Journal of Boing Dalkamzefon
20th Galena, 265
It was a trap. The straggler lead Enzer directly into another ambush party - who once more rode all manner of monstrous beasts, but this time carried axes, of battered iron and silver and bronze. Over a dozen of them, their eyes boiling with hate, and their mounts slavering for blood.
As soon as Enzer's cry rang out, I ordered the drawbridge once again raised. Though it seemed cruel, any loss to our military at the hands of the invaders would pale in comparison to the blood that would be spilled should they make their way into the fortress proper. The humans were already inside - as was the rest of the military. Only Esme and Redeye Flight remained to watch Enzer's back, and they both were spread out over the swamp in a maddened search through the waterlogged soil. For the moment, Enzer stood alone.
Without even a pause, she charges directly into the fray, raising her shield once to block an axe-strike from the left and weaving effortlessly under a swipe to her head - but already her charge is cut short, for a furious beak-monster springs forward and pushes her to the ground, screeching murderously and snapping at her with its massive maw. From the floor, she blocks blow after blow even as the greenskins surround her. She stands up, only to be pinned down again by the much larger cave-beasts, though her skill with the shield wards off the enemy with clang after clang of metal upon metal.
But that is not all. Another panicked cry rings out through the swamp.
It is Skaw's voice, and while his presence in the outdoors is unaccountable, his yell of despair alerts our heroine to another of the greenskins' war-pets - a troll, over the hill to the north, but a threat regardless. Skaw has time to escape, for he has nothing with which to fight. Enzer faces impossible odds. But something new burns in her eyes.
She springs to her feet, pushing away another axe-blow with her shield and moving forward into the middle of the massed goblin ambush. With confidence, and power, she strides forward - but is knocked down again by the charging beasts, while their riders attempt ineffectually to pierce her defense with their crude, makeshift weapons. Though not a single blow has been landed even against her armour, she has not found the opportunity to land even a single blow of her own, for again and again she is pushed back by the enemies' superior size and numbers.
On the hill behind her, Skaw yells even louder.
