Warrior Priest of Dmon-Li - Brian Pratt [122]
James nods to Fifer and they begin slowing as they turn to face the enemy. Once they’ve stopped, James dismounts and faces the onrushing horsemen. From behind him, he can hear Jiron say to Fifer as they dismount, “When the fighting starts, stay away from the boy.”
“Why?” Fifer asks.
“In the heat of battle, he sometimes can’t tell friend from foe,” he explains.
“Berserker?” Fifer asks.
“In a way,” Jiron responds.
As the riders approach, the moonlight reveals about sixty riders coming hard. “Man,” he hears Fifer say as he draws his sword, preparing to sell his life dearly.
James begins gathering the magic as the riders continue to approach. He reaches in and takes out several slugs that he holds in his left hand. Then, when the riders are close enough…
Crumph! Crumph! Crumph!
…three massive explosions throw the leading edge of the advancing force into the air. They can hear the cries of men and horses as they arc through the air. When they crash back to the ground, very few can be seen moving.
“Damn!” comes Fifer’s exclamation from behind him.
The trailing wedge of riders veers around to the left and right of the scene of carnage as they continue coming for them. James begins tossing slugs and riders start to fall.
Crumph!
The ground under the riders once more explodes upward and Jiron sees James take a step back, staggering, almost like he was about to fall. He turns to Fifer and says, “Whatever happens, we’ve got to keep them off of him.”
Fifer nods to Jiron as they move to put themselves between the few remaining riders and James.
Miko draws his sword and begins advancing upon the dozen riders still coming toward them. Four veer off in his direction, the others come straight to where James and Fifer are standing.
James manages to throw two more slugs before he sags to the ground. “Close your eyes!” he hollers and a split second later, a brilliant burst of light flashes between them and the riders.
“Ah!” Fifer cries out as the light stabs like needles into his eyes. He hadn’t heeded James’ warning.
The horses of the approaching riders neigh in fright, and come to an abrupt halt, throwing the riders to the ground.
Jiron had heard James’ warning and had shielded his eyes. Now he quickly moves forward and begins to dispatch the blinded riders. The first one he pulls from his horse as he stabs him with his knife. The next two he kills while they writhe on the ground, holding their eyes in pain.
The fourth one he comes to isn’t moving, a cursory look shows him to have broken his neck when he’d fallen off his horse. As he stands up from inspecting the dead man, a horse runs into him and knocks him over. The rider strikes out with his sword but in his half blinded state, misses by scant inches.
Jiron rolls out from under the horse’s hooves and quickly regains his feet. He moves toward the rider who is turning his head this way and that trying to locate him. The rider shakes his head and rubs his eyes in an attempt to clear them, enabling Jiron to move close without being seen.
He jumps the last few feet and pulls him from the horse, both tumbling to the ground. His knife flashes but the rider gets a hold on his arm, keeping the blade inches away from his face.
They roll and Jiron manages to knee the man in the groin, taking the fight out of him. The rider’s arm loses strength and Jiron brings the knife down, puncturing the man’s throat all the way to the spinal column in the back.
Jerking his knife out, Jiron rolls then comes to his feet as he looks around for another rider.
Miko stands amidst eight dead bodies, four men and four horses. His head swivels around as he looks for another to fight.
Jiron can hear the remaining rider as he races back the way they’d come, horn blaring. Answering horns can be heard further away in the dark.
Moving to where James sits with Fifer standing guard, eyes slowly regaining their night vision, he says, “There’s more on the way and not too far back. We gotta go!”
James nods his head as he gets to his feet, Fifer lends him a hand when he