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throat and lungs filling up with blood. He coughed hard, choking and gasping
for air as he drowned in his own Blood. Crimson fluid came up and splattered
his chin and tunic.
Necrodez wrapped an arm around Woodfine's chest as the mon sagged, settling
to earth with him. He tangled his fingers into Woodfine's hair and twisted his
head to the side. Woodfine blinked at him through eyes already dulling with
the approach of death. Necrodez sank his fangs into the ranger's throat, tore
it open and fastened onto the spurting flow. Woodfine's body gave a last
convulsive shudder as his blood-starved heart struggled to beat and then he
went still.
* * * *
Luck got his name because the unlikeliest things always tended to happen to
him. That evening he saw Zulaika and Willa slip off into the woods and decided
to trail after them. Unlike the others in the company, he and his dead brother
Itch had come from the slums and seen far more ugliness in their young lives
that anyone else there, except for Isranon. He wore a brace of throwing
daggers up each sleeve, and several more on his belt as well as the long
knives they all wore at their hips and the sword at his shoulder. He had also
learned to play his hunches. It was a formless hunch that set him to
following. Others might have said it was simply curiosity or distrust of their
undead allies, but Luck actually had no problems with them because he trusted
Nans and nothing much bothered him.
He found Willa sitting with her shoulders braced against a tree and her
breasts trust forward. Zulaika knelt in front of Willa, unlacing her bodice.
Luck found his body reacting to the sight of a fine pair of tits exposed in a
sliver of moonlight filtering through the autumn leaves. The Ymraude nuzzled
Willa's breasts. Willa gave a soft moan, pressing herself more firmly against
Zulaika's mouth. A tiny sob of pain came from Willa and her moaning deepened.
In the stillness, Luck could hear Zulaika's sucking and realized he had
overheard the instant of the Ymraude's fangs entering Willa's breast. He
started to turn and leave when a flash of silver in the moonlight and the
sound of something moving in the trees caught his attention.
Luck flicked two blades from his forearm sheaths and threw, following them
with two more and reaching for a third set before waiting to discover whether
and what he might have hit.
Zulaika raised her head, snarling at him and reaching for her sword.
"In the bushes!" Luck hissed, running past them.
He nearly fell over the body laying there. He had managed to put all four
blades into the mon. Luck would have whistled if he had not feared there were
more out there: luck had definitely been with Luck.
Zulaika squatted beside him with Willa behind her. "Gathos! Willa, warn the
camp."
Willa ran back.
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"You know him?"
Zulaika nodded. "Sa'necari. He runs with Necrodez. Bounty hunter."
"Damn."
"We must check the sentries," Zulaika said. Her hands became claws and she
ripped through the sa'necari's body, going deep into the chest cavity to tear
out his heart. "That one will not rise." She shoved the heart into a pouch at
her side.
"I agree."
They walked the perimeter, keeping to the shadows and avoiding bright patches
beneath the moon.
"Woodfine should have been here," Luck muttered.
Zulaika's eyes saw better than a mere humans and she went to a small patch of
bushes. "He is here. Dead."
Luck joined her, hissing curses. "Damn. Piss-swizzling cockwhores." Woodfine
had been a close friend. They had ridden together for six years.
"Bounty hunters," Zulaika told him. "They've come after Dawnreturning."
Zulaika unhooked a horn from her belt and blew the "Fear, fire, foes,"
signal. It would give away the fact that their enemies had been discovered,
but she did not want more dead sentries.
Luck looked at her and then nodded. "Let's check on the rest of them."
* * * *
Isranon's head jerked up at the sound of the horn call. Around him all of the
lycans were dropping to all fours and changing form. Nevin went only as far
his transitional form and drew his sword, running to the edge of the camp.
Anksha, standing on the far side of the fire, spun about on the balls of her
feet and scanned the center. Isranon pushed himself onto his side and then his
knees, seeing Woodfine approaching him. "What is going on?"
Necrodez knelt beside him. "Lord Dawnreturning?"
"What is it, Woodfine?" Isranon asked.
Anksha glanced in their direction.
"It appears the camp has been infiltrated," Necrodez said. "Come with me to a
safer place where we can guard you."
Isranon put his hand on Necrodez's shoulder and allowed the mon to help him
to his feet. The mon's strength seemed stronger than Isranon imagined a
human's would be. Instinctively, Isranon's fingers brushed Necrodez's neck. A
rush of images poured through Isranon's awareness and he saw Woodfine dying
with Necrodez's fangs in his throat. He shoved free of Necrodez with a shout.
"Anksha!"
She charged toward them.
"Damn you," Necrodez snarled, reaching for a spell as he drew the concealed
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hellblade from his sleeve.
"Luminos!" Isranon shouted. "Luminos!"
Light filled every corner of the camp and spread into the forest beyond it.
"Falsity fall!" Isranon screamed out the command for a variation of Josiah's
spell of revelation. If there were any others wearing stolen forms in the
camp, they would be stripped bare of their deceptive appearances.
Necrodez's face twisted in rage as his body was forced back into its true
form. His fingers wove a web of blackest magic and he pitched it at Isranon.
"Sa'necari!" Anksha yowled, as another one charged to Necrodez's aid. She
somersaulted over the sa'necari's head, avoiding his castings. She whipped
around and sprang like a tiger onto her opponent's back, tearing his throat
open from behind with her claws. He fell, clutching at the wound and drowning
swiftly in his own blood.
Isranon called up his golden shield, shaping it in front of him as a long
oval.
Necrodez's spell rebounded on him as it struck Isranon's shield. The backlash
staggered the sa'necari and he screamed, recovering with an effort. He had
lost the element of surprise and now faced an enraged battle-mage of the first
rank. Necrodez called up his own dark shields, black energy rising between
himself and Isranon. A lance of flame descended from the skies and shattered
Necrodez's shields. "Noooooo!"
Anksha started to run forward, but seeing all the magic flashing back and
forth, she hesitated.
Isranon struck Necrodez with a second lance of the sunfire. The sa'necari's
flesh sizzled and he shrieked in agony. He stumbled backwards, attempting to
flee. This battle-mage was too strong for him. Isranon called down two more
lances before Necrodez could manage three steps. Necrodez crumpled, his body
turning to ash.
"There's more of them," Isranon said, putting his hand on Anksha's shoulder
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