Dark Fate: The Gathering (The Dark Fate Chronicles Book 1) (5 page)

Kinsey spurred his horse to greater speeds and closed the ground between him and Chancellor Tomelen. Kinsey weighed close to twenty stone and was afraid Dak, his massive percheron, couldn’t last at this pace for long. Large spots of foamy sweat had already started to coat Dak’s thick neck by the time they caught up with the chancellor.

Kesh was still not in control of his mount, but he managed to hang on despite his teetering and the horse’s lightning pace. The trail was too narrow for Kinsey to ride alongside Kesh, so he was forced to slow down.

Kinsey looked over his shoulder for sign of the wargs. He sighed in relief at seeing only billowing clouds of dust and the blur of massive trees behind them. The brief respite gave his thoughts time to drift to Erik; had he escaped? Was he safe? He would have to circle back to try and find his adopted father once the escort had made it to safety.

A terrified scream escaped from Kesh.

Kinsey whipped his head around just in time to see the chancellor and his horse go over the cliff of a ravine that cut straight through the game trail. He watched horse and rider suspended in midair for what seemed an eternity. Kesh’s robes and satchels billowed in the wind like the great flags adorning the walls of Waterfall Citadel. The horse’s forelegs stretched out in anticipation of the impact on the far side of the ravine and landed on the edge of the embankment. The mare’s hindquarters slammed into the sloping wall of the ravine and sent the chancellor flying from his saddle into the underbrush.

Desperately, Kinsey pulled back on the reins, his heavily corded arms going taut with the effort. The shift in momentum was so abrupt that he found himself dismounted, sailing over the horse’s head. He tucked into a somersault and landed at the base of the ravine, feet first. Kinsey rolled with his fall in an attempt to save his legs from shattering on impact. His actions were successful, for the small price of having the wind knocked out of him.

Kinsey lay in stunned silence and tried to blink away the haziness as Dak made his way down into the ravine with quick, choppy steps. He could hear the chancellor’s horse scramble up onto the game trail and stamp its hooves impatiently, waiting for someone to give it direction.

Kinsey filled his lungs with deep gulps of air and groaned. Expending colossal effort, he willed his arms and legs into sluggish motion to right himself.

“Chancellor!” Kinsey cried out hoarsely as he stumbled to his feet. “Get to your horse!”

The wargs howled in response, coming ever closer.

“Chancellor Tomelen!”

Kinsey staggered to his horse and pulled his battle axe from its harness. Using the weapon as a cane and grabbing hold of Dak’s tail, Kinsey urged the beast up the sloping wall of the ravine toward the spot where Kesh had disappeared.

“Dammit, Kesh, you better not be dead!” Kinsey demanded as he reached the top of the ravine. He spotted one of the chancellor’s boots poking out from the thick underbrush.

Kinsey stumbled past Dak. Once near the chancellor, he knelt down beside the richly dressed body and pushed back the large leaves that covered it. Kinsey gently turned the body over, fearing the worst. He was relieved to find only light scratches and bruises on Kesh’s face and hands. The chancellor’s chest rose and fell rhythmically, but his eyes did not open.

Kinsey ran his hand down the back of the chancellor’s neck and spine to see if anything was broken. He found no abnormal bulges or recesses upon his inspection and laid the unconscious nobleman on the ground once more. “Thank Eos.”

A low, guttural growl came from across the ravine. Dak screamed as a snarling shadow landed on his back. Kicking and bucking, he galloped off, Kesh’s mount following close behind.

Kinsey went very still, licked his dry lips, and cursed softly. He wasn’t sure if they’d made it far enough away from the Wildmen camp, but there was nothing to be done about it now. He would have to fight. Kinsey tightened his grip on the double-headed axe and turned to face his pursuers.

Erik sprinted across the hazardous ground. His feet stepped lightly from root to root with such surety, it would seem to anyone who might have observed that he moved along a smooth, marble floor. Huge tree trunks passed in a blur of motion, and small shafts of light penetrated the canopy from high above, lighting his way along the forest floor.

After putting one of the wolf-beasts down, Erik was forced to chase the remaining four. Two of which carried goblin warriors armed with short swords, handaxes, and the intent to kill. Warg riders were a particularly nasty breed of goblin. Surviving not only the day-to-day life as a member of such a horrid species but also working so closely with a vicious carnivore made for a nasty goblin indeed.

He could no longer hear the yells of the Wildmen that trailed far behind. They could not match his pace. The terrain was too dense and their dexterity not so developed. Erik was counting on this in hopes of putting distance between the escort and the bulk of the Wildmen encampment. He was quite delighted to see his hopes were coming to fruition.

A sharp, whining howl sounded ahead of him but was cut short. Kinsey’s battle cry echoed through the trees like a blasting horn.

Erik pushed his legs harder until they burned from the effort and his lungs caught fire from the quick breathing needed to sustain such a pace. Thoughts of Kinsey raced through his mind. His son would take rearguard, Erik was sure of that, but had others stayed behind to help him? There were too many foes for one man to defend against; he knew Kinsey would be too bullheaded to retreat. If it came to it, his half-dwarven son would willingly sacrifice himself for the safety of the escort. Erik could not allow that to happen.

He saw the shadows of the warg riders gliding between the trees just ahead, their silhouettes standing out against the bright light of some clearing that lay before them. The goblins swung their axes over their heads, screeching their own wicked battle cries, as they raced toward Kinsey’s bellowing.

Erik’s lungs were set to burst when he finally reached the clearing, which turned out to be a ravine. He could hear the thumping of his heart as it tried to keep up with his sharp gasps. He came to a sliding halt at the ravine’s edge, almost toppling into the crevice, but managed to maintain his balance by waving his arms frantically. Not the greatest example of agility, but he managed to keep his footing and didn’t go over the side. Erik looked across the gap to find Kinsey, alone, battling against the warg riders on the far side of the ravine.

Dammit
,
Kinsey
, he thought.

A riderless beast lay motionless at Kinsey’s feet, its flank opened wide, exposing entrails and puddles of gore. But the two other wargs were far from dead. One latched on to Kinsey’s arm with its giant maw, biting down with razor-sharp teeth and trying to shake the half-dwarf to pieces. Its rider flopped around uselessly, still strapped to the saddle, a massive, two-headed axe protruding from its chest. The other goblin sneered in delight as it attempted to maneuver its mount into a position to attack Kinsey from behind.

Forgetting the pain in his chest and his overexerted muscles, Erik nocked an arrow, took aim, and let loose.

Kinsey knew he was going to die. The first warg had gone down easily, but the two goblin riders and their axes had been unexpected. He didn’t have much time before his opponents outmaneuvered him.

He grimaced under the pressure of his arm guard warping as the warg’s teeth clamped down on the dense metal like a blacksmith’s vice. The intense pain snapped Kinsey out of his thoughts of death, if only for the moment. He hauled himself closer to the beast and looped his free arm around the back of the beast’s head.

The warg hesitated in its savage assault. The mangy beast took deep breaths and drooled thick, carrion-smelling saliva down Kinsey’s arm.

Using his last remaining bits of hope and anger, Kinsey planted his feet and hauled the warg’s head up and backward. A mighty roar filled with fear and rage erupted from deep within him. He squeezed the warg’s neck into his chest and pushed its head backward with all his strength. If he was to die, so be it, Kinsey thought, but he would not die alone.

The beast began to struggle in a panicked frenzy, tearing again at Kinsey’s arm.

Heavy cords of muscle bulged along Kinsey’s arms as he strained against the scrabbling beast. Kinsey’s mind had become overrun with rage, all else forgotten but the moment of struggle within the bloodlust that suddenly consumed him. He let loose another deafening roar. His muscles flexed again in a final attempt to end the conflict. Their bodies stood intertwined, frozen in a test of strength and will.

A loud snap rang out and the massive wolf-beast went limp.

Kinsey stumbled forward from the sudden lack of resistance and fell on top of the ruined warg. His trapped arm came free and he rolled across the warg’s body to get to his feet.

The other warg and its rider should have already been upon him, tearing him to pieces. He searched desperately for his weapon and instead found the reason for his enemy’s delay. The warg and its goblin master lay riddled with arrows, their eyes open wide in surprise and filled with the far-off gaze of death.

He closed his eyes and gave thanks to Eos, letting the exhaustion seep into his weary muscles.

“Well, I suppose that could have gone worse,” Erik huffed from behind him.

Kinsey looked around and barked a laugh that was part relief, part hysteria. He motioned to the two dead wargs, “Good thing you caught up when you did. I was about to become breakfast for these two.”

Erik looked down at Kinsey’s arm. “Are you okay?”

“Thanks to you.” Kinsey rubbed his arm. It hurt terribly. The vambrace would have to be cut off, but there was no blood, so he pushed the pain away. He chuckled at his winded father. “You sound like an old woman trying to catch her breath after crossing the kitchen.”

Erik rolled his eyes and grinned. “Some days are better than others.”

Kinsey smiled warmly and breathed a silent prayer of thanks that Erik had not been harmed. Turning from his comrade, Kinsey grabbed hold of his axe with both hands and yanked it free of its goblin sheath.

“We best be on, there isn’t much time.” Kinsey looked back to watch Erik pull arrows from the other two corpses.

As if on cue, Kinsey could hear the shouts of the trailing Wildmen in the distance. Erik looked up from his task. “You won’t be able to outrun them for long. We should make our stand in the trees, at the edge of the ravine, while we still have strength.”

“I won’t have you sacrifice yourself on account of my slowness.”

With a look of irritation, Erik straightened. “Don’t be foolish... Would you leave me behind if I were wounded and unable to escape?”

Kinsey stammered, unable to come up with a response that would benefit his side of the argument.

“We’ve spoken of hypocrisy before. Perhaps you need another lesson in its futility?” Erik raised an eyebrow in challenge.

“We don’t have time for this!”

“Exactly.”

“Dammit, why do you have to be so...stubborn?”

Erik blinked with a look of consternation, then abruptly doubled over with laughter. The deeply felt kind of laughter that made you glad to be alive. The kind of laughter Kinsey had not heard from his father since before his mother had died.