Daughter of the Spear

A chorus of baying howls erupted behind Kiara. Betrayed by the storm, she broke into a sprint, knowing that she had little hope of escaping the Uru’ket now. Suddenly something struck her ankles, wrapping itself around them, and sending her sprawling. “Noooo!” she screamed, frantically trying to crawl away. A triumphant howl went up from her pursuers and they closed on her like hounds after a doe. “Cthozz hass you human,” a deep voice snarled over the storm. Hands grabbed her tunic and yanked her up. In the storm’s intermittent blue light his yellow eyes, snarling fang-filled mouth, and the rain spattering off his helm and pauldrons made him a demon from her worst nightmares. Terror swept into her like a black wind, and she fought to contain it. “You alone, little sshe,” the Uru'ket Fistlord hissed. “Ssebukar not ssave you thiss time.” He placed a clawed finger against her face, dragging it downward, opening a gash in her cheek. She screamed, twisting in his on-handed grip, trying to get away from the tearing claw. “You ssqueal over ssmall cut. What will you do when flaying knivess peal your sskin.” His words did for her what she was unable to do for herself, replace her terror with an icy rage beneath a thin veneer of calm. Her arms were free and she still held Zachat's knife. I will make you kill me, Cthoz, she thought coldly as she shrieked and thrashed about in feigned panic. With a violent twist to her left, she brought the knife up and around in a powerful strike that caught the Fistlord in the face. The blade grated off his boney brow and into his right eye. It was not a killing blow, but his bellow of pain told her that she had struck a damaging blow. Clutching his ruined eye, Cthoz flung her from him with such force that she lost nearly lost her grip on the knife’s rain-slick hilt. She landed heavily on her back, driving the breath from her and setting bright sparks to dancing in her eyes. Gasping for breath, she could only watch as the enraged Fistlord came for her. “I will eat your eyess and give your sskin to my Bloodlord ass gift,” he roared, waving the flaying knife that they all seemed to carry. In the next flicker of lighting she saw a long white arrow bury itself in his throat. Then over the crash of thunder and the rain drumming into the ground, she heard voices. They were not Uru'ket . They were rapidly getting closer and they were—singing? There was a whirring sound and Uru’ket howling turned into startled cries of pain. Something landed on her and Kiara opened her eyes. A small round disk with five sharpened points protruding from it lay on her chest. She had no time to wonder what it was as a fleet, dark shape hurtled out of the night, briefly illuminated in lightning’s blue light. It was followed by a second and then a third. It was as though the shadows themselves had come to life, gathering substance and taking form. Nearly invisible, they moved with a liquid grace that blended into the heavy rain and sang in a tongue she did not know. With a harsh clash of metal on metal a wave of leaping, whirling shapes smashed into the surprised Uru'ket. Abruptly, light brighter than the sun blossomed in the storm-wracked sky. The song of the attackers mixed with Uru'ket howls as the clangor of battle erupted around Kiara. She had no time for anything but avoiding being trampled in the melee. Rolling and twisting, and using her elbows and feet to push herself backward, she began working her way out of the struggling press of warriors. She was nearly free when a huge Uru’ket loomed over her. She had just enough time to avoid the huge ax that thudded into the ground where she had been. The force of the blow made water and mud leap up from the street. The Lizardman’s hissing bellow cut off in a choked gurgle, his throat sliced open by the blades of one of the whirling, singing shadows. As Kiara tried to roll away, a dying Uru’ket fell across her hips. His out-flung arm smashed into her shoulder with numbing force. But it was his gauntleted hand striking her in the temple that sent her tumbling into the dark abyss of insentience chased by the clangor of battle.