26 Battle

The wind whipped through Vane's hair as he charged down the hill. His speed was breakneck, he launched himself over logs and roots, his swords gleamed in the sunlight. The masses of warriors followed down the hill, Axel was in the front of the line. Their weapons were at the ready, they all had fierce looks of determination on their faces.

With renewed vigor I launched into the fray. Spinning in a wide arc I cut down the orcs surrounding me and Aine. She pulled out her rapier and began stabbing at the beasts, they began to fall like flies around us. I saw Lianne and Eric continuing their fierce blaze through the enemy. We all stood in a circle, our backs to each other, cutting down enemies that fell into our path. We slowly began to move backwards toward the group of players incoming.

I recognized various guild leaders at the head of the charge, their constituents coming up behind them. They flooded down into the plain, swordsmen and lancers and DPS classes charged straight toward the enemy. The lines of mages and archers stopped at the bottom of the hill, lining their strikes. The archers began launching arrows into the horde, the mages raised their arms and began chanting in unison. Purple smoke began to filter the air around the enemy, a giant cloud surrounding the horde.

The orcs began to cough and sputter, they clutched at their throats gasping for air. A few sank to their knees. The DPS classes capitalized on this distraction, various swords struck down the suffocating monsters. They dropped to the ground and exploded into polygons. I spun around and sliced my sword across the neck of an orc that had snuck up behind me.

Vane dashed through the crowd. He spun in the air, his blades striking out and crossing across the chest of an orc. He jumped from there spinning and slashing one behind him. Like a dancer he glided through the movements, his sword flowed as an extension of his hands. I saw his muscles flexing under the long duster he wore, sweat lined his brow. Eventually he came to a stop beside Aine and I.

"Are you alright?" His face showed concern. His gaze wandered my body, checking me for injury. I don't know what came over me, the adrenaline of the last couple of hours, the fear of impending death, almost losing Aine, but I launched myself against him. I wrapped my arms around him and pressed my face into his chest. He froze, shocked, then I felt his arms come around me, one hand resting on the back of my head. My face felt wet and I realized there were tears. I shivered. The battle clashed on around us.

"Fayre…" He whispered in my ear. He pulled back so he was staring down into my eyes, his fingers brushed my cheek, removing a stray tear. I felt my cheeks heating, I looked up at him through my lashes. I placed my hands on his chest and pushed myself back.

"I-I'm sorry. I –" He silenced me by pulling me against him once again. His voice a low whisper in my ear.

"I thought I was going to lose you." His arms tightened around me. I took a deep breath and let myself stay there for a moment. Then I slowly backed away. Now was not the time for this.

"I'm okay. We need to find a way through this army." Vane stared at me then nodded, a slight flush on his cheeks. It remained unspoken between us that we would address this later.

"We'll fight together, look for an opening." He held his swords up and stabbed an orc in the side that was approaching us, it fell to the ground and shattered. I slashed and hacked through the crowd, Vane at my back with his back to me, slashing in the opposite direction. I stared at the formation of the amassing enemy. I thought back to the beginning of the battle and gasped.

"Vane, earlier when we took down a chieftain, they started to scatter. There's got to be a leader." I examined the battlefield. We had taken out a significant portion of the army. The beta players mingled with the orcs around us. There was a few hovering respawn flames scattered about the battlefield. Our fallen soldiers.

"There!" Vane shouted and pointed into the distance behind me, I spun around. In the center of a group of charging orcs, a tall figure stood. Well over seven feet tall, a giant, lumbering Orc stood with a giant barbed Morningstar in its right hand. Its chest was bare, but it wore leather trousers, and had strapped knives to its chest. Its large snout was twice the size of the others, its sharp tusks protruding at all angles. Its large eyes were completely black.

There were about twenty orcs between us and the leader. I looked at Vane and nodded, we moved in sync, working our way through the crowd. I spun and slashed, cutting an orc down crosswise. I used the momentum to lurch forward impaling the next. Vane slashed crosswise with his two words, striking down a beast to the side. Then he swung around one sword into the neck of the next. We continued to hack our way through the crowd.

Finally, we faced the leader. He stood tall before us and examined us with his beady little eyes. He snarled and sniffed the air around us. Snorts emerged from his pig-like snout. He stepped forward, weapon in hand. The long staff of the Morningstar was almost as tall as I was, the sharp barbs big enough to impale a person. I noticed Aine had worked her way through the crowd behind us.

"Aine, switch to magic and buff us. Keep your sword ready and protect yourself first." She nodded and raised her hands in the air, she began muttering under her breath. A light surrounded Vane and I and I felt myself feeling energized and stronger. I hopped on my feet, antsy to move. Aine began chanting a new verse, blue smoke and light surrounded the large orc, he struggled to move, as if fighting against invisible chains, the blue smoke slithered like tendrils along his arms and legs.

I charged forward, jumping into the air I reared my sword back, I jumped and bounced off of the large knee of the orc, boosting myself upward, I sliced downward into his neck. My sword dug in a few inches, then I fell downward, slicing across his chest. He growled but didn't slow. He raised his weapon and smashed his arm down, knocking me back a few feet. Vane stared at me and grunted, charging at the orc. He danced through the air as he leapt, swords shining he slashed across the face of the orc, damaging one of his eyes.

I rose to my feet, using my sword to help myself stand. The wind had been knocked out of me. Vane ran forward and slashed cross wise with his twin blades, creating a giant X on the chest of the leader. The leader fell to one knee. I took advantage of his position and jumped, bringing my sword in a downward arc, I stabbed into the neck of the beast. Blood spurted from the wound, I landed on my feet on the ground.

"Switch!" I yelled, and Aine jumped up immediately, pulling out her rapier she rushed forward and stabbed into the belly of the beast. It groaned and tried to swat her with his giant hands, she jumped out of the way, dancing out of his grip. As she danced back, I ran for its legs, running around behind the orc I slashed at the backs of his knees, folding his legs to the ground. Vane ran at him from the front, dragging his blade across its neck. The Chieftain exploded into polygons.

As soon as the leader was dead, chaos erupted. The orcs were breaking formation, running at all angles. Some began to run away. The remaining players continued to slaughter them down, one by one. A loud bell rang through the air, sounding like church bells from the town. A light flashed and a system message popped up in the sky.

"SYSTEM EVENT CLEARED."