The Dragon in the Sword Read Online Free PDF Page B

alone might have been enough to knock a victim off his feet!
    I did not know what marsh vermin were, but I knew that we had little chance of surviving the attack as, with raised clubs and swords, they advanced, chuckling, towards us.
    I tried to reach my pike but I had been knocked too far away from it. Even as I scrambled across the wet and yielding grass I knew that another club or a sword would find me before I could get to my weapon.
    And von Bek was in an even worse position than I was.
    All I could think of to do was to shout at him.
    “Run, man! Run, von Bek! There’s no sense in us both dying!”
    It was growing darker by the moment. There was a slight chance that my companion could escape into the night.
    As for myself, I threw up my arms instinctively as a mass of weapons was lifted to dispatch me.

2
    T HE FIRST BLOW landed on my arm and came close to breaking it. I waited for the second and the third. One was bound to make me unconscious and that was all I could hope for—a swift and painless death.
    Then I heard an unfamiliar sound which, at the same time, I recognised. A sharp report swiftly followed by two more. My closest assailants had fallen, evidently stone dead. Without pausing to question my good fortune I seized first one sword and then another. They were awkward, heavy blades of the sort favoured by butchers rather than fencers, but they were all I wanted. I now had a chance at life!
    I backed to where I had last seen von Bek and from the corner of my eye saw him rising from a kneeling position, a smoking automatic pistol held in both hands.
    It had been a long while since I had seen or heard such a weapon. I felt a certain grim amusement when I realised that von Bek had not come completely unarmed from his realm to the Maaschanheem. He had possessed the presence of mind to bring with him something of considerable use in such a world as this!
    “Give me a blade!” shouted my companion. “I’ve no more than two shots left and I prefer to save those.”
    Scarcely glancing at him I tossed him one of my swords and together we advanced on our enemies who were already badly demoralised from the unexpected shots. Plainly they had never experienced pistol-fire before.
    The leader snarled and flung another club at me, but I dodged it. The rest followed suit so that we received a barrage of those crude weapons which we either avoided or deflected. Then we were face to face with our attackers, who seemed to have little further stomach for fighting.
    I had killed two scarcely before I thought about it. I had had an eternity of such contests and knew that one must kill in them or risk losing one’s own life. By the third man, I had recovered my senses enough to knock the sword from his hand. Meanwhile, von Bek, plainly an expert with the sabre, like so many of his class, had dealt with another couple until only four or five of the fellows remained.
    At this the leader roared for us to stop.
    “I take it back! You’re no marsh vermin, after all. We were wrong to attack you without parleying. Hold your swords, gentlemen, and we’ll talk. The gods know I’m not one who refuses to admit a mistake.”
    Warily, we put up our blades, ready for any likely treachery from him and his men.
    They made a great play, however, of sheathing their weapons and of helping their surviving comrades to their feet. The dead they automatically stripped of their purses and remaining weapons. But their leader growled at them to stop. “We’ll unshell ’em when this business is dealt with to everyone’s satisfaction. Look, home’s close enough now.”
    I stared in the direction he had indicated to them and saw to my utter astonishment that the building—or two—von Bek and I had been making for was now considerably nearer. I could see the smoke from its chimneys, the flags on its turrets, lights flickering here and there.
    “Now, gentlemen,” says the leader. “What’s to be done? You’ve killed a good few of ours, so