10 Chapter 9 - The Escape

The heat from the flames was extremely intense. Archer felt his bulky, metal shield begin to get warm from the flame being thrown their direction, in turn it also began to heat his chain mail. With a yell, he stayed in a crouch and begin to slowly make his way out of the blast radius. Hefting his shield a little higher into the air, he winced as the flames began to lick his feet.

"We'll die if with stay here!" Archer yelled at Master Shuien. The master began to follow suite with the prince, stay low and moving out of the way. Unfortunately for Shuien, as he lifted his shield, the heat began to melt the leather from his boots, exposing flesh that began to singe. With a final yell, the duo rolled out of the way and struggled to catch their breath. The cool air lapped painfully through their lungs as they regained their composure.

They both stood up and faced towards the monster. A dozen bodies fell before the beast. Some left nothing behind but a pile of ash, while others lay screaming on the ground, writhing in pain, both friend and foe alike. This monster was something neither Archer nor his master could brute force their way through. Then the goat head finally closed its maw and the flames ceased. It was unusually quiet despite the battle going on around them. The crackling of the air finally stopped.

Archer eyed the snake that was still looking in their direction, green venom still dripping from the corners of its mouth. Luckily for the duo, they weren't in the line of sight of the front two heads, but they still had the snake to worry about. Almost as though it was a tail flicking back and forth on a regular animal, the snake meandered back and forth, eyeing its prey carefully. The tail went rigid as its body drew towards the rump of the beasts main body, its muscles tense so tight that the body began to shake slightly. With a loud hiss, the snake extended the full length of its body, opening its mouth as it headed towards Archer faster than the normal eye to keep up with.

Barely reacting in time, Archer used the shield in his left hand and swung it to the left from across his body, deflecting the head in the same direction. The stunned snake hovered in the spot for a second, allowing Shuien to follow up. With complete disregard for safety, the master placed both hands on his sword and swung it in a downwards motion. However, the blade only deflected off the neck of it and rebounded the sword back towards Shuien, knocking him off balance from the recoil. Puzzled, the pair took a couple steps back, reassessing their opponent.

"Our swords won't penetrate it. How do we defeat this thing?" Archer asked curiously to his master.

"It appears we don't." Shuien replied to his pupil.

Grabbing Archers arm and giving it a hard tug, he pulled the princes attention away from the recovering snake and towards the cover of a collapsed building that was still smoldering from whatever fire had burned it down. They gazed upon the battlefield from behind cover. The battle looked about done. Hundreds were dead, and what remained of his people were lined up on the ground, on their knees facing a gargantuan creature. It was taller than three grown men and and broader that two. The weapon he wielded looked like the size if a small tree and the large hand of the creature seemed to wrap completely around the shaft of the makeshift weapon.

In rough and broken English, the beast spoke. "We take back our land.. *grunt*... you are ours, do no fight or die."

It turned its attention to the royal guard kneeling right in front of it. The man look up at the giant and spit at him. Without hesitation, monster lifted its large foot and stepped on him. There was a sickening crunch and then it lifted its foot. All that remained was crushed metal and red goo that seemed to leak from inside the armor and coat the snow. The giant began to scrape his foot across the ground, removing the remains of the man from it as though an animal removed scat from its foot. Everyone else in the line watched in horror and froze, refusing to move out of fear of the same fate.

Archer sat down on his rear and placed his back against the wall, away from the scene. The master did the same. Archer was exhausted, the prior surge of fire we felt within him earlier had dwindled, leaving a heavy body and limbs weak. He removed the shield on his left arm, knowing that there was no way he could us it now.

Shuien looked at Archer, "Although its convenient you got out of the tower. We have you there to get you out of here. We are ill prepared for a war like this, let alone one that appeared right at our doorstep. We need to get you out. The only chance we have of survival is gathering support, possibly from the neighboring towns and the other kingdoms. With the power you wield, surely the other kingdoms have the same. This was the only way we won this war before."

Archer leaving his people.. The thought sent a arrow through his heart. He was filled with guilt and remorse. He knew that there was nothing he could do right now. His predecessors barely won the war before and they had mastered their powers then. He needed training and help, hell he still didn't even know the extent of what he could do. Nodding his head in acknowledgment to Master Shuien, they proceeded to enter a crouched position. Working their way along the wall, they continued to glance over, ensuring their way out was clear.

The house they sheltered in was an old farm house, so it was only a couple of houses away from the forest. The trees would give them suitable cover and the snow that was started to fall more heavily would mask their footprints to cover them as they attempted to disappear. As they proceeded out the back, they carefully shut what remained of the door behind them to avoid any unwanted attention. As they faced back forward and tried to walk on, there was a snarl to their right side, outside of the corner of their eye. Turning around, they spotted the source of the noise. One of the wolves it appeared, had left the battle to sate its appetite. Blood dripped from its maw and it swallowed whatever remained in its mouth. It was hovering over a body that appeared to be what the meal for this creature.

The body that laid under the monster was a woman, who the monster had disemboweled. Archer immediately recognized the woman. She was the one he saved from the demon earlier and gave his sword to for protection. The sword laid against the wall of another ruined house across the street. Her brown hair was torn, as were her clothes. The beast looked at the two men, standing up and taking a deep breath.

"You bastard." Archer whispered.

Before Archer could move, the beast lunged at him, not allowing him time to react. He was exhausted and could barely move. He looked up at his attacker, just in time to see the black coat of his master appear in front of him. Everything happened so fast. The master sliced his sword across the beasts chest, but it wasn't enough to draw much blood. The beast didn't even flinch plus it already had momentum and grabbed Shuiens head with one bloody hand and his waist with the other as Archer watched the fangs sink into his masters shoulder. One more time, Archers body ignited, feeling the familiar surge of strength fill his veins.

"You've taken enough. YOU'VE TAKEN ENOUGH!" The same thought kept screaming through Archers head.

"NOOO!" Archer screamed, ignoring the thought of being caught now. The fire within him guided his body as he blacked out. Unconscious from the battle now, Archer walked up to wolf that still had a lock on his master. His hands grabbed the wolf by the upper and lower jaws and pulled them apart, causing the Shuien to slump to the ground, groaning as the pressure released. The monster swung its left hand at Archers ribs, the impact cut through his mail and the claws made contact with flesh as Archer winced from the pain. The warmth of blood trickled down his side, into his waistline to his legs. The warmth was uncomfortable but ignored.

Still maintaining his hold of the beast, he kicked the hind legs out from under the beast, causing it to land on it back. He then took that same foot and placed it across the wolfs mouth and began to pull. The beast began flailing and whimpering and got progressively louder as time dragged on.. Within a second, any resistance disappeared and any sounds stopped. Archer came back to his senses at the moment to see both halves of the beasts jaws in either hand. He looked down at his blood soaked sabaton and removed it. He threw the jaws back onto the body of the beast and turned to his master. He was barely conscious. Beginning to fell his body crashing on him again, he picked the old timer up and placed him over his shoulder.

Archer slowly walked over to the wall where his old sword was and picked it up. Looking back at the woman on the ground one last time, he continued forward. Once he crossed the threshold of the last house, he spotted a couple of the little knee high creatures grumbling to themselves. He dispatched both of them with two swings of his sword, hardly stopping to do so. He pressed on and the moment his feet touched fresh snow, he opened up his stride into a full sprint.

The snow falling among the trees would've been an beautiful spectacle under different circumstances. The thick oak trees covered their rear as Archer pressed on. The chirping of crows filled the air, alerting others of an intruder that entered the forest. The snow appeared thinner in a single path that the prince assumed was a barely visible game trail.. Archer took the trail at a full sprint. However, the blood of his master dripping onto his arm caused the scene to fade from his mind as he only worried about saving his life.