WOT Adv 96

--- The Wheel Turns ---
Half a dozen against one isn't the best odds. The window! Fiznak decided and rushed to it. "I'm coming!" He wrapped the slate tablet inside his tunic, about his chest, and then started to squeeze through again.

Halfway through he was stuck fast. "Light! I'm stuck again!" He muttered to Maynard.

"Light, man!" Maynard scowled his eyes scanning the Seanchan who were midway between them. "We don't have time for this! Just keep moving! Like before."

"I'm really stuck, this time!" And Fiznak cursed a boarderlander curse.

Suddenly a shout came up from a large man dressed in ornate armor looking like some walking insect, like something crawling out of the blight, backlit as he was against the light from the inn, obviously their leader.

"There!" the man said in a low and slurred voice, like a serpent ready to strike. "The window! Someone is trying to escape."

"Light!" Fiznak growled. "I should have used the door!"

"Blood and ashes, man. I was hoping to keep this quiet!" And he let fly with his bow. Arrows hummed, almost too quickly to follow. Deadly shafts that felled two of the Seanchan soldiers.

"Get them!" The Seanchan Leader yelled.

"Yes, my Lord Timak!" A second officer said. "Forward!"

And the remaining Seanchan rushed forward, curved blades raised, followed by Lord Timak, who drew his own blade, a long straight sword.

More arrows hummed from Maynard's bow and then they were upon him, curved blades flashing in the light from the inn. Maynard dropped his bow and in a single fluid move drew his own sword and parried blow after blow.

"Get out, Burn you!" he yelled. His own sword slashing and dropping the nearest Seanchan.

Fiznak heaved with all his might, but remained stuck in the window. And I'll be stuck like a stuck pig, he thought darkly. Blood and ashes!

Maynard stepped back and placed his back against the wall, his blade held at the ready. The five Seanchan formed a semi circle around him, wary of his blade.

"Burn me, lad," Maynard shouted. "There's too many of them!"

"This one is mine," Lord Timak purred and advanced slowly, like a snake gliding across wet grass, he swung his sword in an intricate circle in front of him, the blade hummed from the speed.

The others took a step back, their own blades at the ready, ready to advance when called.

Then blow after blow came at lightning speed and Maynard's own movements were a blur. Blade rang on blade, but Maynard was pushed back against the wall and the cold steel suddenly sunk into his side.

"Light!" the warder gasped from the pain, but he managed regain focus enough to parry the other blows that came at him.
Fiznak heaved again, but nothing happened. With one arm outside the house and one arm inside the house he was stuck and couldn't go either way.

Steel rang on steel as Maynard managed to go on the defensive pushing Lord Timak back a pace or two, and even drawing a slight amount of blood.

"You fight well!" he smiled, his teeth white in the darkness. "But not as well as I, Oathbreaker!" And with that he launched himself once more at Maynard.

Maynard was once again forced against the wall, a large gash across his chest.

Fiznak shouted and heaved with all his might and finally broke some of the masonry from the window frame. He could move!

"I will not survive!" Maynard whispered fiercely to Fiznak, his voice ragged. "Go! Go! And rescue Megda Sedai!" And then he launched himself at Lord Timak, "For Tar Valon!"