Alazandrae thrust her dagger at Copperhead’ chest. If she could just get one good hit on him, she could end his life and save so many others from pain. Sweat trickled from her forehead. Each miss made her more erradic and desperate for a strike against her opponent.

  Smoke was filling up Giantown, and it was getting hotter by the minute. Her muscles were aching. She felt fatigued. Battle wasn’t her forte. Fighting wasn’t something that was taught to her. She wasn’t trained for any of this, but she had to try.

  Copperhead, on the other hand, was someone who had relished the glory of battle and putting one’s opponents down by any means necessary. He was born to fight. Born to rule over a rabble of men who pillaged and raided those not strong enough to defend themselves. His goons stood back, cheering him on, letting their leader have his glory.

  He dodged to the side, easily sidestepping her stab, “Ha, you’re gonna have to try harder than that if you want to see me dead!” His tongue flickered out as he slashed upwards with his claws. The tip of his claw lightly scratching Alazandrae’s arm.

  She pulled back in pain, a small trickle of blood dripped from her arm.

  A grin spread across his face. Soon, she would be feeling the effects of his venom. He would be able to do whatever he pleased with her at that point. She was his plaything now. He might as well have fun while he still could. With the Death Knight nowhere to be seen, all that was left was to take care of this woman and get his slaves back.

  Alaz slashed, trying to land any attack she could. Copperhead blocked with one set of claws, slashing at her hand with the other. A small laceration erupted across the back of her hand. She flinched and winced at the pain, almost dropping her knife. He was just playing with her now. Things weren’t looking good.

  “Just give it up, girl, you can’t beat me. It will be so much easier if you drop the knife and kneel. We can end this whole thing now.” Copperhead smirked. Either way, it would be over soon, he would just need to wait for the venom to take effect.

  Her lungs were heaving now as she staggered back. It was getting harder for her to breathe. She wiped the sweat from her head. Copperhead was turning into doubles now, his image fading back and forth. Her vision was blurring. She quickly rubbed at her eyes, trying to clear them.

  She stood tall, holding her knife strong, “I’ll give up, once I cut ya heart from your chest and crush it in front of ya eyes.” She took a few deep breaths, “Then I’ll string ya up from Giantown for all to see ya coward body fading away into nothing but maggot food. Ya coward.”

  Copperhead’s smirk faded. The insolence she showed him. No one dared say this to him, least not a woman about to die. “Then we will make this as painful as possible.” He sprung forward, slashing out at Alaz. She tried to dodge, but caught small lacerations across her stomach. Blood oozed from the skin beneath her ripped shirt.

  Again, and again, he slashed out at her with lightning speed; a snake striking from the brush. Across her arms, thighs, chest, and face, small cuts oozed with yellow venom, sizzling at her open flesh.

  He taunted her between each slash, “Just like your village, you are weak, backwoods trash! Your mother deserved what she got, the bitch. The weak deserve to be dominated by those better than them.”

  Alazandrae staggered back now. She could barely hold a breath. She looked down at her arms. Her veins were turned black, spiderwebbing across her skin. Her whole body was filled with the deadly venom. Her knife dropped from her limp hand. Strength was fading fast. Her vision was blurry. Her head spun. Her knees fell hard to the floor. She looked up at a shadow coming over her.

  Her mother’s hand reached out to her, caressing her face, smiling at her. “You’ve done a great job, dear, come join me.” The vision faded and Copperhead was standing above her.

  “You should be proud. Your mother didn’t put up half as much of a fight. She was weak. She let your whole village fall to me. She should be ashamed that she couldn’t save what was precious to her.” He rose his claws high, ready for the final strike, “This was fun, deary, but in this world, only the strongest survive.”

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Alaz let her head drop, she hadn’t the strength to keep it up. Her last thoughts were those memories from her village. The sweet sunlit days of walking through pastures, picking fruit in the gardens with other girls. Mixing tonics and tinctures with her mother, learning the ins and outs of healing. Just sitting amongst her village, eating dinner with those peaceful people. Her mom’s hot breakfast each morning. Saying goodnight to her mother each night. All of it, over.

  She gasped out a hushed and ragged, “Goodnight, mother. I’m coming to join you.”

  Copperhead sneered in disgust. “What a pitiful thing.” He slashed down at her.

  The flesh of the giant above him ripped open in a viscera filled frenzy, bits of flesh and blood rained from the ceiling as something came plummeting down onto the catwalk. The wooden walkway jolted violently as something heavy crashed down.

  Copperhead stabbed his claw into the wood to save himself from toppling over. His goons grabbed ahold of the rails, one tumbled over the side, crashing into the slave stage below.

  A shadow rose over Copperhead, blotting out all light that undeservedly shone down upon him. He slowly stood, knowing full well what was behind him. Dread caught up his throat, making breathing difficult. His leathery skin flushed. He slowly turned, praying he was wrong.

  In front of him, covered in gore, was a Death Knight. The black figure’s milky white, dead eyes glared at Copperhead. The snake of a man quivered before him. A foul stench filled the air. He casually looked down behind Copperhead, seeing Alaz barely keeping upright on her knees, her flesh blackened even more by the venom coursing through her veins.

  Rigor puffed his chest out, brandishing his axe at the man in front of him. Poisons were a coward’s way to kill. Death should be met head on, overcoming the fear, and triumphing in battle over your opponents. This man was a coward, and as such, he deserved death more than most.

  Copperhead stepped back, his heart sinking into his chest. Sweat was beading down his head now. His voice quivered as held his hands out, “Whoa, hey, let us work out a deal here, mister. No need to be hasty. I got money, and… and women. You like women?” Copperhead’s goons fled, jumping over the rails, leaving their boss to fend for himself.

  Rigor Mortis stopped in front of him, pausing for a moment, listening to the man grovel, cementing Rigor’s opinion of the coward. Copperhead took the opening and slashed out, not waiting for the Death Knight to strike first. His claws scraped off the black armor, grinding down to flat nubs.

  The Snake looked down in horror for a moment, glancing back up at Rigor, slashing out with his other hand in desperation. Rigor caught his arm, pulling Copperhead towards him. The Death Knight placed his boot on Copperhead’s chest and pulled the arm as hard as he could. Flesh tore, ripping apart like a cheap cut of meat.

  Copperhead screamed as his arms was ripped from his body. Rigor wasted no time taking the arm, and shoving the claws right up through Copperhead’s chin, shutting the man’s screams up once and for all. Muffled cries rang out around for help, but no one was coming to help him now.

  Rigor Mortis thrusted his hand into Copperhead’s chest, smashing past the leathery flesh and bone, ripping into the cavity. His gauntlet grasped something thick and squishy. He ripped his hand out, grasping his still beating heart. Copperhead’s eyes went wide in agony.,

  The Death Knight tossed the heart over to Alaz. It plopped against the wood, leaving a trail of blood as it rolled in front of the woman. Her daze cleared enough for her to see the heart. Her fingers edged against her knife. With the last bit of strength she could muster, she snatched the knife and stabbed it deep into Copperhead’s heart.

  A faint smile crept onto her face, “I did it, mom.” Her head slumped down lifelessly.

  The heart shriveled up into a black husk. Copperhead’s skin began to shrivel up as he could only think of his empire that was about to topple.

  Rigor slashed down at Copperhead’s leg, slicing it off at the knee. Copperhead dropped down on his stub, looking up at Rigor with those large snake eyes filled with fear. He was kneeling in front of the Death Knight now. His last image was of white eyes as a black axe came chopping down on his head, slicing him clean in two. His body fell apart, turning to dust. Snakes slithered out of his boots, escaping in all directions.

  The fire raged about now, spreading to other buildings, filling the town with heat and smoke. The town was all but abandoned, save for the two beings left. The Death Knight bent down and grabbed the dying girl, hoisting her up over his shoulder, squashing snakes into bloody pulp as he went.

  He strode out of the town, past the slave stages, past the burning saloon and out into the fresh air and sunlight beyond the giant’s body. Rigor placed Alaz down on a soft grassy knoll. She was coughing up white foamy spittle now, her veins all black, spiderwebbed across her whole body. Her eyes were black. She wouldn’t last long now. She gasped for air.

  Her vision faded in and out as a dark figure walked away from her, heading back towards Giantown. She faded to black, then light hit her eyes again. She could see a black blob atop the giant’s head, swinging down on the tormented thing, bringing it peace once and for all.

  The giant was granted the mercy of death, and soon, she would join it.

  How do you like Alazandrae?