The mute paladin stood at an impasse.

He and his comrades retreated from the enemy, beings of magic and might. They came to a bridge connecting the shortest gap in the ravine. The next crossing on either side was dozens of miles away. They would never make it.

The paladin slowed.

“Paladin! Get a move on! We need to get out of here!” yelled one of his allies, a warrior from the north.

“The enemy is too strong. We can destroy the bridge once we’ve crossed,” said the archer from the west.

“We can’t leave you behind,” gasped the assassin from the south. She wheezed. An arrow got her in the chest.

The paladin signed to them, “Not enough time. They will be on us before we can sever the foundations from the bridge.”

“What can we do then, paladin?” asked the pixie on the warrior’s shoulder. There was a pixie on each of their shoulders, there as infiltration operators, for when the fighters needed something to slip in, pick locks, and assassinate enemy officer.

The paladin continued to sign, “I will hold the bridge. Go.”

All but one of the others gave the paladin a silent nod. The paladin was in the best shape to give them the fighting chance of life. He would make the ultimate sacrifice to ensure his allies reached the relative safety of a mountain fortress a dozen miles past the end of the bridge.

Those allies made for the other side of the bridge.

The last ally, a pixie, stood on the paladin’s shoulder.

The paladin signed to him, “You should have gone with the others.”

“Negative. I have the hill.”

The pixie pointed to an elevation off the beaten path. At the top, there were a few trees and shrubs to provide relative cover from ranged counter-fire. The path was a dead end and afforded additional cover. The pixie indicated that he would attempt to provide fire support with his magic.

“They won’t reach me. To climb the path to get me they would need to deal with you. I’ll be fine.”

The paladin signed, “If you say so.”

The pixie jumped off the paladin’s shoulder, his wings taking the fall. The pixie started to walk up the path.

“Good luck, sir.”

Then the pixie started to run. He needed to get into position before the enemy reached the paladin.

The paladin signed, “Good luck to you, Pixie,” even though the pixie’s back was turned and the little one ran up the hill path.

The enemy horde approached the bridge. There were hundreds of skeletons, dozens of ogres, and winged elves, one of which was operating a goblin-built mechanical golem. The winged elves were clearly commanders. The horde stopped half a mile from the paladin, sizing up the situation.

One lone paladin stood at the foot of the bridge. No pixies in sight. Wear on the bridge suggested the paladin’s allies went ahead. It was just the one paladin left to hold the bridge.

The elves deliberated for a few minutes.

The next crossing was dozens of miles to the right. In the end, the horde decided that the best course of action was to push the paladin aside and continue their march towards the next city in their campaign.

Skeletons were going to go first. Then the ogres would follow, supported by the winged elves. The main commanders in the back would follow-through with the mechanical golem and run the paladin off the road.

Seeing the horde start its move, the paladin gripped his sword. If he was to die today, he would do so for a good cause.

The first set of skeletons reached the paladin’s position. He unsheathed his sword, a greatsword, with his left hand, slashing the face of the first skeleton. The paladin shoved his other hand, as a fist, down the throat of this skeleton, crushing its face with his metal gauntlet. With his left hand, still holding the sword, the paladin shoved the skeleton down.

A second skeleton marched into his line of attack. The skeleton was holding a short spear. It tried to stab at the paladin. He sidestepped it and the skeleton overcommitted to the attack. The paladin reversed his sword and gripped it with both hands. He brought the sword down on the skeleton’s flank, cutting the walking bones down.

A third skeleton moved to the attack. It was armed with a long-shot, a mechanical weapon between a crossbow and a slingshot. The weapon also had a small spike on the end for use as a spear. It fired at the paladin. The aim was off, though, and it missed, despite the close quarters attack. The paladin rotated his body, bringing an overhead swing down on this skeleton. It crumpled to the ground.

More skeletons leapt to the attack. Fourth, fifth, and sixth made their move, stabbing and slashing at the paladin. He met their ferocity with his sword, deflecting their attacks away from him and striking back with stabs and slashes. They fell one at a time. Seventh, eighth, nineth, tenth. The paladin was starting to lose count.

The paladin was around his twentieth kill. These skeletons were no match for him. They were basic attackers and only basic attackers, raised and enchanted to march forward and no more. They were pawns on the chess board.

At the thirty-kill mark, a new skeleton came to the attack. It was armored and carrying a sword. Well, it was somewhat armored. It had a chest plate and boots. The sword was made from steel. The paladin cut it down all the same. From here, the skeletons were a mix of these new skeleton warriors and the original unarmored skeletons. There were more unarmored ones, though. Every five unarmored skeletons came with an armored skeleton warrior.

Between individual melee engagements, the paladin noticed a new development. The elves were directing a squad of skeletons to the hill on his left flank, adjacent to their battle lines. These guys were carrying that mechanical sling rifle. It was clear that the intent was to provide ranged support and help wear the paladin down.

A basic skeleton pushed into him. The paladin took a partial hit from the spear and twirled away from the impact. He cut the skeleton down from behind by slashing at its tendons. The skeleton dropped to its knees before taking a two more slashes to its back, taking it out of the fight.

Two sling riflemen charged his position with their guns, bayonets pointed at him. The paladin sidestepped to the left and gave that one a shoulder shove, pushing that one slightly off balance. The paladin took a step forward while they made their step forward. Then he pivoted right, pushing against the leftmost one and forcing it and his comrade onto the ground. The paladin followed up with a downward swing from left to right and cut the first of the two skeletons down. Then he tossed his greatsword up and caught the blade with his hand, finishing off the second skeleton with the guard into its skull. It crunched on the impact.

The paladin positioned the weapon back in his left hand, holding the base of the blade with his right hand free. Four skeletons moved to attack. He was pushed back and missed taking a volley of sling projectiles. The slingshotters on the hill were done preparing their aim.

From the hilltop, magic erupted from the shrubs. A beam of light burst from a bush and impacted the skeletons trying to get a bead on the paladin with their sling rifles. It connected with one skeleton, damaging it, but not taking it out of the fight. A second quick beam follow up nailed it. The skeleton disintegrated from this attack. The skeletons in formation were redirected to deal with the pixie.

The paladin had his hands full. Six more skeletons moved to attack him. He cut down three of them but an elite warrior tagged teamed him. The sword from the skeleton warrior came down but he sidestepped it. He did not, however, dodge the spear points of the three remaining basic skeletons. They did some damage to his armor. He would survive.

The paladin cut the feet off one skeleton and knocked it off its feet with a short shoulder shove. He saw the skeleton warrior in his periphery go for another attack. The paladin let him make the attack but smartly sidestepped it, allowing the skeleton warrior to come crashing down into one of the two basic skeletons, taking that one out. The paladin pulled back for the other basic skeleton. It committed an attack but didn’t commit enough, allowing the paladin to push forward in a great stabbing motion, moving into an upward slash, taking it out of the fight.

Two skeleton warriors and four slingshot shooters moved in for the attack. The paladin timed a block with the first of the two skeleton warriors, taking the downward attack on his greatsword. The paladin pushed back, shoving his opponent’s weapon skyward and delivering a heavy-handed knuckle sandwich to that skeleton’s skull. It went down but not out. The paladin clashed swords with the second skeleton warrior. It tried to overpower the paladin but the paladin was far stronger, beating the skeleton in a contest of strength. He cleaved at the skeleton’s pauldron. His sword bounced off, although it did stagger his opponent. A second strike, however, cut into the armor piece.

By now, the first skeleton warrior got back up. The paladin pushed the second one into the first, sword still stuck in the armor of the second. The action of the shove snapped the pauldron off, freeing his greatsword.

The paladin was still aware that there were four skeletons with sling rifles sneaking up on him. He timed the shoving of the two skeleton warriors to coincide with their attack, and the six went down in a heap. The paladin made sure to cut and smash their joints, taking all six down.

The enemy horde was hesitant to continue their attack. They had a finite number of skeletons. Instead, the paladin noted that two ogres were preparing to move on his position. The enemy horde was also trying to deal with the paladin’s pixie sitting on the hill. The pixie took down the entire sniper squad on the opposite hill and was peppering the main formation with beams of light and earthen projectiles. The enemy was trying to deal with him, rerouting the bulk of their slingshotters to engage the pixie. They were inaccurate, though, and shooting a target on a higher elevation.

The paladin saw in the distance a second attack being formed. The two ogres would engage the paladin. And additional train of four more ogres, two at a time, would go for the paladin. They and a number of skeletons would keep him busy. The second attack, made up of more skeletons and one of the elves, would charge up the hill and take the pixie out. He would need to cover both the path and the bridge. He couldn’t afford anything to slip past.

The paladin started by taking advantage of the lull before the first set of two ogres reached him. He took out his own sling, a proper one, with a pouch between two lengths of rope, like that of the mythical David, and slipped a stone into the pouch. He swung it over his head and let it loose into the elf leading the attack on the hill, nailing him in the head and causing him to crash to the ground. The paladin could see frustration in the eyes of the remaining elves. He understood some words. Something about “they would get back at the demon holding the bridge.” What utter nonsense.