It was useless to stay on the mound anymore anyway. Rolf was trying to get up but wasn't succeeding as his one arm hung uselessly beside him as he tried to block the downward thrusts of the enemy with his remaining hand. I have big hands and I was never more grateful of that than now. I grasped both of my saber handles in my right hand with the blades set opposite to each other and with my left hand I grasped the back of Rolf's collar and drug him backward across the ground as I headed for the Shrine ahead of us.
I stabbed left and right with my double sworded grip as it seemed the rage of my face seemed enough to part those ahead of us. Rolf gamely swung out at those who followed after us with his one good arm, as I drug him along the ground toward the Shrine. A sudden crushing blow to my back had me flying forward to my knees struggling to find breath.
I half pivoted on one knee to see who the source of the attack had come from as air began to leak back into my starved lungs. The enemy soldiers had actually drawn back from me and Rolf slightly and then I saw why. One of the dark hooded figures had come up behind me and slammed me across the back with a broadsword. I was surprised that my armor had withstood such a strike.
The big sword drew back for a killing downward strike. I dropped one sword into my open left hand and I barely had enough time to cross them into an x above my head before the massive sword came crashing down. I caught the strike in the crossing of my swords that would have otherwise cut me in half and I tumbled backward. I half stumbled to my feet breathing heavy.
The black hood came back and I recognized Marfoul, "Stand back you sniveling cowards! He's all mine!" Marfoul screamed out before he came at me with a vengeance.
I did my best to step out of the way of his wild sword swings. "So we meet again, but this time will be the last!" He raged out at me.
"I seem to remember you saying something like that before. How did that turn out for you?" I responded back.
Marfoul howled at me and swung his sword. Thankfully he missed. He pressed me backward and I had to admit that I was farther gone than I had realized. My left hand sword fell from my grasp as my shoulder clamped up in an intense ball of pain from an earlier injury and as I deflected a killing blow with my right sword the impact of his larger blade sent my lighter sword sailing from my grasp into the sea of onlookers.