through his greasy beard he loomed over the river-sodden duo. ‘So what do you say, my pretties? Do you want to tell me where Charlie of the Keepers is or do me and my boys get busy with our talent for butchery?’
Fo Fum ducked away from Charlie’s blow and, with the acrid smoke still jetting from his eye holes, unleashed a wave of vicious counter-attacks. Charlie blocked each with a flash from her blazing fists, but it hurt. So powerful were the mercenary’s strikes that even surrounded by the shield of her Will Charlie felt like she was being struck by a sledgehammer.
Rallying, she struck back with whips of dark Will. Lashing one hand forward then another she brought great licks of flame to bear, but Fo Fum, cartwheeling backwards in a flurry of smoke, evaded her attack. Back and forth they went, each equally skilled and both equally fast, until Fo Fum’s incredible strength became the deciding factor. The few blows that Charlie landed barely stunned the man, whereas each of his continued to almost knock her off her feet.
‘Leave me alone!’ she snapped as her sense of frustration soared.
Somersaulting sideways she tried to create some distance, but Fo Fum kept up.
‘I mean it! Leave me alone! I’ve got enough on my plate already. ENOUGH!’ Riding a wave of anger her Will exploded.
Great streams of black flames, golden light and sun-white sparks burst from her fists. Leaping forward she danced around Fo Fum battering at him with a barrage of kicks and punches.
‘I’LL TEACH YOU NOT TO MESS WITH ME! I’LL TEACH YOU THE MEANING OF –’
Fo Fum suddenly screamed, ‘Feeeee!’ and knifed the heel of his foot sideways into Charlie’s stomach.
The air was knocked from Charlie’s lungs. Winded, she was forced to stagger backwards, but Fo Fum pressed forward to his advantage. With each blow that he unleashed he let loose an ear-wrenching scream.
‘Fiiiiiii!’
His staff cracked against Charlie’s fists in a flash of sparks.
‘Ffffffo!’
Smoke erupting from his nightmare face, he smashed at Charlie’s defences.
‘Ffffum!’
Senses reeling, Charlie barely deflected his next strike.
And then she failed altogether. Fo Fum’s staff burst through her Will and landed a glancing blow across her temple. The world spun. Sky appeared where there should have been earth and trees where just before there had been rain clouds.
‘Aaaaargh!’ screamed Charlie as the ground came rushing up to meet her. She blacked out for a second and when she came to, Fo Fum’s silhouette reared above her. He raised his staff high overhead.
‘No one messes with me friends!’ growled a voice.
Fo Fum twitched. His mean smile slipped as his arm fell and his staff thudded to the floor. He swayed from side to side then collapsed with all the suddenness of a puppet with its strings cut. Behind him stood Jensen, arm extended, blood-splattered Thornsword held firmly in his hand, droplets of rainwater cascading down his worried face. Confident that Fo Fum was dead, but unwilling to take any chances, he plunged his sword into the inert body and left it there.
‘Hello, lass,’ he said as he knelt by Charlie’s side.
‘J-Jensen?’
‘Ya got it in one, me little Hippotomi.’
Nibbler, in his haste to lunge at the nearest Band of Thirteen, forgot about the bolas. Tripping forward into a flailing heap he struggled to stand up. Roaring with laughter at the Winged One’s misfortune, one of the Humans raised his heavy mace only to be felled in turn as Crumble tackled him round the waist. Both Human and Stoman went tumbling into the river.
The rest of the band found this uproarious, laughing and pointing at their fallen comrade. Their chuckles fell silent as Crumble, hands aglow, made short work of his foe. Knocking the man’s mace from his grasp, Crumble used it against him, leaving his attacker dazed and cross-eyed from a thump to the side of his head. Wading from the water with the mace in his hand, Crumble stood protectively over Nibbler.
A hard expression crossed the remaining ten men’s faces.
‘Weapons out, ladies,’ growled the man with the beard and golden teeth. ‘Looks like we’ll have to demonstrate our ability to count to thirteen.’
They stalked forward only to be met by crackles of electricity as Nibbler, still struggling to free himself, proved his worth. The men scuttled out of reach.
‘Well, what are you waiting for?’ bellowed Golden Teeth. ‘We all know the drill. Three of you take that side, you three take the other. And don’t hold back with the blades. We only need one of them