Adept (The Essence Gate War, Book 1) - By Michael Arnquist Page 0,42
risked a look at Valkarr to see that his friend had beheaded one of his assailants and sidestepped the other’s charge. In that instant, one of the throng he had just cut through swung a wild fist that bounced from Amric’s mailed shoulder and struck him across the temple. It hit with the force of a blacksmith’s hammer, and for a moment lights burst before his eyes and his vision swam. He back-pedaled as he spun away and fended off their relentless attack.
His sword licked out and its tip passed through an ebon throat, but the creature, unperturbed, came on. Powerful arms sought to encircle him and bind his arms, even as another came in low. As he glanced down, Amric had to blink away the blurriness from his sight to confirm the impossibility of what he was seeing. The creature whose knee he had shattered, rather than crippled, had merely bent each of its limbs at an unnatural angle and was skittering across the ground like some giant, hideous spider, driving at his legs. The warrior lashed out in lightning cuts with each sword, hacking aside a sweeping arm above and cleaving the skull of the crawler below. The latter faltered and sagged, pitching face-first onto the trail.
The standing creature changed tactics and grappled for one of Amric’s swords. A whistling arc from the other sword removed its head, and it toppled backward to strike the ground like a felled tree. Amric turned to see Valkarr spin around his last attacker and send it stumbling forward with a thunderous blow to the back. Pouncing after it, the Sil’ath warrior struck the head away, and the body took several more steps before crashing to the earth.
Amric whirled toward the only remaining sound of skirmish, in the direction of Bellimar and Halthak. The old man had retreated a few yards down the trail and was still astride his panicked horse, but the Half-Ork was on foot, facing the last attacker. He swung his heavy staff in a tremendous overhand curve, striking the forehead of his assailant with a resounding crack. It was a blow that would have felled an ox, but the creature merely staggered to regain its balance and then surged forward again. It extended one hammer fist to clout Halthak in the head so hard it lifted him from his feet. As the healer crumpled, the black thing swept his limp form into its arms and raced down the trail as if the listless weight of a man meant nothing to it.
In an instant, Amric and Valkarr were bounding down the trail after it. Bellimar wheeled his mount into its path, but the creature darted to one side, shouldering aside the frightened beast. It was momentarily slowed, however, and that was more than enough for the pursuing warriors. Each struck out at a pumping leg, and the abductor sprawled to the ground, releasing its unmoving burden. The creature sank its black fingers into the earth and wrenched about hard, twisting to face them in a blink. It lurched toward Amric, who struck away its grasping hand, and Valkarr’s downward slice sent its gaping head rolling across the trail.
The warriors spun in unison to face outward, chests heaving from the frenzied exertion, swords held low and ready against any new assailants. The impenetrable foliage about them was still but for the idle breeze, and gave no sign of further approach. The birds above had fallen silent, but within scant seconds of the conflict’s end below, their prattle ascended to its previous volume. In moments, the only noise out of place was the panicked thrashing of one of the horses where it had plunged into the undergrowth and now sounded thoroughly dismayed by its options. Amric saw Valkarr’s blue dun stamping its hooves on the trail as shudders coursed through its flanks, and he realized it was his own mount that had left the path.
“See to Halthak,” he told Bellimar. “We will gather and quiet the horses.”
Bellimar nodded and slid from his sway-backed mare, which was placid once more. Valkarr collected his own mount and Halthak’s, while Amric glided into the thick of the forest on panther’s feet to locate his bay gelding. To his great relief, the animal was uninjured and not far from the trail. He did not relish the thought of being on foot as they penetrated further into the forest, or worse, when they needed to leave it. The horse had wandered into a pocket draped with