The Jewel of Turmish - Mel Odom [5]
"Feather the damn dandelion-sipper and be done with it," Tethys growled again. "I won't have any man threatening to kill me."
But that won't stop you from threatening to kill another man, will it? Druz mused.
The crossbowmen stood on either side of Druz. One of them was Ennalt and the other was Kord-brothers who had signed on with the ragtag outfit. Both of them held their weapons pointed at the forest warrior.
"Don't," Druz commanded.
In her days she'd sometimes served as a unit commander. She'd learned how to pitch her voice so that it garnered instant respect and attention. Kord hesitated and raised the crossbow to aim into the star-filled sky.
"To hell with that," Tethys growled. "Feather that bastard, Ennalt."
Ennalt's trigger knuckle whitened as the man took up the crossbow's slack.
Without hesitation, Druz swung around, bringing her arm up in a powerful sweep that knocked the crossbow, up. The catgut string slid across the stock with a short hiss, and the stubby quarrel took flight.
Arvis, Kord's younger brother by a year, and more impulsive than his older brother who was known for his steadfast pace and unwavering commitment, closed on the forest warrior. Arvis stood head and shoulders taller than the forest warrior and normally brimmed with over-confidence anyway. Facing the much smaller man, Arvis showed no hesitation at all as he whirled his battle-axe effortlessly before him.
"Don't fret over this one," Arvis boomed in his deep voice. "I have him." He stepped forward, his grin lighted by the flickering lanterns in the hands of the men around him.
The forest warrior's attention never seemed to break from the men in front of him. His dark green eyes, glimmering in the lantern light somewhat like a cat's, regarded Druz curiously. His head cocked slightly, as if he didn't notice the way the bigger man closed on him. The forest warrior's scimitar stayed mostly out of sight beside his back leg.
"Don't kill him," Druz pleaded. "He's little more than a boy."
Arvis, she knew, would resent her deeply for the comment, but if it would help save his life, she didn't care. Arvis and Kord, though both blooded in skirmishes around Alaghфn and some of the cities along the western coast of the Sea of Fallen Stars, hadn't yet seen twenty.
"Don't kill him! Forras repeated, shifting on his bad leg. "Why, Arvis will break this little upstart in half."
Druz watched, feeling a chill like icy cat's paws kneading between her shoulders. She liked Arvis, though his aggressive nature made him somewhat hard to take.
Arvis made his situation even worse by not taking the threat the smaller man offered more seriously. He stepped in and casually feinted with the battle-axe.
Before he could pull back, the smaller man stepped in quickly, going to Arvis's left. Anticipating the big warrior's attempt to block with the battle-axe haft, the small man backhanded his opponent in the nose with his empty fist.
Yelping in pain, Arvis tried to swing around. Instead of keeping his feet planted and merely shifting, Arvis lifted his left foot. The small man kicked the raised foot from under the bigger man as if the feat were nothing.
Off-balance, trying desperately to recover, Arvis fell to the ground, miraculously managing to land on his knee. His opponent walked to his side without apparent haste, but the effort was amazingly quick. Before Arvis could move, the warrior in hide armor kicked the bigger man's back foot, causing the younger man to sprawl out. Arvis toppled onto his outstretched hands, trapping his battle-axe against the ground under his own weight.
In a few seemingly effortless moves, the forest warrior had Arvis stretched out and the scimitar's blade against the young mercenary's throat like he was a pig awaiting the butcher's bloodletting. Coldly, the forest warrior glared at the other members of the wolf-hunting party, letting them all