attacked him in the tavern.
Uncommonly disturbed, Logan risked a quick glance over his shoulder and spied the twin rays of death. For a second he entertained the thought of leaping from his horse, but then there was no time. Something sliced the air beside him, and the coal-black beams struck.
The immensely powerful sensation remained with Logan as the Reakthi directly beside him dropped his weapon and screamed. His golden chestplate sagged, and the skin of his face and hands went taut before vanishing entirely. Muscles and internal organs erupted in explosive bursts of ebony energy, and only then did the screaming stop.
The chestplated skeleton crashed to the ground and splintered beneath the many horses' hooves.
'Groathit, you bungler!' barked Vaugen. 'Them! Not my men!'
Groathit's eye flared malevolently, but he said nothing.
'Friend-Logan?' Thromar inquired without looking back. 'Are you all right?'
Logan wiped his forehead and winced as perspiration trickled into his wound. 'Sort of,' he gasped. 'Felt sick for a minute there.'
'… thirteen… fourteen!' Moknay murmured; he laughed. 'We downed or disabled eleven of them and got out of that skirmish alive!'
An arrow whined beside Thromar's ear. 'Had to open your mouth, eh, Murderer?'
A second arrow thunked into a tree as Logan passed by.
'Munuc,' Launce was moaning, 'where have you gone? Why have you forsaken your friends?'
'Much good he'd be,' Moknay replied, instinctively ducking as an arrow shrieked by his shoulder. 'He would have been slain immediately.'
'He did the right thing by fleeing,' agreed Thromar.
Logan dodged a low-hanging branch as an arrow struck the bark and ricocheted off. Smeea almost toppled as another wooden shaft whizzed free of the forest and skinned her rump.
Pursuing hooves reached Logan's ears, and he glimpsed over his shoulder to see four Reakthi, bows in their hands. 'They're gaining on us!' he cried.
'Best Reakthi archers I've ever run into,' Thromar muttered, affectionately patting Smeea on the neck as he rode.
Another rain of arrows drizzled down upon them, and Druid Launce cried out, a shaft tearing into the side of his robe. Wincing in empathetic pain, Logan remembered the Jewel in the saddlebags and decided it best to personally guard it. He sheathed his sword and reached carefully behind him for the bags, attempting to flip open the lid as his mount continued its frenzied pace. After a few tries, Logan succeeded and reached a hand in to withdraw the Jewel's pouch. As he pulled it free, an arrow burrowed into the saddlebag, startling Logan so that he lost his precarious grip upon the Jewel. The leather sack slipped and fell from Logan's hand, and the young man cried out as he grasped frantically at the air. By an amazing stroke of luck, one of the leather strings knotting the bag closed became caught between the young man's first and middle fingers, and he retained his grip on the Jewel, pulling it close to his chest and finally remembering to breathe once again.
'Launce!' Thromar boomed. 'Are you badly hurt?'
The druid clenched his teeth. 'Continue on,' he ground out. 'We must get the Jewel to safety.'
Moknay swiveled his head about, squinting as if unfamiliar with the terrain. 'Thromar,' he shouted, 'just where in Imogen's name are we heading? I've lost all sense of direction!'
Thromar smiled his crooked, yellowing grin. 'We've pulled a sneaky turn on the Reakthi scum,' he boasted. 'They forced us a bit north, but now we're heading west again.'
'Damn!' spat the Murderer. 'I was afraid of that!'
Logan tightened his hold upon the Jewel. 'Huh?' he wondered. 'I thought we wanted to go west.'
'We're heading directly for the Roana,' Moknay explained, his grey eyes lit with dread. 'We can't possibly ford the river with the Reakthi on our heels. They'll shoot us down before we're halfway across!'
'What can we do?' Logan queried, still able to see the quartet of archers pursuing them.
'Stand and fight!' roared Thromar boldly. 'We can crush the Reakthi slime! Just give me one swing at that harpy turd Vaugen! Wham! Off goes his head!'
'That may be our only alternative,' the Murderer grumbled, 'but Druid Launce is wounded, and someone would have to carry the Jewel to safety.'
'Why don't we give Launce the Jewel?' Thromar suggested.
Logan meant to protest but decided against it. He still did not trust the druid-not after the harsh lesson he had learned at Agellic's Church. Mara had been injured protecting Logan from Riva's greed, and Logan had not given the blonde priestess a second thought when he had first seen her. He did not want to make the same mistake twice.
'I stand with you!' Launce proclaimed, drowning out Logan's musings. 'I will not leave!'
'But you've got an arrow…' Moknay began.
A determined expression contorted the druid's usually calm mien as he brought his horse about and charged back the way they had come. His blood-spattered staff was raised high above his head.
'Hey!' Thromar bellowed. 'What are you doing?'
'Proving my friendship!' the druid snapped back.
Thromar, Moknay, and Logan all slowed their mounts to a stop as they stared in astonishment at the suicidal druid. The buzz in his head began to intensify as Logan gawked at the forest which had come alive. Launce's staff flickered with magical energies as strings of ivy rose up like serpents of green, wavering and coiling. Branches shuddered fitfully, and bushes rustled as if defiled by a strong, nonexistent wind.
The four Reakthi cried out, the leading soldier jerked from his mount by writhing ivy. Two others crashed to the earth, dismounted by a branch that had not been there seconds before. The fourth warrior reined in his horse, keeping himself out of reach of the animated vegetation.
'How in all of Sparrill did you manage that?' Thromar blurted.
Druid Launce rejoined his companions, urging his mount forward. 'If we survive, remind me to tell you,' he said, smiling faintly.
'Plants won't stop them,' Moknay surmised, 'but it will slow them up. Perhaps you've given us enough time to get across the Roana.'
'Then again, perhaps not,' Logan mumbled to himself, exceedingly pessimistic.
The four colorful horses raced onward, outdistancing Groathit's curses and Vaugen's orders. Sparkling light struck Logan full in the face as his green-and-yellow mount burst free of the foliage, galloping for the clear, clean Roana. The water was crystal blue, gurgling softly as it wound its way downstream. Its banks were lined with smooth rocks clad in mossy coats, and bright waterplants dotted the river.
Screaming, an arrow ripped through Moknay's cape and splashed into the Roana.
'Dung!' the Murderer cursed. 'That was damn close!' He swung his horse about to face the forest.
Thromar brandished his bloody blade. 'Friend-Logan, you can still make it across safely! We'll see to the Reakthi vermin!'
Logan turned his horse sideways, glancing at the opposite bank of the river that seemed so very far away. Maybe he could make it across safely, but what of his friends? He couldn't leave Moknay and Thromar to be slain by the Reakthi-not after all they had done for him! But he didn't want to die. Maybe they did have a fighting chance if they banded together, but against fourteen armored soldiers-many with long-range weapons-it was not very much of a chance.
The first Reakthi archer thundered free of the forest, an arrow twanging from his bow. Moknay let out a strangled curse and threw himself from his horse to escape the shaft. As the Murderer rolled through his dive, the Reakthi drew in his mount and reached back for another arrow. His back arched unexpectedly, and a garbled cry rose in his throat. He flopped to trie ground, dead, a dagger lodged in his neck.
Moknay leapt to his feet, eyes narrowed angrily. He caught a glimpse of the Reakthi archer spilling from his mount, and his grey eyes went wide in surprise. Quizzically, he looked down at the two daggers he still held in his hands.
'Good throw, Moknay!' cheered Thromar.
'I didn't throw that,' the Murderer admitted.
The second Reakthi to bolt out of the greenery was suddenly snatched back by a pair of hairy arms. Uttering a
