The Avatar and the God

From The Avatar and the God:  The Summoning
by Michael G. Brown

… Not only did the foothills mean more food, it also was the scene of their first attack.  Nightfall was approaching and the raiders came out of nowhere.  They came screaming from behind trees, knolls, and from the underbrush that surrounded the would-be campsite.  Their war cries were very high pitched, almost like nails scratching the mind.  Charon and the rest were all taken aback.  The ambush was unexpected, but they responded to it like veteran soldiers of war.  They all had jumped down and out of the wagon to surround it, drawing their weapons.  The onslaught was answered with cold steal and arrows.  Morrius, at the left of the wagon, was able to take out six of the raiders, before they were in range for close combat, with his bow.  Once they were close enough, he could see they were well armoured, some with hard leather jerkins, others with steel chain mail.  Their faces were covered with black cloth, tied back behind their heads.  Morrius dropped his bow and pulled his broadsword out, just in time to counter the attack made on him by a raider.  Taking him out, he moved to avoid another swing.
    Meanwhile, Wilkis and Roulus were making out well at the rear of the wagon.  They stood back-to-back, thrusting and slicing through whoever approached them.  Charon was caught up in a battle with one of the larger raiders, who now sported two of Charon’s throwing knives; one embedded in the shoulder and the other in the chest.  After struggling for a good while, Charon was thrown to the ground, landing on his back.  The raider lifted both arms, meaning to bring down a long two-handed sword with a deadly strike that would have surely cleaved Charon in half.  But it gave Charon an opening.  He quickly pushed himself up with one arm and with the other arm, holding his long hunting dagger, sliced across his opponent’s stomach, spilling the raider’s guts on the ground between his legs.  Charon saw the eyes roll back and the sword fell from the raider’s hands.  His opponent fell backwards and Charon, seeing no one else to fight, took his throwing knives back and cleaned them on the grass.  He then heard a large explosion and a blood curdling scream, so horrible he cringed.  Following the noises over to the right side of the wagon, he discovered the reason for the screams.  Frosty had roasted three raiders so far and was incinerating another.  The inflamed figure, being tortured under Frosty’s glowing hand, seemed as though it was grovelling, begging for mercy.  Then he lifted his hand and the figure exploded into a shower of sparks and ashes, carried away with the breeze.
The smell of burning flesh caused Charon to turn around and vomit.  Through his watery eyes, he could see Frosty stumbling over toward him.  It was as though he was exhausted from what he just did.  “Are you alright?” Frosty asked.
Charon looked at Frosty and nodded.  He then wiped his mouth and said, “I was just about to ask you the same.”
“I’ll be fine.  Magic use is very draining.  I will have to rest to regain some strength,” Frosty answered as he looked around to see if there were any more raiders.  He noticed Morrius and the two brothers were coming over, looking around to see that there was no more threat as well.
“Come see this!” Brian shouted from the other side.  Once the others joined him, they saw what he wanted them to see.  Brian had unmasked one of the raiders, who was dying due to a stab wound in the middle of the chest.  It was a …