Free The Call by Elí Freysson Page B

and braced for the group which assaulted them.
    The monsters were stronger and the more recent ones were also terribly quick, but the long reach of the spears and axes made up for it to a certain degree, as most of the reanimated monsters were totally unarmed.
    The swordsman was in fact in the greatest peril with his relatively short weapon, and they also seemed to go for him more than his companions. Perhaps it was the smell of blood.
    Serdra had slain her foe and resumed the sprinting when the men killed the first of the grouped monsters and three limbs lay in the grass.
    Meanwhile the man responsible for all of this stood outside of his cabin and watched. He had a fighting staff in one hand and waved the other one in the air as he intoned something incomprehensible.
    One of the axemen took a nasty bite in the leg from a monster he'd struck down, and the swordsman stabbed it. Another monster seized the opportunity to attack him and a spearman protected him by chopping it in the chest. It fell, but he couldn't turn his spear back to the throng of horrors quickly enough and one of them got a grip on the shaft.
    The spear shaft was snapped in two with one blow of a fist and the monster tackled him to the ground. He tried to pull a knife out of his belt but the monster sank its teeth into his throat.
    Katja felt energy gather around the man with the staff, but either it wasn't sufficient or he didn't manage to finish, because Serdra came up behind him and cut him almost in two.
    Something passed through the group of monsters. They reacted as if startled. The men took advantage by decapitating one of them and running through the one which had torn out the spearman's throat.
    Serdra kept running, which was good as the monsters recovered and attacked the men again, now with utter frenzy. The teamwork they'd used before was no more, though. They jostled and got in each other's way in search of victims. The recklessness caused more injuries to both groups, but when Serdra joined the fray, the monsters fell swiftly. She hit the back of the throng like a scythe hitting grass, and when they realized a new foe had arrived it was too late.
    In a few moments Serdra and the men had given the final death blows and then turned their attention to healing.
    Serdra bandaged the swordsman's cheek, who held up pretty well in spite of the nasty wound, and the rest tended one another. There were no life-threatening wounds, as the one with the throat-bite had expired before the battle ended.
    They burnt the monster corpses, buried their comrade, inspected the cabin and then left. The cabin stood empty for a while but the events stayed behind. The anguish, fear and suffering and unclean magic had seeped into the earth and air and stayed there like a bad smell. A smell Katja hadn't noticed until now.
    The smell faded far too slowly. She gradually became aware of the smell of meat and grass, the crackling of the fire, the seat beneath her ass and Serdra's hands on her shoulders. It was nonetheless startling when everything snapped back to the way it was and she sensed only the present.
    She sprang from the chair, staggered for a few moments as her equilibrium returned and then strode back and forth with quick, jerky movements.
    “Easy,” Serdra said, still by the chair.
    Katja walked around hunched with her hands on her head. The vision haunted her. She looked at the spot where the sorcerer had kept his cutting table. She heard piercing screams in her mind. She wanted to flee this horrible place, but where could she go?
    “Easy Katja!” Serdra said more loudly and Katja looked at her. She didn't know what to say or do.
    “Have a seat,” the woman said more gently and pointed at the chair. “I know such things are trying. Take a deep breath and relax.”
    “I... felt it!”
    “I know,” Serdra said, still in that tone Katja hadn't come to expect from her. “I know exactly what you experienced. Sit.”
    Katja staggered back to the chair, mostly