The Jewel of Turmish - Mel Odom [27]
She felt pity for the people bound to the chain, but she knew from experience that she couldn't do them any good if she wasn't able to take care of herself.
The man backed away resentfully and said, "If they get the chance, they're likely to kill us now that you people have interfered."
Interfered? Druz bridled at the comment, then pushed it out of her mind. During her years of service she'd sometimes found herself cursed by the same people who'd thanked her for her help at first. It had gone the other way too when an engagement played out well.
Druz gripped her sword hilt and slid the weapon free of its scabbard. Holding the sword trapped between her knees, she slid the leather binding her wrists against the sharp edge. The leather parted like a spider's web. Still, her hands had numbed and she knew she couldn't properly wield the weapon, so she made herself wait.
One of the slavers reloaded the crossbow he held while the others screamed at him to hurry.
"Haarn!" Druz called out, seeing that the druid was praying again and might not have seen the threat.
She became aware of a distinct buzzing noise that cut through the silence left after the thunderous cracks. Even as the crossbowman brought his weapon up, a swirling mass of flying beetles slammed into him. The insects cut at the slaver's flesh. Bright drops of blood streamed from his face and arms. The beetles clustered to the man, covering him the way bees swarmed over a honeycomb.
The slaver threw the crossbow down and tried to flee, but the flying beetles pursued him. He didn't go a half dozen steps before he tripped and fell, seemingly weighed down by the heavy mass of beetles clinging to him. The man stopped writhing and fighting in seconds, and chill horror cut through Druz as she realized she didn't know if the man was alive or dead.
The bear growled a challenge and started forward. Almost carelessly, the druid reached out and caught up a handful of fur.
"No, my friend," he said softly, holding onto the massive ursine.
The bear twisted its wedge-shaped head and growled again. It sounded as if the bear was protesting the fate of the slavers.
"Kill them," Brugar snarled, starting forward.
Druz took up her weapon. Though feeling hadn't quite returned, she knew she couldn't leave the druid standing against the slavers on his own.
Haarn raised a hand and uttered a few more words.
Another prickling sensation passed through Druz, almost strong enough to buffet her as much as the storm winds that came howling through the forest. She watched in amazement as the trees around the slavers came to life, twisting and writhing like arthritic snakes.
"Brugar!" one of the men yelped.
Tree branches reached down and caught the man up, curling around him and ripping at his clothing and skin with rough bark.
A jagged flash of lightning sizzled across the black sky, turning the surrounding world harshly white for a heartbeat, then dropping the curtain of night back into place. Only two of the slavers escaped the groping tree branches that lifted them high into the air.
The bear left the druid's side in a diving lunge that took it back to all fours. Before the two slavers could take more than a handful of steps, the bear closed on them. Jaws distended widely, then snapped closed, ripping through the back of one man's neck. A mighty paw slammed against the back of the second man's head, crushing the skull like a grape and spilling a loose-limbed corpse to the ground. The bear shook its first victim then dropped the body and stood up. It growled a challenge, reaching for the men suspended in the trees.
The slavers drew their legs up, barely out of reach of the bear's claws.
The wind picked up in intensity, bringing an almost wintry cold with it. More red and purple lightning darted across the black sky.
The druid stood unmoving in the winds and peered up at the slavers. It was easy to believe, Druz realized, that the man had summoned the storms.
"I am Haarn Brightoak," the druid stated in a loud voice, "charged by the order of the Emerald Enclave to protect and care