>>5269124There is a dull clunk as the axehead embeds into wood. The shield is not broken, but you can see the throwing axe is unbalancing him, pivoting his arm down... there is an opening, straight to his vulnerable unarmoured chest. This is as you foresaw! You need only race across the waterlogged marsh and end him...
You chose wisely, and did not burden yourself with many weapons. The squelch of your footfall as you charge forward across the mud - is this a dream? Did it rain yesterday? - your heart pounds and you flounder slightly, yet you are not unbalanced. You are so close...
So, so close - within stabbing range, you can see the heave and fall of his chest, the sheen of sweat. But there is something odd about his shield-arm. His shield is ruined, yet he has not cast it aside. He could have dropped it quickly and tried to reach his second shield...
The Beast-Marked Warrior hurls a hidden small throwing axe of his own - identical to yours, concealed behind his ruined shield. With unerring aim it knocks aside your shield, a step short of where your knife would pierce and end him. Then the bite of a great axe cleaves apart the halves of the earth and the sky.
