Shades of the Past_ Book Six of the Morcyth Saga - Brian S. Pratt [67]
At one point he was healing a man with a severed arm. He reattached it through the power of the Star and was about to move to another when the tide of battle shifted. The line between himself and the enemy suddenly collapses. Putting away the Star, he draws forth his sword and meets the oncoming soldiers.
With speed the likes of which few soldiers have ever encountered, he blocks the attack of one while kicking out at another. In a blinding attack, two soldiers fall away with mortal wounds while a third launches into a series of attack which Miko is able to easily counter.
From the side a sword strikes at him and leaves a long gash along his side. The pain of the wound is barely even noticeable as he strikes out at the soldier and removes his head from his shoulder.
Then, Scar and Potbelly are there and stand with him shoulder to shoulder. “Miko!” hollers Potbelly, “Stig needs you!”
“We’ll hold here!” yells Scar.
Nodding, Miko takes out the man he’s facing with a quick thrust through the chest and then disengages. He finds Stig a few yards away, a rapidly growing stain spreading across his front. Returning his sword to its scabbard, he hurries over.
“Miko,” Stig says weakly as he approaches.
“Just relax,” he tells him as he removes the Star.
Stig lays back, the pall of death upon his face as the glow from the Star shines forth. Miko has done this enough now to be able to tell if he’s too late or not and with relief he realizes he’s not. With the power of the Star and Morcyth, he closes the wound in Stig’s stomach, repairing the severed intestines and other organs within.
When the glow disappears, Stig sighs in relief. The pain, once a flaring sun is now little more than an ache. “Thanks man,” he tells him.
Miko takes his arm and helps him to his feet. With one of Stig’s arms across his shoulders, he helps him back to where Delia and the slingers stand near the center of their force. “Keep an eye on him,” he tells Delia as he sets Stig on the ground.
She nods her head as she begins twirling her sling yet again.
Looking around, Miko finds another in need and goes to him.
The battle has been raging now for fifteen to twenty minutes. The individual moments of valor and bravery are too many to count. When the line crumbles under the onslaught of the Empire, reinforcements move to close the gap.
Once the men from Lythylla joined the fray, Illan could see that after the effect of James’ crystals, the two forces were equally numbered. When the archers from Lythylla finally made their appearance after the foot soldiers took the field, the outcome was a foregone conclusion. Their deadly barrage began mowing down the enemy in swaths.
Taking advantage of a momentary lull in the fighting, he surveys the battlefield and can see where the Empire’s men are beginning to turn and flee. Now that victory for them is out of the question, most are simply interested in survival. Suddenly, the line of men close to Ceadric’s force breaks off and turns to flee toward the palisade. As Ceadric moves to follow he hollers, “Hold your position!”
Ceadric glances back and sees him looking at him, covered in blood from head to toe, some friendly but the vast majority is from those he’s slain this day. Nodding, he begins forming up his ranks and holds his position. A cheer rises from his men at their victory.
Then all of a sudden the entire enemy line is in retreat. The forces from Lythylla set out in pursuit as those under Illan maintain their position. They’ll let Madoc’s forces do the mopping up.
“Report!” he hollers.
“Lost a third of my men,” Ceadric says as he comes near.
“No one got close to us,” Delia tells him. Glancing at her boys she says, “They all did magnificent.” Illan nods his head and then turns to Jiron.
“Would have lost half of mine if Miko hadn’t been with us,” he says. “Most won’t be good for a day or two,