Yggsdrasil

Chapter 15: BATTLE!
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HANG ON!
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Lamar took the shout to mean “hang on”. He hung on. They closed the distance quickly. There were several chariots, not just one. Each one had a driver and two warriors. The drivers were Trolls and the warriors were Demons. From a few yards out the Buffalo Vaquero leveled a bow and then shot four times. It amazing to watch. The boy used his tail to hold arrows near at hand for reloading the bow. He shot four arrows. He was a damn good shot. He nailed one of the Demons twice in the throat. It promptly collapsed.

The other Demon was wearing some type of armor. The arrows didn’t penetrate. Then it swung the rail mounted pintle gun to bear on the bear. Lamar was amazed to see the Troll lash out with a booted foot and smash the Demon in the side. The Orc was totally blindsided . Ribs had been shattered by that terrible blow. It painfully turned to face the Troll and received a snap kick to the chin. This broke the Orc’s neck and flipped him out of the chariot. Smashing into the ground like a sack of dirty laundry the limp corpse was immediately stomped into blue goo by the herd.

The Troll driver waved at Lamar and continued to guide the chariot along with the flow of the herd. Lamar and the Bear-Vaquero were astonished. There was something strange going on here. Then they saw the chains. The Troll was chained by his ankle to the chariot. He was a slave.

This revelation seemed to enrage the BearBoy. He screamed something and pointed at the other nearby chariots. Lamar didn't understand his speech, yet, but some things were universal. He was pretty sure the boy had said something to the effect of "You Filthy Slavers, You're NEXT!" He really seemed upset about those chains.

Lamar could relate. He knew all about slaves. He also owed the Boy and the Bear AND the Griffin. He’d have been dead but for them. If the kid thought the Demons were the 'bad guys' ™, and that they needed killin', then that was fine by Lamar. He could do that. He proceeded to help. Lamar drew his brace of Remingtons and began to shoot. The first reports of those hand cannons startled the boy slightly, the bear never even flinched. Not so the Demon, they didn't recover. Even though the Demon troopies had superior firearms of their own , they weren’t proficient. They were awkward, and they hesitated. He who hesitates in a gunfight is lost.

They lost.

The concussion, the fire and the smoke of the Remingtons were overwhelming. When the massive .44 caliber slug smashed into the malevolent creatures at almost about eight hundred feet per second it knocked them right out of their chariots. They were immediately stomped to cobalt cream by the ongoing stampede. Lamar didn't shoot the Troll. The Troll looked at Lamar for a moment in surprise and then the demon-less chariot disappeared from sight into the rampaging mob.

The two, Lamar and the Bear-Boy, went about their business until Lamar’s pistols ran dry. Not a problem. Lamar had pre-loaded cylinders in his belt pouch. It was but the work of a few seconds to swap out cylinders and go back to killing Demons, both in chariots and on killer birds.

The Bear-Vaquero figured out what Lamar was doing almost instantly and worked with him. The man, the boy and the bear became a deadly killing team. The boy seemed to have an uncanny sense of perception. He could invariably find the Demon-chariots. When Lamar had obliterated the Demons in one buggy they would go directly to another and repeat the process leaving the surviving Troll to manage as best it could. Lamar figured the Demons were the real menace whereas the Trolls were slaves, a subjugated race. Many times during the running battle Lamar would get glimpses and flashes of the other humans. Everyone seemed to be having a good time.

Lamar noticed a pattern. Guardian angels were watching over the humans. These angles were female elves riding Griffins. When a human got into trouble, such as falling out of the saddle or off a wagon, he would be swarmed by Griffins.

Instantly, many times before the human could even hit the ground, a pair of Griffin would latch on and began flapping like mad. Although one Griffin could barely lift the heavier human off the ground, that didn't stop them from trying. Usually two or more Griffin could latch onto a falling man and lift him into the air.

The struggling mythical creatures would then deposit the human in one of the wagons. The human might have punctures in his shoulders from Griffin claws but he was alive. Thus they ran with the wild horde and avoided being trampled.

Once, at least, it didn’t work. Lamar noticed a Griffin with it’s lovely rider struggling to lift a fallen human and being unable to gain height quickly enough. They were smashed to the ground by the panicked cattle. It happened too far away for Lamar to help. All three were trampled to mush. The man, the Griffin and the female Griffin-Gaucho. That didn't stop the others from trying.

Out of the corner of his eye Lamar say something unusual. Considering this situation the word 'unusual’ took on a whole new meaning.

It was Hobbs. Only Hobbs could have come up with something so outlandish yet so simple and effective. Hobbs had looped two long ropes through his belt. Four Elve ridden Griffins were overhead pulling up, one on each rope. Hobbs was taking gigantic flying leaps and moving at an impressively alarming speed. His weight was almost fully supported by the overhead avians.

Lamar burst out laughing. His laughter choked off abruptly as he saw Hobbs overtake a small group of Demons riding TerrorBirds. Not only did Hobbs obliterate the Demons in a hail of gunfire, but the Carnivorous birds they were riding went down too. Hobbs didn't even slow down. He was off to find another victim. Apparently Hobbs had confiscated a Demon firearm that fired really, REALLY fast and reloaded easily. Not a bad idea that.

Lamar lusted after that gun.

So much for Hobbs, Let him have his fun. Lamar had more Demon killing to take care of his own self. Eventually he completely ran out of ammo for his pistols. He followed Hobb's example, Texas style. Lamar was much larger, and much stronger than Hobbs so he just naturally got a bigger gun. Rather than get a small arm the Texan appropriated one of the Demon’s pintle guns. It fired almost as fast and used bigger bullets. The Demons required a pintle mount to shoot the thing, not so the Texan. Lamar fired it from the hip. When he reached out and touched a Demon it staid touched.

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To be Continued
If you missed the start of this book
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21