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heal so terrible a wound.
Hathura jerked his fan out and thrust it back in, popping it open inside
Laetus body to rip his heart in half.
The sa'necari's eyes bulged, his lips parted, and his head fell to the side.
Hathura snapped the fan closed. Laetus corpse collapsed on its back. Hathura
hit him in the throat again, severing his head to be certain that Laetus could
not be raised undead, and swirled into the battle again.
* * * *
Lokynen unsheathed his sword and began killing. He moved with efficiency.
Ahead of him amon dragged a lycan female from her home. Lokynen stepped to the
side and chopped themon's arms off with the sword of thunder. Lightning
crackled in the clear sky as Lokynen killed. There was no fight to it. The
sword cut through meat and bone as if it were warm butter.
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He heard screams coming from a side street and turned down it. A huge
brukulaco stood there, with a lycan in transitional form raised high in his
meaty fists.
"Put him down, Lokynen said.
The brukulaco tossed the lycan hard into the side of a building. The lycan
slid down and lay stunned. Meat, said the brukulaco. Big meat."
Lokynen chuckled, bracing his feet. Come on. Fight for your dinner."
The brute topped Lokynen by a foot, and outweighed him by a ton. Yet Lokynen
merely smiled as the brukulaco pulled the club hanging from his belt and
rushed him.
The club smashed downward in a blow that would have sent a lessermon to his
knees. Lokynen swung his big sword to block it. The two weapons met with
resounding force. The club shattered. The monster dropped the splintered stub,
grabbing for Lokynen's head. The yuwenghau dropped into a long, low lung
beneath the grab, his blade moving in a swift circle from block to thrust. The
brukulaco missed Lokynen and the bigmon's sword plunged deep into the
monster's belly. The brukulaco's eyes bulged, and it staggered backwards,
staring at the blade in its body. Lokynen jerked the sword free, leaping after
the beast. It seized Lokynen by the shoulders, trying to pin the yuwenghau's
arms at his sides.
Lokynen laughed and shrugged off the brukulaco's grip as easily as he would a
small child's.
"Yuwenghau, the monster muttered, clutching the wound and retreating.
Lokynen could tell by the look in the creature's eyes that it knew he would
have no compunctions about sheathing the blade in its back if it turned to
run.
One long arm shot out and it grabbed Lokynen's wrist, then the other darted
forward and closed on the yuwenghau's arm as the big blade came again. For an
instant it held firm. Then Lokynen flexed his muscles and the sword began an
inexorable rise. The brukulaco stared down at the blade inching toward its
body and shuddered. Abruptly, Lokynen pulled his arms in and threw the
creature off balance. As it stumbled toward him, he thrust upward. The blade
entered the monster at an angle, just under the sternum and into the chest.
Lokynen rotated the blade with a sweep through the creature's heart. He yanked
the sword out and prepared to stick the creature again if needed.
The brukulaco gave a despairing cry, released Lokynen's arm, and fell dead.
Lokynen stepped to the side, raised his sword two-handed, and chopped off the
creature's head.
"Who are you? asked the lycan, who had been smashed into a wall earlier.
"Lokynen the Battle-Master."
The lycan's eyes widened in awe at a legend made flesh. Thank you for saving
me. I want to help."
"Eitherguard the women, or come along behind me with a blade and finish the
ones who go down."
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* * * *
The lycans had rallied behind Hathura and had begun to engage the enemy,
block by block. So Meleajys headed for the opposite side of the hamlet,
certain that the enemy must have hit it from both sides. He heard screaming
coming from inside a house, and went in through the broken door that hung half
off its hinges. Following the sounds to the kitchen, he found a lycan pinned
by two myn, while a third rode her. A thoughtJumped the concealed throwing
blades from his armsheaths into his hands in quick succession. The two holding
her fell dead as he snapped the blades into their backs before the third knew
what was happening.
As the thirdmon turned, Meleajys saw his amaranthine eyes and snarled.
Sa'necari."
He summoned his sword from his shoulder, shoved the blade in, and gutted the
sa'necari,who crawled up the enchanted blade as if nothing had happened to
him. Steeped in death...."
The sa'necari threw a spell in Meleajys face, blinding him. A groan broke
from the yuwenghau's throat. He extended his awareness along the sword to find
the sa'necari still impaled upon it. The death-eater's hand closed on
Meleajys throat and the other slid into his shirt to jab a deadly spell into
his heart.
"Die, snarled the sa'necari.
Meleajys broke the sa'necari's fingers that gripped his throat.
The sa'necari cried out and poured a tremendous surge of killing power into
Meleajys body.
Meleajys shuddered as the black energy pierced his chest. An animal noise of
pain forced itself between his gritted teeth. A snap of his fingers brought
his throwing knives back into his hand. He drove first one blade and then the
other into the sa'necari's ribs. The power killing him doubled in strength. He
knew then that this was a very old and steeped in death sa'necari.
Abruptly the power vanished and dead weight pulled on his blade. He heard the
lycan sobbing.
"I killed him. I broke his neck."
Meleajys extended his hand, feeling for her. He blinded me. Let me touch
you."
She took his hand. They have my children in the loft.Three of the monsters."
"Let me in your mind so I can use your eyes and I'll rescue them."
"Do it."
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