R/D 20_est_relship Prompt: Surprise

[skull_bearer]

Ambush

Prompt: Surprise

The ambush came out of nowhere, one moment he and Raistlin were alone in the mountains, and the next, the pass was crammed to bursting point with the ogres that gave it its name. Dalamar took an involuntary step backwards, his eyes finding it hard to pick out the individuals in the scrum and get some kind of idea of the numbers they were facing. It was all academic anyway; far too many. What did it matter if they fell to a dozen ogres or a thousand?

Raistlin's hand clenched painfully on Dalamar's arm, and when he turned, Dalamar saw yet more of the creatures emerging from the snow behind them.
Sheepskins, Dalamar realized. The ogres had hidden under sheepskins covered in snow. They'd walked past them without even noticing.

They were trapped on a high ridge, surrounded by more ogres than they could possibly hope to fight off. Raistlin was pulling him backwards, towards the edge of the cliff to stop the creatures from surrounding them. It was a nice idea, but completely pointless. They couldn't climb down, and jumping was a death sentence.

The ogres obviously didn't like the possibility of losing their hard-earned loot, and the sheepskin ambushers rushed them, circling around behind them. Raistlin lifted his hands "Kair tangus moipiar!"

The blast of flame caught three of the ogres in the face. The young mage had improved since Solace, and the spell that had scorched Caramon and his friend's faces cauterized the ogres'. Two blundered off the cliff as their eyes withered black, the third fell its knees screaming. Dalamar closed with it, ramming his dagger through its open mouth to finish it off. When a fourth tried to rush him, he threw his shoulder against it and pushed clear off the ledge.

The ogres behind them chose that moment to charge. Dalamar heard Raistlin's voice again- "Api asam ke mereka!"- and a scream as the flaming bolt struck home. Tearing the blade free, Dalamar turned to help, only to be hit in the side by a new assailant. The massive creature knocked him to the ground as easily as a rag doll and bowled down on top of him.

Steel flashed, a longsword the ogre used as a dirk, driving towards Dalamar's throat. The Dark elf drew in a deep breath, and almost gagged at the creature's sour, unwashed stench. He reached up, his fingers coiling around the creature's throat. The ogre laughed, the elf's slender hands were no match for the iron muscles of its neck.

They weren't meant to be. "Aku halilinatar sentu." He gritted out.
The flash was almost blinding from this close, and the stench of scorched hair and skin filled Dalamar's mouth. He gathered his strength and threw the monster off him, rolling to his feet. The whole fight last lasted no more than three seconds, but the lightning shock had killed the creature instantly.

"Api asam ke mereka!" Raistlin shrieked again, his voice sounded frantic. "Api asam ke mereka! Api asam-"
The incantation ended with a cry, Raistlin leaped backwards as the closest ogre too a swing at him. Only one of his missiles had hit, the other had slammed into the snow-covered slope of the pass. The ogre took another step forward, its sword leading the way. "Shut up!" It growled.

"And die quietly?" Raistlin hissed, swinging his staff in turn. He caught the creature in the jaw, the magic enhancing the blow so the creature's teeth were crushed under it. Maddened, obviously forgetting its prior words, it bellowed through a bleeding mouth and charged like a bull.

Raistlin was faster on his feet than Dalamar, and dodged- straight into the path of a second ogre. Dalamar took a deep breath, "Kalith karan, tobanis-kar!"
The missile caught the creature in the leg; it stumbled, overbalanced and fell over. Raistlin took a hurried step back, ending up shoulder to shoulder with the Dark elf. Dalamar could feel him shivering, the cold was never good for his cough, and the repeated, rapid casting had left him close to exhaustion.

The ogres had pulled back, even the brute with the bloody mouth, taking a moment to re-evaluate what they had first thought to be easy targets. Dalamar considered trying to negotiate, and hoped they didn't realize that he and Raistlin were almost done. If they thought them a genuine threat-

A low rumbling broke through Dalamar's thoughts. He looked carefully at their assailants, wondering if they were planning to attack again.

It didn't appear to be the case. In fact, they weren't even looking at them. For a split-second, Dalamar considered attacking while they had the chance, before the realization sank in that if it was bad enough to distract a band of some twenty ogres, it was probably something they should worry about.

Dalamar followed where the ogres were looking, just in time to see the cap of snow high above their heads crack, and begin to crumble and crash down towards them.
Dalamar had never seen an avalanche before, and judging from Raistlin's expression, he hadn't either. Dalamar looked him helplessly, as though begging him to do something.

Raistlin looked back, equally helpless. What could he do?

The was a second, even louder crack, and the world seemed to jerk out from under them. Dalamar fell to his knees, staring over at the now screaming ogres and wondering why the ledge was suddenly slanted at such a steep angle. Raistlin's hand tightened instictively on his arm, and they were pitched backwards, the cliffside falling away under them. Dalamar felt his stomach drop away, the world fading into a blur of colour. He didn't know how Raistlin kept hold of him, his hand like an iron trap.

The next moment, they seemed to just... stop. In mid air. It was so abrupt that Raistlin's grip on him would have failed if Dalamar hadn't wrapped an arm around his waist.

He didn't want to think. He didn't want to think of the endless drop below them, or the snow bearing down on them from above, of what in the abyss was holding them up. Shrieks rang in his ears as the ogres fell past them.
The image of what they looked like flashed in Dalamar's mind, and he didn't know if the sound he muffled against Raistlin's robes was a laugh or a scream.

He didn't know how long they hung there, slowly drifting down, neither of them daring to look, half expecting to be crushed at any moment by the falling snow.

It was like being hit by a battering ram, a massive battering ram made of ice that hit them so hard the world went black, and Dalamar didn't remember any more.

The spell must have held long enough for the worst to fall past them, because Dalamar woke up lying on a pile of melting snow, rock and dead ogres several hundred feet down the mountainside. He was bruised and sore, and covered in a layer of powdery snow, but alive. Raistlin was lying half on top of it, hanging on to the staff with one hand and Dalamar's arm with the other in a white-knuckle grip. The crystal on the staff was glowing softly, almost vibrating with power. Dalamar stared, had it...?

He shook his head, and sat up, brushed the snow off them both and rubbed Raistlin's hands until his grip relaxed. His fingers had left white marks on the elf's arm. He looked at the staff. He wondered if Raistlin had known what the staff could do. He looked up at the pass, so far above their heads, and felt sick to his stomach. He hugged Raistlin closer, and shivered.

Comments

[shadowvalkyrie.livejournal.com]

You can read thoughts, right?
God, I love you so so much right now!
...
In an entirely platonic way, of course. You can stop waving that katana at me and calling it self-defence. ";-]

It's good to see them in action and together for once, not Raistlin immobilised by Fistandantilus. (I'd take an avalanche over that lich any day.)

the realization sank in that if it was bad enough to distract a band of some twenty ogres, it was probably something they should worry about.
*smirk*
I can just see those lovely eyes of his go wide...

And the power of the staff is an interesting point. It's one of the things with contradicting canon, isn't it?

In any case, thank you for saving my evening through fic.

[halokitty69.livejournal.com]

When I saw you had posted a fic I hoped it would be a smutty one, but this is good too ^_^

As SV said, it's cool to see them in action. Are the spell-words from the books, or did you make them up?

[skull-bearer.livejournal.com]

Some are from the books, but most of them I made up with help of the 'spell dictionary' in the Magic of Krynn rulebook. Best. Rulebook. Ever. Soulforge Raistlin stats. Pre-Test Dalamar stats. Height-of-power Fistandantilus stats. Love.