Onyx felt the burning sensation around her neck again. Dela's maynus … The nyphid was surely too weak to use it herself. Onyx pulled the choker from under her tunic and let it rest on her armor. Placing her hand on the round maynus to screen it from view, she silently bade it to grant energy to Dela.
The maynus grew warmer still, and the glow that squeezed between Onyx's fingers turned from white to blue. A fine spray of light emanated between the cracks and bathed the sun-loving nyphid with warm energy. The light on Dela was so soft and diffuse that anyone looking at her would think her highlighted by a lone shaft of sun cutting through the cloud cover.
But instead of invigorating Dela, the light caused the shrunken creature to whimper and draw away, as if the ray were steaming-hot water. A thready sound rose in her throat. The more the light sought Dela out, the more acute her pain seemed to become. After only a few seconds, her agony was unbearable to hear.
Onyx commanded the maynus to stop, sensing that some shy;how, through her long deprivation, Dela had lost the ability to absorb or draw energy from the light. The nyphid's shrill screams thankfully ended as soon as the light disappeared.
Foes stood shoulder to shoulder among the fallen bodies of knights and horses. The battle was momentarily forgotten as the men stared, immobilized by the wretched form twitch shy;ing in the debris of the wagon. Though half-dead, shriveled to little more than a skeleton, the nyphid still seemed able to ignite some desire to touch her. Stippling himself, his side streaked with blood, forced his steed forward. Leaning from his saddle, he tried to scoop her up in his arms. There was a flash of pale blue light and two screams. Stippling flew back shy;ward, his horse staggering to stay under him. The knight was dazed, his armor scorched, but he was still alive. Had the nyphid been healthy, the jolt would have killed him.
Dela's screams rang long and loud. The frightful sounds pierced the men's ears so that they clapped their hands to their heads. Her tiny body convulsed, but with almost no energy left, the defensive discharge had been too much for Dela. The wailing stopped. Her grotesquely sunken face abruptly softened into a faraway smile, as if the tortured nyphid alone was privy to some glorious sight. Her golden hair took on the brief, backlit glow it had once possessed. Then, just as suddenly, Dela's wizened body slumped for shy;ward, exposing the wings on her back. Like a drying forest leaf, her still body withered away until nothing remained but her tattered tunic.
Onyx stood staring for several seconds in disbelief. She had seen a race die.
After a time, something caught Onyx's eye, and she blinked. She thought she spotted a tiny lightning bug against the gray sky, fluttering above the remains of Led's wagon. A firefly in winter? She blinked again. Now there were two, twin yellow tails dimly blinking in daylight. A cold winter breeze rose swiftly, caught the tiny insects up, and carried them out of her sight.
'Well, there goes my fortune,' Led muttered at Onyx, dis shy;missing the dead nyphid from his accounts as if she were just another dice wager. Dusting off his hands, the bounty hunter turned to consider the distance to his horses; since there was no longer precious cargo to fight over, he might as well escape. Stippling's voice brought him up short and settled his course of action.
'As I suspected, you're the worst of scoundrels/' the knight thundered. 'I'll see you brought to justice for this poor creature's death, in addition to that of my fallen com shy;rade. …'
Led drew his sword at last and whirled around. 'Then I'll have to make it an even eight knights!' he cried. 'Now's your chance,' he told Onyx before charging into the throng.
The fight resumed with greater intensity. On foot and horseback, the seven remaining knights trampled and cut their way through the frenzied ogres in an effort to unite in a defensive formation. The knights had a small advantage while they kept to their horses, but Yoshiki Toba had trained the ogres well in brawling.
Toba had tirelessly drilled the warty monsters to approach horsemen from the right side. The mounted knights found it clumsy and difficult to bring their shields across their horses, and thus their right flanks were exposed. The ogres rushed forward with their crude spears extended or massive clubs spinning through the air. There came a subhuman growl and a tremendous crash. After the attack, an ogre stood over the crumpled body of a knight.
The ogres were viciously efficient, especially compared to those Onyx had fought as a dragon. As the battle wore on, two ogres doubled up against one knight. The soldier deftly knocked aside a club as a spear slammed into his chest. The tip shattered against the knighf s heavy breastplate, and the force of the impact knocked him from his saddle. A third ogre crashed its club against the forehead of the furiously kicking and biting horse. The animal stumbled. A second blow sent it thudding to the frozen earth.
One ogre pinned the fallen knight to the ground and another struggled to wrench the helmet from his head. The man's left arm was useless, strapped to the heavy shield, but still he thrashed desperately with his sword arm, cutting sev shy;eral of the ogres who bore down on him. His helmet tore free. The human roared his defiance- before a spiked club crushed his skull.
Near the remains of the wagon, Led fought, bobbing and weaving to land a sword thrust at the still-mounted Stip shy;pling. Onyx spied another knight rushing at the bounty-hunter's back. Preoccupied with reaching his goal, the knight did not see her stride over a dead knight to hold her hands, burning like rag-soaked torches, to his tunic. The knight whirled about just short of landing a blow to Led. Onyx rec shy;ognized his young face-he'd led the procession through the pass. He gazed at her in confusion at first. Then he felt the fire at the hem of his tunic, spreading rapidly under his armor. With a yelp, he took off running, as if that might allow him to escape the flames that threatened to engulf him.
Led paused for an instant to watch the knight, fanning the fires of his own death by his flight. Smiling, Led tipped his sword to Onyx, then resumed his attack on Stippling.
Suffering greatly, the ranking knight managed at last to break off from Led. He and the three remaining knights drew up across the top of the pass, facing downhill toward where the ogres continued clubbing and kicking the unconscious or dead bodies on the ground. Suddenly one man charged from the group, driving the startled ogres back along the trail. His long sword cut great whistling arcs through the air, and his horse kicked and pawed at the oafish monsters. Several ogres dived for cover as the knight rushed headlong into their backs. His sword chopped straight down through an ogre's shoulder, cleaving its ribs. The body tumbled away and wrenched the sword from the knight's hand. Without pause, he pulled up a heavy mace slung on his saddle and smashed it down on the head of a second ogre, which crashed to the trail, lifeless, just yards beyond its comrade.
Onyx summoned her magic. Instantly, the knight's helmet was engulfed in swirling lights and colors too thick to see through. An ogre jumped forward and poked him in the back with a broken spear shaft. The knight slashed backward blindly, but his blade found no target. Another ogre reached forward and grabbed the man's ankle, then gave a mighty yank. The knight toppled from the saddle, howling over his now-broken leg, then disappeared under a tumult of ogres.
Led motioned toward the three remaining knights, who were now advancing at a trot down the hill. Onyx could see in his eyes that Led didn't relish the thought of fighting these warriors; riding knee to knee, they were obviously better trained than their doomed fellows. The ogres were fearsome in a swirling melee, but they weren't equipped to face charg shy;ing war-horses directed by skilled riders.
Onyx stooped to the ground and began scraping at it with her dagger. Fortunately, the Solamnics ignored her and con shy;centrated on their more outwardly dangerous adversaries.
The knights thundered straight through the ogres, who scattered like pins in every direction. The knights wheeled and galloped back again, this time shifting to the right to ride down the smaller group of ogres. As they stormed into the brutes, Onyx stood with a handful of dust, spit into it, and rolled her hands together to form a clay spike. She hurled the spike into the air above the knights. Pulling a startled Led along behind her, she darted out of range, behind the boulder on which they'd eaten lunch.
The sky seemed to split open. Enormous icicles, sharp and glistening in the sun, materialized in midair and rained down, slashing at knights and ogres alike. Most of the Solam shy;nics found shelter beneath their shields, but the ice pounded the horses mercilessly. Stunned and bleeding, the animals stumbled and finally fell. They lay on the ground, kicking feebly.
The ogres suffered as much as the horses, wailing and howling in panic. The ice storm sliced them into bloody rib shy;bons before they could crawl away.
Crouching beneath their battered, dented shields, the knights inched their way downhill. Once out of the mael shy;strom, the warriors scrambled back to their feet. They shook their heads to clear the awful ringing in their ears and cut the straps from their now useless shields.
But Led was not about to let them regroup. With the few remaining ogres at his back, he led the charge.
