Dragonlance: Lost Legends, Book 01 - Vinas Solamnus by J. Robert King

Author:J. Robert King [King, J. Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-7869-0787-8
Publisher: Fanversion Publishing
Published: 2015-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

Another flock of black-fletched arrows vaulted into the sky.

Gaias watched them come. He rode midstream with the fording forces. There was a moment left to glare toward the war wizards. Would they summon the flaming cloud in time? The shafts cut through gray air, turned, and rained down toward the laboring army. As the arrows began to descend, Gaias raised his shield and gritted his teeth.

“Shields!” shouted the veteran. “Shields!”

Overhead, a blue flash of lightning lit the sky. Orange motes in the blue field marked spots where arrows struck and sizzled away. As before, though, white-hot arrowheads tumbled through the field and hailed onto the troops. Above even the roar of the rapids came the sharp spack and hiss of hot rock against wet metal.

Most of the arrowheads bounced to one side or traced black brands along a horse’s stifle before plunging to dance in the turgid waters. Some, though, squarely struck flesh and burned inward, steaming blood away as they penetrated.

Damned mages, thought Gaias. Worthless protections, craven cowards, striking from safety.

As the sheet of lightning vanished and the last arrowheads cracked against shields, three more horses fell. They dragged their riders off the ford and into the depths. A cavalryman slumped from his horse. The triangular hole in his temple steamed as he plunged into the white waters. Another rider had fallen and gotten tangled in his stirrups. The man’s horse galloped frantically toward the far side, dragging the limp doll that had been its rider.

That horse had the idea. The sooner the first wave of cavalry struck land, the sooner they could bring steel against those fey archers.

“Forward, full-out!” cried Gaias.

He dropped his shield to his side and urged his mount to a trot. The others needed no encouragement. All of them wanted out of the icy sluice. The trot quickened as the bed grew shallow and the company of riders galloped toward the far shore.

More arrows leapt toward them. More sheets of lightning magic flashed into existence. The riders paid these little mind. One horse lost its footing and slid into a churning bowl of water. Two others fell to arrowheads or lucky shafts. Gaias’s squad was still ninety-some strong, though, and the main body climbed the far bank.

The mounts gratefully charged up the bank and away from the water. They fanned out into the dense brush. Cavalrymen hacked their swords through brush and elves alike. The bow fire faltered. Shafts darted among the trees, striking as many rebels as imperial soldiers.

“Cleanse the banks!” cried Gaias as his sword plunged among the trees. He hardly knew whether a given swipe slew an elf or struck a bush. The forest was too thick, and the archers’s disguises too expert. Moans and shouts and gouts of blood told him he crippled or killed plenty.

The other soldiers were doing at least as well. As elves fell dead to the ground, they became visible. Already they lay as numerous as boughs blown down in a storm.

Gaias felt a sting in his shoulder.

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