Pickaxe

Chapter 8-Night barrages

Lyell jerked awake, he realised he had dozed off. It was pitch black inside the cabin since all the candles had burned out. Stretching his arms, he became aware that everyone else had dozed off as well. He decided not to wake them up.

"We probably should be well rested for tomorrow anyway."he thought. Laying back down on his bunk, he began to close his eyes.

A loud crash and sudden pressure on his chest caused his eye lids to shoot open. He tired to getting up but whatever that was causing the pressure was too heavy. "Some one, help me!" Lyell cried out. Harmon being the closets, rued over to him. A chunk of the wooden wall had been knocked out and had fallen on Lyell, allowing some moonlight to get into the cabin.

"What in the moon-man was that?" Oleo asked, jumping down from his bunk.

"Everyone quiet!" Edward whispered. The moment everyone was silent, they could make out the sound of lots of heavy footsteps running around the cabin, along wiht the same whistling they had heard earlier.

"What's making that noise?" Oleo whispered.

Lyell brought his finger to his lips, gesturing for the others to keep quiet. He started to cautiously walk towards the gap in the wall. He bent down so he could look out of the gap. His face turned as white as snow when he saw what was outside.

There, standing up right looking at the cabin where three ape-like men. Lyell couldn't make out too many details because of the dull light but he was able to make out that each of the creatures where holding small boulders.

With out warning one fo the ape-men bent down and it's dark eyes meet with Lyell's. All of Lyell's body froze in terror as the ape-man reeled back and threw the boulder it was holding at him.

Right before the boulder hit the cabin, he was able to throw himself backwards onto the floor. A loud crash rattled the cabins the boulder collided with it.

"There's three of them! There's three of them!" Lyell exclaimed.

The frantic group rushed to garb their swords. Edward took his crossbow and loading it with a fresh firework, went up to the gap in the wall. As he pointed the crossbow through the hole, he realised nothing was there.

"Where did they go?" Edward asked.

"Did they go around the cabin?" Harmon whispered.

Suddenly something began banging on the door with great force. The barricade they had set was keeping whatever it was from getting in.

"They're trying to break the door down!" Lyell rushed over and placed his back against the barricade to keep it in place. Oleo, Paul and Harmon joined him while Edward stayed near the gap.

Shut shut his eyes tight and with all his strength pushed against the barricade. He swore he could feel his bones vibrate every time the door shook. "They are not getting in. They are not getting in." He repeated in his head.

Luckily the four of them held their ground and a after a while of holding the door shut the banging ceased but was replaced by a different sound. It sounded like the sound of thousands of fireworks going off.

"They're throwing boulder at the cabin!" Oleo exclaimed.

"Oh may the rose lady save us."Lyell said . He and his friend s had built the cabin, they knew how sturdy it was but hey didn't know if it was sting enough to hold back barrage of stones.

"Everyone stand in the middle of the cabin!" Paul shouted over the din.

Lyell noticed Harmon was just standing looking at his hands, while the others rant to he centre of the cabin. "Oh please not know, Harmon!" Lyell said grabbing his arms and shaking him.

"Lyell! Harmon! Hurry up, get over here!" Edward shouted.

Lyell desperately slapped Harmon hard, getting him out of his trance. "Get in the centre of the cabin!" Lyell shouted.

The group stood in a circle, everyone who still had their sword, where holding them t the ready. The boulders continued to rain down on the cabin. Splinters flew from the walls, one striking Lyell in the face.

However he didn't care as the red liquid began to drip down his cheek. His eyes were trained on the walls, he was awaiting for a large to hole to ripe into any one of them at any moment.

"Oh turn to the Christ King, Rose lady turn. And call him by his tenderest name." Lyell prayed. "Bless me oh heavenly King and assist me now and in my last agony. Amen."

The crashing of the boulders connoted to fall upon them. Lyell watched as pieces of the walls came seconds from breaking loose. He began to brace himself, tightening his grip on his sword handle. In the corner of his eye he saw Oleo crouching into a battle stance, baring his sharp demon pixie teeth.

"One...two...three...four..."Lyell began to count to ten, knowing the moment he reached the wall would have finally broken down. "Seven..eight...nine...ten."

Instead of the wall bursting into thousands of peaches, it al the stopped. The pounding of rocks ceased, leaving them in silence. Minutes felt like hours, the only sound in the cabin was the heavy breathing of the group. The quiet made them feel extremely on edge.

After several more moments of standing in utter stillness, Lyell heard the sound of a matching lit. A small orange light, lit the room, Lyell turned to see Paul had lit a match. The small amount of illumination allowed them to make out more of the damage caused by the rocks.

Almost everything was laying scattered on the floor, books, pots, food and their mining equipment. Slowly the group began to move out of their circle and started to cautiously look around.

Lyell picked up a candle that was laying broken in half on the floor and after finding some matches, he lighted it. Right when Lyell turned around, he gasped in horror as a large ape hand suddenly came out fo the gap in the wall.

"Oleo, look out!" Lyell shouted.

The large hand lashed out and grabbed the demon pixie by the neck. Oleo screamed as he was pulled towards the wall. His screaming began to get cut off as the grip on his neck tightened. Paul and Lyell tired to get the head off Oleo's neck but the ape's grip couldn't be loosened.

"Its getting cold.." Oleo gasped as his eyes began to roll back into his head.

"No, no, no!" Thinking quickly Lyell grabbed his sword."Everyone get out of the way!" He shouted raising his sword above his head.

"Lyell, what are you doing?!" Edward exclaimed.

Lyell brought the blade down, it flew right past Oleo's face and dug into the ape-man's wrist, striking bone. A loud screeching rang out and the hand retreated back into the gap, leaving a trail of blood behind.

Oleo slumped to the ground, almost lifeless. Dropping his sword, Lyell knelt down next to his friend. "Oleo! Oleo, say something!" Lyell said, putting him on the cheek. Harmon, Paul and Edward knelt down next to him. Edward felt Oleo's neck for a pulse.

"Is he...alright?" Lyell asked.

Edward looked at Lyell."He'll live." He said.

Lyell sighed in relief and leaned against the wall. Outside, the sound of whistling and heavy feet running away thundered into the night.

"Yeah, you better run." Lyell thought.