The Wizard Hunters Read Online Free PDF

the weapon, shifting to stand back to back with Giliead, his eyes on the rock above their heads. There would be tunnels up there, the openings hidden in folds and shadows. “Back or forward?” he whispered. The passage was too narrow to fight in.
    “Back—” Giliead began. Then from the direction of the bone chamber, two lean man-sized shapes appeared at the edge of the torchlight, the flame reflected in mad hungry eyes. “Forward!” they finished in unison.
    Ilias let Giliead worry about what was ahead and kept his eyes on the passage behind them as he backed away. The firelight threw leaping red-tinged shadows on the howlers’ slick mottled green hides, which he knew were disconcertingly like human skin to the touch. The creatures had the elongated heads and long spidery hands of harmless rock lizards, but their jaws were heavy with vicious fangs and their claws were like razors.
    These howlers warily kept their distance, as if they had been hunted before. That’s all we need, for these things to get smart , Ilias thought in exasperation. He shouted, darting forward. The one in the lead took the bait, springing at him, hands reaching. Ilias ducked under the sweep of its claws, thrusting his sword upward and skewering it in the belly.
    It recoiled with a screech, lurching into the wall and clawing at the rock. He dodged back as it struck the ground; the others fell on it as prey, maddened by the scent of blood.
    Warily watching the dark shapes tear at the frantic creature, Ilias heard Giliead curse and risked a look over his shoulder. The tunnel came to an abrupt end not far ahead. “Damn,” he breathed, turning back. The wounded howler writhed at the bottom of the snarling heap.
    “Down here,” Giliead said sharply, sweeping the torch along the ground in a haze of sparks. At the base of the boulders blocking the passage were openings in the rock. He leaned down, thrusting the torch into the largest, then jumped.
    Ilias scrambled down after him, sliding, then leaping down to level ground. Giliead had found a large, low-ceilinged tunnel, wide enough for them to make a stand. Giliead cast the torch behind them and drew his sword as the first of the howlers leapt down to the chamber floor.
    Driven wild by the fresh blood, the howlers lost all ability to coordinate their attack and came at them in a confused rush. Ilias took the first one with a straight thrust into the chest. As he pulled his sword free it went down, still clawing for him. He blocked a blow as another ran at him, half severing its arm, then spinning close to slice its head off. Ducking under the next creature’s wild swing, he took its leg off at the knee and risked a look around as it fell.
    Giliead freed his sword from a creature’s chest with a hard shove from his boot. He shifted to close the distance between them as Ilias eyed the howlers warily.
    Seven of the creatures sprawled limp and bleeding on the ground as the others withdrew to the far side of the chamber, hissing and growling. Ilias frowned, watching as they stooped and weaved, their heads bobbing in what looked like a strange dance. “What the . . .” Giliead muttered. Ilias shrugged, baffled, as one by one the howlers crept back up the rocks into the upper tunnel.
    Ilias pivoted, trying to see the rest of the chamber as Giliead grabbed up the torch again. “Are they trying to get above us?” he demanded. Howlers never gave up prey.
    “They didn’t even take the dead ones, that’s—” Giliead cocked his head, lifting the torch higher. “You hear that?”
    After a moment, Ilias nodded. It was faint, but he could hear a humming, like disturbed bees.
    “We’ve found it,” Giliead said softly, absolute conviction in his voice. He stepped forward and thrust the torch against the wall, grinding it out.
    As his eyes adjusted, Ilias could make out the shape of a tunnel in the far wall, gently limned with a pearly white light. He heard Giliead move toward it. Right , Ilias