Chapter Twenty #2
He barked out a laugh. “Priests…half of them are crazy and the rest are useless. Leofric is my son. She loved me. She’d have given me more sons if I hadn’t tired of her first.” He laughed again. “She got rid of me…ha!”
“Tell me where your half-wit son took Braden.”
“What bargain will be made with me if I do?”
“Let’s see,” I said, pretending to think it over.
“You tell me now, and I won’t cut your fucking head off.
” I pulled back my sword, bringing it down on his neck just enough to make him bleed like the pig he was.
“How’s that for a bargain? You tell me what you know, and I won’t cut off your fucking head and let my horse stomp it flat. ”
He shot me a look of pure hatred, but he must have seen how serious I was by the look in my eyes, because he held up his hands to ward me off, and he began to babble everything I wanted to know.
The most reliable thing about demons was that when it came right down to it, they only cared about themselves.
****
Braden
The attack had all happened so fast. One minute I was taking my morning ride in the forest with my guards, giving Crow some exercise, and the next thing I knew, we were surrounded on all sides.
They had flowed from the woods lining the road like the morning mist, filling up the road ahead and behind us, streaming out of the trees and surrounding us, and though the men of my guard pulled their weapons and fought valiantly, there were far too many of them, and we were quickly overwhelmed.
Most terrifying of all was the fact that most of them were ogres, those monstrous, fearsome creatures my lord had faced not long ago at Falias.
I thought we were all surely about to be slaughtered.
My first confused thought was that they had come here to Murias for revenge.
I drew my own sword, knowing that I might not be able to survive a battle with them, but willing to fight them until my last breath.
A hard, numbing blow on my shoulder made me drop my sword to the ground.
I looked over with horror and saw an arrow sticking up out of it, high on the space between my shoulder and my throat and far too close for comfort.
My chest began to ache at the thought that I was going to die here, and I’d never see Fionn again, never have the chance to say goodbye, but I pushed that thought from my mind, lest it paralyze me with pain.
Fionn would want me to fight these creatures with all my strength, and that’s what I would do.
From the back of the horde came two riders pushing through, and both seemed human, though at first I thought I must be seeing things.
I was even more shocked, however, when I saw their faces.
The man in front was my uncle Leofric! Seeing him here in Otherworld, surrounded by the ogres, who weren’t at all threatening him, but seemed to actually be with him, was so disconcerting and confusing that for a moment I was completely speechless, so baffled by what I was seeing that I almost fell off my horse.
Or maybe that was due to the blood that was pouring from my wound.
It was the sight of the other man with Leofric that nearly incapacitated me and filled me with dread.
The last time I’d seen him had been on a dark plain in Hell, surrounded by fire and scorched air, smoke and brimstone.
It was the filthy demon who had plagued my grandmother, who had assaulted her and sired a child by her, and who had called himself my grandfather. Zaguel!
For the space of a few heartbeats, I couldn’t speak.
I was so shocked by the sight of them—the two of them together—that at first I couldn’t even cry out or speak.
Leofric rode right up to me and yanked the reins from my hands, numb with pain, injury and shock.
Zaguel, close behind him, rode up to me directly, too, seized me around the waist and lifted me from my little horse to pull me over to him.
When I tried to hold on, he kicked out at my poor Crow, and the force of it made the little horse fall over with a high-pitched squeal like I’d never heard him make before.
Obviously, this demon had great strength, and I could only hope he hadn’t injured Crow too badly.
Appalled, vengeful shouts rang out from the closest Murian guards, the ones most charged with my safety, at the sight of these men manhandling me and taking my reins.
They raised their swords, horses rearing in anticipation of combat.
They charged forward to be met with the ogres who were trying to intercept them while guarding Leofric and Zaguel.
I could hardly believe my eyes. After a moment of shock, I pulled my dagger from my belt, and twisting around, I managed to bring it up and skewer Zaguel through his right eye.
I delivered the cruel blow with all my strength, trying to make it lethal, driving the dagger all the way to the hilt and then twisting the blade.
He cried out and tumbled backward off his horse, falling to the ground in an effort to get away from me.
I thought he began his death throes as he clawed at his eye and writhed on the ground, screaming.
Before I could act again, I felt a crushing blow come down on the back of my head.
As I was wearing no helm, since they had caught us unaware, I fell forward over the horse’s neck and would have fallen but for a strong hand that grabbed my arm and hauled me back upright.
I felt another hard blow to the temple and that one proved to be more than enough, and all my poor head could take.
My eyes rolled back in my head, as I passed out and knew no more.