[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

bodies were black silhouettes against the silver gloaming-
living shadows. They darted, positioning themselves in the
path of the Jhovalls. Here and there, true glimpses came of
these vaguely human titans. In place of skin, leaves stood
across their bulk. Mosses clumped in untidy mats of hair.
Vines twined in veinwork. Fists of stone and stick bore huge
clubs. Most horrible of all, though, were the creatures' eyes,
glowing with the silver fire of the trees all around.
"Rushwood elementals!" Sisay shouted. "They are formed out
of the leaves and boughs of the forest!" Takara whispered
sardonically, "What now?" "What else?" Gerrard replied,
feeling his fear turn to anger, and his anger to hatred. "We
fight." "That's what I like to hear."
"Hang on!" Gerrard kicked the flanks of his Jhovall. The
tiger-creature snarled and leaped toward one of the looming
shadows. Overhead, a club dropped with an awful roar. Gerrard
drove the cat upward. The Jhovall leaped. Claws sank into the
moldy mass of the elemental's thigh. A vague roar came. The
massive club descended toward Jhovall and riders.
"Get up!" Gerrard shouted at his mount. The Jhovall
bounded again.
The club struck. A shriek came, inhuman anguish. The
elemental staggered. Its thigh-stones and sticks-had shattered
beneath the blow of the club.
Rising still, the Jhovall sank its claws in the monster's
arm and hurled itself higher.
"Good work," Takara shouted.
But the elemental was not maimed for long. It pressed its
club against the shattered thigh. The wood fused with its leg,
solidifying it.
"Not good enough," Gerrard hissed.
The jhovall leaped from the elemental's shoulder toward
its face. Feline claws sank into the elemental's skull.
Standing in the saddle, Gerrard drove his sword into one of
the titan's silver-glowing eyes. Takara rammed hers into the
other. Mercurial flames danced out along the blades and burned
their sleeves. Gerrard and Takara shouted in unison pain.
 But the agonized shriek of the elemental overtopped their
cries. Silver fire guttered and failed in its eyes. They went
dark. The wailing ceased. The elemental died. With terrific
and terrible motion, its corpse began to slump. Boughs and
humus and rocks separated. No longer joined in a titanic body,
the multifarious vines and mosses tumbled free of each other.
Growling, Gerrard drove heels into his Jhovall's side.
"Jump!"
The tiger-creature did, flinging itself across the
wheeling heights. It bounded from the head of a dying
elemental toward the shoulders of a living one. Trees flashed
past in a dizzy spectacle. The Jhovall extended its forepaws
to grasp the next titan.
The elemental turned. Its club whirled about and struck
the six-legged tiger in midair.
A whuff of breath exploded from the cat. With it came the
snap of ribs. Blood boiled out of the creature's face. Broken,
the Jhovall spun through the air.
Gerrard and Takara clung miserably to its inert bulk.
Trees whirled.
They struck one. The dead cat caught the brunt of the
blow, but Takara was flung away. She fell toward the forest
floor, landing atop a root-cluster and sprawling brokenly.
Gerrard meanwhile smacked up against rough bark. Something
shattered in his chest, but he clung to the dead cat. It
sloughed off the side of the tree and plunged beneath him.
Cursing, Gerrard clawed atop the falling Jhovall. It struck
ground.
The impact was horrible. It drove the breath from Gerrard.
He crumpled off the Jhovall's corpse and flailed on the
ground. He rolled across his torch. The wet fabric of his
riding cloak-it was a flask of rye spirits that had shattered
in his chest pocket-flared with sudden fire.
Gerrard staggered up and shucked the burning jacket. He
flung it furiously away. The cloak wrapped itself around the
elemental's leg.
Flame leaped to wood and dry moss. Fire spread up the
looming titan. It shrieked, pounding the blaze. Flames roared
onto its hands and arms. In moments, the elemental was
engulfed-a living column of fire. It thrashed horribly among
the boles, shying away from the trees lest it set them ablaze.
Its screams were terrifying.
Gerrard could only grin grimly. He drew a hissing breath
through gritted teeth and shouted, "Burn them! Burn every last
one! Burn them!"
Even as the elemental fell to the ground, writhing in
death throes, more fires awoke among the others.
A slim hand touched Gerrard's shoulder. "That was well
done."
He turned, astonished. "Takara! How did you survive that
fall? Your spine was broken."
"No. Hatred is my spine," she said, smiling a bloody
smile. "As long as I keep it at the core of my being, I
survive."
"Yes," Gerrard said, staring at her. "I've begun to see
the definite benefits." There were four elementals burning
now, their wails like music in the night. Gerrard cupped hands
about his mouth and shouted through the chorus of moans. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]