The Summer Country by James A. Hetley

Author:James A. Hetley [Hetley, James A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy, contemporary, old, Arthurian, series, Hetley, Celtic, Wildwood, James A. Hetley, summer, ones, country, dragons, sidhe, urban
Publisher: TKA Distribution

Chapter Seventeen

Sean just stood there, lazily, next to a shattered tree, as smooth and sleek and darkly elegant as ever in the gray pullover and gray slacks that were nearly a uniform to him and to Fiona. His smile twisted gently at the corners of his mouth, and malice danced like firelight in his eyes.

Brian's thoughts jumped from Sean to Dougal to David to his kukri lying on the ground. He swore quietly to himself, even inventing a few new phrases when the accumulated vocabulary of fifty years of army life seemed to come up short.

Even if he broke the holding spell, neither he nor David could lift a finger for another fight. And Dougal was wearing chain mail over leather and carried an ugly clawed mace. Whatever else Brian might think about the misshapen troll, he recognized a competent and vicious fighter.

Cooling sweat stung Brian's eyes and trickled down his back and forehead. Flies buzzed his head, attracted by the spattered blood and eye-jelly of the dragon, the sweat, and the dirt. He twitched a finger, trying to swat at them, but couldn't move. Somehow, the filthy little buggers bothered him more than the certainty that he was about to die.

"Darling Fiona's heart will break," Sean drawled. "Poor darling Brian. Killed by a dragon, a blow to the head even as the beast twisted in its death-throes. It must have been a valiant fight between worthy opponents."

He took the mace from Dougal. "What do you plan to do with the other one, my noble ally? Add him to your collection?"

"He's a poor trade for my dragon," Dougal growled. "You wouldn't believe how much time and trouble the beast cost me. I don't know where I'll find another."

"Ah, yes. An endangered species. And I'll bet my dear brother didn't even file an Environmental Impact Statement. He's left you with a lot of damage to repair."

Brian wrestled with the spell holding him. Power drained away as fast as he gathered it, water pumped into a bucket with no bottom. Where in hell had Sean learned that kind of trick?

But Brian was too tired and muddle-headed from the fight to really care. His tongue seemed thick in his mouth when he tried to speak, as if he'd swallowed dragon's blood and his throat was swelling up to choke him.

"Quit gloating and kill me, you scrawny little freak. Or don't you have enough muscle to lift a weapon? Wouldn't you prefer to have Dougal do the sweaty work and keep the nasty gore off your pretty clothes?"

Get the runt mad enough, he might lose concentration. If he just lost his grip on a single thread of the binding . . . Sean was the dangerous one; Dougal couldn't use that kind of spell.

"You can't goad me into hurrying." Sean smiled, running words over his tongue as if savoring a fine wine. "I've waited half a century to bash your brains out. A few minutes of triumph are small enough payment for all your insults and interference.

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