“Fuck off!” Bridget roared as she swung her flail at the unknown woman.
There was a clang and a shout, followed by cackling laughter. Jadis couldn’t see the fight, but she could hear and feel Bridget and the crazy blood bitch dueling above her. Boots kicked and struck Jay’s unmoving armored body and she both heard and felt the scrape of steel against her shoulders, back, and helmet. After a few seconds, she heard something else, too. The patter of droplets against metal.
What Jadis could see, though, was the fat man with the chain and the skinny little shit Legs attacking Dys and Kerr.
The fat bandit swung his long chain, the spikes catching against Kerr’s back and tearing at her armor in a bloody mess of shredded leather and flesh. Kerr let out a scream of pain as she whirled and let off another shot from her bow, the arrow only half drawn back. The fat man twisted impossibly, throwing himself out of the way of the arrow. As he twisted, he spun, swinging his chain wide out around him and forcing Aila and Sabina to scramble and duck back to avoid being caught in the arc.
At the same time, Legs sliced into Dys with his magical dagger, the malicious enchantment on it attacking her soul and her health points directly. As he pulled the blade across her waist, he grimaced as though he found the task almost as unpleasant as Jadis felt about it. Before a full two seconds had passed, Thea was on him, her spear and shield aiming to knock the broken-toothed man away. Legs fell back, not letting Thea hit him as he dodged.
“That ugly ass shield won’t stop my blade, girly. Throw yourself down and beg and maybe we’ll let you live through this!”
Legs lunged forward at Thea, swiping his blade through her shield as easily as Dys’ armor. Instead of falling back, however, Thea pushed forward, tanking the damage as she slammed her shield into the ugly man, sending him tumbling backwards as he lost his footing and went down the side of the hill.
“Got you,” the fat man snarled as he whipped his chain around again, the spiked links wrapping around Kerr’s bow. With a mighty heave, he tried to yank the bow out of Kerr’s hands.
The key word, of course, was tried. Kerr’s arms barely budged as the big man tried to pull the bow from her grasp. She laughed, snarling a quick retort at him.
“Come here, sale porc, and give me a kiss.”
With her Jadis empowered strength, Kerr yanked on the chain as hard as she could, causing the fat man to fly off of his feet and rocket towards her with a surprised yelp. Kerr’s knee slammed into his stomach, knocking the wind out of him. In the next moment, her horned head smashed against his bald dome with a sickening crack. He fell to the ground in an unconscious heap while Kerr tore the chain from her bow so she could use it again.
More shouts and sounds of battle happened around her as Jadis struggled against the paralyzing spell. How much time had passed? Twenty seconds? More? Every moment counted in a battle, each attack a potentially lethal one. So far, though, their plan to bring the fortification with them had worked. The bandits hadn’t been able to fully rush them with the barricades in the way and her team was fending off the bandits that had tried to go around the sides. But Jadis could hear and see more bandits charging in, trying to get around their cover while also using it for themselves, keeping out of Aila, Kerr, and Sabina’s line of sight for their ranged attacks. The biggest issue now, though, was whoever Bridget was fighting. She could hear the fight still going, but Bridget was their lowest level fighter. Aila was aiding her, but she had to react to the incoming rush of bandits too and her magic reserves would end eventually.
Even as she thought about it, she heard a cry of pain and saw Bridget stumble back, copious amounts of blood dripping down the front of her armor. She’d been struck badly, blood welling up from a slice in her right pauldron that looked bad. As she backed away, the woman she’d heard before laughed madly, the weight of her boot resting on the side of Jay’s head.
“Orc blood is usually so meaty, but yours has an arcane flare to it! I like it, bleed some more for me, before you die, won’t you? It’s such a nice feeling!”
“Eat shit you crazy fuck!” Bridget bellowed as she swung at the woman, her flail briefly tangling with a polearm of some kind that Jay could barely see.
“Aw, is that healing magic?” the bandit continued as she parried and struck back at Bridget. “I hate clerics. They always ruin all the fun. Go meet your god, cleric, and let the blood flow!”
Something red suddenly flashed past Bridget, a magic attack of some kind that spun wide around the warrior. A moment later Jadis heard Eir cry out in pain.
Rage blurred Jadis’ vision as she struggled vainly against the spell. Eir had been hit. Her elf, her healer, her friend and lover and the sweetest person she knew had just been attacked by this fucking cackling bitch. Seething hatred burned inside her as her teeth clenched so hard, she could hear her jawbone creak.
And then the spell ended. Just like that, the magic that had locked her muscles was gone, and quicker than the last time, too. Eir had been right. Her Oracle’s Protection had helped, boosting Jadis’ weak Resilience attribute and thus shortening the time the paralyzing spell was able to hold her. She really did need to boost that stat. But first things first.
The moment the effect wore off, Jay rolled over with all the speed she could, bringing the hammer she still held with her. The huge steel head arched through the air as the bitch that had been on top of her stumbled back and away, trying to get out of the way but not moving fast enough. Jay’s war hammer caught her with a glancing blow, sending her spinning away with the same force as though she’d been struck by a car.
“Fuck, fuck!” the woman screeched as Jay rolled up and swung again at her.
Now that she could move, Jadis could see that the blood bitch was a human woman wearing some kind of leather and steel mix of armor that had pieces of cloth wrapped and pinned across it. Blood red stains covered the once white cloth, including the hood that was draped over the steel helm she wore. She held a polearm in one hand, the head a wickedly curved scythe. The woman’s face turned on Jay, a look of crazed bloodlust in her green eyes as she grinned so wide all her teeth were visible.
Jadis almost charged at the bitch. Almost. Even though her temper flared and every instinct told her to run the woman down, she held back. The witch wasn’t yet accounted for. If she ran out of formation, she stood a good chance of not only getting herself killed, but everyone else, too. With a snarl, Jay whirled and fell back behind the barricade, putting it between herself and the blood bitch bandit.
“Running away!?” she shouted. “Not what I’d expect from a big, strong, giant!”
Jadis’ response was to hurl the body of a dead bandit from behind cover with the intent of bowling the woman over. Instead of dodging out of the way, however, the woman slashed her scythe vertically, cutting the body in half in an explosion of blood that was far too exaggerated to be natural. Blood flowed around the bandit in a swirl, creating a red whirlwind that spun about her like a whirlpool.
“Thanks for the recharge,” she laughed before swinging her scythe in a series of fast slashes.
Each pass of the scythe sent a red arc of magic-infused blood spinning through the air towards Jay and her companions. The blood scythes cut through the wood of the barricade, gouged Jay’s armor, and sent Bridget rolling out of the way before she was struck again. Aila’s force shield materialized, blocking several of the magic attacks before it cracked under the assault. It shattered after only a few seconds, but those seconds were more than enough for Jadis.
With perfect coordination, Dys and Syd split the barricade, opening up a gap between the two large shields. From between, Jay hurled the fat man’s spiked chain, sending it spinning through the air at the blood bitch. The instant the chain was through the gap Jadis closed up the barrier, blocking several arrows that tried to take advantage.
The chain caught the woman by surprise, wrapping around one arm and the scythe, pinning them to her torso as the force of the throw knocked her back off of her feet. She cursed loudly but wasn’t taken out of the fight completely. Rolling with the momentum, she was back on her feet in an instant, skipping away to hide behind the cover of the nearby stone buildings. As she retreated, Aila shot another force bolt at her, the spell barely missing as it cracked against the stone wall of a workshop.
Jadis tsked, frustrated to have not killed the fucking bitch, but in all honesty the scythe-wielding bandit wasn’t a priority. Taking out the witch was. Checking on her backline, she could see that Eir was fine, the makeshift shield that Sabina had made for her sliced in two, but otherwise unharmed. Though maybe that was her own magic healing her. The priestess was healing up Bridget who had taken a lot of damage, though the warrior was still on her feet. Sabina was busy reloading her crossbow while Aila and Thea were keeping several bandits trying to harass them at an angle from the hillside at bay.
“The witch?” Dys asked Kerr, the archer crouched low by her knees and peeking around the corner of the barricade. “You got her?”
“No,” Kerr shook her head. “Haven’t spotted her yet. This mist is making it hard to see and I’d bet my horns she’s got that shitty invisibility spell going.”
Bad news. Until the witch was neutralized, Jadis couldn’t risk going all out and leaving the protection of her companions. Her vulnerability to magic attacks, especially a debuffing spell that could affect all of her bodies at once, was simply too big a weakness. Jadis vowed it was a flaw she would rectify as soon as possible. That was if they lived through the day, of course.
“We’ll draw her out,” Dys growled, then lifted her barricade up.
At the same time, Syd lifted her barricade and the two slowly pushed forward, closing the distance between them and the mining workshops. Jay and the rest followed behind, keeping low and behind cover as they approached the enemy. There would be more traps, Jadis was certain, but the open area directly across had to be clear since none of the bandits had set anything off. Almost as an afterthought, Jadis grabbed the body of the fat man who Kerr had knocked out, dragging him along. He wasn’t dead, just out cold, which made him potentially useful.
As she moved, Jay kept an eye on the way ahead, looking for counterattacks, but more importantly looking for the goblin woman. She was careful to keep her balance and not overextend any of her bodies, keeping her feet firmly planted on the ground as much as possible. She expected another paralyzing spell at any moment. She just hoped that when it did happen, one of her companions would be able to spot the witch and take her out.
“There!” Thea shouted, pointing her spear to the right, along the edge of the wooden barracks building that was barely within sight due to the fog.
If Thea hadn’t told her where to look, Jadis would never have seen the witch. The small figure was translucent, practically invisibly with the mist, and crouched low to make an even smaller profile. Jadis saw the movement, expected it would happen, and braced her bodies, freezing in place.
Kerr’s bow twanged as the arrow left it, aiming for the distant figure. From her position on the right, Dys was able to see the arrow thunk into the wooden wall of the barracks building with a brief flash of yellow light, the shadowy witch falling back and away in a scramble.
As Dys stood in her frozen position, unmoving as the rest of her selves, several more of the bandits leapt out from their cover in and behind the now much closer buildings. They rounded the edge of the barricade, attacking Kerr and Thea as the two fought back to protect themselves and Dys. On the left side, the scythe-wielding psycho appeared, swinging her weapon at Syd as Bridget and Aila countered and tried to block her. Charging from up the hill, Legs came into view, his glowing orange dagger in one hand. He dashed in from the side, using his fellow bandits as cover as he lunged for Sabina and Eir.
“Can’t have you healing them anymore, love!” he shouted as he easily ducked under a wild swing from Sabina. “It isn’t fair to us, is it? We don’t have no healer of our own! So you’re going to—”
Legs’ words were cut off with a horrified scream as Jay’s hammer slammed down on him from behind, crushing one of his legs into paste on the ground.
“Nobody touches the white mage,” Jay snarled at the screaming man before reaching down and picking him up by his neck, her large hand squeezing it tight.
In the same instant, Dys moved, swinging her axe around and beheading one of the men that had attacked Thea and cutting the arm of another man beside him. Meanwhile, Syd whirled and stabbed with her lance, catching the bitch’s leg and slicing it open, though she once again managed to dodge back and away before Syd could follow through. That was okay, though. Jadis didn’t need to hide behind the barricade anymore. She could move.
“I thought—I thought you were paralyzed,” Legs choked out as his hands scrambled at Jay’s squeezing fist around his neck. “How?”
“My girlfriend has good aim,” Jay said shortly before tightening her grip.
There was a muted popping sound and the man’s body went slack, his wide eyes staring but seeing nothing. With a disgusted grunt, Jay tossed the corpse away, letting it roll down the hill and out of sight into the mist.
“You did mean to shoot the witch’s wand, right?” Dys asked Kerr as she stepped around the barricade, preparing to charge after the now fleeing bandits.
“Yeah, sure,” Kerr said shakily. “Let’s go with that.”
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