Battle Mage: Winter's Edge (70 page)

"Excellent." At
Gerid's look, the older man
amended, "Your training I mean, of course. If those
bandits do come, I think that I'll be standing at your side.
Master Karma has had some training as has his guards,
but I doubt that they've truly been tested in a real battle
either. I'll get Baitram, Jatan, and Mateil to join us.
They've fought before though they were only trained in
the basics before they were sold to the Holteins."

"Do any of the others know how to fight?"

"Not with the sword that I know of."

"Then do you think that we should all stay together or try to lead the others through the attack?"

Leoltus gave him a look that was meant to
express the wisdom of all the overseer's years. With a
shake of his head, he said gravely, "It may seem nobler to
lead them to their probable doom, but we can do more by
staying together. I'll get the others."

As the man went to gather the other men who had become nearly like a family to him here, Gerid
watched as Karma and his men sparred with the slaves in
an effort to show them whatever techniques that they
could. He had avoided them until now, but the giant
arose from the seat he had taken and moved towards the
trio and their students. After a short while of watching
closely, he spoke to Karma as he paused, "You're leaving
yourself wide open."

"What?" the master’s son cried out in annoyance.
With a hand raised to hold back the next student from
approaching, Karma stared at his addresser with a mixture of anger and disbelief that any would dare
second guess him. "What did you say, boy?"

Gerid nearly laughed at the idea of the twenty year olds use of words for him. He answered instead,
"Your shield is too low. If a blow is slashed at your face,
you'll be unable to stop it in time."

Karma's face was darkening swiftly with the red of anger at his insubordination. Gerid quickly realized
that he had forgotten himself. It hadn't been the first
time in his recent life, of course. He just seemed to enjoy
ticking off authority figures with or without intention, especially when it was only inherited and not earned.
Merrick's soldiers had probably at least earned their positions, but not Karma as far as Gerid was concerned. He almost missed Karma's order. "Prove it," the master
said gesturing to a place before him.

"Are you sure, Master Karma? You won't be too
angry with me or embarrassed if I show you this?" the
young slave asked as he remembered his current status.

The master's eyes crinkled with disdain and he
raised his nose slightly as if he had scented something
rotting before him. Karma believed that no common
slave, no matter how large, could possibly have learned
enough to surpass his own skills learned from his father’s
mercenaries. "Now," he ordered again.

Gerid stepped forward already watching the
other man carefully, though he still noted the slave
students all moving slightly away around them. The area went still as the others all drew back and the guards and
their students turned to watch as well. He only half
noticed Leoltus' look of worry as he clapped a hand over
his eyes as if to block the sight though he quickly
lowered it again to watch the event.

Right hand swinging the club half heartedly at
the man's shield, the knife slashed quickly behind only to
be repelled by the sword in Karma's right hand. The
smaller blade danced in a clang from the sword intentionally and counter slashed again towards the
man's throat forcing the master to step back to avoid
being cut.

The club was in movement again and suddenly it
thundered down upon the stout shield. Breath hissed
through Karma's teeth as he gritted them from the
contact. His eyes opened wider trying to adjust to the
strength of the impact as he nearly lost his defense.
Valiantly, the young master countered with his sword to
drive the slashing knife away. Gerid deflected the attack
away easily as he jabbed the club over the lowered shield
just short of Karma's nose and stepped back laughing.

"You see? When you drive in with your sword like
that, your shield dips. These slaves couldn't see the
opening to use it, but someone who does would have slashed your face with a blade. As it is, I could simply
have chosen to club you to death instead."

The sounds of Karma's teeth grinding angrily
could be heard throughout the renewed silence in the

exercise room. Gerid couldn't help himself as he added,
"You might want to consider using a lighter blade as well
by the way. That heavy thing is much slower than the
light sword that I spied inside earlier. You seem to know
how to use a sword well enough otherwise. I think that
you’ll want to use your speed rather than power since you
are only fighting some bandits. How trained can they
be?"

Karma was about to retort when a leather,
armored slave came running into the courtyard in front of
the barracks and training building. "They're here!" he
shouted franticly.

Smoke could be seen rising into the air to the
south of the farm. "They're burning our fields," Karma
snarled. "All right, men, let's go show these animals how
the Holteins deal with Tolmonan mongrels." The young
man strutted off to do battle with his guardsmen to either
side. The slaves all followed after their master as a group
though much less confidently.

Gerid walked along towards the rear of the
defenders with Leoltus, Baitram, Jatan and Mateil. A rush
of nervous tension began to charge him as he readied for
combat. The other men seemed to watch him from either side even as they watched for the enemy to appear. Even
as Gerid noticed that, they seemed to move slightly
closer to him. He figured that his plans for getting
noticed here had definitely come to fruition though perhaps Karma would rather that he could forget him
instead this time. Maybe, Gerid thought, he would have to do something even more drastic in the future. If he didn't
get killed, the slave just might win over the
temperamental young master.

With extra strength set in his stride, Gerid began to move towards the front lines.

"Boy, what are you doing?" Leoltus questioned in
a hiss trying to keep his voice lowered. "Are you planning
suicide?"

Gerid turned a brief glance at the older man with
a tight lipped smile and dangerous eyes. "You others may
want to get back from me now, Leoltus. I plan to draw
enough of the bandits away from the rest of these slaves
that maybe I can keep most of them alive. You can join
me, but maybe you should help the others and lead them
through this. The others aren't warriors at all. They're just
farmers and herdsmen. They will need your leadership
now more than ever."

"You do talk like you're going to the slaughter,
boy. Stick with the plan and we can work together after
the others take the first charge. Are you going to throw
your life away so quickly?" He lowered his voice again
and asked, "What about your Tabitha?"

Gerid ignored him and quickly moved through the
ragged ranks. The slaves noticed him and several
whispered to themselves at his bold gesture. He hoped
that they would even gain a little more strength from his
confident attitude though his own stomach was
beginning to flutter slightly.

As he found his place several feet behind Karma,
they spied their adversaries. Several horsemen in black
with red dyed faces carried torches in one hand and an
upraised sword in the other. They seemed to guide their
mounts with their knees rather than their hands, a hard
trick Gerid noted. Just behind them, a small horde of
similarly adorned men with swords and shields in hand
made their way through the small fires just beginning to
rise around them.

The sight of Karma's force caused the riders to
give voice to blood curdling war cries. Gerid had never
fought a man on horseback before even in practice, but,
instead of holding back, he answered their cries with a
shout and leapt forward. Karma turned and made to
restrain his exuberance, but Gerid dodged his
outstretched arm and was quickly running past the three.

Two horsemen led the way grinning at him.
Hoping to drain the momentum of the charging bandits
and praying that he would survive such an act, Gerid's
mind calculated the moves that would be required as he
ran forward. Ducking beneath their swords and deflecting
one blade with the long knife, Gerid deftly grabbed hold
of the bandit on his right. Using his great strength, he
twisted the man completely off of his mount. Quickly
using both hands, he flung the man far enough to remove
the third rider from his seat with a loud thump and crash
of mail armor. Both men fell to the ground only to have
their companions trample them to death before they
could adjust to those newly fallen.

One horseman's steed tripped as a result and
threw the rider towards Gerid. Lashing out with the long knife, blood sprayed over his hand and legs as he tore a
long, ragged, red trench through the man's torso. Quickly
retrieving his club from where he had dropped it to grab
the rider, Gerid allowed his adrenaline to force the bloody
image of the man from his mind. A righteous rage
consumed him instead in its place as the young man
fought to rid the land of the bandit scourge. He charged
deeper into the enemy ranks without hesitating.

Time nearly stopped for Gerid in the chaos of
battle. His club continued to rise and fall as new
opponents leapt to try and stop this demon unleashed in
their midst. The long knife drew blood by the gallon and
met steel with the power of a normal man's sword until it could no longer sustain its master's fury.

In a red, hazy fog, a sword was found to replace
the knife even as the club too began to come apart in his hand. It was only wood after all and, though Gerid used it
like the mightiest oak to punish the shields and armor
around him, it could not be what it was not. A strong warrior with a stout shield of blackened steel met his
attack in its final moments. Three devastating blows to
the metal and the club exploded into slivers of shrapnel.
The warrior laughed and tried to capitalize on the loss of the weapon. He charged forward with shield raised and
sword readied to strike. Twisting nimbly, Gerid wrenched the defensive metal and thrust it back into the man. The sword was shoved to the side as Gerid swung his blade
decapitating the warrior.

Taking only a second to retrieve the bandit's
sword and to strap the brave shield onto his back, Gerid
surveyed the battle still around him. There were bodies
strewn all around him, but no man stood ready to meet him this time. Instead, the battle had swept to either side
of him. Men screamed to his right where a group of
slaves fought wildly to preserve their lives against a
superior force. The left revealed Karma leading nearly a
dozen men, including Leoltus and the guardsmen. They
were fighting well enough he quickly decided.

With a roar of defiance, the berserker charged to
the aid of the slaves. Even over the clashes of metal and the screams of injured men, the Tolmonan bandits heard
the cry and trembled. Several turned as one group from
the slaves to meet him. He could see fear in most of their
eyes now. As the giant quickly split two men in twain
with the new blade, those who had not been fearful,
became so immediately.

Voran: The Night Guardian

Chapter 1- Guardian

The city, never fully asleep, always imbued with its own sound, quiets momentarily and only the sound of the wind whistling through metal and brick ways stands out. A sliver of the moon gives light in places, but doesn’t penetrate the alleys where monsters prey on the innocent. Stories of wild dogs and coyotes made the news, but it was often a different predator that would not come into the light that was most dangerous.