Utopia Undone: an epic Urban Fantasy novel (Overworld Chronicles Book 15) by John Corwin

Author:John Corwin [Corwin, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Raven House
Published: 2018-06-09T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

"Ki Sotoro." A brawny man on creature that looked half-bat, half-panther flashed a confident grin. "Must be my lucky day."

Even though we stopped moving, the gryphons weren't bothered by gravity or physics. An occasional beat of the wings kept them hovering in place. It probably wasn't the first thing I should have noticed. Elyssa would've had a complete count of the enemy, their strengths, weaknesses, and a way out. I tore my eyes from the strange bat creatures and let the drama pull me in.

Ki unsheathed her sword. It hummed to life, glowing bright blue. "Or perhaps your unlucky day, Askot." Gemma's and the other's swords hummed to life.

So that's Askot.

Askot waved a hand around at his comrades. "Anyone who can count would see you're far outnumbered."

Ki bared her teeth. "Numbers mean little when there's no skill behind them."

Askot chuckled and snapped his fingers. Two dozen crossbows aimed for our hearts. "Who needs skill with these? Unless you're very good at dodging, I think it best you surrender."

I tuned out their banter and studied the enemy. Their black-furred steeds flew on webbed wings, as if someone tossed a bat and a panther in a blender then baked it in the oven for an hour at four hundred degrees. Their tails ended in sharp horns, and all four feet bore long, hooked claws. What in the hell are these things? Bat gryphons? Byphons? For the first time in a while, I had trouble coming up with a cool name.

Askot and three other riders wore dark red armor with spiffy shoulder pads. Askot's open-faced helmet bore two long horns curling up and back, while the others sported smaller, pointy nubs. I assumed it had something to do with rank and compensating for their miniscule man parts.

The bulk of the riders stared blankly at us, eyes glazed over like someone who just woke up from a drug-fueled night of nonstop partying. Their filthy gray tunics looked incapable of stopping anything stronger than the dirt all over them. They had to be the slaves Ki mentioned, and those in armor were likely the loyalists.

Their weapons looked conventional. No glowing swords, no laser crossbows, and no guns. Vokan apparently didn't want his underlings to have anything more powerful in case they got greedy for power.

Bullets or arrows—it didn't make much difference to me. I could shield myself and some of the others, but I wouldn't be able to save us all. There were eight of us and nearly thirty of them.

I processed all that within a couple of seconds. Just enough time for Ki to circle the proverbial wagons and ready her people for their last stand. "I would rather die than allow Vokan to devour my eternal soul." She stroked the fur of her gryphon as if giving it a final farewell before Askot's forces turned us to pincushions.

I wasn't quite ready to give up the ghost. I could survive. I could shield myself and run. Use a few Arcane tricks to camouflage myself and vanish into the forest.

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