The Axe Falls - ch 15-

“— look, just because you’ve got a face that needed tits to get attention, doesn’t mean you need to be so pissy that I’m prettier,” Jessie grumbled, throwing a hand of torn grass at Sara’s face.

“You’re such an uncouth little monster,” Sara cooed back at her, all sugary sweetness. Even going so far as to reach out and gently pat Jessie’s cheek who only sneered back at her. “It’s a wonder how you’ll ever succeed with Nicky’s nobility when the time comes.

“He’s going to have to pay so many people off after you start acting… well, like yourself.

“I’ll be sure to apologize on your behalf for our dear Nicky, too.”

Nick frowned, looking between the two elves.

Not long ago, just the other day in fact, he had felt like he would need to step between the two of them. Yet here they were, fighting once again.

Except they genuinely didn’t seem to be angry with one another, despite their words. That the back and forth was expected and enjoyable.

Gramps, do they actually hate each other?

“I don’t think they like each other, that’s for sure,” Lucian murmured, sounding as if he were in thought. “Though I don’t think they hate each other. Perhaps they realized that their squabbling had caused you a problem, or distress, and didn’t wish to repeat it.

“They’ve certainly kept their bickering to a reasonable level. Neither of them are going for the throat and they’ve actually been holding a conversation as they do it.

“Maybe… friendly rivals?”

“— I’m sure, I’m sure, Bright Tits,” Jessie said and then blew out a raspberry, collapsing to the grass. “Ugh… do you think the nobility will be that bad?”

“Probably,” admitted Sara who also laid her head down on the grass. “I think they’ll all fight to the very death for any scrap of power or prestige they can get from him.

“That’ll include leveraging any missteps you make and holding them against him. Expecting to get a payout for any wrong word.”

Jessie closed her eyes, groaned at that, then hit the ground several times.

“If I admit you win that one, will you help me, Bright Tits?” Jessie asked suddenly, not looking at Sara.

“Of course, of course. Not a problem. But you’ll have to admit that I win, and also that my upbringing and etiquette are more suited to him,” countered Sara. “I’ll teach you all I can and kindly if that’s the bargain.”

“Fine, fine. I admit you win that round and that you’re better suited for him in etiquette and upbringing,” Jessie growled out, then reached out and stuck her hand on Sara’s face. “Happy?”

“Oh so very happy,” Sara replied only to loudly kiss Jessie’s palm in an almost mocking way. Then she set to the side to the grass. Only to reach over and pat her on the back. “Have no fear, your golden High Elf is here. I’ll instruct you in all the ways you must learn.”

Turning his head, Nick looked to Julie. He really had no idea what was going on here.

Julie, however, had an equally confused face. Watching the two elves with equal befuddlement on her features that Nick felt.

The Gryphon’s were still attacking the camp. It seemed there was still some resistance in there and keeping them held up. Nick had even seen several arrows streak out of the camp, missing the Gryphon.

At some point, one of the three had died, outright.

Their body hung on the wall where it struck.

Nick was pretty sure it was the one that ate the gnome. He had guessed that maybe the extra weight in it’s gut had caused it to lose some speed.

That or the Gnome had done something from the inside of it’s guts that’d helped it along to it’s death.

One Gryphon still sat at the gate while the other was inside of it. The sounds of battle sometimes reaching them where the party hid.

The thump and crash of what was likely the Gryphon fighting someone in heavy armor. Someone who could take a hit and dish it back out.

Rahak and Claudia were quietly going through the Ledger not far off as well as sorting through the backpack again.

Surprisingly, the fight had been ongoing for at least twenty minutes now. Far longer than Nick would have expected it to.

There was a sudden boom that caught Nick unaware followed by a massive Gryphon arm, or a leg perhaps, came tumbling out of the gate. Rolling across the grass and coming to a stop.

Then a three legged Gryphon leapt out of the camp and began flying off. Not bothering to wait or linger behind.

Clutched in it’s remaining fore-leg was a squirming and struggling person. They looked to be stabbing and slashing at the leg that held them.

The remaining Gryphon at the gate was now battling a large man in heavy plate armor with a large sword. There was a smaller man behind him that was already lining up an arrow with a short bow.

In a flash, the big man charged the Gryphon his sword coming out in a rapid blur, the metal flashing in the light as it went.

To which the Gryphon dove into. Taking the blade right into it as it’s head came downward. The attack being ignored to launch one of it’s own.

The massive beak slammed down into the man’s shoulders and then tilted sideways. Clipping the big-man’s head from his shoulders as neatly as one would pull a grape from it’s vine.

Jerking past the now falling corpse, the Gryphon closed in on the smaller man. Looking as if it were going to run him down outright.

Only for the smaller man to do something with his hands and then the Gryphon burst into flame. The whole of it from front to back was now a roaring fire.

Which helped the man not at all as it reached him and the beak came down again. It nipped off an arm in a wild frenzy as the flames grew higher and higher.

Only for the big monster to suddenly go limp and land on top of the man. Causing him to vanish completely beneath the fiery feathers and beast flesh.

Nick watched in awe as the end of the fight unfolded.

“They were all significantly higher in level than we expected,” Lucian mused. “I don’t think we would have survived such a fight. Those Gryphon’s were significantly higher in level as well.”

“Well,” Nick began.

Only for a body to slam into the ground not far off. Causing a small divot in the grass to be made around it.

“Ah!” squeaked Claudia who raised her hands up and threw out a rather massive spell at the person.

What?

“Oh! I’m-I’m sorry! I didn’t-that… it was an accident! I just saw someone hurt and… and—” Claudia’s words fell away as the spell went off on the person who had likely been dropped by the Gryphon.

Looking up, Nick saw that the three legged Gryphon was indeed above them and staring down at them.

In the moment that Claudia had gone to heal the individual who fell, the dome of camoflauge Julie had been working to keep up, failed. Broken under the weight of extensive healing spell.

“Fuck,” Nick cursed and dumped Julie off his poleaxe. She held onto him and steadied herself as he raised his weapon up in front of his chest. “Get ready. Given how that last one died to kill the other two, they seem extremely… determined.”

Sara’s weapon had come up quickly and she rushed over to stand near Claudia and Rahak. Then pushed them to stand behind Nick with Julie.

Jessie took the third point in what could charitably be called a defensive triangle. Putting Rahak, Julie, and Claudia at the center with Nick and Julie taking the other two points.

“Do you really think it’ll attack?” Claudia asked as they all looked up at the Gryphon even as it looked back.

“Yes,” Nick answered grimly.

“I’m really sorry,” mumbled Claudia. “I just… my brain short circuited and it told me to heal them. That it was one of us and—”

The Gryphon chose to dive then, heading straight for the party.

Not bothering to really aim, or try for much of anything other than disorienting the creature, Nick thrust his left hand out in front of himself. He cast Wind-blade and simply tried to target the Gryphon.

Activating immediately, the spell went off and shot outward.

Surprised and unable to do anything to dodge, the Grpyhon took the hit head on. Barely managing to dip it’s head out of the way rather than getting struck directly in the face.

Which ended up no better.

The Wind-blade struck the wing.

Or more accurately, the feathers.

It tore out a massive section of the feathers of the wing and sliced through others. A puff of them spraying out wildly in every direction behind the Gryphon.

Only for it to slam into the ground five feet away and throwing up a shower of dirt and grass. A loud squawk was let out even as it started to claw up out of the crater it had dug itself.

Nick rushed forward, bracing himself to thrust his poleaxe straight into the beast.

Activating Lunge, Advance, and Pierce in a thrust he went to skewer it.

Only for it to roll it’s shoulder and dodge to the side. Dodging with a great deal of grace and speed Nick didn’t expect for a three-legged monstrosity that’d just become a meteor.

Jessie was there even as it moved, punching in with her daggers into the big creature’s side. Her weapons digging in only a scant amount before she hurried away.

One of the Gryphon’s legs thrashed through the spot she’d been in. It’s claws glancing over the grass and sending it spraying out wildly as well as humps of soil.

Sara rushed up to his right, her slim blade lashing out in a quick thrust that pinged off the creatures beak and then went high past it’s eye.

“Fight me!” she called out loudly in a roar that was surprising to Nick.

Sliding her feet quickly one over the other she put a little distance between herself and Nick. Drawing the big monster toward herself.

A Spear of ice smacked into the beast and splattered against it. Peppering the ground in ice fragments.

Small bone-carvings rushed up and began clawing and hacking at the Gryphon’s feet. Causing it to lift up it’s three good paws briefly so that it could slam them back down.

Crushing the carvings into a mess of broken bones.

Nick realized that the damn thing was going to try to take off as soon as it could. It didn’t want to be here anymore and the fact that it pulled it’s wings in made him think he didn’t have much time.

Advancing, Lunging, and using Slash, Nick brought his poleaxe around in a wipe sweep. The axe blade aimed for the wing closest to him.

Given that it’d partially turned to engage Sara, it’d put the undamaged wing closer to him.

With a whump, the axe head struck at the wing. It sent reverberations down Nick’s arms and into his back with the solidness of the monster.

Retrieving his weapon quickly, Nick was truly at a loss with just how sturdy the creature was. Even his enhanced weapon couldn’t break through the wing when if it had been a human, or even a regular beast, it would've gone right through it he imagined.

The Gryphon’s head snapped to one side and glared down at Nick even as it whipped the wing away from him. Blood was running down the feathers freely now.

While he hadn’t cut it off, he’d certainly caused it damage and that was good enough for the moment.

Sara’s blade came out in a slashing whir, the tip of it gliding across the feathers.

“Beast!” Sara shouted at it, causing it to look at her once again. Her attack did nothing at all, but the longer it focused on her the better off the rest of them were.

Her plate mail was the most likely thing to take a hit compared to the rest of them.

It’s single fore-leg lashed out in a slash, followed by the Gryphon dropping it’s head down in a attack Nick could only think of as “pecking”.

Sara ducked low, then sidestepped, dodging the first attack and part of the second.

The massive beak missed Sara, but the Gryphon’s head slammed into her shoulder. Causing her to bounce two steps to one side.

No sooner than the hit was landed then a blue glow surrounded her. Claudia having been waiting for this moment.

Jessie attacked in the meanwhile, her daggers doing nothing at all to the beast.

Another spell struck the big monster, a fireball striking it in the shoulder. Doing nothing at all which was odd compared to how readily the other Gryphon burned.

Out of nowhere the Gryphon’s head snaked out toward Nick. Causing him to spin his poleaxe around in front of himself to try and knock the head to the side.

Which really wasn’t going to work given how little his weapon had down to the wing.

Only for the head to turn at the last second and lash out at Sara. Catching her at the upper thigh.

Her plate mail crumpled under the blow and knocked her back several steps. Stumbling as her left leg clearly wasn’t working that well.

Shit.

Rushing ahead with his poleaxe, Nick needed to get the attention of this gigantic bird. If it kept focused on Sara it would just kill her outright before she could recover.

He activated Advance, Lunge, and Pierce, pushing rapidly toward the Gryphon. Wanting to get it’s attention off Sara as quickly as he could.

The spike on top of his weapon slammed home into the chest of the Gryphon and actually plunged as deeply as it could. Managing to get through the natural armor the big monster had.

Immediately it turned it’s head to regard Nick and launched it’s beak at the haft of his weapon.

Letting go with his right hand, Nick drew out The End and slammed the axe blade down on the side of the Gryphon’s neck as it’s beak caught around the shaft.

Nick activated Execute as well as Death Stroke. He had no idea if he could use them at the same time or if their activation would even work in this situation.

He imagined the monster had a great deal of hitpoints and wouldn’t be low enough.

Both abilities failed, but the axe head still clunked into the base of the Gryphon’s skull and caused it to flinch to the side. Releasing the haft of the poleaxe and trying to withdraw.

“Right in the asshole!” shrieked Jessie who was behind the Gryphon. Both of her blades plunged into what Nick assumed was quite a sensitive spot for the beast.

Immediately the Gryphon slammed it’s hips to the ground and jerked Jessie’s blades out of her hands. Quite literally yanking her to land flat on her face.

Only for the Gryphon to shoot back upward. Apparently having sat down on the very same daggers it’d just pulled away from Jessie.

A glass bottle slammed into the Gryphon’s chest and spread out over it, followed by a lit wooden torch.

Instantly, the Gryphon went up in a blazing roar. The liquid catching fire almost immediately and forming a wreath of flames about the monster’s head and shoulders.

Causing it to roar and rise up on it’s back legs.

It’s wings flapped, one with most of it’s feather’s missing, and the other snapping under the sudden extreme force put upon it.

Nick hadn’t cut through the wing, but he’d done enough to weaken it to the point that it couldn’t handle it’s own usage.

Falling backward, the Gryphon rolled over Jessie and then dove face first into the grass. Attempting to put the fire out Nick guess.

Jessie had only been out of sight for a moment but when she came back into view it was obvious one of her arms was broken and horribly crushed. Looking far more like a flattened sausage without bones in it than a woman’s arm.

Taking in a sharp breath Jessie held it, her free hand going to the shoulder of the damaged arm.

Another glass bottle struck the Gryphon, this time followed up with a fire bolt spell. Causing the flames to intensify and covering the big beast from front to back now.

It stood up, tottered for a moment, then slumped down into the grass.

Burning merrily.

Nick barely noticed when a message appeared that they’d killed it.

Then a massive torrent of water washed over the slain monster and put the fire out.

“Fuck,” Nick said in the immediate and sudden silence.

Immediately followed by several groans and a grunt.

Right now he needed to work on making sure Jessie and Sara were alright. That they could recover cleanly.

“Julie, see about that Gryphon. We can obviously sell it and keep certain things from it. Like bones.

“Then we’ll need to pick over the corpses,” Nick ordered and turned to look toward the two Elves. They were now next to one another on the ground. Claudia standing over them. “Rahak, I assume you’ll need to dig through that camp to figure out what you can?”

“Yes, that would be good,” she agreed. Then she gestured one winged arm toward the place that the Gryphon had dropped their meal. “I will also need to-mm- question that person. Well, if possible. They are missing part of their face.”

Raising his eyebrows, Nick paid more attention to the crater that had a person at it’s center.

Nick noted that their chest rose slowly, then fell.

Hm.

Just how hard did Claudia hit them with that healing spell.

Shit.

Walking over to the individual, Nick saw what Rahak had meant.

Both eyes and most of their face around their mouth and jaw, was missing or torn free. Dangling down at the sides of their head.

Even their nose was missing.

As if the Gryphon had started to peck at them midflight and was eating them face-first.

“Fuck,” repeated Nick to his earlier comment.