Teaser Tuesday: Putting on a Show #fantasy #adventure

Here is a fun excerpt from Legends of Windemere: Curse of the Dark Wind that might have a little bit of spoiler.  It’s part of a fight scene, so you get to see Sari in action.

Sari is caught off-guard when the chaos elves charge, her mind reeling from the ghost’s final word. The assassins are nearly upon the gypsy when the snow swirls and rises into a wave that pushes them back. Shaking her head clear, Sari darts to the side and hurls a dagger into an enemy’s chest. The others give chase as she uses the snow and ice to glide out of reach, the gypsy never straying very far from her helpless friend. Ducking under a wide slash of a cutlass, she slips her hand into a snowdrift and flicks her fingers. A lance of ice spirals out of the ground and impales the nearest assassin through the throat. Spinning around the falling body, she throws another dagger at a female chaos elf that is approaching Luke. The weapon hits the swordswoman in the head, dropping her at the base of a tree.

“Leave us alone!” Sari desperately screams, charging the nearest enemy.

The gypsy’s opponent parries her stiletto and strikes her in the head with his shield. He hesitates long enough for Sari to drive the hilt of her weapon into his groin. Feeling groggy and her vision swimming, she stumbles away from the collapsing chaos elf. She awkwardly dodges a hurled spear, the crude head grazing her side. The weaponless assassin rushes forward and leaps to tackle her to the ground. He feels his shoulder dislocate when he hits the immovable gypsy, so he attempts to roll away. Before the warrior can get to his feet, the snow around him turns into a toothy maw and swallows him whole.

“Nice spell,” a female chaos elf says, watching her companion cower from the effects of Sari’s illusion. With a muttered spell, a crackle of lightning dances between the woman’s gloved fingers. “Odd that you’re suddenly going non-lethal after killing three of my friends. Are you already weakened?”

“Heat of the moment has worn off,” the champion answers as she circles the caster. “I’m only going to kill the ones that go after Luke. So it’s best that all of you focus on me if you want to survive this.”

“That’s very kind of you, but you’re the one we’ve been sent after. The warrior is not really our concern.”

“It doesn’t mean we won’t kill him,” General Vile announces. The halfling is kneeling next to Luke with a blood-dripping shortsword held back for an easy killing blow. “Drop your weapon and turn on your special power. Stephen wishes for you to suffer before you die.”

“Don’t torture the girl,” the other caster argues. She bravely approaches Vile, leaning forward to whisper. “You told us she didn’t have to suffer. We should simply kill her and leave because the others could return soon. Besides, my queen has a soft spot for this girl and I would hate to be involved in something that upsets her.”

General Vile sighs and lets his sword arm fall to his side, his eye turning to the nervous gypsy. With a swift flick of his wrist, the halfling’s shortsword slices through the chaos elf’s neck. The Eblem poison works quickly and blood gushes from the wound, the woman’s choking gurgles making some spurt out of her mouth. He moves to the other side of Luke to avoid the pooling mess and aims his shortsword at the slumbering half-elf again.

“Do as I say or the same thing may happen to your friend,” Vile says, his voice cold and steady. “I’ve no idea how the Eblem blood will react to the living curse. It could turn him into a monster or grant him an agonizing death. I suggest you not push me to find out.”

“Okay,” Sari replies in defeat. Her body grows a thick layer of frost, but she stops when the halfling clears his throat. “What? You wanted me to use my powers.”

“Not the naiad abilities,” he states with a cruel grin. He beckons to one of the remaining chaos elves, who nervously walks into the open. “You can prevent yourself from being moved, but you still feel pain. Turn that on and let me find out how much you can take. I promise this will be brief.”

“I’m really getting tired of you people torturing me,” the gypsy mutters, snapping her fingers to give a show of her immovability turning on.

General Vile points his finger at the anxious chaos elf warrior, who draws his longsword and takes careful aim. He strikes her arm with the flat side of his blade, which quivers from the impact. The warrior beats on Sari’s limbs and sides while she patiently waits for Vile to call for the painful assault to stop. At the halfling’s request, the warrior attempts a few stabs to her shoulders and knees. The tip pushes in enough to draw blood, but the weapon is shoved out of the wounds by an invisible force. Feeling brave and hoping to end the display, her tormentor slams the hilt of his sword into her forehead. With a surge of anger, Sari draws her stiletto and stabs the chaos elf in the stomach. Both collapse to the ground, but only the gypsy is able to drag herself to her hands and knees.

“I prefer to be quick, but Stephen wanted a show,” the halfling soldier says as he approaches Sari. He kicks her in the head when he gets close, knocking her onto her back. “Now you’re truly defenseless.”

About Charles Yallowitz

Charles E. Yallowitz was born, raised, and educated in New York. Then he spent a few years in Florida, realized his fear of alligators, and moved back to the Empire State. When he isn't working hard on his epic fantasy stories, Charles can be found cooking or going on whatever adventure his son has planned for the day. 'Legends of Windemere' is his first series, but it certainly won't be his last.
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4 Responses to Teaser Tuesday: Putting on a Show #fantasy #adventure

  1. Wow. Poor Sari. Exciting, Charles.

    Liked by 1 person

  2. L. Marie says:

    Poor Sari is right. Ouch!

    Like

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