Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 7375827" data-attributes="member: 143">The exact nature of the power that both Bredan and Kurok have been seeking is one of the things that I've kept vague but have notes for developing if the story got that far. My original plan was to stop at the end of Book 6 (which is coming up fast), but I may keep on going if folks are still interested in the story. I don't have anything but outlines at the moment for books 7+ but I do know how the story ends. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />* * * Chapter 137Bredan could hear the start of the enemy charge, but he couldn’t leave Glori trapped in the dark bubble.  He started toward it, before he could enter the black radiance Quellan grabbed hold of his arm and pulled him back.“You can’t help her by going in there,” the cleric said.  “Glori!  Xeeta!  Follow the sound of my voice!”Bredan could hear the howls of the wolves and the shouts of their riders drawing closer, but didn’t turn around until Glori staggered clear of the black sphere.  She looked ill, with a rime of frost clinging to her hair and eyebrows, but she quickly realized the danger they were in.  “Look out!” she warned.Bredan finally turned to see the ring of worg riders quickly closing in on them.  The rough terrain was slowing them a bit, but not much; the nimble beasts, smarter and faster than mundane wolves, were springing over the irregular rockscape almost as though it was a featureless meadow.  Some of the goblins had bows and were firing as they came; Bredan realized this when an arrow shot past his face so close that he could feel the breeze of its passage.Kosk hadn’t retreated, and now stood about five paces ahead of the group, waiting in a ready stance to receive the charge.  Bredan could see that a number of worgs from each side were converging on his position, but he could not move to help him without leaving Glori completely exposed.“Stay behind me!” he urged, while moving toward a spot that he hoped would take some of the pressure off the dwarf’s flank.But he’d barely started forward when he heard a sound that caused his guts to clench.  It came from Glori’s lyre, but it was unlike any melody he’d ever heard from the instrument, all discordant and grating on his senses.  It only lasted a few moments, but when it finally ceased he felt an overwhelming sense of relief.He quickly realized that he had not been the intended audience for those odd notes.  Several of the charging worg riders approaching from the right side of the granite mound abruptly stopped, recoiling as if they’d suddenly found a gaping chasm in front of them.  A few of the goblins reacted even more strongly, flinging themselves from their mounts’ backs and retreating back the way they had come.  The fear spell did not catch all of the creatures in its effect, but it disrupted the charge, forcing those who were behind the initial wedge to circle around their panicked companions.Bredan glanced back at Glori to see that she looked almost as surprised as he was at what she had wrought.But the bard’s magic had done nothing to stop the other wave of worgs charging from the left, and Bredan was only able to watch as they reached Kosk.  But what he witnessed next almost caused him to forget about the danger they were in.One of the riders launched an arrow at Kosk, the missile darting over the heads of the slavering worgs directly at the dwarf’s head.  He flinched back, and for a moment Bredan thought he’d been hit, but when he straightened again the smith was amazed to see that the monk was holding the arrow in his hand.  Apparently, he’d plucked it out of the air, an almost impossible feat.But the worgs would not be defeated so easily, as several of them hurled themselves at this foe that stood alone against them.  Kosk snapped his staff into one in mid-leap, deflecting it enough that its jaws closed only on empty air.  The creature landed awkwardly, stunned by the blow.  The goblin on its back swung his curved sword at the monk, but Kosk was already well clear and the stroke found only empty air.But the dwarf’s luck ran out as the second worg shot past; twisting its head around it lashed out and seized hold of his ragged tunic, using its momentum to lift the dwarf from his feet and dash him to the ground.  A third descended on the fallen monk, clearly intent on tearing him to pieces before he could get up.  For a moment, Bredan lost sight of Kosk under the pile of swarming bodies.But then the worg standing over the dwarf suddenly toppled over, landing hard in the rocks.  Its rider managed to land on his feet, but as the goblin started to turn toward Kosk the dwarf’s staff shot out and clipped him in the throat, dropping him as effectively as he had his mount.“Behind you!” Bredan shouted, as the worg that had flung him down just a heartbeat before quickly spun and launched itself at the monk again.  The goblin, hanging on to the thick fur on the worg’s neck with one hand, had a curved sword raised in the other.  But before either could strike, Kosk shifted and with a blur drove a fist—no, Bredan saw, it was just an open palm—squarely into the center of the worg’s chest.  The monster and its rider had all the leverage in that situation, yet somehow it was they who were driven backwards, the worg stumbling as it fought for footing on the awkward surface.All of that had taken barely a few seconds, but before Bredan could come to Kosk’s aid the worgs that had escaped Glori’s spell came hurtling into him.  He got his sword up in time to deflect the first attacker’s rush.  The worg shifted to the side but could not escape a blow that tore a foot-long slash in its side.  Another sought to use the distraction to bring its enemy down before he could recover, but instead of trying to bring the heavy sword around again Bredan released one hand from the grip and summoned a shield that blocked both its snapping jaws and the awkward swing from the goblin on its back.A massive explosion erupted over the battlefield, and Bredan flinched before he realized that it hadn’t been focused on him, but rather on the mound of rock where the warlock and the goblin leader had first appeared.  But he didn’t get a chance to see what that unexpected event portended, for the worgs recovered and came at him again, quickly moving to flank him between them.  Bredan managed to avoid the first, but even as he started to turn to face the second he felt a hard impact slam into him from behind.  Something clipped his head, the blow thankfully deflected by the iron rim of his cap but still causing stars to explode in his vision.  But that was mild compared to the pain that exploded in his side as the worg’s jaws snapped into him, lifting him from his feet before slamming him hard into the rocks with hundreds of pounds of slavering beast on top of him.</blockquote>

Verification