Rise of the Dawnbearer - Part 6: Vengeance and Valour

A trickle of blood dribbled from the corner of Raxogar’s mouth. He spluttered, coughing more drops of blood onto the dirt. He opened his eyes and looked around the field. Several more dark shapes started appearing at its perimeter. They weren’t hard to identify – several of them were Draakor’s fighters, as well as a few from the raiding party, including his two remaining brothers Varakrark and Keskabor.

Draakor took an arrow from his quiver and notched it in his bow. As he raised it to fire, Varakrark snapped at him.

“Let us kill him” he growled, indicating towards Keskabor. “It was our brother he killed, us that he betrayed.”

Draakor snarled at him. At any other time he may have pointed the arrow at Varakrark for speaking so, but he always enjoyed the feeling of vengeance. He nodded his head at the young Dragonborn and lowered his bow.

At Draakor’s command, Varakrark and Keskabor charged at Raxogar who had not yet prepared himself for their attack. With their claws they slashed at his blue hide, leaving sets of parallel cuts across his body. Keskabor bit deep into his shoulder from behind, ripping the flesh from the bone, whilst Varakrark pummelled his face with his fists.

Raxogar tried to defend himself from the vicious assault, but the combined onslaught from two sides was too much for him to handle. Every attack he blocked was followed by two more that he couldn’t. Eventually the overwhelming force of his two brothers’ attacks caused him to collapse to the ground.

Varakrark and Keskabor kept pounding on the fallen body of Raxogar, blood spurting across their faces, the sound of bones breaking beneath their fists. Seeing his quarry was almost dead, Varakrark turned and grabbed with both hands a large stone from the ground beside him and raised it above his own head, preparing to slam it down onto Raxogar’s skull.

As she saw the Dragonborn raise the rock above his head, without thinking Ellana rushed forwards. She grabbed off of the ground the arrow shaft that Raxogar had broken from his chest and leapt at Varakrark. With unnerving accuracy she stabbed the broken shaft into the jugular vein of the Dragonborn. The shock of the attack caused Varakrark to drop the stone he was holding aloft onto his own head.

Dropping to the ground, Varakrark screamed. He then grabbed at the arrow shaft and in anger pulled it from his neck. The blood started to flow free and fast from the wound. He got to his feet and growled angrily at the little girl, but as he stepped towards her the loss of blood combined with the concussion from the blow to the head made him fell dizzy. As he staggered forwards, his eyes rolled around in his skull and he fell to the ground.

Keskabor had momentarily stopped his assault on Raxogar to see his brother reel in pain before he eventually collapsed to the ground unconscious. Stunned but what this little girl had done, he was not paying attention to the woman who had come up behind him with a fallen tree branch. Elisya swung hard with the branch, catching Keskabor flush on the skull. The branch broke as it made contact, but the blow was so forceful that the Dragonborn was propelled several feet forward.

Keskabor turned his eyes back towards Elisya as he started to push himself back up off of the ground. He roared at her as he made his way to his feet, but was barely off his knees when arrow lodged itself in his throat. Swinging around he saw that the arrow had come from the bow of Draakor. As Keskabor spluttered in shock, Draakor spoke.

“Worthless wretch” he said. He then drew another arrow from his quiver, notched it in his bow and pointed it at Elisya. Without mercy or pity, Keskabor released the arrow towards its target.

For that split second the field was quieter than it had been in the history of the land. The thumping of Elisya’s heart was so loud by comparison that it could be heard a hundred feet or more away. As her eyes focused on the arrow she saw the reflection of the moon flit across the steel arrowhead. A second flicker of light passed across it before its path was intercepted.

The silence of the field was shattered by a cacophonous crash accompanied by a brilliant flash of golden light. The combination of effects was enough to temporarily blind and deafen all within sight of it. Dragonborn and human alike stumbled around bumping into each other. Ellana tripped over Raxogar as he lay on the ground, face-planting into the soft dirt. As she lifted her head up she wiped the soil away from her eyes and strained to see what had happened. Her look of shock quickly turned to joy as she saw her father standing in front of her, the intercepted arrow at his feet.

Baroghan Dawnbearer

“Father!” she exclaimed. Baroghan did not acknowledge her outburst, instead he stood still, focused on the troop of Dragonborn standing before him, now each recovering from his blinding smite.

Draakor was the first to recover. He glared back at the paladin. The two each seemed to be weighing up the other. After a moment, in unison the two charged at each other. Also at that moment a volley of arrows came flying out of the darkness towards Draakor's troops. Two Dragonborn fell to the ground dead, three more taking arrows to the chest.  The surviving Dragonborn turned in the direction from which the missiles came and charged into the darkness, weapons held high.

Draakor and Baroghan were now locked in a fierce battle. They were evenly matched, meeting each other blow for blow. Draakor had forgone his longbow in favour of his greataxe - an immense weapon in both size and weight, yet Draakor wielded it as deftly as if it were a rapier. Baroghan was wielding a shield and a large mace, the head of which seemed to be in the shape of a sunburst.  Each time he swung it the brass head radiated with a searing white flame, and when it clashed with Draakor's greataxe the two warriors were showered in sparks of holy fire.

After almost a minute of furious combat, neither combatant had sustained more than a few scratches. As a seasoned warrior Baroghan knew that this stalemate would only be broken once one of the fighters revealed a weakness which the other could exploit. Sure enough, Baroghan started to notice the Dragonborn extended his attack when swinging to his left, leaving himself open very briefly to a counter-attack. Knowing this, Baroghan waited till the opening presented itself.

After several close swings of his greataxe, Draakor made a swing to his left. Baroghan's eyes lit up knowing that this was his opportunity to strike. Positioning his shield at the right angle he met the blow, deflecting the majority of the strike and giving the greataxe a little push, causing it to continue swinging past Baroghan and seemingly cause Draakor to overbalance through the strike. Knowing he had succeeded in unsteadying the Dragonborn, Baroghan pirouetted on his right foot and swung back handed at Draakor's exposed back.

The mace made a thundering clash as it met the broad face of Draakor's greataxe - the Dragonborn had used the momentum from Baroghan’s shield block to swing the massive weapon around over his left shoulder and flat against his undefended back. For a moment Baroghan stood stunned at this magnificent manoeuvre, impressed by his counterpart. This admiration of his enemy was short lived, as Draakor took a leaf out of the paladin's playbook, angling the face of his axe away from him and pushing the mace to the side. He then, like his opponent, spun on his toe and swung his weapon in an upwards arc. This time the attack landed.

The greataxe sliced across the front of Baroghan's armour leaving a deep rend in the steel breastplate. Almost immediately from beneath the armour blood started to flow. Baroghan backed away and instinctively clutched at the wound. As he saw the blood starting to seep through the steel, Draakor smiled.

Not waiting for his opponent to regather himself, Draakor struck with a series of quick blows, pushing the paladin onto the back foot. Baroghan managed to block the initial assault with his shield, but the flurry of strikes coupled with his wound left openings in his defence. Fuelled by bloodlust his adversary kept attacking, targeting his new weakness.

Draakor kept the pressure on the paladin’s shield arm, overpowering it with his own strength until he was able to unsteady him. Baroghan’s feet staggered briefly and the Dragonborn struck, slicing through the armour on his shield arm. The shock caused Baroghan to drop his shield, hitting the ground with a loud clang.

As Draakor continued to swing his greataxe Baroghan continued to defend valiantly with his mace, but the radiant light once emanating from it now dimmed to a soft glow as his strength weakened. Another swing from the Dragonborn pierced Baroghan’s defences, this time slicing through his right thigh.

Baroghan fell to his knee, unable to keep standing on his injured leg. He continued to fight, block the next two attacks from his counter but with his third swing Draakor was able to disarm him, sending the paladin’s mace flying several feet away where it landed in a patch of grass, its glow completely faded.

As Draakor looked down at his unarmed victim he raised his greataxe above is head, preparing to strike the fatal blow. Baroghan too looked at into the face of his opponent as he whispered a swift prayer of protection to his god Lathander.

Whether by Lathander’s will or another, Baroghan’s prayer was unexpectedly answered as a pair of dark blue hands rose up from behind Draakor and grabbed on to the head of the greataxe. Not expecting this assault, Draakor fell backwards with the extra weight, releasing his grip on the axe. He barely had a moment after his head hit the ground to look up and see the axe head come down between his eyes, burying itself deep into his skull. The Dragonborn’s body twitched several times before it fell completely lifeless.

Looking across the body of the mighty Dragonborn warrior, for the first time Baroghan looked into the face of Raxogar, who returned the paladins gaze. Though the young Dragonborn was tired and heavily wounded, the paladin saw in him a great strength beyond that of his physical form. 

Baroghan maintained transfixed by the young warrior, even as several of the remaining caravan guards, who had finished battling the other Dragonborn, approach him hesitantly with their weapons drawn. However, before they were able to strike the young Dragonborn collapsed, unable to maintain his feet, next to the fallen body of his former Warmaster.

To be continued…