Aelthiriel POV
"Good," I said fiercely to Raelion. "Now listen."
He looked up at me, grunting with clenched teeth. "Follow all my instructions, and perhaps we might survive this."
"We are surviving." He grunted, dragging himself against the floor to get back on his feet while also reaching for his staff. "I don't intend to die today."
I made him a tight smile, though he was too blind to see it. "So do I," I said, watching him struggle against his pain. "But we need more than optimism to defeat four massive ogres. And you look like something that just survived a grinder." I said, unapologetic, because of course I was. He'd caused all this with his stubbornness.
Now, we had only four ogres to deal with. There was no telling when more would come. We didn't need to just defeat them. We also needed to do it fast.
"I am fine," he assured, whilst pushing himself to his feet, wincing softly in pain so I wouldn't hear.
But even if I didn't hear that, his swaying like a leaf in the wind was evidence enough that he was in no good condition.
I sharpened in alert, following the ogres as they closed in again, their massive shadows swallowing the ravine floor. One cracked its knuckles. Another dragged its club across stone, sparks spitting in lazy bursts.
"Two in front," I said quickly. "One circling wide to our right. The biggest one—the one with the split tusk—is hanging back, waiting."
"Okay," Raelion said. He wiped his sleeves on his lips, and blood stained them.
He swayed gently.
Blood ran down his temple and soaked into his collar. One shoulder hung slightly lower than the other. But his grip on his staff tightened, knuckles whitening.
The ogres edged closer, swinging their clubs.
"Distance," Realion muttered.
"Ten strides to the nearest. Fifteen to the one on your right. The leader is twenty back."
A breath left him—controlled now. Focused.
"The left one is lifting his club," I warned, dropping back to the nearest tree around so I wouldn't get in the way. Pain bit through me like always.
"I'll get him first then." Raelion grunted, wiping away the blood on his lips with his sleeves again. Then he moved, instantly.
He charged with a burst of speed that betrayed his weak body, magic swirling around him like a halo.
The ogre's club came down on him, but the weapon smashed into earth where Raelion had stood, dirt exploding upward. Raelion pivoted exactly as I directed.
"Two steps forward—strike low!" I guided, following the ogre's movement. I watched and calculated, making up mental notes of ideas for the best counterstrikes in my head.
Raelion's staff swept out, crackling with compressed force. Magic erupted from its tip like a concussive wave. It swept through the air, whooshing with a force like a hurricane, before slamming right into the ogre's knee.
Bones shattered. The creature howled and toppled sideways. Its fall shook the ravine.
"Behind you!" I shouted, one of the other ogres deciding to take his rear.
He turned without hesitation, his footwork excellent and perfectly executed. Pain almost marred his balance, but he didn't submit to it.
The ogre lunged with wide arms, intending to crush him with the brutal force of the strength of its massive arms.
"Duck!"
He grunted reluctantly before he dropped. His jaw clenched tight, his lips curled tight from prejudice.
I maintained again that I would have rooted again for the Ogre if my fate wasn't tied to the life of such an obnoxious person.
The ogre's massive hands collided midair instead of on Realion. In that same heartbeat, I yelled, realizing the ogre had lost its balance. "Up. Chest level. Strike there, it's exposed!"
Raelion thrust his staff forward, and a massive beam of blinding white force punched clean through the ogre's torso.
The magic from the staff threw the creature back. The sound it made, wet and terrible, charged the air with ear-piercing notes.
The ogre clutched its chest with both of its large hands, smoke rising from the cauterized wound.
"Two left," I said, my breath coming faster when I spotted the last two charging furiously for us. "Right side—one's charging!"
"I feel him." Realion muttered.
"Don't feel. That's going to get us killed. They are charging more furiously than before. Just move! Three steps left…" I counted fast in my head before screaming. "...now!"
Raelion pivoted just fast, his footwork prowess on display again. The ogre barreled past where he'd been, too heavy to stop. Its momentum carried it forward.
"Turn. Spine. Now."
Raelion spun as I had instructed and slammed the base of his staff into the creature's lower back.
Magic detonated outward.
There was a crack like a tree splitting in winter, and the ogre collapsed face-first into the dirt.
He had just the opportunity of one strike, and he made the strike count. Just like the others, the ogre lay on the ground, whining in pain, clutching where it had been struck. The three fallen ogres were unable to move, though they struggled to get themselves off the ground.
With three down, that left just one, the largest one. The split-tusk leader, with arms wider and bigger and an enormous head to match its gigantic weight. He didn't rush, nor did he panic. The creature stepped forward now, slow and deliberate, as if measuring each footfall. The ground shook beneath us.
"He's different," I murmured.
"I can feel it too." Raelion adjusted his stance, feeling the weight of his opponent with a strategic position of his legs. "How is he different?"
I studied the ogre now. I could feel there was more to it than just its strength. His presence was so menacing, so much so that I could feel it in my bones.
I studied its concentrated gaze, the determined yet static pull of its large brows over its large eyes hooded by a gigantic forehead.
"I believe it's thinking, Realion."
The ogre's small eyes locked onto me, and instantly, my stomach dropped.
"He knows," I breathed. His deepening concentration on me was a giveaway. "He knows I'm guiding you."
The ogre huffed, heaved its massive shoulders, and then suddenly changed direction.
My heartbeat went on a rampage in my chest. "Raelion!" I shouted. "He's ignoring you—he's coming for me!"
The ground thundered beneath its charge.
I tried to move—but pain lanced through my side, stealing half my strength. "He's five strides from me!"
Raelion didn't hesitate. He adjusted his stance, knuckles whitening around his staff.
"Stay where you are," he ordered.
For once—I obeyed him. He was the last person I wanted to entrust my life to, but right now, I had no choice.
"Two strides," I said, voice tightening. I struggled to keep it steady against the tidal force beneath my chest, while I watched the Ogre about to maul me to death. "He's raising his club—"
Raelion drove his staff into the ground just then, and the earth answered.
A shockwave exploded outward from him in a perfect circle of force, tearing through soil and stone. The ground beneath the charging ogre erupted upward, destabilizing its footing.