Jane, Defender of Decura Chapter 38

Bhaldural's Serpent Problem

After taking one last grand stride, Jane reached the top of the tower and carefully put William down. "You alright Will? she asked. "Sorry if that was a rough ride."
　
"I'm fine miss Jane" assured William before looking around the empty tower and raised an eyebrow. "That's odd. No one's up here." William noticed a bloodied crown and quickly picked it up. "Interesting..."
　
Another loud hiss shook the dwarven citadel, causing Jane and William to run to the edge of the tower. Immediately, they spotted a colossal serpent destroying everything nearby with its tail, which was thick enough to crush the smaller buildings in the center of the chamber. Many of the citizens of Bhaldural were trying to flee into the smaller sections of the city while the Oathbound were doing their best to distract the beast and mitigate the damage to their city.
　
When she saw an entire squad of Oathbound get swatted away by Sangius' claw, Jane gasped. "We have to do something Will" she said before turning back toward the tower's stairway.
　
Suddenly, William grabbed Jane's arm. "Wait a minute miss Jane" he growled. "That thing will kill you. We need a plan."
　
Before Jane could pull her arm free, she felt the entire tower tilt slightly. "Umm Will... Did you feel that?" she asked.
　
"Unfortunately yes" answered William while regaining his balance. "I think we need to get off this tower, right now."
　
Unbeknownst to either Jane or William, it seemed that Sangius had severely damaged the base of the tower when it'd wrapped his enormous body around it earlier, leaving it cracked and on the verge of crumbling. As one small stone tumbled out of place, the entire tower started to tip over.
　
Know they had seconds to act, William leaped into Jane's arm. "Miss Jane! Jump!" he yelled, causing Jane to give him a confused look. "Don't think about it! Just jump toward the city!"
　
Choosing to trust her trainer and friend, Jane nodded, closed her eyes and used all of her strength to leap from the tower, mere seconds before the floor gave way and the tower collapsed in on itself. Expecting to hit the ground hard, Jane kept her eyes closed.
　
"It worked!" cheered William, causing Jane to open her eyes. "I knew someone of your strength could do this!"
　
She couldn't believe what was happening. Instead of falling to her death, Jane was soaring through the air. "I'm... I'm flying?" she gasped as she passed over the magma moat. "This is awesome!" William wanted to correct Jane and tell her she was merely jumping through the air but chose to let her enjoy the moment instead.
　
Jane's big smile quickly disappeared when she felt herself begin to descend. "Uh oh..." she muttered before plummeting toward the ground. After quickly wrapping her arms and legs around William to shield him, Jane crashed through one of Bhaldural's many buildings before tumbling on to the street and finally slamming into a stone wall.
　
After a few moments of groaning, Jane pulled herself up before helping William to his feet. "Sorry about the landing Will" she grunted while checking her body for cuts or bruises. "Are you alright?"
　
"Could be better" William grumbled before cracking his neck. "Could be a lot worse. By the way, thanks for saving me miss Jane. We'd be under tons of rubble if not for your strength."
　
Jane blushed slightly and rubbed the back of her head. "It was your idea Will" she giggled before being interrupted by a loud crash.
　
Suddenly, twenty Oathbound armed with large crossbows ran past. "We have to kill that beast!" one of them shouted. "Even if it costs us our lives."
　
"But sir, didn't emperor Vanrig order us to stand aside?" another one asked.
　
"Yes, but where is he now?" growled another Oathbound. "You saw what that monster did to him. I'm pretty sure that releases us from our vows."
　
Eager to help, William and Jane nodded at each other and quickly followed the squad of dwarves. "Wait for us!" Jane called out.
　
It didn't take long for Jane to spot the gigantic serpent using its claws to smash open the houses built into the cavern's walls, exposing the dwarves hiding inside. The beast was about to make a snack out of a cowering family but thankfully was interrupted by a volley of crossbow bolts bouncing harmlessly off the side of its head.
　
After turning its head toward the pests who would dare disrupt its feast, Sangius let out another tremendous hiss. Seeing an opportunity to strike, one of the Oathbound ordered his mean to open fire. While most of the bolts ricocheted off the serpent's spear-like teeth, a few managed to pierce its gums, causing Sangius to yelp and reel its head back.
　
"Alright, my turn" thought Jane before holding her hand out toward William. "Will, may I have your weapon please?"
　
William nodded and quickly handed it over. "You got it" he said, knowing full well what Jane had planned. "Give that thing's jaw a good wallop."
　
Jane smiled and quickly dashed toward Sangius, who was far too distracted trying to pick the bolts from its mouth with its claws to notice her approach. With all of her strength, Jane leaped high into the air, easily gaining enough altitude to reach the serpent's head. After letting out an impressive battle cry, Jane swung the maul as hard as she could.
　
Unfortunately, Sangius simply shifted its head a few feet to the right, causing Jane to not only miss but also go crashing into the stone wall behind it.
　
"Well that's embarrassing" said one of the Oathbound, causing the other dwarves and William to nod in agreement. Even Sangius seemed to nod before letting out a deep chuckle.
　
------------------------------------------------------------------------
　
Nearby atop on of Bhaldural's largest central buildings, Hazel was also enjoying Jane's humiliating display and gave Sigmund's armored shoulder a slap. "She's so pathetic" she giggled. "Did you see that Sigmund?"
　
Sigmund sighed and turned away from the battle. "Yes Hazel, I saw..." he grumbled. "Aren't you going to step in and 'save the day' already?"
　
"Not just yet" answered Hazel. "That overgrown idiot needs to pay for foiling my plans for the reyn. If it wasn't for her, I'd be a goddess to the reyn by now." A big grin appeared on Hazel's face. "No, I think I'll wait until that girl is dead before stepping in."
　
------------------------------------------------------------------------
　
Back at the battle, Sangius slammed one of its claws down on Jane in hopes of crushing her against the ground. Much to the giant serpent's surprise, Jane dropped William's maul, braced herself and caught the beast's hand, the ground beneath her cracking from the impact.
　
"That hurt..." Jane grunted before spotting William and the now much larger crowd of Oathbound staring at her with their mouths wide open. "Hey... If you guys aren't doing anything..." she growled as Sangius' claw forced her to a knee. "A little help would be great..."
　
"You heard the human!" shouted one of the Oathbound, snapping his companions out of their shock. "Form up in two lines and prepare to fire a volley!" Eager to help Jane, William grabbed a spare crossbow from one of the Oathbound and lined up.
　
Despite using all of her strength, Jane couldn't budge Sangius' hand. "God, I miss my old size..." she thought before letting out a chuckle. "Total Déjà vu right now."
　
Tired of their contest of strength, Sangius used its tail and whipped Jane so hard she was sent crashing through the side of a small building. "Oww my head..." Jane grumbled while using a bench to pull herself back to her feet. Before she could head back outside, Jane spotted a family of dwarves staring at the Jane shaped hole in their wall. "Sorry about your wall" she said while bowing. "I promise I'll help fix it later."
　
Eager to finish the human girl off, Sangius quickly slithered over to the destroyed house. However, before the beast could begin to search the rubble, a barrage of crossbow bolts bounced harmlessly off its hood. Irritated by such a pathetic attack, Sangius slammed its tail down on the Oathbound's formation, crushing several dwarves at once and forcing the rest to scatter.
　
Even though their formation was in disarray, the Oathbound continued to fire more bolts at the colossal serpent while many more charged at the beast. Unfortunately, their weapons were unable to damage Sangius' iron-like scales and the beast easily knocked the closer dwarves away with its tail.
　
Suddenly a single crossbow bolt managed to puncture the serpent's left eye, causing Sangius to throw its head up and let out an eardrum shattering roar.
　
"Nice shot human!" cheered an Oathbound while patting William on the back, his voice barely audible over Sangius' cry. William gave the dwarf a thumbs up before beginning to reload his crossbow.
　
However, Sangius wasn't going to give William a chance to fire again and lunged toward him with its mouth wide open. William quickly realized he didn't have enough time to avoid Sangius' jaws and braced himself for the end.
　
Luckily, a strong punch to the jaw from Jane redirected the serpent's head just enough to save William from a painful end. "Didn't miss that time!" she cheered while watching Sangius' head slide along the ground.
　
William held his aching ribs. "Thanks miss Jane" he said before the pain forced him to one knee. "Damn it..."
　
"You ok Will?" Jane asked before helping the old knight back to his feet.
　
"I'm fine miss Jane" William assured. "It's nothing, really."
　
Suddenly, a shadow enveloped the pair and Jane looked up just in time to see Sangius open its mouth and lunge toward her. Acting quickly, Jane pushed William as hard as she could. William could only watch in horror as Jane disappeared in the serpent's jaws.
　
TO BE CONTINUED....