Dexter swung his sword from behind at Ormitor, hacking against the wizard’s leg in an attempt to hamstring him. His sword felt as though it tried to chew through a bale of tightly packed hay, so little damage did he do. Ormitor turn and swung his arm, sending the captain of the Voidhawk reeling backwards to avoid the dangerous blow.
Jenna distracted him again, digging a furrow along his neck with her rapier that should have thrust a gaping hole clean through him. They could see some blood in the scratch, but it did not run as experience told them all it should. He turned back to her, whipping his arm across and capturing her rapier in it before she could recover it from the thrust. His incredible strength sent the weapon clattering to the rug covered hardwood floor, knocking her off balance.
Jenna thrust her short sword up into Ormitor’s ribs, a killing blow for any mortal. The sword was halted by whatever wizardry he had ensorcelled his flesh with. His hand, partially severed though it was, used the still attached first and second finger to grab her by the tunic, easily lifting her light elven frame from the floor and causing her to drop her short sword from the abruptness of the movement.
Dexter tried to attack, but Ormitor spun rapidly, keeping his struggling hostage between them. “You fools, you cannot kill me! My body is stronger even than my those of my children! Your souls will yet be mine!”
Dexter was in no mood to talk. Even the very air in the room smelled funny to him and colored spots came and went in his vision. Nevertheless, he continued to threaten the wizard, looking for an opening and, if nothing else, keeping the wizard busy.
Rosh crawled behind the wizard, pulling a hand axe free from his belt. He raised it back, struggling to make certain that he kept his grip on the slightly oversized hatchet. Ormitor grunted as Rosh’s sharpened axe blade drove him into his ankle. The strength the man was able to employ broke the skin, severed muscle and tendon, and even managed to shatter the bone.
His support structure ruined, Ormitor dropped forward to one knee. Jenna gasped as he managed to maintain his hold on her leather cuirass, jerking her ruthlessly as he nearly fell to the floor.
He spun around enough to backhand Rosh across the face. The lack of proper leverage and support caused the blow to do little more than force the large man to roll twice away from him and then lay stunned.
Bekka stood nearby, out of the range of the dangerous combat but ready to offer what help she could. She darted over to where Rosh’s axe lay unclaimed on the floor several feet from him. She picked it up and advanced, her center of balance low and her body poised to dodge.
“You’d have made good slaves,” Ormitor spat out at Dexter while he also kept an eye on Bekka as she approached. “But now I’m going to kill you all slowly, and then the real torture will begin!”
He held up his stubby fingered hand and opened his mouth to begin a new spell. Jenna drew a dagger from her thigh and rammed it upwards, though not into the wizard’s unnatural body. Instead she used it to slice through her armor, cutting through it and forcing the wizard to drop her as she rotated and plummeted in an uncontrolled plunge to the floor. She gasped when she hit and rolled away, her cuirass falling free.
Suddenly given an angle of attack, Dexter drew his pistol and fired in a single smooth motion. Ormitor’s head snapped back from the thunderous lead ball that smashed into his cheek. Bekka jump in to attack as well, hacking with Rosh’s axe at his shoulder, which struck true but did little damage.
He lashed out at her; a glancing blow sending her staggering. Rosh rose up and saw her trip over a chair broken by the thrashing constructs. He rose up, blood dripping from his nose and mouth, and grabbed Ormitor from behind. Before the wizard could use leverage and his unnatural strength to turn on him, he heaved and lifted the wizard above his head, one hand upon the back of his neck and the other at his groin.
Almost immediately Ormitor began to chant words to a new spell, something Rosh took particular offense at, having already been victim to one of his incantations. He threw the wizard down towards the ground, dropping as he did so and raising his knee in a maneuver impossible to escape without a shattered spine.
Indeed the sound of the impact sent splinters of ice down Dexter’s spine. However, it was Rosh that turned white at the impact, his mouth open but no sound escaping. Ormitor rolled free, flopping on the ground and his arms thrashing as he tried to pull himself around. Rosh collapsed as well, his hands going to his lower leg where the jagged edge of a bone protruded through the skin.
Dexter turned, his vision clearing to the point where things were seldom blurry. His thinking came clearer as well, and he realized that short of possessing incredible strength or magic, they would be unable to stop Ormitor. His concern increased exponentially when he noticed the wizard’s partially severed hand was no longer anywhere near as dismembered as it had been earlier.
Dexter yanked off the powder sack at his waist, snapping the ties that bound it to his belt. He cut it against his blade and threw it at the struggling supine wizard, then turned and snatched up an oil lamp from a table. Spinning again, he lost his balance and stumbled into the same table he had fallen into earlier. He bounced off of it and threw the lamp, sending it crashing onto the floor beside Ormitor.
The glass shattered, spreading oil on the rug and the wizard both. The flame within the wick spread onto the oil, greedily licking at it and spreading.
“You can’t kill me!” Ormitor howled, turning his head to stare hatefully at Dexter. “I’ll come for you and destroy you all!”
Dexter, Jenna, and Bekka were driven to the ground by the blast of the fire powder. The concussion swept over Rosh as well, who was struggling to rise, and delivered him into unconsciousness. Jenna alone kept her wits about her, though it was many long moments before she found herself able to remember what she was doing and who the people laying on the burning floor were.
The smoke was gathering rapidly in the room. She grabbed Dexter by his shirt and dragged him to the door they had entered, then looked up as a large form emerged out of the smoke and grabbed onto Dexter as well.
“I must save my Captain,” Keshira said, her robe in tatters that lacked any sense of modesty. Her skin was likewise scratched and torn, but she did not bleed freely from any of her injuries.
“Fine, save him,” Jenna snapped, too exhausted to argue. “Get him back to the ‘Hawk!”
“What about the others?” Keshira asked, looking to her for direction.
“I’ll get them, they… wait, why do you care?” Jenna asked, confused. She coughed as she breathed in a particularly smoke filled lungful of air.
Keshira looked at her strangely, “My Captain has feelings for you, my bond tells me as much.”
Jenna’s mouth opened and closed, then she shook her head, a tear running from her eye. She pointed to the way out. “Take him and go! Help me get them if you can, if not, save him!”
Keshira nodded and was gone, hauling Dexter gently and with incredible speed. Jenna hurried back in, laying her hands on Rosh and struggling to drag the huge man away. Finding him too heavy in his armor to move quickly, she grabbed Bekka instead and pulled the half-elf clear.
Jenna’s lungs burned for fresh air. Her vision was dark with lack of oxygen and she could hear her heart hammering in her ears. She gasped in air from outside, although it, too, was tainted with smoke it tasted as sweet as honeyed water. People were gathering to watch the fire, and a few ran to help her. She waved them off and ran back in.
The smoke was thicker, foiling even her elven vision. She stumbled several times, running into objects in the house. Her lungs ached for air, but she dared not breathe. Finally, having found the study again, she dropped to her hands and knees and dared a quick gasp. The smell of burning flesh, wood, and cloth was overpowering, and sent her into a coughing fit. She knew she had to leave, but she caught site of Rosh again from her improved vantage point. She moved towards him, fighting the burning agony within her body.