Free A Story Of River by Lana Axe Page B

of a nearby
house to have a better look over the crowd. Thinal, sword ready, waited at the
bottom. In the distance, Mel could see what had sent the townspeople fleeing.
Four huge spiders, nearly as tall as he was, were making their way toward
Duana. Behind them, two figures sitting atop wildcats pointed their fingers and
shouted orders at the spiders.
    “Giant spiders!” he yelled down to Thinal.
    “What?” she asked dumbfounded.
    Without replying, Mel began firing arrows
as soon as the spiders were in range. Thinal ran to join the city guard in
their fight against the creatures. Two guards had already been taken down by
webs, and beams of purple light were extending from their struggling forms to
the hooded figures riding the wildcats.
    These were sorcerers, Thinal realized.
Instead of fighting wolfish monsters as she had expected, she was now fighting
giant spiders. Things were definitely getting more and more strange in the
world of men.
    Avoiding the purple beams, Thinal ran
towards one of the spiders. It saw her coming and tossed a web. She dodged,
pirouetting to her right, and was quickly confronted by a second spider.
Bringing her sword down in one quick motion, she removed a leg from the spider.
Pus began spewing from the wound, and she coughed as the stench reached her
nostrils.
    Without missing a step, she swung behind
the stunned creature and brought down another blow on its back. It fell to the
ground under the weight of her sword. Quickly, she positioned herself beside it
and sliced its head from its body. This time the stench was nearly
overwhelming, but she managed to compose herself and carry on.
    She turned to find the spider who had tossed
a web at her lying dead just a few paces away with an arrow sticking out of its
head. While one sorcerer was busy extending a beam towards a third downed
soldier, Thinal took the opportunity to move in closer. She crept towards him,
using the trees as cover. All of a sudden, the wildcat noticed her and roared.
The sorcerer's concentration broke just as she hurled herself from behind a
tree and swung hard with her sword. With a thud, the sorcerer landed hard on
the ground, clutching at his nearly-severed thigh. She finished him off
quickly, before he could cast any more spells.
    An arrow landed in the wildcat's neck and
it reared wildly as blood poured from the artery that had been hit. With its
last strength, it charged toward her, but a second arrow hit the back of its
head and stopped it permanently.
    She caught sight of the second sorcerer,
who had apparently realized he couldn't handle enemies that would fight back.
He turned his wildcat and headed back off into the forest, followed by the
remaining two spiders. In all, five of the city guard had been taken down and
been subjected to the purple light beam of the sorcerers.
    Mel ran to Thinal. “Are you hurt?” he
asked, breathing heavily.
    “I'm just a little dirty,” she replied.
    “Should we go after them?” he asked.
    “I think we should go find Mi'tal. He's
going to want to see these creatures and the sorcerer too. Maybe he's learned
more about what's actually going on here.”
    A crowd had begun to gather around the
site of the attack. Seeing the last of the monsters flee, they had decided to
come and have a better look. Pushing through the crowd was Mi'tal, followed
closely by Loren.
    “Are you two alright?” he asked hastily.
    “We're fine,” Mel said. “What in hell are
these things?”
    “I have no idea,” he replied. “I've never
heard of such a thing, and there have been no previous attacks on Duana.”
    Loren knelt next to a fallen city guard.
He brushed away the webbing and turned the man onto his back. His face was
twisted into an expression of terror and pain. Whispering a prayer, Loren
brushed his hand over the man's face to close his eyes. Next, he observed the
carcass of the slain spider. He looked back at Mi'tal, tears in his eyes.
    “I have never seen such horror,” he