[Arien]

Ceros thrust one of his knives into the chest of an on coming orc, the other was thrown at another coming towards his left. The knife was quickly recovered and his attention turned to the Hill Troll in front of him. He had only seen a troll twice before and it was not so easy to fell as other opponents might be. His mind rushed with thoughts as the grip around his knives grew stronger; how to eradicate such a foe? Perhaps to lure it into sunlight; or into the river. But that would be hard and neither was near. The vile creature looked round widely at the eight elves that surrounded it, wondering which pair to strike first.

“Try and lead in into a clearing, the sun will shine upon it….” He cried above the mighty roar that the beast had just let out. Ceros hurriedly sheathed both knives and grabbed his bow. He swiftly reached for an arrow from his quiver, and notched it on to his bow. He took aim and shot. The arrow spun through the air hitting the troll on his left shoulder. Now his companions from each side of the monster released other shots, some pierced its thick skin but other ricocheted of its body harmlessly.

“Ihwesta,” he spoke softly to the She- Elf beside him, “Aim for its eyes, maybe if we blind it, it will stumble into the clearing.” He could see it ahead. The group all the time had been gently leading the troll unknowingly into a trap. Ihwesta and Ceros advanced forward slowly firing at its vulnerable spots.

Of course it retaliated with roars of anger and lashes from it crooked club that it carried, but it was too slow to hit any of them. Although if it did the strength behind it was overwhelming. Ceros looked behind him to see were Ihwesta was, she just released an arrow from her bow and a look horror came over her face. Ceros turned round speedily, the troll swung its club in a rage towards Ceros, he tried to get out of the way but was too slow.

The club made contact with his upper body and he was carelessly slammed into a near by tree. He could feel his ribs crushing against the club and then the breath was taken from his lungs as his back hit the tree.

“Ceros!” He heard someone cry, but he did not know whom.

His bow was cast aside idly, and a sudden stinging sensation came to the left side of his lower chest. Ceros tried to stand, but failed as the troll took another swing, luckily missing him, but hitting the tree he leaned against. It shook violently and leaves and branches fell to the ground. He watched as he friends fought with the beast, he got more and more frustrated with himself as he found he was unable to stand, or do anything for that matter.

His bow lay just a few yards away from him, if he could just pull himself together then he would be able to get back up and fight. But his vision was failing and his head was spinning. Ceros was too stubborn to realise when he was beat and so he tried again to get up, and once again it failed. He fell to the forest floor, his vision blurred even more and now it grew darker. He could hear the echoing sounds of a struggle far away in his mind as he fell into darkness.

[ October 01, 2003: Message edited by: Arien ]