Seven Forges by James A. Moore

Author:James A. Moore
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: heroic fantasy, enemy contact, Fantasy, epic fantasy, exploration, War
ISBN: 9780857663849
Publisher: Angry Robot
Published: 2013-09-07T04:00:00+00:00

ELEVEN

Swech moved quickly, her feet barely touching the ground before lifting again, her body crouched low and when necessary falling to hands and feet alike to maintain her balance and speed.

Behind her and around her, nine others moved much the same way, all of them following her subtle orders.

There was no speech. None was necessary. The language they used was the one every Sa’ba Taalor learned as soon as they were walking, the language of the body. Wrommish and Paedle moved with them, of course, guiding them in their time of need. The gods always watched. That was what Merros Dulver could not understand.

Swech pushed thoughts of the stranger from her mind. He was a pleasant distraction, but now was not the time to be distracted. Now was the time to move with the speed of the Cutting Winds and to move just as effectively.

They crested the last small hill between the ocean and the shoreline and saw the tents spread across the beach for what seemed an impossible distance. Apparently a thousand souls required a great deal of cover. The notion would have been amusing if it weren’t being used to the advantage of the Sa’ba Taalor. The leather hides and canvas that made the tents offered excellent cover. Swech and her charges took full advantage of that fact and spread out.

Most of the camp was sleeping, but there were exceptions. They would handle the ones who moved around as they came to them.

The wind from the ocean was blowing harshly, whipping the hides and making them thrum with their own music. She liked the noises. They were pleasant to the ears and they also provided cover for the sounds of her feet moving over the ground. The breeze itself provided cover should the Guntha have guard animals that might smell their approach.

She found no guard animals.

She found few guards and those she did locate were easily avoided if that was her choice.

It was not.

The first guard she encountered was staring at the distant waves with a bored expression on his tanned face. He never had a chance to grow excited. One hand covered his mouth. The other jammed the long, thin needle blade of her dagger through the base of his neck and into his skull. He stiffened for only a moment and then fell. She helped him to the ground with the care of a mother tending to a child, and then moved on. He would eventually be discovered, she knew that, but before then they had much work to do.

To her left she saw Jost lock her arms around a guard’s throat and drop the man in a quiet slump as her hands cut off the flow of blood to his brain. She had Jost staying close to her because this was the first time that Jost had ever been taken for a group expedition. The young girl was doing brilliantly. One more move and the man’s lifeblood was puddling on the ground around him, a crimson shadow to match the shape of his prone form.

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