My instincts took over. The half giant was injured, and the creature was on him. I darted forward from the trees. "He needs help!"
Qapla was already moving. "Gods damn it all!" he yelled, sprinting with Nox straight at the monster.
The creature ignored them, swinging its long, broken arm in a decapitating blow at the giant. A sharp twack cut the air. A crossbow bolt, Velyan's, slammed into the creature's wrist.
It wasn't enough to stop the arm, but it knocked the blow just off course. The claws, meant for the giant's throat, raked uselessly past his ear.
The creature snarled and whipped its head around, its horrifying, stretched face locking onto us. It opened its impossible maw, and whispers began to echo from it, a thousand voices speaking at once.
A pounding ache hammered my skull. My vision swam, and a dark, magical fog instantly blotted out the clearing. The creature seemed to multiply, its form splitting into a dozen hazy afterimages. Qapla and Nox vanished into the murk.
Yaelin, watch over your flock. Maintain the purity and sanctity of my soul as it is yours.
I murmured the prayer, and the divine energy inside me flared. The fog in my own mind cleared, though the dark mist still choked the battlefield. My vision clarified just in time to see the half giant, his eyes wide and vacant, swing his massive sword.
He wasn't aiming for the monster. He was aiming for Qapla.
The magic must have blinded him just as it had me. Qapla attempted to parry the massive blade, but it had too much force and was too unexpected. The steel bit deep into his side. Blood poured from the wound like a waterfall.
At that exact moment, the creature's claws slashed out of the fog. Qapla, even as he was being gutted, managed to bat the attack away, the force of it driving him to his knees.
I rushed past the monster, ignoring it, and slammed my hand onto the half giant's back just as he raised his sword for an executioner's blow on the kneeling orc. "He is your ally!"
The same divine magic that cleared my head flowed through him. I saw his eyes regain focus as a wisp of darkness was expelled from his head.
"What—" The giant mumbled, staring in horror at Qapla's collapsed form.
"I'm on your side, damn Kar'gath!" Qapla yelled, clutching his bleeding side.
I felt the wind whip past my ear. I dropped to the ground, fast. The creature's arm narrowly missed my head and embedded into the half giants side. With an inhuman, lurching speed, it yanked the giant off his feet and dragged him into the mist. Both disappearing inside.
I heard Nox yell from inside the fog, followed by a heavy clash of metal.
I dashed back to Qapla. The cut had severely damaged him. He would die in minutes
Yaelin grant us your breath to heal those who fight in your name.
Golden light surrounded my hand. I focused on his side, and the glowing energy began to knit the ravaged flesh back together. Qapla spat out a heavy mouthful of blood as the wound sealed.
"That… ugh… really does feel better than those damn priests of Valaris." Qapla stood up roughly, pushing my hand away before I could finish the last of the healing. "Save your energy , I'll be fine."
He gripped his sword and charged back into the mist. The loud clanging of steel on bone echoed out, mixed with the screams of the beast.
From behind me, a beautiful, haunting melody played out on Annalise's violin. Flowing silver light, born from the music, rushed past me and into the fog.
The creature's form was suddenly visible, highlighted in a glowing, ethereal light, even through the murk. Its left arm seemed preoccupied with pinning something down, while the right repeatedly slammed into the ground.
The whistle of a bolt pierced the noise as two bolts from Velyan's crossbow landed solidly in the creature's head. It whipped its arm to the side, and Nox flew out of the mist, tumbling to the ground beside me.
She was wounded, but lightly. Shadows pulling back together torn flesh. She looked at me, chest heaving.
"That giant is getting torn to shreds. He will die soon." She scrambled back to her feet and dashed back in.
I followed. As soon as I entered the mist, my sight was stolen. Nox, less than two feet away, was impossible to see. The only thing I saw was the glowing, silver limned figure of the creature, still slamming its one free arm down.
The voice of the giant yelled out from under the creature. "Aim for the joint for god's sake ." His voice was cut off with a sharp, wet gurgle as the creature slammed down again.
A loud crack echoed out as a sword slammed into the creature's elbow. The arm bent in the opposite direction with a sickening snap. The creature let out a whine like a wounded dog as it lunged backward, guarding its broken limb.
I ran to where the half giant lay and knelt. Warm blood instantly soaked my robes. I reached for his head… and my paws touched his throat. Or where his throat had been. It was missing. A ragging, gaping, whistling hole was left behind.
He needed a miracle. I channeled all the divine power I had gathered, all the light I held. It flowed out of my like a powerful current as I focused on the memory of his form. I felt flesh and sinew knit and grow under my paws.
A terrible, shuddering gasp echoed out as the giant finally took a breath again. He shot up, not in a smooth motion, but in a panicked, choking reflex, his hands flying to his newly formed throat.
"You are okay." I said, my voice calm but strained, "The creature is to your left. Go."
I moved backward swiftly, out of the mist. I was only a liability in there, blind to everything but the monster.
I dashed out just as I heard Qapla scream in a hoarse voice, "VELYAN MOVE!"
I exited and saw the creature, free of Annalise's magic, tearing across the open ground toward Velyan. Multiple bolts were stuck from it's form. Wounds covered it, but no blood flowed.
Velyan lay completely still, her crossbow raised aiming at the charging nightmare.
Qapla and Nox were sprinting after it but they were too late.
The creature let out another horrific scream as it jumped, its one good arm raised, its broken one flapping uselessly. It swung.
Yaelin. Please. Help her.
A sharp twang rang out as two bolts flew from Velyan's crossbow. The amalgamation's head snapped back as the bolts buried themselves where the shriveled eyes had once been. But its body was already in motion, its killing lunge unstoppable.
Blinded, its arm, aimed for Velyan's head, missed by a hand's breath below her. By the grace of Yaelin, it struck the boulder she was braced against.
There was a sickening, final crunch of breaking bones as it collided against the solid rock below Velyan.
It slid to the ground. Finally, it was still.