Encounter with 'Death'

[Katherine Elle]

Katherine had been trailing the criminal calling himself ‘Death’ for several days now, long enough to see how he and his minions got around. She wasn’t sure if her trick with leaping at someone with a recall scroll while they recalled would work with this ‘Karvour’ magic that he was using, but she was going to have to try it. The unfortunate part is she only had a chance that he’d be returning to his base, and she’d only get one chance at it. She also knew that the second she’d done it she would be in for a fight, as she was sure he wouldn’t be happy about someone following him home. She crept along several yards back while she stalked him through Deceit, just a few days after the Guardians had been defeated by ‘Death’ and his minions. As she crept along silently, he seemed to have a specific goal in mind. As they delved further into the depths of the dungeon, hiding places became scarce and she was forced to take several risks. Finally, he walked into a room and got something, then walked out. She got as close as she could while remaining hidden by the wall and when he started to say ‘Kali’ she tightened her grip on the recall scroll and ran flat out. His eyes widened a bit as she charged at him, but he had to complete the spell, and by the time he said ‘Kal’ she was almost to him. Just as he said the word ‘Por’ she had leapt into the small area of magic, and ‘Death’ had caught her with one hand by her throat; But she heard the sounds that indicated they’d teleported, and if all went according to plan, ‘Death’ would be frozen by his spell while she would be fine.

Things rarely go according to plan. As they coalesced at the spot he’d tried to recall to, she quickly took in all the surroundings she could and then froze. She felt his fingers tense on her throat. With a heavy throw, she felt herself get slammed into the ground by his grip on her throat and she choked out a soft cry as the wind was knocked out of her. She used the residual momentum to backwards handspring as his grip loosened in the moment of impact, and she drew the assassin’s spike she carried with her. She hit herself hard once in the sternum, and her breathing returned. From underneath the shroud she faced off with him for a few harsh moments as he raised his arms to each side, that huge double axe in his left hand at the moment, and all her attention was riveted on it…

“Come to see how I’m doing, little creature? Is the short one curious...of where Death lives? I fear that you could have guessed what sort of place I lived without any of this trouble, but now since you know the exact location, you’re going to have to die. As fun as the game is between myself and the rest of the pitiful creatures in this realm, you revealing this kind of information would ruin my fun. So…” he stated calmly as he walked towards her. She slowly kept the same distance, and when he stopped she did as well. Her hand with the dagger reversed it so that it was laid against her wrist in a defensive stance, and her free hand flipped open her satchel. She held the free hand open over her satchel, ready to draw the item in a moment’s notice, and his eyes were focused on her empty hand. Taking in the surroundings, most of her usual acrobatics would be useless, and there was only one real way out of the situation.

She continued to face off with him in stoic silence, and her hand twitched just slightly, and he charged at her. She drew the kryss from her satchel and crossed it with the dagger, intercepting the first blow from the axe with a clash that echoed throughout the area. She quickly darted backwards, deftly leaping and hopping over the objects around her. He on the other hand just charged ahead, and swung once more, high, aiming to take her head. She ducked under the blow and struck true with the kryss, but it hit his armor and glanced off. He swung the heavy double axe around once over his head to gain momentum, and his resultant blow was telegraphed but far too powerful to be blocked. She easily backpedaled the blow, and she went for an attack where his defenses were weak at the shoulder joint. She stabbed the kryss into his arm, but he didn’t drop the axe like she’d expected him to. Instead he reared back with his other hand and hit her so hard across the temple her vision swam and she stumbled away as fast as she could, tripping and falling over one of the many structures in the small area. ‘Death’ calmly grabbed the kryss impaled in his arm and ripped it out and tossed it aside, and Katherine could do nothing but watch it fall.

“Was that your best shot?” He said as he quickly closed the distance, and she rolled just in time for the axe blade to embed itself in the soft ground next to her head. She quickly leapt up and ferociously attacked him, drawing another dagger and slashing as fast as she could. He blocked or dodged anything serious but still was left cut and bleeding from dozens of wounds before he apparently had had enough, and he drew an executioners axe from his back under his cloak. He swung it heavily at her, and she twisted enough so she took a hit to her side and fell, bleeding. The dagger fell out of her right hand.

“A pity that you weren’t much sport. Speed never did win against strength, you know. Of course, a lowly little worm like you never had a chance when put up against Death, did you?” He said with a sneering grin. Katherine glared at him with a look of pure contempt and utter hatred. She pushed herself up on her wounded right side and stood shakily, and tore her sash in half and tied it across the wound on her side. She adopted her combat stance once again and faced him down. Without a word she threw herself at him, giving everything she had into her attacks, and she poisoned him several times which he shrugged off with cure potions. She gave him a deep cut across his face, but had to leave herself open, to which she received another devastating blow to her temple from his fist. She staggered back and fell to her knees, feeling the pain in her side surge up even worse as she had torn it wider with the renewed fighting. She turned to see him raising his axe above his head, as it glowed an orange hue. She quickly drew all her remaining daggers and threw them at him, and several of them thunked into his armor while one landed into his elbow joint. She kept only the one personal spike, and as he brought the swing around she did the only thing she could do, with her entire right side feeling numb.

Bringing up her left arm, she struck at the axe, and she deflected it enough to make the broadside presenting as the leading part. It slammed hard into the assassin’s spike, and the reverberations sent shudders through her entire left arm. Then her vision was filled with the metal of the axe slamming into the side of her head, and she hit the ground solidly. Barely holding onto consciousness, she saw him raise the axe one more time, and she spat blood at him from her busted lip, and she managed to get her left hand to her satchel and make out three words before the blow landed.

“Kal Ort Por.”

The world shifted and she lost consciousness, awakening later to find herself in the healers in Trinsic. Swimming in and out of waking and sleeping, she managed to signal she needed something to write with, and was able to make out only two things before lapsing back into her concussion induced sleep.

The paper next to her bed at the Trinsic healer's was inscribed by Katherine only with a scrawling shape appearing to be an upside down letter 'U', and the beginning of a word, starting with 'sw' that trails off into illegibility.

Edited July 21, 2008 by Katherine Elle