Excerpt: The Wizard's Game

From Chapter Two: When in doubt, kill them all

His legs were cramped and his neck hurt. They’d been perched on the wall for nearly two hours, looking for signs of the raiding party. The wall was too narrow to stand on safely, so they had to crouch; and peering down to look for glinting animal eyes every few minutes made it no more comfortable. He wished they’d just attack already.

“See anything?”

Aravex sighed through her teeth. Bob had asked that question every few minutes for the past few hours. Dessan always teamed the pretty blonde and blue-eyed blacksmith’s daughter with them because he thought they could take care of her. Everyone thought she was too young to fight. Really, she just annoyed them.

To Vakai’s relief, a shout went up from the far side of the village before Aravex could respond, then another somewhere closer to them. He twisted to look for the attack and narrowly missed taking a flaming arrow in the face. It was all he could do to keep from toppling off the wall in shock.

The arrow thunked into the wall of one of the storehouses, narrowly missing the corn next to it. For a hopeful moment, it seemed like the building wouldn’t catch – then three more arrows slammed into the roof and the flames caught. Shouts were going up from around the village, along with bright, glowing orange spots. In the sudden light, Vakai caught the glint of animal eyes near the wall beneath them.

Aravex and Bob had scrambled over the wall and were trying to put the flames out before they could do anymore damage.

He went for one of his darts, pulling the cap off with his teeth. His free hand clutched the top of the wall for balance. The eyes blinked up at him, and another pair appeared next to the first. The shapes were vaguely cat-like in the dull light. He leaned forward.

“Here, kitty, kitty, kitty,” he called. An angry hiss replied. He leaned out a little further, ready to throw the dart. “Come get me, you little bastard.” The Dyr-fen hissed again and jumped toward the wall. The dart hit home. Screeching, the cat staggered and slammed into the wall. It slumped, unmoving.

Out of nowhere, its companion jumped at the wall, clawed hands scrabbling at the stone. The claws narrowly missed Vakai’s hand. He snatched it away – and lost his balance, tumbling forward. Only quick reflexes saved him from falling outside the wall, where three more Dyr-fen had appeared. He hung there for a moment, a perfect target.

Another jumped at him. Claws grated against stone. And then someone thought to start shooting arrows at him. He pulled himself up and back over, but not before an arrow stuck in his arm. He yelped, and half-fell down among the corn. The fall didn’t sting as much as the arrow. Fortunately, it wasn’t on fire.

He snapped it off as much as he could, leaving the arrowhead in his arm. Too much time and trouble to dig it out now. Someone could take care of it later.

Aravex appeared next to him and offered him a hand up. He stupidly took it with his injured arm. It burned when she hauled him to his feet. Blood trickled under his sleeve. It kind of tickled. Irritating. He wiped at it, annoyed, and only succeeded in driving what was left of the arrow deeper. More blood, more pain, more irritation.

The night was starting off well.

“They’ll be over the wall soon,” he muttered. And the universe was in a mood to prove him right. A Dyr-fen jumped down next to them and grinned with massive feline teeth. He pulled an axe as wide as his chest from over his shoulder.

Before he could raise it, someone shoved a much smaller axe in his skull. Aravex and Vakai stared blankly at the body as it fell at their feet. Bob grinned at them, and wrenched her axe back out of the dead man’s head with a nasty squishing sound.

“Thanks,” Aravex said faintly.

“Not a problem.”

“Bob, behind you!” Vakai shouted. Another Dyr-fen, wolf this time, had cleared the wall.

“Don’t tell me what to do!” she shouted back, but she was already spinning around. Her axe bit into the wolf’s neck. Then she was off into the night, howling like a mad woman.

“And Dess thought we needed to protect her,” Vakai muttered, grinning. “Oh look, more enemies.” He stared up at the top of the wall, where several more of the Dyr-fen perched, glaring down at them. All around them, he could hear shouting and the crackle of flames. Then there were the horrid roars of the Dyr-fen; they always sounded so human under that animal noise.

“So, did you put the fire out?”

Aravex notched an arrow and put it in the stomach of the nearest Dyr-fen. “Yes.” The cat fell screaming back over the wall. His companions all locked on her, lips drawn back to show teeth. Vakai drew a pair of throwing knives. One missed, but the other buried itself neatly in a Dyr-fen shoulder. Infuriated, it jumped at him. He sidestepped. The poison kicked in mid-air, and it crumpled where he’d been standing. The others jumped down and stalked toward them. Aravex went for her sword, Vakai for a longer knife.

“Bet I can kill more than you,” she said.

“Ara, this is not a game,” he chided mockingly. A wolf wielding a cutlass – maybe the same one from that afternoon – charged at him. He dodged the first strike, narrowly avoided the second, and left a long line in the man’s arm. Barely a scratch. The Dyr-fen laughed and came at him again, cutlass raised. Vakai twisted out of the way, and nicked him on the other arm.

The Dyr-fen stumbled, blinking at him in confusion. He tried to raise his weapon, but it slipped from a weakened grip. For good measure, Vakai gave him a nice, deep gash across the chest. He toppled over, breathing uneven.

“What in Miertala do you have on that thing?” Ara asked, letting another wolf impale himself on her rapier. She kicked him to get the blade free again. “And can I have some?”

“No, you can’t. Nothing. No.”

“What?”

He started to answer, but went down under the weight of a Dyr-fen. He screamed when it bit into his shoulder, teeth scrapping bone. His knife had been flung out of reach. Aravex was busy with two more Dyr-fen that had appeared out of nowhere. His fingers found a rock, which was better than nothing. He grabbed it and smashed at the Dyr-fen on his back, beating at its teeth with the rock. It growled and let go of his shoulder, reaching for the rock with a clawed hand. The other hand came around toward his face.

He buried his face against the grass and grabbed at his belt, trying to find a weapon, any weapon. He finally managed to work a throwing knife free while the man clawed at his arm and face. He stabbed wildly backward.

It screamed and rolled off him. The knife was deep in its leg. Then it was silent. He’d never been more relieved to have poisoned his weapons. He played dead for a moment, feeling his pulse through the bite on his shoulder. Hot blood ran over his neck. A more serious injury didn’t make that less annoying.

“Vakai?” Aravex’s voice. Worried. He could feel her standing over him. The fight had hit one of those lulls where everyone is dying or looking for someone else to hurt. It was strangely silent.

“No, you can’t kill more than I can, there is nothing on my blade, and no, you can’t have any.”