'Really?' asked Liam. 'So what are you doing back here in the guard?'
Knoblauch paused. 'I failed in my duty,' said the veteran.
Liam laughed. 'What do you mean you failed? Purdun's still alive, isn't he?'
Knoblauch nodded. 'Yes, but only by the grace of the High Priest of Gond and an expensive resurrection spell.'
Liam cocked his head, a huge smile spreading across his face. 'Dear Tymora. It's amazing he even keeps you in the elite guard.'
The veteran got a sour look on his face, his smile fading quickly into a powerful scowl. Liam felt like a scolded child. His comment was flippant, yes, but he hadn't intended to make the man angry.
'Hey, Knoblauch, I-'
The veteran held his hand up to silence Liam. Then he pointed to the ground beside them. 'See that.'
A chill ran down Liam's spine, and he looked to where Knoblauch was pointing. While they were talking, they had ridden deep into the Argent Forest, which bordered Shalane Lake. The trees had grown thick along the side of the road and overhead, blocking out the sun's rays and making it very dark. The road was soft and damp, and though it was midday, it felt like an early summer evening.
On the ground, near the horses' hooves, a wispy, translucent mist was seeping out of the dense bushes that defined the edge of the road. It seemed to move with a purpose, growing as it pulled into view. The sight of it gave Liam a very bad feeling.
'What is it?'
'We have company,' said the veteran. He pulled up on the reins of his horse and shouted. 'Captain, it's the undead.'
The entire regiment came to a halt. The horses whinnied and brayed as their riders turned them to face the bushes and trees. The mists grew, taking shapes-ones that looked vaguely human.
'Vampires,' said Knoblauch.
The undead creatures materialized, surrounding Liam, Knoblauch, and the rest of Captain Beetlestone's unit. They hissed at the mounted soldiers, their mouths sharp with teeth, and their skin pale and taut against their bones. As they became fully corporeal, several of them leaped into the trees, climbing with both hands and feet up the trunks and into the canopy above. They moved with a preternatural swiftness that caused the hair on the back of Liam's neck to stand on end.
'Stay close,' said Knoblauch. 'Your blade has been enchanted to hurt them, but vampires and their spawn are very difficult to kill. Take their heads from their bodies, and if we live through this, we'll deal with the remnants so they don't ever come back.' Knoblauch pulled his long sword from its sheath.
Liam nodded and also pulled his blade.
Knoblauch looked into Liam's eyes, his countenance serious and dire. 'Watch my back. This may be the toughest fight of our lives, and we're gonna need to be a team if we want to make it out of this.'
A pair of vampire spawn-both appearing to have at one time been human men-pounced on the two soldiers. Knoblauch kneed his horse.
'Yah,' Knoblauch shouted.
The horse jumped forward and smashed its chest into one of the oncoming undead with force enough to knock a normal man to the ground. But the vampire spawn just latched onto the horse's front quarters with its clawed hands and bit down on the mount's flesh.
Knoblauch's horse let out a tremendous wail-a sound that shook Liam to his bones. Then his mount stumbled and fell forward onto the damp ground. Knoblauch tumbled out of his saddle, rolled once, and came to rest on the ground beside the dense bushes on the edge of the road.
The other spawn jumped at Liam.
Bringing his long sword around with both hands, Liam caught the attacking undead in the chest, slashing it open and knocking it back to the ground. The beast let out a hiss, leaped to its feet, and bounded back at Liam, moving with amazing speed.
Pushing the horse with just his knees, Liam turned his mount so that the barding on its left side was between the vampire spawn's teeth and the horse's flesh.
'Bite down on that,' he shouted.
The spawn slammed its fists against the horse's side, and the mount stumbled sideways from the blow. Liam was jostled around in the saddle, but he managed to stay on top of the horse as it caught itself and regained its balance.
The undead creature pressed on, following up its slam by jumping onto the horse's hindquarters. It crouched and balanced behind Liam. Hissing, it grabbed hold of his shoulders.
Liam tried to swivel in his seat to attack the creature, but it dodged his every blow. With no other option, he let go of his sword with one hand and grabbed hold of the reins. Yanking and kicking, he pulled his horse off its front legs. The mount whinnied and reared. The vampire spawn lost its balance and fell backward. But it had a good grip on Liam's shoulders, and as it toppled off the horse it pulled Liam right out of his saddle. The live man and the undead man fell to the ground, Liam landing on top of the spawn.
As they came to rest, Liam could feel the vampire's foul breath on his neck. He struggled to get out of the creature's grip, but it was tremendously strong. He could feel it lift its head to bite down on his neck. Liam sat up as far as he could, straining, and slammed his head backward, smashing the back of his helmet into the spawn's face. The creature let out a hiss, and its grip temporarily loosened.
'No one bites me.' Liam tumbled away, jumping to his feet and bringing his sword around in a single fluid motion. The pale blue-white runes on the edge of the blade flashed lightly as the weapon connected with the side of the spawn's neck and cut its head clean from its body.
The headless carcass fell back to the damp ground, twitched once and lay motionless.
Turning away from the ruined body, Liam looked out at the biggest, most frantic fight he'd ever seen. Horses littered the ground, their riders on foot and fighting for their lives. Vampires dropped from the forest canopy on top of unsuspecting elite guardsmen. And in the middle of it all, he could see Captain Beetlestone, his armor splattered with black blood and gore, his lip curled up to one side as he swung his twin blades, cutting the head off another vampire spawn. Two others lay at his feet, but so too did the bodies of three guardsmen.
Liam looked along the road they had come down. It led back to Big Blue and away from all the vampires. His horse stood patiently beside him, ready to be ridden away from the carnage. The vampires who had guarded the path were now both dead, and Liam could make a clean getaway, leaving the elite guard far behind.
Then he turned to look for Knoblauch. The veteran lay on the ground beside the edge of the road. He was slowly getting to his feet, but it was clear by the look on his face and the way he moved that the fall from his horse had done some damage to his shoulder and hip.
Knoblauch got to his knees with the help of his long sword, its tip stuck deep in the ground beside him. He started to rise to his feet when something fell out of the canopy on top of him. The veteran was knocked back to the ground, and his blade was sent flying into the bushes.
A vampire-who appeared to have been a female elfin life-sat on Knoblauch's chest. She moved her head side to side, like a snake preparing to strike, as she sized up the potential meal pinned beneath her.
Liam's horse stomped on the road beside him, whinnied, and pushed its nose against his back. On the ground, the veteran soldier grimaced, obviously in pain. He opened his eyes and looked at Liam. Their eyes met, and Liam tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword.
Turning around, he put his hand on the horse's muzzle.
'Wait for me,' he said, then Liam pushed off, spinning as he came around and threw himself at the vampire on Knoblauch's chest.
The blade whistled as it sliced through the air, headed right for the vampire's neck. But the undead creature was quick, and she ducked the attack, rolling away and scrambling up the closest tree.
Liam had overextended himself, and as his blade came around, he came around with it. He moved his feet as quickly as he could to catch himself, but he still wasn't used to fighting in full armor, and he had to lower his blade to regain his balance. He came up right in front of Knoblauch, looking down on the wounded veteran.
Something hit Liam hard in the back. He was lifted off his feet and thrown into the trees. Branches thrashed at his face and arms as he whipped through the foliage. Liam flailed his legs as he flew.
Liam's forward momentum slowed as he smashed through the trees. He lost his grip on his enchanted blade
