the beast stumbled forward. The knife sank in deep and Kiln spun away, ripping the sharp knife through the gnoll’s bowels as he used his deadly long sword to spear the other injured gnoll right through its left eye. Both gnolls fell to the ground dead as their crimson blood dripped freely from Kiln’s blades. If you blinked twice you would have missed the kills.
Jonas jumped from boulder to boulder, his agility bringing him easily into the clearing. His body glowed brightly and the two gnolls in front of him stepped back from the light.
One gnoll, in desperation, flung its war club at Jonas, trying to extinguish the painful light. Jonas had only a split second to react, using his cognivant powers to stop the club just before it hit him in the face. He focused on the club, wrapping it in energy. It floated in the air for a moment before Jonas used his mind to reverse the direction of the club, sending it somersaulting back towards the astonished gnoll. He felt the familiar dull ache in his head as he used his powers, but it would not be enough pain to significantly affect him. The club hit the gnoll in its forearms as it brought them up to deflect the weapon.
The second gnoll, still slightly blinded by the powerful light, lunged forward, jabbing at Jonas with a long spear. Jonas, trained by the best warrior in Kraawn, reacted on instinct. Instead of retreating, he swayed to the side spinning around the spear point toward the enraged gnoll. The beast’s eyes grew wide in astonishment as Jonas, using the momentum of his spin, swung his sword through the air, slicing a shallow cut across the gnoll’s forehead. The creature stumbled backwards, frantically trying to wipe the blood away from its face as it poured into its beady deep-set eyes. But Jonas did not let him go that easily. As his sword sliced across the beast’s forehead he used his left hand to yank the spear from the wounded gnoll’s grasp. As the blind gnoll stumbled backwards, Jonas spun the spear in his grip so the tip was pointing toward the beast, and jabbed the long weapon forward, lancing the gnoll in the throat.
Jonas pulled out the spear point and the dying creature fell to the ground just as the second gnoll recovered from Jonas’s initial attack and tried to run away into the protection of the night. Jonas spun the spear around again so that the bloody point was facing the fleeing beast. He used his long arms and powerful legs to throw the spear with all his might. It was a left handed throw, but the distance was not so great.
The spear shot through the darkness, hammering into the beast’s back. The power of the throw launched the gnoll to the ground and the dying beast slowly tried to crawl into the cover of darkness. The doomed creature made it about two paces before the fatal wound took its toll and it dropped face first in the dirt.
Jonas spun around to survey the scene. It was all over in a matter of seconds. Kiln moved toward him calmly holding both his blood-covered weapons. Lambeck was busy searching the dead gnolls and yanking his arrows from the corpses.
“Nice work, Jonas. Your light saved us,” Kiln said. Jonas let the light draw back into him until it was nothing more than a slight glow surrounding his body. “Can you hold the light a bit longer while we get the fire lit again?”
“I can.”
“Lambeck, get the fire going and let’s get these bodies dragged out of the clearing. I’m hungry and my beef smells good.”
***
They saw no more of One Eye’s warriors, but nonetheless Kiln made sure that the areas surrounding his home were scouted regularly. They also had to continue surveying their cattle to make sure no more animals were being stolen.
With all of this happening, Jonas’s training continued. Kiln began to train him in hand to hand fighting. Jonas had learned a little during his time with the knight apprentices, but again he realized the hard way that he was still just a novice. He spent many evenings training with Kiln and the other men, and most of his time was spent flying through the air to land hard on his back.
Kiln was unstoppable, his speed and strength with the sword carried over in hand to hand combat as well. It was the Sharneen, a war-like tribe that lived