Baldur's gate II_ throne of Bhaal - Drew Karpyshyn [48]
Yaga Shura toppled forward, his balance thrown off by the force of the unexpected kick and the suddenly unbalanced weapon he wielded. The bits and pieces of the lower end of his axe's shaft had fallen to the ground, but his right hand still clutched the top half of his broken weapon. The giant drew the blade back to strike at Abdel even as he fell on top of him. With his free hand, Yaga Shura reached out to brace his fall.
Abdel seized the wrist of Yaga Shura's empty, extending hand and pulled, bringing his other foot up and bracing it against the muscular chest of his foe. Abdel might have been the only man alive who had the strength to redirect the momentum of a falling giant's weight, but then, Abdel was truly more than a man. To the amazement of the onlookers and Yaga Shura alike, the giant suddenly found himself hurtling through the air, his entire body flipping heels over head as he crashed on his back.
Before his foe even hit the ground Abdel had scrambled to his own feet, scooping up the largest chunk of the axe's broken shaft as he did so. Before his fallen opponent could recover from the throw, Abdel was on him.
Along with his swordsmanship, Abdel had spent many years training himself in grappling and other unarmed forms of combat, and he knew how to gain an advantage on a prone opponent. The big man leaped onto Yaga Shura's enormous chest, pinning the giant's arms with his knees. He felt like a child wrestling with a grownup-the same way an ordinary man must have felt when wrestling with Abdel. Yaga Shura would be able to free himself quite easily simply by rolling to the side, twisting his shoulder and using his bulk to overbalance Abdel. The sellsword just hoped the giant wouldn't know how.
Yaga Shura's torso heaved and bucked as he tried to fling Abdel off through sheer strength and brute force, but Abdel could not be dislodged so easily. He simply shifted his weight in rhythm with the larger man's thrashing, maintaining his mounted position straddling the giant's chest. The giant's free hand clutched at Abdel, the other flailed with the axe in a desperate attempt to bring the weapon to bear. With Abdel's knees still firmly pinning the mighty arms of the giant to the ground, all of Yaga Shura's efforts were ineffective.
Abdel raised the broken, rune covered piece of wood with both hands above his head, and plunged the jagged, splintered point into the giant's exposed throat-impaling Yaga Shura with a piece from the shaft of his own enchanted weapon.
The writhing death throes of the doomed Bhaalspawn finally hurled Abdel from his perch, sending him rolling across the ground. The big sellsword tried to leap to his feet, but his muscles refused to respond. He had spent every last ounce of energy burying the shaft in Yaga Shura's neck.
Somehow, Abdel managed to raise his head in time to see Yaga Shura struggle to his feet, clutching at the length of wood protruding from his neck. The giant's chest was coated in a bubbling magma, the fiery lifeblood pumping from the puncture wound in his neck. He tried to yank the massive splinter from his throat, but the shaft was slick with flowing fluid and the giant's hands slipped off.
The monstrous Bhaalspawn fell to his knees and grasped the shaft again. This time he managed to pull it free but only succeeded in unleashing a veritable flood as the steaming blood burst forth like a geyser from the wound with every fading beat of his massive heart.
From behind him Abdel heard the sound of a trumpet and a great crash as the gates of Saradush flew open and the army attacked. Still too weary to stand, he turned his head to see Gromnir, Melissan, and Sarevok leading the charge as the defenders suddenly took the offensive.
The gurgling gasps of his dying foe were swallowed