The Giant Slayer, Part 4: (Patreon)

THE GIANT SLAYER, PART 4: 

Disregarding the Watcher, silently observing from the far corners of the den; the Slayers know the primal threat before them presents a greater risk. Such a perilous height and sparse room will spell disaster for everyone in the coming seconds. In a flash of surprise, the horned ape lobs a small boulder towards one of the apprentices; immediately sending him over the edge, all the while it charges and slams into the Giant Slayer. Knocked prone, the Slayer rolls to his side and quickly recovers to make his way across the den. With only two apprentices left, they scramble to think through everything they've been taught, but they've never been placed in quite a situation. 

To bide their time, both of them focus on a strategy of distraction and stealth. By taking this brief opportunity that the ape spends focused on the Giant Slayer, the apprentices quickly hang from the mouth of the den. Whilst holding on, they continue to throw rocks at the beast to draw its attention, then shimmy their way along the sides to a different vantage point each time. As the ape runs forth, it loses sight once they move to a new ledge. But the simple maneuver can only continue for so long. Soon the monster catches on to the charade and begins to clamber down the side of the mountain as well. In perhaps its only vulnerable moment of the battle, the Giant Slayer rushes out from the shadows and hurls himself into the brute while it is balanced on the precipice. Man and beast are sent hurtling down to certain death. 

Hoisting themselves up to relative safety once again, the apprentices are hit with a realization; their master's sacrifice to spare them from the same fate. Conflicted, they understand it is not necessarily their wrongdoing that brought this upon them, yet they remain burdened with guilt. Reaching the other side of the mountain, their other fear is brought to reality when they see from the distance; just a glimpse of the long-gone Watcher, a glint in its eye from afar before it retreats again beyond their grasp. The irony is not lost on them. Had they not interfered with the monstrous ape, it would have likely mangled the Watcher until it was nothing but a string of disembodied arms. 

Once they reach the ground, the two find themselves thankful to tell only the bad news of losing the Watcher. For when they see their peers, they are also greeted with the wondrous surprise of their battered yet still living master; the Giant Slayer, and dragged along by his grip is the familiar severed head of a great horned ape.