Sentinelspire - Mark Sehestedt [106]
Sauk used the momentum to throw Berun off and away. Berun hit the courtyard wall-had it not been thick with green ivy and moss, he would have had broken bones-and then fell to the ground. The half-orc scrambled for his sword, and Berun regained his feet.
Talieth turned to her men. "Stop them! Hurt them if you must, but do not kill them!"
But Sauk was beyond reason. The rage of a maddened beast filled him, and he came at Berun swinging with all his strength, no longer using the flat of his blade. It was all Berun could do to avoid each strike, stab, and swipe.
The assassins advanced, none of them exhibiting any enthusiasm. Lewan had no idea where Perch had gone.
Sauk and Berun's battle took them under the arch of the gateway and inside the courtyard. The lights seemed to gather round them, bathing the combatants in eerie green light.
One of the assassins ran forward and tried to grab the half-orc's free arm. "Sauk, plea-"
Sauk plunged his blade into the man's gut up to the hilt, roared in the man's face, and pushed him away. Another man tried to grab the half-orc's sword arm, but was either too slow or Sauk's rain-soaked skin was too slick. A backhand swipe, and the man was missing a hand. Screaming and spurting blood from the stump of his wrist, the man fell back onto the pavement.
Talieth ran toward them, but stopped well out of range of the combatants.
"Sauk!" Talieth screamed. "Stop this at once! I command you!"
Sauk ignored her. Lewan wasn't sure if he'd heard her. The half-orc's face was twisted by grief and fury, and his eyes were fixed on Berun.
Talieth twisted the clasp of her cloak, threw it off, and raised both hands, her fingers twisting in an intricate pattern. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and said, "Targelu engethlimek!"
Sauk hesitated in his advance.
"Sauk," Talieth said, forcing calm into her voice. "Listen to me, Sauk. We need him."
Sauk snorted like a bull and shook his head, almost like a sleeper shaking off a fading dream. His lip twisted in a snarl, the green of the lights gleaming off his silver tusk, and he leaped at Berun.
But the distraction had given Berun time to back away. He tried to make it out of the courtyard, but one of the assassins lunged for him. Quick as a serpent, Berun's knife-hand shot forward and back, but then he had to turn to face Sauk.
The assassin lurched backward, both hands at his throat. He turned and stumbled into Lewan. The hands gripping his throat were dark with blood. He opened his mouth as if to scream, but he only made a choking sound as he fell to his knees, one hand at his throat while the other clutched at Lewan's shirt. His death grip and heavy weight pulled Lewan to his knees. The man's body was trying to breathe, but he was drowning in his own blood.
Horrified-more at his own actions than the dying man- Lewan brought his hand with the hammer around in a swing. Crack! went the assassin's forearm…
The sound of the arm breaking brought it all back to Lewan-his mother's pleading, agonized face. The look, almost of relief, in the moment before Lewan brought the black iron kettle down on her skull. That day, he'd thought all hope of happiness had left him forever. With Berun, he'd found, if not happiness, then at least hope. Perhaps even meaning. And all of that hung like a heavy stone caught on a spider's web, sinking and about to snap at any moment-
Lewan pulled himself to his feet and backed away. The assassin fell to the ground, squirming and kicking as his body fought for air that would never come.
Only two of Talieth's guards were left. One of them, holding a bow, ducked round Talieth to get a good aim. He raised it and brought the arrow to his cheek, the steel point aimed right at Berun.
All of the fear-fear at being hunted, captured, at the future of the world supposedly hanging in the balance- poured out of Lewan then in a desperate cry. He charged. The bowman adjusted his aim as Berun and Sauk's battle