Delver Magic Book VII: Altered Messages (33 page)

While Ryson was gifted with the stamina of a delver, there was a limit to Sy's endurance. Unfortunately, there was nothing Ryson could do. If he intervened, Sy would have no chance whatsoever. All he could do was wait and hope his friend found some inner strength that would see him through to the end.

Completely on his own and surrounded by the hostile horde, Sy relied on all of his experience and training. He shut out the mass of goblins around him and buried his emotions. He focused on one battle at a time and quickly developed a strategy to deal with the seven foes that utilized a more restrained pattern of attack.

Sy allowed the goblins to control the flow of movement, but only initially, for they were giving him the room he needed. While the goblins slowly circled, he moved with them as they tried to place him in the center of the clearing where they could spread out and hopefully force him into an error.

The captain was more than willing to give ground, but he had no intention of allowing his assailants any advantage. When he reached the middle of the open space in the midst of the goblin throng, he switched tactics and became the immediate aggressor.

With one fluid motion, he tossed his long knife toward the goblin in front of him and then rushed directly at the creature to its immediate right. The knife blade plunged into the goblin just above its metal chest guard and sunk deep into the monster's flesh.

Before the stricken creature fell to the ground, the captain was upon the second goblin. He sliced quickly at the beast's throat with his saber and grabbed its arm with his free hand. Sy slipped around the diminutive monster's left side and his fingers slid down the goblin's arm until he had a firm grip of the hand that still held the short sword.

Pushing the slumping creature forward before it collapsed, he used the dying goblin's sword to skewer a third victim. He threw the body on top of the mortally wounded fiend to keep it from thrashing at him in its death throes.

With the number of his enemies down to four, Sy regrouped. Holding just his saber, he carefully stepped to his left and managed to maneuver the remaining goblins into yet another line. Once again, he attacked from the far end and went through them swiftly without allowing them to outflank him. Before the last goblin fell, the captain jerked the short sword out of its hands.

Sy took one deep breath and moved back to the center of the clearing to await the next wave of attackers. As the corpses were cleared, he wondered if Okyiq would increase the number again or keep it at seven. The captain believed he could handle about a dozen at one time and survive. More than that, and he was probably finished.

Okyiq, however, focused on something other than the number of goblins.

"Get rid of goblin sword," the huge beast demanded of the captain.

"Why?"

"Not your weapon."

"It is now."

"You can't steal weapons."

"Then give me back my knife."

"You threw it away."

"I threw it because I knew I could take a sword. I wouldn't give up one without knowing I could get another."

"You cheat."

"Seems to me you're the one making up rules."

A shadow of anger and malice crossed the massive goblin's round face. Okyiq didn't mind losing goblins in what he viewed as entertainment, but he had no desire to be belittled by the impudent human. To make his point, he delivered a mental command to a goblin holding a crossbow.

Sy heard the twang of the bowstring behind him and then felt a flash of pain in the back of his thigh. A metal bolt plunged deep into his flesh. It almost broke clean through his leg but a jagged edge near the end of the metal rod ripped against his bone and brought it to a halt still inside his thigh. He screamed in agony as he dropped both weapons and grabbed his leg.

Realizing that Okyiq had ordered the bow strike, Ryson jumped to his feet and prepared to race down the side of the building. He would do whatever was necessary to save his friend, but just as he moved to the edge of the roof, he heard Okyiq call out.

"Hold, delver! That was one bow. Leave that building and they all fire. He still has a chance."

Sy called out immediately after.

"Ryson! Do not try and save me! I don't want you to die because of me, and I don't want to die because of you. One way or the other, this is
my
fight! Not yours! I mean it."

The delver remained standing at the roof's edge. He could be seen by anyone that looked in his direction. He saw Sy glance over toward him. His delver eyes were sharp enough to see the captain's expression. Beyond the pain and anger, there was a will to survive. Sy's eyes burned with it.

Sy bit down on his lip as he bent low to retrieve his saber and the short sword. He left the metal bolt sticking out of his leg as he straightened up with another grunt of pain. He forgot about the delver and placed his full attention on the goblin leader.

"You want to talk about cheating?" the captain growled. "Your bargain didn't include anything about being wounded. I doubt you had an arrow sticking out of your leg when you killed your goblins. Seems like you broke your own deal."

Okyiq would not accept the accusation.

"You wanted to cheat, so I got to cheat."

"So I have to pay for the short sword with a bolt in my leg?" Sy hissed, swallowing hard against the pain that continued to radiate from his wound. "Fine. You told the delver I still had a chance. I'm holding on to this short sword."

"You can now. That's why I had you shot. Everything even now."

"Maybe in your mind."

"That's all that counts."

"Like I said, that's just fine. You ready to send more at me?"

Sy wasn't only determined to survive, he was determined to win, to defeat Okyiq in front of his own horde. His anger grew with each heartbeat and his rage allowed him to forget about the pain shooting up and down his leg. Rather than bury his emotion, he allowed it to flourish. He placed equal weight on both legs in a display of pure defiance. He wanted to show every goblin that nothing would slow him.

The challenge continued. Wave after wave of goblins rushed him. Some tried to overwhelm him with pure hostility, others tried to outmaneuver him. They all failed. A few times their numbers reached ten, but never more than that, and even ten could not find a way to pierce the captain's defenses.

Even with labored breath, Sy fought on. He allowed his emotions to beat away the growing fatigue, but he did not allow his rage to turn into carelessness. He continued to rely on all of his experience and never made a single rash mistake. His passions, skills, instincts and strength—both physical and mental—came together in a display of pure tenacity.

After defeating yet another pack, he checked his weapons and his wound. The edge of the short sword had dulled to the point of becoming more of a cudgel than a blade. His saber was almost as useless. His left leg was essentially numb as blood continued to pulse out of the hole created by the metal bolt that remained imbedded in his flesh. He had lost count of how many goblins he had decimated. They came at him in so many varying waves he couldn't afford the effort to keep track.

"So how many is that?" Sy demanded of the goblin leader. "You going to tell me you killed more than that?"

"I have," Okyiq snarled.

"I bet. My guess is you're just going to keep throwing goblins at me until I'm dead."

"No, I keep my promises. Promised I would release you if you killed same amount. You still have twenty to go."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because I had their fingers, remember? Serps counted them out for me when I left message for you and stupid delver. You have twenty to go. Kill them all and you go free. That's my promise."

Sy actually smiled. He believed he could do it. He figured Okyiq would send two waves of ten at him. He was exhausted, but to survive, he had enough in him to win two more battles. He set his feet and readied his blades.

All twenty goblins came at him at once. They came from every direction and not one hesitated for an instant. They rushed him with their swords slicing in short controlled thrusts, and they shrieked with insane fury.

Sy couldn't leap over them. There were too many. Any jump would land him on top of the incoming swarm and he would be forced to the ground. In one desperate attempt, he dove low and cut out the legs of two goblins at the forefront of the assault. He pushed their bodies back into the quickly encroaching mass, but as he did, three struck him from behind. One was lucky enough to slice his already wounded leg. It would no longer support his weight. He tipped to one side, completely lost his balance, and fell over into the vicious pack.

After but a few moments, Okyiq commanded the goblins to halt their savage attack. He walked over to Burbon's captain of the guard who was lying face down in the mud created from blood. The massive goblin rolled his victim over with one quick thrust of his foot. He watched with satisfaction as Sy's eyes rolled back and his chest deflated with his last breath.

The horde of goblins erupted with a ghastly cheer and began dancing and leaping for joy in the streets of Burbon. They viewed the death of the captain as an end to stubborn human resistance against their insatiable desires. They had won.

"Nice show," Okyiq grinned, and then he disregarded his enemy as if the dead soldier was no longer worth his attention. "Throw the carcass to the shags. They're getting hungry."

Ryson stood stunned upon the rooftop. Even as several goblins dragged Sy's body toward a group of hungry shags, he could not believe his friend was dead. He wondered if he was hallucinating, if a serp somewhere in the distance had somehow taken over his thoughts, made him see a mirage. It was unreal... unacceptable.

Deep in the back of his mind, Ryson had come to believe that Sy was basically invulnerable... that nothing could ever harm him. Despite the magic that seemed to change all the rules, Sy had always found a way to rise above it. The delver viewed the town captain as an unwavering constant in a land turned sideways by an energy that so few could truly understand. And he knew he wasn't alone. Ryson believed that every citizen in Burbon came to accept the very same thing.

Sy maintained order even when such a task was nearly impossible. When monsters came crawling out of the woods, the captain kept the people safe. When magic casters caused havoc with powerful spells, he brought calm back to a frightened town. When deadly creatures flew across the sky, Sy refused to allow panic to overtake Burbon's citizens. The people that wanted order in their lives—demanded it during a time of sheer chaos—could look to their captain and find strength and stability. It just seemed as if Sy would be in charge of Burbon forever, and he would always ensure its safety.

Sy Fenden was Burbon.

But Sy was dead, and Burbon was in the hands of a terrible horde. Control was lost. Sanity was gone. Turmoil and brutality ruled, and it took the form of one massive goblin and his army of terrors.

Everything moved in slow motion as Ryson tried to make sense of it all. When it finally sunk in, when he truly came to understand the magnitude of what had happened, the delver realized just how vulnerable they all were, even the strongest... or the fastest. The staggering reality went beyond enormous spiders, hairy beasts, or a horde of fiends. The line between life and death was no more than a thin curtain, a wisp of near nothingness that could be blown apart in a single moment.

Ryson had dealt with death before, and on many occasions. He had lost close friends, saw them die in battle. A break would cut across his heart, form a hole that would never completely close. Another such hole opened for Sy, but this fissure created greater consequences. The bitter loss reached up into his understanding of life itself and forced him to accept a new reality, one where there were no safe havens, no places to hide from the inevitable and painful truths.

If Sy could be killed, then so could they all. Everyone close to him would eventually die. One day, perhaps that day, his existence upon the land would come to an end as well. Upon a rooftop in Burbon, Ryson came to full grips with mortality.

Accepting that fact didn't chase away the horror of what he witnessed. Sy's death would continue to haunt him, cause him unyielding pain, but he had to face the reality of what stood before him. He was in the center of a town filled with beasts capable of unspeakable acts, and he was alone.

The thought of his mortality didn't frighten him, but it changed his perception as he looked down upon the horde of monsters that were more than willing to bring him to a hasty demise. In a state of pure defiance, he decided he wouldn't allow it. He wouldn't give Okyiq the satisfaction of another victory... another death.

He recalled everything Linda had said to him just before she left for Connel. He remembered how she said she was more worried about the soldiers than she was over her own husband, in essence because they were human while he was a delver. The goblins, the shags, even the hook hawks; they could only hurt him if he let them. If he didn't want them to, they could never touch him.

Ryson gave one last thought to Sy. He would have loved to avenge the captain's death and save Burbon. He would vow to do so, swear that his home would not become a permanent shelter for such despicable creatures, but not at that moment, not when he could just as easily be killed. Justice would come on another day. For that moment, the delver needed to survive, and for that to happen, he needed to move.