Swing and Thrust: A Harem Fantasy (Sword and Sorority Book 2)

by Scot C Morgan

  "I'm here," she said. "I don't want to die. Besides, my dad taught me to take care of myself."

  Shows how much I know about sorority girls.

  I reached for my sword, but stopped short of unsheathing it from the scabbard. "Don't look too threatening." I made sure neither Tara nor Monica had pulled out an arrow yet. They hadn't. "We don't want to scare them into making a move."

  "Right." Tara looked me up and down. "You do realize you look like death by muscles, don't you?"

  "Hey!" I pretended to be offended, but I enjoyed the reminder that I was pretty badass. Hopefully, that would be enough to deter the strangers from trying anything, if they were that sort of people.

  "She's right, you know?" Monica road a little past us, but then I saw she'd done it only to navigate a big dip in the ground. She leveled off with us on the other side of it.

  The strangers kept riding toward us, their horses at a walk. I could see now they all were men. As our two groups rode closer, I spotted their weapons—swords for four of them, one an axe, the last nothing. The swords were sheathed, the axe slung to the side of his horse. The apparently unarmed man was in the middle, riding slightly in front of the others. The leader. I assumed he might have something I just couldn't see—dagger, something behind him. They were too far to tell for certain. None of them had a bow, from what I could see. A small relief.

  "Doesn't look good," Tara said, reaching for an arrow, using only her legs to steady herself on her horse as we all kept moving forward.

  I watched her notch it, but she pointed it downward, with her bow right beside her horse. She's trying to hide it from them. Smart girl.

  "Hold on," I said to my archer women. "Stay here. I'm going to ride a little closer, so I can speak to them. Shout to them from a safe distance."

  The three of us reined our horses to a stop.

  "You sure about that?" Monica said, also pulling and notching an arrow.

  I glanced to each of them, then back to the six armed riders, who continued their advance. "No."

  "And if they charge you?" Tara kept her bow hidden, but moved it up a few inches for a moment.

  "Then start firing from here, and try not to hit me."

  Monica and Tara looked at each other.

  Monica evidently noticed Tara was concealing her bow, even turning her horse slightly to do so. She did the same. "We can do that."

  "Good," I said. "And if they get past me, I want you both to ride back up the hill as fast as you can and tell the others to take off too. And don't stop. Okay?"

  Neither of them said anything.

  "Okay?"

  "We're not going to abandon you," Tara said.

  "I don't want anything happening to you, any of you." A glimpse of Tara wrapped in the spider's webbing flashed through my mind. My chest tightened and my stomach felt knotted.

  "Dennis," Monica said sharply.

  I looked at her. "Just go down there and see who these people are."

  She was right, I thought. I nodded, then faced the strangers again, nudging Pudding to walk.

  Monica whistled. I glanced back to her.

  "But don't get too close to them."

  Pudding and I rode down another hundred feet, maybe more. I stopped her there. I wanted to make sure the men were in range for Tara and Monica, should the two need to save my tail—or at least help me fight the guys.

  "You ready for this, Pudding?"

  Pudding didn't reply, which I took as an indication of her steadfast bravery and steely resolve. Though it's possible she was busy thinking about her escape route.

  "Alright, Den," I said. "You faced the hell beasts at the stone gates to Darguna, and slew the great Saber-Kong. You've got this."

  I waited while they came closer.

  The one in the middle pulled forward of the others. Forty feet away. I could see him sizing me up. He glanced to my sword, which I hadn't pulled from the sheath. I hoped I wouldn't have to bring it out. I hoped his fellow riders had the same notion about theirs.

  Fighting one or a few men I thought I could manage, based on my experience with the riders on the hell-hounds and the fights inside Ruja's stronghold in Pertlass. With Cormac's help. I wished he was with us on the journey to Yedia. I wished he hadn't been such a damn hero, saving my ass. And Tara. I glanced over my shoulder to Tara. I realized I would've done the same thing. If it was just me, that would be one thing, but there were five women behind me…and six strangers in front of me. I needed to find out if they were out for a leisurely ride or on the hunt.

  "Of all the fields we both could've ridden across, funny we chose the same one." I was trying to strike a balance between nonchalant and cautiously vague about who we were and what we were doing. I realized after I called out to the man my opening sounded like a bad pickup line. I mentally face-palmed.

  He continued riding toward me, but said nothing. The other five kept pace just behind him.

  Draw the sword? Don't draw the sword?

  I put my hand on the hilt. The man in front stopped and so did the others.

  Twenty feet of uncertainty between us.

  "What's your name?" he said. He spoke with a gruff tone, like he was used to giving orders.

  "I'm Den." Dennis might've cowed or ridden away at the sight of them, but Den knew he was a man to be reckoned with. "I hope you men aren't looking for trouble." I patted the hilt of my sword a couple of times. "We're passing through. I'm guessing you're doing the same?"

  He looked back to his men and nodded, then faced me again. "We don't see too many travelers in these parts," he said. "Where are you headed?"

  "North." Vague seemed like a safe bet, until I knew whether he and his friends were troublemakers or not.

  "Is that right?" He looked back to the other men. A couple of them snickered.

  "Something funny about that?" I didn't want to appear intimidated. I was beginning to get the sense that they were wolves looking for any sign of weakness.

  He rode closer. "Something tells me you're not going to make it very far." He sat atop his horse only a few feet in front of me. He turned his head slightly back. "Isn't that right, men?"

  Two of them chuckled. The man with the axe pulled it from the loop on the side of his horse. "I think you're right, Thane."

  Thane grinned and made the most of it to show off how much of an asshole was.

  To hell with subtle. I drew my sword. "Like I said, we don't want any trouble." I drew up Pudding's reins, moving her to a position better suited for me to use my sword, if it came to that. "But this blade and my hand have slain many a beast…and man, when it came to it." I nodded to my left. "I suggest we go our own ways."

  "I would have no problem that," he said, reaching around to his back with each hand. "But I have my orders."

  I shook my head, a last desperate attempt to sway him from his course. "What orders? Whose?" I wanted to glance back to make sure Tara and Monica were still there and ready to fire, but I resisted the urge. For the moment, all the men seemed focused on me. Last thing I needed was for one or more of them to charge up the hill to the women before I could put my blade through his flesh.

  He laughed, and a few of his men followed suit. "Whose?" He brought his hands back around with a dagger in each, spinning one atop his open palm before gripping it again.

  "Ruja Kurg?" I said.

  "So, you know Ruja," he said. "No. We don't work for him anymore."

  "Makes sense." I realized I'd slipped and revealed I knew about Ruja's death. Oh, well. He was a bastard. And he did try to kill me. Might as well own it.

  "What do you mean?" he asked.

  "Uh, just that you can't work for a dead guy." They knew, right?

  "Dead?" one of the men behind him said. He didn't look happy.

  "Forget it," Thane said. "He was nothing compared to the strange one."

  I didn't like this guy one bit, and I could see where this was going. Come on girls, shoot!

  "I see you're scared," he said. "Good. Th
en you'll be smart when I give you a choice."

  Screw you, buddy! I'm not scared. I almost blurted out the fact that I'd killed Ruja, but I wanted to let him finish—maybe just to delay the bloodshed for a few more moments. "What choice is that?"

  Thane glanced to his men, then looked me in the eye and tipped his head to the side, as if he was thinking over what would be a reasonable proposal. I didn't buy it for a second.

  "You and your two women," he said, looking up the slope at Tara and Monica briefly. "You three will leave your horses with us. And your weapons. Then you can walk."

  "That's not our orders." It was the same man behind that had spoken up before.

  "Quiet!" Thane said to his man. He looked up the slope again. "Maybe one of them could stay to keep us company." His men voiced their agreement with his last idea. He stared at me, probably to see how I'd react. Maybe he wondered if I would be stupid enough to fight all six of them?

  I held back as long as I could, but all I felt was a desire to kick the shit out of the guy. Protectiveness over my women, survival instinct…whatever it was, it had to be done, I thought. Hold on, Dennis. Maybe you can talk some sense into him.

  "Okay, men," Thane said.

  The four with swords drew them out.

  Well, I tried. Now, they're all going to die.

  "Tara! Monica! Now!" I didn't look back when I screamed for them to shoot. My arm ripped the blade of my sword across Thane's chest before I'd finished yelling for the women to attack.

  He reared back, but not far enough. I cut through his leather tunic and undershirt, opening his skin from his sternum down across half his belly. My blade came through at a diagonal, so I didn't hit his horse—more happenstance than my intention. My adrenaline pushed such considerations out of my head. Them or us, I thought.

  He sat atop a well-trained horse. When Thane's body fell off, the horse didn't flinch. With the horse directly in front of me and the dead man beside the animal, I prepared to meet the other men on the opposite side.

  An arrow hit the one first in line as he raised his sword overhead, clearly with a plan to bring it down onto my head. He looked surprised by the arrow sticking out of his chest. With four more men behind him, I wasted no time. I ran him through the gut with my sword, leaning forward onto Pudding's neck to be certain my blade left him no choice but death. I clenched Pudding's mane to keep from falling off her when the man folded to his side and began to slide off his horse, pulling my sword and me with it. I managed to keep my grip on Pudding and my weapon until the blade widened the wound as the man's weight came down on the steel edge. When the cut stretched and his juices flowed out, my sword slipped free of him. His body landed in an unnaturally bent mass.

  I glimpsed another arrow flying past me. I didn't see where it went—whether my archer hit her mark. Pudding's head blocked my view. She grunted when I yanked her mane down to get myself back upright. As soon as my head rose above Pudding's, a sword blade sliced the air an inch over my angled face. I felt the side of my attacker's horse slamming against my leg. A split second later the man who'd missed his swing at my head reached over and grabbed the Pudding's reins and jerked them. Pudding protested with a snort as she violently shook her head, rattling the man who apparently was too stupid to let go.

  Jostled wildly by Pudding, the man bounced and shifted on the back of his own mount. My first thought was to show him how to properly swing a sword into someone's head, but his body struck me like a backpack full of books falling out of a locker. Trust me. I know what that feels like. I wanted him off me, especially since I expected his buddies to take a swing at me at any second.

  Using the guard and pommel of my sword like brass knuckles, I clocked him in his chin. I heard a crack. Broken jaw. I couldn't be sure because of all the commotion from the horses and the other urging their horses with yells and grunts to move closer to me. Broken or not, my blow rattled his brain enough to knock him out. He dropped his sword, let go of Pudding's reins, and dismounted as ungracefully as possible. His head hit the dirt, followed by his shoulder. His horse turned abruptly and clambered to step clear of the man's loosely spilled arms. With his left foot caught in the leather stirrup, the horse tossed him around like a rag doll.

  I took hold of Pudding's reins and drew her back from the stumbling horse with the tethered body—unconscious, possibly dead at that point. The other men gave no room for the panicked horse and his strung-on dead weight to get out of the way. They'd come around the horse to get to me and now pinned it in, pressing their horses against it as they swung their weapons overhead. Pudding and I stood out of range of their attacks—sword and axe played in vain to spill blood.

  To be safe, I guided Pudding to back away more, wanting to turn her so I could be in a better position to face the next attacker. I should've looked behind us. Pudding back-stepped like I wanted, but we'd both forgotten about Thane on the ground. Pudding stumbled, frantically shifting her legs around to keep her balance. Jumping around to find a place to put down her hooves, my balls took a pounding. Despite my death grip on her reins and doing what I could with my legs to stay upright, I flew off her.

  I held onto my sword, but that came at the price of not doing everything I could to soften my landing. It hurt like a son of a bitch. I knew I needed to get up, but it took me a few seconds to get my breath again and to cope with the throbbing pain which plowed through me from my back hitting the ground flat.

  I made a mental note that there were three men left standing at a minimum. I hoped Tara and Monica had taken out at least one more with their arrows, but I couldn't be sure and I didn't have time to go check. The girls won't be safe if I don't get up fast.

  I shook off the pain as I stood. Okay, I still felt the pain, but shaking my head at it let me pretend I couldn't feel it as much.

  Leaping over the body of the first asshole I killed, I rushed back to Pudding's side with the intent of mounting her again. Instead, I had to swing my sword beside her head to stop the schmuck with the axe from splitting her skull, hurling my other hand onto the hilt to match the force of the man's attack. My sword blade and the heavier axe blade clanged and sent out sparks when they met. I willed more strength into my arms. Who the fuck tries to kill the horse? I glared at the bastard as we tested each other's strength. I admitted to myself going for the horse made sense. Pudding had proven herself a reliable war-steed. Keeping me from getting back atop her would let them hold their advantage in the fight.

  I glanced to Pudding. Her eyes were as big as moons. If she was Mister Ed, I knew she'd have screamed 'holy shit!' She noticed me looking at her and she seemed to calm. Her eye bulging stopped, and she moved back from our weapons.

  I whacked and slashed my sword with a fury, soon overwhelming the man wielding the axe, despite him fighting from a mounted position, and I on foot. I was pissed. No, beyond pissed. My blood boiled. These men had interrupted an uncharacteristically pleasant part of our journey, I thought, laid claim to either Tara or Monica, and tried to kill my horse…and me. My adrenaline surged and my magically infused barbarian instincts guided my every move—which is why I didn't die as my head swam with all these reasons I wanted to kill the bastards.

  I did my best to watch for a sneak attack coming from my side while axe-man and I went at it. When no one else attacked, I guessed Tara or Monica had taken out the remaining man or men. Axe-hole on the horse was the only one left. Our metal clashed again, then he turned his horse into me, butted me in the head with its jaw.

  The scene turned to a blur and I staggered to keep from falling over. Worried I'd get an axe to the skull and not even see it coming, I pushed my sword-swinging into overdrive, yelling as I thrashed and sliced at the air in front of me. I hoped for a lucky hit on the man, but I didn't know how far away I stood after the horse headbutted the shit out of me. Thankfully, the man's laughing clued me to his general direction—probably what kept me alive those several moments until my vision and balance returned.

  He let his gu
ard down. He laughing and me swinging at the air for a few seconds, he'd pulled his axe back and rested it over his shoulder. Only supple leather armor hung over the thigh of his leg. I lunged forward and swung my sword, all in a single motion. My blade cut through the leather and sliced into his flesh, gouging him deeply. He screamed and wailed as he jerked back and shot his arms up wildly. His heavy axe—hoisted overhead by his powerful—crashed against his shoulder and upper chest. Blood squirted as he toppled backward off his horse, his bloody leg flinging a red spray into the air, only to rain down onto his steed a moment later.

  I felt a mist of it speckle my forehead. I wiped it clean while looking for any of the band who might still be standing. When I saw none upright—on their horses or on foot—I took a knee, supporting myself with my sword tip on the ground as if I held a cane.

  I glanced to Pudding. She noticed and walked over to me. She nudged me with her wet nose, knocking me over—though I knew she didn't mean to do so. I got up with the help of my sword cane and stood beside her. "Thanks for that." She nudged me again, but this time I kept my balance. "You're a good horse." She snorted.

  Monica screamed. I rushed to get a view up the hill. The last of the men hadn't fallen by the women's arrows, as I'd assumed. Sword in hand, he was running toward Tara and Monica. Tara shot an arrow at him, but the man deflected it with the buckler he held before him as he ran. I had no doubt if he reached the women, he'd take his sword to them—a vicious desperate last attack, I figured.

  My exhaustion suddenly became trivial, as adrenaline once again surged through me. Must stop him!

  I ran to catch him.

  Getting on Pudding might've made sense, but my only thought was to take off toward the man as fast as I could. He'd already gone halfway up the slope and the girls weren't running for cover. Tara notched and fired another arrow, which the man evaded. He didn't run in a straight line toward them. His erratic maneuvering made him a hard target. Monica looked to be fumbling her attempt to ready an arrow of her own.