Rojuun (4 page)

Tathan grabbed his sword by the sheath and
headed toward the open door. “What do they look like?”

She answered as they walked. “Father said
they look dangerous. They have tattoos, spears and dark skin.”

“That’s not good. They sound like tribal
warriors and there shouldn’t be warriors here.” He picked up his
pace and leaped down the last few stairs. With a few bounds, he was
through the main door of the house.

Ellin and Sherrie were standing on the front
porch as Tathan passed them by. Liselle joined them. Scott had his
pitchfork, waiting for the warriors to meet him while Laremy stood
with his bow a short distance behind. Tathan moved to the left of
Scott, loosening his sword in the sheath. Instincts told him this
was not going to go well.

The sun was just over the mountaintops in
the west, turning the bottoms of spent thunderheads in the sky a
reddish hue. He could see that it must have rained while he slept.
The grass was damp and the air smelled wonderful in contrast to the
danger in front of them. As Tathan studied the riders, he grabbed
an item hidden in a secret pocket of his tunic.

The dark-skinned warriors came from the road
to Rothton, southeast of the dwelling. Their hair was in topknots
with long braids running behind, indicating they were of desert
tribes. Tattoos covered their faces and necks and Tathan knew the
markings would continue underneath the furs the men wore.

He took a quick survey of the weapons. They
had swords with a deeper curve than his. Each also had a riding bow
at his side, but their primary weapons were spears decorated with
feathers and bones.

What bothered him most was the looks on
their faces. They were the faces of predators, men who killed and
liked it.

The warriors stopped a hundred paces in
front of Scott, but they seemed more interested in the women on the
front porch. Scott held a hand up in greeting to the warriors.
“Hello! It’s rare that we have visitors here.”

The lead warrior glanced at the man at his
left who shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. Tathan knew
they didn’t understand the language Scott spoke, nor did they care
to learn. The leader motioned the men to spread out to either side.
The warriors did so, spears ready to throw.

“Get back to the house now!” Tathan yelled
at Scott and the others. “They’re at a disadvantage indoors.”
Tathan hated fighting men on horseback.

Scott turned to look at him, about to say
something. A spear split his chest all the way through to his back,
knocking him down. Screams came from the porch at the sight of
quick, brutal death. Laremy stood with his bow loosely in hand,
stunned at the sudden violence.

Tathan opened his hand to expose the object
he had pulled from his pocket. It was a round ball with runes over
its surface. He spoke a word of power which made the runes glow
deep purple. Then he tossed the device into the air toward the
warriors, guiding its path with his hand. When it was in the right
place, he spoke another word of command. Purple light sprayed in a
fan toward the riders. Many of them turned away from the light.
They were the lucky ones.

He sidestepped a spear one of the warriors
had thrown at him. Tathan looked at the riders to see how many
would be taken by the device. The leader had closed his eyes and
shielded his face quickly. In addition, he had turned his horse to
save it from the effect. He was not the only one. Many of them had
done the same thing.

Those who had not turned away were dead.
Light seared through their eyes and ripped the soul out of the
bodies of those who gazed into it. Half of the horses and their
riders went down in instant death, victims of the dark and evil
spell. Tathan had hoped for all or most of them. Half was not
enough. He counted about fifteen still living. The good news was
that they would be dazed by the spell even if they had survived it.
They would also be cautious from that point.

“Scott!” Tathan turned to see Sherrie
desperately running toward her husband’s body, screaming his name.
Tears of shock and horror were streaming down her cheeks.

Tathan yelled to Laremy, “Get them inside,
now!” pointing to the other women who had just begun to follow
Sherrie.

Sherrie fell to her knees beside her
husband, sobbing. Tathan ran to get her to safety, but just before
he arrived, one of the riders jumped down to grab her. When she
tried to push him away, he thrust his spear into her chest,
knocking her down over Scott’s body.

Tathan threw one of the daggers he kept on
his belt. It hit the rider in the neck causing the man to fall to
the ground, clutching the wound.

His Aunt reached out as Tathan rushed to
her. He saw the shock in her eyes and blood beginning to run out of
her open mouth. Looking at the wound, he knew it was fatal. By that
time, the leader of the warriors was riding hard at him, casting
his spear in Tathan’s direction. There was nothing he could do for
his aunt.

Tathan leapt straight up, and the leader’s
spear flew underneath him. He drew and lashed out with his sword
all in one fluid motion, swinging at the leader, only to discover
the warrior’s reflexes were almost as impressive as his own.
Tathan’s sword cut through the air above the warrior leader who
ducked to the side.

Two more riders were on either side of him
with spears aimed at his heart, but Tathan’s feet only touched the
ground long enough to spring into another leap. He somersaulted
into the air, sword whirling. The warrior on the right dropped his
spear and grabbed at the gash in his right arm. The other fell off
his horse in two pieces, first his head, then body.

When his feet touched ground again, Tathan
looked toward the house for Laremy and the women. His mother was
shoving Liselle inside while Laremy covered them with his bow.
Tathan was impressed when the closest warrior went down with an
arrow to the neck. The leader of the warriors looked from Laremy to
Tathan as though trying to decide which to kill first.

The sense of danger that caused Tathan to
roll to the side was real. He couldn’t see the warrior’s shocked
face as the thrown spear found empty air where Tathan’s back had
once been.

The riders were fast and dangerous and they
were focusing on him now. He had no time to get to the house to
help Laremy protect the women. Tathan
hated
fighting riders.
He leapt into the air, grabbed the arm of a warrior who looked
surprised, and thrust his blade down into the man’s shoulder. He
leaped from the falling rider to the next warrior. This time, his
foot hit the rump of the horse and his blade slashed across the
rider’s neck as Tathan twirled off toward the next. Six more
warriors were dead by the time his feet touched ground again.

The next one was on foot and ran at him only
to trip in a group of flowers. Tathan did a double take. It looked
as though the flowers had intentionally tripped the warrior. As the
man got up, Tathan ran him through. He could have sworn the flowers
looked on in approval.

There was one more with his sword drawn,
staring at Tathan with awe and some fear in his eyes. Looking back
toward the house, Tathan saw that another warrior lay on the ground
dying from one of Laremy’s arrows. The leader’s horse was at the
porch and the door had been blown aside by some sort of spell.

Tathan ran toward the house. The leader was
much more dangerous than the rider staring at him. Plus his mother
and cousin were in there and he didn’t know if Laremy could hold
him off. A scream from inside indicated that his fears were
justified.

An instant later, Tathan dashed through the
doorway with sword ready. Laremy’s lifeless body on the ground was
the first thing he saw. The next thing he saw was his mother at the
bottom of the stairs, protecting Liselle. She had just paid the
ultimate sacrifice as the warrior leader’s spear was run through
her body.

Throughout the entire battle, Tathan had
made no noise other than the howling of his blade cutting through
air as it drank the blood of the warriors. The battle cry that
unexpectedly emitted from his throat was fierce and full of anguish
as he hurtled toward the leader.

Curved blades clashed as the warrior leader
released his grip on the spear and drew his sword to meet Tathan.
He was fast, strong, and extremely good with the weapon. They
slashed and parried time and again. Then Tathan’s advantage began
to show. Tathan liked fighting in tight spaces, with walls, and
objects to use as shields and weapons. The warriors preferred
fighting while riding horses.

Tathan jumped atop a chair, balancing as the
warrior leader lunged. Kicking back, he launched the chair at the
warrior leader, causing him to lose his balance. Then Tathan sprung
to the wall nearby, ran halfway up, did a somersault and cut deeply
into the man’s shoulder as he came down. The warrior leader fell to
his knees and Tathan swung with both hands and all of his strength,
removing the tattooed head in a powerful blow.

He stood there staring at the body which had
yet to fall, when he heard a noise at the door. The last rider was
there staring at him in awe. Upon seeing Tathan turn around, the
warrior ran back out of the door.

Tathan chased him outside, only to see the
hindquarters of the warrior’s horse galloping into the distance. He
thought of jumping on the leader’s horse and following the man, but
Tathan was not a skilled horseman and knew he wouldn’t be able to
catch the warrior. He also realized that Liselle was still
inside.

She was sitting on the stairs looking at the
bodies of Ellin and Laremy in terror. Sobs racked her body as she
tried to cope with what had just happened. Her entire family was
dead except for a cousin she hadn’t met until the previous morning.
The sunset outside leaked through the windows and open door,
tinting everything red. Liselle looked at her cousin to see blood
covering him and his sword. Then she screamed because it was the
only thing she could think to do.

Tathan jumped at the scream and looked
around, expecting danger. He realized how he must look and how
horrible the scene was. Dashing into the dining room, he found a
towel and some water. He wiped his blade down with the towel first
then slid it into the sheath on his belt. He didn’t remember
attaching the sheath, but his instincts were such that he didn’t
have to think when it came to such things. Then he took some water
and splashed his face, getting as much blood off as he could. He
wiped his face and hands off with another towel and went back to
the stairs where Liselle was alternately sobbing and screaming.

“Here now. Look at me, Liselle,” he said as
he took her face into his hands. “Look at me now and get your
senses back.”

She looked at him and screamed again. There
was only terror in her eyes.

He hated to do it, but knew it was the only
way. He slapped her cheek hard to get her to come out of her
panic.

Liselle gasped and stared at him, then threw
her arms around his shoulders as she fell into a whimpering
cry.

“Come on.” He led her up the stairs to the
room where he had rested. Once there, Tathan held her by the
shoulders as she tried to compose herself the best she could.

Sudden anger turned Liselle’s lips into a
snarl. Tathan stepped aside, wondering what had caused such a
transformation. It was the rider he had slashed in the arm, but had
not dealt a death blow to. With a scream, Liselle put her hands
forward, fingers spread.

Blue vines of magic shot forth from her
fingertips toward the man. The warrior shrieked as they ripped him
to shreds. And then his body fell to the ground in gruesome
pieces.

Tathan caught Liselle as she fainted.

Chapter
4

Liselle sat up in the cot where she lay.
Looking around, she realized that she was in the barn. It was dark
except for a torch on one of the pillars. Her breathing became
rapid and shallow as she remembered the events of the evening. Her
family couldn’t be dead, they just couldn’t. Tears streamed down
her cheeks as she began to sob.

She cried for a good long time, hoping her
father and mother would come through the door, but knowing they
wouldn’t. After a while, the tears subsided and she wiped her face
the best she could. She wondered if Tathan had brought her to the
barn.

Tathan. Her cousin had shown up the morning
before, followed by warriors the next night. She wondered for a
moment if he had brought them or if he was even her cousin. But
Aunt Ellin had known him as her son. Plus, he had killed all the
warriors . . . all except the one who had come into the room. That
one she had killed with magic. Liselle wondered briefly if Tathan
had noticed the magic, but realized he had been right there. It was
something she had never told her parents about. They didn’t like
magic. Liselle didn’t understand how it worked or why she had the
ability to perform it, but it felt good when she used it . . .
usually. She had never killed a man with it before.

Fresh sobbing began and she hunched over,
rocking back and forth. Her heart tightened as she realized that
she was responsible for a man’s death. It was a little while until
she recovered somewhat and stood to look around the barn. There was
no sign of Tathan or anyone else. She was afraid to go outside, but
knew she must.

Liselle opened the door a crack to peer out.
The back of the house was visible. Torches and candles were lit in
the kitchen and living room windows as well as upstairs. She could
tell from the glow that torches were lit in front of the house as
well.

The flowers around the house opened and
turned to her. Liselle told them to go back to sleep. They ignored
the command.

Stars covered most of the sky. A few clouds
were in the way, but it didn’t look like it was going to rain
anymore. The air was fresh except for one smell. It was a terrible
stench similar to dead animals, but different and terrifying.