A Darker Shade of Sorcery (Sample of now published novel.)

Chapter Thirty Three

Evan guessed what the monster was going to do a second before it happened. He seized Jed's collar and pulled him down as the Psyking spewed forth a torrent of icy vapour.

The frost fire stuck the rock behind them, turning it into an icicle.

The Psyking charged forwards, its ear-splitting hissing filling the air. Before Evan and Jed could scramble back to their feet the monster was upon them, yellow claws slashing.

One of the claws was an inch from Evan's nose when Sintian hacked off the Psyking's hand. Instead of losing his nose, Evan got a face full of blue blood.
The Psyking's hiss turned into a screech. It stalked after Sintian who backed away, clasping his sword in one hand.

Evan knew they weren't allowed to use their weapons yet, but if they didn't they'd die. He and Jed unsheathed their weapons at the same time, giving each other a 'we have to,' look.

"Damn," Jed moved forwards, "we should stab the Psyking in the back whilst Sintian... oh crap."

Evan followed Jed's line of sight and recoiled as he saw the group of Onlekks charging at them, alerted by the noise of the Psyking. The four Onlekks snorted incoherently to one another. They brandished rusty iron weapons and looked ready to use them.

Two made for Evan, whilst the other two circled Jed.

An axe wielding Onlekk struck first, but Evan found himself moving automatically, ducking fast before the axe took his head off. Although he had his sword, he instinctively kicked his enemy instead. His foot connected with a hairy abdomen, surprisingly, the beast was knocked to the ground.

The other Onlekk made a grab for his arm, but Evan dodged away, stabbing the hand with an awkward jerking motion. The Onlekk howled and gazed at his bleeding palm stupidly, dropping the mace he'd been waving about.

Evan stumbled as he swung his sword blindly, but he managed to slice off the top of the creature's head all the same. Bits of brain exploded over his shirt but Evan had little time to be disgusted, considering the first Onlekk had got back to his feet and was now barrelling into him.

His weapon fell out of his hand as the Onlekk wrapped Evan in a bear-hug and they both tripped to the ground. The grotesque beast snorted uncontrollably, picking up Ruaden and preparing to slit Evan's throat.

He felt his hands go white hot. He recognised the sensation and willed fire to burst out. He wasn't going to make it though, the sword was coming down.

Abruptly, the Onlekk's eyeball popped with a sick squelch as Jed drove his axe into it. The beast was silent as it keeled to the ground. One of Jed's Onlekks however leaped on him from behind as Jed stood over Evan.

Evan leaped to his feet, scooping up the fallen mace and swinging with all his might as the last Onlekk attempted to claw Jed's face off. The iron spikes obliterated the monster's head and he fell too, squirting brackish blood.

Evan and Jed turned only to see a second group of Onlekks had arrived and set on Sintian as he fought the Psyking.

Sintian fought like a madman, leaping left and right, hacking off limbs and carving a visceral tableau with their blood. He used his free hand for sorcery, lifting a small boulder with air magic and using it to cave in an Onlekk's skull. He then used Earth element, making sand rise up and hold an Onlekk in place.

As they watched, Sintian sliced upwards at the remaining beast, a split-second later both halves of its face sagged to the ground.

The Psyking spat out another round of frost fire but he rolled underneath the torrent, rising to his feet only to behead the Psyking with expert precision.

Sintian swaggered over to them, his smile shining beneath the blood splattered across his face as he surveyed the corpses around them.

"Not bad boys. Although, I killed three Onlekks by myself when I was only twelve."

"I'll kill you in a minute you little sh-"

Evan's shout interrupted Jed's words. "We need to get out of here. Now!"

Sintian and Jed turned and saw the newest beasts too.

"Yeah, the stench of all this blood will draw a load of monsters," Sintian said casually.

Evan struggled to take his eyes away. The black spots grew bigger and bigger as they continued to fly towards them. Evan couldn't make the monsters out clearly, but as they grew closer a terrible buzzing filled his ears.

"Scarada," Sintian said, "three or four I could take, but... there has to be over a dozen."

Sintian sprinted towards the gate.

"Time to leave," Jed yelled as they followed.

It was only a short run back to the gate and Sintian was past the threshold when they still had a few metres to go.

But to Evan's horror, Sintian slammed the gate shut behind him.