Then King Felino gave the signal and exploded forward-leading his warrior menagerie down the field against the women.
It took Safar only an instant to size up the situation. Some fifty yards away a ring of howling monsters had Leiria and Jooli surrounded. The two were fighting valiantly, but were being slowly ground down. The lionman, King Felino, raced around the outer ring, exhorting his soldiers to 'Kill, kill, kill!'
And scattered around the battling mass were many dead or dying animal-headed soldiers-bloody evidence of Leiria's and Jooli's stubborn resistance.
Safar cracked an amplification pellet against the hard red ground. And when he shouted the war cry of his people it thundered across the arena, drowning out the shouts of the crowd.
'FOR KYRANIA!' he bellowed as he raced forward.
'FOR KYRANIA!' came the echoed chorus from Palimak and the other men as they charged after him.
Stunned by the magically amplified cries, King Felino whirled about to stare at this new threat. His lion's jaw gaped wide when he saw his vanished enemies, Safar and Palimak, sprinting toward him backed by the small but heavily armed cohort of Kyranian soldiers.
Some of his soldiers also turned to gape and were punished for their lack of attention when Leiria and Jooli leaped forward to cut them to ribbons.
Felino recovered from his shock and shouted orders. Half his force whipped about to confront the new enemy, while the others pressed in on the two warrior women.
As the Kyranians waded into the melee, Safar leading the way, Palimak held back a little, waiting for his chance to cast Gundara's and Gundaree's spell. He parried blows but didn't press the fight-slowly circling the massed group to get close to King Felino.
A strange sensation of unreality fell over him. While everyone else was fighting for their lives, filling the air with shouted oaths, war cries and screams of pain, he felt quite cool, his mind acutely sharp; soaking up every detail of the battle.
He thought it quite interesting to note that Sergeant Hamyr's face wore a wicked grin that never changed, no matter what fortune might bring him. Whether he dodged a potentially killing blow, dealt one of his own or was hard-pressed by a skilled adversary, the grin remained the same.
It was also interesting, he thought, that although Leiria and Jooli had only met recently they fought like a smooth, single unit-as if they had been soldiering together their entire adult lives.
Most interesting of all was the way his father fought. Safar had always been a skilled warrior. Taller and more muscular than most Kyranians, he was also quite strong and fast. Today, however, it seemed to Palimak that his father fought on a higher level than ever before.
His swordplay was a thing of agile beauty. Far better than it had ever been before. Quite possibly nearly as good as Leiria's swordsmanship, which was so superior to that everyone else that most warriors considered her to be in a class consisting of one. Although Leiria always said there was one man-Iraj Protarus-who was her equal, everyone thought she was only being modest.
But now it seemed that another had entered that rarefied realm. Incredibly, that man was Palimak's father. He wondered how Safar had made such an improvement. Was magic involved? Or was it something else? Palimak thought the whole thing was very strange and added it to the other oddities he'd noticed about his father since his return.
Just then, Gundara whispered, 'There's that stupid old king!'
Palimak looked up and saw Felino backing toward the gates, two enormous lizardmen guarding his retreat.
Suddenly, Palimak heard a familiar war cry and Leiria broke through, Jooli protecting her back as she charged the king.
'Leiria's going to kill him, Little Master!' Gundaree cried.
Sure enough, without missing a step, Leiria cut down one of the lizardmen, leaving Jooli to deal with the other as she raced toward Felino. The king raised an iron-clawed fist to defend himself, but Palimak could see it was too little and too late. The lionman was doomed.
'Stop her, Little Master!' Gundara cried, reminding him that Safar wanted to capture the king alive.
Palimak shouted, 'Leiria, don't!'
She heard him and hesitated, breaking her stride and sword blow. To Palimak's horror, that moment's pause gave Felino just enough time. He smashed her sword aside and leaped toward her-great iron claws outstretched to slash her life away.
Palimak cast the spell, fearing the distance was too great and that he'd be responsible for the death of the person he loved above all others-except for his father. Leiria had practically been his mother, caring for him since he was a babe in arms. Carrying him in a sling across her back while she alternately fled and fought the soldiers that Iraj had sent after them.
Perhaps it was that love, combined with the fear of loss, that gave the spell enough strength to collapse the distance. Or maybe it was because he was in a magical arena carved out by Felino's sorcery that gave his own sorcery added power. Or possibly it was only blind luck.
Whatever the reason, the instant Palimak hurled the spell he knew the rightness and power of it. Like most of the Favoritesa€™ magic, the spell was dead simple. On their instructions, he'd scooped up a handful of the ashes left over from Jooli's casting. They'd spat in it and had directed him to mold the ashes into a grimy little ball.
It was this insignificant piece of dirt that he threw at the snarling lionman. At the same time he chanted in unison with the Favorites:
Where have you gone?
Butterfly wings,
Who did you wrong?
Promised honey
And that's not funny!
Sting, sting, sting,
Butterfly wings.
Sting,
And sting,
Palimak's aim was more accurate than he could ever have hoped. The ash pellet struck Felino in the eye and instead of smashing Leiria down, he roared with pain, throwing his iron claws aside to rub his wounded eye.
At the same time there was an explosion of colorful light and thousands of butterflies popped out of nowhere.
They circled the injured lionman, buzzing like angry bees. Palimak saw long, barbed stingers emerge from their abdomens as they were magically armed by the Favoritesa€™ spell. Then they attacked, swarming all over Felino, thrusting their stingers into him by the hundreds.
The lionman ran about, flailing the air hysterically. Begging the now-silent audience to help him. Then he fell to his knees, covering his head in a futile effort to protect himself from the painful stings.
Palimak strolled casually over to him, an amazed Leiria several steps behind. He stood over the lionman, repeating the spell chant:
Where have you gone?
Butterfly wings,
Who did you wrong?
Promised honey
And that's not funny!
Sting, sting, sting,
Butterfly wings.
Sting,
And sting,
