The Wild Herald by Ron C Nieto

Author:Ron C Nieto [Nieto, Ron C]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

“I need a weapon,” Lily shouted. She remembered exactly how skilled she had been with a dagger the last time she had one, and the Knights looked to be more competent than the strange beings Ayalga had sent after them. She was under no illusions about her usefulness, but she refused to just stand, doing nothing and letting her life or death be the result of someone else’s actions.

Marast loosed a knife from his boot and threw it at her, the blade singing and burying itself in front of her feet. Lily worked it free and held it in her hand, the leather a comfortable grip in contrast to the very awkward length of sharpened silver.

It felt awkward and it looked awkward, yet Lily

didn’t

care

.

The Knights of Summer were

upon

them

.

Marast hissed as soon as the party entered Unseelie lands, the sound reminiscent of an angry cat, and his lips pulled back from his teeth in a grin that was closer to a grimace. Lily glanced quickly back at the Knights and realized that one of them wore different armor.

It wasn’t obvious, just a coat of mesh under the cuirass and vambraces, but the single-minded attention the Hunter was giving him was ominous.

“Who is he?” she whispered.

“He is mine to kill,” Marast replied.

Troy stood again, tall and proud and a bit provoking, his wet hair slicked back, rivulets of water running down his skin and drenching his clothes. “He is one of the Captains,” he explained, as if in casual conversation and not before a battle. “There are only a handful of them, and they enjoy better favor from their Queen than your average Knight. They say they have the skills to match their dissolute way of life, but I have never seen them draw a blade.”

The words caused a sneer to appear in the otherwise impassive face of the Captain, but he didn’t reply and Troy went on with a smile.

“I do not doubt the truth of their superiority, but I do worry about the measuring stick. I have recently had dealings with one Summer Knight, and if he was a fine example of the Seelie breed, well. I must say it does not appear very difficult to rise to favor by deeds, by words, or by brains.”

One of the Knights took a step closer. Troy responded with a feral grin. The Knight stumbled and fell, clutching his throat, and the Captain barked a command.

The moisture in the seaside air was dense and it responded to the touch of Kelpie’s glamour like an eager lover, creating low banks of mist and clinging to the fallen Knight’s lungs, choking the life out of him as he drowned on air. Still, the Knight managed to stand again and charge Troy, who sidestepped with a chuckle. It was as if he had never been in the spot slashed by the blade. A swift kick to the side of the knee sent the Seelie tumbling once more, sea water bubbling from his lips, and this time he didn’t stand again.

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