Fiona gestured with one hand and a white blast of powerful energy lanced out from it. When it struck one of the charging hurlocks, it froze it to the spot, covering it with thick ice and frost. With a cry of effort she thrust out her other hand and a fist-sized, sparkling rock flashed into existence. It sped toward the frozen creature and shattered it into a thousand chunks of frozen gore.
The second attacker didn’t notice the loss of its companion, or even slow. It hissed, low and deadly, and kept coming at Maric. Swiftly he jumped to the side and cut its spear almost in half, his enchanted blade easily slicing through the weapon’s shaft.
Undaunted, the darkspawn threw the pieces of its weapon down and turned to leap on Maric, fanged mouth gaping wide. He was prepared, however, and was already spinning around to slash the creature across its chest. Its armor offered no protection to the dragonbone, and ichor sprayed from its wound as it squealed in pain. He didn’t let it suffer for long as he hacked it down.
The time it took to do so was almost too long, as a pair of genlocks leaped on him from the side. Their weight bore him down to the ground and one of them bit deep into a shoulder. Maric gritted his teeth at the sudden agony, and even in the urgency of the situation he could sense the corruption spreading out from his injury like some burning acid soiling his blood. Hopefully the First Enchanter’s potions worked as promised.
He struggled to throw the creatures off, but they were too quick and surprisingly strong for their short height. He brought his sword hilt up sharply and bashed one in the jaw, the bone crunching and fangs flying out of its mouth. The creature grunted in pain and loosened its grip, and he was finally able to throw it off.
The other genlock reared up and flashed its bloody fangs, ready to sink them into Maric a second time, but before it could do so a bolt of energy hit it square in the chest. The flash of light dazed Maric for a moment, and he covered his eyes. Stars swam before him, and while he heard the sounds of combat going on around him, it all seemed to pass in slow motion.
Then he shook his head as his vision cleared. The genlock was gone. He jumped back to his feet, bringing his longsword to bear, and saw that several hurlocks were swarming Fiona. Duncan was successfully keeping the attention of several others on himself, but the mage was about to be borne down by sheer numbers.
Before he could move, however, he heard Fiona cry out a word of power. A thunderous wave of magic rolled out from her, brilliant enough to cause the darkspawn to squeal in pain and cover their eyes, and the entire cavern shook violently from an earthquake. Maric and the darkspawn, and many of the others around him, tumbled to the ground. Rocks shook loose from the ceiling, several larger pieces barely missing his head.
As the dust settled, he looked up. The short elf stood there in her glittering chain armor, shoulders back and seemingly ten feet tall in her victory. Sweat poured from her brow, and her spiky black hair was plastered to her face. Her grin was one of excitement, however, and she was flushed. Her eyes caught Maric’s and she winked at him impishly. He found himself chuckling in response, almost despite himself.
Fiona lifted up her staff high over her head, the white light emanating from it suddenly intensifying as the mage gathered her concentration to deal with the darkspawn around her, who were just now beginning to recover their feet.
The staff’s light flickered suddenly as a pair of arrows sprouted from the mage’s chest. Her eyes went wide as she looked down at them, a bright red bloodstain quickly spreading on the chain mail.
Her face twisted into outrage. “Bloody bastards!” she swore.
Another arrow flew at her and only barely missed her head. She stumbled to the side, clutching gingerly at the arrows stuck in her chest with her free hand. Maric spun around and spotted the culprit: a pale-skinned genlock not ten feet away from him, standing on top of a large outcropping of rock and using a crude-looking, blackened shortbow.
Springing into action, Maric charged toward the creature. He swung his longsword in wide arcs around him, forcing a path through the melee. He saw Duncan, fighting expertly with his daggers, wounded with several severe-looking gashes. Red blood mixed with black on the lad’s dark leathers, yet he didn’t slow. Instead Duncan snarled, baring his teeth and assuming a savage countenance that Maric found surprising as he charged into yet more opponents.
He had no time to stop and help, however. A new darkspawn, this one a tall hurlock with heavy golden armor, lurched into his path. He parried a blow from its massive sword with his own, sparks flying as the blades met, and then began a series of exchanges with it. The creature was no true swordsman, however, and it wasn’t long before Maric outmaneuvered it and cut it down.
He moved on quickly. The pale genlock archer had unleashed several more arrows, and now noticed that Maric was running toward it with his glowing longsword raised. The first arrow it shot at him missed, and the second he deflected with his blade—accidentally, really, though he imagined it looked otherwise.
Watch as King Maric cuts shooting arrows out of the air! Nothing can stop him!
The third arrow caught him in the abdomen, landing with staggering force. So much for not being stopped.
Gathering his strength, he made a final rush toward the archer, leaping up onto the rock where it stood. The creature hissed at him defiantly, and he ran it through without a second thought. Gushes of ichor flowed down his sword blade and the front of his armor. The creature twitched, dropping its bow and emitting a harsh rattle from deep in its throat as it died.
As the genlock slid from his blade and fell from the rock, Maric turned and slipped on its blood. Rather ungracefully he bounced off the side of the rock and landed on the stony ground, a leg twisting painfully underneath him. He managed to hold on to his longsword, but even then he only barely kept it from cutting his own head off. More stars flashed before his eyes, and agony burned throughout his entire body.
Watch as King Maric tumbles to the ground like a fool! See him bounce!
A shadow reared in front of him, and he opened his eyes only to see a hurlock standing over him, ready to bring a battle-axe down upon his head. He tried to lift his blade to fend off the attack, but he was propped up against the rock and in completely the wrong position. He had no leverage.
Kell appeared out of nowhere behind the hurlock. With a shout the hunter brought his flail down directly on the creature’s head, half crushing it and sending a splatter of bone splinters and gore showering out over Maric and the stone behind him.
He felt stunned. He barely noticed the creature slump to the ground, and didn’t respond immediately when the hunter stepped forward to offer his hand.
“Your Majesty?” Kell asked, his voice tinged with concern.
Maric belatedly allowed himself to be helped to his feet, his leg threatening to buckle painfully under his weight. Looking around, he realized that the last few darkspawn were being dealt with. Both Utha and Duncan had come to Fiona’s assistance, although the mage was quite wounded and covered in blood. She seemed less weakened, however, than she was thoroughly angered by her predicament. Nicolas was nearby, being supported by an anxious Julien, though it was difficult to tell which of them was more wounded since they were both coated in black ichor.
Genevieve moved around to the few darkspawn on the ground still struggling, determinedly plunging her blade into their hearts and finishing them off. “We need to get moving,” she growled loudly. “The other group of them is coming this way.” After stabbing another darkspawn, the creature gurgling in pain and then collapsing into silence, she turned and caught Fiona’s attention. “Healing. Do as much as you can, and quickly.”
The elf nodded tersely, her face sweaty and pale. Duncan and Utha both helped her sit down on a rock, careful not to touch the two black arrows that still stuck out of her chest. The dwarf knelt down in front of her, concern evident on her face as she made several hand gestures.