Conway's Curse by Patric Michael Read Free Book Online

was no arm.”
     
    “Obviously,” Tion replied, unaccountably irritated by his partner’s callousness. “But don’t you think that at a glance an imaginative boy might see it that way?”
     
    Kail chuckled. “Sounds like his father’ll take care of his imagination.” Aaron’s wails were still clearly audible. “Kids,” he added, shaking his head.
     
    Tion punched Kail’s arm, not lightly.
     
    “Ow! What was that for?”
     
    “For being an insensitive jerk!” Tion said.
     
    “Me? I’m just minding my own business, walking along, and all of a sudden you slug me. Where’s your sensitivity, mister?”
     
    Martin looked back over his shoulder at the bickering sprites. “Do I have to separate you two?”
     
    Whatever reply the sprites might have made was overwhelmed by a loud crashing through the underbrush, followed by very human shouts of fear and pain. The villagers scattered like quail as something huge and hairy charged through them, knocking men aside with left and right swipes of its head as it thundered across the path. The limp body of a man Tion identified as the tanner flew through the air and landed on Kail, crushing him to the ground as easily as he might have crushed a flower.
     
    “Kail!” Tion shouted, running to his partner’s side. “Kail, get up!” He tugged at the sprite’s arm, then gave up and began pushing at the dead weight of the human instead, trying to roll the body over. Kail groaned, and the sound was lost amidst the dwindling shouts and screams as the villagers scattered through the trees, every man for himself.
     
    Tion pushed the tanner’s body over and bent to pull Kail to his feet. “Get up, Kail,” he hissed. “We have to get out of here!” As he straightened, drawing Kail to his feet, he saw the woof clearly for the first time.
     
    It had stopped chasing villagers and stood in the middle of the path, swinging its head from side to side as though satisfied with the carnage it had caused. Huge shoulders dwarfed small hindquarters and supported a head easily as large as the sprites. Croggled teeth dripped foam and blood, and its elongated snout sniffed the air. Dank, shaggy fur swung as it turned in a slow circle, and Tion watched, horrified, as it carelessly flipped one of the village men over onto his back. The man’s single scream was cut off as the woof casually opened its mouth and bit his face off.
     
    “Oh shit.” Kail’s voice was lifeless and defeated as he clutched at Tion. “I guess that really was an arm after all. Stupid kid.”
     
    Tion nodded wordlessly, unable to tear his eyes away as the beast lifted its muzzle and howled at the sky. It lowered its head and licked the blood from its chops, and Tion clearly saw its hackles raise as it sniffed the air again. Slowly it turned its great head and stared directly at him. Malevolent red fire dripped from the woof’s eyes as it advanced on the sprites. Tiny licks of flame flared and died where the drips struck the ground. Tion saw the muscles of its shoulders flex and tighten as the woof paused and crouched, getting ready to pounce.
     
    “I love you, Kail,” Tion said just as the beast sprang frighteningly high into the air. He pushed Kail away, hard, scant seconds before the animal could crash down upon them both.
     
    “ Hold! ”
     
    The word was impossibly loud, and Tion clapped his hands over his ears to block out the sound. Only then did he realize he could clap his hands over his ears, and he opened his eyes cautiously, more than a little surprised he wasn’t seeing the world from the inside of a ravening woof.
     
    “By the gods, boy, get your ass in gear! I can’t hold this fecking thing much longer!”
     
    Startled, Tion turned to see a ragged-looking man holding his hands out before him. Blue light speared out from his palms and coalesced to a point above his head. He looked up to see the woof, caught as if frozen in blue ice directly above him. A single drop of malevolent