Bones of the Empire by Jim Galford Read Free Book Online

Dalania, who moved swiftly with him, trying to keep herself out of the melee and also keep from holding Yoska back.
    Past Yoska, Feanne dodged a swing from Liris, though her attention was largely on Estin as she ran. Feanne practically ran into him, hooking his arm and dragging him toward the undead archers. With a bestial snarl, Feanne tore through the only zombie that tried to stop them, severing tendons in its arm to cripple it as they kept going.
    They raced down the slope of the hill, both trying not to fall in spite of their injuries. Occasional flashes of magic going off behind them gave Estin some idea of how close the Turessians were. Each time Estin tried to turn and look for the others, Feanne pushed him even harder, making it difficult to keep his paws under him.
    They ran until they broke line of sight of the mine, coming down the snow-covered hill toward another abandoned village, Feanne still supporting much of Estin’s weight. The bruises on his ribs from Liris made it difficult to breathe, and his whole right arm felt as though it were soaked with warm water, right up to the throbbing point at his shoulder where he was willing to bet a crossbow bolt still protruded. With the old ache of his hip from when he had broken it years prior, he was not sure how much farther he could go, but he clenched his jaw and pushed on.
    Feanne slowed as they neared a group of horses tied off on a copse of trees outside the village. The whole area stunk of death, but Estin saw nothing left behind to guard the Turessians’ mounts. At their approach, the three animals looked up from munching on some brush that stuck out of the snow. Feanne turned Estin and headed for the animals, still almost dragging him.
    “We need to find the others,” Estin gasped, but Feanne nearly yanked him off his feet. “Feanne!”
    Stumbling to a stop, Feanne turned to look at him, and he realized she was barely hearing what he was saying. Blood covered much of her torso from two crossbow bolts, one in her side, between her ribs, and the other just below her collarbone. The burns across her thigh were blistered, and most of her fur there was blackened, making him wonder how she was walking at all. Swelling around her jaw hinted at other wounds her fur hid, as well.
    “No time,” Feanne said, panting. She stumbled and nearly fell. “Get on the damned horse.”
    “Feanne, we need to save them,” he pleaded, but she grabbed his shirt and dragged him toward the horse.
    “He gave us an order,” she hissed, catching the horse’s reins before it could avoid her. “We run. We will find them after we recover. Get on the horse, Estin. We don’t have long before Liris catches up.”
    “No.”
    Without warning, Feanne rounded on him and punched Estin in the face. The last thing he felt before he blacked out was feeling the snow chilling his back and tail.

Chapter Two
    “Taken”
     
    Struggling for every inch of ground, Raeln fell back toward the tunnel as Liris hurled a bolt of lightning past him, scorching his arm and side. He turned away from the blast, avoiding the crackling energy, twisting again as another Turessian stabbed at him with a sword Raeln was certain had been Estin’s. The blade passed closer than he would have liked, hitting the stone archway hard enough that both the sword and stone shattered. Magic or raw strength, these three had a distinct advantage over Raeln and he could only evade them so long.
    “Please! There has to be another way!” Dalania cried, making Raeln’s heart sink. He had not seen her in a bit and had hoped she had run with Turess, Estin, and Feanne. That made him fight even harder, knowing he needed to buy time until she ran…if she would run. He had to hope Yoska would drag her off sooner or later.
    Raeln kicked the nearest Turessian against the wall as Liris lined up another spell. He could not keep ahead of her much longer—soon she would kill him where he stood. It would only take one spell and he