Free The Champions by Jeremy Laszlo Page B

imagined with a
force this big, discipline must be an issue and fights were bound to be a
problem.
    About two hours before dawn, Tommy rounded a corner and
found a soldier with a neck wound upon the ground. Though the soldier was still
alive, a body in such a state as this could be cause to sound an alarm. He
quickly dragged it back around the corner and stashed it beneath a cart
containing supplies. Tommy smiled; Valdadore’s enemies were trying to kill each
other, and hopefully they would succeed. Done with doing someone else’s dirty
work, he rounded the corner once again as snow began to fall from the sky.
Ahead he saw a large tent with four huge men and two smaller ones standing
guard outside. It was crimson, accented in gold. Tommy would bet anything but
his new body that inside that tent was the king. He changed direction, planning
to circle the tent from behind. Two seconds was all he would need. Just two
seconds alone with King Sigrant and the war would be over.
    Pulling his cowl low again he began to walk out into the
open, trying to look like he belonged.
    *****
    Darting from shadow to shadow, another assassin from
Valdadore moved among the enemy camp. Sharp were his teeth and claws, and thick
was his hide. Moving along on all fours, to anyone else Chad would appear
nothing more than an animal. Though it had taken him much longer to make it
this far into camp, he was surprised to see that both he and Seth’s other
assassin had arrived at the tent belonging to King Sigrant at the same time. He
could not see beneath the man’s cloak, but he could certainly smell it. He had
followed that scent across the entire expanse between the two armies. Unfortunately
for the assassin in that particular cloak, his decision to walk out in the open
had caught the attention of the guards who now spoke amongst themselves.
    Just a few words were passed before the guards rushed to
meet the man in the blue robe. Chad saw his opportunity. Leaving the security
of the shadows he sprinted on all four limbs straight through the front flaps
of the tent. Though the outside had been well lit by torches, the inside was
pitch dark. Hearing no sounds Chad waited a moment for his eyes to adjust to
the darkness as his nostrils were assailed by the scents of blood and perfume.
Something across the tent moved in the darkness.
    Chad’s eyes had not yet focused but he thought that someone
stood. Without the ability to bring weapons with him, he looked to his
surroundings for a weapon of opportunity and, spotting one, he took a step to
the side. Reaching down, with a wiggle and a tug he extracted a wooden stake
from the ground that had been hammered into the soil to pin down the edge of
the tent. Uncertain if his foe had even seen him, Chad leapt through the air
brandishing the foot long piece of sharpened wood.
    *****
    Tommy crossed the path between the two rows of tents, not
daring to look in the direction of the guards whose eyes he could feel upon
him. Even from this distance he could hear them exchange hushed words but he
kept walking. Then the guards gave chase, all six of them leaving their post,
each of them sprinting full ahead to intercept him. Fools. He needed not go
through them, he could just as easily go over them. Smiling, Tommy tore away
his disguise as the guards neared. Crouching low to the ground, as the first
was almost upon him, he drew his twin short swords and leapt with all his
might. In a fraction of a second he plummeted down towards the roof of the tent
belonging to King Sigrant, his swords held out to shear through the fabric as
he descended.
    *****
    Edward could not believe his luck. He had lain his seed
within beautiful woman after beautiful woman for over an hour. Had they not
each filled him with amazing energy and power he would have been exhausted.
Each of them now lay unconscious upon the ground, their hearts slowly pumping a
drizzle of blood out of the two puncture wounds in their necks. He doubted any
of them