The Knight's Eyes

40: THE GIANT and THE PHYSTER

"Do you have that one, Allen?"

Mister Allen handed Kit his torch, raised his sword, and repositioned his grip for a good fight. "I haven't had a sword in my hand for years."

"That does not answer my question," Galiathan said, humor leaking from his serious tone.

Kit backed against the bars looking from the giant to the physter. He doubted Mister Allen's ability to fight the raptor edging closer. He was by far skinnier as him holding a guardsman sword. Grinning, the physter edged closer to the approaching raptor and took a stance.

At once, the raptors attacked.

Galiathan did an under hand advance giving the raptor a nasty diagonal cut along his breast. It squealed and edged backwards. Mister Allen did something similar except his strength wasn't as strong. The tip of his blade only scratched the raptor. It dodged to his left and swashed his claws at Mister Allen's face. He ducked, repositioned his sword for the next fight, and took a stance on other side of the raptor.

Kit's voice clogged in his throat feeling how close the raptor was to him. It went to lunge at the physician only for its tail to punch Kit straight in the guts. The snakehead turned on him. Its screech muffled Kit's scream as it lunged for a good bite. He raised his torch into its face hoping to block it. Its razor sharp teeth snapped closed, eyes bulging wild at the site of the fire. It edged backwards forgetting the man with the sword.

With one slash, Mister Allen had its scaled head bouncing along the floor.

Panting in shock, they looked at Galiathan's progress. The giant had somehow backed the raptor towards the end of the hall. This one was determined not to die. It clung onto the bars and leaped, ducked, and slashed its claws. The giant swiftly learned its method and did a counterattack. As the raptor leaped onto another set of bars he took a huge step to the side. The raptor leaped off. Galiathan slid to the side so he was behind the beast. It's claws dropped to the floor and when it rose onto its hind legs, the giant sprinted forward, blade high to his shoulder, and did a clean decapitation.

He wasn't even out of breath. He looked at them, "To the kitchen. You'll see the open gate to the furn-,"

A deathly screech and its occupant leaped from out of nowhere. It landed on the giant's back, claws seeping hold onto his hidden armor. The startled giant ducked his head just in time to clear from the raptor's snapping jaws. He slammed backwards into the bars squishing the smaller raptor.

"Go!" he shouted and they did not hesitate.

They ran through the nurse room and into the small kitchen. The gate of the stoned furnace built into the wall had been kicked out of its joints and hung loose onto the stove. Kit crawled in first and continued crawling towards the daylight seeping from an opening above. He could hear Mister Allen panting behind him.

Arriving to the bright dead end, he rose onto his feet. The space was big enough for both of them. Mister Allen knelt down to look back into the tunnel. "Galiathan!"

"We should keep moving," Kit muttered staring at the iron ladder joined to the wall.

"Go ahead Kit. I will follow."

The boy of wood doused the torch and took his first step. He quickly climbed to the top. The stone tunnel transformed into metal and bent to the right. He climbed onto the landing and crawled the rest of the way. He stuck his head out and squinted his eyes from the sun's brightness. Heat engulfed him. He jumped from the opening and peeked over the grass. The end of the tunnel sat in a grassy field high enough to hide whomever trying to escape.