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

left, I’ll go right.”
    “You should stay in cover,” said the Northman.
    “Would you like to make me?” said Ranulph.
    Osmund grunted. He told off four men to follow Ranulph.
    The rain of javelins petered out. A final solitary missile cracked on the slabs, bounced then clattered to a rest.
    Ranulph launched himself upright, “Come on!”
    Feathered headdresses appeared over the edge, then dozens of Tolmec warriors sprang onto the summit, obsidian headed axes clutched in both hands.
    Whirling Steelcutter, Ranulph hurled himself into their midst.
    A tattooed warrior saw the incoming blade, blocked with the staff of his weapon.
    Ranulph flicked Steelcutter up then down, sheared through the shoulder to the ribs.
    A movement flickered to his right.
    He pivoted away, whipped Steelcutter back up over his head.
    An glass-headed axe swept past.
    Before the new enemy could launch the return swing, Ranulph threw in a cut to his arms. The edge glanced off bone, bit flesh. Muscle flapped and glistened.
    Ranulph kicked the dying man over the edge.
    Around him, Northmen trusted their mail and cut down smaller warriors or simply used their shields to shove them off the platform. However, for every Tolmec they dispatched, two more clambered over the edge.
    Ranulph glanced about. One of his men lay unmoving. However, nobody had yet attacked Thorolf’s shieldwall guarding the top of the stairs. Beyond them, Osmund and his Northmen struggled with their own Tolmec assault. Already two men were down.
    A warrior slipped past a Northman and came at Ranulph, thrusting his axe like a spear.
    Ranulph skipped to the side, flicked Steelcutter into the man’s hands then - with a step - up into his throat. The head spun off, shedding blood and feathers into the cloying air.
    Three Tolmecs leapt forward to take his place and Ranulph knew that this wasn’t going to work for much longer. He picked out the double-skull standard rising from the press of warriors on the level below and grinned.
    The three Tolmecs edged forward, spreading out. No fools these.
    Ranulph threw a straight cut at the middle one, pivoting with the attack so as to put his weight into it. The blade struck the warrior in the forehead, clove the skull to the teeth.
    Ranulph flicked Steelcutter free, stepped on the corpse and bounded toward the edge of the platform. “Follow me!”
    #
    The axe sliced towards Jasmine's naked shoulder.
    She flinched away. The tip of the volcanic glass slashed her upper arm. Her own blood splashed the crook of her elbow. Wisdom-at-Night screamed.
    The Tolmec brought the axe up in a vicious backswing.
    Jasmine jumped out of range. Her back slapped into the wet gun turret. She had no rage left, and now she had no retreat either.
    The Tolmec grinned, raised his axe-
    -and of its own accord, Jasmine’s left hand shot out and jammed her palm into his elbow. She pivoted forward, tearing her skin free of the Flexiglass, and rammed the dagger into his tattooed belly. Her nostrils filled with the shit-stench of spilled innards. The man screamed in her face. Then the light went from his eyes and he slumped against her, pressing his warm dead flesh to hers.
    For the first time Jasmine Klimt — veteran of a hundred engagements – had killed in cold blood.
    Another axe whistled through the damp air, and there was no time to think. Jasmine shouldered inside the cut, sliced a throat, stepped over a body, then another, wading further and further into a murderous, bloody calm. Each axe stroke was preordained, each slash and stab of her dagger as inevitable as her love for Ranulph.
    She ducked through the hatch and into the blistering gloom of the airship’s hull.
    The Tolmecs broke and ran down the steps.
    Jasmine followed after. As she reached the catwalk, they rallied and rushed her, two abreast, axe-heads just short of the gasbags.
    The calm gave way to a terrible joy. It blazed like a burning fuel dump, but served only to drive the controlled, precise