A Dragon's Ascension - Ed Greenwood [6]
"Twoscore, and more," Hawkril corrected himself grimly. "Fast-breeding brigands!"
The armaragor bent low over his saddle to better reach the hilt of the great warsword slung across his shoulders-and then found himself wrestling the reins of his mount as the horse danced sideways in alarm. More men burst out of the trees close at hand, and a fresh volley of arrows sped out of those rustling leaves.
Embra gasped in pain, and her Dwaer flared into sharp brilliance. Hawkril cursed and wheeled his horse, furiously slashing aside arrows with his warsword as he went. If his lady was hurt-
The Lady Silvertree was reeling in her saddle, her face twisted, though the charging armaragor could see no arrow that had bitten to cause her that pain. Sarasper, too, was clutching his head and groaning. Unseen spell-arrows, then, that struck at those who could work magic? So-wizards in the trees, too?
No matter; the Four had to get out of this, or they would be slain. The real arrows were gliding ever closer, a tightening net of glowing points drawing in around Sarasper and Embra. Hawkril growled out his rising anger and plucked at the shield bouncing behind him. It was too small to cover them all, but if he could win a few moments for Embra to hurl some mighty fire, or to snatch them out of the closing jaws of this trap, it just might befall that th-
Craer abandoned his own saddle an instant before no fewer than six shafts lanced home in the flanks of his doomed gray, sweeping aside a seventh arrow as he threw himself into the road dust and rolled enthusiastically out of the gods-blessed way. In another instant his horse would come crashing down right here, rolling and screaming and kicking, and Craer did not want to be observing its painful death from right underneath it.
The procurer didn't want to be observing its painful death anywhere, but the Three seemed to demand that a certain foursome of overdukes provide them with frequent and violent entertainment, and…
"The day does draw on," Craer told the dagger in his hand, as he sent it spinning into the face of a shouting archer who'd drawn a wickedly curved sword of his own, "and we seem to have fallen behind on our bloodletting. All of this peaceful riding about and feasting and polite over-goblets chatter must be to blame! Die, horseslaying dog!"
The archer gurgled, tried to reach for the dagger that sprouted in his eye, and then toppled forward without offering further reply.
Arrows were striking the ground and each other, now. Thus freed from Embra's slow-shield, they shivered along the stones underfoot or thrummed away with new vigor. Craer vaulted over one shaft, snatched another dagger from a handy sheath, and then flung himself flat to avoid another arrow as he raced back towards the hooves of Hawk's charger. Choked-off cries and oaths around him told him that some of their attackers lacked his agility.
"Ah, I suppose they're just not fit stock to be overdukes," he muttered, racing on.
"Craer," Embra snarled, something that sounded horribly like a sob in her voice, "will you be silent?"
Her next word might have been a scream, if she'd still had breath enough for screaming. It came out as a sort of horrid dry gasping, instead-that was promptly drowned out by Hawkril's roar: "Embra! Embra! Lass, speak!-"
It was his turn to groan and gurgle, and Craer risked a look up from his own deadly game of rolling and sprinting and nicking arrow-sighting glances right and left.
He was in time to see his oldest friend topple from the high dragon saddle, one armored shoulder bristling with arrows-as the huge horse under Hawkril twisted and lashed out its hooves at empty air in agony, its right flank a forest of quivering shafts.
Embra's shielding was melting away. They were going to die here on this sun-dappled road amid the beautiful and be-damned-rustling trees, beset by this army out of nowhere, and with noth-
Sudden purple lightings snarled and spat across the road, half-blinding him. Craer flung himself flat in a place he hoped no arrows would find, and wondered