Sunder & Octavia: A battle for freedom
The towering knight with the crystal tipped spear, charged with thunderous steps towards Sunder. The knight raised the spear above his head and whirled it in a circle, the jagged gemstone flared into a silver light, motes floated off like feathers. “Hasta Coeli.” the knight shouted, and from the either came a spear of light from the sky the narrowly missed Sunder who dived out of the way at the last minute. It was just a distraction, the shaft of the spear collided with Sunder's left flank, and continued pushing him sideways. Thinking fast so he wasn’t thrown down, he wrapped his arm around the spear and held on, the size difference between the two men meant Sunder knew he couldn’t pull the man down, or wrench the spear free, but he could pull him off balance even if only for a second. At the last second before the attack stopped, Sunder pulled on the staff. At first the man seemed to stumble, but it was a fake out, for just a moment he let his weapon go, adjusting his grip farther up and grabbing Sunder by the face plate of his helmet and sweeping his leg from under him. The sky came into view and Sunder went backwards, hitting the ground hard. It felt extra with all the previous nights injuries.
“What are you waiting for? KILL HIM!” Caspian shouted.
The knight grunted an affirmative, putting the spear in both hands and stabbing down. Sunder rolled out of the way and scrambled to his feet. Sunder clutched his side as he stood up. Putting a bulwark in his mind against the shooting pain, shaking it off and standing up right.
“You are strong.” the bass filled voice of the knight said. “Good.” The knight kicked Sunder’s dropped sword over to him. “Pick it up.”
Sunder reached down, not taking his eyes off of the knight as he did. He slowly stood and reached for the buckler hanging on his belt behind him. The knight waited for Sunder despite Caspain’s protests. And the moment Sunder was ready he attacked again, barely waiting for longer than it took to hold the shield out. Sunder barely managed to deflect with the buckler but for someone so big the knight was fast, pulling back and thrusting the spear again. Sunder batted it away with his sword, again with the buckler, again with the sword, buckler, sword, buckler, sword. At this rate Sunder would wear out before he could mount a counter attack. He had to make a move. The next time he deflected the spear with his shield he swung its sharpened edge at the spot where the gap between the helmet and chest piece was. But the knight back stepped and landed a punch, rattling Sunder’s head inside his helmet, and sending sparks through his vision. But blurred vision or not Sunder pressed, swinging the sword next, in a flurry of slashes and thrusts. Aiming to back him up, and close space between them. A spear was good when he could swing or stab, but close it was a disadvantage. Sunder managed to get close, driving the sword under the lower part of the knight’s armored plating, but the moment the sword should have met flesh it resisted. Runes flared to life on the plated chest as the blade was stopped by enchanted chainmail. Sunder felt a spike of pain lance through his arm, but he held fast to the sword. He’d never met a foe his better…but this man might be pushing his limits.
The man lunged again, Sunder getting the timing wrong, the spear hitting his chest plate. Luckily whatever material the tip was made from was sharp but lacked the graceful puncturing power of metal. It hit and Sunder rolled sideways and away from it, the spear carving a fresh long scar across the cheap iron plating. Even off balance Sunder used the momentum to attempt to get distance again. His method of pressing the attack was not working.
“Hastae Caeli” the knight shouted the moment Sunder was out of reach. However this time several beams of light materialised raining like a volley of arrows. Each one that flashed by and missed by a barley a hairs length Sunder could feel the power from them.
And then the grim mistake was made, a misstep. One wrong movement and one of the spears of light slammed through the left side of Sunder’s back, going all the way through in a searing flash, staking itself in the ground before Sunder could even start to fall. Leaving him half slouched, half standing, as blood ran down the pike made from hardened divine light it hissed and smoked, it began to pool under him.
“Sunder!” Octavia screamed, a shrill cracking scream that broke at the end. “Verbum sana…” she started shouting but Caspian spun on his heels grabbing her by the face, clapping his hand over her mouth and forcing her lips into a fish lip shape. But by a miracle she finished the spell “..tionis.”
The spear of light pinning Sunder dissolved, Sunder took a few steps forward. Golden light poured from the bleeding wound, as it closed the light shank smaller and smaller until it was a pinhole and vanished.
“What did you do!” Caspian shouted right in Octavia’s face. “You heretic!” he said and squeezed her face harder, tears welling in her eyes and rolling down her cheeks. She felt like he was going to break her jaw.
Sunder dropped his sword and his shield, and charged. The knight thrust the spear, over and over Sunder getting out of the way of each one with more than enough time to spare. The Knight had one more chance before Sunder would be on top of him. He put every bit of strength he could into one last attack. This time Sunder stepped sideways he would be parallel to the attack, in a motion so fluid it was almost too fast to catch with the eye, in his right hand he grabbed the haft of the spear roughly three fourths of the way down, with his left hand, and an open palm struck the wood of the spear, it exploded into splinters. With speed only a weapon master like him could, he slammed the broken spear head into the knight’s neck.
The combination of the broken magical weapon and heavily enchanted armour was catastrophic. There was a blinding, hot flash of light. When the world came back into view Sunder still stood. Though worse for wear. Most of the plates to his armor were missing or broken, the piece of his armor that protected his jaw was missing exposing the bottom of his sharp chin underneath, blood dripped from somewhere inside the helmet. He stood, panting with breaths so deep they caused his whole body to move, his arms and shoulders rising with each inhale and lowering with each exhale. After a moment he inclined his head, the red eye flared to life, and both Caspian and Octavia were hit by the wave of Sunder’s will.
Taking staggering steps Sunder started walking towards them. A silent vengeful force of nature.
“Stop!” Caspian ordered. “If you do not stop I will kill the girl!” he shouted.
“Please.” Octavia begged. “Don’t let him kill me…”
Sunder said nothing; it wasn't clear if he didn’t hear her pleas or if he was ignoring her.
“Stop!” Caspian repeated, sounding a bit more panicked and unsure.
Sunder continued his slow pace towards them. The red fire of an eye, growing more fierce.
Knowing this was not working out his way, Caspian shoved Octavia at Sunder, it would either slow him or he was in such a blood lust he’d do the job for him. But it didn’t. Sunder caught her, and steadied her, though he still said nothing, when she was still on her feet Sunder started walking again. Caspian reached inside his robe taking out a flat stone and a thin strip of cloth that had some kind of writing on it, wrapping it around the stone, as Sunder started to run at him. Obviously knowing he was trying something. Caspian slapped the rock to his chest, as he chanted some spell. And vanished, Sunder meeting only air. At first Sunder thought he’d teleported, but looking around he saw it was even more cowardly, he’d made himself invisible to run away. Sunder spotting the telltale sign of dust kicked up by running foot falls too far not to catch.
Sunder staggered a few steps, the light in his helmet going out as Octavia ran to catch him the best she could.
“We need to get you somewhere safe.” Sunder said.
“We need to heal you first.” She said through hiccuping sobs. “You’ll die if we don’t do something.”
“I won’t die, I still have a job to do.” he said looking back the way they’d come. “But we have to go back…the next town won’t be safe.”
The next few hours were spent healing Sunder the best she could and backtracking to the town they’d just left. Sunder’s head was on a swivel the whole time. He felt unsafe in nothing but his chainmail shirt,and tattered clothes. It was well after sunset when they arrived in the town. The guards gave them no trouble when they saw how injured Sunder was, but one did ask “How in the Nine Hells are you even standing?” and the other gave Sunder a raised eyebrow over his damaged chainmail and ripped clothes.
Sunder led Octavia to the inn he’d stayed in the night before. “One room.” he said, Octavia started to open her mouth to protest but closed it. Once in the room he took a few things out of his pack. The broken spear, the head not slightly chipped and cracked, proceeded to wrap a strange bit of cording around it, next he took out the cloth wrapped stone Caspian had left behind.
“You kept the spear?” Octavia asked, looking over his shoulder.
“I need to know how it works.” Sunder said, and put both things away leaving the rock sitting on the table. “Sleep. Tomorrow we need to discuss your next move.”
Octavia only nodded and climbed onto the bed, facing away from Sunder, both for his own privacy but as a show that she trusted him to not kill her in her sleep. She drifted off, to confused thoughts of what was to come next, and how someone she labeled as a heretic just days…or even hours ago, would bother to save her, and how that changed everything she was ever taught, and vivid nightmares of the past days events replayed in altered details of things that could have been.