Company of Slayers by Justin Waine

Author:Justin Waine
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Low Fantasy, Sword & Sorcery, Pagan Fantasy, dark fantasy, epic fantasy, Fantasy Fiction about Wizards and Witches, Military Fantasy, historical fantasy
Publisher: Epsom Fantasy Press Limited
Published: 2023-05-01T06:00:00+00:00

LORD CARADAN KNELT down next to the brook and prodded with a stick at the torn-off tabard of a Temple man at arms. “So, as we suspected they had help to get out of the city,” he said to no one in particular. He had changed armour and was now dressed in light leather armour, though his bastard sword remained at his side. A shield was slung across his back, its face covered with a tight fabric wrap.

He was surrounded by some twenty knights, including Lord Callum, all dressed in leather armour rather than the traditional mail. Some remained mounted on iribis while others had dismounted like their commander and were standing next to their animals. None wore the tabards or any insignia of the Temple, though one knight carried a standard bearing the banner of the Temple. Caradan had given specific orders for them to wear no symbols so they could travel into the Duchy of Las Ma, if necessary, by simply dumping the banner. The leather armour was to make sure that the iribis would not be overburdened by weight and improve their chance of catching the escapees. Some of the knights were struggling; they were used to riding hadan, a smaller cousin of the huffrin used to draw carts. These large lizard-like creatures were strong and could easily carry a heavily armoured warrior, and their slow nature made them much more dependable. Crucially for a pursuit, they were much slower than an iribis. Had they been riding their traditional hadans there would be no chance of catching the Slayers.

The expedition’s chief scout sat almost lounging on the saddle of his iribis, his right leg hanging over the pommel. He was dressed in simple leather breeches and a shirt, over which hung a fur jacket held together with oblong pegs. A small bow made of a compound of wood and horn hung from the saddle along with a quiver of arrows. His right hand was resting on a long dagger at his belt. In his left he held a flask of water from which he was taking occasional sips.

“How far behind them are we?” Caradan asked the scout.

“I am not exactly sure, my lord,” the scout responded.

“Give me your best estimate, before I find a new chief scout who can,” said Lord Caradan with deep menace in his voice.

The scout seemed unfazed, and a small smile played across his face. “I have scouts strung out along the road for miles. The furthest out scout is probably four hours ahead of us and he is probably a couple of hours behind the people we are hunting.”

Lord Caradan looked at the sky; it was starting to get dark. “Can we track them at night?” he asked.

“My scouts can close the gap a bit assuming that Levacic and her people stop and rest through the night. They will have to rest and feed their mounts, but then so will we, so that doesn’t help us much. We think they have entered the eastern edge of the Forest of Setsonia.

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