The night had reached one of its darkest times, with the moon slowly pushing towards the horizon. The faint grey glow barely broke through the countless layers of branches and leaves. The wind brushed calmly through the forest, a rustling noise constantly apprising the two figures of the livelihood of their surroundings. The violent snorting roar of the beast ruptured the otherwise peaceful atmosphere.
Kandor felt cold sweat running down his back, flooding along his spine like a mountain creek. His sword firmly gripped by both of his hands, his pose barely resembled that of a defensive stance.
"Stay quiet, and don't run", he whispered to the girl that was tightly clutching his shirt from behind. Normally, being this close to the daughter of a noble, and a very beautiful one at that, would have certainly aroused a lot more thoughts and a different kind of nervousness in him. When faced with a five-foot tall boar, he could not be bothered by her touch.
"What do we do?", she replied, her quiet voice trembling noticeably.
"Slowly back away", he replied, already making the first step backwards.
Lia behind him did not hesitate either, following his step order, while keeping her eyes just slightly above Kandor's shoulder. Her grip on his shirt slowly loosened, and instead she kept her flat hand on the mercenaries back, as if to make sure that he did not push her too fast. The muscles twitched slightly under her palm.
The large boar stepped forward, its contours becoming clearer as it stomped over the bushwork. The piglet that had previously shown itself immediately scurried away to the side before circling around its parent. Many more piglets became visible beneath it, occasionally darting out to sniffle on something, or to calmly chomp away on some roots. The parent boar -Kandor deduced that it would likely be their mother, as it was common for them to stay with the piglets until they had grown up- roared again, causing all the piglets to immediately jump back behind her. Although it was not an eardrum-shattering sound, it still left its impression on the two humans.
Kandor felt Lia ducking behind him in fear, while he only experienced a momentary flurry shooting through his entire body. Slowly, he continued to back up, pushing the frightened girl step by step. What the fuck was he doing here in the middle of the night, he thought to himself, a regretful expression on his tense face. Could he kill that beast? Probably not. It would simply be too hard to significantly strike through its hard bristles and the thick fat-layered skin. Even its neck would be incredibly hard to injure, especially since he had such little room to maneuver. His longsword was great in the open and on widely spread battlefields, but in a forest like this, with a convolution of tree trunks reaching up every few meters, he would definitely be unable to gain enough momentum to pierce through its natural armor. More often that not, Kandor brought a shortsword to the battlefield, mainly as a backup in case his sword broke, which had unfortunately already happened four times in his few years with the Band of the Cormorant, but also in case it would become essential to lower his disadvantage when the fight became more messy and his space to maneuver more narrow. He did not equip his back-up sword during the night watch, making him grit his teeth in regret now. They would have to rely on the boar not being aggressive enough to chase them unconditionally, but Kandor had little hope for such a plan. Maybe he could injure its eyes and nose to create a better chance to escape. But how would he fight with a girl hiding behind him?
Continuing to back up, he noticed how Lia directed him slightly to the left. At least she won't be brainlessly stumbling into the trees, he thought, relieving just a tiny little fracture of pressure from him.
"Run when I tell you to", he whispered again, contradicting his previous command. He had decided to try and injure its sense receptors. From experience, he knew that it brought the risk of enraging the creature, as these beastly root-eaters knew no fear when they had piglets around. He saw no other choice though and hoped that they could use their smaller and lighter bodies to create an advantage when running from the monster that currently marched towards them in a slow and steady pace. The snorting sound of its sniffling approach pushed the two further back. Kandor would have to wait until they'd pass the tree behind them in order to get enough space for a proper blade swing. A stab towards the eyes would likely be more effective, but he decided to prioritize gaining momentum and staggering the beast.
The boar halted in its movement for a moment, its snout still angrily sniffing the air around it. It had already stepped into the faint moonlight, and its frightening features and contours became apparent in the dim lighting of the night. Its huge head, easily making up one third of its entire body length, quickly turned from side to side, grunting noises sporadically coming out of its snout. Its brown, almost black, fur hid the details of the sturdy and pointed bristles that sported down its entire trunk and skull. Only the bottom of its head, where its throat would be, was overgrown with lighter, fluffier hair.
The next moment, a loud, high-pitched, piercing cry rang out of its fairly narrow jaws, before it burrowed its hooves and began charging at Kandor. The piglets straying not too far behind it, always closely following their mother.
Kandor cursed in his mind. He wasn't in the right position yet. Putting his left hand behind his back, he quickly pushed Lia further away to give him more room. She reacted quickly and the two managed to take three more steps in less than a second. Still, it would be bad news if the boar managed to charge straight into him, as there was no way he could properly resists its momentums force with just his body, so he grabbed her with his left hand and pulled her slightly to the side, positioning Lia diagonally behind him at an arm's length away from his body. Pushing her around at her waist felt unnatural, but Kandor had no time to make anything of it. She got them into this situation, so she would have to bare with it.
His second hand back on the hilt, he raised the blade to the right, while trying to anchor his two feet on the mossy ground. Thankfully, it was not very slippy due to the long dry period, and he found stable footing. No second later, the boar was merely two meters away from, as he swung the blade forward, arching it down and diagonally towards the creatures head. He felt the tightness in his muscles like never before. He felt every artery pumping blood through his triceps as he extended his arms, felt every vein popping out of his forearms beneath the leather vambraces.
The sharp edge of the blade collided with the creature, immediately pushing Kandor off his footing. He concluded the swing as he jumped backwards, slicing across the boar's protected forehead with a light shrieking noise, as bristle after bristle broke under the slashing blade. The impact seemed to have been enough to force it off its originally trajectory, slightly breaking out to its right where Lia was standing. She quickly hopped back, the frighten of her life drawn onto her expression. Lia began circling around Kandor to hide behind him again, just like the boar's piglets had done earlier.
Having successfully staggered the beast, Kandor grew confident. He rose his blade once again, his hands just slightly above the height of his eyes, before he followed towards the boar with a step and another blow. The wild boar had just recovered from the previous strike, having stopped in its tracks, and turning its head back towards Kandor, when the sword struck it again, this time aimed more precisely at its long snout. Making it incapable of smelling them would be an incredibley useful advantage for the two.
The blade impacted, and broke its way through the bristles, this straighter angle seemingly more favourable than the previous. The tip burrowed itself into the snout, cutting into the nostril, as dark-red blood, an almost brown-black liquid in the low light, began filling its nose and running down its snout.
Kandor used the opportunity to push the blade forwards, hoping to find soft tissue to pierce through all the way into its brain, but was quickly disappointed. The blade was stuck no five centimeters into its very long head, not even coming close to its eyes. The boar cried out in pain, the tone being much different than its previous battle cry, resembling more of a gu-gu-gu sound.
Kandor pulled the blade out, but the creature followed, charging at him despite the sharp weapon in front of its face. He was caught off-guard, and attempted to shuffle backwards as fast as he could while also freeing his sword from its flesh. He was still stumbling backwards when the board reached him, its tusk burrowing into his unprotected abdomen. At the same time, he had managed to bring down the pommel of the longsword directly onto one boars left eye. He felt it squish and pop, before being overwhelmed by the pain in his torso and flung to the ground.
Falling backwards, his head landed on Lia's right shin, making Kandor dizzy from the impact. He heard the girl scream in panic, as she kneeled beside him, pulling on one of his arms, but instead of actually dragging him away, it was more of a hindrance to his attempt to get back up. Instinctively, his hand went towards his wound, feeling around the left side of his abdomen. Blood wetted his fingers, and he pressed his palm onto the wound. Throwing Lia off a bit more aggressively than he intended, he crawled back onto his feet, clutching his weapon with one hand, while the other attempted to stop the blood from gushing out of his opened abdomen.
The boar in front of him seemed confused and in terrible pain, as it continuously roared and moved back and forth, seemingly unable to determine his current position, nor truly gathering its will to continue the fight. Taking a deep breath to regain his composure and calmness in battle, he returned his second hand to the handle of his blade. Blood quickly flowed out of him and coloured the moss below in a crimson red. He waited for the right moment, using the boars repetitive motion, before lunging forward, and driving the tip of his blade through the creature's throat and into its brain. His attack came from below, and the beast was already almost entirely unable to sense him, leaving its soft spot completely exposed. The Blade pierced through its fur and skin, before penetrating its probably proportionally tiny brain.
Its one intact eye immediately turned plain, and the boar stopped darting around, its cries subsiding, as it sank to the ground, embedding the blade even deeper into its skull.
Kandor let go of the handle and dropped onto his butt, breathing heavily, but slowly, before his vision became blurry and he felt his body slowly fall backwards, into the soft hands of the girl behind him. He had never told her to run like he had intended, he thought, it was truly difficult to fight and protect at the same time.
"Kandor, no!", he heard the scream, before his consciousness faded.