The Slavers - Part 6

The man was starting to loosen up more, the paralysis wearing off as he glared daggers at Octavia lying prone on the floor. He was still having to drag his foot, but it wouldn't be much longer before he would be free to pursue vengeance while walking with both his legs.

Octavia on the other hand, hurt as she was, had a plan. It was impulsive and she didn't know how well this would work, but it was the only one she had. Pain wracking her body, she started to slither and pull herself across the floor towards the door.

She wasn't far from the door, but the man wasn't that far from her. It would come down to how long it took for the venom to wear off to decide who would be the victor here. She was sure that once the venom wore if, she would not be in this world for much longer.

She dragged and clawed her way along the floor, trying to find places to grip just for some extra boost as her tail propelled her along the ground. It was a struggle, but before long, she had reached her destination…

… Just as the man reached her.

But before he could do anything further, Octavia reached over and took hold of the lantern. Then as the man caught her by the tail, she used all the strength she could muster, and she made a wild swing.

And slammed the lantern into the man's face.

…

They now had the advantage. With the darkness, the men who were human, could not see anything. Their eyes would probably grow accustomed to it after some time, but even then things would be difficult. But, while this was the case, the man Octavia was still a big brute, so one hit from him would still do her a good amount of damage.

Octavia thankfully, felt a little more confident about things now. The darkness was one thing, but she had to admit, she got a lot of satisfaction from smashing him in the face with the lantern.

The man had cried out in pain, reeling backwards, and falling onto the floor as he held his face.

The flame had gone out instantly, so it's not like he was dealing with burns of any sort. No, the problem was the shards of thick glass that were protruding from his face. Especially since there were a lot of them.

He sat there, pulling at the shards, removing the ones that were causing the most pain. Octavia on the other hand, was using this time to check her for injuries since he knocked her to the ground.

Her whole body hurt, that was obvious, but so far she couldn't see much blood. What she did find however was that a couple of her fingers were bent backwards, a position of which was not native to them. She had to grit her teeth and bend them back into place, sending a sharp bout of pain through her system as she did.

Both of them were trying to recover from the damage they took, something that Octavia needed, but also didn't want him to get. She needed to put aside the pain she was feeling and get back to taking this man down, lest all the pain she inflicted on him end up being moot.

It was as she thought this, that she realised the painful cries of the man pulling out glass had stopped.

She quickly used her 'vision' to see around her, having been looking down at herself all this time. This gave her a very clear view of the man, and what she saw worried her. The man was back on his feet, very much worse for wear, but he was looking around trying to find where she had moved to. All the while being right in front of her. He even went so far as to start swinging his club around to try and hit her, in amongst all the winces of pain from the glass still in the side of his face.

Which, he ended up accomplishing by clipping the side of her tail.

It was at this point that Octavia realised another problem with her vision. While the man was clearly visible, it was very hard to spot the dull blue hue of the weapon that he was swinging, against the blue of the background. It was only when it went across his body that she easily spotted it. So, she had to be extra careful once she saw his arm moving.

Not wanting to make that mistake again, she ducked as she saw his arm move across his body, and she quickly sped over to him, as much as she could in her wounded state and used the only thing she had at her disposal against an area that was supposed to be treated nicely.

The man ended up giving a loud cry of pain at the hit, using his free hand to cover up the area, causing Octavia to internally cry out in victory. It would seem that while he was a massive muscular man, the strength her species gave her could be enough to do some damage, especially against something so…sensitive. But her celebration was too premature. Even with the darkness, she was now right in front of the man…within reach.

The next thing she knew, her back was against the floor. It had happened so fast that she hadn't even seen the man use his free hand to clip her in the face as he tried to punch her in his vicinity, knocking her over. She guessed that he too had decided to push past the pain in order to take her out. How he did that with a punch to his family jewels, she didn't know.

"Okay…the time for games is over."

Octavia's eyes widened as she saw the man move his arms upward, judging where she was and she realised what he was doing.

She quickly rolled to the side just in time for the man's club to hit the ground with a massive bang, the vibrations of which she was sure she felt.

Fearing he was going to lift it up again to try and slam it back down at her, she quickly got her bearings and looked up at him. But, she found no such movement. What she did see was him bring his arms to the side.

"Oh crap," she thought to herself as she realised what he was doing.

Rather than go for an overhead swing which he might miss, he knew she was on the floor. So he figured that a swipe across it with his club would allow him to hit her.

And he was right.

She didn't have enough time to get herself up off the floor and avoid the swing. This meant that the next thing she felt was the wooden club hitting her side and pushing her along the floor.

He had hit her with such force, that she slid along the floor and smashed into one of the barrels, causing it to tip and fall over, breaking as it hit the ground.

She was going to have a lot of pain and bruising on her side tomorrow. Assuming she could make it to tomorrow.

…

Just behind Octavia, Sylvia was practising her dodging skills.

The other man was still going strong, with one hand on his side and using his other to swing his dagger. But the best he could do was swing wildly trying to find Sylvia.

Sylvia on the other hand had her night vision, which in this situation, didn't have the drawback that Octavia's did. She could very clearly see where the man and his weapon was at all times. Which meant, as long as she was fast enough, she could dodge it.

The man however was desperate, and so his frantic swings meant there wasn't much opportunity for Sylvia to retaliate.

Octavia however, was in the prime position to offer a little helping hand.

Well, helping tail.

With a quick swing of it, she managed to trip the man up, leaving him open for Sylvia to get another go at him. But while that was a small victory on one front, the man she was facing, was almost upon her.

Moving to get up, she felt something under her hand, which caused her to slip a little. It was rough and made up of many, many small parts. There was only one thing it could be given the barrel she had knocked over.

The salt.

Which gave her an idea.

Picking up a bunch, she looked over at the man blinding swinging his sword, and she scattered it towards the man's face.

"Ahhh!"

The man cried out even more, stumbling back as he tried to wipe his eyes with his hand, clipping some of the glass as well, causing even more pain. This left him wide open for Octavia to take another swing at him, and this time with her tail.

Quickly moving over, she spun out her tail, slamming into the man's side, knocking him face down onto the floor.

He was down and struggling to get up, all the while dealing with the terrible pain in his eyes and cheek, which allowed her to take another swing, a good blow at his back.

Fighting dirty is…well, sometimes seen as cowardly. But if it was the difference between you dying or living, Octavia didn't see much of a problem with it.

The only problem that did come from it, was that it likely made your opponent very angry. Which was exactly the case as when she went in for another hit with her tail, the man flipped himself over, blindly swinging his club as he did.

This hit her right on her side, knocking her to the ground, causing her to grown out in pain.

Every small movement sent pain shooting through her body, and she was sure that another hit would probably kill her. But before she could do anything else, however, she felt something touch her tail. Looking down, she saw that the man was feeling around the area looking for her, and managed to find the tip of her tail.

"Got you now."

Octavia could do nothing as she felt the man pull at her, bringing her towards him. She struggled, feeling around for something, anything, hoping it could get her out of this. She tried to grab hold of the floor boards, hoping that would keep her from moving, but she couldn't find purchase on anything.

The only other hope was that Sylvia would be able to help her. But as she looked over, she found that she was being backed into a corner, having her own problems to deal with.

As she was pulled along the ground, she felt something dig into her tail, and then her side as she was tugged by this brute, which ended up cutting her skin a little.

Reaching under herself to grab at it, will a little bit of fumbling, she managed to pull it out, finding just the tool that could be her salvation.

The other man's sword.

Which, in a frantic panic, she swung in front of her, right at the man's face.