Defiant Swords (Durlindrath #2) by Robert Ryan Read Free Book Online

his sword. To what extent she feared
lòhrengai, he could not tell. But she was far more skilled in such things than
he. If he used it, she would defeat him easily. And yet there was Kareste also.
She would fight, and between the two of them they might defeat her. But if he joined Kareste in that, he would become what he did not wish,
what he least trusted.
    Still he stood, undecided, and the brief moments flitted by.
Soon the witch would realize that her attempt to persuade him had failed, and
then she would attack.
    But he was caught in a dilemma that he could not solve. And
a new thought struck him as a blow, and disabled him.
    Why should he not embrace his new-found power?

6. An Iron-hard Will
     
     
    The great serpent rose higher, a massive thing that even
those in distant parts of Cardoroth could see. People ran into the streets;
some screamed, others remained deathly quiet , watching.
    Gilhain, atop the battlement, was one who watched in
silence. The creature’s coils flowed and undulated, ascending from the vast pit without end.
    It towered above the Cardurleth, blotting out the sun. But
it did not strike. Gilhain realized that it would not attack that way ; it would not rend with its great fangs or use poison. It
had some other means to visit destruction upon them.
    The creature’s lower portions began to slide along the
rampart. It covered hundreds of feet of stonework, grinding and smashing
against the merlons, sending them tumbling down in ruin to the earth below.
    Though the coils were thicker than the trunk of an ancient
oak, the soldiers attacked. Their blades did nothing. Some of them, getting too
close, were crushed by a sudden heave of the serpent. The stones ran red with
blood.
    With its slow haste, the serpent continued, oblivious to the
hundreds of men that attacked it like a swarm of ants.
    A stench filled the air, and Gilhain and his wife gagged at
the putrid smell. Slime dripped down the stone. Aranloth stood close by,
unaffected. His head was down, either in acceptance of an opponent beyond his
ability to fight, or else in deep thought.
    “May fate show us mercy,” whispered Aurellin.
    The great loops of the serpent began to constrict. They
closed slowly, but surely. Stone popped. Sprays of dust and loose gravel filled
the air. Cracks appeared, not just in merlons but lower down. A deep grinding
noise thrummed through the air and pulsated up through the stone into Gilhain’s
feet.
    He took Aurellin’s hand in his own. “It will bring down the
Cardurleth,” he said softly.
    “And let in the horde,” she answered.
    They watched in terrible fascination as a white-robed
lòhren, near the head of the beast, made a desperate move. Her black hair
spilled out behind her as she ran. Swift she moved, but the creature paid no
heed. And then she was upon it, thrusting her staff into its mouth.
    Purple-blue lòhrengai flared. Men with axes raced behind
her, attacking in unison. They hewed with mighty swings at the neck, as near as
they dared approach the flame.
    The creature made no sound, but a ripple ran through it.
Suddenly, it threw up coils of its long body. They crashed into the men and
sent them sprawling, axes clattering from lifeless hands. Some few crawled away,
broken bones slowing them, but they escaped.
    The lòhren was not so lucky. Bravely she stayed where she
was, lòhrengai flaring from her staff until she dropped to her knees , exhausted. But the great jaws of the beast snapped
shut around her.
    She screamed.
Blood sprayed. Bones snapped with a crack audible even to Gilhain. Her staff
fell from her writhing arms. The creature then spat her out, its massive jaws agape, and the ruined body of
the lòhren fell, tumbling across the rampart and down
the other side into the city streets.
    Wider still the jaws opened, and the beast vomited the
lòhrengai back out. It seemed unharmed.
    The screaming of the city folk was a sound such as Gilhain
had never heard before, nor ever wanted to hear