XXII

“Are you guys all right?” Lev asked. “You look spooked.”

“You won’t believe what just happened,” Mai said.

“By the look on Dorrin’s face,” Lev quipped, “I’d say you ran into a bit of trouble.”

“You could say that,” Yoreno said. He couldn’t hold back a smile, both of amusement and relief.

Dell and Lev met them on the trail below and Yoreno explained the whole situation. “We better be careful then,” Dell said, and Yoreno couldn’t help but see his eyes dart over to Sorika.

“I’ll stand watch above the rocks,” Lev said. “We need a lookout that can put shafts down.”

“All right,” Yoreno said. “But what about inside of Kilik? Did you find anything?”

Dell shook his head. “Nothing to write our new queen about.”

With Dell mentioning the queen, Yoreno had thoughts of Dantera enter his mind, of Aevalin and his parents—his sister.

“Wait,” Mai said. She glanced about, her eyes wide.

Distracted from his thoughts, Yoreno said, “What is it? Do you sense auras?”

She nodded fervently. “A lot of them.”

“How many is ‘a lot’?” Lev asked as he glanced about for something to shoot.

“At least a few dozen.”

“Shouldn’t we leave, then?” Dorrin asked. “Go back to the horses?”

“For once,” Lev said, “I think Dorrin might have a point. Maybe we should get out of here.”

Yoreno nodded. “I agree. Let’s go.”

They turned around and marched back up the path and to the plateau. They crossed the arid ground, kicking up dust and pebbles as they went.

And then suddenly a figure strode out from between their mounts.

“Look out!” Dell called.

A shaft flitted past them, missing Yoreno by a mere handbreadth. He glanced back where the shaft landed, then to their attacker.

Lev then lunged forward and loosed a shaft that penetrated the man directly in the neck. Yoreno rushed forward and grabbed the attacker forcefully by the shoulder. “Who are you? Why did you attack us?”

“He’s dead,” Sorika said.

Yoreno glanced up. “Get ready for a fight. I think we’re—“

Their mounts whinnied fearfully and moved about frantically. Shouting came from the path behind them. He made to face them, but then Yoreno was distracted as more men came rushing out from between their mounts, screaming with raised swords.

Yoreno moved forward and parried the blow of the first man. But his sword was short, curved, and he had a fast arm. He punched Yoreno in the face.

He lost balance and fell to the ground.

By the time he recovered, Lev was shooting arrows, but ahead of them, at new targets. Mai screamed something and a fireball appeared, discharging forward in an explosion.

The man who had punched Yoreno came in for the kill, but then his neck was suddenly pierced by a dagger. He grabbed at the spurting wound as he shuffled backward, gagging and choking.

Crying out as he lunged, Dell pressed forward, his blade connecting with that of the other swordsman who had attacked them.

Yoreno got up off the ground just soon enough to see Dell cut the man down.

“Look out!” Dorrin called.

Yoreno whirled, found the tracker pointing at a group of about ten men with swords and short bows. They stood on the part of the plateau where the path leading down began.

“Damn!” Yoreno called. “We’re surrounded.”

An arrow came straight at him, but he deflected it with the flat of his blade, the shaft ricocheting off harmlessly. Stalking forward, he called out, “Dell, Lev—other side! Mai, with me!”

“All right!” Dell said.

“I’m right here,” Mai exclaimed as she rushed up to him and put up a barrier. Two shafts hit it and fell into the dirt.

As the men got close, Yoreno lunged out of the barrier with his sword, taking one in the face. He died without crying out.

Dorrin let loose a bolt from his crossbow, but he missed.

A ball of fire burst forth and exploded, sending men jumping and screaming as they flailed with flames about their bodies.

Sorika then jumped out from the rocks and cut one man down, whirled around him as he squirmed and cut another in the back of the leg.

As she was struck, Yoreno rushed forward. “Sorika!”

He came at the first man and lunged to his knees, cutting him in the shins as he rolled heavily and not gracefully forward to continue his momentum.

The next swordsman blocked his overhead strike and nearly cut him across the unarmored part of his torso under his arm. To prevent taking the strike, Yoreno pulled back his sword hilt in a dangerous move to block the blow that left his hands completely exposed.

Thankfully the blade strike only hit the bottom half of his hilt near the pummel, leaving his fingers intact.

Yoreno then lunged forward with his bodyweight and lashed out at the man with his forehead, and connected against his attacker’s nose. A sickening crunch followed and the man cried out, stumbled back and then died when Yoreno stabbed him in the stomach.

These men were not the average bandit types. Many of them wore black and red voluminous trousers, their swords curved wickedly and they kept their faces covered with heavy cloth wrapped about their heads.

“I’m coming!” Yoreno screamed as he made his way to Sorika.

An archer loosed his shaft. Yoreno bent his head to the side, his cheek getting sliced open just above his lips.

With a quick grunt of the pain, he cut the man down, then pummeled the next archer in the face with his sword hilt.

Another explosion rocked the area ten paces away where another dozen men came up the path. They were accompanied by demihumans of which Yoreno had never seen before.

They snarled, peering at him through their yellow eyes, their pointed ears and sharp teeth slathering like beasts.

Then they surrounded him.

“Yoreno!” Mia called out.

Dell screamed.

When Yoreno turned his head, he found that Mai was being overtaken by at least four men holding her on the ground.

One punched Lev as he let loose another arrow. He fell.

Dell was already on the ground.

Dorrin!

Dorrin was—

Something hit Yoreno in the face and his world rocked. With his vision swaying, he swung his sword wildly about him, the blade coming into contact with something. But then he flew forward as something else hit him in the back, the pain of the blow blossoming through his core like he had been hit with a tree.

His face hit the dirt and dried grass, sand and grit flying into his mouth.

Coughing, Yoreno turned onto his back, only to have one of the men crouch down and deliver another blow to his face.