Surprise Attack

After subduing Aaron and Lysa, mysterious forces attack those in the Elven Watchtower.

7.

Surprise Attack

 

In the Elven Watchtower, Allea had joined Wulf-wuf, Bull and Grunt to sit around the frozen form of Mew as they continued to mourn.

Allea really didn’t know what to say to the grieving Talminor, but she was determined to try to help them.   As she sat there feeling awkward, she kept wondering about Aaron and Lysa.    Why was Aaron so fascinated by the Orc girl?   Lysa was a gentle and charming woman - for an Orc- but it was troubling to see them together.   

Allea was sure that others were also bothered by the closeness of them.   Oh, she knew Aaron wasn’t doing anything improper - that wasn’t his nature.    But certainly people were whispering about them in secret, and it was rather humiliating for her.

The shame of being jealous of an Orc woman - even one with a pleasant personality- was seriously straining her relationship with Aaron.    It was also causing friction with Lysa, and she certainly did not want to dislike someone merely because she had befriended Aaron.

 

As Allea was contemplating the situation, suddenly Wulf-wuf jumped to his feet, his canine nose sniffing the air and his ears alert.

“Wulf-wuf?   What is it?”   Allea asked, following the Talminor man over to one of the Watchtower’s arrow slits.

She knelt down so both of them could look through the slit at the same time.    For an instant they couldn’t see anything, but then a pair of strangely armored soldiers ran past their field of vision on the ground below.

“I’ve never seen any armor like that.”   Allea told the Talminor, “It isn’t Sylvan or Faesidhe and certainly not from Marksylvania or even the Southern Empire.”

No sooner had the Half-Drow girl spoken, then they heard the sounds of people - in armor- quickly climbing up the ladder from the stable level of the watchtower.

“Aaron, there are strange men in armor outside-“   The appearance of the same sort of armored men climbing that ladder stopped Allea in mid sentence.    It wasn't Aaron and Lysa coming up the ladder!   She cried out in warning, but Wulf-wuf, Bull and Grunt had already seen the intruders and raced over to the trapdoor.    Together they began swinging the heavy wood door up and over to block access to the armored men.

But the soldiers were quicker.   The first man flung a hand-sized metal ring at the three Talminor as soon as his head popped through the portal.

The ring -obviously a strange type of weapon-appeared to have a sharp steel edge and embedded deep into Grunt’s shoulder.

Without his help, the other two were unable to bring the heavy wood over to the opening.   The first soldier now leaped onto the floor, pulling a sword from a scabbard on his back as he blocked the way so those behind him could join him.

Allea was already casting a spell by the time he had flung the ring at Grunt and she now pointed her finger at the strangely armored intruder and a bolt of energy knocked him down.  

He rolled and was back to his feet with incredible agility.  Before Allea could cast another spell, he had produced another metal ring and flung it at her with a sideways snap of his wrist.

The ring sliced deep into the back of her forearm as she shielded her face.   Crying out in intense pain as blood gushed from the wound, Allea sank to her knees.    Wulf-wuf heard her cry and with a wolf-like snarl he lunged at the soldier, swinging at his head with the iron mace he carried as a weapon.

The soldier blocked his swing with blinding speed and suddenly swung out with his leg in a sweeping action, sending Wulf-wuf off his feet.

By now a second adversary had climbed onto the floor.   With a loud bellow, Bull ducked his head down and charged this man.    The second soldier had his sword out and managed to chop deep into the Talminor’s shoulder, but the force of Bull’s charge knocked the intruder back and they both fell through the trapdoor, knocking more of the soldiers off the ladder as they fell.

Grunt now swung his hand axe at the remaining soldier as

Wulf-wuf was still sprawled out on the floor.    His swing was skillfully blocked by the sword of the soldier, who then delivered a trio of quick swipes, all of which scored hits on Grunt’s unarmored torso.   

The Talminor yelped in pain, but kept swinging his axe at the intruder.    Yet the armored man’s sword deflected every swing.

 

Despite her gushing wound, Allea quickly chanted a spell as Grunt had his legs slashed by the soldier’s sword.   The Talminor sank to the ground, but as the soldier raised his sword to finish the deed, an arcane arrow of fire left Allea’s fingertips and slammed into the intruder’s back.    He fell on top of the grievously injured Talminor and Wulf-wuf, who had again jumped to his feet, brought his staff down with such force against the armored man’s head that the wood snapped in half.    But the blow killed the soldier.

Allea was covered in her own blood and her head swam as she tried to stand.    Wulf-wuf was checking on Grunt, as chanting in a strange language was heard from the stables below.

“We’ve got to close this door!”   She gasped to the wolf-headed Talminor as she stumbled toward it.    But she had not taken more than a couple of steps before a green sphere which gave off a huge amount of glowing green smoke, floated up through the trap door opening.    It hovered like a soap bubble, spewing out noxious fumes.

Allea heard Wulf-wuf barking out a warning, but it turned to violent coughing as the smoke filled the room.    She tried to shield her face from it, but between the magic smoke and her loss of blood, she found herself loosing consciousness and falling forward.