The Clovel Destroyer Read Online Free PDF Page B

warrior, his voice trembling with nervousness.
“It’s a shame.” Despite the fact he knew the fighter heard nothing, somehow the farmer felt better as
he talked.
    Alfard got to his feet as he saw two men on ossanes
coming from the village of Darykans. As the riders came closer, the
farmer could see they were merchants by the black robes they wore. Alfard saw the men led several erba and a
saddled ossane.
    “ I see you found our lost items,”
declared Alfard when the two men stopped. The
farmer’s grin dropped when he saw their hard faces. He realized
they were probably bandits who wore the robes of their victims. The
bulge of weapons could be viewed under their merchant
clothes .
    One of the men gave the farmer a cold stare while
the other, a younger man missing his front teeth, showed Alfard a grim smile. The man with the missing
teeth glanced over at the warrior who sat on the edge of the road. “I don’t know what you are talking about.
These animals are ours. But seeing how you look stranded, we might
be able to sell you these.”
    The old farmer spat on the ground. “I don’t know who you think you are,
but King Penhda hangs thieves in this land. Those are
my erba. They scattered when the fire came through. The ossane
belongs to that man over there. I don’t think you want to
try and cheat him.”
    “ Well, you would have to prove
your words to the king. Since these animals will be sold after we
get to Gramcan, unless you pay up, you can sit on this road with
your injured friend.” The toothless man looked at the giant warrior
who continued staring at the wreckage in the ravine. The bandit
looked back to his victim. “Choice is yours, but remember, those
bodies won’t keep forever in this sun.” The men chuckled to
themselves. They believed the farmer had little choice at this
point. A quick way to make some koinons before they traveled
on.
    “ I’m not paying for my own erba,”
the farmer told them defiantly.
    “ Then, you can just rot here with
the corpses.” The bandits started to move forward when they saw
Urith rise to his feet. The warrior quietly walked in front of them, pulling his sword.
    “ You will give this man his animals, or you will die,” the Esterblud’s
growl sent a shiver through the farmer. “It’s your
choice.”
    Dropping the line leading to the stolen animals, the
two men pulled their swords. While they had not expected a fight,
they could see little reason to worry about the dirty, injured
fighter in front of them. “That works fine for me,” said the toothless man. “Your armor and sword will be worth
more than the animals.”
    The men spurred their ossanes as they charged at
Urith, one behind the other. It was their last mistake. The
Esterblud warrior calmly parried away a sword strike from the
toothless man, shoving the tip of his blade between the man’s ribs.
The bandit barely made a sound as he fell over the side of his
mount as the animal slowed to a halt. The thief died before he struck the
ground. Spinning around as the other mount bore down on him, the
warrior whipped his weapon across his enemy’s
face . The blow nearly severed the bandit’s face from his
skull, leaving the ossane galloping along the road with a lifeless
body perched on the high back saddle. The animal came to a stop, Alfard and Urith
watched the body slowly fall away to the ground before sliding down
into the ravine. The farmer stared in astonishment at the warrior
who cleaned the blood from his blade as if nothing had happened.
Urith stepped back between the bodies of his wife and father,
looking over the landscape as he slid his Clovel Sword into its
scabbard.
    After gathering the remainder of his herd, Alfard took Urith's ossane to him then asked
if he could help put the bodies on one of the ossanes recently
vacated by the bandits. When Urith turned to him, the farmer saw a
deadly detachment. The farmer suddenly feared
the warrior and wisely chose to remain silent
as he helped strap