Snippet #1050756

The kingdom walls were there looming in the distance, and from where Alex stood at the top of a hill, she could see the firelight coming from the houses and watchtowers, and some small flashes of light on one side of the walls.

"That is odd. Are those fireworks?" Then she looked closer as the small flashes illuminated tiny silhouettes that anyone with lesser eyesight wouldn’t have seen in the fading light.

"Oh. That’s not good. Are those gargoyles?" And indeed they were.

After a groan of sheer exasperation, Alex took off on a dead run, mentally cursing at her mother for delaying her departure and causing her to miss the start of the fighting. Then, as she watched the small gargoyles’ shapes fly towards the city, she noticed a few branch off and come her way.
“Well this is brilliant. Here they come... But at least there are only four of them.” She removed her trusty sling from the right side of her belt as she talked aloud to herself to stay calm, and retrieved a smooth stone from the pouch on the left side of her belt. She placed the stone in the leather pouch, and, feeling its weight, watched the gargoyles come closer. As they neared, she started spinning her sling until it was whirring audibly.

After waiting a few more moments for the beasts to come closer yet, Alex let loose and the nearest of the four gargoyles fell dead to the ground, a stone embedded deep in its skull. Unfortunately, Alex was only able to unload one more deadly stone before she had to draw her club. Loading up and getting the sling up to speed again would probably end up getting her killed before she even reached the city. One of the gargoyles landed in front of her, and the other remained flying overhead. Alex kept a watchful eye on the airborne one as she backed up slightly from the first. The ground gargoyle swiped its ugly claws at her as the one in the sky dove down to grab her with its sharp talons. She rolled as the two nearly ran into each other, and then they both took to the air and circled her. One dove, but Alex hardly needed to move. She turned her shoulders sideways, swung her club and cracked its head, then turned to look around for the other.

'The other' was coming at her now, and this one looked as if it would try the same diving method as the other, but instead it feinted, slapping Alex’s head with the side of its tail, leaving her momentarily dazed. She had forgotten to wear her helmet, of all things.

Then the thing pounced on her and ominously lifted an arm to swipe at her face. She backhanded it, picked up her club, and swung at its head. There was another satisfying crack, and it was over.

"Gargoyles. Why someone would send them out as a main force escapes me, She puzzled over this, despite her lack of military experience. All you do is swing and they go down like flies. I guess the problem lies in hordes of them... Like that horde over there at the castle, where I should have been a few days ago."

Alex dramatically groaned in exasperation again, then started running towards where she had seen the flashes and horde of gargoyles. She hoped she wouldn’t miss too much, but knowing her luck the things would all be dead before she got there.