Dragon's Challenge - D. R. Rosier Page 0,53
the ground helpless. The staff whipped around fast twice to parry two sword strokes then jabbed one in the throat collapsing their trachea, as she snap kicked the other so hard in the jaw he went flying onto his ass. Before he’d even fully fell on the ground her staff whipped around overhead and slid through her hands until it was fully extended.
Crack! The downed bastard’s skull cracked, and blood ran out of his eyes and ears.
Fuck, she was so damned hot when his peace-loving and gentle dryad went all fierce and deadly on him. Not just the violence, but the amazing gracefulness of it was more than a match for his elegantly deadly water nymph as she danced among their enemies and delivered death.
He was hardly standing still, and only noticed that out of his periphery as he cut down another with his sword, and then shield bashed the leader with a lunge. The shield hit the leader’s sword so hard it went flying out to the side, even as the shield kept going and smashed his face and sent him down hard to the ground. For a moment he worried he’d killed the man, but his magic told him he was just knocked out.
The first two seconds of the battle had passed, and they’d already killed six and knocked out the bandit leader.
The last six backed away, and he grinned maniacally as he channeled more water magic and slammed them all forward and let out a scream as he charged. The one that looked most unbalanced was his next target, and his head went flying. He spun and dodged to avoid one blade, while blocking a second with a shield sweep, and then he did a kick of his own that cracked the man’s sternum and sent him down on his ass.
Of course, he’d cheated a bit with that kick, and had put some earth magic into it.
His fierce elven dryad lover swept the feet of one with her staff, then spun into a sidekick which hit the man’s ear and cheek, and a loud sharp crack sounded again as his head spun and snapped before he hit the ground.
The last three ran, and he took down two of them with lightning before they reached the trees, while the third was taken down by Willow’s arrow.
His heart was slamming in his chest, and he turned around to see Nysa and Cinder watching them.
Cinder grinned, “That was at least five seconds, what took you so damned long?”
The ten corpses were behind them, six of them were smoking and halfway ash, while the other four had bloody throats or chest stab wounds.
Willow frowned, “We had two extra, and we didn’t kill them all.”
Cinder sighed, “it’s more fun to tease him when you don’t take it personally.”
Willow blushed, and then looked to him for direction.
He snorted, “You can keep ruining her fun, but you really don’t have to take it personally. I can handle one wiseass redhead.”
Willow giggled, “Yes, master.”
Cinder sniffed dismissively, and snapped out, “I’ll be back later.”
She launched into the air as she transformed, and she flew off to the north.
Nysa sighed, “She’ll be fine.”
He nodded, of course she would. She’s probably just going to murder a dragon, no big deal.
“If she doesn’t want to get burned, she shouldn’t start shit.”
Shar landed and pulled in her wings.
He said, “What took you so long?”
Nysa giggled.
Shar tilted her head.
He snorted, “Never mind. The leader?”
They disarmed him, stripped him down, tied him up, and only then did he send his life magic into him to wake him and heal the concussion.
The bandit leader hissed and spat out threats, but they ignored him as Shar cast the truth spell.
When they found out the truth, why they were so well armed and armored, it was quite a shock. He slit the bastard’s throat.
Willow had already looted all the stuff and put it in his armory for later sales except for a few replacement arrows for herself and Tansya.
They took the time to gather the bodies in a pile, and they turned it into a pyre. Shar’s and his fire wasn’t nearly as hot as Cinder’s could be, but it didn’t take more than fifteen minutes to turn it all to dust.
He wasn’t sure how he wanted to handle it, and he decided to hold off on reporting it. He wasn’t sure how deep the conspiracy went yet. If he had an accomplice at the capital, word could get to the true leader of the