Character Short Stories: Hero Kajataj

Hero Kajataj - A deleted scene from chapter 3 of "New Mune Faire"

  Blood and sweat were dripping into the Minotaur's eyes as the sun began to turn gold in the sky. He had sent his platoon of 5 to the queen to ask for aid an hour ago, since they had been thrown around and burned by the DragonBorn at the gates. More Orcs and Minotaur, or Demons, would stand the best chance against them, but most of the Demons and Harpies went to aid the Tieflings on the southern side of the continent with the King, and the other Minotaur and Orcs were at the front gate with the majority of the humans with General No’Gosh. Kajataj hoped aid in any form was on its way. 

The Minotaur had been fighting since midday with no break, and no break in the enemy lines. He had them at a chokepoint on the western bridge to the gates, so it had proved difficult for the DragonBorn to get through. He had been defending these gates for 4 days now, after The Siege had sent more advanced enemies to break through when their first few waves had failed to succeed. Today was their first encounter against DragonBorn at the gates though, and they were proving to be tough. 

He and his platoon had successfully killed 26 out of 50 of them, Kajataj having done most of that heavy lifting, as they endlessly pushed him back off the bridge and behind the gate. He barricaded it as his allies left to report to the queen, but the enemy line was burning and bashing the western gate down. Almost an hour of fire breathing on the metal outer door had made it soft enough for the dragon fiends to bend the outer door open enough to start hacking at the wood gate. The Siege have never been so aggressive as this before, and have never been so close to succeeding at infiltrating the city. 

Kajataj’s draconic speech was rough, but from the other side of the door he made out the word “ram” apart from the others, and shifted uncomfortably against the door, having a bad feeling they weren’t talking about him. 24 strong enemies laid out on the other side of the door, and he didn’t know how much longer he could hold. He prayed silently under his breath to Eisk the Chosen for aid, as it got silent on the other side of the door. 

He stood up and put his eye up against the splinters to see why they had gotten still. It took a second to make anything out, but he realized he was looking at the enemy line regrouping down the bridge with a blazing, spiked, metal, battering ram. 

This is it, the Minotaur thought to himself. I will hold this until help comes. Even if I die, I’ll get back up and force them back. I can’t let them into the city. 

Something draconic that sounded a lot like “CHARGE!” was shouted from the other side of the gate. All the locks were in place, but Kajataj braced himself against the large doors nonetheless. Marching feet hurried towards him from the opposite side, and he was met with a heavy blow against the gate that scraped his hooves against the cobblestone. He braced back forcefully and roared loudly in retaliation. Across the street, he could see his platoon running towards him. Help has arrived!  Thank Eisk!

“We are here now, Kaja! Don't worry any longer!” The Orc Grom tossed him a minor healing potion as they all ran up against the gate and pushed back against it with him. Kajataj nodded his thanks as he gulped down the potion. It was tart, but refreshing. He felt the magic from it close some of his cuts and broken ribs, but it didn’t un-dent his armor so it felt tight still around his rib cage where he had been bashed in by two enemies at once earlier that day. 

Another blow struck against the gate as the DragonBorn chanted again, splintering the door at the height of an Orc, sending a heat wave through it due to the flaming enchantment that had been cast on the battering ram. Kajataj looked through the hole in the door with wide eyes, watching the enemy back up for another swing into them.

“Turn around and push with your arms!” The Hero tried to warn his men of the dangers that this blow would cause the door, but some of his men weren’t fast enough. 

As the hellish battering ram collided, it burst through the wood and exploded a soldier's head from the impact speed alone. The human soldier fell to the ground, lifeless, as two others who were close by were blown to the ground. One looked unconscious, maybe even dead, and the other was slow to stand but trying. It looked like his wrist had shattered while pushing up against the door on impact. 

Quick to think, Hero Kajataj turned around and grabbed onto the spiked battering ram with two hands, preventing the DragonBorn from pulling it back to plow into the gate one last time. The metal was hot from the fire that burned around it, not to mention the flame itself was cooking his hairs and gloved hands. He roared loudly in pain but held on tight to it as the DragonBorn tried to yank it free from his hands.

The enemy became impatient and some ran ahead of the ram to start ripping apart the wood door that divided the Siege from the Swarm. Kajataj’s platoon hacked back at the draconic monster's hands and weapons in attempts to slow and stop them, but the two Orcs and humans remaining were not enough of a match against the enemy.

Kajataj’s grip was loosening from the heat and the uncoordinated and confused yanking from the DragonBorn who still held onto the battering ram. One was shouting orders that Kajataj couldn’t hear due to the dizziness from the heat and pain. His platoon of soldiers were once again being pushed back.  The door groaned loudly before snapping open, sending Kajataj’s men back a couple of feet.

An Orc to his left had successfully cut down an enemy when he got through the gate, and the Hero had let go of the battering ram, stepping to the side so the DragonBorn line holding it would fall backward.  His gloves had been burned through and pink, raw flesh tingled numbingly as he glanced at his hands. Kajataj roared again and took out his enchanted Battle Axe, hacking off the head of the second DragonBorn who made it through with one clean swipe. The force it took to do so chafed against his raw skin and he shouted out in pain again, as another DragonBorn roared back at him in retaliation to his allies head being chopped off. The dragon-like humanoid flapped his wings and pounced atop of the Hero to bring him thundering to the ground, while swiping his talons at the Minotaurs face where no armor protected him.

Kajataj’s axe had been knocked out of hand when he landed on his back, and punched the reptile in his face. The blow stunned it for a moment, and then looked into Kajataj’s eyes with fury as it roared and spat fire at him. It was a hot fire, but  Kajataj moved his head out of the way in time, and drove his fist through the flame, into the open serpent's mouth, and punched a hole through his neck from the inside of his mouth. Shock was the last expression the DragonBorn was able to convey before it slid off, lifeless. 

The Minotaur winced as he looked at his hand, knuckles now burned to the bone and all nerves damaged so badly that he only knew it was painful because the 3rd degree burns on his arm were searing and screaming for aid. He stood back up anyway, and saw the Orc to his right was screaming as the beasts swarmed him and ripped him apart, limb from limb. The other Orc to his left was holding his own but losing, and the two remaining humans stood back to back with fear and determination in their eyes. It looked like the two of them together had managed to chop down at least one DragonBorn, which meant there were only 14 enemies left.

Kajataj didn’t know how he and 3 others were supposed to defend the gate from the remaining enemy forces, but he would die trying. No, he interrupted himself, I will LIVE trying. If I die here, no one else can protect the city.  I’m the last line of defense for the western gate, and there’s no coming back if I die. I MUST survive this assault. 

That mindset is what enabled Kajataj to become a Hero. Everything was so “do or die,” to him… but why not “do and live”? He had been through so many battles and with each one he only grew stronger. As he had this internal turmoil with himself, he effortlessly evaded each swing that the enemy threw at him. He didn’t even see them anymore. He saw himself in his mind, surviving, standing victorious already. 

The dying screams of both humans to his right pulled him out of his evasive headspace and back to the battlefield. Kajataj had been on autopilot the whole time successfully parrying and side-stepping attacks.  Looking over to where the screams came from, Kajataj saw a DragonBorn bite into one soldier’s neck, while the other soldier was cleaved in half by a broad sword of another DragonBorn. The Orc Grom to his left had looked over just in time to see it as well, and panicked, falling to his knees in defeat which ended his life quickly. Now it was fourteen-to-one. They all circled him slowly, hissing their forked tongues and hot breaths at Kajataj. He assessed the group and body language of each enemy, anticipating the attack to come first from the one who kept sparking his flames inside his mouth. Next would be from behind in an attempt to take him from surprise. From there, it would be a side step and use-them-against-themselves tactic that he learned from General No’gosh in their training sessions together. 

Sure enough, the fire-spitter launched first with a short burst of fire in his mouth to temporarily blind Kajataj. He was slow to dodge the attack and the DragonBorn bit into his massive horns, pulling his head down to the side. He didn’t let his guard down just because he was slow to move though. He still anticipated a back attack, and swung his horns around so the currently latched lizard would be attacked by his own comrade. Sure enough, the DragonBorn who was biting into his horns had let go when his ally had lunged and ran into him. Next from the right, another lunge. Kajataj ducked it, and then one from the left. The Minotaur Hero used his non-burnt hand to punch the enemy in his open jaw, dazing it and knocking it back temporarily. 

He used a unique ability that he gained after becoming a hero by stomping his hoof into the ground heavily and directing whatever amount of magic he had to flow through him and vibrate into the ground below. The strength from this ability softened the ground and had a visual effect of water as the tremor rippled out all around him. All of his enemies were blasted backwards and dazed, their feet now engulfed in the broked dirt, slow to recover. 

Kajataj took advantage of this opening to retrieve his weapon from the discarded earth, released its ‘Double’ technique which allowed him to multiply his enchanted blade, and began dual-wielding his battle axes in either hand.  Left and right he cleaved at them like a butcher, easily cutting down 4 more of the confused DragonBorn. 

Kajataj was starting to feel good about his survival rate, when they did something he didn’t expect. The DragonBorn all pounced on him at once, using their wings to lift themselves out of the toppled earth, tackling him down to the ground and ripping off his armor so they could tear at his flesh with their own hands.  Fear was starting to take place in his heart, he had never been so afraid to die his whole life. 

This is it, he winced and yelled out loudly in pain as each swing to punch or kick at them was caught in their mouth as they continued to shred the Minotaur. I failed… I’m- I’m sorry Queen Chrysalis. Forgive me Eisk. Protect my capital…  Kajataj’s vision became blurry with blood and dark in a way no dark tunnel had ever made him feel. It was a certain blindness that would lead to his unavoidable death.