Destiny's Choice by Karen Frost

Author:Karen Frost
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ylva Publishing
Published: 2020-07-16T17:14:04+00:00

As they approached the pass, massive rock walls rose up in front of them, hulking black shadows against the slightly lighter colored night sky. These were what had created the natural choke point where a wight army awaited them. Asher understood why Marandir thought there was no way around. Who knew how far the walls went in either direction through the Hollow Lands? They seemed to go forever.

Commander Bronwen halted the group just close enough that they could see the gap between the walls illuminated by the light of the moon, but not in range of the wights Marandir reported were inside the canyon. Then she and Marandir rode forward for a closer look. When they came back, both looked grim.

“It can be done,” Commander Bronwen said carefully, “but it will take skill. The charge must not be stopped. And no matter what, you must not be pulled from your horse. A mob—even one made of skeletons like this one—will tear you to pieces in seconds. Your armor will not save you once you are at their mercy. Ride as hard as you can and don’t stop for anything. For anything.”

Asher hadn’t known how to fight a dragon, but she knew how to charge infantry. And the wights were no army. They were a hodgepodge of skeletons and bodies drawn from their graves equipped only with their burial accouterments. On foot, she’d been repelled by the corpses assailing her, horrified by their rotten skin and shattered bones, but sitting astride Cloud’s back, she felt much more confident. If they were lucky, they could cut through the moldering skeletons like a hot knife through butter, scattering them in every direction.

“Commander, you ride between me and Taz,” she said. “Henrek can take point and together we can charge through the wights with a wedge.”

“I will serve as point,” Marandir announced.

Ignoring the knights’ confused objections, he dismounted and walked a few paces away from the group. In an instant, he became a massive brown bear. He stood almost as tall at the shoulder as Crow, who whinnied in fear and tried to shy away from him. Since the gelding was still tied to the back of Asher’s saddle, however, he was trapped, and stood trembling, his nostrils flaring as he eyed the predator standing beside him. Asher noticed proudly that Cloud didn’t so much as flinch.

Marandir rose onto his back legs—Asher estimated that standing, he was almost nine feet tall—and waved his paw, motioning to the knights to follow, then took off loping in the direction of the pass. Henrek kicked Morningstar into a fast trot behind him and Taz, Asher, and Commander Bronwen followed. Asher began to breathe heavily, anticipating the fight to come. Her body tingled. Everything around her seemed sharper, clearer. This was both the thrill and fear of battle.

The night was so dark it wasn’t until the final moment that the swaying throng of wights finally came into view, dark as ink poured into a black ocean. Marandir switched from a lope to a full-out charge, roaring a terrifying battle cry, and crashed into them.

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.