as he crashed to the ground on a pile of broken branches. The impact knocked the wind out of his lungs, and he struggled to draw a breath.
Behind him, he could hear the rustling of footsteps through the bushes.
Every fiber of Liam's body ached. With much effort, he flopped over onto his back to look up at the elf vampire. In her hand she gripped the collar of Knoblauch's armor, dragging the veteran's partially limp body behind her as she methodically paced through the underbrush toward Liam.
Her words hissed from between her lips. 'Looks like you both belong to me.'
Chapter 16
Nazeem stood concealed in the shadows. He had watched Ryder pull the statue down on top of the undead giant leader and had seen him foolishly try to trip the beast with only the strength of his arms. That man was going to get them both killed. Damn Erlkazaran.
No one in Chult was that bold or that stupid. That included Nazeem. If Ryder wanted to get himself smashed into bits, then that was his business. There were limits to a man's loyalty.
'You wouldn't ask Nazeem to walk off a cliff, so why get him into this?' he whispered.
He liked Ryder. He seemed like a good man. A man a criminal like Nazeem could use to his advantage. A man like that could likely accomplish anything as long as it were in the name of justice or fairness or whatever cause those revolutionary types seemed to use to justify their existence.
Nazeem's lack of riches seemed like a pretty good cause to him. And he had intended to find a way for Ryder to help him correct this injustice.
But judging from his heroics in the plaza before Fairhaven, Ryder was not only driven to fight inequality, he was also crazy. Nazeem liked to think of himself as a brave man, a man willing to take risks-an entrepreneur. But looking out at the two undead giants, he felt this venture was taking a turn for the worst.
Perhaps it was time to cut his losses.
Taking one last look at Fairhaven and Ryder, Nazeem skirted down the shadows on the edge of the rock wall toward the giant-sized stairs. 'Goodbye, Ryder of Duhlnarim,' he said as he slipped over the edge of the first step and into the darkness beyond.
'I need a weapon.' Ryder crouched beside the open gate to Fairhaven.
'I told you,' said Giselle, 'there's nothing here that we haven't already put to use.'
'No one here has a second? Not even a dagger?' Ryder threw his hands in the air. 'How do you intend to-'
'I… I have something,' said Jase timidly.
Both Ryder and Giselle turned to the young man.
'I didn't think it was much of a weapon until I saw you fight the giants with your shackles, but…'
'Great,' said Ryder. 'Whatever it is, I'll take it.'
'It's in my footlocker,' said the young Broken Spear.
'Well go get it then,' spat Giselle. 'And be quick about it.'
Jase nodded his head then took off running into the courtyard.
The undead giants had finished with Curtis's illusion and were making their way toward the open gate.
'All right. Everyone stay calm,' whispered Giselle. 'We wait until they cross the threshold, then we pull the rope tight. As soon as that smelly bastard hits the ground, we jump on him.'
The Broken Spear nodded their understanding.
The moments that followed seemed to take an eternity. The shuffling footfalls of the giants could be heard outside the gate, and no one inside moved a muscle. Ryder looked out at all the waiting warriors. He hadn't studied them all that closely before. The few standing here were young, and they all looked completely terrified. All of them, that is, except Giselle.
Their leader had a grim glint in her eye, a look of complete determination, as if her will alone could carry the day and deliver these young men and women to safety. Ryder nodded. Perhaps it could.
Ryder could smell the first of the giants before it stepped through the gate. Its foul stench burned his nostrils, and he began breathing through his mouth.
The lumbering undead appeared inside the threshold. It took two steps more.
'Now,' shouted Giselle, standing up from the shadows and pulling on the rope as hard as she could. The fine muscles in her arms lifted to the surface, and Ryder could see her straining.
The other Broken Spear warriors did the same, and the rope snapped taut. The giant obliged and moved forward, entangling itself in the trap.
'Pull,' shouted Giselle. She redoubled her efforts.
The giant took another step. But instead of falling, it dragged the rope and the Broken Spear warriors with it. All eleven of them slid forward a step, their feet slipping on the dry, dusty ground.
'I can't get a grip on the ground,' shouted one of the warriors.
The giant took a second step, and the group slid several more feet. A few of them even lost their grip, and the rope came free of their hands.
The second giant came through the gate. The Broken Spear warriors still clinging to the rope had all been pulled out of the protection of the shadows and into the middle of the path that led through the front gate.
'Look out,' shouted Ryder.
The gigantic undead growled and brought its club down on the closest Broken Spear warrior it could find. The man was focusing so hard on keeping hold of the rope that he never even saw it coming. The club smashed the man's head down through his shoulders and into his own chest. Blood splashed across the ground, looking like specks of black rain in the pale moonlight.
'Let go,' shouted Ryder. 'Scatter. Fight for your lives.'
Giselle looked back from where she held the rope, then echoed Ryder's warning. 'Run for the shadows.'
Just then Ryder felt someone tug on his elbow. It was Jase.
'Here,' he said, holding out a length of steel chain.
Ryder took the weapon from the young man with a smile. He never thought he would be so happy to see a simple length of chain, but under the circumstances, he'd take it. 'Thanks.' He slapped Jase on the shoulder. 'Now scatter.'
Jase nodded and bolted for the dark edges of the courtyard.
Ryder did the same, skidding to a stop behind a broken section of rock that had fallen down from the wall high above. Dropping into a crouch he quickly examined the weapon young Jase had given him. It was beautiful. It was made of fine blue steel. Unlike the regular chain that Ryder had used hundreds of times on the farm to hitch carts to oxen, the links on this one were rectangular. In the middle of each was a thick, sharpened spike attached to the rest of the chain on a hinge. The point could swing one way or the other, supposedly depending on how the wielder swung it. Along the edge of each link there were tiny sigils-what looked like a pair of triangles with their tips attached and an extended S running through from the middle of the base of one to the base of the other.
The spikes were absent on each end and along a stretch in the middle of the chain. These spikeless links were a darker color than the others. It was hard to see in the gloom, but when Ryder grabbed hold of the end, he could feel that the darkened sections were wrapped in some sort of leather or hide. This wasn't just a chain; it was a masterly crafted weapon.
'That's more like it,' said Ryder. He lifted his gaze to find the giants in the middle of the courtyard.
The pair of them had their backs to Ryder. They stood before the wall on the opposite side of the courtyard, bent forward, looking down at something. Though he couldn't see for sure, Ryder thought it looked as if they had someone cornered.
He gave his new chain a quick tug. 'Time to give you a test run.'
Charging across the open space, Ryder brought the chain around in a long loop, letting it pick up momentum.
