Free The Pinnacle Of Empire (Book 6) by C. Craig Coleman

breaking from the gash in the mountains. There were soldiers and a slender man in long robes whose runes clearly identified him as a wizard. Then a colossal, lion-like beast broke through the trees, snapping at the soldiers’ rear. The beast, eyes blazing, stopped short and roared at the wizard. The sorcerer thrust his staff at the foodoo. A blue wizard-fire bolt shot into the creature’s right front leg. The creature jumped straight up like a nimble cat, his mane fluffing in all directions. He bellowed a great roar as smoke rose from the wound. The foodoo looked over the escort and those waiting by the river to join them before growling another threat, then disappeared back into the forest with a single leap.
    “That was a foodoo, I presume,” the emissary said. From the look on the captain’s pale face, he knew his own countenance betrayed his terror at the sight of such a beast.
    The captain too was shaken. He kept his eyes on where the beast had disappeared. “Yes.”
    The escorts rode up to the emissary’s party, grinning at the reaction of the imperial party.
    “We seek an audience with His Majesty, King Nindax. We come in the name of Emperor Saxthor.”
    “Yes, our sources told us of your coming,” the Senoshesvasian leader said. “If you’re ready to ride, we’ll proceed back through the Abysmal Pass. It’s the time of year when the foodoo are breeding and particularly aggressive. We must move fast. The brutes are aware of us now. They’ll be gathering along the river trail to ambush us.”
    His brow beaded with sweat, the envoy swallowed. “Yes, of course, lead on.”
    “Put back your sword, Captain,” the escort commander ordered. “Your men must not attempt to harm the foodoo or the flinik. The wizard here will protect us, but you must stay close together. Any stragglers are likely to disappear. I repeat; you must not attempt to attack or anger the guardians of the pass. They’ll toy with us and try to pick off a laggard here and there. If you harm one of them, all the foodoo and the flinik will come together as one, overrun us, and leave no one alive.”
    “They know and allow you to pass?”
    “They recognize a wizard. Even so, they’ll test his powers, but not too far, so long as he only stings them and keeps them at bay. More aggression and they will overwhelm us.”
    The emissary nodded understanding and the Neuyokkasinian captain smacked his fist against his breastplate in acknowledgement.
    “Are there many of them?” the emissary asked.
    “More than enough to slaughter an army,” the escort commander said, grinning. He turned his mount back toward the thicket. His men rode along beside the Neuyokkasinian party, encircling them and as they entered the forest.
    Once the thicket tapered off in the dark shadows of the mountain cliffs, the emissary saw the great foodoo male that had pursued the escorts. He stood watch on a rocky outcrop overlooking the river. A slightly smaller female joined the foodoo male on the outcrop. The two of them followed the men’s movements like a cat a mouse.
    Suddenly, a cracking sound broke the solitude above the river gorge. The emissary felt his hair stand on end. A blue wizard-fire bolt shot skyward, killing a vulture soaring overhead. The bird spun toward earth. The female foodoo leaped and snatched it as it fell, taking her prize back into the rocky cliffs. The great male held his position on the outcrop, following the men’s every movement.
    “The buzzard was a placating gift to the foodoo and to remind the guardian that the wizard is powerful and not to be tested,” the escort captain whispered to the emissary. A puff of feathers flew out from a rocky ledge. They heard bones crunch, but no other sounds interfered with the intense gurgling of the river rapids.
    They rode a bit further when, suddenly, a huge, shaggy head thrust up out of the river. A boney-plated tail of a four foot sturgeon flapped in its mouth. Standing in the river, the foodoo