Son of Thunder - Murray J. D. Leeder [32]
The dazed barbarians were beginning to recover around Ardeth, and she tried to finish them with a quick flash of her sword or by sinking her foot into their exposed necks, crushing windpipes. But there were too many, and as her human shield rocked under each new magical assault, the corpse weakened and collapsed into pulp. Cursing, Ardeth pushed free of the barbarian hands that grasped at her slender legs and arms. She made quick leaps in Kellin's direction, her sword at her side. Through the darkness she bounded and wove past the barbarians with strange grace, reaching Kellin too quickly for her opponent to react. Kellin tried to dodge her, but cried out as Ardeth's sword caught her shoulder.
Kellin stumbled backward, blood spilling down her sword arm. She drew her father's blade from its sheath but could not hold onto it, and it fell to the ground. In the flickering light of the fire, she could see her opponent's pale oval face twisting into a wicked smile, her sword held at the ready, but before Ardeth could finish off her opponent, a strong hand gripped Ardeth's forearm and twisted her around.
The distant rumbles became closer again, somewhere off in the night.
Keirkrad's blue eyes bore through Ardeth, staring at her from beneath a layer of scales, the sour stink of his breath washing over her. Silently, he released her forearm and instead clamped onto her shoulders with both hands, squeezing with all the magical strength of his altered shape. But Ardeth twisted and slithered within his embrace, freeing her hands just enough to drive her sword into the shaman's magical hide. It sliced deep and embedded. Keirkrad gulped back the pain, but he did not release her. His fingers dug down to her bones, and she let out a high-pitched yelp.
So intense was Keirkrad's blood fury that he did not feel the breeze of wings beating just above him. He was unprepared for the bolt of magic that struck him from above, battering him into unconsciousness in an instant. Keirkrad's form remained stiff as he collapsed, Ardeth still locked within his embrace.
As Kellin prepared a spell, Valkin shot a purplish bolt in her direction that exploded as she dived frantically. The blast hurled her backward by more than half a dozen sword lengths. As a number of Uthgardt warriors charged, Ardeth wriggled free of Keirkrad's unconscious grip and grasped Valkin's outstretched hand above her.
In a single motion he pulled the woman up. She settled behind him on the hippogriff, and it lifted into the night sky just as Uthgardt arrows and hammers sailed in their direction. But with Sungar still in the creature's talons, the warriors dared not strike the hippogriff. The battered tribe could do nothing to stop the beast from flying away, their chief caught in its grip.
"Do you know anything about this?" Valkin demanded of Ardeth. The ground rumbled again, but he couldn't see the creature that had attacked him as he peered through the darkness. "There's something out there. It's huge, and it almost knocked me out of the sky. What is it?"
"I think it's what some call a dinosaur," said Ardeth. "Or what that tribe calls a thunderbeast."
"What's it doing here?" Valkin asked. "We're a long way from Chult."
"I don't know," said Ardeth, peering over the side of the hippogriff into the darkness beneath them. "Perhaps our captive knows. The whip will tell."
As the thunder of heavy steps approached behind them, Valkin tugged on the reins. The hippogriff, tired and overburdened, angled upward but gained elevation only gradually.
"We need to get back to Llorkh alive first," the skymage said.
"Perhaps we need a distraction," Ardeth suggested. She reached out and stroked his ear gently, a lover's gesture.
"What kind of distraction?" asked Valkin, curious.
As an answer, Ardeth delivered a blow to the side of his head with a clenched fist, precisely where she had