Leaves of Urth

Brach in Action

[Boobus: 1/15/2008]


The line had not broken as far as Brach could tell.

The Nabolian forces had rushed them on the right flank, precisely where Brach and his countrymen were positioned. Horses came first followed by the men at arms.

The lines had not broken but they had weakened and while they continued to melee with remnants of the initial charge Brach had gotten turned around. Most of the men, including Brach, were too absorbed in their immediate confrontations to take much notice of what was happening elsewhere on the field.

“Holy father,” the soldier muttered. “What is that?”

Brach had no time to look where the man was pointing. A rush of air was followed by the sickening crunch of bone and metal as a boulder the size of a barrel pummeled the man into the ground. It caused Brach’s stomach to lurch in revulsion and momentary panic.

Fear swept through the formation of men. They started to back away from where Brach was standing. He was finally able to turn around and see where the boulder had come from. He immediately wished he hadn’t.

The boulder was attached to another boulder. And another. They formed a string of rocks that ended in another bundle of rocks. As Brach took in the scene in its entirety he suddenly realized just what it was he was looking at. A collection of rocks and boulders that had been bound together to form a humanoid shape. And it was moving!

Even as Brach took as step away from the now flat remains of his comrade the boulder was rising from the ground and the string of rocks, no the arm, was rising into the air again. It was getting ready to swing again. To swing at Brach!

Diving to the right, even further away from the crushed soldier, Brach again felt the rush of air behind him and a plume of dust and dirt fly in the air. The dull thud told Brach that the boulder had made yet another depression in the ground.

A collective scream went up from the troops. As Brach looked up he saw that the stone creature was now wading into the already weakened formation and was flailing men into the air right and left. The line had broken. The men were fleeing back to the reserves many hundreds of feet back.

One mounted officer tried to attack the unnatural thing. Hefting a massive war hammer he landed a mighty blow on the ‘shoulder’ of the rock creature. Instead of shattering the creature or even chipping away at it as Brach thought would happen, the hammer bounced off the rock surface and the officer was visibly shaken. Brach figured the man’s arm was probably numb from the contact. It mattered little. Seconds later the creature hurled one of its mammoth fists into the rider, sending him flying a dozen feet before landing, his chest caved in from the blow.

In the distance Brach could see that officers were trying to rally the fleeing men. Even now forces from the central body were starting to move in their direction. But it was too little too late it seemed. How could they hope to stop a creature that felt nothing and was impervious to their blades or hammers?

Looking around Brach could see that most of the Nabolian troops had shifted to the center of the field. A few horsemen and support were still on their flank, but they were either tending to their own wounded or watching the battle’s progress.

That’s when Brach saw him. A man on horseback, not more than 50 feet away. He was neither armored nor armed but instead was flanked on either side by mounted swordsmen. A mage! While not an expert on the Ver Kinshure, or conjuration, school of magic he knew that some of the more powerful magi of that school could summon up the various prime elements into semi-sentient beings. This mage must have summoned the rock creature and was either controlling it directly or at least watching over its progress.

If he could break the mage’s concentration the perhaps he could undo the elemental’s bindings. Brach surveyed the situation one last time before committing to action.
The mage and his guards were slowly following the rock elemental. The guards had their attention on the battle in front of them. Those around them were already dead or dying. The other Nabolians were non committal at best. It was now or never.

Brach grabbed his staff and started to run. At 30 feet away they had not noticed him. Twenty five feet. His lungs were burning. He strongly doubted he would have the energy to last much longer. 20 feet. He unclasped his cloak now. 10 feet. One of the guards turned to survey the broken flank and spotted him running up from behind. A look of surprise was quickly replaced by determination. Brach thought he caught a brief glimpse of fear on the man’s face too.

He swung his staff with all of his might. The rider initially raised his shield to block the blow but he had misjudged Brach’s intentions. The blow landed on the horse’s right rear leg, breaking it and sending the horse and its rider toppling to the ground.

The mage and the other guard were alerted now. With the first guard trapped underneath his horse the odds had shifted in Brach’s favor. But the element of surprise was now gone.

The other guard spun his horse to face Brach, bringing up both shield and sword. The mage was trying hard to keep up concentration on his elemental while dealing with the intrusion.

Brach quickly ran forward, keeping the mage’s horse between himself and the other guard; but it would not remain that way for long. Already the guard had dismounted and was rushing around the back of the mage’s horse to get at Brach.

Throwing his cloak up Brach was attempting to both blind and ensnare the mage. It partially worked. The cloak fell across the magi’s head and shoulders but started to fall off as he reined his horse away from the attack. The mage’s horse was also unsettled by the events, bucking and starting to turn in place, not sure which way to run.

The second guard had reached Brach now. The two man stopped and faced each other; taking measure of one another. Brach saw the man was taller and much larger. The mage was still attempting to get control of his horse while maintaining the magical binds on his summoned rock creature. With one hand on the end of his staff and the other about midway he pointed his staff at the guard like a great sword.

Without any ceremony the guard lunged at Brach with a hack of his sword to swat away the staff. Brach stepped wide to the guard’s left, bringing up his staff and shoving hard against the guard’s shield. The guard pressed his attack, pushing

Brach’s staff away with his shield and making a downward slice to Brach’s shoulder with his sword.

But Brach was not there. Using the momentum of the guard’s shield bash Brach brought his staff in a level arc, smashing into the guard’s sword arm. Brach ducked his head to one side, avoiding the sword’s new trajectory and then hurled himself into the guard’s body, knocking him off balance.

Rather than continue with the guard, Brach ran towards the mage’s horse and thrust his staff in the mage’s side. He was rewarded with a yelp of pain and the mage falling to the ground. Brach quickly turned to the battlefield where he watched as the once imposing elemental stuttered and then, without the arcane power to hold it together, collapsed into a useless pile of rubble. His ears caught the faint cheer from the troops as they stopped their running and turned to take the field once again.

A brief smile crossed Brach’s face as he looked at his accomplishment. Then everything went black and Brach could feel himself falling. There was intense pain in the back of his head before he lost consciousness.