Stone Guardian(56)

Laire never moved a muscle throughout any of this.

Terak was swooping in and out of the army, grabbing as he could. The goblins waved their swords at him, but Terak never stopped.

The direwolves were closing in fast, close enough now that the moonlight glinted off rows of teeth a shark would be jealous of. Fallon pulled her sword out of the ground, and started to move toward the incoming army, her movements fast but deliberate, her sword out straight at her side.

Laire yelled out, “Aislynn, fifty degrees, eye level, four-hundred feet. On my mark!”

Aislynn got into firing stance, holding still despite the arrows which fell around her.

“Now!”

Aislynn fired, the arrow disappearing within the army.

“You got him!” Laire yelled, glee in her voice. “Rock on!”

Aislynn began to fire into the throng. Wolves howled in pain and animals fell to the side, knocking over those close to them and causing chain reactions of wolves and goblins falling atop each other.

The voices of the goblin’s rose, words indistinct but confusion and panic clear in the sound. Laire brought her hands together and flung them out, and a ball of fire fifteen feet in diameter hurled through the air and landed in the middle of the advancing creatures.

Screams rent the air, burnt flesh and ash winding in the currents and reaching Larissa even through the barrier.

“Laire, how much spell power do you have left?” Aislynn asked, still firing arrows into the fray.

“Not much. I wanted to make sure the mage was out of the equation for good.”

“Then keep it in reserve. We’ll be okay without it.”

How much. That’s right, wizards and mages could only do so much magic a day, the strength of the caster being the deciding factor on how much they cast and how strong those spells would be. Laire either wasn’t very strong or this was the end of a very busy day for her.

Fallon had arrived in front of the advancing direwolves. The animals snarled and hurled themselves toward her, as if they were delighted they finally had an enemy in front of them to tear into.

She swung her sword and it cut through a half dozen of them, their blood flying through the sky in splatters as thick as paint. She whirled around, the battle becoming a dance, the wolves and the goblins her partners in a death waltz.

The three warriors were swift and sure, their movements as choreographed as any on stage. They weaved and they jumped, making graceful arcs with their bodies and their weapons.

The bodies of the dead were piling up, laying across the once empty landscape. Thank gods it was dark enough that the small details were not visible, like the pools of blood and the strewn body parts such a display must leave behind.

Finally there were few enough of the army that Terak landed, battling now with claws and wings. A direwolf lunged for him, but Terak smashed his hand through the creature’s throat, slicing through it with his claws. The goblin riding on it tried to stab Terak, but Terak grabbed the sword with his other hand, impaling the goblin on its own blade.

The mad rush was now over and those remaining were more precise, taking their time and studying Terak and Fallon.

Terak’s wings flared, his clawed hands coming up before him, blood dripping from the ends. “You think you can come here and take what is mine? Go now, go and tell your masters that the woman is under my protection. Tell them that no one will ever touch her, and anyone who comes. Against. Me. Will. Die!”

He was a god of vengeance, a demon arising from the night to destroy everything in his path. The direwolves bent before his final roar, their heads dropping and their ears flattening against their heads. The goblins cowered as well. A handful turned away then, racing into the night back where they came from.

“Cowards. Like the necromancers aren’t going to kill them for failing.” Aislynn’s approach was silent and Larissa jumped when she heard the voice. “Laire, drop the shield. It’s over.”

The mage must have done as requested, because the elf came to sit on the wall beside Larissa.

Laire came back as well, sitting on Larissa’s other side. “Aren’t you two going to help finish this,” Larissa asked, confused.

Laire’s hand went to plump up her ringlets. “What, and mess up my hair? Heck no. Besides, Fallon loves this shit.”

Larissa’s attention went to Terak first, but he had finished with the creatures near him. She turned to Fallon to see the woman bring her sword on an upstroke and slice both a direwolf and the goblin riding it in two.

There was something amazing watching Fallon wield her sword, the arc of metal and the surety the woman displayed, slicing through her enemies without pause. A brutal, bloody beauty. As if she read Larissa’s mind – and who knew, maybe she did – Laire sighed in admiration. “Watching that woman, it’s like damn.”