Free The Tomni'Tai Scroll (Book 1) by Sam Ferguson

here,” Gildar taunted. Kai did not give him the pleasure of a verbal response. He simply let his hatred take over as he advanced closer, striking out with his axe as fast as he could. Gildar’s smile widened as another man emerged from the back room and approached the fight. He wielded a wooden staff with steel ends.
    “This is my friend Arillan.” Gildar smirked as he deflected Kai’s next strike.
    The Ranger felt a small twinge of stupidity. He knew he should have checked the room before engaging in battle, but he had let his rage take over. He knew now that he must use his brains if he wanted to see the next day’s sunlight.
    Kai rushed towards Gildar, but then at the last second he veered off and threw his axe at Arillan. Kai wasn’t quite as good with axes as he was with swords, but his strike still accomplished the goal. The blunt side of the axe-head struck Arillan’s collar bone, crushing it with a resounding crack.
    Kai then leapt back and dodged an onslaught from Gildar in response to Arillan’s injury. Gildar kept swinging at Kai, pushing him farther and farther back towards the pile of furniture at the other door. The Ranger smiled, turned and dashed back to the make-shift barricade and grabbed a large armchair from the pile. He whipped it out at the Kuscan warrior to slow him down. Then he grabbed a small stool from the pile and threw it as well. Gildar caught the stool in the nose and staggered backwards. Kai then grabbed another stool from the pile and rushed forward.
    “Look out!” Arillan yelled from the other side of the room. He was leaning against the wall, using his staff to hold himself up.
    Thanks to the warning, Gildar was able to dodge the second airborne stool. He then kicked the armchair away and resumed his attack. Kai somersaulted forward and to the side, grabbed a sword from the guard he had killed with his mini-crossbow and prepared to square off against Gildar.
    The two of them danced in a circle of death with their blades creating the music that they moved to. The rings of steel filled the room as the two lashed out more and more ferociously. After several abated attempts, Kai was able to land a small gash on Gildar’s left arm. The Kuscan took a step back and roared defiantly.
    Kai winked and took the opportunity to extricate himself from the fight with Gildar in order to finish off Arillan, who was still leaning against the wall. Kai ran with all haste at the man. Gildar growled and started after Kai, but the Ranger was by far the faster of the two.
    Arillan tried to raise his staff to defend himself, but his injury prevented him from effectively lifting the weapon. He shuffled over towards a second window, hoping to stall the Ranger long enough for Gildar to catch up, but it was no use. He never stood a chance. Kai’s sword cut him down faster than a flash of lightning.
    Kai watched Arillan fall to the floor and then he spun around to deal with Gildar. The Ranger’s eyes opened wide as he realized that the Kuscan was already bearing down on him. Gildar rushed him with such force that neither one of them even connected a blow with their swords. Instead, their bodies slammed together hard and the two of them went out through the nearby window. The sound of shattering glass was followed by a hard landing on the ground that took the breath from both of the warriors. They rolled around on the ground helplessly for what seemed like hours until they regained their senses and resumed their furious battle.
    “I will rip you apart and chew upon your spine, you maggot!” Gildar growled in response. The sounds of steel biting steel were rivaled only by the roars emitted by these two warriors as they strived one against the other. Every once in a while a small amount of blood would hit the ground as a sword would make a small but painful gash upon the flesh of one of the fighters. Kai and Gildar seemed evenly matched. Even though the Kuscan was by far stronger and wielded two swords,