Free 4 City of Strife by William King

blade free. Out of the shadows, a crossbow bolt flashed, striking the Silent Man on his chest. Kormak had seen strong warriors knocked over by the force of such an impact. The giant kept going.
    Three more Oldberg guardsmen raced towards him, spreading out so they could not all be struck at once. The Silent Man picked one and lashed out. The guard tried to parry but his blade was brushed aside as if it was nothing and the full force of the giant’s blow crushed his head like jelly. The two remaining guards took advantage of the distraction. Their blades thunked into the Silent Man with a sound like an axe hitting wood. No blood was drawn.
    One of the guards froze and was reduced to a broken wreck in a heartbeat. The other turned to run and the Silent Man removed his head, the sheer force of the impact tearing it clear from his shoulders.
    The Silent Man stood alone surrounded by bodies. The other attackers, who had done little more than watch him fight, laughed. One of them touched the amulet around his neck nervously. Kormak saw that a similar one hung around the Silent Man’s. Was it a symbol of allegiance or did it have another purpose?
    Kormak raced forward, blade clearing scabbard, and the runes along its length flared to life. One of the attackers turned to face him. Kormak slashed his throat and kept moving, striking at the second infiltrator. His blade cut the man’s leg even as he leapt to one side. The impact sent him sprawling, blood pulling around his wounded calf. There was something familiar about the man’s voice as he cursed, so Kormak did not decapitate him.
    The Silent Man turned to face him. He stank like a week-old cadaver. Kormak plunged his blade into the Silent Man’s chest. His eyes glowed hellishly through the slits in his mask. The scent of burning flesh overpowered that of rotten meat and curdled blood, the smell of a long dead corpse. That, and the glowing runes on his blade, told him his opponent’s frame was suffused with magical energy.
    The Silent Man appeared to feel no pain from Kormak’s attack. The great hammer flashed down. Kormak sprang back, pulling his sword free.
    A whirlwind of blows rained down on him, forcing him to dance backwards. Each strike smashed the ground at his feet, breaking stone, sending chips of granite flying.
    Kormak retreated out the door of the warehouse, back towards the braziers. He knew better than to try and parry those hammer strikes. He had seen what had happened to earlier efforts.
    Normally he would have waited for his foe to tire. Nothing human could have kept up such a relentless onslaught. He knew the Silent Man could.
    Kormak still had Rene’s flask in his free hand. He flicked the stopper off with his thumb and threw the contents over the Silent Man, narrowly avoiding a strike that would have split a cart in two. He circled towards one of the braziers, till he was standing in front of it.
    The Silent Man followed him. Kormak kicked the brazier at the giant. A hammer descended, smashing into the brazier. Blazing charcoal flew everywhere and set light to the alcohol that covered the monster.
    The leaping flames affected it in a way nothing else had. It began to circle in an increasingly panicked way. Kormak leapt forward and struck again. His blade buried itself in the Silent Man’s breast and where it struck flesh sizzled.
    He rained down stroke after stroke, driving the Silent Man back to the edge of the quay. The giant stumbled into the water and sank in the cold depths. Kormak watched for long moments but the Silent Man did not emerge. Nothing living could have held its breath for so long.
    Kormak headed back to the warehouse. The infiltrator he had wounded was still there. Kormak reached down and ripped off his mask. It was Dren.
    Swiftly Kormak bound his wounded leg. “Get out of here,” he told the man. “And when you see Jurgen Krugman tell him to remember our deal. I will meet him in the Cathedral close at noon tomorrow.”
    Dren’s