Prophecy of Darkness by Stella Howard

Author:Stella Howard [Howard, Stella]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781443445474
Publisher: HarperCollins Canada
Published: 2015-09-06T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

Gabrielle struggled against the powerful arms that held her, then bit down on a hand that brushed across her face. A man shouted, and she was released. Xena’s weapons had fallen to the ground, but there were too many people, too many legs and feet kicking up the dust—

—and then Xena was there, spinning and jumping, dropping the villagers one at a time. A woman holding a big stick was disarmed by a well-placed slap; the man who had grabbed Alesandra was felled by a blow to the knee.

“Gabrielle! Help Alesandra!”

Gabrielle ran to the scared child, lashing out at a snarling young farmer who tried to stop her. It was a lucky punch, hitting him hard on the chin; he stumbled back, and Gabrielle grabbed Alesandra and pulled her away from the crowd.

Argo pranced anxiously in the midst of the shouting townsfolk, and Xena trilled again, a high call that would tell the horse to hold still. Argo obeyed instantly.

There were still fifteen or twenty of them standing, many carrying makeshift weapons—sticks, rocks, the handles of hoes and other farming tools. One elderly man held a wicked-looking scythe, the curving blade flashing maliciously in the late sun.

Xena leapt into the air, slapping her hands down across Argo’s back, vaulting up and over him. She kept her legs splayed, striking two of the villagers in the chest, one with each foot. Ribs snapped. They fell, and stayed down. She landed, spun—

—and saw that four of the armed townspeople were headed to where Gabrielle and Alesandra stood, a hundred paces away. She only had a few seconds before they reached them.

Xena caught a glimpse of her chakra, the metal glinting against the dust by her feet. In one swift movement, she caught the shining hoop up and launched it, the kick sending it high into the air.

The man with the scythe rushed forward at the same moment, and Xena ducked the blade, turning and driving her elbow into his stomach. The man let out an oof as the wind was knocked out of him and he dropped the weapon—

—as Xena caught the chakra, the metal landing easily in her hand. She vaulted back over Argo, this time landing squarely in the saddle. With the slightest of pressure from her boots, the horse lunged forward, headed for where Gabrielle was, the young woman sheltering Alesandra with her body. The armed foursome were raising their weapons to strike.

Xena trilled out again, used her trained instincts to mark the villagers in a split second—and the chakra flew, glittering, to knock four weapons out of four hands, bouncing between them almost faster than the eye could see. The attackers yelped and backed away in confusion; Gabrielle snatched up one of the fallen clubs, readying herself in case more came.

Xena deftly spun Argo around to face the mob—and saw that it wasn’t much of a mob anymore. Those who hadn’t been knocked down or injured didn’t seem to know what to do now, confronted with an opponent they couldn’t stop, let alone understand.

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