Blackhand by Matt Hiebert

Author:Matt Hiebert [Hiebert, Matt]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: New Babel Books
Published: 2013-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

Quintel caught the Abanshi warpacks within a few hours. He avoided the army, taking to the mountain walls on all fours, invisible to the endless line of troops below.

He could feel Aul ahead of him at the vanguard of the advance. Knowing the Iron Gate had been bridged, she bore a fearless resolve, but was weighted with the anticipation of defeat. She believed they were going to lose.

When Quintel swept the emotions of the army, little variation appeared in the feelings of the men. Now that the might of the Thogs was known, a single thought formed among their ranks. They all believed they marched to their deaths. All fifty thousand of them.

Yet Quintel sensed little despair among the ranks. So conditioned were the Abanshi for battle that the thought of the kingdom's annihilation was not as horrible as the possibility of dying without a fight. Many even believed this was, indeed, the end of the Abanshi, and it was their destiny to be the final gesture of defiance. Quintel was intrigued by this self-perception. In some way, it was how he saw himself.

In the far distance, Quintel sensed the Thogs penetrating a land that had never known the tread of an enemy. Their human masters struggled to control the frothing mass. The beasts were on the verge of frenzy. With snapping jaws, they devoured the fallen corpses of the Abanshi soldiers to the disgust of their human allies.

Calculating the distance and speed of both armies, Quintel saw that Aul would meet the attackers at the plains, where the mountains opened up into a tabletop landscape that stretched for miles. To enter the flat expanse, the Thogs had to pass through a chokepoint that was only a few hundred feet wide. He sensed her plan was to spread her army and focus their catapults and archers on that narrow entrance. She hoped that her cavalry and heavy infantry would stifle the Thog advance, pinning them beneath a rain of stone and arrow.

Quintel knew the strategy would fail. The Thogs were almost invulnerable. Their only substantial casualties had come from the avalanche machines. Archers accounted for a lucky handful of killings. The black spheres that animated the beasts were too hard to reach beneath their thick hides. Once on the battlefield, the hordes would plow through Aul’s forces. Quintel estimated that after the last arrow had been released, Ru's forces would have lost a fraction of its might.

As he ran to meet the onslaught, Quintel wasn't sure how he would affect the odds. He only knew the stolen sword felt good in his grip. It made him feel like he could make a difference. His god half trembled. Quintel ignored it.

He passed the front of the advancing Abanshi army and saw Aul there, mounted on her war horse, clad in full battle armor, their father's sword hanging from her hip, jaw set, riding to her death.

Night draped the world. Aul's army continued its march into the darkness while Quintel pulled farther ahead at racing horse speed.

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