She shifted with the intention of twisting out of his grasp to inspect how the rock fall had happened without warning. Her senses were not as sharp as the elf’s, but with the pile of stones stretched out in front of them, she should have heardsomething. To her frustration, he didn’t relax his grip at her silent request nor did the deep rumble of Ashul’s growl that she felt vibrating from his chest abate one bit as he held her pinned to him. Instead, his grip on her tightened as his growl grew louder.
It was then she heard a faint skitter of pebbles being displaced and she went still within the drow’s grip, her eyes training on an invisible spot among the rising crests of rocks to the left of them. There was a thump as if something large that she could not yet see had leapt from where it had been. Rock groaned and then tipped with a loud crash as a large man with the scruff of a dark reddish beard dropped to the ground just in front of the mess of broken rocks. She gaped as he brushed back his shaggy hair that slipped loose of its band with one hand, his other hand slapping at the side of his trousers, as if wiping away dirt, and grinned. The smile pulled at several scars bisecting his cheek down into his beard, his eyes cold with open hostility.
It was the dick from the bar. What had he been called… Ryal, Ryurk?
“Well, that was a bit unexpected, but there wasn’t a chance of you getting away from Ryick!” He laughed as he lifted a knife.
That was it. Ryick. He had been stupid to threaten her there, but to repeat the offense and actually try to murder her out here where there was no one to protect him… she had no words for that level of insanity. But it seemed that at least this time he was smart enough to bring help. More than just his bravado and the numerous knives strapped to his chest and the wicked battleax on his back.
“It would’ve been more convenient if you’d had an accident, but that’s all right. I wanted to have a little talk with you, anyway, about embarrassing me. You can tell your creature to stand down and take your punishment for what you had that thing do to me,” he gestured to raw sutures running down the side of his face, “and I just might feel kind enough to let you live.” He wagged the knife in the air in front of him, his smile growing. “If it appears that you are giving it any other order at all, your body will hit the ground before the words leave your lips, so choose your words wisely. I’m not the best knife and ax thrower in all these parts for nothing. Isn’t that right, boys?”
More rocks skittered, this time a louder clatter as three other men stepped out. They all wore matching scowls as they eyed her but also had a nervous tension about them. One of the men with long, scraggly brown hair and a thin mustache cleared his throat.
“Considering that your ax did its job against the orc raids, I’d be saying so.” He gave Robyn an uncomfortable look. “I’d advise that you be smart about this, girl, and cooperate so you can leave here in one piece. You’ll be a little worse for wear, but it’s better than dead as Ryick had in mind.”
Ashul’s growl turned into a snarl, and Robyn scowled and twisted harder in the elf’s grip, determined to deal with this nonsense. Surely they could be reasoned with! They were men, not animals. She felt Ashul’s attention shift, as his burning gaze bent toward her, and she was set down.Finally! Straightening her lopsided cape as the drow stepped away, she glowered at the surrounding men but blinked in surprise when the drow dropped silently behind Ryick. That was… impressive.
She suddenly had a very good idea at just how Ashul could have overthrown his queen. He moved with a graceful, efficient speed that she couldn’t quite visually keep up with even if she tried—and Ryick hadn’t even heard the feet of the elf land behind him. Ashul’s eyes glowed with menacing fire as he straightened, but he did not act. He hesitated, indecision crossing his face and his eyes turned toward her, the shadows thickening around him.
Was he actually letting her lead? It seemed improbable as Ashul was the most pigheaded, control-obsessed male she’d ever met, but in this moment he seemed to defer to her when it came to how to proceed. It was not only flattering but sent a sense of power and calm through her as she looked at Ryick and his men. With a whisper and a flex of power, she spun fear with her magic until they began to tremble and shift worriedly, their eyes scanning the rocks as they bumped into each other.
She fought back a grin. The spell built higher upon their natural unease. None of them had expected Ashul to just up and leave her, and that unexpected change bred fertile ground within their minds.
Robyn’s smile faded, her lips thinning into a flat, grim line. She had tried to warn him before about his assumptions regarding the drow. Ashul was not her creature. He wasn’t under her control at all beyond the ill-defined limits of the leash, but his actions provided exactly what she needed. As the spell did its work, she turned her head and met the elf’s gaze. She could see the restless need to destroy an enemy burning within the elf’s eyes before they returned to his target and fixed menacingly on the human in front of him.
“Where is it? Where did it go? Necromancers’ creatures should not be able to do that!” Ryick bellowed to his men as he spun in place, his eyes seeming to pass right over the shadows of the rocky structure where Ashul stood.
Her lips parted in surprise. Ashul was right there, hidden from sight by all accounts given the reaction of the men, and yetshe could see him. The drow’s glowing gaze narrowed on her curiously for a moment, and then his eyes widened as the same realization dawned on him. She swallowed and let her eyes drop from him and return once more to her attacker as he shook his head as he grabbed at the arm of the man nearest to him, his eyes scanning the shadows more intensely as the autumn clouds passed thickly overhead, darkening the skies by degrees.
She hated violence, but she needed to do something. As it was, Ryick was creeping closer to the shadows. If Ashul drew blood again, there was a good chance that he wouldn’t stop until every one of them were dead.
Licking her lips, she cupped her hand at her side and grimaced as she began to whisper the incantations as she drew the energy down her arm to collect in her palm. Being caught away from town meant that there wasn’t a trace of human remains that she could raise. She stretched her senses and nearly rolled her eyes at what she felt. Well, it would have to do. At least it wouldn’t take the energy of a true resurrection. A skeletal beast was easier, and most necromancers had one. She had avoided that particular working since she didn’t want to frighten clients. Now she wished she had thought to do so when there was something a bit more…impressivenearby.
Twitching her fingers, she molded the energy with her will, weaving complicated sigils layering each other, each calling on different spirits and commands as the final words of the incantation fell from her lips. She nearly closed her eyes with embarrassment as one of the men grunted.
“What’s that?”
His companion to the right of him frowned as a fluffed tail bounced among the rocks and he laughed. “It’s nothing to worry about. Now let’s…” His back suddenly arched, and a wet gurgle left his throat, his hands rising frantically to claw at his neck, knocking the beast away. Hands clasped to his throat, he let out a wet, airy sound that likely might have been an attempt to scream, but it was drowned out the other men’s shouts as the skeletal squirrel with tufts of fur clinging to its remains and a tattered bushy tail ran among them, leaping and biting at them with such ferocity that the men stumbled over each other in their attempt to escape it.
Ryick spun around at the noise, disbelief coloring his face as he watched his men flee, the diminutive, but vicious, bone beast chasing after its prey. His eyes fell on her again and narrowed with a wild light that she didn’t care for as he rounded on her threateningly.
“Call back your creatures, necromancer,” he demanded as he stalked toward her at a fast clip, drawing his ax from its harness with his free hand. “Whatever you did, reverse it now or I will…”
“You will what, human?” a deep voice hissed as a dark hand banded around Ryick’s throat, the claws digging into the flesh. Glowing violet eyes with a touch of icy lavender in their glowing brilliance peered at her over her attacker’s shoulder, the corner of his mouth curving with a cold amusement.
“You believe yourself powerful?” Ashul leaned forward and rasped in his ear. “A brave fighter against a half-starved band of orcs displaced in a strange land believes himself powerful? Did you stroke your cock imagining what you would do if you caught her alone—if you were not such a coward to set a trap instead? I know you did.” He trailed his nose along Ryick’s neck. “You still stink of your lust even now.”
Ashul grinned, and Robyn followed his gaze to the mangled squirrel that hopped up on a tall stone facing them. Leaning in close, he licked Ryick’s cheek, trailing the fresh, stitched wound with a dark chuckle. “I think we should see how you enjoy being prey to something smaller than yourself. But first, to make sure you always know what it is to be vulnerable.” With a violent slash of his claws, he ripped through the thick muscles of his ax arm, spraying blood as it damaged muscle and tissue. Ryick bellowed in pain, hatred flashing in his eyes as he tried to turn his head and glare at the drow who held him captive.
“Now for the fun,” Ashul said as the squirrel twitched in place, its scruffy tail bobbing as it caught the scent of blood.
It charged, and Ryick’s screams began in earnest, their echo filling the mountainside.
Robyn gave Ashul a look of disbelief a short time later as they continued their descent down the mountain, her bony squirrel perched on the drow’s shoulder, its tail tufted happily. “I can’t believe you did that.”
Ashul grinned, his eyes crinkling with humor. “I do not see why you complain. The squirrel is underyourcontrol. It is not my fault that you seemed to forget that for a moment. That imbecile will suffer muscle damage on his arm and forfeited his right testicle. He did not die.”
“No thanks to you,” she growled. “You were eager to kill him. Admit it.”