Argentum and Kheskeim crept forward as quietly as they could with their heavy armor. Behind them, the shining steel of the Grand Army of Lanternwebs marched to the west, following Kib's directions back to Sosadcerol, and from there to the Troll fortress of Ngososnol to crush their enemies.
Around them rose splinters of rock, pillars of basalt rising like blackened teeth above the yellowed grass and sparse vegetation of the foothills. The two dwarves moved with weapons drawn, moving cautiously from pillar to pillar as they scouted the route ahead for the main body of the army. Argentum held up his hand.
"Shhh!" he hissed urgently. "I thought I heard something!"
Kheskeim raised his axe and peered around, straining his ears through the steel of his helmet to pick up any sound he could. In the distance, a small group of deer meandered between patches of greener grass, and Kheskeim could hear the soft waving of grass in the wind. But nothing alarming.
"Are you sure?" Kheskeim asked.
"I'm positive." Grunted Argentum, sheathing his sword and reaching up to unfasten his helmet and shaking out his beard as he pulled the helm clear.
Cupping his hand to his ear, Argentum heard a faint clatter of stones from farther up the mountain.
"There!" he said, pointing up the slope. "Something up there!"
The pair hurried up, not bothering to duck behind the outcroppings now, until they reached an area of grass that bore the impressions of footprints.
"Recent." mused Kheskeim. "And too large to be dwarven."
A harsh cry sounded above them, and they looked up to see an enormous troll holding an equally enormous pike standing on top of one of the pillars. With a second cry it leapt down at them, sending the dwarves rolling to the side to avoid it as it landed gracefully and thrust the pike at Argentum as he struggled to put his helm back on.
Kheskeim moved forward, catching the pike on his shield and letting the shock of the impact travel down his braced legs. Looking around, he saw another six of the trolls emerging from behind the rocks, their iron armor clanking as they grinned and advanced, heavy maces swinging idly. Behind him, he could hear Argentum's armor creak as he shifted his weight, and the two dwarves backed into each until their back feet were almost touching, surrounded by the seven trolls.
The trolls advanced cautiously but quickly, the pikemaster circling around as the dwarves slowly turned to keep all seven in view. With a sudden cry, Kheskeim moved forward, brandishing his axe and rattling his shield before stepping back to cover Argentum's back. The trolls hadn't flinched at all. No fear, he thought. Just like Orcs back home.
The first strike swung in from Kheskeim's left, and he raised his shield to catch the iron mace and strike back with his axe, turning his body to lessen the impact and letting his momentum carry his axe into a strike at the troll's stomach, stepping inside the reach of the long arms where his smaller size served as an advantage rather than a hindrance. The axe screeched against the iron rings of the troll's armor before they snapped, the axeblade slicing cleanly through as a rush of black blood spilled cleanly from the wound. Finishing his turn with his back to the troll, he struck downward at the troll's unprotected foot, removing the leg at the knee and sending the troll crashing to the ground, a trickle of bloodied vomit at its lips.
At least they bleed, thought Kheskeim, and that means that they will die. He looked up to see Argentum riding the decapitated corpse of another troll to the ground, his feet planted firmly on the troll's chest where he had climbed to reach the neck. Seeing a troll raising its mace to strike Argentum, Kheskeim rushed forward and sunk his axe deep into its back, feeling a satisfying 'pop' as the axe parted vertebrae, finishing the movement with a kick to the inside of the knee that brought the troll down.
"It doesn't matter how tall your foe is if you've broken his legs." He muttered, reciting one of the many pieces of wisdom that The Tooninator had dispensed to him during their sparring sessions. With an overhead axe stroke, he smashed through the downed troll's armor and cut deeply into the chest. The heart beat briefly, the deep wound in it flooding with blood before it slowed and stopped and the troll's head slumped to the ground.
A great weight slammed into his back, and as he staggered forward and turned to confront a mace-troll standing behind him he winced at the pain in his back. Definitely bruised, he thought, but it didn't feel like anything was broken. The troll swung again, a sweeping upward strike that Kheskeim stepped backwards to avoid, swinging his axe in to cut the troll's arm, a long oozing cut but not a killing blow. The mace swung back again, forcing Kheskeim to turn to catch it on the edge of his shield, the spiked head skittering off the shield. Thrusting downwards with the shield, Kheskeim drove the head of the mace into the ground, then swung his axe to sever the troll's arm as it struggled to free its weapon. The strike had left him unprotected, though, and the troll bashed him with its shield and sent him tumbling to the ground.
Wasting no time, the troll was on him, using its larger size to pin Kheskeim to the ground and prevent him from using his axe. Using its remaining arm, the troll wrenched the axe from Kheskeim's hand, the stump flailing wildly as it tried to find purchase on his armor. He felt blood from the stump spray across his helm, the vile-smelling black liquid dripping through his visor to foul his beard. He raised his shield arm and struck once, twice, three times with the shield in the troll's face, mashing the nose and finally pushing it off from him. Not bothering to grab his axe, he drove his steel boot into the back of the troll's head as it rolled to the side, feeling bone snap as he drove the head into the ground.
He turned to see Argentum fighting with the pikemaster, the rest of the trolls lying dead and dismembered on the field. Argentum struck in with his sword, but the troll blocked quickly and spun the pike to leave a deep dent in his shield. Letting out a deep battle cry, Kheskeim rushed the troll, leaping onto its back and locking his arms around its neck. The troll, unbalanced from the extra weight, toppled backwards and landed heavily on him, knocking the wind out of him. As he struggled for breath, he saw Argentum rush forward and thrust his sword into the troll's chest, drawing a scream of rage from the troll as it struggled. Grimly, Kheskeim maintained his hold as Argentum stabbed over and over until at last the troll ceased its struggle and lay still.
"Hah! A bit harder than the orcs, wouldn't you say?" Joked Argentum as Kheskeim retrieved his axe. "No orc would have had you on the ground like that!"
"They bleed just the same." Replied Kheskeim, using a scrap of the troll's clothing to wipe the blood from his armor and weapon. "Just need to keep our guards up a bit more."
The two dwarves walked away in the direction of the Grand Army to report, leaving the dead for the rapidly-gathering scavengers to fight over.
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Sorry WorkerDrone, I had to post this to let the Grand Army storyline continue. I'll edit your illustrations in once you send them to me, though.
Pyrophoricity: Thank you for the complement, I'll get you a dwarf as soon as I can, which should be by next update.
Everyone: JavaOne is now over, so your regularly-scheduled updates are back now.
Author
Topic: Lanternwebs (The End!) (Read 80046 times)