Arthus was now running with the princess while barking orders. “Close the portcullis! Everyone into the city, now!”
The city guards who were already engaged did not falter, however, as the rest of the townspeople remaining around the harbour fled for the gate.
Spear-wielding men ran at the creature, stabbing through its thick legs with all their strength. Its height made things difficult for the attacking guards. The spears penetrated its thick thighs but didn’t seem to do much damage.
Some guards along the battlements atop the wall had bows and crossbows, peppering the hunchback with arrows and bolts. Few of them managed to penetrate, creating a sort of collar of splinters around its upper half.
The hunchback wrenched the anchor up from the pile of broken bodies and stone, ready to attack once again. It lunged forward towards the city as if suddenly propelled to do so. Any spectator remaining after seeing such a sight was then fleeing for their life. The guards covered their retreat as best they could.
Katryna and Arthus rushed through the gate, stopping in their tracks to turn and watch the scene unfolding.
“Close the portcullis, that’s an order!” Arthus demanded, seeing that they still had not done so.
“But High Sword, our men are still out there!” a young guard atop the gate said fearfully.
“Close it now or the entire city will be in jeopardy!” Katryna shouted.
The hesitant guard bit his lip, crippled with uncertainty. His colleague, however, decided to act, grabbing a nearby hammer, and smashing it into the latch in the gatehouse.
The ping of metal on metal sounded as the grill-like portcullis dropped from its resting position up high in the open gate.
Katryna breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that the city wall and portcullis now stood between her people and that creature. Yet, she could not avert her gaze as the guards on the other side bravely kept up their defence.
A guard rushed the hunchback, stabbing its foot with his sword. It barely flinched, lowering its head down to the courageous man and swinging its free hand down to grab him.
The guard shrieked as giant fingers enclosed around his body, squeezing so tight that his insides exploded out from every orifice in his body. His limp, bloodied corpse was finally thrown into a wall with a splat.
The hunchback staggered forwards again towards the gate.
“That gate will stop it…right?” Katryna said to Arthus, taking in sharp breaths.
Arthus looked to the princess and back at the creature without saying a word.
The hunchback lunged into the portcullis, barely shifting the metal grate despite the creature’s size. It roared before attempting to headbutt it unsuccessfully.
Then, it began to kneel.
“What’s it doing now?” Katryna gasped.
The hunchback stuck its enormous fingers into the grate portcullis and began to lift the entire thing. The gate groaned as the metal warped and shifted from the intense force being exerted onto it.
The hunchback barely winced as it began to rise, bringing the portcullis up with it!
“No way,” a guard shouted in dismay.
“Time to run!” Arthus ordered the princess.
Katryna did not argue this time, and most onlookers saw that they were not out of danger yet, following the High Sword and the princess.
The hunchback roared, pushing the portcullis back up into the gatehouse with all its body weight underneath it. The mechanisms within which controlled the portcullis groaned and twisted. The entire metal shape became displaced as the hunchback gained enough space to walk beneath the broken portcullis, lumbering through like it was nothing.
The thing must have been immensely strong, Katryna realised.
The hunchback dragged its chained anchor behind him, taking the anchor into its hands again and swinging it through the air.
“Watch out!” a guard screamed.
Onlookers shrieked, Katryna dropped to the ground, covering her head.
The hefty anchor smashed into the upper storey of a house along the side of the road right by Katryna and Arthus. The hunchback’s reach with the weapon was enormous.
The outer wall ripped open, sending and a collection of broken bricks, stone, and wood onto the street below in a cascade of debris.
Katryna got back up but covered her head as she fled, debris flying down around them. The creature was gaining on them.
The hunchback roared once more, tugging on the chain to free the anchor from its new resting place. It dragged with it shattered furnishings and the rest of the building’s façade, plummeting down in one solid piece.
The noise was deafening as the structure collapsed; a heap of dust and rubble was all that remained.
Katryna went up the road with Arthus by her side into the denser part of hightown. The muscles in her legs screamed from the incline as she willed them to run faster. Thankfully, they could easily outrun the lumbering creature.
They stopped to catch their breath, turning to see the hunchback still lumbering towards their direction. Guards were trying to fight the hideous creature off to no avail. It was far too big for them to have a decent effect on it.
One young man attempted an amazing feat, lining up a spear throw and launching the weapon at the creature’s head. The spear, however, simply bounced off the plates of metal and coral, barely scratching it.
Townspeople around Katryna and Arthus were horrified, watching the hunchback attack down the street. The four-way intersection they found themselves in was surrounded with wattle and daub buildings, some three-storeys tall.
People’s homes, on a bustling thoroughfare, Katryna realised, looking about at all the people who would soon be in danger.
“Arthus, we have to get these people out of here,” Katryna said, gesturing to the men, women and children
