XIII

Yoreno came up short when the camp came into view. The tents were scattered, the fires that would otherwise be crackling merrily were burnt out with nothing more than smoking coals left behind.

Bodies were strewn everywhere.

Men were yelling in the trees to their left as what sounded like a battle raged on. Dantera sprinted through the camp with Yoreno on her heels. As they went down the beach toward the commotion, he realized that some of the bodies did not belong to the crew, but rather the men of whom they had attacked on the other side of the island.

When they neared the trees, Yoreno spotted movement immediately. There were more of those wolf-monsters that had attacked him earlier. Several of them turned and lunged at Dantera.

She jumped, slid in the sand and rejoined their attack with Ito Farralia’s razor sharp point, stabbing one of the beasts in the neck.

Yoreno unsheathed his sword and ran straight at one of the monsters and brought his sword over its head, killing it instantly. By the time the beast’s rancorous blood had spilled into the sand Dantera was already finishing the last one.

He pushed on past her into the forest where the shouting was coming from and came upon the backs of four enemy soldiers. He recognized Dell and Sorika bearing arms with three Minstrel’s Dagger crew members. Screaming, one of the men turned to meet them and was cut from shoulder half, way down his chest. The sudden thrust of Yoreno’s sword through his torso didn’t even give him time to cry out. He simply collapsed like a wet log.

Extricating his sword took a strong thrust of effort. As he moved to confront the remaining three enemies, Dantera killed one, as another convulsed suddenly and fell back, an arrow from Sorika’s bow lodged in his forehead.

The last man screamed as Dell cut him down, blood spurting into the air. Before the man was even fully down, Dell exclaimed, “Gods are we glad to you, Yoreno and Mistress Dantera.”

“What happened?” Dantera demanded.

“We don’t know,” Sorika said as she came forward. “Everything was fine, and then these men came into the camp. Monsters were—“

“There’s more fighting down the beach,” Dell interrupted, pointing frantically. “The crew is under attack and there are monsters everywhere.”

“Do you mean these wolves?” Yoreno asked.

“No,” Dell said. “Those belong to the men who attacked us. I mean monster, monsters.”

“Where is Captain Fenryk?” Dantera asked.

The crew members came forward. One of them looked to be quite the swashbuckler with his armor plating and curved sword. “He’s still on the ship,” Mistress, protecting her against boarding parties.”

“There are boarding parties?” she snapped.

The swashbuckler shook his head. “None that we’ve seen, Mistress, but Captain Fenryk wanted to be extra cautious in protecting the ship.”

She nodded. “Good. Hans, how many men did you bring to this beach?”

“We had about thirty men camping on the beachhead,” he said, “and I brought fifteen fighters. But we’re spread out all over the place. We could have sent ten more, buy the captain was reluctant do leave the ship with nothing more than a skeleton crew.”

The men behind him, all wearing trousers and various bits of armor with good swords and long daggers in their belts, glanced about. They were sweaty and harried, but otherwise in good shape if Yoreno could tell.

“We need to rescue the others,” Dell said. “When those men showed up, we were scattered all over, and then the monsters attacked. We don’t even know where Mai is, but I’m sure she’s down the beach with the rest of the crew.”

“Then it’s time to fight!” Yoreno snapped.

“Aye!” Hans shouted, and his men lifted their swords and screamed.

“Stay together,” Dantera commanded. “Follow me!”