“Surrounded…” Carlo scrunched his face and shook his head. “Three to the Northeast. Let’s go.”
* * *
“Ahead, just beyond the tall grass,” Kevon let go of the Air rune in his mind, and the extra senses it had granted drained away.
“We haven’t had to fight three at once,” Carlo frowned. “Two, more than a few times. But three?”
“Let’s not fight three, then.”
Kevon felt Jacek’s Control rune form at the same time he heard the Mage speak. A strangled roar drifted up from ahead, and the others tensed.
“A little help?” The Court Wizard staggered, and Kevon reached to steady him as he offered power to the spell.
“Swing to the right,” Kevon suggested. “We’ve got the one on the left.”
Anneliese and the other hunter were to the edge of the tall grass before the others could react. Bow drawn, the Huntmistress shook her head as she looked back at Kevon.
“Try now,” Kevon suggested as Carlo and the dwarves reached where the elves had stopped. He took control of the other Mage’s spell, and focused a feeling of panic, rather than the confining, imprisoning focus that Jacek was using.
Another roar, and the elves shifted aim toward the sound. The grass churned, and rippled in arcs curving either way to flank the clearing where the party stood.
Anneliese backed toward the Mages, bow leading the grass-rippling passage of the chimaera on the right. The Hunter at her side split off to the left, tracking the other.
“Now hold…” Kevon whispered to Jacek, easing the spell back to its original focus.
The chimaera to the left sprang first, soaring high and batting aside the Hunter’s arrow with a flip of its wing. It landed in a roll, lashing its tail-fangs out at Kylgren-Wode and his Stoneguard companion. It emerged from the roll in a leap that took even the Hunter by surprise. The beast’s powerful ram haunches, aided by a backward swoop of its wings, launched it straight toward the recovering elf.
The Hunter’s arrow was nocked, but not drawn. A step and a half back from where he’d loosed the last shaft, the elf grunted and whirled as the chimaera’s left paw raked his right arm, claws catching, twisting, and tearing flesh and bow alike.
The Hunter’s knife was in his left hand before he finished his first revolution, slashing backhanded at the foreleg that continued to rend his right arm. He leaned into the stroke, shifting the angle of the knife as it slid around the bone, neatly severing the thick tendons beneath a coarse layer of fur.
The claws went slack, releasing the Hunter’s arm, and the elf turned further, his blade slipping free from the beast’s leg, head tilting back to see his target more clearly, narrowly avoiding a forward swing of a leathery wing.
The Hunter jabbed the point of his blade at the side of the chimaera’s neck, slicing an instant too late into the thick mane. It carved a trail up the monster’s shoulder before wrenching free from the elf’s grasp as it sunk up to the hilt in the base of the chimaera’s left wing.
Anneliese loosed three arrows, half-seconds apart, into the grass where the other chimaera still hid. She twisted, and sank two more into the one that tumbled past her kinsman. Quiver emptied, she cast aside the bow, and an instant later, leapt between the other Hunter and the wounded chimaera, sword and dagger at the ready.
Whooping with glee, the Stoneguard with Kylgren-Wode advanced on the limping creature, axe held almost casually. A shrugged shoulder deflected the strike of the beast’s tail fangs. The chimaera roared, and hopped on its wounded left foreleg to swipe at the oncoming dwarf.
Stepping to the right, the Stoneguard switched to a two-handed grip, swinging the flat of the axe to smash into the oncoming claw. He shifted his left foot back, guiding the continued momentum, letting the handle of the axe slip through his fingers until they reached the extra wrap of leather around the end. The dwarf’s follow-through stroke severed most of the chimaera’s head from its body, leaving the loosely connected parts to flop to the ground together.
“See to him!” Carlo called to Anneliese. He motioned to groups of the others, directing them forward or to the right, leading the charge forward himself.
Carlo and Kylgren-Wode reached the Controlled chimaera as the spell collapsed. The beast’s rigor dissolved, and it swiped a paw at Carlo, and at the same time whipped its tail at the Dwarven Ambassador.
Kylgren-Wode slashed with his axe, severing the creature’s tail as it curled most of the way around him, burying both glistening spikes solidly into the back of his right shoulder. The dwarf cried out, and reached for the wound, slapping his back several times before catching hold of the amputated limb, pulling it free, and casting it aside.
Carlo rolled under the chimaera’s attack, missing a slash at the beast’s neck as it whirled and convulsed at the loss of its tail. Taking a cue from the Stoneguard’s attack, Carlo extended and redoubled the momentum from the missed attack, bringing it full circle as he stepped closer to the chimaera’s side. The glance he took to direct the stroke showed a raised right paw, poised to descend on Kylgren-Wode, who was still staggering from the wound in his back. Carlo fine-tuned his aim, and leaned into the attack, face contorting, eyes closing from the extra effort he forced his body to generate.
The longsword caught the chimaera between the foreleg and ribcage, the blade squealing into bone as Carlo levered the tip of the sword forward and stepped back, slicing the monster’s side open. As the blade pulled free, Carlo shifted his weight, and kicked the chimaera squarely in the split shoulder. He shook off the flailing strikes of the creature’s wing, shifted his grip on the weapon, and raised his sword to plunge it into the slowing beast’s back.
The chimaera toppled toward Carlo, and the Blademaster jumped aside. Ivory handled throwing daggers protruded from both its eye-sockets, and its tongue lolled lifelessly from its mouth. Carlo nodded to Alanna, and moved to help Kylgren-Wode.
The Stoneguard poked at the holes in Kylgren-Wode’s tunic, and laughed. He poked through the holes, and the ambassador yelped. Raising an eyebrow at a few snarled curses in his native tongue, the armored dwarf shrugged and wandered over to where Anneliese and the others tended to the fallen Hunter.
“Are you all right?” Carlo asked, watching as Kylgren-Wode worked his injured shoulder in circles, wincing.
“It hurts,” the dwarf admitted. “Yon elf is bound te be in worse shape than I,” he said, motioning to the group gathering back in the clearing.
A breeze stirred, and Kevon clutched at it with his mind, using the faint trickle of energy funneled into a Wind rune to reach higher. His awareness drifted upward, and he felt the griffin circling to the West, above Stonespire Camp. Dizzied at the reach of the spell, he focused back in on the surrounding area.
Leaping, flapping, crawling, breath stinking of carrion… the wind seemed to say of the dozen or more forms that surrounded the sunken nest some two miles further north. The breeze gusted around Kevon and the others as he centered the detection spell on their location and expanded it. Feeling no other large beings closer than the nest, Kevon released the magic, and rushed to where the others were gathered.
“His wounds will need rinsed, dressed, and bound,” Anneliese declared, turning to Kevon. “A week’s rest, minimum. Is it safe to set camp here?”
“The nearest threat is the nest,” Kevon replied. “But we can’t afford a week’s rest. We’ll need his bow tomorrow.”
“Ruined,” the Hunter whispered, closing his eyes tighter against the pain as Alanna poured water from a canteen over the jagged tears in his flesh.
“You can use another. Someone else’s, maybe the Riders can spare one,” Kevon sighed. “We can’t spare you.” He opened his pack and brought out a gourd-flask. “The last one I have, courtesy of Alacrit’s armoury.”
“I’ll heal well enough…”
“Not in time.” Anneliese chastised her subordinate. “This lesson will serve you better than years of training on the Glimmering Isle. You are an elf
. You are not infallible.”
The Hunter nodded, and opened his mouth to the milky liquid. When the large potion was empty, he relaxed somewhat, wincing only slightly as the last bandages were snugged around his forearm.
* * *
“A dozen?” Carlo grunted. “It was all we could do to handle three.”
“She said she’ll bring a Wing of Riders,” Kevon offered. “That could be… I don’t know, half a dozen?”
“Six to ten,” Anneliese clarified. “The number of Riders is always changing, so Wings reorganize as needed.”
“Their number could change today, as may ours.” Carlo glanced around at the others striking what was left of the sparse campsite. “We move out in ten minutes.”
Kevon nodded, and edged away from the others, facing into the light morning breeze. He let the rune form, and his awareness wheeled into the sky. He again felt griffin circling toward the west, riding warm air currents up to dizzying heights before soaring eastward. He pulled his attention back toward their objective, the nest only hours to the north.
They’ve split… he thought. Fortunate, but will it be enough?
He pulled away from the magic and returned to where Carlo was still speaking with the others. “I can see seven at the nest right now, the rest are scattered to the west and southeast.”
“We’ll head northwest, then angle back, to avoid the smaller groups,” Carlo decided. “If we can overrun them there, we’ll hold the location and take on the stragglers as they return.”
* * *
The elves led the assault on the nest, Anneliese and the recovered Hunter standing at the edge of the tall grass and downing the two nearest chimaera with one arrow apiece. Annelieses’s second target tumbled forward, but rolled back to its feet, and leapt behind the mound of stone slabs at the center of the clearing. The Hunter’s next arrow barely penetrated the hide of a larger chimaera, hanging loosely in the beast’s front shoulder and mane.
“Now!” Carlo shouted, and the others stepped forward as one, emerging from cover, weapons drawn.
Crossbow bolts from two of Carlo’s subordinates struck the wounded chimaera in the neck and chest, and it toppled over, convulsing.
Two of the remaining beasts leapt for cover in the tall grass to the left, another diving to the right.
Oh. Kevon thought. They weren’t supposed to do that.
“Move in!” Carlo bellowed. “Form up!”
“Fiiight.” The Stoneguard jostled Kevon with a mailed elbow. “Har har!”
Kevon forced a smile as he recovered from the jolt. His common is improving, but I’ll have to make sure Kylgren-Wode explains things a little better. Relieved of his magic, the Seeker drew his sword and took his place in the forming circle.
“Where are those Riders?” Carlo complained, looking to Kevon.
“I can’t tell right now. Jacek?” Kevon turned toward the center of the circle.
The Court-Mage nodded, releasing the tongue of flame suspended above his outstretched palm.
Kevon turned back to scan the grass for lurking chimaera.
“There!” Jacek called almost immediately, pointing to the ‘V’ formation of specks growing in the western sky.
“Kevon, Anneliese, with me!” Carlo ordered, looking at the approaching Riders. “Circle east, the nest should be vulnerable!”
“Sword already?” Carlo asked as they broke ranks and neared the rock formation. “Should I take the Stoneguard instead?”
“If it would keep him from bumping into me, please,” Kevon retorted. “That’s the third time since we left the garrison.” He smiled. “He’s worth more than his trouble, though. I thought Kylgren-Wode could swing an axe… but him?”
“Careful,” Anneliese cautioned, as they came around the curve of the rock pile and saw the opening to the large burrow beneath it.
“It did go in,” Carlo pointed to the spattered blood near the entrance. “Let’s go get it out.”
Carlo and Kevon led the way into the passage that was barely large enough for them to walk, stooped, with weapons drawn. The Blademaster walked a step ahead, leading with the shield he’d begun to use more since they’d reached the Highplain.
Thunk!
Carlo’s shield spun away, impaled on the tail-fangs of the wounded chimaera. The Blademaster pivoted toward the direction his shield had gone, and shifted grip on his sword. Kevon slid two steps past his friend into a wider section of the burrow where he could stand upright, and there was room to swing his sword.
A muted glint in the dank gloom was the only warning.
Kevon turned his left shoulder in and rolled forward, swinging his sword backhand as he did. The blade sparked against the iron banding of Carlo’s shield, missing the intended target, the chimaera’s tail that swung it.
Carlo kicked out to his right, pinning the shield against the tunnel wall, and hacked at the straining tail.
The chimaera roared, its fury amplified in the enclosed space.
“Kevon, back!” Carlo shouted as the tail-fangs pried loose from the captive shield and whipped back into the near-darkness.
Kevon scrambled back as a claw raked through where he’d just been.
An arrow whizzed by Kevon’s head, answered with a snarl from the moving darkness that lay beyond.
The passageway dimmed further, then seemed to erupt into a cacophony of shifting light and sound. Jacek’s newly formed orb of light hovered behind him, throwing dancing shadows down into the pit beyond. Anneliese fired another arrow into the stricken beast.
Jacek stepped forward and aside, releasing a scorching bolt of flame that lanced between Kevon and the others, knocking the already mortally wounded chimaera against the cave wall. Its claws scrabbled against the rough stone floor, and it mewled twice before settling to stillness.
“Watch where you’re slinging that!” Carlo grouched, stooping to recover his shield. “Why are you…?”
“The Riders have arrived, and are helping the others hunt the few that remain above,” Jacek explained.
“Then we finish this,” Kevon nodded, motioning for the others to follow him deeper into the cave. He froze as the still form of the fallen chimaera mewled yet again. “Wait… That’s not…”
The four crept toward the sound, keeping tight against the wall to the right. Anneliese slid away from the others, bow drawn, for a better angle. She prodded the fallen chimaera with a foot as she passed it, then returned her full attention to the unknown around the bend that lay ahead.
Carlo stopped as they reached a point where the passage narrowed again, signaling Jacek to move the light forward.
“It’s stopped,” Kevon observed as the light spilled around the corner, out of sight.
“There!” Anneliese held the drawn arrow at the corner of her mouth, sidestepping to get a better view of the motion ahead.
The chimaera leapt around the corner, hissing. It stumbled, somersaulted three times, and landed on its back, oversized paws and hooves lashing out at random angles.
Anneliese relaxed to a half-draw. Three more chimaera cubs romped into the light, tackling and biting the first, slapping at each other with spike-less tails.
“This is it,” Carlo announced, moving forward, to peer around the corner where the cubs had come from. “The nest, more eggs. A lot more.”
One of the cubs sank his fangs into Carlo’s trouser-leg, shaking it from side to side as furiously as it could manage.
“We can’t allow them to grow up,” Carlo shrugged, raising his sword. “No more than we can allow these eggs to hatch.”
“Wait,” Anneliese countered. “The clans may have use for captured young. Training griffin not to panic at their scent. Harvesting venom when they are older.”
“We’ll leave it to them, then.” Carlo agreed. “Jacek, want to take care of the eggs?” The Blademaster sheathed his sword, slung his shield, and scooped up a cub in each arm.
Kevon put away his weapon, and gathered the other two cubs as Jacek unlea
shed a torrent of flames into the nest, destroying the remaining piles of eggs in a matter of seconds. The fumes burned Kevon’s eyes, and he lurched toward the exit, his charges squirming and kicking as he went.
Leaving the Mage-light provided by Jacek, half-blinded by the smoke, Kevon tripped over a stone formation jutting out from the floor. He fell forward, dropping the cubs, landing palms down in a sandy depression. As he pushed himself upward, his hand slipped, uncovering a smooth curve of stone buried near the obstacle he’d tripped over. In the dim haze, he could not see the stone clearly, but he pushed more sand away. His fingers brushed against the cool surfaces, encountering a chip or a crack here and there. One of the cubs mewled, pawing at the sand beside him.
Kevon reached a fragmented end of the object he’d begun to uncover, narrowly avoiding cutting himself on the sharp edge of the stone. He pushed more sand away, revealing the end to be just wider than an outstretched hand, and nearly half as thick.
“What have you got there?” Jacek asked, shifting the light closer. He scratched the ears of the other cub Kevon had dropped, quieting the squirming chimaera he held in his arms.
“I’m not sure. I…” Kevon’s words slid away as his hand touched the carved sigil and the twisted image of the Dark rune entered his mind. “Another broken portal?” His eyes moved to the object he’d tripped over, a smooth formation rising from the floor, broken off inches above it. “There.” Kevon pointed to a dirt mound three feet further away. “What’s under that?”
Carlo kicked at the mound, uncovering a similar fractured protrusion. “Your Mage friend was busy, wasn’t he? Before you killed him?”
“This portal must have been broken years ago, for the pieces to be buried this deep.” Kevon stood, brushing himself off before collecting the cub who was still digging at his feet. “Gurlin, Holten, any of their brotherhood may have done this. There are no orcs or imps here, though. What was the purpose?”
Blademage Adept (The Blademage Saga Book 3) Page 17
