Read Online Dusk Falling (Book 1) by Keri L. Salyers - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Keri L. Salyers
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now feeling that which Agemeer had warned of. She knew they were being watched, stalked, but by who or what she couldn’t tell. Despite the growing fear that wheedled its way into her chest, Aya’s mind began to formulate a defensive spell. Serrtin’s giant flamberge was in her hands and ready but for what she had no idea.
When it came, the attack was from all sides and with no warning. Figures dressed in dark gray cloaks poured out of nowhere, faces wrapped under their hoods. Each of them brandished thick-bladed swords and wasted little time in putting them to use.
Purely out of instinct, Aya threw up a shield. Just in time as an arrow, aimed for her heart, slammed into the magical defense and burst into a hundred pieces. The barrier glowed green at the center of the impact then rippled out as it distributed the force, absorbing the impact then displacing the energies back into the air.
In the time it took for Aya to flinch back, the bowman was dead- carved nearly in half along with his weapon by Serrtin’s flamberge as she charged forward with a snarl. To a warrior such as she, the foremost step in a ground battle was to eliminate any and all enemies utilizing projectile weaponry for archers could easily decimate a band’s ranks from a safe distance. And that step also included taking the opposing mages out of the situation quickly and fully. Hence the initial attack on Aya.
After taking care of the lone bowman, Serrtin pivoted, drawing her blade back and coming around to slash the one who would have attacked her from behind. He managed to get his own sword up in time but the power behind the Yarcka’s blow tossed him into the trunk of a tree like a ragdoll. He lay still and did not rise.
Serrtin’s next attacker sought to take the advantage of her inability to bring around her heavy weapon quick enough to block his overhead strike. She proved that even without the immediate use of her sword, a Yarcka could be deadly as she drove the large clawspike on her right elbow through his skull. The attacker’s body careened into that of one of his fellows.
Given a moment of reprieve- slight as it was- Serrtin looked around for her companions.
The marauding party had been taken off stride by the small team’s readiness and reactivity. They had thought a quick and concise victory had been assured even before the attack began. Losing so many so quickly only served to enrage those left to fight.
Aya lost her grip on her mare’s reins as the mare bolted wild-eyed but the young mage had no time to worry as a dark-cloaked man, eyes blazing, rushed her head long with sword raised.
Aya had never liked killing nor did she condone it but she was not naïve. She knew it happened everyday in Demaria- people killed people, monsters killed people, people killed monsters. It was an ugly fact she lived with and she entertained no fantasies that she would ever change that. No one could. Not Elves or Larren or Youkai or anyone else. Perhaps it was her own moral consciousness that kept her from using the deadly spells that she harbored in thefar planes of her mind. She knew the spells though she had never used them. Aya had promised herself in her ancestors’ Name that she would only use them in the most dire of circumstances.
So, as her attackers sword bounced harmlessly off her shield- appearing to him as if it had bounced off her outstretched hand- Aya drew in her energies and focused them into her other fist. When her hand began to grow numb from chill, she dropped her shield and made a throwing gesture across her form. She could feel the energy build and release, then the cold wind backlash as her ice spell hit the man square in the chest, launching him off his feet and knocking him onto his back with such force as to knock the air from his lungs. The concussion that kept him from rising would not kill. In a left to right slice pattern across his torso was a thick layer of ice, evaporating into mist in the warm air.
The mage
When it came, the attack was from all sides and with no warning. Figures dressed in dark gray cloaks poured out of nowhere, faces wrapped under their hoods. Each of them brandished thick-bladed swords and wasted little time in putting them to use.
Purely out of instinct, Aya threw up a shield. Just in time as an arrow, aimed for her heart, slammed into the magical defense and burst into a hundred pieces. The barrier glowed green at the center of the impact then rippled out as it distributed the force, absorbing the impact then displacing the energies back into the air.
In the time it took for Aya to flinch back, the bowman was dead- carved nearly in half along with his weapon by Serrtin’s flamberge as she charged forward with a snarl. To a warrior such as she, the foremost step in a ground battle was to eliminate any and all enemies utilizing projectile weaponry for archers could easily decimate a band’s ranks from a safe distance. And that step also included taking the opposing mages out of the situation quickly and fully. Hence the initial attack on Aya.
After taking care of the lone bowman, Serrtin pivoted, drawing her blade back and coming around to slash the one who would have attacked her from behind. He managed to get his own sword up in time but the power behind the Yarcka’s blow tossed him into the trunk of a tree like a ragdoll. He lay still and did not rise.
Serrtin’s next attacker sought to take the advantage of her inability to bring around her heavy weapon quick enough to block his overhead strike. She proved that even without the immediate use of her sword, a Yarcka could be deadly as she drove the large clawspike on her right elbow through his skull. The attacker’s body careened into that of one of his fellows.
Given a moment of reprieve- slight as it was- Serrtin looked around for her companions.
The marauding party had been taken off stride by the small team’s readiness and reactivity. They had thought a quick and concise victory had been assured even before the attack began. Losing so many so quickly only served to enrage those left to fight.
Aya lost her grip on her mare’s reins as the mare bolted wild-eyed but the young mage had no time to worry as a dark-cloaked man, eyes blazing, rushed her head long with sword raised.
Aya had never liked killing nor did she condone it but she was not naïve. She knew it happened everyday in Demaria- people killed people, monsters killed people, people killed monsters. It was an ugly fact she lived with and she entertained no fantasies that she would ever change that. No one could. Not Elves or Larren or Youkai or anyone else. Perhaps it was her own moral consciousness that kept her from using the deadly spells that she harbored in thefar planes of her mind. She knew the spells though she had never used them. Aya had promised herself in her ancestors’ Name that she would only use them in the most dire of circumstances.
So, as her attackers sword bounced harmlessly off her shield- appearing to him as if it had bounced off her outstretched hand- Aya drew in her energies and focused them into her other fist. When her hand began to grow numb from chill, she dropped her shield and made a throwing gesture across her form. She could feel the energy build and release, then the cold wind backlash as her ice spell hit the man square in the chest, launching him off his feet and knocking him onto his back with such force as to knock the air from his lungs. The concussion that kept him from rising would not kill. In a left to right slice pattern across his torso was a thick layer of ice, evaporating into mist in the warm air.
The mage
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