Battle for Peruna by Josiah Boss (beach books .TXT) 📖

before Garth and the minotaur met, Skandar heard another grunt and turned around in time to see another minotaur coming straight for him. He took a step backwards, crouched like he’d been taught, then sprang into action. He jumped nimbly two steps forward, blocked one blow, then charged sending his sword up to the hilt into the left side of the Minotaur's gut cavity. With one swift motion, Skandar jerked the sword around in a hundred and eighty degree arc to the right side of the gut cavity, then he jerked the sword back out. The minotaur let out a bellow that shook the ground, staggered a couple of steps forward, and crashed to the ground on his back, his guts lying in a heap beside him. His breath came in ragged gasps as Skandar’s sword crashed down through his chest cavity into his lungs and through his heart. He looked up in time to see another minotaur almost on top of him.
Garth's fight was going differently. When he had charged, he had waited till the last moment, then had sidestepped causing the minotaur to miss and lose his balance. Garth immediately then went to stab him in the back with both swords only to find that the minotaur had recovered and was already facing him, ready for his next move. He was caught off guard, but only for a second. They circled each other warily as if fighting in an arena. They heard a crash behind them, and the minotaur halted to see what had happened. In that second, Garth lunged. The minotaur jerked his arm up just then, and the sword went through his thigh. Just then Garth brought his second short sword into the picture, which forced the minotaur to give ground.
Garth backed up and charged again. This time he jumped the minotaur, who whirled around to face him as he came in the second time. He backed off for a second running jump, but this time swerved around the minotaur. As he swerved, he dragged his sword out and off to the side of him which left a huge gaping gash in the Minotaur's side. A third time Garth backed off and jumped. This time while he was still in the air, he twirled around and used his weight to drive his swords to the hilt into the minotaur. Just then a second crash was heard from Skandar's direction, as the minotaur who he had been fighting fell dead as well.
Garth whirled around to help Skandar, only to find him leaning on his sword for support, breathing hard. Blood ran down from a cut on his forehead, just above his eye. No minotaurs were in sight though he could hear one or two making off at top speed. He went over to Skandar.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, I'll be fine once I recover.”
“That was some fighting you did.”
“It wasn't very good.”
“Yeah, it was. Look you got two; I only got one.”
“All I did was throw caution to the wind and dive headlong into it swinging with all my strength.”
“You did pretty good. You gutted the first and beheaded the second. Pretty good if you ask me.”
“You just had a harder one.” Just then a rustle was heard in the bushes.
“Did you hear that?” whispered Garth, motioning towards the bushes. “I was pretty sure that I heard something.” The sound came again. Garth kept his long sword at the ready as he stole forward with Skandar behind him. There on the ground, bound and gagged, lay a young centaur. He was kicking at the brush to get their attention.
Garth immediately strode over and cut his bonds, while Skandar cut off the gag. Then they helped him to his feet. He stood slightly trembling, his face chalk white.
“What's your name?” Garth kindly laid a hand on the boy's shoulder and sheathed his sword.
“Fletcher. Who are you?”
Garth motioned to Skandar. “He's Skandar, and I'm called Garth.”
Fletcher looked askance at Skandar. “He's only got two legs!”
“Yep, he’s what you call a human. From their waist up they’re like us, but below the waist is different. Where'd you live, Fletcher? Can you take us there?”
“Yeah, but it'll be dark till we get there.”
“Oh well. We'll defend—you lead, okay?”
“Okay.”
After retrieving and cleaning their swords, they went off together into the forest.
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The door to Grunwick’s office crashed open for the second time that evening. He looked up, annoyed. “What is it now?”
It was Thorn-butt, and he was bleeding badly. He had a gash in his side, and there was blood flowing like a river from two wounds on his back.
“Human...centaur...killed two minotaurs...almost killed me...” he stopped, his breath coming in ragged gasps as he spoke. Suddenly he groaned, his knees buckled underneath him and he crashed to the floor, dead. Grunwick stared.
“Soldiers! Get Thorn-butt out of here—he's staining the floor with his blood. Gandolf, come here at once!” Gandolf soon appeared. “That human and centaur just killed three of our guys. You are going to go after them with four others. Got it?”
“Okay.” Gandolf reluctantly turned and went.
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“Where is he?” Leigha was worried sick about thirteen year old Fletcher. He had gone hunting that morning, and now it was dark; he still hadn't returned.
“There's nothing we can do, but pray about it,” said Chance from the corner, where he was stringing a bow he had just made. “You know what our saying is, 'If they're out after dark, then they're good as dead'.”
Seven year old Skye sat over in the corner, nervously playing with a doll and listening to her parents as they talked. She grew wide-eyed with worry when she heard them say that Fletcher might be dead.
Just then a knock sounded on the door. Chance fitted an arrow to his bowstring as he cautiously opened the door. “Who's there?” he demanded.
Three figures stepped out of the darkness into the lantern light. Two centaurs and a...Chance racked his brain. He'd seen one of these before when he was Skye's age. A human!--that's what it was!
The first centaur stepped into the light. He nearly let go of his arrow in surprise when he saw that it was Fletcher safe and sound with neither bow nor game. He went over and hugged him, then sent him inside. A ringing of metal sounded as the second centaur stepped out. He marched up to Chance, saluted him with his sword, then stuck the sword straight up in the ground between them. Chance remembered his dad saying that that was the peace and friendship sign between centaurs.
“The name's Garth,” said the centaur, “and you must be Fletcher's dad?”
“Yep, sure am. Uh...just out of curiosity—who's your dad?”
“Garnock. You should've heard about him as he's king.”
“Yeah, I've heard the name before from my dad.”
“Why haven't you heard it? Aren't we in Peruna?”
From the doorway, Leigha gasped. Chance stared. “Did I hear right? Did you say 'Peruna'?”
“Yeah,” replied Garth slowly, looking from Chance to Leigha then back to Chance. “What's so strange about Peruna?”
“Nothing, it's just that we haven't heard that name spoken in years. We were beginning to think that it was just some made up place we'd imagined growing up in.”
“What do you mean 'imagined'? It's as real as I am standing here talking to you. It's where I grew up and happen to live. What? Aren't we still in Peruna?”
“No, somehow you crossed over. This is a whole new world other than Peruna. It's one run by minotaurs and is called Marteldom.” Now it was Garth and Skandar's turn to stare at Chance.
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Grunwick suddenly bolted upright into the chair he had been slumped in. He stared intently as if to make sure his eyes weren't deceiving him. He had been writing down the problems of the day in his journal, when all of a sudden, this writing appeared:
Look in book 145, page 59, third paragraph.
Grunwick immediately set down his journal and went over to his bookcase. He went through the books looking for book 145. If he remembered right it was a book of prophecies of which all of them except the last one-which was on page 59, third paragraph-had been fulfilled. There in plain writing was the last prophecy.
When a centaur and a human appear, then are the end times, then will Marteldom be destroyed in fire and water. The fountains of the deep will break open and the ground will shake with great earthquakes. The heavens will open and the moon and stars will come down. When a centaur and human appear—time will be no more. ~Grunwick I.
His dad had penned these very words, knowing that whatever he wrote would happen. Grunwick shook with fear, sweat matting his fur. He called his counselors together for a quick meeting.
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That night Garth woke up. He'd had a vision of the tower they'd been in exploding. He was sweating. He felt like he was being called to do it. He silently rolled out of bed and woke up Skandar and Chance to tell them about it. Skandar decided to stay and help get the others ready while Chance and Garth went on the mission. Chance knew a shortcut, and they were soon there.
Upon arrival, Garth unlocked the door. They entered and went to the library after looking through the door. Garth pulled down a book and started thumbing through it's pages.
“Ah-ha! It's as I thought!”
“What?” asked Chance.
“Look here! It says that each of these bricks in this tower has black sand in it. Upon touching fire to this sand it will explode. You know what we have to do?” He looked at Chance, who nodded grimly.
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For the third time that day, Grunwick was rudely interrupted. This time one of the scouts came in. “Majesty, I know where the human and centaur live. There are four other centaurs there as well.”
Grunwick leaped to his feet. “They won't get away this time. Follow me!” he bellowed. Then, using the scout as guide, they set off through the forest.
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“All set?” asked Garth, holding a flaming piece of bark above the trail of black sand. The sand trail ran for two hundred yards to the castle. It ended in a little hole that they had filled with black sand under the wall. Chance nodded; Garth dropped the block; they both wheeled about and ran at top speed through the forest.
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“There it is!” said the scout, pointing to a clearing in which a little hut stood. “You'd never have seen this clearing, unless you were looking for it.”
“You're right,” agreed Grunwick. “All right, guys—arms at the ready? Good! Now....Charge!”
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“They're coming...get ready, and....shoot!” The twang of bowstrings filled the cabin as the four shot and reloaded as fast as they could. No shot missed. Even Skye was almost better than Skandar. It seemed like an eternity—though it may have been only two or three minutes, and they saw the minotaurs fall back.
Skandar groaned and held his shooting arm. “This is why I chose to be a guard, and not an archer.” The others laughed, tensely. “At the ready—they're regrouping.” Everybody knocked another arrow. “Aim at chests and necks; only shoot when you're sure of your shot.” The others nodded grimly.
The minotaurs charged again. “Wait till you see the whites of their eyes,” came Skandar's command. Suddenly a loud roar filled the air, followed by a thundering boom! The ground tilted and swayed crazily. Skandar saw the minotaurs falling like dominoes when his own feet were knocked out from under him.
The room tilted at a forty-five degree angle, sweeping all the furniture to one side. Skye screamed as she grabbed onto nicks in the floor to keep