Free Pyramid of Blood (Swords Versus Tanks Book 3) by M Harold Page

plan. "This way," he ordered.
    As they mounted the steps, the rain eased off. A strong sea breeze swept away the muggy air, taking with it the drifting airship.
    The top was strewn with bodies, not just Tolmec warriors bearing the distinctive wounds given by the guns of the Invaders, but also Northman bodies. The ten-man guard Ranulph had left behind had all fallen.
    He paused at Sigurd’s body. The runes on the young Northman’s helmet evidently worked against iron and other metals, but not against glass or stone. Had Ranulph not given the young warrior a knee injury, would he have been able to avoid the axe blow that had split his skull to the teeth?
    Ranulph frowned. They might be barbarians, but they were his barbarians.
    “By Odin!” exclaimed Thorolf. “Our war gear!”
    Equipment lay piled up as if somebody — Jasmine? — had helpfully unloaded all their weapons and armour. Steelcutter lay half-covered by a mailshirt. What would have happened if they had cast it on the ground instead of the pyramid top? Would the Earth King have taken it?
    Ranulph scooped up his ancestral weapon and flourished it. The keen-edged blade swished through the damp air. The grip smacked into his bare hand and he grinned. Things suddenly seemed simpler.
    “Lord!” said Thorolf. He tapped Ranulph’s shoulder. "Look!"
    Ranulph turned to face back down the pyramid’s steps. A dark wave swept up the temple avenue towards them. Lightning flashed and the black glass axeheads of the Tolmec army glittered like a frozen sea.
    "God and steel," said Ranulph.
    "What?" said Thorolf.
    Ranulph raised his voice. "Gentlemen! I suggest you arm with haste." He grinned. "We are about to learn the Will of God."
    #
    Yet another Tolmec warrior charged at Jasmine. The gantry wobbled under her bare feet, turning him into a demonic blur of feathers and scars.
    The axe descended.
    Holding the dagger blade flat against her forearm, Jasmine windmilled the weapon aside. With a roar, she drove the heel of her left hand into the man’s nose. Cartilage crunched and hot fluid splashed her hand.
    Without changing expression, he jabbed with the axe shaft's butt. Screaming, Jasmine parried against the wet skin of his forearms and kneed him in the groin.
    A flicker caught her eye. Her left hand shot out over the wounded man’s shoulder. Her sticky fingers found a wrist and halted the next warrior's attack.
    She shouldered past the first — sending him howling over the rail – and slashed the throat of her new opponent. Hot blood sprayed her bare flesh. "Bastard!" She used the return swing to drive her point into his eye. He sank between the metal rails like a rolled up newspaper crumpling in the humidity.
    Gasping for breath, Jasmine edged away from the corpse. Best to give herself room and turn the dead man into an obstacle for her enemies. She flexed her aching muscles and drew more damp air into her lungs.
    Three more Tolmecs filed onto the wet gantry. Behind them, in the gloom of the airship’s hull, yet more axes glinted.
    "Have courage!" said Wisdom-at-Night, from her perch on the gun turret. "You have already slain… six of the best Tolmec warriors."
    "I’m not afraid," said Jasmine between ragged breaths. She pushed the wet hair back from her brow. "I’m fucked… exhausted, I mean."
    And the next man was on her. She fumbled for her rage, but she was just a naked city girl trapped on a wobbling metal gantry, facing a murderous savage, with nowhere to go but over the rail and down a hundred metres into the jungle below.

 
    CHAPTER NINE
     
    Thousands of Tolmec warriors swirled in the gloom around the base of the pyramid, yelling and chanting so that their voices resounded in Ranulph's chest.
    “There’s only one way up, Lord,” said Thorolf. He gestured at steep steps.
    Ranulph nodded absently. He mopped the sweat from his eyes and let them unfocus so that he saw the pattern of movement, not the individuals. Order rippled across the Tolmec army.