Beowulf's Return (Tales of Beowulf) by Tim Hodkinson

Author:Tim Hodkinson [Hodkinson, Tim]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Acett Enterprises
Published: 2012-12-30T23:00:00+00:00

Part 4

At that moment Beowulf was briefly aware of movement below, inside the rampart. Out of the corner of his eye he saw something big and dark streaking towards the gate.

"The dog! Blast it!" he cried to Weohstan. "Get the men and prepare to defend the hall. I'll see if I can stop it."

Sheathing his sword, Beowulf grabbed both sides of the ladder and slid down from the rampart. Once on the ground he drew his sword again and ran as fast as he could towards the gate.

The massive black creature had come from the shadows beyond the hall and already reached the gate. It tore straight into the warrior who stood guard behind it, throwing huge paws up onto the man's shoulders and engulfing his face and neck in its massive maw. The man's brief, muffled scream ended in a wet crunch as the beast bit down. As the man fell the dog dropped him and reared up behind the gate. With uncanny dexterity that convinced Beowulf finally that this was the transformed Queen, the creature shoved the large wooden bar out of the metal rungs so that it no longer held the gate closed.

At that point Beowulf reached it. He raised his sword to strike. At the same time the attackers outside surged against the gate and it burst open. The gate swept the dog sideways and Beowulf's blow landed askew, the flat of the blade smashing the beast across the skull. He saw its legs buckle and knew that at least his blow had some effect. Beowulf had to jump back himself to avoid being squashed with the dog behind the gate. A wave of warriors came stumbling through the open gate and chaos erupted. The defenders came rushing forwards to stop the unexpected incursion and fighting broke out all around. Beowulf found himself surrounded by enemies who had piled through the gate.

Close up he could see them better. He could also smell them. The air was thick with the stench of decay and putrefaction. Their armour was held together by rust and rotting leather and clogged with dirt. Their helmets and shield were old fashioned and made from similar decaying wood and leather. Some had faces that were little more than dry yellowed skin stretched taught over the skull bones beneath, others had skin like a normal man but it was a weird pale blue pallor. All had eyes that were wan and baleful, seeming to somehow reflect the silver moonlight.

Angry that such abominations should not only exist, but had invaded the palace of the King of his homeland, Beowulf stepped forward, driving his great sword straight through the body of the nearest undead warrior. It smashed the rings of its rusty mail coat and skewered straight through the thing's chest with a dry, rasping sound. Beowulf felt like he had stabbed nothing more than a dry husk. The blow- one that would have been fatal to a living man-had little effect on the creature who swung its old sword in a counter attack.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.