The Escape - Part 5

The man stepped through the doorway and started swinging again. He managed to get a few slashes in, albeit with a narrow arc due to the width of the room, in which the blade ended up chipping at the wooden walls on either side of them. Octavia was able to back away quickly enough that they didn't hit her.

Taking her poleaxe, she pulled it back and extended it in order to stab the man. This was the only real way she could swing it given the locale. The man easily saw the attack and moved to the side, but Octavia persevered, sweeping it across, hoping to hit him with the axe head that was pointing at him.

The man tried to back away but ended up having to bring his sword up to block the swing. She continued to put pressure on it, and with her increased natural strength, it was starting to cause the man to strain, given the slight shaking in his arms.

It felt like she would be able to push through his block, when all of a sudden, the man dropped to the floor, taking his sword with him. Octavia's trajectory with the poleaxe continued, sending the axe blade straight into the wooden wall, embedding itself there.

She tried to yank it out but had no luck as it was firmly stuck in the wall and would take some time to pry out. This meant that between herself and the man, the pole of her poleaxe formed a one-dimensional diagonal barrier across the hall.

This obviously didn't stop the man who very easily ducked under it, and proceeded with his attacks, as Octavia moved backwards, the man starting with an overhead swing.

Octavia braced herself, not having anything to defend herself with. Her tail could not be used, the length of it lacking, so all she had were her fists, which upsettingly in this case, were not made of steel.

She knew he wouldn't kill her. He had more than enough skill to make sure that didn't happen, but that's not to say she wouldn't be losing a limb in his attack.

But as she braced and expected to feel some searing pain from the blow, nothing came. Looking up she saw what had happened.

How she laughed at how funny it was for what happened to her, to happen to the man not a few seconds later.

He stood there trying to pry his sword which was now entirely stuck within a wooden bean that crossed the ceiling. In his haste to just end the battle since she had no weapon, he had failed to notice the obstruction above.

He continued to pull and yank at it, but like her poleaxe, it would take some time to remove. Time, that she would not allow the man to have.

Octavia slid along the ground and charged at the man. He was so busy trying to remove his sword that he only saw her at the last second, shock being evident in his eyes. She collided with the man, sending him backwards, falling into the pole of her poleaxe. The force and weight of it all dislodged it from the wall and sent it along the floor towards the door. The man continued to fall backwards and hit the ground, Octavia following him, and landed on top.

He was now pinned under her and at her mercy, so she did not let it go to waste. Hands into fists, she proceeded to punch the man in the face, hoping to do enough damage and knock him out. She managed to get a couple of very nice hits in before the man could put up a defence. But once the blows knocked him out of his stupor, he very easily grabbed hold of her arms, stopping her in her tracks, and causing both to end up in a stalemate.

He tried to roll her off him, but with how narrow the hall was, he couldn't manage it, as it just sent them both into each of the walls, while she still remained on top.

Octavia forced her brain to compute and figure out how to solve this, as with him having a death grip on her arms, neither had anything to attack with.

That is until she remembered she had one more weapon at her disposal.

The only problem was that the man realised this too, and he very quickly proceeded to head-butt her with it.

A quick cry arose from Octavia as the hit landed, but so too did one from the man. She guessed that head butting wasn't part of the curriculum in the training he received. No one really expects to have to use it when fighting.

It wouldn't be long before he sorted himself out and probably went in for another, so Octavia put her weapon to use.

She tried to lower herself onto the man as much and quickly as possible and bent her head forward. As she neared the man's face, he saw her coming and tried to shift his own head back as best as he could. He also proceeded to push his arms up as best he could, lifting Octavia off of him, as it seemed he knew what she was doing, even before she opened her mouth.

"I guess the group know all about a Lamia's bite then." she realised given his actions.

She stretched and stretched trying to get closer and closer to the man's face in order to bite him and send some of her paralyzing venom through his veins, but he was putting up quite the fight. It was like he received a burst of energy, allowing him to hold her up without wavering.

She could only hope to wear him out as he couldn't hold her for much longer. But that all started to fall apart as the man started to slide himself out from under her.

If he managed to keep his grip on her, and fully slide himself out, he would very easily be able to grab her pole axe and take her down. She had to bite him now before it was too late.

That is when she heard the sound of metal scraping along wood coming towards her.

Before she could even look up, the scraping stopped and was soon replaced by a squelch and the man crying out in pain. The pain of which caused him to lose focus, making his arms drop.

When she fell on top of him, she quickly reached out and took a bite of the exposed flesh of the man's neck, sinking her teeth deep into his skin, ensuring a good amount of her venom was in his body.

Then very quickly, his cry lowered in volume, and his movements stopped as the paralysis took hold.

"Finally" she sighed as she just collapsed from the battle.

Looking up, she saw what had been her saving grace, and was only slightly surprised to see Sylvia holding onto her poleaxe, the spike at the end being embedded in the man's shoulder. She knew she would come to help her. Having had no weapon, it wouldn't have been possible, but when her poleaxe was dislodged that gave Sylvia the opportunity to help.

"Thanks."

"Your…your welcome. We really need to get out the town."

"Agreed".

it took her some time to catch her breath but finally managed to get up off the floor. Before they left, they quickly searched the man's body, hoping for something that would tell her about the group these men belonged to. They also took a crack at removing his sword, but that thing was firmly embedded in the wood.

Searching his pockets, they found a pouch of pico which they quickly pocketed. They also found a couple of glass jars, where one of which appeared to be poison given the skull that was present on the label, and another which may have been a sleeping potion. She wasn't too sure on that one, as the only indicator was what appear to be the moon and stars in the sky. She couldn't think of what else it could be.

They pocketed these and figured they could find out about them at an apothecary, likely in another town as they doubted they would be able to visit the one here in their escape. As they were finishing up the search, Octavia spotted something. Rather than an item the man had, it was a symbol that she spotted on the man's body as she moved his clothes around.

Opening them up a bit more, she was greeted with what she assumed was some sort of brand. While that did and didn't surprise her, being a member of some weird cult, she expected they had something to identify members, it was the image the brand had that truly shocked her.

"Is that a chain circling a…rifle."

"Huh, what's a rifle."

The image, as well as it looks when it's burned into someone's skin, looked to be a linked chain in a circle and a rifle diagonally within and across it. It was hard to tell, but she was sure she could make out what was essentially the stock and the barrel of the weapon.

"But how. There aren't any guns in this world. Not that I have seen or heard about." she mused to herself.

Turning to Sylvia she very quickly decided to check with her in case they were named something else in this world.

"Do you know of a weapon that lets you fire a very small bullet…ball of metal from the end. It looks like that," she said pointing to the brand.

"…No, I don't think so. The only weapon I know that lets you fire something is a bow or crossbow. I've never heard of anything like that."

"How did that image get here then, as a brand for this group if there are no guns in this world? Did it come from Earth? And if it did, how." She wracked her brain thinking about it when all of a sudden, she was able to recall another snippet from her conversation with Prisma where she talked about the God after her and how "he has followers everywhere, even Thalassia so be careful"

"Could it be that the god after her is involved with this group somehow? Could it be that the symbol originated on Earth and the God somehow brought it to this world for his followers to use?" She wondered.

It didn't make a whole lot of sense. What use would a god have to carry a symbol of one group of followers to another world?

She didn't know the answer, but she did know that she would have to try and get in contact with Prisma again. The only problem was that she needed some form of magic in order to interact with the orb. Or she could just wait until she contacted her.

But, all of this would have to wait until they were safe. So, with the odd revelation that these men had a brand which showed a rifle, they headed out of the house and continued with their escape.