Read Online Spell of the Crystal Chair by Gilbert L. Morris - Free Book Online Page B

two with one snap of his jaws.
    “Stand fast, archers! Wait until I give the word!” Fairmina’s voice came clear. She seemed to have no fear. Her eyes were fixed on the ferocious beast that approached them. It moved not like a T-rex but swiftly, like an enormous weasel. The eyes were red and small and filled with evil.
    “Fire!” Fairmina cried and loosed her arrow. Beside Josh, Sarah let her arrow fly. It went true, but the wraith had a tough hide. It screamed with rage in a horrible voice and kept coming.
    “Again! Keep firing!” Fairmina ordered.
    The wraith would make a rush. Then an arrow would manage to catch it, and it would scream like nothing that Josh had ever heard before. Its eyes flashed like fire, and only the constant rain of arrows kept its attention from the spearmen.
    The Sleepers were all using their bows. Chief Denhelm was leading the spearmen. More than onceJosh thought the chief would be caught by the monster’s slashing tail or by the swordlike claws on its strong forearms. The great teeth once just missed Denhelm, and Josh’s heart came up into his throat.
    “I’ve got only three more arrows, Princess,” someone called.
    “Make them count,” she said. “When they are gone, we will have to join the men with spears.”
    But the ice wraith had apparently absorbed enough punishment. Giving a final scream, the monster backed away. Conmor rushed in to plant a spear in its breast, but he moved too slowly. The wounded wraith turned on him, and the hunter was suddenly inside its jaws.
    “Conmor!” Reb screamed. “It’s killed Conmor!”
    Reb grabbed up a spear and would have run after the wraith, now retreating with its victim.
    But the chief caught him and held him with his strong arms. “No, my Reb. It is too late to help him. You would be slain, too.”
    “We’ve
got
to kill it! Let me go, chief!” Reb raged.
    “No,” Fairmina said. She took hold of Reb’s free arm. “To kill an ice wraith is something that is not easily done. Only two have ever been slain by our tribe—and then at a tremendous cost.”
    Reb hung his head and dropped his lance. “He was such a fine guy.”
    “Yes,” Fairmina said sadly. “He was a fine warrior.”
    Now the chief rested a hand on Reb’s shoulder. “We will all miss him,” he said, “but you fought valiantly. All of you did.” He sighed. “Ice wraiths are more cruel and more deadly than the Yanti. Come. Now we must get our wounded home.”

7
The Servant of Darkness
    B alog, chief of the Yantis, did not have the noble look of Denhelm, the Lowami chieftain. Balog was short, squat, and powerful. He had long, stringy black hair that sometimes hung down over his dark eyes. There was something proud and angry in his expression. He was obviously a man of a quick temper.
    Seated on the fur-covered floor with his war council, Balog suddenly struck the ground beside him with a hard fist. “So the Yanti ran away!” he yelled. “That’s the kind of cowards I have to put up with!”
    “But, Chief,” one of the council members said, “we were outnumbered.” The particular speaker was pale and had a bandage around his head. He had been one of those caught in the skirmish against Denhelm’s hunting party. His voice trembled a little. He probably knew the wrath of Balog could be deadly.
    “Silence!” Balog shouted. “You ran away, and only cowards run away!”
    Olah, the wife of Balog, had long light hair, neatly tied behind her. She had dark blue eyes, and there was a gentle spirit about her. She ordinarily took no part in the council. But now, as she brought in food, she said quietly, “Balog, sometimes even the most valiant warrior has to retreat.”
    He had captured Olah in a war raid against the Lowamis and, to the surprise of everyone in the tribe, had taken her as his mate instead of one of the Yanti women. If Balog had any gentleness in him at all, it wasdirected toward his wife. Now, however, he said impatiently, “You do not