Belly of the Beast Warren Thomas (e novels for free .txt) 📖

her neck, but her hands never went higher than her shoulders. “Tane, please, remove the amulet. It won’t allow me to touch it.”

            Tane felt his skin gooseflesh. If a witch couldn’t touch it, how was a simple man like him going to do it?

            As if reading his mind, “Don’t worry. It’ll have no effect on you since you can’t cast magic.”

            He quickly untied the cord and dropped the amulet into the mud. Joelle stamped on it, driving it deep down.

            “That felt good,” she said. Then, “Let’s go.”

            “I see you still have all of your rings,” he said.

            “They didn’t really do much of a search,” she said. “I doubt it occurred to anyone any of my jewelry was enchanted.”

            “What about Armin?”

            “We’re going after him,” she said, a distracted look to her eyes. “He’s my husband. I can always find him with my magic. He’s not far, and may be in trouble.”

            They hadn’t gone more than a hundred steps when they saw Armin cornered in a clump of burnt pines. Tane could see that half the mercenaries were either dead or wounded. Armin wasn’t going down easily.

            Before Tane could suggest caution, Joelle began chanting and drawing runes in the air. Tane braced himself for some truly horrific blast of fire and rage. But nothing happened, though Joelle seemed pleased, and winded. Then he realized the men threatening Armin were acting distressed.

            Before he realized what was happening, both Joelle and Armin charged the strangely struggling men. Half were dead or dying before Tane realized what Joelle had done. She had frozen the mud they were fighting in. The mercenaries were trapped in frozen mud around their feet and helpless as the Vikon couple cut them down.

            Armin changed the trapped men with his sword, while Joelle called up her bright bow of energy, and started loosing one magic arrow after another into helpless men.

            Suddenly, the surrounding zombies turned their way and surged toward them. Tane cried out a warning, turning toward the Treversax road as they killed the last man. He let them get in front, believing the zombies might hesitate in attacking someone wearing Dakar’s uniform. Of course, he had no intention of allowing any of them to get close enough to test that theory.

            Though the zombies were silent as ever, a general clamor rose up all about them. The camp was coming alive with zombies and free-minded alike. Every face turned their way. Thankfully they were close to where the Treversax road vanished into the forest, but there were still hundreds of zombies between them and safety.

            Twice more, Joelle cast her frozen mud spell. She took out over a hundred zombies and one mercenary like that, but more appeared, traveling faster over the frozen mud.

            “I only have the strength for one more spell like that,” she quietly warned them as they raced for that slit in the woodline where the road vanished.

            She called up her magic bow again, and quickly put down three more mercenaries. The slower zombies didn’t worry them as much. Then they ran straight into another group of zombies, fighting their way through quickly. The carnage reminded him of his first battle.

            Suddenly, Joelle cast her spell again. The last remaining group blocking their escape came to an abrupt halt.

            “Run!” Joelle cried, not waiting for them before she set off.

            Tane felt exaltation building as they neared the trees. The zombies would follow, but the more dangerous mercenaries would be hampered in their pursuit. Horses were no advantage in thick forest. And he was confident they could outrun the zombies.

            Armin cried out a warning as a mercenary stepped out of the trees. He had a bow and arrow ready, aimed straight at Joelle’s heart.

            “Halt!” the mercenary called.

            They stopped. Tane’s first thought was to take the mercenary’s attention off Joelle.

            “I’ll distract him. Split up,” Tane said under his breath. His throat tightened almost too much to speak the next words. “He can only get one of us, at best.”

            Armin and Joelle nodded slightly, their bodies tensing for the coming sprint for safety. Tane noticed Armin prepare to leap in front of his wife.

            “What do we have here?” a woman’s voice called.

            A priestess came charging through the immobilized zombies astride a horse. Tane cursed his luck, his heart sinking. The priestess would have magicks that Joelle couldn’t match. The only good aspect of her arrival was that the zombies halted and waited for orders.

            “Your Grace, these folks were trying to escape the camp,” the mercenary said. Then more proudly, “I stopped them.”

            “Yes you did. Very good job, soldier,” she said, sidling up close to him and slipping out of the saddle.

            She paused, turned to face Tane, and pushed back her hood.

            Raven winked at Tane, and then turned back to the bowman. Tane saw the glint of steel in her hand as she stepped close. The man suddenly tensed, grunting loudly, then slumped to the ground.

            Raven gave her friends a woeful look, “I think he has a back ache, right up through the kidney.”

            As one, Tane, Joelle, and Armin charged the woods. Raven seized the reins of her destrier and followed. They charged through the underbrush until the sound of horses brought them to a stop.

            Raven took to the saddle again, and rode forward to scout out their foes. She was gone so long that Tane began to fear she was dead or captured, when the sounds of horses came to them again. The horses grew closer and closer.

            “Tane! It’s Quinn,” Raven called. “Come on.”

            When the Vikon couple started to surge forward joyfully, Tane reached out and stopped them.

            “Wait. It might be a trap,” he whispered. “I’ll go first. Cover me.”

            They eased forward, Tane some ten paces ahead. Soon enough, he found Raven sitting her bay mare next to a nervous Quinn on a black gelding.