David Dalglish - Blood Of Gods

“KARAK!”

The giant crashed into the line first, slicing three beasts in two at the waist with a single sideways hew. Then the mass of the stampede slammed fully into him, knocking the breath from his large and powerful lungs. His fellow warriors followed his lead. Their horses reared back and shrieked as claws tore into their flanks, spilling guts and riders alike. Men began screaming, and Bardiya swore he could hear Ki-Nan’s voice rise above the others as he shouted curses at the beasts.

A pair of upright-walking wolves crashed into his chest while a cat-man came at him from the side. Teeth raked against his flesh, claws dragged down his back. His shoulder was impaled by an antler that he snapped off with a single flick of the wrist. Bardiya grunted as he grabbed the beasts in turn with his powerful left hand, tossing them back over their swelling numbers as if they weighed nothing. He thrust forward with his sword, impaling six beasts through the chest like they were on a spit. A smaller creature tried scaling his leg-a squirrel-man, by the looks of him-heading for Bardiya’s most sensitive area with its teeth bared. The giant snatched the two-foot-tall thing off him and made a fist. The writhing squirrel popped like a rotten fruit, bathing his hand with entrails.

Still the beast-men swarmed, relentless. These were not mindless things, Bardiya realized. They were attacking in clusters, the larger beasts such as deer and elk in front, the lesser predators behind, while the smallest of the forest creatures dashed through the legs of their larger brethren, using the bodies of the larger creatures to mask their movements. Bardiya hacked the head off a giant elk-man in a single swing, narrowly missing being skewered by its antlers, and then turned to see one of his fellow defenders whipping around and gargling blood, a human-shaped gopher attached to his throat. A pair of wolves fell upon the poor soul, ripping into his chest and sending intestines flying. The body was flung to the side, and Bardiya could see it was Tuan Littlefoot, one eye gone and leaking blood while the other one stared at him, lifeless.

The same was happening all around him. Every horse that had charged was now gone, swallowed by the ungodly numbers of beast-men, and he could see only a handful of the men still clashing with their savage opponents. He wondered if Ki-Nan was one of them, before his thoughts were interrupted by the flash of feathers in his face. Bardiya plucked the bird-man off him, a crane with stumpy claws at the end of its wings and serrated teeth inside its beak, and snapped it over his knee.

Three more beasts rushed him, only to be cut down swiftly. Bardiya pivoted on his heels and saw the cluster of four hundred men being overrun. The larger beast-men raked and snapped at those on the outside of the circle, while the smaller of their species leapt off shoulders, careening through the air and descending into the center of the desperate defenders. Blood began to fly into the air, Bardiya’s people being decimated from both outside the circle and within.

He went to storm forward, but an impossibly heavy weight collided with him from behind, knocking him face first to the sodden ground. He lost hold of the sword when he landed with a splash, and he rolled just as powerful jaws closed around his left forearm. Wickedly sharp teeth pierced his flesh and scraped against bone. Bardiya cried out in pain, beating at the gigantic, fur-covered head with his free hand. The thing’s grip was insanely strong, as if it were made from solid rock.

A beast with a pair of black eyes, faintly glowing yellow at the center, rolled in his direction. Bardiya recalled the day he’d been attacked by timber wolves while hunting with his father in his youth, and did the same now as he had then. He plunged three fingers of his free hand into the beast’s eye socket. The eye itself was large, the size of a mango, and it slipped and sloshed against the tips of his fingers as they snaked around the backside of the orb. The beast’s gyrations became all the more violent. Bardiya then tore his hand away from the socket, ripping out the eye with a sickening plop . The beast finally released him, rearing back and lifting its snout to the sky as it roared. Bardiya kicked away from the thing, searching for his sword, while smaller beast-men scurried past him, heading for his doomed brothers in faith.

Bardiya hastened to his feet, his left arm aching and leaking blood. The beast that had attacked him ceased its bellowing and faced him, and Bardiya could now see that this monstrosity had once been a black bear. It was taller than Bardiya by at least two feet, and with its bulk it must have weighed as much as four of him. The thing stared, its empty eye socket oozing while the intact left eye radiated hatred. The bear-man growled, and Bardiya was buffeted by its hot, stinking breath from ten feet away. “Hurts,” he heard the beast growl. It then ran at him, its claws like ten long daggers aiming to pierce his heart. Bardiya braced for impact, knowing this would be the end of him.

He caught the claws when the bear-man collided with him and shoved him backward. His heels dug into the damp earth. The beast was strong, so damn strong . It leaned forward, bending Bardiya’s arms nearly to the point of breaking. Its maw pounced, snapping with six-inch incisors. One of those massive teeth scraped against Bardiya’s cheek, opening up a new, gushing wound.

He fell to one knee, the bear-man crushing its full weight down on him. I love you, Ashhur, he prayed. I am sorry to have failed you. He screamed as loudly as he could, trying to shove back against the bear-man’s crushing weight.

Amazingly, he succeeded.

The bear let out a sharp cry as it stumbled. When it righted itself, the beast suddenly flailed, its good eye bulging as it whimpered and grunted. Then there was a flash of silver between its legs. The bear pitched forward, clawed hands grasping at the gaping vertical mouth that appeared where its nether parts should have been. Innards as thick as a human arm poured out of the wound, slopping onto the earth. The beast gawked at Bardiya as if insulted, taking a single step forward before its colossal bulk toppled over.

Another form was dragging itself toward him. Bardiya regained his wits quickly enough to bat a bird-man off his shoulder and draw back his fist, ready to strike. The head of the beast lifted, and beneath a wolf’s nose there was the lower half of a grimacing brown face.

It was Ki-Nan. His old friend was entirely covered with blood, and the wolf’s nose was actually a head, severed at the jaw line. Ki-Nan rose to his feet, revealing a giant gash running along his side, and tottered before Bardiya until his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fell. The giant caught him, gently lowering him to the ground. All around him, the beasts continued their attack. A few even nipped at the back of Bardiya’s neck. He batted them away, and they left him alone, rushing instead toward the easy meal a couple hundred feet away.

“Finish. . this. .,” he heard Ki-Nan say beneath the racket. “Finish it.”

“I don’t know how,” he told his friend sadly. The circle of his fellow Kerrians was nearly broken, the beasts tearing into men left and right. It was a slaughter.

“You said. . you said we couldn’t lose,” Ki-Nan said. “Not when Ashhur was with us. Now prove it .”

His hand dropped to the side, falling atop Bardiya’s sword. Bardiya looked at it, a thing he’d long viewed as evil, and knew it had to be something more if they were to survive. Reaching down, he lifted the sword, and felt comfortable, at ease. Rising, he took a slow step, then another, steadily gaining speed as he left Ki-Nan behind. With his size and strength, the beast-men gave him a wide berth, thrusting themselves into the greater melee of his people. Cowards, thought Bardiya. Cowardly animals, evil things.