The Lord of Death by Everet Martins

Author:Everet Martins [Martins, Everet]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-04-02T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Assassin

“The ritual of becoming a Skin Flayer demands that the wizard bind the man’s soul into the weapon used in the ritual. If the weapon is damaged or destroyed, the Skin Flayer can restore it to pristine condition with a minor touch.” -from the Death Spawn Compendium by Nazli Tegen

“Hey!” Walter yelled. He still wasn’t entirely sure if what he was seeing was real or a trick of the light. Like a drop of spilled ink, grays and purples emerged from the center of the shimmering form, revealing its flesh and swimming robes. Nyset was the first out of the guardhouse, flaming darts and burning discs dancing about her body.

The Skin Flayer drew wicked blades and dropped into a low stance. Its face was a mass of scarred flesh, except for burning yellow eyes and black nostrils. Walter charged behind her, Stormcaller’s amber tendrils lapping at the ground. The creature held its stance as they charged, almost giving Walter pause. In a flash, it sheathed its glowing blades and turned to run.

“Stop!” Nyset yelled. She whipped her arms through the air like she was throwing daggers, and a hail of fire rained on the Skin Flayer. The Skin Flayer dashed towards the palace doorway with astonishing speed, leaving a trail of dark cloth in its wake. Nyset’s projectiles missed the mark, cutting into the palace wall and melting stone. All except for one.

Her last disc curved through the air, arcing towards the Skin Flayer. The disc passed through the swathes of purple and gray and the creature cried out. Its severed hand fell to the ground, rolling and trailing black blood. It never stopped sprinting towards the entryway.

It threw something over its shoulder, a handful of metallic spheres. They did not move like something that was tossed over the shoulder. No, they seemed to know their targets. One sphere accelerated towards Nyset, and before it crashed into her chest, it split into four parts, unveiling a metallic net. The net encased Nyset’s body and smashed her into a tree three paces away, binding and entangling her in its snare.

Three glinting spheres came at Walter and he inhaled. The warm air felt strangely cool in his lungs. The creature’s robes waved in the air, like seaweed underwater. The blood that flowed from its stump moved like molasses from a spilled jar. The Skin Flayer’s head slowly turned to look at Nyset and then Walter.

He met its yellow pupil-less eyes for what felt like moments. There was so much mindless rage, anger and singular focus in those eyes. The metallic spheres grew closer and he cracked Stormcaller beside him, wrangling its tendrils into three larger whips. He snapped Stormcaller into the air and its tendrils burned through the air, splitting the spheres into pieces at Walters command.

Walter exhaled, running through the metallic shrapnel and netting. He skidded to a halt and looked at the fleeing Skin Flayer and then to Nyset, pinned to the Cypress.

“I’m fine, go!” she shouted, wriggling against her bonds.

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