Free Broken Mage by D.W. Jackson Page A

loudly and made his own
charge.
    Thad used his speed to his advantage
darting around the slow-moving metal creature. Each attack landed
but he only achieved in cutting small nicks in the monster’s
natural armor. Seeing his attack doing little damage Thad lent some
of his own magical force to the sword. His new method was met with
marginal success as his sword began to bite deeper.
    The monster was getting more aggravated
with each blow. It increased the speed of its movements but was
still having trouble keeping up with Thad’s frantic pace. While the
monster seemed to have boundless energy Thad was tiring
fast.
    The monster finally was able to catch
up with Thad’s slowing movements and caught Thad with a vicious
strike to his side. Thad was knocked in to the air and landed hard
on his back. Before he could climb to his feet the monster was on
him. Thad put up his sword to block the impending overhead attack.
When the monsters arms met with his sword the blade snapped off
causing an explosion from the broken link tossing both Thad and the
monster across the cavern.
    His head spinning Thad looked down at
his right hand, his vision slightly off as if his left eye was
closed. He let out a sigh of relief to see that it was still
attached to his arm along with all his fingers. His left army hurt
badly and Thad knew if it wasn’t broken it was still in bad shape.
He couldn’t see any sign of bone sticking from the skin so he hoped
it was just badly bruised or dislocated.
    When he was thrown his pack had been
slung off his back and now the contents within had been tossed
about the cavern. His food, gems, metal, and most importantly his
sending box now lay scattered about.
    Getting unsteadily to his feet Thad
pulled the only weapon he had left from its scabbard. The weapon
felt off in his left hand but he was left with little choice. He
wasn’t sure what good the blade would do but it was better than
trying to block the creature’s blows with his bare hand.
    The sword had once belonged to a thug
in the capital who had set upon him along with a gang of others in
an attempt to rob him. The sword wasn’t magicalyl strengthened or
enchanted to have a keen blade like his other, though it wasn’t
from a lack of trying on his part. The sword refused to allow any
magic to affect it. In fact it cut through magic the same way a
normal sword cut through flesh.
    With his sword in hand Thad backed up
bracing himself against the cave wall and looked around for his
enemy. It didn’t take him long to find the hulking monstrosity. It
was still on the ground getting slowly to its feet. Its right arm
was gone from the elbow down. The sight that the beast could be
injured brought new hope to Thad. Now if only he had another ten
magical swords to break upon the thing. What he wouldn’t do for one
of the glass spheres at the moment.
    As soon as the metal creature got to
its feet it began to lumber straight toward Thad unmindful of the
rock dog that nipped at its heels. Thad watched in horror as the
monster’s foot came down on the sending box that had the
unfortunate luck to be in the beast’s path.
    Anger flared through Thad’s body. The
beast had taken away his one link to the outside world. With a
feral scream Thad launched himself at the monster. The sword bit
deep scoring a thick cut on the monster’s outstretched
arm.
    The creature let out a massive howl and
backed a step away from Thad. At the same time Thad looked down at
the sword as if it had betrayed him. He didn’t understand why it
had succeeded where his own had failed miserably. As he thought
about it something occurred to him. Quickly while the monster was
giving him a chance Thad looked over the creature with his magical
sight. Thad had only held his magical sight for a moment but he was
sure that the creature was much like Avalanche. Its base
construction was magical in origin.
    Knowing he now had an effective weapon
Thad attacked the monster with new vigor. Giving every