Six Tasks - A Dusty The Demon Hunter tale.
Dusty's 6th story.
After the second story had divulged itself to me, I thought it might be a good idea to theme the stories with numbers. Obviously, it was too late for 'Double Trouble' and perhaps that would have been a little obvious anyway, but Trouble Times Three worked well.
Santa and Doppelganger became the 4th and 5th stories and then Six Tasks arrived in my head - Seven arrived with a nice reference to Viking mythology and I enjoyed writing that. I have an idea for eight and possibly nine, but they're still mulling themselves over in my headspace somewhere.
Neither six nor seven have been shared for free anywhere else, so this and the next are true exclusives for Steemit.com
I enjoyed writing this, the sixth of Dusty's adventures. I hope you enjoy reading it.
Pictures from Google Free to use Image Search
Six Tasks
The invisible boundary was suddenly removed and the goblins surged forward. Dusty had learned a lot about fighting with goblins.
She dropped her unicorn rope to the ground in a line before her and drew her sword. Hunter saw it glow but Dusty had her focus on other things.
She held the sword above her head, pointing toward the mass of goblins that were lumbering forward, falling over each other in their eagerness to get at her.
The unicorn rope worked a treat. If the creatures stepped on it, their claws were damaged and they were slowed down drastically.
The goblins were too stupid to realise what was wrong and they continued pressing forward to take turns in stepping on the rope. Dusty backed off a little way so that she had room to move freely.
The first ones got close enough to strike with her sword and she felt the power surge through the blade. She saw the electric blue glow as the blade took the lives of the goblins and as she had experienced before, they ‘plinked’ out of existence.
On Christmas Eve when she had first had the opportunity to use the sword, Dusty had had the impression that she could work for hours on end with it.
It would seem her theory was about to be put to the test.
Goblins were streaming through the hole in the ceiling and coming onwards to do battle with her.
She sliced through their bodies in swathes and the sound of each goblin as it ceased to exist was like music to her ears.
The sword sang, the goblins plinked and she could hear laughter. She thought at first that it was Hunter but she didn’t have time to look at him to see why he was laughing.
On one of her turns to ensure that the creatures weren’t sneaking up around her from behind, she caught sight of Hunter.
His hands were clasped so tightly on the cage bars that his knuckles were white. His eyes were wide and staring, his mouth set in a grimace. He was not the one that was laughing.
“Can you hear that?” Dusty yelled to him. She hadn’t realised that she needed to yell, but the noise that the goblins were making made it necessary. She had been concentrating on listening to the sword-song and the tuneful plink of the dispatched goblins.
“The goblins screaming?” Hunter asked.
“No, someone’s laughing,” she said but then had to spin off and attack away from the cage and she didn’t hear whether Hunter replied or not.
Hunter noticed that the rate of the goblins falling from above had slowed to a trickle and almost stopped. Then the hole in the ceiling closed and the goblins that were left were doomed.
With no more reinforcements to help them, Dusty’s task became easier and easier.
The fewer there were to take on, the less fraught she became.
The biting jaws and snatching claws became sparse and at last there was only one left and with a final swipe of her blue-bladed sword and one more ‘plink’, it too was gone.
Dusty expected that Hunter’s cage would be removed and she went to him, but it remained intact.
She shook one of the bars with her free left hand but it was solid.
Dusty retrieved her unicorn rope and hitched it to her belt.
The sword she kept in her hand; it felt comfortable there and she was benefitting from the energy it was giving her.
She knew that if she hadn’t had the sword, she would have been too exhausted to fight the thousands of goblins that had come at her.
She would have been overwhelmed in minutes and bitten to death, for once a goblin bites, it’s just a matter of time before the victim dies. It might take longer for a demon to die, but it still succumbs to the poison eventually.
Hunter’s fingers brushed hers through the bars. She turned to him and smiled. “How did you know I was in danger?” she asked him, remembering how he had rushed from his house to warn her.
“I saw the shimmering behind you. It was like a heat haze in high summer, but it’s still cold enough for snow. It struck me as odd at first and then I realised that it was coming for you. I was terrified when it engulfed you and I just ran at the haze without thinking. I suppose I was lucky.”
Dusty nodded. “Yeah, I’d say you were very lucky. Not to mention stupid,” she said, but she smiled at him. “I’m so glad you did get through, I’m glad you’re here, even if it is just to watch.”
“It’s not my idea of a favourite spectator sport you know. It’s not great watching my girlfriend battling goblins and not being able to do anything to help.”
Dusty was surprised by his words. They hadn’t discussed the girlfriend/boyfriend thing officially and she smiled at him.
“Girlfriend, huh?”
Hunter grinned back at her but his expression changed as his attention was diverted to something behind her. She didn’t want to turn around to see what had made Hunter’s eyes and mouth open like they had, but she knew that she really must.
Whatever it was, it was big. It stood around ten feet tall, not including the horns sticking from its forehead, but it was also broad.
The shoulders were almost as wide as Dusty’s reach and they were heavily, grotesquely muscled. The veins stood out on muscles and skin like it was an over-enthusiastic body-builder and had been pumping iron for a fortnight straight with no break. Dusty saw the green tinge on its skin and shuddered.
“Oh good, a cacodemon,” Dusty said and Hunter looked at her to make sure that she was being sarcastic – she was. She set her shoulders and stepped forward to meet it.
“Be careful of its claws,” Hunter advised her.
another exciting post! ... keep them coming...upvoted and resteemed
Thank you!
Wow, that was intense! I don't remember this one ... and now I have to go and look for Part 1 and get caught up, lol. (Sorry I haven't been around - recovering from Christmas and fighting off a cold has taken up most of my energy!) xox
I like stories that I've read, forgotten and found again, its like catching up with an old friend.
I hope you're feeling better soon xx
Dear Michelle, today we received your book!!! Fantastic, simply fantastic!!! You're so kind and now I have the books close to the sofa, where I usually read in relax and I can't wait to read them! Many many thanks from me and Paolo! I'm so happy, today it was another Christmas Day for us, thanks again ^_^
@silviabeneforti, I am so pleased they finally got to you!
You're most welcome for the books. Thank you so much for your support and friendship <3
My God i MISSED reading your posts. I only have a couple of minutes, but the first thing i did was to look for your channel. :) It is really difficult to get internet here. Your writing is excellent as ever! Thank you!
Haha! Thank you! Dedication indeed! I'm pleased you think that much of my work.
wow! simply amazing. i so much love such posts. " The demon hunter"! keep it coming ma'am. I am still new in steemit and sent my first post yesterday and did mention you and your work. am already a big fan and you see me more in your comments. hope you dont mind.! bless you and compliments
Thank you! That's very kind of you.
wow, glad I came across this page, looks like I have some reading to catch up on!
Yes, I've certainly got a lot to share :)
Enjoy!
dear @michelle.gent, I like in that part that she had the sword in her hand and she gets more Power herself. Thats absolutely right. Things in our hand can help us to become more strong in the believe and the action. I like to read the next part soon
Yes, sometimes we can draw power from things. Thanks for commenting :)
the second part is much more tense than the first, the battle with the goblins is described very interesting, especially when it happens tense for the main characters. Oosbenno when at the end of the chapter we were waiting for a new turn of events in the form of this creature, which you described so well ... it's simply delicious and intriguing. With each main interest in reading only increases :)
Thank you! I'm so pleased you're enjoying my work.
That was enjoyable. I'll have to go back and read part one.
Thank you. I hope you enjoy the start :)
When I read this post, I didn't know you were a published author but was impressed by how well you wrote. I haven't seen many good writers here on Steemit although I'm sure that there are.
My sister is a writer and editor who's been published many times over the last 40 years and I have a cousin that is a writer and artist who has also been published.
I wrote for a living for over 25 years although my writing was in the form of reports and documents used by businesses and the government. So basically stuff that no one ever reads.
I'm looking forward to reading your work.
Good luck in the New Year.
I'm published by a small Indie Publishing house and I edit for another Indie.
Thank you so much for complimenting my work. It means a lot for someone to have such strong links with the writing industry to comment on my writing.
Good Luck to you too. Happy New Year!
very creative, great content! I am an artist from Brazil, if u like chek some of my paintings/drawings :) I dot write very frequently, but i got some good blood in the family - my grand-auntie Raquel de Queiroz was one of the greatest writers in Brazil, the first female to be elected to Brazil Academy of Letters - shes amazing !
Thank you!
You're right, that really is amazing!
Hlw my dear friend @Michelle.gent Really Nice" story & thanx you so much for sharing with us have a nice day.
Very nice post
Very fast reading.
Reading
great post
What did you like most?
so beautyfull story
Very nice story dear @michelle.gent
really cool stuff here! would love to make some custom illustrations for your writing, if you're interested!
Exceptional stuff and nerve-racking as hell. was on the edge of my seat the entire time! one of my preferred episodes to this point.
I'm additionally detecting a theme in vox machine's music document with regards to magically recruiting giants. up to now, each one has died gruesomely and hilariously. the giant community needs to consider issuing a PSA to stay far away from this motley team of badasses. thanks for sharing @michelle.gent
Thank you! For my writing to have such an affect on you is simply awesome!