Life Review Ch. 06

"Guys, I can't keep this up for long!" Cassidy called back over her shoulder.

"I need to cauterize Shawn's wound. It's a temporary fix, but at least he won't die of blood loss," Denza shouted back. She rummaged around in her pockets for anything she could use.

Cassidy slid over and quickly took stock of Shawn's injury. She placed her hand above his wound and began channeling fire magic into her hand, "Denza, keep them at bay for a bit." She locked eyes with Shawn, "This is going to hurt. A lot."

Before Shawn could brace himself, Cassidy's hand glowed white hot and she pressed three slender fingers into his wound. Shawn screamed and his vision tunneled as the smell of seared meat filled his nose. He felt sick, but his body wouldn't move as all of his muscled were taught as bow strings.

Shawn came back to his senses when Cassidy slapped his cheeks, "Shawn. Shawn, you need to shake it off. We still have work to do. Are you with me?"

He groaned and grabbed her wrist to stop her from slapping him again, "I'll manage." he grunted at the throbbing and burning pain that was his shoulder.

Cassidy helped Shawn to his feet. He was sweating profusely, and every movement he made sent waves of pain radiating throughout his body. He took his third and last potion from his belt and downed it. The potion took the edge off and the pain was slightly lessened.

Denza was firing rapidly in front of them. She was halfway through her second quiver and the growing piles of bodies around her were evidence enough of her uncanny accuracy. Shawn retrieved his spear from the ground and choked up with his right hand. He wouldn't be able to use the full length of the weapon, but he could still use it as a short thrusting weapon.

Shawn and Cassidy took their spots beside Denza and combined their power to make their final push. Ignoring the pain, Shawn jogged forward with his spear ready. Arrows whistled from behind him as orbs of crimson fire and crackling blue balls of electricity fell into the crowded alley of monsters.

With Cassidy and Denza providing cover for him, Shawn was able to carve a path of carnage through the ranks of the defenders. Denza joined Shawn in the melee when she finally ran out of arrows for the second time. Shawn couldn't tell how much time had passed when they removed their bloodied weapons from the last of the kobold corpses.

The three of them were covered in sweat and gore from head to toe, and each were flagging hard. Cassidy leaned against the wall and panted heavily. They were out of potions and they still had the contend with the giant and his ogres. Shawn helped Denza gather as many intact arrows as they could find during their short respite.

They heard a man shouting near the center of town. The seventh and final bomb was placed at the mouth of the main road that lead to the Giant's tent. The three reluctantly gathered themselves and climbed back onto the roof tops.

As they drew nearer to the center of town, Shawn could see the towering figure of the hill giant chasing Bishop through the streets. Just as they jumped over the last side street, Bishop burst out into the open at a dead run. Shawn could see he was covered in dirt and was bleeding in a few places. Bishop ran twenty feet into the plaza and fired off a fireball behind him. The streak of red rocketed into the side of a building just as the giant came pounding into the plaza.

The rooftop the three of them were stood upon shook violently as Cassidy's bomb exploded. The giant flinched, covering its face from the sudden storm of shrapnel that peppered its dirty hide.

Cassidy swore when she saw the Giant had sustained little damage. They had hoped the bombs would weaken the massive humanoid creature, but it seems they did nothing but infuriate it.

Three ogres came running into the plaza behind their giant leader, but they didn't fare as well as their boss had. There had originally been six, from Denza and Bishop's scouting report. The survivors were barely standing. The ogre in the lead had his heavy armor warped beyond recognition and had chunks of flesh missing from his extremities. The second was missing an arm, while the third was barely walking at all.

Shawn took a deep breath, looking at the eighteen foot tall hulking humanoid that was baring his crooked teeth at Bishop. Each of his limbs were easily as thick around as Shawn's entire body that were all bulging muscles and sinew. Wrapped in the Giant's massive meaty hand was his brutal looking club that wouldn't have been out of place as a support beam of a large building.

"Are you two ready? This is probably going to get really nasty." Shawn asked as he tried to control his screaming instincts to run from the massive brute.

"We are in the home stretch, we can't give up now," Cassidy smiled weakly, the strain was showing on her heart shaped face.

"This giant is the only thing standing in the way of finding my sisters. It will fall by our hands," Denza growled. She gripped her bow tightly, the bond between her and Shawn growled like a large forest cat that hungered for blood.

"What's the plan, Cass?" Shawn asked, heafting his spear and readying his Gale Intercept to engage the giant.

"We are going to have to wing it. Kill the guards first, then focus on the giant. Nessa should be joining us soon," Cassidy placed her wand in her belt and took out her staff. "We need to finish this quickly. I'm almost out of gas."

"Shawn, if you can distract the giant, I'm sure Bishop, Cassidy, and I can kill the ogres, can you hold your own for a few minutes?" Denza asked quickly, already knocking her arrows.

"Sure, why not? I've already been stabbed," Shawn muttered mainly to himself. He gripped his spear in both hands, pushing the spike of pain out of his mind. "I can probably buy you two minutes."

With their plan of action decided, Cassidy and Denza traveled over the rooftops to get closer to the ogres. Shawn took a steadying breath and unleashed his spell. The winds picked him up and shot him like a cannon towards the giant. The gargantuan man had raised his club to slam down toward Bishop when Shawn suddenly appeared at his shoulder and thrust his spear into the rippling muscles of the giant's back.

Shawn felt his blow land, then as the giant's muscles flexed and moved, felt the blade of his spear snap. With nothing holding him in place, Shawn tumbled forward and slid down the giants rough dirty hide before he hit the ground. The ground trembled with the impact of the giant's club.

"Shit. Bishop! This isn't good," Shawn grunted as he pushed himself to his feet, looking wildly around for his comrade.

Bishop suddenly appeared next to him, looking ruffled but unharmed, "I would think not."

"Bishop? How did you get over here?" Shawn looked back to where he had last seen Bishop. The giant lifted his massive club and chuckled to himself, apparently having finally killed the annoying human he had been chasing.

"Illusions are my speciality, it comes with being a spy," Bishop dusted Shawn off, "Gods above, man! You look near death. Are you sure we shouldn't retreat?"

"No," Shawn shook his head. "Go help the girls kill the ogres. I'm going to keep Tiny busy for a few minutes. When you are done, and Nessa joins us, we are going to take this bastard down."

Bishop looked torn, but nodded. He took off towards where Cassidy and Denza were peppering the three ogres with arrows and spells from the rooftops. Shawn looked down at his spear, the blade now only about two inches long and no longer had a point. He sighed and tossed it.. He flexed his good arm and summoned the vortex of wind once more.

"Hey!" Shawn called up at the giant.

The giant looked around, trying to find the source of the voice.

"Down here!" Shawn waved his only workable arm above his head.

The giant looked down and bared his teeth at him, "Human, you come seeking death this day. I give to you!"

Shawn skipped easily to the side when the giant tried to crush him in a huge overhead blow. He lashed out with his good arm and sent a blade of wind cutting into the giant's leg. The giant grunted in pain as a thin cut was opened in his hide. Shawn swore when he saw his magic was only slightly more effective on the giant than his spear was.

The giant tried to swat at him again, but he dodged and cut the giant once more with his Windfist. Growing irritated, the giant moved out of Shawn's range and tried to use his massive club to bludgeon Shawn. The earth trembled with each mighty blow as Shawn dodged and evaded each attack. The Hill Giant was strong, but he wasn't very quick. Shawn managed to make a few more cuts into the hide of the giant, but he couldn't cut any deeper into its thick skin.

Shawn figured it has been two minutes and looked around to find where his companions were.

"Cass!" He shouted towards the glaring bursts of light and sounds of localized destruction. "Any time now!"

A resounding crash preceded Cassidy's strained response, "A little busy here! Two more to go!"

"You've got to be joking," Shawn growled to himself.

He fired off a handful of cutting arcs of wind that did little more that cause paper cuts to the giant and enrage it further. Shawn had heard of death by a thousand cuts but he didn't think he could last that long, his energy was nearly gone.

"Stop prancing and squish now!" the giant roared in frustration as he stamped the ground furiously trying to crush Shawn. Shawn wove between his legs, answered each clumsy step and kick with a new small, but painful cut.

Shawn's mind raced as he tried to find some way of doing some damage to the creature. His magic wasn't strong enough to deal any real damage to its resilient hide, and he was effectively handicapped for the entire fight because he stupidly let himself get stabbed. His spear was broken and was little more than a sharp stick. He thought about old myths and legends involving giants.

In Jack and the Beanstalk, the giant died when he fell from his castle in the sky. Sadly, Shawn didn't have gravity magic, nor a method in which to drop a towering giant from great heights. In David vs. Goliath, David beat the giant of a man with a rock being slung from a sling that hit his forehead and then he chops off his head.

Shawn threw himself to the side and rolld painfully over his injured shoulder to avoid the giants massive foot. He didn't have a sling, and he didn't think a single rock would knock the raging giant senseless. Also, Goliath wasn't actually a giant. The only other story he could think of was of Odysseus blinding the Cyclops Polyphemus with a stick hardened in fire.

He glanced over to where he discarded his spear. A rash planned formed in his mind that had a high chance of getting him killed if he messed up. After he executed this plan he would be entirely spent.

"As the great warrior Tallahassee, and Cassidy, said, 'Nut up or Shut up!'" Shawn broke into a sprint and dived towards his broken weapon. The giant's foot missed him by a fraction of an inch, the shockwave of the slamming foot striking the ground blasted Shawn to the side in a cloud of dirt and dust.

He hand was curled around the shaft of his spear like a vice. He pushed himself shakily onto his feet. The giant was glaring down at him with hate filled eyes. Shawn filled his hand with brilliant fire and ramped up the power to create a blindingly bright globe in his hand. Part one of his brilliant plan, create a distraction. Shawn hurled the roiling mass of energy as high above his head as he could, the giant's eyes instinctively following the spell as he stepped backwards wearily.

The spell exploded in a brilliant halo of light. "Arghh!" The giant yelled, shielding his eyes.

"This is going to suck," Shawn gritted his teeth. He gripped the broken spear in both hands and ignored the agony in his shoulder as he lifted it.

He channeled the last of his power into his Gale Intercept spell and was launched towards the reeling giant's face. The world whizzed by as he closed the distance only to freeze for a fraction of a second. He see the ruddy features of the giant's face in stark relief, his yellow cracked teeth, and smell his horrible carrion breath.

Shawn thrust his spear with all of his strength and the added momentum of his spell straight into the center of one of the giant's closed eyelids. The broken blade of the spear bit deep and managed to cut through the tough membrane and pierce the eye underneath. .

The giant shrieked in abject suffering. The sheer volume of the sound blasted through Shawn's ears, setting his teeth on edge, before he felt two sharp popping sensations and the world went quiet except for a painful ringing in his head.

Shawn felt suddenly dizzy and the world began spinning wildly. He felt a crushing pain in his right side and the world blurred into a mess of browns, blues, and yellows until he came to an equally painful stop as he felt himself break through two different walls and lie crumpled in a pile of debris. Shawns entire existence was a spinning maelstrom of terrible sensations.

Breathing hurt, but that was a function he thankfully still retained. He started testing his other faculties, starting with wiggling his toes. He worked his way up his body, flexing and relaxing muscles until he reached his arms and chest. His left side was a blistering sheet of agony, while his right was worryingly numb.

The ringing in his ears faded and the world began to slow its sickening spin. He found himself in the dark interior of a shack looking through two holes roughly his size in the walls across from him. The air was damp and smelled of mold and iron. He looked down to see a piece of wood jutting out from just below his ribs, glistening in the weak sunlight filtering in from the ramshackle ceiling.

Shawn began feeling both ice cold and burning hot. He could still move his left side, but his right would not respond. Shawn pieced together that the giant managed to get a good swipe in and completely rocked his world.

He saw a shadow appear in the hole in the far wall. As it came closer he saw Nessa materialize and crouch down next to him. Her face was white and fearful.

Her mouth moved and Shawn could only hear muffled sounds coming from her. He lifted his only functioning arm, his left, and touched the side of his head. His fingers came back bloody. Shawn looked at his red stained fingers and began laughing. Deep in his addle mind, he realized he was going into shock and was hysterical, but the rest of his person couldn't stop himself from the giggling madly.

Nessa rummaged through her bag with shaking hands. Her mouth was moving rapidly as she began tossing things onto the ground. She pulled out a vial of dark liquid and bandages. She rolled Shawn onto his side, still convulsing in delirious mirth. He barely felt the sharp tugging sensation as Nessa removed the shard of wood from his body.

Shawn was suddenly aware of a searing pain inside him. He looked through watery eyes, a byproduct of laughing so hard and being in absolute agony, to see pale smoke rising from where Nessa was pouring a dark liquid into his gaping wound. The burning pain faded and he felt blissfully numb.

The ringing in his ears began to fade and he was able to make out Nessa's panicked voice as she chanted to herself, "He won't die. Not on my watch. giants bedamned. Stupid man. Stupid, stupid man. First, he gets stabbed at the guild and roasts himself in an explosion. Now, he gets stabbed in multiple places and gets his body crushed. Stupid, stupid man! At least I've stopped the worst of the bleeding."

The ground vibrated and the muffled sounds of combat drifted into the ruined hovel. Shawn fought the hysteria down and took back the majority of the control over himself. He was aware of how much pain he was in, but he was able to focus through it and form coherent words.

"You need to go help the others. I think all I did was make him angry," Shawn panted, sweat beading his face.

Nessa stared daggers at him, "You are the only one on death's door! The other three have the sense not to get struck by a giant!"

"Well," Shawn tried to shrug, but the effect was lost when only one shoulder barely moved. "I bought everyone time, didn't I? He might need corrective lenses if he ever gets that spear out of his eye."

Nessa bit her lip to keep her lips from smiling, "You aren't nearly as funny as you think you are. Stop with the quips and don't be so quick to rush to your demise! I can't do much to patch you up from this. Your body is barely hanging on as it is."

There was a groan as boards shifted behind him and a black scaled snout poked through. Nessa stiffened and pulled out her wand. The was a series of hisses before the snout retreated and a familiar white and gold scaled kobold wiggled her way through the opening. Once free, she stood up to her full height of about three and a half feet and regarded Nessa cooly.

"I thought you escaped?" Shawn groaned as he shifted to better see the white bipedal lizard.

"I do not like outstanding debts, Shawn of the Humans. I see an opportunity to rid myself of it and to quicken the demise of the insufferable oaf you contend with," The white kobold walked to his side, ignoring Nessa's wand pointed directly at her.

"How do you plan on doing that? Do you know healing magic, because that would be really convenient," Shawn joked lightly.

"No, Shawn of the Humans, I will inject you with my venom," She said matter-of-factly.

"Kobolds aren't venomous," Nessa blurted out.

The white kobold didn't spare her a glance and instead spoke to Shawn, "The witch is correct. Kobolds are not venomous. I, however, am. I was not brought into this world Dragonwrought, but I was gifted with a unique ability. I am descended from an ancient line of primeval white dragons. I will not bore you with my lineage of names long forgotten by the other races. My gift incites temporary vitality and strength of great potency in kobolds I bite, you should find use of it given your diminished state."

"You want to drug him?" Nessa squawked in alarm.

The white kobold rolled her eyes, "I will admit, it is a deadly gift in my own race. Many are prone to burning out, so I have used it only in emergencies. In one such as yourself, the effect will not be quite as strong but will allow you to stand and fight once more, if temporarily."

"Allow him to cause even more damage to himself? Have you lost your mind?" Nessa pointed her wand accusingly at the kobold. "Shawn, don't listen to this snake."

There was violent hissing from inside the tunnel. The white kobold replied calmly in her language as the angry hissing died. She turned to Nessa and narrowed her reptilian eyes, "You will do best to watch yourself, Human. I have a debt to Shawn, not to you. Should you speak out of turn and insult my kind once more, my tribesman will not suffer the indignity."

Nessa's lip curled into a snarl, but Shawn quickly interjected, "Thank you for your help. If you can get me up and fighting, then go ahead and do it. I can't let the girls and Bishop fight that guy alone."

There was more roaring and crashing sounds as the ground shook once more. Shawn locked eyes with Nessa and she shook her head in defeat, "Fine. But if you take much more damage, I'm not sure even healing magic can save you."

Shawn nodded. He held out his arm to the kobold, "Make it a good one, Great White."

The kobold pushed his arm out of the way grinned toothily in front of his face, "I rather like that moniker, Shawn of the Humans."

Before Shawn could reply, she opened her mouth wide and sank her razor sharp teeth into his neck. Shawn fought a scream rising in his throat as he felt the kobold's strong jaws flex and her hot forked tongue savoring his blood. She took two large gulps before Shawn felt numbness spread through his body. This wasn't the same kind of numbness that Nessa's potion had given him when poured into his wound, but much like the numbness of when your leg falls asleep after sitting on it weirdly.