| |
The dire boar came trotting directly toward the thief. Frothing saliva and dust from the road covered its curved tusks. The creature was half again the size of the adventuring party’s largest ox.
The half-goblin began stomping his feet, waving his arms and shouting at the boar. “Hey, runt! Your momma’s so ugly, she visited a haunted house and came out with a job application.”
The big warrior loosed an arrow, then asked the gnome, “You share a mom with that boar?” All the party except the half-goblin was kneeling and hunched down several feet from the road.
“Ha, ha,” the gnome said, sarcastically.
The arrow arced down and struck the boar. The arrowhead hit at a bad angle and deflected off the tough skin.
The half-goblin thief picked up a rock and hurled it at the hog. The rock hit the boar’s snout. The thief started yelling again, waving his cutlass. With his other hand he picked up a wadded garment. “Your momma’s so fat, she almost fits into Kalgore’s mom’s nightgown.”
Focused on the animated and loud half-goblin, the foul-tempered creature lowered its snout and picked up speed. The half-goblin thrust forward his left fist, holding the garment and uttered some sort of magical trigger words.
Nothing happened, at least not that Snix could see.
When the charging boar closed to within ten feet the half-goblin threw the garment at his foe’s face. As the elf’s cloak billowed open the thief dove and rolled to his left. The boar thrust its curved tusks at the cloak, catching it. It slowed, shook its head, then pinned the cloak with a foot and tore it in half with a tusk before tossing the distraction aside.
That gave the party time to attack. The big warrior gave up on his bow and ran forward with sword and shield. He hacked deeply into the boar’s left flank. The gnome similarly attacked, slamming his cudgel against the creature’s ribs to little effect.
Attacking the beast from its right, the druid drove in a deep thrust with his spear, and the elf loosed her Mystic Missile.
The boar bellowed a guttural growl as its eyes fixated on the elf. Before the party could attack again, the creature charged. The elf, wielding only a rapier, sensed her peril. She turned and ran.
The dire boar was fast, but the elf’s swift speed left her only at a slight disadvantage. Her long strides over rocks and through grass left her party falling behind, but not the dire boar.
Her blue jay familiar dove, jeer calling at the boar’s face. The bird pecked at its eye and flapped away.
The boar wasn’t distracted.
When the dire boar closed the distance between itself and its target to less than a few feet, the elf cut right. Unable to change direction so quickly, the boar cocked his head to the right. As its momentum carried it past, the beast managed to clip the elf in the calf. The single tusk dug in deep. Neck and shoulder muscles twitched, jerking the boar’s massive head and snout upward, sending the female cartwheeling in the air. She hit the ground hard, shoulder first.
Lying on her stomach, the elf didn’t move. Snix spotted the gash ripped through her pants. Blood spouted from a wound torn in her calf, just above her boot.
The homunculus watched as the boar turned just in time for the druid’s hurled spear to strike. The steel tip bit deep into shoulder muscle before striking bone. The boar snorted and bellowed in anger, and charged the four remaining party members. The blue jay dove down with wild abandon. Screeching, it landed on the charging boar’s face and began pecking at its eye.
Snix took the opportunity to land next to the elf. Looking up to see the boar wasn’t returning, he used one of his sharp claws to slice a piece of fabric from the elf’s blouse. He wrapped it around the calf, just above the wound, pulled tight and knotted it. The blood flow slowed.
About forty yards away, the big warrior stood with shield ready and sword held high, shouting, “C’mon, ya ugly bastard!” The boar came right at him as the druid, half-goblin and gnome angled in from the side.
The druid hacked with his short sword, but the blade didn’t bite into flesh. The gnome swung his cudgel and connected with a rear leg. The half-goblin leapt onto the boar’s haunches. With his left hand, he grabbed ahold of coarse bristles, and with his right he hacked down with his cutlass.
The warrior sidestepped and hacked down with his sword. Steel blade bit into snout.
He took the brunt of the boar’s charge on his shield. Still the collision sent the big warrior flying ten feet through the air. He landed hard, but quickly rolled, trying to get to his feet.
The boar came on. From his knees, the big warrior raised his shield and stabbed forward with his sword. The tip found flesh. The boar bowled over and trampled the fighter.
Kalgore didn’t get back up.
Snix tore another strip of cloth and tied it over the wound, slowing the bleeding to a trickle. She’d live, if either the gnome or druid used even the least bit of healing magic on her. Seeing the bird abandon its attack on the boar reminded the homunculus of the problem the familiar caused. Taking advantage of the moment, the homunculus reached beneath the torn blouse, along the spine and hooked his claws into the clasps that held the elf’s supportive garment in place and twisted.
That done, he retreated—just in time. The blue jay landed next to his master, and warbled piteously. The female driver abandoned the wagon and ran toward the fallen elf.
The half-goblin somehow clung to the boar’s back, hacking and stabbing with his cutlass.
Like it’d done before, when Snix had bitten the dire boar, the creature dropped and rolled.
The half-goblin leapt clear and landed on his feet, like an apprentice acrobat.
Before the boar managed to regain its feet, the druid charged in and attacked with his sword, followed by the gnome. Both blade and wood struck. Neither successful attack was severe, but the cumulative number of wounds was adding up.
The boar got to its feet and turned toward the gnome. The short-statured healer lifted his shield and backpedaled slowly. “That’s all you got, bacon bits?” He stopped and cocked back his cudgel. “Come on, Porky Pig!”
Snix didn’t understand the riled gnome’s taunts. He flew high above the battle. It was moving away from the big warrior, so the homunculus flew toward him.
The female driver stopped to check the elf. Satisfied she wasn’t going to die immediately, the driver stalked forward, angrily shaking her war hammer.
If the gnome went down, Snix wondered if the three remaining could finish the wounded dire boar.
The gnome didn’t have time for a third taunt. The dire boar charged. The gnome stood his ground but, at the last second, threw his shield at the boar before diving forward. The boar tipped his snout up to deflect the shield, allowing the gnome to slip beneath the tusks as the creature charged past.
Somehow, the gnome emerged unscathed.
The druid and the half-goblin, however, each got in a side attack with their blades.
The boar spun about and eyed his three attackers. He didn’t notice the female driver racing up from behind.
The half-goblin shouted, “Way to go, Captain America.”
The gnome replied, “Back at ya, Spider Man.”
The boar snorted and bellowed, and lowered his head. Instead of waiting for the creature to pick a target, the remaining adventurers and their driver closed on the boar in unison and attacked. It was brutal and bloody, but the dire boar finally collapsed under the weight of its many wounds.
The half-goblin came away with a nasty gore-wound to the abdomen, and the druid had an apparent dislocated shoulder. But all were alive and standing.
Before the dust settled, the druid said, “Jax, go heal Marigold.” Without waiting to see if the gnome had listened, he rushed to the downed big warrior.
Snix retreated from the unconscious human.
“She’s gotta be okay,” the half-goblin said in a strained voice.
The driver called to the sprinting gnome, who was closely followed by the half-goblin, clutching his wounded abdomen. “She’s alive. Her leg wound’s tied off.”
The druid knelt over the warrior and began the words to a spell. He placed his hands on the big warrior’s forehead. After the big warrior regained consciousness, he started to sit up, groaned, and fell back.
The druid said to the driver, who was standing next to the two adventurers, “Your assistance ending the fight is much appreciated.”
She smiled. “I should’ve been in the fight from the start.”
“That assertion is in error,” the druid said. “Your primary function is to drive and care for the oxen and horse. You performed your primary responsibility admirably.”
Before she could respond, the druid said, “My remaining two Cure Minor Wounds Spells will not completely heal Kalgore. Please retrieve the wagon so that he may ride in the back.”
“What about the gnome?” Kalgore asked, as the druid prepared to cast a second spell.
“You are cognizant of Marigold’s severe injury?”
The big warrior nodded.
“In addition, during the final rounds of combat, Gurk received a severe abdominal wound from a dire boar tusk. I calculate that it will require two of Jax’s Minor Heal Draw Spells, and most of his available hit points to heal both Marigold and Gurk.”
The blue jay familiar stood next to its master’s head. She lay sprawled on her stomach, face to the side with locks of black hair covering it.
The gnome didn’t take a half moment to examine the elf, or even brush the hair from her face, or turn her over. He sat down next to her, took her limp hand and began his spell. A moment later, the gnome sat with his jaw clenched in pain.
A healer’s spellcraft drew wounds upon himself, leaving the recipient of the effort healed and free of whatever wounds or injuries that healer took on. Then the healer’s internal magical ability to heal wounds and injuries kicked in. Often a healer would be left only partially healed—until spell energy was renewed.
Even as the bruise damage taken on by the gnome faded and the leg wound began to close, the elf awoke. She took a deep breath and then pushed herself from the ground.
“Oh,” she said, as she shifted to a sitting position. She smiled at the gnome, who grimaced, and waved a shaky hand at her.
The half-goblin remained standing, a hand and forearm pressed against his midsection, blood seeping past his fingers. “Hey, Marigold,” he said in a strained voice. “We won.”
The elf looked past the half-goblin, taking in the dead dire boar lying on its side, and the druid kneeling down next to the big warrior lying prone. The female driver stood over them.
Marigold took a deep breath. “We did win, didn’t we.”
The blue jay landed on his master’s shoulder. “Petie,” the elf said, staring into her familiar’s eyes. Snix figured they were communicating mentally, like he did with his master.
The elf shrugged her shoulders, then felt for the shoulder straps of her supportive undergarment. “Petie,” she said, “which of these two pervs unhooked my bra?”
The gnome stared at the elf, mouth agape.
The half-goblin sat down next to the gnome. “Jax was busy throwing his shield around like Captain America, and I was busy getting close and friendly with a dire boar tusk.”
“What about that jerk, Kalgore?”
“He was fighting too,” the gnome said. “He got gored twice and trampled right after you got hurt.”
The elf slapped a hand on the dry ground. “Why do I miss everything good?” The motion reinforced the fact that her undergarment was unhooked.
The half-goblin groaned and signaled for the gnome to heal him. “Probably came undone while performing your Olympic areal train wreck maneuver,” he said.
The big warrior lay back. After receiving the druid’s two remaining curing spells, he said, “At least you didn’t waste one of those on that stupid bird.”
“I assure you,” the druid said, “I endeavor never to waste a spell.”
“If you say so,” the big warrior said, sitting up with assistance from the druid. “Do me a favor.”
“Of course.”
“I want you and the thief to cut out those big ’ol tusks for trophies.”
“That is reasonable.” He stood, then offered the big warrior a hand up. The female driver offered a hand as well.
The druid asked, “Anything else?”
“Yeah.” The warrior looked around for his sword and shield. “Being a druid, you know where to harvest bacon from on a dire boar. Right?”