A Soul of Steel

by Troy A Hill

  Gwen relaxed in my grasp, but flinched with each bounce our friend made. The rattle of rocks coming loose sounded in the chill night air. Emlyn looked at the valley floor below and grimaced as the sound of the rockslide drifted up to us. They would hurt when they stopped sliding, but I doubted either shifter would be in serious trouble when they stopped their tumble. The damned rogue shifter had probably already healed the slices Emlyn had given him.

  I needed to get down there and help Ruadh. But taking a tumble like they did wasn’t the best way for me to show up in fighting form. Still, that shifter had to die tonight, before he hurt more people. I had to help Ruadh.

  Despite that creature, I still had Gwen. And Soul. And Emlyn. But I had to finish the fight.

  Growls rose from the valley floor. The fight continued below.

  52

  Into the night

  I pulled Gwen to her feet and stepped us even farther back from the edge. She rewarded me with a kiss on the cheek.

  “Go, dearest,” she sent. Her hand traced a white glow along the scratches on her neck. The fabric of her green outer dress was torn, but her underdress and her flesh underneath were unscathed.

  Emlyn pulled himself over the edge. “Emilius would be very mad at me if I had let that creature get your sword.”

  “The shifter curse?” I asked Gwen. I knew I was immune, but she was still human. “You said it couldn’t harm you?”

  “The Lady’s magic protects me,” she sent. “I added wards against the curse, once I knew what we faced. Go, help our friend. I will catch up.” Her hand was back to her temple. More magic light caressed her head.

  I looked over the edge of the cliff. Even with the slope of the rock face, broken bones would be the least I could expect taking a tumble like that if I jumped. Ruadh didn’t have a choice when the other shifter pulled him over. But I did, and, even with my undead abilities to heal, I didn’t want to stress my demon any more than I had to. Healing my body took blood energy. My demon would be screaming for blood when I got up at the bottom. That damned shifter had driven me to the edge of turning on my friends once before. I wouldn’t, I couldn’t let him get me there again.

  I eyed the trees that stood tall ten paces past the cliff.

  “Go,” Emlyn growled. “We'll catch up. Don’t let the bastard get away this time.”

  I sheathed Soul and stepped back. Five paces was enough momentum to help my leap. I pulled on my Demon’s energy. With the sun down, I didn’t have to pay a price for the preternatural strength. My leg pushed hard, and I sailed toward the tall growth at the edge of the valley below. I caught the first thick branch in my path. All it had to do was bend with the impact and help me slow down. I released it before it broke. I grabbed another, then another. At least I controlled my fall and avoid major injuries this way.

  Below me, growls echoed off the cliff face and Ruadh and the shifter fought on. A thud sounded, flesh into rock. I hoped Ruadh was giving more than he took in the fight.

  Then I slammed into a branch that barely gave. Fortunately, my belly was empty. A human that had caught a branch across the midsection like that wouldn’t have kept their last meal down. I felt my demon direct energy to repair damage inside my chest. Damn! That hurt.

  My hands found purchase on the branch’s rough form. I bent around it to absorb some of the shock. A crack sounded, but the limb stayed attached to the tree. At least I wouldn’t have to apologise to Gwen for harming a tree.

  I dropped and swung my way down. Below, two shifters, one red and one blond, grappled and clawed each other. I angled my descent to land near them. I rolled to absorb the impact of the last twenty feet of my fall. Emlyn was as good as Aemi when it came to maintaining our blades and belts. Soul held tight in the scabbard and didn’t fall out in my plunge. She was in my hand as I rolled.

  I darted in with my blade. Two thrusts scored two hits and a yowl of pain from the creature. He flopped onto his back and used his legs to shove Ruadh’s half-bear body at me. I dodged, but that gave the rogue lycanthrope time to roll and lunge at me. His clawed hands went not for my body, but for Soul. He still wanted the sword. Why? Because of its magic? I did that. But he wouldn’t know that. He saw a glowing sword and felt it damage him in ways no ordinary blade could. If it harmed him, he’d know it could kill Ruadh, and even me.

  But, if I killed the magic to the blade. In his hands, it would just be normal steel. I wouldn't bother to explain that to him.

  I shifted and jerked my blade back from his grab. Barely in time. His claws caught on the fabric of my sleeve for a second. Rhosyn would have a time repairing those cuts, and would tell me about every other piece of damaged clothing she’d ever had to repair.

  I dodged a second swipe. Damn, he was fast. I had been too long away from someone with his reactions. Even Emlyn, as great as he was, couldn’t match the shifter in speed.

  Ruadh was on his feet and growled as he lunged. The rogue slid to the side and back toward the cliff face. I realised where he was heading. Damn it! There was a cleft in the rock. A cave. I had already fought him once in a cave, I didn’t want to try that again. He had to stay out here. In the cave, Ruadh and I might box him in, but…

  Before I finished the thought, skeletal warriors ran out of the slice in the rock. Half a dozen charged toward Ruadh. They bore ancient Roman shields, barely holding together after a century or more in the grave. They thrust rotting wooden spears and short steel swords at Ruadh. With his height in shifter form, he knocked the heads from them. A rumble echoed from his chest as even more skeletal warriors shuffled from the cave. Was there no end to them?

  “Give me the sword,” the rogue shifter growled and swiped at me again. This time I expected his lunge. He earned a nasty slice across his chest as I twisted away from his attack line. The beast hissed in pain but pivoted in his lunge. He swept a long leg under me. I cleared it with a leap.

  His claws flashed toward my face as I hung midair. No, not my face, my wrists. He wanted the sword. Before my feet so much as touched the ground, I rotated the sword so the blade edge pointed toward his palms. As his hands closed on the blade, I jerked it down. He roared in pain as the magic sliced his paws. I caught the scent of his blood and licked my lips. Blood of power brought my demon’s attention back to the fight.

  My feet hit the ground. I jerked back. That beast still had reach on me, and I had made it very mad. His yellow eyes flicked between me and Ruadh. Bones crunched and echoed where Ruadh fought the undead.

  The creature leapt at me. I spun out of his line and sliced Soul at his back. But he had jumped wide and my blade sliced only the ragged tunic it wore. Voices hissed out of the cave. A fiery bolt, like a burning arrow, shot out of the opening and sailed past the werebear. The bolt was almost on me before I realised I was the target. I pulled speed, a lot of speed, from my demon and spun my blade. The magic in my sword crackled and hissed as the two energies collided. That had not been a wooden arrow. It was pure energy.

  Another one flew out of the cave and struck Ruadh full in the chest. He stumbled back and yowled. His paws clutched his chest, and he dropped to one knee. The other shifter disappeared into the cleft in the wall, toward the mysterious voice. Ruadh stumbled after, but two of the skeletal Romans blocked his way. Ruadh roared and tore the heads from them with one slash of his meaty paw. But his steps were shorter, and he wheezed in pain.

  A second pair of dead Roman soldiers ran from the cave, right after the shifter had plunged in. They charged toward me. I swung Soul and two rusted Roman helms, with skulls inside, flew into the night. Ruadh shook his head to clear the pain and charged into the cave.

  I was only a step behind Ruadh through the cleft. Inside was a large cavern, dotted with burial nooks. Old, dust-covered bodies in their death shrouds lay inside many niches. It was a dead end. Literally. A few dead bodies still lay in their burial nooks. But the rogue shifter was nowhere. Gone.

  I thought I saw a shadow in one shrink and collapse on itself as the glo
w from my sword hit it. Magic of some sort? A portal like Gwen used to tree walk? Is that how the shifter escaped? Damn! Deodamitus! I swore in every language I remembered.

  I smelled burned fur. Ruadh, his fur still singed, growled and swung his meaty paw at the corpse behind where the shadow had been. Bones scatted and crushed under his blow. His other paw still pressed against the magical burn in his chest.

  “I will nae rest,” Ruadh growled into the night, “until I find that son of a mangy, flea-bitten she-bear.”

  To be continued…

  In

  A Blink of an Eye, Book 3 of The Cup of Blood Series

  The adventure continues

  Maria’s adventure continues in Book 3 of the Cup of Blood Series:

  A Blink of an Eye

  If you enjoyed this story, you can learn more about the people of Penllyn in The Penllyn Chronicles Collection 1. This collected volume includes: Penllyn, Emlyn, and Ruadh’s Stories, as well as never before published story Tempting Fae.

  Get your copy of both today to continue the adventure.

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  Acknowledgments

  I’d like to thank some of the many people who have helped me make this dream of writing a reality.

  First, my lovely wife Carol for putting up with, and supporting my desires and dreams. My writing coaches through the years: Mark Massé and Danielle Lincoln Hanna.

  In addition, other indie authors have been most helpful, including Bonita and Camilla, along with Jay Raven.

  I must, of course, mention beta-readers like Mike and Jackie, and the Penllyn Teulu street team of readers like Rita and Dawn, and the many others who have helped spread the word through their reviews and social media.

  And, of course, you, dear reader. Without readers like you, there would be no-one to share the stories of Ruadh, Bleddyn, Rhian and Emlyn with. My friends from Dark Ages Penllyn, and I, thank you.