Page 6 of Magick and Lead
A snake golenae was slithering toward us.
I drew my .45 and fired at it. Miss. I fired again. Missed again—its damned gyrations made it hard to hit. And two more golenae were emerging from the woods behind it. I squeezed one eye shut, steadying the pistol with both hands. The monster was only a dozen yards from me. Ten yards… five… I squeezed the trigger, and the beast’s head burst into dust, its body falling at my feet.
A golenae lion and a panther stalked toward me next. I fired at the lion first. I caught the thing in the left front leg, barely slowing it.
I fired again. Click. Empty.
And no time to reload. Cursing, I holstered the gun and drew my saber.
Fighting these monsters hand-to-hand was not my idea of a smart tactic, but I was out of options. The lion ran toward me—and sprang. For a second, all I could see was a streak of teeth and claws, but then the feeling I got during a dogfight came over me, a slowing down of time, a sharpening of my senses that made every leaf on every tree, every wrinkle in every cloud, every movement of every enemy around me perfectly clear. I watched the lion streak toward me, focused on its left eye, and brought up my sword.
The lion leaped, its massive jaws open wide. The force of its motion drove its head—and its burning coal of a left eye—directly into my blade. But it wasn’t dead yet.
Its momentum carried into me, knocking me off my feet. I felt its claws raking my flight jacket, felt its jaws clamp down on my shoulder. Its body had the sword pinned flat between us—I couldn’t use it. And if I didn’t kill the thing in the next two seconds, it was going to devour me.
I groped for the last weapon I had left in the pocket of my flight coat—a jackknife. But it wasn’t there—no, there it was! I pulled it out and snapped the blade open with a flick of my wrist. But the monster was worrying me now, shaking me in its jaws like a ragdoll as it growled.
I was growling too, a sound just as animalistic as the beast’s, as I drew back my hand and slammed it, blade-first, toward the monster’s one remaining eye. The first strike missed as the monster jerked me back and forth. And the second strike missed, too. But the third found its mark. I watched as theburning eye, only inches from my face now, dissolved into dust. The jaws clamping my shoulder went slack, and the body pinning me down went still.
Grimacing with pain, I pulled myself out from beneath the lion’s huge body and stumbled to my feet. The last enemy, a Lacunae, stood a dozen yards away, his sword drawn, watching.
He spoke now, his voice low and commanding.
“Listen well to my words. We mean you no harm. We are only searching for The Princess Essaphine. We know she is nearby. We know some of you have been harboring her.”
My heart stuttered at his words. Could it be true? Could Essa really be nearby?
The Lacuna took a step forward. “Tell me where she is, and hand this enemy over to me, and no one else will be harmed.”
I took stock of the situation. I had an empty rifle, an empty pistol, and a sword that was still pinned under that golenae. That left the jackknife. A four-inch blade to defend myself against a Lacuna knight—one of the most powerful warriors on the planet… And to fight off all these villagers, once they decided to listen to this bastard and help capture me...
Sure enough, they were coming toward me now, a dozen armed villagers, their weapons ready. I got into a fighting stance, brandishing my puny. The villagers came, walking at first, then running toward me—and running past me.
The Lacuna gave a shout of surprise as they fell upon him. He managed to cut one farmer down with his sword before a pitchfork caught him in the neck and he fell. Lacuna armor was strong, but the villagers were many. They rained blows on him until at last, he went still.
For a long moment, there was no sound except the soft weeping of a child and the crackle of flames. My eyes scanned the houses and the fields and forest beyond, waiting for moreenemies to appear. When none did, I grunted with relief and lowered my knife.
One by one, the villagers turned their attention to me, looks of wary curiosity and wonder on their faces. The man who’d been beside me when we lifted the statue came toward me, a bloody ax in his hand.
“We owe you a debt, stranger,” he said.
I shook my head. Ouch. My neck hurt. Everything hurt—although at a glance, it seemed the tough leather of my flight jacket had kept the lion’s claws and teeth from butchering me completely.
“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “Any other fella would have done the same thing.”
“You’re from Admar,” the man said with a glance at my plane—a standard Sackman Comet biplane, painted red.
I nodded. “That’s right. I’m from Admar. Listen, the knight said Princess Essaphine is nearby. I’m looking for her. Can you tell me where she is?”
The man stared at me but didn’t answer. I glanced at the other villagers. They all watched me with the same steely expression. I wasn’t going to get anything out of them. Not after that bastard in the black armor had come through looking for Essa, too.
“You meanQueenEssaphine,” someone murmured.
The word queen brought a flash of a memory into my mind. I saw a dragon falling from the sky, into the sea, a woman upon its back. Queen Synaeda, Essa’s mother, had died at the hands of another pilot flying my plane—The Silver Wraith. Though I tried, I’d been unable to prevent it. I just hoped when I found her, Essa wouldn’t blame me…
The villagers watched me like statues, silent and wary.
I sighed, turning back to the guy with the ax. “Listen, can you at least get a message to her? Tell her I’m looking for her. Tell her… tell her I’m sorry. She’ll know what it means.”
