Richard Tuttle - Sapphire of the Fairies

The Dark Riders dismounted and soughtcover. They started returning arrows at the three targets, but theywere not able to reach the rim of the canyon and most of the arrowsdirected at the cave slammed into the invisible barrier. Wolindastarted blasting at the invisible barrier and the two bowmen on therim with her magic. Each time one of her projectiles struck thebarrier or one of the shields, it burst into radiant colors anddissipated, but each hit weakened the shield. Wolinda ordered theDark Riders to start scaling the sides of the canyon and directedmost of her magic at the two rim bowmen.

Tanya kept trying to aim at the witchwith the bright green dress, but every time she let an arrow fly, aDark Rider or a horse got in the way. She was trying to conserveher arrows and make each one count for a hit, but the pandemoniumbelow made that difficult. If the horses would clear out of thecanyon, she would have a much easier time of it.

“I’m not sure I can hold thisanymore,” Niki complained. “Every time she hits my shield, I canfeel it, just like she was punching me. She must be verypowerful.”

“Just keep holding it,” Tanyademanded. “I want to kill that witch and if your shield fails, wemust retreat.”

“I’ll try, Tanya,” Nikiwheezed, “but you don’t know what it’s like. It reallyhurts.”

Across the canyon, Tedi was not tryingfor the witch because there were too many Dark Riders a lot closer.“How are the shields holding up, Fredrik?” he asked.

“Okay, so far,” Fredrikreplied. “I’ve never really done this for any period of time. It’sstrange. Every time she hits my shield, I feel it more. At first itwas like a distant thump, now it is more like a jab with her fist.Not hard enough to hurt, but annoying to my concentration. This issomething I am going to have to practice more when I get thetime.”

“You are getting practiceright now,” Tedi chuckled.

“Yeah,” Fredrik laughed, “butI am concerned about Niki and Tanya. She’s not nearly as strong asI am and she is getting hit just as much.”

“Don’t worry about them,” Tedisaid. “If it gets too tense, they will withdraw.”

“I hope you are right,”Fredrik grunted with another jab from Wolinda. “With women younever know, though.”

The arrows were starting to take a tollon the Dark Riders with fifteen of them dead or dying in the canyonbelow when Fredrik announced that he could no longer maintain theshield. “We have to retreat, Tedi. Garth was clear with his ordersand I never want to feel his wrath or displeasure. Let’sgo.”

Tedi backed away from the edge of therim and Fredrik gazed across the canyon and saw that Niki and Tanyawere still there. The two boys took off running and Fredrik hopedthat Tanya wasn’t as stubborn as Niki. If she were, both girlswould likely be dead before the battle was over.

The Dark Riders were not making muchprogress at climbing the walls because Arik was concentrating onthe climbers. Any time a man got higher than the level of Kalina’sinvisible barrier, Arik shot him down. He no longer concernedhimself with the men on the canyon floor. It felt strange to him tosee armed men trying to kill him and not be concerned about them.He began to think that magic did have some goodbenefits.

With the thinning ranks of Dark RidersTanya finally got her shot at Wolinda. Her arrow ran true andstruck Wolinda in the left side of her chest. The witch tumbled tothe ground and the Dark Riders below started shouting.

“My shield just went down,”Niki shouted. “I don’t understand it. I felt it getting weaker andweaker and then it stabilized and her punches didn’t hurt anymore.Then, all of a sudden, it just collapsed.”

“It doesn’t matter any more,”Tanya replied, watching the Dark Riders heading for the mouth ofthe canyon. Those that could find live horses mounted and rode backthe way they had come. Those without horses ran. Tanya managed toget one more as he was running away.

“Damn!” Tanya shouted. “Ididn’t want any of them to get away. Now they will just get moremen and come after us again.”

Garth rode into the mouth of the canyonhoping he wasn’t too late. The sound of shouts echoed off thecanyon walls with the wail of men in retreat and Garth drew hissinuous sword. Garth slowed his steed to a stop a little ways froma bend in the trail and waited. He didn’t have long to wait beforetwo riders came flying around the bend. The enemy approached whiletrying to draw their swords and Garth swung into action. Garthswung his sword and decapitated the first rider. Stopping the swingshort, he lunged at the second rider with his sword and it cutcleanly through the man’s armor and pierced his chest. Yanking hissword free, Garth saw two more riders round the bend. The secondset of riders immediately halted their horses, nearly collidingwith each other, and drew their swords.

Garth slowly approached them and theytried to sandwich him between them. Garth’s steed suddenly rose upand turned towards one of the Dark Riders, its hooves lashing outat the man’s head. As if this was a practiced maneuver, Garth chosethat very moment to swing his mighty sword at the other Dark Rider.Garth’s sword cut a long rent in the man’s body from his neck tohis waist as Garth was sliding off his horse to the ground.Ignoring the man he had just severed, Garth turned to the rider whohad been knocked off his horse by the beating hooves. Garth haltedhis swing at the man on the ground when he saw a pair of lifelesseyes staring up at him. Garth’s horse had crushed the man’shead.

Garth stepped around the bend in thecanyon trail and saw three men running towards him on foot. Heplaced himself squarely in their path with a stance that indicatedthat the men were not getting past him and they slid to a halt.Eyeing his blood-drenched sword, the Dark Riders drew their ownsteel while looking for another way out. Garth furtively slippedhis hand into a pocket and grasped a Lanoirian Star. He stood withhis sword point on the ground in front of him, hilt in his righthand, with his left hand concealing the Lanoirian Star.

“You wanted to serve the DarkOne, didn’t you?” Garth sneered. “Well, come, let your blood flowfor him.”

The three men screamed as they rushedas one. Garth waited until they closed the distance before tossingout his left hand and sending the Lanoirian Star into the leftmostman’s eye. A second later, he brought his right arm up and the tipof his sword caught the center man just under the right side of hisjaw. The sword continued upward and sliced through the man’s noseand left eye. Dropping to one knee, Garth felt the shock of thethird man’s sword striking his sword. He allowed the blow to pushhis sword back by withdrawing it in a smooth arc that came aroundand sliced through the third man’s legs. The man lay screaming andGarth plunged the sword into his heart.

Garth rose and looked down the canyonfor more adversaries. Seeing none, he wiped his sword clean on oneof the bodies and sheathed it. He recovered his Lanoirian Star andwiped it clean, also. He walked with his horse down the canyontowards Kalina. Kalina lowered the barrier and walked out to hughim.

“Arik,” Garth said over Kalinashoulder, “I need a count of the bodies. I want to make sure thatwe got them all.”

The two teams that had been on thecanyon rims came riding in, and Garth ordered them to retrievearrows and anything else that they could find which would beuseful. When Arik came back with a count of twenty-six, Garthfrowned. He left Kalina’s embrace and went to examine thebodies.

“Klarg is missing,” Garthsighed as he returned. “Everyone is accounted for except Klarg. Hewill organize a new troop and pursue us. Loot what you can. We moveout in half an hour.”