Heirs of the Fallen: Book 03 - Shadow and Steel Read Online Free PDF Page A

driven them away—
    Before the thought was finished, Leitos was running back the way he had come.

Chapter 5
     
     
    Leitos burst out of the thicket and dropped behind the nearest boulder. Far up the hillside, lost among the trees, his Brothers remained invisible. Dark clouds gathered over Witch’s Mole. Leitos began to relax. The coming storm might have driven most of the birds to cover—
    An inhuman howl cut off the thought. A heartbeat later, a screaming horde of warriors, men and women alike wearing only baggy black or white breeches, exploded from all available cover between him and his Brothers. A hail of arrows fired by hidden archers flew over their heads and streaked into the trees where the Brothers waited.
    Leitos cried a belated warning, and then loosed an arrow just ahead of the lead Kelren. The barbed head tore through the man’s bowels, and he fell in a tumbling roll.
    All at once the Brothers surged from the trees, bucklers held at shoulder height to deflect falling arrows, as they sprinted toward Leitos. Every third man returned arrow for arrow, but they were far outnumbered. Even as he watched, the number of Kelrens tripled.
    Leitos took aim at another target. Waving a pitted sword overhead, the howling woman outdistanced her companions. Embracing a sense of cold dispassion, Leitos fired. The arrow flew true and sank deep into the pit of her arm. Her cry cut off, but she ran a few more steps before toppling.
    Leitos fired at another slaver. The sea-wolf fell, an arrow jutting from his neck. Before Leitos could target more enemies, the horde fell upon the Brothers of the Crimson Shield. Leitos sprinted up the hill to join them.
    In the time it took for him to halve the distance to the battle, the Brothers had abandoned bows for swords, and presented a phalanx of whirling blades. Wave after wave, the Kelrens bled and died upon that blurring wall of razor-edged steel. Eager war cries became screams of agony.
    Adham, Ba’Sel, and Ulmek formed the center of that line, fighting as Leitos had never imagined men could fight. Sea-wolves fell before them, throats torn out, limbs shortened to gushing stumps, entrails spilling. The Brothers advanced in lockstep, trampling the dead and wounded underfoot.
    Just before Leitos reached the Brothers, a pair of changeling wolves circled the battle and attacked from behind. Where the Brothers fought with terrible beauty, the wolves ravaged mindlessly. Blood flew from their rending jaws. Teeth as long as a man’s fingers, and claws even longer, slashed like daggers.
    Caught in the haze of battle, the Brothers closed ranks when their fellows fell, unaware of the threat at their backs.
    Close enough now to smell the sharp odor of blood, Leitos ran faster, his sword replacing his bow. “Father!” he cried. “Behind you!”
    The furious storm of battle crushed his voice before it reached a single ear. And still the Kelrens came, eroding the line of defending Brothers. Dust rose into swirling clouds, obscuring sight of the slaughter.
    And then Leitos stumbled into the fray. All blurred around him, friend and foe becoming one. His sword slashed at branded skin, knowing it belonged to Kelrens.
    “Now!” Ulmek yelled, sounding near.
    Leitos heard breaking pottery, and then a flash of indigo light exploded before his eyes.
    Nectar of Judgment! Terrible understanding filled him, even as a blast of heat and smoke knocked him sprawling. Within heartbeats, flames were sweeping through a line of screaming Kelrens, allowing the Brothers a chance to retreat.
    Chaos capered and spread, separating enemies into smaller pockets. Leitos fought his way toward the longboats. Around him, hoarse shouts, the clangor of steel, the inferno’s whooshing crackle, all blended into a maddening roar.
    From that madness emerged a changeling wolf, its spiny pelt smoking and charred. It spotted Leitos, growled low in its throat, and came near not on paws, but humanlike hands, the clutching fingers