Free Bloodstone by Karl Edward Wagner Page B

blades and taloned hands that clutched from the parapet. His desperate strength clove a path through, as none could stand before his blade. Behind him another of the soldiers died. Blood streamed from two shallow gashes that he never felt strike. And then they reached the gate pillar--Kane, Banlid, and a last mercenary, who slumped against the stone and slid slowly to the walkway as the Rillyti poison stole his last strength.
    The timeworn obelisk at their backs, before them the amphibian horde was grouping for the final rush. The wall now crawled with Rillyti, bronze weapons poised to reave, bufanoid faces hideous in yellow-fanged grimaces of rage. Their cold, noisome breath seemed to brush against Kane and Banlid like the icy touch of death.
    "We were fools not to turn back!" Banlid groaned. "While we violated their sanctuary, the swamp devils called together their hordes to ensnare us! Kane, we die now as no brave man should ever die!"
    "I still have a last throw of the dice!" snarled Kane defiantly.
    Taking a deliberate stride toward the advancing Rillyti, Kane dramatically extended his left arm--his hand a clenched fist. The batrachian ranks shuffled a step or two closer... then faltered! Croaking among themselves in subdued tones of confusion, the Rillyti suddenly halted.
    Numb in disbelief, Banlid stared with jaw buried in double chin, not daring to guess how long this miracle might last. Initially, the shock was too stunning-some sort of garbled thought suggested that Kane's weaponless defiance had caused their confused hesitation. But a moment passed, and Banlid followed the gaze of those many bufanoid eyes.
    He saw the massive bloodstone ring that blazed like a great inhuman eye upon Kane's fist and observed how the darting rays of the sun shone upon the gem, made the bloodstone glow like a living flame. He felt the sudden hush of awe that fell over the vengeful army of swamp creatures and sensed for himself the aura of unthinkable power that pulsed within the ring.
    Like a scythe, this incredible reversal of mood passed through those Rillyti gathered about them and stilled their blood-mad roars, the murderous rush upon the wall. As knowledge spread among them, the batrachians fell into uncertain milling, their excited croaking softened under some indefinable emotion... was it dread? The sudden silence that crept over the beleaguered wall was eerie with the dying echoes of battle.
    A specter in the macabre tableau, Kane took a slow step forward. A lifetime reached across the completion of that stride! And to Banlid's already overtaxed mind came another miracle beyond belief, transcending all hope. The foremost Rillyti moved back a step!
    Another step. Now more of the creatures recoiled. By Shenan... they were retreating!
    Deliberately Kane stalked toward them, fist extended so that all could behold the bloodstone ring. Reluctantly, inexorably as the ebbing tide, the Rillyti retreated before him, slunk back along the wall, stole down the stairway. Some broke for the swamp and disappeared into Kranor-Rill carrying news of unimaginable portent to their tribes. The major part of their number drifted back along the streets and into empty doorways, to watch intently from the shadows. It was not truly a retreat, Banlid realized, but something different--an aura of ominous expectancy. Their harsh croaking--surely a rude language--imparted a further sense of waiting... of reverence... of fear... Why?
    "I understand now why you scrambled like a madman to regain that ring," whispered Banlid, following uncertainly in Kane's shadow. "Is it some sorcerer's ring of power? What enchantment drives them back?"
    Kane's face was transfigured in a storm of emotion. "The ring has no power yet--at least, I don't think so!" His voice was cracked, still shaken with unbearable tension. The nightmarish sequence of events had overstrained even his iron nerve, so that he dropped his normal veiled manner. "The Rillyti know this ring--they