The Vampire & Her Witch

”Hit him! Hit him harder!”

”Alch’kta!”

”Make him run!”

”Nuwa kûŋe!”

”Tear him down!”

The sounds of Carwyn’s men shouting blended with the cries of the other demon-knights as both sides cheered for their champion.

The constant blows raining down on Barsali’s armor filled the air with the sounds of metal clanging on metal, but without the ability to spin the ball before he struck or the added momentum of a horse’s charge, the weapon was too light to inflict serious damage through the demon’s layers of armor.

For all that, even though it looked like he had an advantage at the moment, Carwyn felt like he’d become a prisoner of his own strategy. Sweat rolled down his brow as he realized that he had no method to retreat, and the tactics he would have used against a human fighter were all but worthless against the serpentine demon.

More than once, he’d lashed out at the thing’s tail in an attempt to break its support the way he’d have broken a man’s legs but the snake always seemed to slither just enough out of the way that he’d only scored a grazing blow or two.

Quickly, it became obvious that Barsali was trying to wait him out or exhaust him. The demon-knight rained blows down from its sword and spear, slamming into the young knight’s shield in a chaotic, unpredictable rhythm that forced him to constantly change his stance if he didn’t want to be knocked from his feet on the road that was growing slicker as the rain continued.

-CLACK- -CLANG!-

Carwyn’s head rang with the force of a powerful blow as an overhand strike from the demon’s sword skipped off the top of his shield before clipping the top of his helm. Blood mixed with the sweat pouring down the young knight’s brow and his world went suddenly quiet, leaving him unable to hear anything but the rush of blood in his ears and the pounding of his own heart.

-CLACK- -THUNK-

The next instant, Barsali knocked his shield aside with the shaft of his spear before driving the but of the spear into Carwyn’s chest, knocking the wind from his lungs and sending him staggering backwards several steps, stripping away all of the ground he’d gained and placing him firmly in the deadly middle distance where the demon-knight held all the advantages.

”No you don’t!” Carwyn roared, whipping his right hand forward in an overhand throw that sent his flail spinning through the air directly at the demon’s cage-like face guard.

It was a desperate move, one his father would have scolded him endlessly for, but without some kind of threat, he would never close the distance again. And so, he decisively threw his weapon at the demon’s face, half a heartbeat before charging forward with his shield like a ram again. Only this time, his right hand dropped to the dagger at his waist, praying that its point would be sharp enough to find a gap in the demon-knight’s armor.

Barsali moved with lightning speed, using both sword and spear to fend off the flying flail while twisting aside, out of the way of the weapon’s path. Behind the cage of his plumed helm, a smile formed on the champion’s face as he watched the young knight charge him with a slender dagger in his hand. Clearly, the young man was ready to stake his life on this final charge!

The serpentine demon flung its arms out wide, tossing aside both of its weapons as it laughed in glee. Slithering to the side, it thrust both of its scaled hands out in front of its chest, clutching the sides of the shield that was strapped to Carwyn’s arm and lifting with all of its strength.

Carwyn felt a shiver of impact run through his arm when the demon clutched his shield, but all of his thoughts were focused on the tip of his dagger as he searched for a gap or seam in the demon’s armor that he could exploit.

There! Between the top of its segmented breast plate and the skirt of mail that covered the upper portion of its tail, he thought. If he could just reach...

The tip of his dagger skittered along the links of mail as his feet left the surface of the road. The demon lifted him higher and higher off the ground, leaving Carwyn dangling from his own shield as he flailed about with the dagger, succeeding only in spilling a few drops of blood when he pierced between the links in the mail before the attack became impossible as the serpentine demon drew him closer in.

Suddenly, a tight, constricting sensation enveloped Carwyn’s legs. Too late, he realized an entirely different danger posed by the serpentine demon’s tail as it twisted around his legs.

”AARRGGGG!!!!”

Carwyn screamed in pain as a tearing sensation enveloped his entire body. With its hands on his shield and its tail around his feet, the demon turned itself into a sort of living rack, pulling and stretching the knight as if it was going to tear him in two.

Swinging wildly with his dagger, the young knight cut desperately at the leather straps that bound his shield to his arm. Several of his wild swings missed, and a few pierced through his padded gambeson, piercing his arm and spilling his own blood, but he barely noticed as the pain intensified, feeling like the demon would rip his left arm out of his socket.

”Nëtsr’ka tašl!”

”Kedezlùx!”

The other demon-knights shouted their encouragement, raising their fists in the air and cheering on their brother as he seemed ready to claim his victory. On the opposite side, however, the humans had gone deathly quiet, their faces pale as they watched Carwyn’s final moments of struggle with a growing sense of dread filling their bellies and hollowing out their hearts.

Finally, Carwynn’s frantic efforts succeeded in cutting through the straps of his shield, freeing his arm and putting an end to the tearing pains that wracked his body. The relief was short-lived, however, as the ground rushed up to meet him, slamming into his back and knocking the wind from his lungs yet again.

This time, the demon-knight followed close, tossing the shield aside and dropping to the ground to grapple with the young knight before he could recover from the stunning shock of slamming into the ground.

One scaled hand seized his right wrist, pinning his dagger hand to the ground while the other scaled hand slipped under the bottom of his helm to clutch his throat, pressing down on his neck with the weight of the demon’s body, making it all but impossible for the young knight to recover his breath.

”Ímrus! Ímrus ki pressui ršélk ylian!” the demon shouted from just inches away.

For the second time today, Carwyn stared up at the powerful demon with the green-plumed helm and felt his life slipping away. This time, there would be no reprieve. No second chance to fight, no divine intervention. This time, he really was about to die. But this time, he wasn’t willing. If he was going to die, he was going to die fighting, anyway that he could!

Weakly, flailing with his left hand, Carwyn struggled to punch the demon with his gauntleted fist, slamming his armored hand into the demon’s helm. The impact hurt his hand, perhaps more than it hurt the demon, but he didn’t care as he lashed out again and again.

Frustratingly, as the edges of his vision began to grow dark, the demon turned away from him, yelling something at the flat tailed demon. The two seemed to argue as the serpentine demon completely disregarded Carwynn’s feeble struggles before the flat tailed demon grudgingly spoke to the struggling knight.

”Stop fighting,” the demon said bitterly. ”If you stop now and surrender, he will spare your life.”

For a moment, the words made no sense, and Carwyn lashed out again, delivering something that was more like an armored slap to the demon’s helm than a real punch. Surrender? Wasn’t he already defeated? Then... then what did it matter if he said the words or not?

With a heavy thump, his left arm dropped across his chest. Whether it was because he intended to surrender or because he no longer had the strength to raise it again was hard to say, but to Barsali, it was enough. Behind the cage of its helm, it smiled broadly, revealing wickedly sharp teeth that gleamed like polished porcelain daggers in the shadowed darkness of its helm.

He didn’t know what it meant to have a demon smile at him like that. Whether it was a gloating smile that he’d fallen for its treacherous scheme or excitement that it had taken a living captive, he couldn’t say. Whatever it meant, as long as he could survive today, then he would cling to hope that he could find a way to escape from the demons in the future.

After all, he had too much to live for to let himself die here... so as long as he could cling to life, even if he had to cast aside his honor as a knight and surrender to a demon to do it... he was willing.

It was the last thought that Carwynn had before the darkness at the edge of his vision enveloped him, carrying him away to blessed unconsciousness and dreams of one day seeing Olwyna again.