Chapter 10: First Battle
While Athalos was in a headlock between Graff's iron leg guards and was repeatedly stomped on the foot by Maya, Frina stopped her swing of her lute which was headed for the blind man's stomach. Teal eyes alarmed and wide, she was the only one who noticed the monstrous bats' awakening. Without any hesitation, she cradled the lute and brushed her fingernail over the strings. Musical notes gently cascaded like a flower's bloom which went ignored by her friends who were preoccupied in a scuffle. She shot her eyes at beasts. Battle's dawn was here and she welcomed it. Amidst the angry noises of her companions, she spoke under her breath, "The Grace of Wind."
Frina plucked on the strings and sang a tune similar to an Irish drinking song,
"Come to us now o' blanket of fields,
Be gentle and stir not in anger,
A breeze to our feet, a mother's careful plea,
Imbue our bodies with the lightness of thee."
After hearing Frina's song, everyone felt lighter but Athalos felt its effects the most. His body felt like mush. He didn't understand why Graff and Maya's blows seemed to multiply and quicken. As he tried to shield himself, he whined, "Why?! Why am I tenderized more so?!"
Graff held a thumbs up to Frina. "I thank ye, Frina. Maybe we'll finally get through this idiot's thick skull!"
Maya wiped her forehead. But she felt scolding Athalos counted as a good workout. She turned to Frina and, while a bard's skill amused her, she raised her thumb to her as well. "It's great, Frina! My body feels really light! Think I'll ever learn to do that?"
Frina nodded to the ceiling. "Perhaps if we get past those."
Maya looked up and her jaw dropped. The human-sized bats stretched their wings. Drool dripped from their bare fangs. Their bloodshot eyes stared at the group's direction. She tapped Graff's shoulder. "G-Graff…"
"Can't ye see I'm—" Graff saw the beast that Maya pointed to. As he got off Athalos' shoulders, he took out his shield and hammer. "By me childlike beard and milk-drenched skin, get ready for combat!"
The bats screeched and swooped down towards them. Their wings stretched wide like the sails of a ghost ship and cut through the sea of fireflies.
"O comrades of the dark!" Athalos wailed in both grief and joy. He clung onto his staff like an old man held his cane dear as he stood on his feet. "What took you so long?! I, Athalos, lay battered and bruised by these—"
"They're your friends now?!" snapped Maya. She readied herself with her torch and short sword. It was her first fight and she didn't want it to be her last. All the confidence that she had from her training and preparation withered at sight of the incoming beasts. She wanted to run away but even she knew that turning her back in that straight cavern hall was foolish. "Shut up and fight, Athalos! They're coming!"
Athalos' body creaked as he raised his staff with both hands. Exhausted, he spoke in bated breath. "A-As the lady wishes."
Graff's shield collided with a bats' fanned claws and his feet lifted from the ground for a short breath. One of the reasons he vied for iron armor was its weight. But as his feet regained balance, another bat snapped its jaws at him from the side.
In the nick of time, Graff bludgeoned the second beast on the head with his hammer. Blood spewed from its mouth as its fangs went deep into its own gums. It reeled from the impact and snarled its blood-dripped mouth at the dwarf. It was far from a killing blow. While he stood his ground against the two nearing bats, he kept his eyes on them as he shouted over his shoulder, "Stick to yer lessons, Lady Maya! Let us give this intrusive lot a private show of force from Graffodil's Troupe!"
Maya couldn't reply. She didn't catch a word of what Graff said. All she could concentrate on was the incoming bat reflected in her blue eyes. Sweat trickled her face. Her feet shuffled nervously in anticipation. She steeled herself, "You got this, Maya. You got this… Do I though?"
The bat couldn't care less of Maya's doubt. A moment away, opened its jaw, eager to get a taste of its prey. It swooped and slammed its jaw shut. But the iron taste of blood wasn't there for it to savor. Small rubble sprayed from its rough slide as it landed to a stop on the cavern floor. It turned and saw its target bloodless and knelt on the ground.
"Oh my god," said Maya with the white of her eyes expanded to the edge of her sockets. She panted. She had done the dodge roll so many times under Graff's tutelage but that single action left her breathless. If she was a second late, she knew that would've been her end. She brushed the thought away. The fight was far from over.
As Maya stood on her feet and raised her blade, she felt different; It was a feeling as little as a pinch on her cheek but she felt assured of herself. She survived the opening act of the encounter and as Frina told her beforehand, it made a bigger difference than she realized it would. She stared at the beast's eyes and muttered, "Maybe I got this?"
"Aha!" Athalos alternated strikes from both ends of his staff towards the bat before him. With a pained expression because of his tender body, he swept his weapon high and low. The ease of his attacks and the solid impact that rang in his hands gave him a burning conviction to quell his foe. He shouted in frenzy as he continued his attacks and forbade his enemy for a breath of respite. "Tremble at my might and its unison with the power of song!"
But all of Athalos' efforts were unrewarded. The bat stood a few feet before him and watched in a tilted stare. Athalos had been fighting the cavern wall. Unknown to him, he would lose the battle of attrition against the rocky surface. He felt the burn of his muscles and slapped his thighs as strong as he would to a horse's bum. "Limbs do not fail me now! Victory is within my grasp!"
Maya rolled her eyes. She highly questioned his abilities and why the gods of this world truly treasured him so. She thanked Athalos' bat in secret for not taking the advantage to kill him. She couldn't afford to peel her eyes away from her fight any longer. But something intrigued her. The music never stopped. "How is Frina still playing that song?"
Maya took a peek beyond her bat's shoulder and was baffled.
Frina looked like a flamingo with a lute. Her foot expertly plucked on the strings. The hand she used for strumming held her dagger instead. While she continued her song, she traded attacks with the bat before her. The bat looked like it was on the verge of defeat; Blood seeped from the numerous slashes on its black fur and torn wings. She maneuvered and held her balance well with a surreal grace on one foot.
"She's like a swiss army knife," commented Maya. Would she have to learn that fighting style too? She thought Frina's uncanny balance was artful and maybe even philosophic. Back on Earth, she couldn't even balance her life. What more on one foot?
But Maya's bat charged towards her. It closed the distance between them, rose its sharp claws, and hacked away Maya's ponderings. As she blocked the attacks with her short sword, she realized she fared better than she expected. Was it the strength she acquired throughout her years of bodybuilding? She knew that that wasn't the only factor.
Image training.
Maya learned and practiced it under Athalos' instruction and confession as to why he was fearless. She replaced the bat's grotesque face with the one thing she didn't fear and even wanted to tear off: Io Hara's.
The bat knew something was wrong. It had been unforgiving in its attacks but why was it on the defensive? When did the tide of battle shift in its prey's favor? It blocked the woman's attacks, swifter because of the bard's song, but the blade was heavy. The beast of the dark panicked as its feet was pushed back with every block it did. Bewildered, it screeched in retaliation and it meant, 'What the hell's happening?!'
"I'll take your pretty face off! I bet you paid all your fans to attend your stupid concerts! You probably don't even use the face cream you're endorsing!" The barrage of insults paired with every swing of Maya's sword. Her blue eyes were flames in the dark and brimmed with fury and hate. She spared nothing, not even the childhood story of when her rival wet her bed.
"Lady Maya!" Graff thought to check on her situation. He had been pounding his hammer on the bats' feet like a game of whack-a-mole. One of the bats held its foot and he wouldn't let the chance he'd been aiming for slip away. He followed-up with a hammer to its knee and, just as he wanted, its head crashed to the floor. Without remorse and in front of the bat's friend, he crushed its skull with his shield. He turned to Maya but his cocky grin faded. At the sight of Maya's bloodlust and her creepy smile, his voice and concern died down. "How are… ye… faring? Good gods. I hope that bat's got thick skin."
Maya chased her bat with her sword over her head. The beast ran away like a bus which didn't wait for a late passenger. But Maya didn't expect it to turn back towards her. She didn't stop her advance but soon felt the friction of the cavern floor disappear.
"G-Graff! Frina! Athalos!" Maya screamed as she rose higher and higher. The bat clamped onto her shoulders and thankfully, its claws scratched her leather armor instead of her skin.
Graff looked at his hammer and shield. There was no way he'd reach her. He thought of Frina but the option was short-lived. He knew she had no ranged specialties. He groaned and surrendered to the thought of the only one who could save Maya. "Athalos! Save, Lady Mordeaux!"
"I thought thee'd never ask." Athalos stood up valiantly with an arrow already nocked on his bow. His bat was curled on the ground fast asleep. He called out to Maya, "Have faith in my bow!"
"I really don't." Maya was dead inside. All the energy that was in her eyes greyed out.
"I require it, Lady Maya!" Athalos pleaded and pressed the matter. His hand on the bowstring, that held the arrow between his fingers, shook from the tension. "The accuracy of my bow increases just as a noose tightened!"
"That analogy isn't really giving me any faith, Athalos!" Maya shouted.
"Believe, Lady Maya! I urge thee! Unless you bequeath unto me your undying-"
"FINE! Just shoot, Athalos! Shoot the damn arrow!" Impatience got the better of Maya. It was a huge risk to her life but it was a risk she had to take unless the bat brought her deeper into the cave.
"As you command, my lady." Athalos' greyed eyes had the sharpness of a hawk's talons ran through a whetstone. The arrow was let loose and soared through the firefly-lit darkness, a ray of Maya's hope.
...Unsurprisingly, Athalos missed.
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theychimirollin
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