Jack sucked in a breath, and ran out of the cave into the clearing.Directly in front of him, Farien was hard-pressed by a pair of particularly large gnolls with warhammers. The young man was doing all he could to dodge their swings, his two curved knives dancing in out of their guards, clearly landing hits but not seeming to do much against the dogmen"s thick hides. Singling one of the gnolls out, Jack rushed forward and interposed himself between Farien and it, using his axe to deflect the gnoll"s swing into the dirt before pivoting his position and smashing it in the face with the b.u.t.t end of his axe handle.
The gnoll staggered backwards with a snarl, before roaring at Jack and bringing the full weight of his hammer down on Jack"s head. On instinct, Jack side-stepped the blow, allowing the heavy swing to arc within an inch of him as it slammed into the damp ground with a m.u.f.fled thump. Using the momentum from his twist, Jack brought his axe around in a wide arc, driving the blade directly into the gnoll"s back. The blade bit through the leather plate of the gnoll"s armor, sinking deep enough to catch meat and send a stream of dark blood running down the gnoll"s back. Grabbing his handle with both hands, Jack yanked the blade free and spun around to bring it up from underneath into the gnoll"s chest.
The blade of the axe sang as it struck the metal haft of the gnoll"s hammer. The gnoll, seeming to have antic.i.p.ated his attack, blocked the strike, and with a twist of its wrist brought the hammer head behind the haft of Jack"s weapon and pulled. The upwards tug threw Jack"s axe further up and to the side than he intended, leaving his guard wide open.
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Before he could react properly, the gnoll twisted his arms and slammed the b.u.t.t of his axe haft into Jack"s face. Jack"s vision exploded in a flash of white hot pain and he reeled backwards, bringing his arms and weapon up to protect his head as the gnoll went to follow through with the blow.
With only a split second to react, Jack dove backwards as the hammer head slammed into the spot where he"d just stood. Giving him no time, the Gnoll followed through with another horizontal swing that missed Jack"s stomach by less than an inch as it whistled past.
It was strange. While Jack hurt, and he could feel his heart pounding in terrror in his chest, time seemed to move slower and slower the longer the fight went on for him. Was he getting better, or just finally learning to lean into what he was actually capable of? He didn"t know, and now definitely was not the time to figure it out.
It did, however, buy him enough mental clarity to remember his spells. Picking one he"d grown quite familiar with, he jumped away from another one of the gnoll"s swings, threw out his left hand towards the dogman, and with a word a sphere of red-orange fire leapt from his outstretched palm directly into the body of the unexpecting gnoll, where it exploded. Jack had to avert his eyes from the flash, but when he looked back, a pile of charred fur lay in a small crater where the gnoll had stood only a moment before.
Looking past the smoking hole, Jack saw Farien pulling his blades out of the neck of the other gnoll as it slumped into the dirt. Farien looked over at him and gave a small nod, before looking at Jack"s forehead, and pointing to his own.
Jack reached up to the spot Farien indicated. The flesh on his forehead was torn open, and his hand pulled away soaked in blood. Strangely, there was no pain. He suspected that would change once the adrenaline wore off. But for now, he was grateful it wasn"t hurting, because seeing that much of his own blood made him feel light-headed. He looked back at Farien and nodded.