Lorik The Defender (The Lorik Trilogy Book 3) by Toby Neighbors

Author:Toby Neighbors [Neighbors, Toby]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Publisher: Mythic Adventure Publishing
Published: 2014-06-26T23:00:00+00:00

* * *

Stone rushed into the castle, herding as many volunteers as he could forward. The first checkpoint was the dais in the great feasting hall. More spears had been gathered there, as well as swords, shields, maces, and axes. The plan was to start their attack on the raised platform as the enemy made their way through the long hall. The benches and tables had been piled up on either side of the dais, creating a small area that could be defended by one or two people.

When the enemy got too close, the volunteers would fall back, most taking refuge inside the king’s private dressing room. Two men would hold the narrow doorway, being relieved when they grew weary. Once that position fell, they would fall back to the next strategic point in the queen’s dressing room.

Several of the volunteers were wounded. Some had slipped on the snowy parapet, others had been forced to fight the mutated soldiers who had successfully climbed the castle walls. By Stone’s count, they were down four men, and five others were wounded. He paced as he waited for Vera to make her way down from the high watchtower. If the enemy made it into the feasting hall before Vera, she would be cut off and unable to join them. She would have to make her way back up to the king’s royal apartments and then down the private staircase that led into the queen’s dressing room. Worse still, she might be followed, although from what Stone had seen of the witch’s army, he doubted that any of them were that clever.

He’d fought hard on the wall, hacking and slashing with the long poled pikes, killing and maiming the mutated soldiers who never even cried out when the heavy blades severed arms or hacked into their skulls. The soldiers were frightening to look at, their bodies twisted and overgrown in such an unnatural fashion. But even more horrific was the way they moved, the way they fought with no thought of self-defense. How could anyone be so careless with their own lives? Stone couldn’t imagine how evil the witch in the south must be to send so many creatures to their deaths in such a careless fashion.

“Where is Lord Lorik?” asked one of the volunteers, who stood nervously swaying behind Stone.

“He’ll come in soon,” Stone said, although he didn’t believe it.

He’d seen the look in Lorik’s eyes that said he wouldn’t be pressed any further. Stone hoped he was wrong; he’d come to love the big teamster who had taken a chance on partnering with him. Lorik had been a friend, a mentor, and an inspiration to everyone who knew him. His sense of duty, of doing the right thing, was so admirable that he made Stone want to be a better man. The last thing Stone could imagine was losing Lorik. Since the bigger man’s encounter with the forest elves, he’d been an unstoppable force. But his wounds from the day before had slowed Lorik’s reflexes.

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