The Dragon Prince by Rex Jameson

Author:Rex Jameson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rex Jameson
Published: 2019-04-27T16:00:00+00:00

17

The New Paladins

The paladin Cedric Arrington panted as he leaned against a rocky vein of Mount Godun. His family and friends, his fellow paladins, had been surrounded by the undead for weeks. They hadn’t really slept. At best, they’d had two to three hours of reprieve. They hadn’t eaten anything but grass and twigs, and their strength was waning.

Allison’s swords had been the key to their survival. When she slept, he and Henry Claymore took over for her. They held the blades together to produce the bubble of holy light, but the bigger the protective shell that they needed, the more resistance that came from the swords. Holding the Twin Sisters together took all of his strength, and he found it harder and harder to maintain his grip. His muscles ached and cramped. His eyelids were as heavy as anvils. As the weeks wore on, the sphere retracted more quickly and disappeared for longer periods of time because they were only men and women, and they were so very tired. The undead never relented. The clashes happened every few minutes now.

And every day, Orcus stared at Cedric from just 100 feet beyond the thicket. He leaned against his staff, glaring at them through black, sunken eye sockets. He had not exerted himself once. He let the hundreds and thousands of undead assault the shield instead.

His general Julian Mallory howled and hissed at the paladins and frequently attacked the expanding and contracting shell. Sometimes, he climbed up the holy barrier, growling at the inhabitants from behind and atop the lightning. He threatened death on the paladins for burning his sister with their holy magic. She had apparently died some time later because Cedric hadn’t seen her since the dragons came.

Cedric certainly didn’t lament the loss of the Mallory sibling. Any victory was appreciated, no matter how small. However, he did recognize the danger from the effect it had on Julian Mallory. The man was livid and dangerous. When the Blood Lord leapt onto the shield, his hands and feet melted as he scrambled across the surface, but he acted unharmed.

Cedric was sure that the High Lord did it just to show his regenerative capabilities. The appendages grew back within seconds, and Julian paced along the tree line, growling and spitting at the paladins for still being there—for defying him and his demon lord. He was so fast that a false image of him sometimes appeared at the pivot locations of his patrol, a trick of Cedric’s eye in not being able to track the creature. The image often smiled at him for a second or two as his brain caught up to the speed of this demon spawn.

Cedric knew his family and friends couldn’t keep this up forever. When they had heard the bell toll, they had grown brazen with their new empowerment. Their defiance here at Godun kept Orcus and much of his evil force in check. Cedric knew that simply keeping this threat occupied was ensuring that much of eastern Surdel was safer.

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