Read The Destroyer Book 2 Online

Authors: Michael-Scott Earle

Tags: #Dragon, #Action, #Adventure, #Love, #Romance, #Magic, #Quest, #Epic, #Dark, #Fantasy

The Destroyer Book 2 (2 page)

BOOK: The Destroyer Book 2
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A shower of arrows, Fire, and Wind launched into the air from the Elven army as I approached. I judged by their angle that they would fly over my body, but I still raised my shield to block any that managed to drift lower. An arrow wouldn’t be a problem for my armor and shield, but one of their bolts of magic would probably knock me off my horse. Then I would be trampled by the charging steeds behind me. Fortunately, their aim was terrible, and none of the magic nor arrows fell anywhere near me.

The gap between my steed and their front line of pike men closed rapidly until I saw the terror in their eyes. The Elven cavalry posted to the south of us and had expected us to meet them there. We charged their thickest block of soldiers up the steepest slope. The wall of pike men set their spears into the ground and braced for my impact. Each pike was twenty feet long and would have ended my advance abruptly if I would have been foolish enough to continue my charge. I pulled the Earth through my horse, legs, stomach, and heart until my blood began to boil. Then I combined it with the Wind that rushed past me. The Fire grew in my body and I focused it outward toward the wall of Elven pike carriers.

It was very difficult for someone to channel Earth magic from horseback, and even my own generals did not know how much I could really harness. The massive boulder of orange energy slammed into the wall of pike men directly in front of me, dashing them to the ground like a basket of dropped eggs. Their spears went hundreds of different directions but none of them pointed a way that would injure me.

There was a horrendous crash, like the sound of thunder from a mountain top, as my steed dove into the group of Elvens and sunk into their line almost eight rows deep. The shock of my horse crashing into four or five bodies helped clear the dark fog that clouded my vision after I had harnessed the Elements. My left arm stayed true however, and my lance had impaled three of the Elven bastards on its point like sausages I would roast over a campfire.

We were outnumbered by three to one. I had done my part.

I let go of the stuck lance and yanked my mace off of the saddle. I drifted afloat on a sea of armored Elven bodies and the black warhorse was my raft. Fortunately, my assault left them unprepared and I slammed my mace down once, twice, and a third time, crushing the helmets and skulls of three more pike men who had somehow stayed standing. Then my enemies realized I was in their midst and counterattacked.

Two of the Elven soldiers to the right shoved their spears up toward me with snake-like quickness. I swung my shield from the front of the horse toward its hind quarters and managed to knock the first spear into the second and deflect them. On my left side a single soldier thrust at me half a second after his companions, but I effortlessly batted it aside with my brain-soaked weapon.

My horse was smart and knew what I needed to do almost before I did. He turned to the right and pushed his chest into the two pike men whose weapons I had deflected with my shield. This shoved them into their own lines farther and gave my steed enough room to launch a kick into the masses of Elvens crowding my other side. I felt the impact of his hooves slam into metal and leather armor with a satisfying crunch of skull and rib bone. There were so many screams of agony, fear, pain, and rage around us that it was impossible for me to separate the sounds of the soldiers my horse kicked. But I imagined that they had screamed very loud indeed

One of the Elven warriors grabbed my left leg in an attempt to drag me off the saddle. A quick hammer with my mace ended his aspirations and gave me room to lean back down and away from another volley of spear thrusts that collided with my shield on the right. My horse spun again, knocking more spears away and giving me space enough to smash in a few more Elven skulls with my weapon. I saw Gorbanni twenty feet from me; he was using a massive curved long sword that chopped into the Elven ranks like an axe. His commanders guarded his flanks and appeared to be cutting a path toward me.

An Elven jumped onto the back of my horse from my right, tying up my shield and threatening to push me over the other side. She screamed in triumph as she tipped me over to the rear of the horse. Then her cheer turned into a call of dismay when I slid my arm out of the leather straps of the shield and let her take it to the ground with her. My warhorse stomped back and to the left, crushing her beneath its steel shod hooves. It would be difficult to protect myself with no shield on my right hand, but I would have to make do. It was better to be on the higher ground and without a shield at the moment.

I swung my mace in a wide arc along my left side and connected with three Elven dogs trying to claw up through the bodies that lay crushed on the ground. I only killed one of them, but the other two sustained bone breaking wounds that would keep them out of the battle for the next ten minutes. Another asshole shoved his pike at me from far to the right. I turned my shoulder just in time and the spear point slid across my pauldron and arm. I reached up with my free right hand and grabbed around the steel enforced shaft of the spear. Then I used my hips and legs to tell my mount to spin clockwise. It did so instantly and the Elven was forced to either dance back, leaving me his spear, or be trampled beneath my horse’s chest and hooves. He chose to live for a few more seconds and I obtained his pike.

I spun the spear over my head in my right hand so that the sharp end of the weapon faced toward the ground. Then I alternated pike jabs with downward sweeps with my mace for the next minute until Gorbanni and his men joined me. The four of us pushed deeper into their ranks, stopping short of the hail of arrows that Shlara’s archers were letting loose. We decided to let Malek take my place of command and organize the strategy of the army. I had no doubts he would do as good a job as I would have done.

It seemed like a week passed as the four of us cut, stabbed, slammed, and trampled through the endless Elven mob. Eventually they became more organized and four of the deadly warriors attacked me with a synchronized volley of magic and spears. My horse went down with the multi-pronged assault. The armor had protected it from most of the spears, but during the battle it had sustained more punishment than any animal without healing abilities could possibly survive. I heard a cheer of triumph spread through the Elven ranks as they witnessed my armored, red-cloaked form fall with the night-black steed.

I sprung from the saddle and landed easily on my feet, driving the now dull and bloody point of my stolen pike into the chest of a female soldier. The tip of it pierced her perfect breasts through her chain mail armor and shredded her heart into liquid. She wielded a two-handed sword that I ripped from her dead hands to replace the spear that had been in my right. The heavy blade was almost too long to use with one hand, but I used my shoulders, hips, and legs to power a whipping swing that carved two Elvens in twain as they approached.

One of Gorbanni’s commanders went down off his mount and another howl of joy escaped the enemy ranks. I took a dozen steps over crushed and mutilated Elven bodies and ripped my newly acquired sword across the neck of the golden armored bastard that was about to deliver the final blow. Gorbanni’s commander bled from a spear thrust that had penetrated his armor on the side. I tossed my sword like a spear into the back of an Elven who was trying to flank Gorbanni, and then I ducked down to yank the spear out of the fallen horseman’s side. It came out of the armor cleanly, but I didn’t know if the man would be able to heal himself before death came to claim him.

The Elven’s attack increased almost to a state of unbelievable fury. Six of their kind surrounded me and I swung the spear in a wide arc to keep them at bay. Fortunately, they had either lost or never been equipped with their own spears, or it might have been the end of my struggles. Instead they seemed to favor long curved blades and crescent-shaped shields with carvings of mountains and trees elegantly etched on the metal surfaces. They tried to snake into my warded spear circle, but their attacks weren’t coordinated and I punished two of them by impaling one through the stomach and the other through the thigh. I had to watch my footing carefully so I did not trip over Gorbanni’s commander.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Gorbanni and his last commander brought down by a swarm of Elvens that leapt to the backs of their horses. A cry of victory went through their ranks again, tempered and less robust than their previous cheers had been. There were already fewer of them to cheer.

One of the Elvens in front of me and one to my right attacked at the same time. I smacked the one on the right across the helm with my spear butt before I adjusted the angle and drove the point at the left Elven. He dodged the attack easily by knocking it aside with his sword and darted forward to shield-slam me. The spear thrust had been a feint on my part, and I wished I could have seen the look of disbelief across his masked face as my mace took him in the right side, crushing his shield arm, ribs, and neck with a powerful attack he had tried to avoid.

A barrage of arrows suddenly whispered past my head and embedded deep into the armor of the Elvens who circled me. Half of them screamed with surprise. Then I dove into their lines and killed another two of them, one with a spear thrust through her armored face mask and the other with a powerful smash to the side of her plated neck guard. I sensed movement behind me and twisted around, angling my pike toward my new opponent.

It was Shlara, and fortunately, she guessed I would have attacked her on approach. Her agile body wrapped around my spear thrust like she was made of smoke and fog. I saw about sixty of her team ripping through the rest of the Elven ranks that Gorbanni’s men had dented. Shlara’s warriors were quick, intelligent, and trained in small groups of three that could pick apart our foes with merciless efficiency.

“Dropped something?” Shlara said as she kicked up my shield into her free hand. I heard a horn to my west, of different timbre and pitch then the calls Malek would use to signal.

The Elvens were retreating.

“One of the bastards wanted it more than me. So I gave it to her, then I gave her death,” I said as I caught the effigy of death that doubled as my protection.

“They have broken. I can’t believe that you did it. You are amazing Kaiyer.” Shlara drew her sword quickly as she spun away from me. One last Elven charged us from the left and she cut him from the shoulder to the groin with an attack that was so fast I almost couldn’t follow her movements. Her dragon armor was sprayed with blood, but the small delicate etchings that decorated her pauldrons and armored sleeves were not entirely covered.

“I did nothing but lead the charge.” I walked over to Gorbanni as he helped one of his commanders to their feet.

“Was that their horn? Are they retreating?” he said as Shlara and I approached.

“Yes,” she purred. “It has only been an hour but they did not expect us to attack on this side. Once they turned their forces around, Malek's men flanked and butchered their mages.”

“We should finish them," Gorbanni said. I noticed that his breathing was labored and I could see blood trickle down from his armor at the joint between his armpit and torso.

“We have won this day and should recuperate. We should also reconvene with Thayer and Alexia. The army needs a break for a bit.” I turned to look over the mile of corpses, mostly Elven, toward the fleeing golden hues of their retreating army.

“I never thought I would hear you speak those words. I didn’t think you ever took breaks.” Gorbanni wheezed and coughed up a spit of blood.

“Go to the infirmary and get whatever is stuck in your lung removed. We’ll meet back in my tent in four hours,” I commanded him. He saluted before walking back to the other side of the battlefield. Our medics were searching through bodies, doing what they could for our wounded and finishing off Elvens who might still be alive. They attended to Gorbanni’s commander, whom I had stood vigil over during the battle. He coughed and sat up with their aid.

The sun was high in the sky now and it shone over the blue water of the ocean like an adoring mother.

“You may not think you did anything important today, but you did. We would have lost if not for your speech and you leading the charge. The O’Baarni is nothing without you,” Shlara whispered from my side. She stepped closer and the metal of our armor made a soft slick sound as we touched. I realized that I had somehow kept my cloak on during the whole ordeal, and the wind from the ocean fanned the red cloth out from our connected bodies like the tail feathers of a thunderbird.

“One thing I am sure of.” I turned to look at her green eyes in the depths of her helm. “We would not have been in this predicament in the first place if I had not made errors in judgment.”

“You are a real pain in the ass sometimes,” Shlara huffed and then walked away. “I’ll meet you at your tent in a few hours.” The sun reflected off her armor and the blood that soaked it as she walked down the hill toward her troops and the ocean.

Chapter 2-Kaiyer

 

I crawled from the dream like I was digging out of a sandy pit. I had to grab handfuls of the memories, dry and sharp, and claw them away from my face. Finally, I felt cognizant, but groggy and still tired. My eyes weren’t open, but something stroked my face. It was a gentle caress from soft fingers.

BOOK: The Destroyer Book 2
10.77Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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