The Ultimate Helm Read Online Free PDF Page B

without guidance, their masters lying dead in their own dark blood.
    A human behind him shouted “Cloakmaster!” and Teldin spun around.
    A ferocious neogi had crouched and sprung from the deck and was rushing down at him from midair.
    Teldin brought up his sword and thrust the blade deep into the neogi fighter’s pulsing heart, then slammed the spiderlike body to the ground and kicked it off his sword.
    He turned to spy a huge man, almost broader across his shoulders than he was tall, swing his broadsword in a huge arc to slice through the thick necks of two advancing umber hulks. They fell at his feet, and as their blood sprayed onto his legs and boots, he laughed loudly at the reptilian hordes and their slaves.
    “Thanks,” Teldin said. The warrior kicked one of the hulks in the side. His foot bounced harmlessly off the thing’s thick carapace.
    The man’s long, thick beard was tied in a cord that dangled to his waist. He bent and lifted one of the hulk’s swords, and Teldin could see that this man, though small in stature, was barrel-chested and muscular, and his armor had seen a lot of damage.
    The warrior turned. “So, you’re the Cloakmaster?” he asked, panting.
    “I —” Teldin did not know how to react. “Well, yes, I suppose I am. How did you —”
    He was cut off as a huge umber hulk ran up behind the warrior and grabbed him from behind. The human’s swords clattered to the deck, and the warrior squirmed to get away. The hulk’s grip was like an iron vise, and as its sharp, clacking mandibles moved inches closer to the warrior’s neck, a fat neogi scurried out of the surrounding battle and bared its fangs, preparing to sink them deep into the human’s flesh.
    Teldin balanced his short sword in his hand, then aimed quickly and hurled it at the ugly neogi. The umber hulk lashed out with one hand, caught the sword, and cast it to the deck. The human lashed out with one, thick hand, but the hulk swatted it away and quickly replaced its hold on him. Its mesmerizing eyes seemed to glimmer with dull amusement.
    The neogi laughed at Teldin as it bared its yellow, needle-like fangs. Venom dripped from its mouth and spattered the deck. The neogi turned to the warrior again.
    It raised its blunt head, ready to lunge.
    Teldin felt his rage building, and his skin began to shiver with energy pulsing through his veins. He cried out “No!” and twin bolts of blue, magical lightning lanced out from the folds of the cloak and speared the neogi and its hard-skinned servant.
    Arcs of mystical energy pulsed from the cloak to engulf the unhuman enemies. The warrior fell from the hulk’s arms and scrambled away.
    The neogi screamed in white-hot pain. The umber hulk fell to its knees, covering its beady eyes with its thick claws. At once, fingers of crackling energy erupted from the assailants’ eyes and mouths. Their bodies seemed to blaze blue from within.
    Their screams were high-pitched wails of pain and seemed to echo in Teldin’s ears long after they had stopped. In an instant, the unhumans were nothing more than lifeless, burned-out husks, and their charred black bodies crumbled to the ground like the broken, blackened hull of Teldin’s nautiloid.
    The bearded warrior stood slowly. The fighting had stopped around them as Teldin’s cloak had fought back, and as their brother fell to the Cloakmaster’s magic, the remaining neogi started running for the safety of their tower. One female warrior carefully leveled her crossbow and nailed a scurrying neogi through its neck. She screamed a triumphant battle cry, and soon the unhumans were gone.
    The burly warrior picked up Teldin’s short sword and handed it to him. His eyes twinkled with the exhilaration of a battle well fought.
    “Yes, I guess you are the Cloakmaster,” he said.
    Teldin shrugged, smiling. “My name is Teldin Moore. How do you know me?”
    The warrior stroked his long beard. “I suppose you could say we’ve all been expecting you.