Hunted: Part 11

Lucian devoured the distance to the wall with long hungry strides. He kept his eyes focused straight ahead but his mind went over the details and plans...which he knew would change as they always did.
The walls stood at twice the span of a tall man. At the top of the walls, at roughly the cardinal points of the oblong arena, stood archers. Each had a rectangular shield propped in front of their position by falchion to provide both cover from arena fighting archers and a secondary weapon set should someone mount the wall.
Each archer was strenuously trained to be accurate from any of the positions and, if required, would fire at foes in combat with one of his cohorts. The span that ran around the arena was roughly 6 feet across with another wall the reached the high arched ceiling preventing someone from circling around.
Lucian knew their very strict commands. They would only fire at someone who managed to gain purchase at the top of the wall...unless the wizard commanded them to fire upon someone still in the pit.
Lucian ran directly towards the wall keeping his eyes away from his true destination. The less time the archers had to respond the better.
Cutting sharply to the right Lucian ran parallel to the wall, his eyes now focused on the large poleaxe still lodged in its surface. As he got closer he leapt landing on the very end of the long haft. The thick handle flexed under his weight and then released like a spring launching him suddenly upward.
As his feet left his perch he threw his katana at the archer nearest him; the blade spinning towards its target made an evil slicing sound.
The archer was taken aback by the sudden missile weapon spinning towards him. Dropping awkwardly to the side his knocked arrow launched harmlessly out into the arena.
With the added force provided by the poleaxe Lucian easily managed to vault to the top of the wall. He quickly tucked and rolled forward in a somersault bringing him to his feet in its completion. The *TACK* *TACK* sound of arrows striking stone marked where his body had been a moment before.
The distance to the archer was only three long strides but Lucian's sword now lay behind his foe. Naked and unarmed he sprinted toward the recovering archer trying to close the distance as quickly as possible.
The archer dropped his bow and deftly picked up his sword and shield backing up as he did so. He was trained for this situation and he knew exactly how to deal with this naked fool. He knew his foe, unarmed and unarmored, would be on the defensive avoiding the cruel single edged sword he faced. His job was to simply keep his enemy occupied while his brothers quickly ending his life from afar.
Lucian knew the archer's plan and simply ran forward throwing a powerful front kick directly at the center of his enemy. Instinctively the archer brought his shield up which simply formed a solid point for the force to strike and push him backwards suddenly.
The archer's heels struck something. Glancing down he noted the long curved blade thrown at him a moment ago. Obviously his opponent planned to force him back to gain his weapon. THAT wasn't going to happen. Planting his feet he placed his shield defensively and his sword atop his shield point facing his foe.
Lucian faked another kick at the shield before him knowing how the man would react. With limited space to fight, a wall to his immediate right, and a shield on his left arm the man had to either let the kick connect or...
The archer saw the expected kick come in. Instead of bracing for the blow he relaxed his arm slightly dropping his shield to the left. He rolled his right wrist around bring his sword down in a vicious arc that would certainly hack into the extended and exposed leg.
Lucian let his feinted kick slide off the shield allowing him to step forward with his right leg. As the sword cleaved downwards he pivoted to his left opening space for the blade to pass. As the archer's sword arm was now extended forward Lucian grabbed the edge of the man's shield and viciously shoved it towards the wall. His opponent's wrist painfully pinched between the unforgiving stone of the all and the hard edge of his own shield with a crack.
The archer saw the man step forward instead of forcefully kick. His mind raced as to why or how he missed this gambit...but only for a moment. Suddenly his shield arm jerked to the side and his sword arm exploded in pain as he definitely felt something break in his arm. He watched in horror as his unresponsive hand simply let his weapon fall.
Lucian neatly caught the falling sword in an underhanded grip. Simultaneously pulling the shield arm back and slashing at the archer's now exposed neck he dispatched his opponent. He quickly picked the shield from his dying foe's arm and retrieved his own sword from the ground.
As he lay face down the archer watched his last moments pump away from him slower and softer with each beat of his heart. How...............how..........h..........
Lucian ducked behind his shield in time for another group of arrows to strike. *THAKTHAK* They hit almost as one. But...there should be three more archers....three arrows. Risking a quick glance above his only protection his eyes took everything in.
The archer at this end of the arena lay dead at his feet. Along each long length of wall another archer stood, each with matched sword and shield. At the far end was his goal...the wizard and...standing off to one side stood Devlin. At her feet lay the third archer face down, one of her daggers stood proudly from the man's back. She was knocking an arrow to the bow she had taken from him.
The wizard...looked amused.
Lucian began running down the section of wall that was on his right. This allowed him the most protection while using the shield and as long as both archers didn't shoot so the arrows reached him at the same time....he should be fine.
...Right?