Echo of the High Kings (The Eoriel Saga Book 1) by Kal Spriggs

Author:Kal Spriggs [Spriggs, Kal]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Sutek Press
Published: 2014-07-28T23:00:00+00:00

Captain Kerrel Flamehair

The Lonely Isle, Duchy of Masov

First of Tremarn, cycle 999 Post Sundering

Kerrel reined in her horse as she saw Lord Hector and his escort approach.

She pulled off her helmet and wiped the sweat out of her eyes. Despite Hector's assurances that he trusted her, his orders had sent her company on several days of distant scouting missions, followed by this current patrol around the new campsite, not far from the Lonely Keep.

She didn't know why he had kept her so distant and she had come to wonder if Zabilla Nasrat had found some means of leverage against her. She learned only a few hours ago that Hector would make an inspection of her company and it had taken most of that time to draw in all but some outlying sentries left under the charge of Jonal.

Lord Hector reined his own mount to a halt only a short distance away. “Captain Flamehair.”

“Sir,” Kerrel nodded in return.

“How goes the patrols?” He asked, his voice cool and slightly distracted.

Kerrel studied his face, but, as usual of late, she found him hard to read. “Well. We've had no sign of serious Armen movement in the area. My men killed a couple scouts and we intercepted a small raid force during the second scouting mission.”

“Good.” Hector said. His gaze went to a clump of trees nearby, “Hopefully my coming out here hasn't proven a distraction.”

“No, sir,” Kerrel said. She noticed his guards had similarly focused on the trees. “Though I am confused as to the purpose.”

He gave her a distracted smile, “Which is comforting in its own way. You will want to don your helmet now.”

“Oh?” Kerrel asked, she looked between Hector and the clump of trees. “Why exactly is that?”

“As you will,” Hector said. “Ah, here we go.”

“What-” Kerrel broke off as a wave of arrows erupted from the woods.

“Shields up!” Kerrel shouted. She saw her men scramble to respond, many broke out of formation as they scrambled to ready for the fight.

The only thing that saved them, Kerrel realized later, was that the entire volley of arrows centered on Lord Hector's group.

Which was why Kerrel barely survived. Two arrows struck her breastplate and shattered. Another sliced across the back of her hand. One arrow struck her in the thigh and she gave a shout of pain. Two more arrows struck Nightwhisper, one pierced deep into his flank, while the other shattered on his chain barding.

Kerrel saw dozens of men boil out of the trees. They raced on foot towards their group and she felt a cold trickle of fear whisper through her as she realized that only a handful of bodyguards stood between Hector and the attackers. “Ambush!” Kerrel shouted, “South side, in the trees, form up!”

Hector's force had already responded. She saw three of his men had fallen along with their mounts, riddled with arrows. Two other men had jumped clear of their mounts. Horses, the larger target, had taken the majority of hits.

Kerrel saw her men react as quickly

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.