A Fight for Life

                  Hjalmar Geir took two bold steps towards the rushing dragon warrior, sending the untrained beast sliding across the ground with one powerful swing of his axe. The other dragon warriors looked surprise by their downed comrade. Screeching a horrifying hiss of attack, they sprinted towards Hjalmar Geir. With several swings and spins, Hjalmar Geir downed several of his attackers. Hjalmar Geir took several steps forward, defending himself against a third wave of attackers. Several of the dragon warriors dodged his attacks, leaping onto the unguarded back of Hjalmar Geir, clawing, biting, doing anything they could to pull down the ferocious warrior.

                  In several swift wrestling moves, Hjalmar Geir rolled his attackers onto the ground with a finishing blow from his deadly axe. Standing over the dead bodies of the dragon-like creatures, he reaffirmed the grip on his axe, turning to the ones still standing in the hallway. He picked up his torch, walking towards the remaining attackers as they launched their ill-timed assaults on him, easily taking them down with the powerful swing of his axe. Hjalmar Geir recognized the mutated dragons had very little combat training, if any at all. Their defensive moves were no match against the brute strength of the Tyrn warrior.

                  His attackers lay strewn about the ground. Two of them ran down the long corridor to escape, screaming a warning. Without an archer at his side, Hjalmar Geir sheathed his axe, drew his spear, and ended the escape of one of the creatures. Quickly retrieving his spear, Hjalmar Geir hoped to end the escape of the other, only to see it round the corner of the long tunnel corridor. Hjalmar Geir ran in pursuit, hoping to capture the fleeing attacker before it called others. At full speed, Hjalmar Geir rounded the corner of the corridor, which opened to a large room filled with a large cluster of strange looking dragon creatures.

                  They looked dragon, but many of them stood upright. Many had strange deformities, massive horn growth, and various forms of wings and clawed arms. Some carried crudely fashioned weapons, others looked armed with claws and teeth. They were the most ungodly creatures Hjalmar Geir had ever seen. Just as quickly as Hjalmar Geir took in the scene, the squad of dragon warriors let out a screeching yell and ran toward Hjalmar Geir.

                  The Tyrn warrior quickly switched back to his axe, backing up into the narrow section of the corridor. If he could defend the corridor entrance, he could stand his ground, taking on each warrior one or two at a time. At first, his strategy worked. Only several of the warriors could feed through the doorway at one time.

                  Then Hjalmar Geir noticed a much larger dragon looking creature enter the room. It appeared to be twice the size of the other dragon warriors, with a massive humanoid upper body build and thick bony skull with massive cranial horns, covered in bony growth and horn spurs. It followed the directions of the other warriors, pointing it towards Hjalmar Geir’s location. Upon recognizing the target, the enormous creature charged. Hjalmar Geir did not prepare for such a strange combative move. The creature could in no way fit through the corridor, yet it still charged with no regards to any other action or warrior in its way.

                  The creature smashed into the door entrance, cracking the masonry, shaking the entire corridor, sending several of the other dragon warriors flying into the tunnel while smashing others against the wall of the narrow entranceway. It seemed to kill its own kind in an attempt to obliterate Hjalmar Geir.

                  Hjalmar Geir quickly threw the stunned dragon warriors off him, leaping up to take a defensive stance again. With no regards to any wounds from crashing into the masonry doorway, the giant dragon warrior ran at full speed towards Hjalmar Geir. This time it broke through the corridor masonry, clawing its way closer to the Tyrn warrior.

                  Hjalmar Geir dodged out of the way, narrowly missing the deadly swipe from the long claws of the creature. The massive creature clawed and smashed at the corridor walls, carving a new, larger tunnel. Hjalmar Geir sheathed his axe and ran. The massive creature pulled itself through the corridor into the much larger room, running at the Tyrn with tremendous speed. The opening, now free of the enormous beast, allowed the other mutant warriors to pour through the tunnel in pursuit.

                  Hjalmar Geir did his best to keep his torch lit as he ran through the halls and passageways, looking for any small tunnel he could. Even as he passed through some narrow openings and archways, Hjalmar Geir could hear the massive dragon creature demolish its way through, sending stone and rubble bouncing throughout the tunnels. Despite his best efforts to elude the beast, it gained on Hjalmar Geir.

                  Then, turning a quick corner, Hjalmar Geir ran down a smaller tunnel, nearly stumbling over the edge into a dark abyss. The tunnel ended in a sheer cliff face. He only had a moment to take in the fascination of the expansive underworld as he looked for any solution. The darkness and cliff did not offer many options. The torchlight only illuminated his immediate surroundings. In the torch's light, Hjalmar Geir saw the cliff face offered multiple climbing footholds. He could potentially scale down or up the cliff looking for another escape, although it would leave him extremely vulnerable if he were discovered.

                  His torchlight illuminated the solution. A ledge below and slightly off to the side looked like another opening to a tunnel below him. Hjalmar looked back; he could hear the creature in pursuit. He looked back at the ledge sizing up the distance. With little time to consider his options, he tossed his torch onto the landing below to help guide his landing, and he jumped.

                  Hjalmar Geir landed to the side of the ledge, rolled with a tumble, then the slightly off balance Tyrn rolled over the edge. He quickly grabbed onto the ledge just in time, defying a dark death once again. Feet dangling over the dark precipice, he began pulling himself up high enough to get the proper leverage to hoist his body up to the ledge. Then he heard a noise from above. The massive dragon creature approached. Hjalmar Geir pulled with all his might, kicking his legs in the air, trying to find any form of a foothold.

                  The huffs of the dragon creature could be heard above.

                  Hjalmar Geir struggled to get enough of a grip with his hands to pull the rest of his body up.

                  The snorts and breathing above grew louder.

                  Suddenly, his foot clipped onto a very slight ledge. With a quick lock in place with his clawed foot, he pushed himself up onto the ledge, rolling into the cover of the tunnel, pulling his torchlight in with him to hide any form of illumination. Hjalmar Geir held still. He listened. He could feel the reverberation of the steps the massive creature took above. Several small stones fell past the tunnel opening. The snorts and huffs of the creature echoed throughout the dark abyss.

                  Hjalmar Gier held still.

                  After a few moments, he heard the beast above make the return trip down the long tunnel. Success!

                  The tired Tyrn took a deep breath. He took a slight moment, thinking through all the twists and turns he made in his escape, clinging to any hope that he could backtrack his way to Yerik and his companion. A dull growl interrupted his thoughts.

                  Hjalmar Geir jumped up, grabbing his torch to illuminate the approaching growl. The tunnel only traveled a short distance before it looked like it opened into a room. A cluster of eyes reflecting in the torchlight stared back at Hjalmar Geir. A growl pierced the darkness. Then several more. Then the growls cascaded into a chorus. The noises moved closer, entering the ambient torchlight.

                  The creatures looked different from the previous dragon warriors he fought. These looked like mutated reptilian doglike creatures. Almost like that of a wingless dragon, although not as large. Individually, Hjalmar Geir could manage the monsters, yet it appeared to be an entire pack, and Hjalmar Geir lacked good defensive ground as his back faced a cliff. He took several steps back. The doglike lizards growled into roars, then ran for Hjalmar Geir.

                  Hjalmar Geir leaped to the edge, scaling up the rock wall as fast as he could. He made it up high enough just in time, as several snapping bites barely missed his feet. He clung to the wall a moment, climbing upwards a careful step at a time. The options for climbing were limited. Rock climbing never suited Tyrns very well. Their body weight was not ideal, and their feet and hands were much larger than that of humans. The padding on their feet also proved a unique challenge, depending on the type of surface. Hjalmar Geir figured he could make his way up to the tunnel above, hoping the creature in the tunnel gave up its search.

                  Hjalmar Geir pulled himself closer to the ledge above. After securing a slightly more stable location on the cliff wall, he figured if the creature still looked for him, he could wait it out on the cliff until it gave up the search. Since the doglike creatures below could not climb, he could leverage time in his favor.  

                  A high-pitched screech echoed from below. Several of the dragon warriors peaked around the tunnel ledge below, looking up at Hjalmar Geir clinging to the cliff.

                  “Have the Gods abandoned me?” Hjalmar Geir thought out loud.

                  As Hjalmar Geir observed the dragon warriors, a lean, lanky creature climbed out onto the cliff face. The creature’s unusually long and human like arms easily clasped onto the nooks of the rock wall. Then several more heads of dragon warriors popped out from the room below. They began climbing upward in pursuit.

                  “That makes the choice, doesn’t it?” Hjalmar Geir pushed upward faster. He tossed his torch to the ledge above and, with a well-placed foothold, made a leap for the opening above, grasping to the ledge and pulling himself up.

                  “Now, if only—”

                  The massive beast of a dragon creature chasing him before stepped into the tunnel, letting out a horrific screaming yell.

                  “Plan C it is.” Hjalmar Geir picked up his torch and unsheathed his battle axe.

                  The massive creature ran full force down the tunnel toward Hjalmar Geir. Hjalmar Geir leaned over the ledge behind him to track the progress of the dragon warriors below. The mutant dragon warriors drew closer to his ledge. Hjalmar Geir turned back to size up the approaching creature. He tightened his belts and the holster of his spear. He reaffirmed his grip on his battle axe in one hand, lowering it to the ground with the blade facing up, holding the torch in his other hand. Hjalmar Geir leaned back to the edge, glancing down to track the progress of the battle dragons. They drew closer. The long lanky dragon clasped a handhold on the ledge. Hjalmar Geir’s timing had to be perfect.

                  The Tyrn warrior studied the pacing of the speeding creature sprinting towards him. He timed out the steps of the creature.

                  Closer.

                  Closer.

                  His timing had to be perfect.

                  Several of the dragon warriors pulled themselves up on the ledge, leaping for Hjalmar Geir as he launched himself forward towards the oncoming creature. A few swift steps, and he threw his torch towards the face of the rushing dragon creature. It lowered its head to avoid the flame. Hjalmar Geir took a few more steps, hurling himself into the air, narrowly dodging the swiping claws of the monstrous dragon creature. He swung his axe in a full circle, creating as much momentum as possible, crashing it as hard as he could into the creature’s skull, imbedding the axe into the thick bone. Hjalmar Geir held tightly to the handle of his axe, clawing his way to a secure position on the creature’s back.

                  Still sprinting forward, the dragon creature flailed its head about as it barreled into the cluster of dragon warriors pursuing Hjalmar Geir. The momentum of the large dragon creature burst through the ending of the tunnel, expulsing the dragon warriors into the darkness of the abyss. The massive dragon creature flailed its arms about as its forward momentum shifted to falling.

                  Hjalmar Geir clung to the body of the creature as weightlessness took over, and they faded into the darkness below.