a close eye out for the Shard User. Claire and her maid Jill watched as well. Jill with an arrow ready and Claire waiting with her sword and shield. As the villagers fought on and no one else appeared, Maria began to hope that the Shard User had been killed under the rubble.

When the last knight that had struggled to get out of the dirt fell under the villagers attacked, they let out a cheer, caught up in their success. Maria also let out a breathe, clenching the mace in her hand. she was relieved that she wouldn’t have to fight yet, at least without Tirr there to protect her.

She looked over at Claire expecting to see a similarly pleased face at the outcome of the fight. Instead, Maria saw her looking anxiously towards where the villagers were happily cheering. She didn’t notice anything at first, but eventually a small wisp of smoke and steam rose from under the collapsed rubble. The sight filled Maria with fear and she called out immediately, yelling for the villagers to run.

They looked back at her confused, meanwhile the smoke slowly poured out of the ground under them. Now Claire was yelling too. Soon some of the villagers noticed the dense smoke rising around them and began to run. As the others followed, sizzling could be heard from the dirt where they were just standing.

As they moved away, the ground suddenly erupted, sending heated dirt and stone flying. Some villagers hadn’t been fast enough and were caught in the debris screaming as each super-heated rock struck them.

From the source rose Knight Captain Denner, covered in flames, his face bloody and furious as his left arm hung uselessly to his side. The villagers ran in a panic, some dragging the wounded behind them. Maria felt herself freeze with fear as he readied his blade, covered in flame.

An arrow struck him in the side, piercing through his armor to strike at him. Denner let out a curse and turned to where Jill stood next to the remains of the wall. He turned his attack towards her, firing a slash of flame that caught part of her side as she ducked back. The force sent her rolling into the wall where she fell clutching her burnt side.

Claire let out a yell, charging forward only to have another ball of fire sent her way. She raised her shield in front of her and was caught by the blast, sending her flying back. She rolled onto the ground; her body singed. Denner let out a laugh as he started towards her.

Sudden footsteps made him turn around in time to see Maria charging at him recklessly. She pushed through her fear, her mace raised high as she approached. Denner turned and quickly let another bolt of fire speed towards her. But felt himself weaken under the current strain.

As the bolt of fire quickly approached, Maria knew there were still villagers behind her. She couldn’t just dodge and let them be hurt. She took her mace and as the attack came swung it up, batting at the ball of flame and redirecting it upwards. Some still washed over her and she felt the burns as the pain set in.

Maria focused on her blessing letting it run through her boy as she healed. Denner noticed as the damage slowly repaired and cursed, bringing up his sword as he realized he couldn’t waste any more energy. Instead he charged at Maria himself, hoping to finish her off quickly.

Maria tried to breath and remember everything that Doron had taught her as the knight came at her. She dodged the first blow deftly but was unable to take the chance to counter as Denner kept up the offence.

He swung at her again and again. Each time Maria just barely blocked or dodged, and the burning blade would cause blisters on her skin to rise. She was soon completely on the defensive at the knight pressed her, and the exhaustion started to build as she realized her Blessing wouldn’t be able to keep up.

As she tried to figure out what to do, she remembered Doron’s words when he gave her the mace. She dodged another blow as it came towards her, and this time as quickly as possible with as much force as she could, stabbed the handle of her mace down towards the knight’s foot.

There was a crack as the handle pierced through his metal boots and the flesh and bone beneath. The sudden pain left Denner off balance as he screamed, and Maria brought her mace around and swung.

He managed to try and block it but had his whole arm knocked aside and heard a tearing as his right arm fell as uselessly as his left. He fell to the ground where Maria stood over him. Screaming herself as she brought the mace down onto his head, crushing through his helmet.

Maria staggered away from the corpse, collapsing nearby to vomit. She ordered some of the returning villagers to quickly bring Claire and Jill to her, as well as any of the other badly injured. She healed all she could, untill she felt her consciousness slipping. The rest is up to you Tirr… Maria thought, as the darkness took her.