Rise of the Blade - Charles Moffat [25]
The cowl fell back off the man's face, his face haggard from travel. He slumped forward in the saddle and the horse slowed dramatically until it was barely a cant. Neither horse nor man looked well.
Vinci ran forward, fearing the man was dead from exhaustion, but it was he that ended up dead on the tip of Chev's blade.
The warrior dismounted calmly, shaking off his cloak. He had no need of such warmth today but the cloak had aided his disguise. His acting skills were still untarnished from time as he stepped over the crumpled form of Vinci.
Using the pommel of the sword he rapped on the gate. A holler came from inside but it was vague and unintelligible. "Open the door or let Ao spite thee!" Chev shouted. "Your guard is sick and in need of help!"
There was several curses and lots of banging around until finally the wooden gates were pried open and a guard looked out. Chev shoved his face in the door to block the man's view.
"Open it dammit! He's getting sicker by the second!"
The guard stepped out of sight and there was more shuffling around as he pulled the brace out from behind the gate to open it wider. When it was barely two hands wide Chev already had his left arm through the door and his right arm ready for a swing he knew so well.
It was too easy. He had done this before. He knew where everything was. What things he shouldn't do and what things he should. Yet this time it was so much more gratifying.
Revenge was sweet and as Dr. Pierce would say, stupidity rules.
Inside Chev's mind the past blurred with the present. Before long he was swinging at shadows of the mind and men at the same time. It was so perfectly clear inside his head. The memories so clear as if they had been yesterday.
He had come through the gate with vengeance in his heart. His longsword had flashed forward and severed the guard's head from his shoulders.
It was so simple. The other guards charged as one and died in pairs as Chev pulled every trick in the book and left behind a wake of dead bodies. The Bravepike warriors were met everywhere he went and killed on sight.
Chev killed them all. Guards. Servants. Bravepikes. Guests. All of them and they only seemed to keep coming. It wasn't until he reached the northwest tower overlooking the Sea of Swords that he started to encounter some difficulty. He was tiring down and he was surprised that he had even made it this far.
When he did, he was up against a group of the best warriors along the coast. Five of them. On the stairs leading up clockwise.
The first had been Clayton.
The two had locked together, with Clayton using his superior size and weight to push Chev back against the wall of the tower. The warrior held him at bay with his buckler and kicked out and pushed Clayton back against the opposite wall.
Holding him there with one braced foot, Chev had sliced at the burly man and chopped the arms off him before he could respond.
Chopping off the man's legs, Chev picked up the still dying man by the neck and used him as a fleshy shield as he charged up the stairs and met the next warrior.
Rowell. A newcomer to the Bravepikes' bodyguards. Chev shoved his living shield in the man's face and while he was distracted, gutted him with his sword from underneath. The young man slumped to the ground and groped at the blood that spilled from his belly and finally bubbled up out of his throat and out his mouth.
By now Clayton had died from loss of blood but he still made a useful shield as Chev held him above his head and continued up the stairs.
Tom Truman was waiting at the top. Here Chev stopped and gauged his opponent for he knew Truman to be both a fabulously skilled warrior.
"You'll die here Chev. You know that don't you?"
"If I do, I'll still be making the history books cuz I'm taking the rest of you with me?"
"And what about Kipriana? Your dear Kipriana? Only the old dork doesn't know that you love her. He's the only one. Do you think that saving her