KGWrites

Alyx

Aethril Palace Throne Room, Fallham, Barony of Fallham

Aches and pains shot through Alyx’s exhausted muscles as she threw herself forwards at Zaygor once again. And once again, the Baron simply lifted his hand and swatted her away through the air like an annoying fly.

Her back hit one of the pillars supporting the roof of the throne room. The air rushed from her lungs and she dropped to the ground with a pained cry.

“This insistence is growing somewhat tiresome.” Zaygor deadpanned, not even turning his head to look at her on the ground.

“Well,” Alyx growled, picking herself up and spitting a glob of blood onto the floor. “Feel free to give up any time and just fucking die!”

Zaygor sighed, looking to Meghan opposite him. “Is there a reason you keep her? Does she do good tricks?”

“She does actually.” Meghan replied, her voice strained with effort. “I’m really hoping her next one will be splitting your skull.”

Zaygor laughed cruelly. “My dear Lady Whiteoak, your rabid hound here is little more than an insect I have yet to crush. And you seem far more likely to be destined for death than I am. How much has our little bout cost you?”

Alyx looked at Meghan again and saw just how right Zaygor was. Her friend was standing tall and strong, her tattoos still glowing with power, but her legs trembled beneath her and her arms rose and fell, as if she was constantly battling to keep them up. Meghan was drained, the amount of magic she’d called upon had sapped her to the point Alyx worried that a strong breeze would blow her over.

“Face it, your valiant plan has failed.” Zaygor gloated, gesturing towards the door to the throne room. Alyx followed his movement, dreading the idea of seeing James and Iona being marched in by his soldiers.

Thankfully though, there was no sign of her brother, nor the Princess, with the soldier that filed in.

Less encouragingly, nearly twenty of Zaygor’s warriors had entered the room. Their weapons were drawn as they formed a barrier of bodies between the door and the three combatants in the throne room.

Alyx stared at them, panting hard and standing awkwardly on her cut leg.

I struggled with fucking four.

“Surrender now Lady Whiteoak, and I’ll spare your life. It’d be a shame to waste a power as potent as yours in an ill thought-out battle.” Zaygor offered, lowering his hands, the indigo glow rescinding from his tattoos.

Meghan watched him carefully, grinding her teeth as her eyes searched him for any sign of deception. Then her gaze fell to Alyx.

“And Alyx?” She asked him, her white glow fading as she released the magic she was holding, breathing heavily. Zaygor scoffed.

“A beast like her is loyal only to one master, and that certainly isn’t me. But on my honour, I’ll at least make it humane.”

“Yeah?” Alyx snarled at him. “Well fuck you too!”

Zaygor simply looked at Meghan and shrugged. “You see, completely uncontrollable.”

Meghan sighed, raising her tired shoulders once more and squaring them. Steadily, the white glow returned from beneath her clothes.

“Perhaps, but as ever, Alyx has said exactly what I wish I could.” Meghan flexed her hands, this time drawing her long sabre into her left as she summoned her glowing magic down her right arm. She fixed Zaygor with a determined glare, a look thick with hatred and disgust.

“Fuck. You.”

Zaygor sighed disappointedly, lowering and shaking his head. When he raised it again a second later, his indigo magic swirled across his body once more. He looked to his guards and gestured towards Alyx and Meghan with a nod of his head.

“Keep Lady Whiteoak alive. Kill the other.” He ordered.

The guards didn’t say a word, they didn’t need to. The rasp of swords from scabbards was answer enough. A few of them started forwards, walking slowly towards Meghan as she faced down Zaygor, her back to them.

She can’t handle both.

Spitting blood again, Alyx pushed herself to her feet with a groan and ran forwards, rushing to Meghan’s side, her sword held outwards towards the encroaching guards. As she reached her, Meghan looked to Alyx from the side of her eye and gave a half-smile. Alyx returned the gesture with a slight inclination of her head.

Together. For better or worse, we fight together.

The air lit up with the powers of magic as Zaygor and Meghan blasted out their full power towards one another once again.

Trusting that Meghan had her back, Alyx turned back to the guards.

In time to see one of them raise their flat-headed throwing spear and throw it directly at Alyx’s head.

Alyx reacted on instinct, throwing her head to the side to avoid the oncoming attack. It whistled past her ear, her hair catching in the rush of air from it and flowing behind it.

But she surprised herself by suddenly whipping her left arm out and seizing the spear by the leather wrapped handle as it shot past. Some part of her mind could already hear Marius Fridolf chiding her for making such a reckless move in battle.

Well, it fucking worked. May as well make it count.

Carrying the spear’s momentum with her, Alyx spun in place, twisting to bring the spear back around before releasing it again.

It shot forwards, colliding directly into the chest of the soldier that had originally thrown it. The speed of the spear drove it almost entirely through the soldier’s chest, sending them sprawling onto their back with an arcing spray of blood.

With one of their companions already dead, the other guards rushed forwards with furious screams.

Alyx dodged the wild swing of the first attacker with a nimble sidestep. The earlier grogginess and lethargy that had slowed her was all but forgotten. She had family to protect now. Meghan needed her fighting. That was all Alyx needed to know.

She quickly punished the overstretched attacker with a knee to the gut that sent him tumbling away over the ground, his sword skittering from his grasp across the floor.

With him knocked away, Alyx turned her attention to the next one, bringing her sword around to parry away the arcing slice intended to cut across her throat, or perhaps even sever her head entirely. Her sword rattled as the clash of steel on steel rang out across the hall.

The ferocity of the attack left Alyx’s opponent off balance from the parry, and she seized the opportunity it provided. Her sword sliced downwards, met resistance, carved through it, and completed its swing with a satisfying spray of scarlet.

Another guard came at her right side as the guard from earlier that she’d disarmed came at her with a dagger drawn from his belt. Trapped between them, Alyx moved backwards a step, causing them to swing wide.

Big knife first, little one after.

She stepped sideways, causing the second mad swing from the dagger wielder to miss as she placed both hands on the hilt of her sword and sliced downwards at the sword wielder.

He was quick enough to raise his blade to parry. Alyx smiled as her blade met his.

Really should have dodged.

The force of her two handed swing meeting his blade caused the man’s arms to buckle at the elbows and his guard dropped an inch or so from where they had initially locked blades.

Which was just far enough to drive Alyx’s blade into his jugular.

Blood ran in a waterfall down his neck and rushed past his teeth as he stumbled and stared at Alyx for a half second. Then he dropped to his knees and fell backwards, colliding with a guard hurrying to support him.

Alyx though, had to let her sword go, leaving it stuck in his throat as the dagger-wielder stabbed at her.

Grabbing at his wrist, she managed to redirect his blow so that the short blade scraped along her armour plates. Quickly, she brought around her other hand and wrapped it around his hand in a tight vice. Then she pulled her two hands in opposite directions, twisting his wrist until she felt a satisfying pop.

The guard screamed out and his hand opened, causing the dagger to drop. Alyx caught it before it hit the ground and stabbed out with it, driving it deep into the meat of his thigh. He screamed again and Alyx shoved him away, sending him tumbling.

She turned, reaching out towards her sword, still jammed into the corpse of the guard. And then suddenly Meghan appeared to her left, sliding backwards across the floor. Her white magic flared outwards in a shield that protected her from whatever blow Zaygor had hit her with.

Meghan’s eyes met Alyx’s, flicked to something behind her and then she threw out her hand. Suddenly, Alyx was flying through the air, weightless.

She turned as she flew, and saw that Zaygor was ahead of her. And that his attention was still on Meghan.

Now she understood what Meghan had been telling her.

Block this you fucking bastard!

With all the force of Meghan’s throw behind her, Alyx collided with the Baron. Both feet hit him full in the chest and drove all the air from his lungs in a single rushing grunt of pain. Zaygor tumbled backwards, his back hitting his throne as he crumpled to the ground.

Alyx landed atop him, her knees either side of his waist as she grabbed the gilded amulet around his neck and hauled his face up to meet her armoured fist.

The punch wrenched Zaygor’s head to the side. Throwing it back with enough force that the link in the amulet snapped in Alyx’s hand. Without her holding him up, Zaygor’s upper body shot backwards, colliding with the throne behind him.

He went limp beneath Alyx.

She quickly checked to see if he was still breathing, noting with an angry snarl that he was. But now wasn’t the time to kill him. There was still an army of guards to deal with, and Meghan was right in amongst them.

Standing, Alyx turned back towards the fighting in the room, where Meghan was using magic like a shield to turn away attacks she couldn’t meet with her sword, which she held in her right hand, or Alyx’s sword, which she now held in her left. She twisted back and forth, like a dancer with eight different partners. But the number of attackers left the sorceress unable to do anything but defend.

Alyx made sure to kick out as she started down towards the fight. Beneath her boot, Zaygor’s head rocked to its other side, his nose bursting with blood.

And then Alyx was back amongst the fighting, tackling away an attacker from Meghan before standing and backing up until her back met Meghan’s. Wordlessly, Meghan reached out and handed Alyx back her sword.

Alyx took it and placed both hands on the hilt, ready to meet the first oncoming attack.

None came immediately, the guards instead slowly circled, planning their attack.

Alyx risked a glance over her shoulder to Meghan.

“Please tell me you have a plan?” She asked. She couldn’t see Meghan’s face to judge her response. But the woman tilted her head in a shrug.

“Working on it.” Was her simple reply.

Alyx looked about them again. “Does it involve letting ourselves get surrounded? Because if so, it’s going great.”

“Shut up Alyx!”

Alyx laughed. “Ooh, James is definitely rubbing off on you.”

Meghan scoffed as two guards moved forwards. “Very poor word choice.”

Alyx didn’t have time to immediately process what she’d said, as she quickly had to react to the approaching guards. She stepped forwards towards her opponent, inside his swing. Reaching up, she grabbed his extended wrist and spun him, rolling along his back before slicing out with her sword as she got behind him.

The cut passed deep across his back, carving through his spine and dropping him like a puppet with its strings cut. Across from her, Alyx saw that Meghan quickly cut across her own opponent’s wrists with her curved blade before cleanly slicing his throat.

It was only then, looking at Meghan, that Alyx understood what she’d said.

“Did you just make a fucking joke about your sex life with my brother?” She gasped with a scandalised laugh.

Meghan only chuckled in response. She shot Alyx a quick glance and winked.

She fucking winked?

“Who the fuck are you and where’s Meghan Whiteoak?” Alyx asked as she dodged away from a cut from another guard. Next to her, Meghan’s magic flared as she shielded herself from a blow and she began backing up next to Alyx.

Ahead of them, the remaining six guards they had been facing began approaching them as one. Further back, the others that had stayed to block the door also began advancing.

A single cold certainty came over Alyx as she watched them.

“We’re going to lose.” She grimaced. It was true, despite their success at fending off the guards till now, and the fact that Zaygor was unconscious, they were destined for failure if they carried on. Adrenaline would only carry Alyx so far, and already she could feel the various injuries she bore building up. And next to her, Meghan was visibly sagging with exhaustion, overexerted from her use of so much magic.

“I know.” Meghan panted, eyeing their enemy warily. Then she tipped her head backwards, pointing with it to something behind them. “Can you swim?”

Alyx followed her gaze, taking a moment to understand exactly what her plan was.

“You’re fucking insane.” She replied, staring at Meghan in bewilderment.

“Alyx!” Meghan urged.

“Yes, I can swim.” Alyx answered.

“Good. You know where to go.” Meghan said. Alyx nodded, preparing to rush to begin Meghan’s plan.

But before she could, the soldiers in front of them charged.

Rather than swinging weapons though, they charged at full speed, two of them colliding with Alyx before she could adjust her defence to attack them.

She was driven off her feet, her back slamming down hard on the wooden floor. Each of the two soldiers gripped her arms, pulling them out to the sides and locking them in place, leaving her spreadeagled and facing the ceiling.

Alyx snarled and thrashed, furiously trying to pull herself free. But they held tight, locking her arms. To her left, she could hear Meghan’s grunts of effort as she fended off her own attackers.

But Meghan’s struggles didn’t matter right now.

In front of Alyx, the third guard to attack her stood with a throwing spear ready to thrust downwards. His right hand was clutched against his chest, swollen and useless. Alyx could see the dagger still stabbed into his thigh, which he stood shakily on.

Do you ever die?

He raised the spear. Alyx bared her teeth in a defiant snarl.

Do it then prick! Get it over with!

And then he paused.

In fact, the entire room paused as a sudden rapid thumping and scraping echoed from the hall beyond the throne room doors.

Then a chorus of screeching sounds joined the thumping. To Alyx, it was the sound of nightmares. Breathless and wheezing through the cry, like someone screaming while drowning in gravel. Tiny, reflective orbs suddenly appeared in the darkness beyond the throne room, glowing with the white light of Meghan’s magic and the flickering of the fire in the corner. Alyx wasn’t sure why, but she found her heart hammering with fear as looked at those distant glows.

But she soon found out.

Nightmares spilled from the darkness into the throne room. Horrible shadows of wiry fur and wide, slicing claws. Their eyes glowed in the fire as they fell upon the two guards nearest the door.

The first man disappeared beneath a wave of blackness with not even time to scream. The second stumbled backwards from the monsters, but not before one of them raked its shovel shaped hand across his chest, the claws tearing him open. He stood still a moment, his hands slowly reaching down to numbly grip at the fleshy, bloody ropes of his guts as they spilled out from his chest. Then he fell backwards to the ground.

Alyx stared at the monsters for only a second before she moved again. She had no time to worry about that while a guard still stood over her with a spear.

She still couldn’t move her hands, but to deal with this particular guard, she didn’t need them. Instead, she simply aimed carefully and kicked.

Her boot connected with the hilt of the dagger embedded in his thigh, driving it deeper into him and dropping him to one knee with a scream of agony. Twisting her legs, Alyx gripped him between her thighs and rolled. The momentum threw him sideways, causing him to collide with the man holding her sword arm and sending them both rolling away.

Alyx rolled, twisting her sword in her grip and stabbing it deep into the chest of the man holding her left hand. He fell back from her without a sound and she scrambled to her feet again.

Next to her, Meghan danced and twisted, holding off two more guards. The third that had attacked her lay bleeding on the floor.

Alyx stalked over to them, stabbing her sword through the back of the nearest man before pulling it free and twisting in a long slice that carved deep into the face and chest of the second. Both fell within seconds of one another.

A sharp pain, white hot, seared across Alyx’s back and she pitched forwards into Meghan’s arms. She turned her head to see that the man that had been holding her right hand was pulling a spear back towards himself. The sharp tip was dripping with blood.

My blood.

A light, nearly blinding, flared next to Alyx and the man flew backwards as if pulled by a string, landing hard in the centre of the throne room.

Gingerly, he began to pick himself up when one of the furred monstrosities landed on his back and drove its clawed hands down. The claws dug straight through his neck like a shovel through earth and the monster then pulled its hands apart. The claws caught and tore at flesh, and the guard uttered one last choking scream as the monster literally pulled his head off his body.

A wave of nausea and terror washed over Alyx.

What the fuck are these things?

Around the throne room, Zaygor’s soldiers now fought a desperate battle to survive as the monsters bore down on them.

It was a battle Alyx had no intention of joining.

Turning, she and Meghan practically carried one another across what remained of the throne room. As they did so, Meghan raised her hand, the gleam of her magic rising once more.

It seized around what remained of the Dwarf mechanism that had maintained the magical barrier in the vaults. Alyx watched as the metal rings shuddered and lifted into the air, before Meghan flexed her hand and the rings shot forwards, heading straight for the window that was the back wall of the throne room.

The smash of breaking glass was deafening as it echoed across the room, followed by the rushing whoosh that only came with winds high in the air as they rushed in through the newly opened hole.

Alyx and Meghan reached the edge, the wind whipping at their hair as they looked out across the city of Fallham far below. And the canal that ran between the palace and the rest of the city.

“You’d better fucking catch me.” Alyx muttered to Meghan. She quickly sheathed her sword, wrapping her arm around Meghan’s waist and pulling her tight.

“You’d better be able to swim.” Meghan replied. Her arm came up and locked Alyx to her side in the same way.

Alyx took a breath, looking back one more time at the chaos in the throne room. An indigo shine was flashing across the room as Zaygor rose from the ground, his magic lashing out at the black furred invaders as they tore apart his guards.

Alyx smiled grimly. Can’t follow us when there’s monsters about to eat your face.

Zaygor finished off a monster, his magic flaring as he snapped its neck. Then he turned his head to regard Alyx and Meghan for a second before the next charged him. He sneered at them, his eyes flaring with hatred.

Alyx extended her middle finger back at him. Then she turned back to the open window, redoubled her grip on Meghan’s waist.

And jumped.