Chapter 5

Sir Odo Paganus's armour is battered. Pieces have been smashed away. Having disentangled himself from his fiendish opponent, he slid and rolled far down the rockface amid a cascade of rubble before managing to catch hold of a projecting formation. At once he began to climb, though the armour dragged on the cut and bruised flesh beneath it and it is hard going. The girl's wail of distress galvanises the knight and he forces his way onwards and upwards, driven by an ardent determination not to fail her. Finally, nearing the ledge, he catches hold of the hindmost garger's tail, wrenches him from his footing and hurls him down.

The knight charges to the rescue, taking the fiends by surprise, precipitating them one after the other from the ledge. The girl, who has found herself again their captive, gasps, hardly daring to believe her eyes.
The Knight of Esa has battled through, but now his way is barred by a garger as fearsome as a fiend. They confront each other in the absolute certainty that the survival of one will depend upon the other's death. The creature makes to draw a sword taken from the last foolhardy knight to venture into this place, and who had not made it as far as this...
The garger swings his tail with sudden force towards the knight's legs, but Paganus, having grown wise to that move, ensures that the tail meets the sharp edge of the halberd he took from one of the others.
Paganus withdraws the bloody blade from the heart of the garger who lies slain at his feet. One more is left...
The knight freezes. The last beast hardly needs words to deliver his ultimatum. The knight must drop his weapon or his adversary will drop the damsel over the fateful precipice...