Unbound

"Ugh," Magda groaned. "That hurt."

Ice spilled off of her back, clattering sharply to the hard ground. She leveraged herself up, feeling the weight of a large slab of ice still resting against her lower back and legs.

Force Wall!

A brief flare of her favorite Skill threw the slab up and back against the wall, where it cracked into three smaller chunks and slid to the ground. The yellow bubble dissipated and Magda got to her feet, her heart eager to rejoin the fight. Her rage boiled in her veins.

That blue bastard threw me! She hadn't been hit that hard since the Warlord of Neven and she'd been a full stage behind at the time. She spat out a mouthful of blood. Blighted giant must be at its second Temper at least...Guild records didn't say they were that strong naturally. Hope they weren't wrong. Because if that beast isn't at second Temper yet, then Haarwatch is going to have some mighty foes knocking on its doors.

Her Health was too low, hovering near 50%, so she knocked back one of the basic healing potions they'd prepped. They didn't have many, but each of them got some, even the new kid. The red liquid fizzled slightly as it went down her throat, and she watched as her bar filled back up to 90%. Did he even get a chance to use it? Or was it...maybe it was too quick.

Magda stretched and cracked her neck, making sure she hadn't pulled anything. Doing so, she noticed something half-buried in the icy debris: a severed belt with an ornate and entirely too familiar buckle. Sucking in a breath, she reached down and pulled it free. On it was an empty sheath made for a dagger, and a battered-but-still-whole potions case.

That fool of a girl, Magda cursed. She hurriedly strapped the case to her own belt, cinching the buckles tight. Just like a noble to misplace three thousand crowns worth of draughts. She felt nervous even having the precious items on her; they were worth enough to feed and outfit an entire company of Tin Rank Guilders for a solid year, training included. Entirely too precious to be left behind.

Magda straightened and assessed the situation.

The four remaining survivors had finished off the witches and had joined Callie in fighting the leader. Five against one would normally be excellent odds, but the brute was monstrous. Staggeringly high Health, bottomless Stamina, and apparently enough Mana to bombard them with those ice spears for nearly three minutes. If this was to be a battle of attrition, Magda wasn't sure they'd survive.

We should run while we can.

Callie was a whirling dervish of sharpened edges, her knives flashing out at dizzying speeds to carve up whatever patch of flesh she could reach. However she was encountering the same wall as the others, the giant was a mighty foe. His Strength was off the charts, and his Endurance and Vitality were likely also bolstered. And those spells he wielded.

Magda's gaze lifted to the roof, which had a large hole torn through it. Not melted, but pure force had smashed up through the dome. Right into the kid.

Blind gods. I...this...I'm sorry, Felix. Truly. She had asked, begged the boy to come with them. Were it not for me, you'd still--

Thud thud thud.

Thud thud.

Thud thud thud thud.

Noctis' tits....Some small part of her had been hoping the Risi were stupid or still sleeping, somehow able to ignore the sounds of their conflict. But that roof exploding would have been like a beacon to the entire encampment. She started running toward the doors, skirting the fight that was growing more and more intense. She flashed > in handsign at Callie, but couldn't tell if the damned woman was gonna listen. Gritting her teeth, Magda glanced out the front doors.

A quick count into the fog marked easily two dozen Risi Warriors headed their way, with more close behind she was sure. Snarling in frustration, Magda grappled with one of the doors, a huge thirty foot bronze monstrosity that had been left wide open after the leader's arrival. Her muscles strained, screaming with exertion as one of the doors ever so slowly began to close. It took about ten seconds, but she got half of the double doors to close with a resounding slam.

"RAUKTA! Falla lokti!" One of the giant's cried, throwing its club overhand. Magda flared her Born Trait, extending the size of her kite shields, and slapped the crude projectile out of the air with a crash. Magda wanted to grab the second half of the door, but the Risi were too close.

She had to stem the tide here.

"C'mon then, blue bastards!" Magda reached her left arm up before slamming it into the ground right outside the doors, shattering the thick ice and exposing the rock beneath. Two more strikes and chunks of rock began flinging upward with each blow, and the giants were nearly upon her.

"RUAAAHHHH!!!"

Force Wall!

Magda flared her spell, expanding a wide bubble of yellow energy all around the door and catching six of the approaching giants right in the chests. The force of their collective weight strained and broke the spell to Magda's annoyance, but it did its job; they rebounded, not particularly painfully but their charge was broken, causing those behind them to trip and stumble. Risi Warriors fell into a mad jumble of limbs, each new warrior adding further confusion to what was once a straight forward run up.

Waiting no longer, Magda hefted two stones the size of her head then lobbed them directly into the pile up.

Stone Break!

The rocks burst as they hit, sending a powerful explosion of shrapnel deep into confused Risi flesh. Magda didn't let up, instead reaching down and grabbing stone after stone, throwing with impressive accuracy and bursting them all. Within thirty seconds, all of the charging giants were on the ground, groaning in horrible pain but not quite dead.

Tsk. I'll have to kill them up close, most likely. Damn, I--The fog ahead of her swirled, vomiting forth another line of eight foot warriors, each as fresh as the last.

"Noctis grant me patience," she muttered, striking the ground again and leveraging another round of projectiles. "Again, then."

Callie ducked and twisted, nimbly avoiding the massive edge of Grimmar's blade. For all it's awesome size the giant was able to maneuver the sword with preternatural grace; his movements were unreal, well beyond what she'd come to expect from the giants who were hulking brutes and fought like them. She had been kept prisoner by the threat of their numbers (and the threat against the lives of her team) more than their actual ability. She was unhappy to find out that their leader was head and shoulders above them all.

Despite the difficulties she was having, and even though Mags was sent careening into the wall, Callie held onto a fiercely burning hope. For the first time in months. The fire flared all the brighter when she saw Bodie and his team rush to her aid, pride welling up inside her. He, along with Vivianne and Karp were her closest confidants since the giants had taken them. Ever since...

Screams in the dark. Human flesh bent from within. Something in the blood. Teeth in the night, a great and awful maw...

An errant blow from Grimmar clipped her leg, and Callie cried out as her entire lower body was flipped into the air. Only her second stage Body kept her alive and functional, her Journeyman Acrobatics serving to reorient herself onto the wall. She pushed off the vertical surface, flipping forward again to fetch up inside the giant's guard. Her daggers smoked black and sepia in her eyes as she activated Fatal Flurry again. Seven slashes happened in the span of a second, each blow laid precisely atop the last.

She was rewarded with a gout of dark blue blood fountaining into the air, narrowly missing her body as she rolled to the side. Even still, the mad giant was unstoppable, especially with those damned shards floating about his head. Callie counted herself lucky that they seemed to have gone passive ever since they blasted the fucking roof off. She sheathed her daggers.

"Bodie! Flanking positions! We're wearing him down!" Callie called out while her hands moved in a series of short, choppy gestures.

Bodie nodded. "You heard her! Move seven, triple, and four!" The Guilders spread out, clearly intending to the encircle the massive Risi; said giant only laughed, a sneer on his face.

"You are all of you fools! My kind once ruled this Continent, masters of all and able to take a master's due," Grimmar settled into a low stance, his huge meat cleaver held before his legs. The three shards rotated above his head, gleaming with unspent Mana. A distant roar of many voices came from behind them, beyond the front doors. Grimmar grinned a too white smile that spread his forked beard and revealed his dark blue tongue. "Haha! You cannot win! You are cattle, meant to be herded. Too stupid to know what is right and good. So, if you lay down your weapons now, I promise to not be too hard on you. We'll only eat some of you."

Callie watched as Magda ran behind the giant, heading for the front doors. She flashed her the handsign for > and she frowned before setting her mouth in a grim line. Mags would handle the oncoming giants, they just had to take care of this one. She signaled to Bodie.

"Eat this, ya blue fuck!"

Yan rushed foward, short tempered and eager for giant blood. He was a shortsword specialist, one of the more popular weapons on the Continent, having devoted himself to Strength and Agility; so it was with little surprise that the Risi's first blow missed the short man. At only five feet tall, he used his smaller stature to duck beneath the blade, sliding on the ice toward the giant's feet. At almost the same time Kelgan rushed forward, coming in from the opposite side, his salvaged halberd held high. He spun the pole above his head, building momentum for a power chop aimed at the giant's heel.

"Children. Pathetic!"

Grimmar spun in a low circle, his massive blade striking nearly simultaneously at each of the four defenders, making them all waste Stamina evading the deadly edge. At the same time, a creaking boom sounded from the front doors. Callie saw that one of the doors had been shut. She grinned.

They could do this.

> Callie signaled.

Just beyond Grimmar's range, Portia brought forth hands that had been shaping a complex spellform. It shone brilliantly in the cold chamber, the light of it refracting off the faceted ice all around them.

"Chains of Light!"

Spectral chains of shimmering Mana emerged from the air itself, snaking around the giant and snapping onto one another. In less than a second an huge net of six thick chains laid over the giant, their ends fading into the ether yet rigid with power.

Grimmar shrieked in rage, straining against the spell, but it held.

For now. Callie glanced a question at Portia; the woman wasn't in top shape after a day in the Labyrinth, none of them were, but she gave a shaky nod.

>

Callie relayed that to everyone else. They took up their weapons again, their faces grim, and they rushed in to finish the job.

They were met by a torrential downpour of ice spears.

"You think me defenseless, worms? I am the Chieftain of the Kin! Champion of the Mother, Chosen of Battle at the Kingsrock! You are nothing!" Spell circle shaped and formed repeatedly, more ice spears launching at them as he spoke. Her men were driven back, unable to dodge all of the spears, and more than a few ended dyed red with their blood.

Then she heard a splintering sound and Magda was knocked backward, a flickering yellow shield dissipating as she flew. The shield warrior easily landed on her feet sliding backwards for a moment before stopping her momentum with one of her shields. Said shield was smoking, the remains of two ice spears embedded in the powerful metal. She looked at Callie with angry eyes. "We have company!"

The thunderous sound of heavy footsteps shook the air, and fifteen Risi Warriors streamed into the chamber. The first half dozen looked beaten and bruised, their armor and skin pitted and pierced by Magda's unique fighting style. The rest, unfortunately, were fresh and hale.

"Fall back to the side passage!" Magda cried, angling her shield to deflect a thrown axe. "Retreat!"

Callie's team, all that was left, ran pell-mell toward the exit. She gritted her teeth and followed, loathe to abandon the fight when the bastard Grimmar was so close.

I'll be back, monster.

Grimmar just laughed, letting them flee as his minions filled the room. More than thirty had poured in from the front entrance. "Yes! Run, my prey! Flee before the wolves." He grasped one of his three floating shards and threw it straight up, sinking it into an undamaged portion of the dome above. Immediately a wash of purple-white light flooded over the ceiling and walls, extending in a flash to the ground. Just as Callie and the rest reached the side passage, it flash froze as icy Mana snapped into a wall of thick ice.

"Run as you like, little fawns. You'll never escape us." The bastard didn't move, but the Risi Warriors spread out, surrounding their location with slow, sure steps.

Shit! He reactivated the wards! Callie glanced around, seeing the drawn and grim looks on her friends' faces. A hand landed on her shoulder, heavy and clanking. She looked up at Mags, taller than everyone except Bodie.

"Can any of you break this down?" She nodded at the wall. Callie shook her head, though Bodie answered.

"Kelgan, perhaps you..?" The large warrior asked the bearded halberd user. Kelgan was panting, all of them were, their Stamina having been used up again and again in this fight. He held up a hand and straightened, though still leaning on his polearm.

"I can try," he offered before look askance at his weapon. "I only hope this salvaged thing will last."

Callie clasped his wrist, helping him stand fully. "You're too stubborn a bastard to fail, Kelgan. I know you'll make it happen." She turned to look at the rest of them, fire in her eyes. "We've been here before. The edge of the cliff. Enemies all around us. All..." she broke a moment, her throat catching slightly. "All of us won't make it. All of us already haven't. But blind gods, some have! So pick up your weapons and lift your chins. We've already succeeded, no matter what happens here."

Mags grinned and let out a rowdy "Huah!" that was quickly echoed by the rest. The Shieldwitch stepped forward. "I'll take the vanguard and create some space. We do this right and we can take a bunch with us."

"I like the sound of that," growled Yan, his shortswords out and eager. Callie saw Bodie grip his mace and Portia clasp her quarterstaff with her elbow, fingers already shaping some sort of spell.

"I'll augment your shields, Lady Aren," Portia offered, before pushing her working toward the tall woman. A wave of white light flowed toward her, splashing onto her armor and sinking in. A notification must have popped up in front of her, as Mags simply smiled and waved it away.

"Thanks. That'll help."

Then the asshole spoke again.

"Do you truly wish to die cowering in the corner? You thought yourselves wolves, but you've no teeth at all, do you?" A deep belly laugh echoed through the chamber, muffled only by the sound of his advancing warriors. "I admit you have hurt this flesh, though it is only a passing injury, as are all who follow the Song of the Mother. I had hoped that you would have learned something from the Labyrinth, angry one, that perhaps the Mother's voice would reach you. You were so very close, after all."

Callie felt a flash of fear at the mention of the twisting maze down below, but she squashed it. Later. Deal with it later. Grimmar was still talking.

"--beautiful music. Perhaps if we consume you, the Mother will let you hear it before you die? A comforting thought, no?" A wave of laughter rolled through the giants, white teeth and white beards shaking in dark mirth. "I--"

He was interrupted by the sound of banging.

"What is that?" Grimmar asked, motioning his men to check.

The sound was faint at first, but steady, like a ticking clock. Bang. Bang. Bang.

Four Risi converged on the spot, the rear doors that led out into the sink hole, the nightmarish portal that fanned the flames of Callie's fear. The ice was shaking, small pieces chipping off with each successive impact.

Something is trying to get in. Callie's fear screamed in her mind. It's free. It's free. Noctis wept, it's free!

CRASH!

The ice shattered into huge pieces as the twin doors slammed open, framing an eight foot portal into the night and a single, heaving young man with dark hair and gleaming blue eyes.

"Felix?!" Magda shouted.

The kid? What? Callie's mind spun, her fear still running rampant. He lived?

"WHAT! IMPOSSIBLE!" Grimmar shouted, and, for some reason, slightly...afraid? He gestured to his warriors. "Kill him! NOW!"

For his part, the kid looked damn surprised to find so many giants fixated on him, but then he did something that stayed with Callie for the rest of her days. He charged in.

And he was fast.

Felix's body flickered, suddenly appearing twenty feet closer than he was, a spray of ice pluming behind him. He encountered the first warrior, ducking beneath their slow but powerful swing before jumping upward with a devastating uppercut. Green liquid sprayed out from his hand as he struck, and the giant fell backward with a strangled cry. He moved on, leaping toward the next Risi Warrior in line and laid into them. The warrior was enveloped in a bright blue flame for a moment and seemed to lose his nerve, because the kid rode the giant's body down to the ground as he let loose a flurry of blows.

One of those deadly metal clubs swung horizontally at Felix, but he somersaulted over it, tucking into a roll and coming up within melee range of the Risi Warrior. That close, the giant had little it could do other than attempt a grapple, which it did. Callie sucked in a nervous breath, but felt it push free in a huff of surprise; the giant that grabbed him found himself blasted away by some sort of blue lightning spell.

Who the hell is this kid? She turned to Maggie. "If we survive, you gotta tell me that one's story."

Mags grunted, smiling in a relieved sort of way. "Without a doubt. Assault Plan A?"

Callie tilted her head in agreement before turning to the others. "Kelgan! Break that ice down! If a kid can do it, so can you! Bodie, Yan, Portia, let's thin the herd!"

"Huah!"

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