Those words were what woke Irene up and pulled her back into the reality of the situation befalling them. The ogre in the distance swung a heavy rock weapon that knocked over another tree and his head disappeared for a while. All the knights took it as buying time. They looked to Arthur for guidance.
Her attention also snapped to her father who had been the first to speak up and was the highest ranked at the moment.
"Squires, get horses ready for knights and apprentices. Get armor on since we’re by the barracks," he ordered, thinking fast on his feet. "We need all hands involved. Squires remain close to the Duke’s Tower. You’re our last line of defense in case there are more monsters."
Sir Gunnar was the first to approach Irene and he gave her a significant look.
"You must not go in that direction until there are knights at the head," he explained. "An ogre is nothing like anything you’ve ever faced before." Thɪs chapter is updatᴇd by NoveI-Fire.ɴet
"Understood, sir," Irene responded followed by a nod.
Gunnar nodded in return and he rushed towards the barracks where he got into his own armor then went to check on the apprentices and squires and made sure that they were doing as they were told.
Meanwhile, Irene brought Sorrel to the other side of the stables but she remained towards the mountains and her eyes remained on the forest, looking for any sign of the massive monster she witnessed before. The only sign that it was still there was the occasional trees falling. It remained in the evergreens and not the bare areas so its body was never revealed because it was hidden behind trees thick with pine needles.
Only when hoofbeats were heard did Irene turn her head.
At the head of the charge was her father and a few other knights. Rather than their usual swords, they brandished lances and shields. They needed weapons that reached a longer distance if they ever got close enough to stab or throw.
All she received from her father was a nod before he closed the visor of his helmet over his eyes and was completely concealed.
The next wave came Sir Gunnar with a few apprentices and Sir Sven who was donning much of the same weaponry.
"You will stay in the back because you did not have time to get your armor," Sir Gunnar ordered, but when he saw Irene’s expression fall, he quickly continued. "You and Sir Sven will stay back with arrows. I need you to aim for that damned thing’s eyes and armpits the best that you can."
Her confirmation was enough for the knight to lower his visor as well and charge forward with his apprentices. Some went to their knights and the rest stayed by Sir Gunnar who was their watchful leader.
When the girl turned to Sir Sven, she saw that he had quite a few arrows that wouldn’t fit in his sheath.
"You need a few more," he explained. "Let’s get going."
"Yes, sir," she responded obediently.
After her gloved hand wrapped around the arrows, she put them in her sheath as ordered and followed the knight.
The girl squeezed her knees and Sorrel, who had already been more than warmed up that day, was eager to run and caught up to the knight very quickly.
Her heart raced more as the thrill of fight rushed through her veins and the closer they got to the ogre.
The only indication that the others had already made it to the monster was the sound of the monster’s weapon as it turned from the trees and tried to catch the knights who were much faster.
Irene had expected to see the knights on horseback quickly evading the monster but as she approached on her own horse, it was far from he expectations. The knights, including her father, all had jumped off of their horses to face the monster at closer range.
The risk of a loyal horse getting smashed by the monster’s rock mallet wasn’t worth the risk so the knights decided to test their luck with armor, shield, and lances. There were a few times they needed to be small to evade the monster as well.
Irene witnessed as much as the monster swung the stone weapon towards her father and, to her horror, he had to get closer to the monster and underneath its arm to evade the attack. It caused a gasp to escape from her lips.
"This isn’t his first ogre, Iro," Sir Sven assured her.
The knight had already pulled out his bow and was keeping aim towards the monster since they were close enough.
Knowing there wasn’t anything more she could do except for being helpful by way of arrow and blinding the beast, Irene took a deep breath and did just that.
Even if her arm was fatigued from pulling at the bowstring for so long, she was prepared to do what it took to ensure the monster was down and couldn’t go further than the forest.
Blind the monster, she reminded herself over and over.
Each time she thought there was a shot, the monster would move and obscure its face with some of the trees left over from its rampage.
The more she watched it, the more she realized it was acting unpredictably. It was trying to move forward but the knights and apprentices were all in its way so it was trying to knock down the disturbance in front of it and keep going forward.
However, the knights were a worthy disturbance in its path and it was already bleeding out of various parts of its body.
Its knees were slashed and its stomach was torn up despite the thick, greyish green almost leather-like skin that covered its body. Just like goblins, its blood was so dark red that it was nearly black.
There was an opening after the monster swung its mallet and missed a knight. Sir Arthur took the opportunity to shove his lance through the monster’s armpit. When he pulled the weapon back out and attempted his escape so he could rear up another attack, everyone was shocked to see strange black smoke rising out of its armpit and with each strained yell of the monster, more of the smoke fell from where its lung had been pierced.
That was enough that the monster tripped over a boulder and apprentices had to be pushed away so that the monster wouldn’t fall on top of them.
From what Irene could tell, no one was under the monster.
She and Sven both took the opportunity to shoot arrows through both of its eyes. Even though it wasn’t dead quite yet, it needed to be blinded to ensure it had a handicap that the knights could take advantage of.
Sir Sven smirked from underneath his helmet. It seemed that Iro hadn’t realized that a God-given test had been handed to her and she hadn’t realized she passed with flying colors.