Dragon's Challenge - D. R. Rosier Page 0,30
powerful concussion of heat coming back on them. Though, there was definitely some heat.
He listened carefully and four rocks hit the walls of the fissure, one hit his shield, and the sixth hit the wall behind them. He rushed in at that point and raced across the cavern. He swung his bastard sword, and he channeled more fire magic when he was about ten feet away, and flames billowed out before him, both blinding them and setting their fur on fire.
Shar shot a white-hot fireball the size of a pea right past his head, that impacted one of the trolls in the chest, dug in, and then exploded which sprayed flames, blood, and viscera into the air.
One of the ogre’s roared and struck out. He ducked under the swiping and clawed hand, and grunted loudly as he swung his sword with all his might. The blade dug into the monster’s side, it didn’t go all that deep due to the monster’s tough skin, but he didn’t need it to. He channeled even more magic transmuted to fire, and the ogre went up like a bonfire on the outside, but more importantly the flames shot into its body from the sword blade and roasted its heart.
An arrow hit a third in the shoulder, barely getting an inch in, but he felt the surge of magic on the arrow enter the ogre and it aged about a thousand years in two seconds. The skeleton hit the ground about a second later.
The last three ogres roared and lunged, finally overcoming their fear, only to be lifted and shoved forcibly into the walls by Nysa’s water magic. One more arrow, fireball, and sword stroke ended the battle at that point, the ogres were helplessly pinned and unable to defend.
Shar sighed, “You know I could’ve just roasted them all, right?”
He ignored that for a moment, as he turned and said, “Good tactical thinking, Nysa.”
Nysa radiantly smiled like he’d just handed her the moon and stars, “Thank you, master. I could’ve killed one, but the last two might’ve harmed you.”
He nodded, his Nysa always obeyed his orders… except when he was in danger, then her instincts to protect him overrode that. He was grateful for it, that’d worked out better than if she’d used her daggers as he’d ordered.
He turned to Shar, “I know that. I’m being hunted by my sister, an elder dragon seven hundred years older than me, who’s mastered all martial forms as well as magic. Practice only goes so far. The only way I can get better faster is to fight my foes, I can’t just have you kill everything in our way in lakes of fire.”
Shar smiled at him fondly, “Agreed, but it would make me feel better knowing my lover is safe.”
He was pretty sure she was messing with him, mostly.
He said, “Back to town, we need to collect our eighty gold and hit the road.”
He shifted his shield and sword back, as he released his magic.
Tansya skipped over, and she retrieved her arrow with a wide smile on her face. It looked almost unnatural on the elven face, but she was stunningly beautiful to him, they all were.
“April.”
April didn’t answer, but she zipped ahead to scout their path. They weren’t expecting any further problems, but what was vigilance most of the time going to get them if they ever let their guard down?
Chapter Eight
After picking up the gold from Baroness Virginia’s chamberlain, they headed back to the entrance to the village. The whole side trip had only cost them about an hour and a half, and he thought if they rode a little extra today and tomorrow, they could still make Highpass in two days, and be back in the princess’s bed on schedule.
He was in for one more surprise however, as he saw five horses waiting with the four guards, instead of four. There was also a familiar woman talking with the guards, with flame colored hair falling in ringlets down her back, and orange ochre eyes. He wondered how the hell the phoenix had gotten there so fast, since she’d been clear across the kingdom just nine days ago.
She smiled widely as she noticed their approach, and said, “Well met, Muranth, Nysa, Shar, and Tansya.”
He also wondered then, how the hell she knew it was Tansya, unless the hair thing was another rumor?
The guard asked, “You know this fire sorceress, prince?”
He grunted, “Yes, we met at Baybrook,” he turned to the gorgeous woman, “Well met, Cinder.”
Cinder winked,