weren’t perfectly capable of this assault. Look at the assault they had waged unfettered against them while the guard was on the road, after all. But it felt like a convenient excuse every time they encountered a problem to blame it all on the Kades.
Throwing caution to the wind, she had turned to the man and said, “And what if it’s not? What if it’s something else? Or someone else?”
“Who?” he had asked coolly.
Sara raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t that your job? To find out who are our flora magic-wielding enemies?”
He straightened his shoulders with an eagle glare, “Mark my words, it’s the Kades, and this land will swallow us all at their very whim.”
He had been right about the last part at least. The next day, a sinkhole had opened up at his very feet and he had disappeared with nary a scream. The spooked soldiers around him had grown even more spooked with the vanishing man. Now it felt like Sara couldn’t turn around without a prayer being thrown in her face or a nervous man almost taking her eye out while he jerked his weapon. For the most part she didn’t lash back at the bumbling soldiers, they were afraid and they had a right to be. If moving out of formation and hacking at the vegetation made them feel more secure, then she wouldn’t stop them.
But the vegetation and the earth weren’t their only threats.
Creatures she wouldn’t dare call animals had risen and attacked them. They had lost forty good people to fierce one-on-one battles with the damn things. It wasn’t just one species. The whole bog was infested with birds, snakes, amphibians and shadow-like creatures with spiked feathers that walked along land and had drool-like yellow poison. It was that last shadow-like creature that had caused the most damage. It was fast and it only took a small bite for it to kill its prey. Slowly.
If you could call a paralyzing venom slow. Sara did because faster would have been a creature biting through a victim’s neck and severing a jugular artery. Fast and efficient. This was painful, debilitating, and unbearable to watch. Sara had nicknamed the creature the ‘ razor-billed dragon ’, because it looked like a land-bound dragon and had the beak of some of the more sinister avians she knew. It was certainly devious and deadly enough to be a dragon. Although she had a hunch that it bore no direct relation to the mighty Sahalian race.
From the way the creature poisoned its prey to the way it moved with an inhuman speed to bring about death, this creature was their most formidable predator. Not the swamp leopard, nor the swamp lizard that sank into the depths of the water. No, this creature that ran on land and disappeared like lightning was deadlier than either of those beasts.
Its razor-sharp teeth were able to pierce their armor, and its venom was fast-acting. After the poison set in, it caused the victim to succumb to fevers and shaking. The person was still mobile...for an hour or so. Then they couldn’t walk because their muscles would lock one by one, until finally they were paralyzed. Sara knew that that last stage was when the creature struck. Waiting to move in until its prey was helpless to defend itself. It was a coward.
So she used that to her advantage. The trick was to kill them before they had a chance to get within a few feet of you. Because even a drop of that venom on your skin was disastrous. The archers had been working double-time to combat them, paired with one or two soldiers who kept them guarded. Sara had been paired with Ezekiel.
She flashed back to when she had saved Ezekiel’s life in Sandrin and then once again in the skirmish. Well, he’s certainly earned his keep since then , she thought – her face darkened with pain.
Not her pain. His .
Ezekiel Crane had shot down ten of those creatures before one had slipped through Sara’s defenses.
Sara’s eyes turned to the right to take in the feverish and splotchy form at her side. Ezekiel had one hand
Throwing caution to the wind, she had turned to the man and said, “And what if it’s not? What if it’s something else? Or someone else?”
“Who?” he had asked coolly.
Sara raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t that your job? To find out who are our flora magic-wielding enemies?”
He straightened his shoulders with an eagle glare, “Mark my words, it’s the Kades, and this land will swallow us all at their very whim.”
He had been right about the last part at least. The next day, a sinkhole had opened up at his very feet and he had disappeared with nary a scream. The spooked soldiers around him had grown even more spooked with the vanishing man. Now it felt like Sara couldn’t turn around without a prayer being thrown in her face or a nervous man almost taking her eye out while he jerked his weapon. For the most part she didn’t lash back at the bumbling soldiers, they were afraid and they had a right to be. If moving out of formation and hacking at the vegetation made them feel more secure, then she wouldn’t stop them.
But the vegetation and the earth weren’t their only threats.
Creatures she wouldn’t dare call animals had risen and attacked them. They had lost forty good people to fierce one-on-one battles with the damn things. It wasn’t just one species. The whole bog was infested with birds, snakes, amphibians and shadow-like creatures with spiked feathers that walked along land and had drool-like yellow poison. It was that last shadow-like creature that had caused the most damage. It was fast and it only took a small bite for it to kill its prey. Slowly.
If you could call a paralyzing venom slow. Sara did because faster would have been a creature biting through a victim’s neck and severing a jugular artery. Fast and efficient. This was painful, debilitating, and unbearable to watch. Sara had nicknamed the creature the ‘ razor-billed dragon ’, because it looked like a land-bound dragon and had the beak of some of the more sinister avians she knew. It was certainly devious and deadly enough to be a dragon. Although she had a hunch that it bore no direct relation to the mighty Sahalian race.
From the way the creature poisoned its prey to the way it moved with an inhuman speed to bring about death, this creature was their most formidable predator. Not the swamp leopard, nor the swamp lizard that sank into the depths of the water. No, this creature that ran on land and disappeared like lightning was deadlier than either of those beasts.
Its razor-sharp teeth were able to pierce their armor, and its venom was fast-acting. After the poison set in, it caused the victim to succumb to fevers and shaking. The person was still mobile...for an hour or so. Then they couldn’t walk because their muscles would lock one by one, until finally they were paralyzed. Sara knew that that last stage was when the creature struck. Waiting to move in until its prey was helpless to defend itself. It was a coward.
So she used that to her advantage. The trick was to kill them before they had a chance to get within a few feet of you. Because even a drop of that venom on your skin was disastrous. The archers had been working double-time to combat them, paired with one or two soldiers who kept them guarded. Sara had been paired with Ezekiel.
She flashed back to when she had saved Ezekiel’s life in Sandrin and then once again in the skirmish. Well, he’s certainly earned his keep since then , she thought – her face darkened with pain.
Not her pain. His .
Ezekiel Crane had shot down ten of those creatures before one had slipped through Sara’s defenses.
Sara’s eyes turned to the right to take in the feverish and splotchy form at her side. Ezekiel had one hand
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