Jim Farris Mage 4 The Wench of Woe

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."I did so, gliding silently along the bottom of the river.An age passed, or what felt like one, then Marilith spoke again."Stop.You're under the bridge."I stopped, looking up, and could see a huge blackness against the starsabove me, with flickering light to the sides on each bank of the river -torches, where the guards stood."I see two guards on each side of the bridge.They appear to be armed withbows, and wearing banded armor."I nodded, rising to the surface and setting the bag on the bank near thewater.Summoning my lance to my grip at a thought, I silently slipped frombeneath the bridge.After swimming a few yards off, I used my tail to raise meout of the water, aiming carefully with my lance.There was an enormous difference between an inexperienced mermaid tryingto hit an island goat while on her knees, and an experienced mermaid trying tohit a man while doing a tail-stand in the water, her element - particularlywhen that mermaid had a few years of training from a master at using her lanceto begin with.Page 228ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlThe monodont lance flew straight and true, impaling the first guardthrough the chest.He let out a short scream, his bow dropping from hisfingers as he collapsed.I slipped beneath the water again, summoning thelance to my grip at a thought."He's dead.The others are moving along the bridge, looking for you.Theysaw the direction your lance hit from, but didn't see you.Go to the otherside, their backs will be to you."I nodded.I could hear the confused shouting above me as I slipped beneaththe bridge again, near the bottom of the river.Rising up to the surfaceagain, I raised my lance, aimed carefully, and threw.The next one tumbledfrom the bridge, splashing into the water and sinking as I quickly dived toavoid their arrows."A monster!" one of the guards screamed."They apparently saw your tail," Marilith observed with a chuckle."Let me know when I can surface again," I replied, summoning my lance tomy grip again."One of them is fleeing, the other is facing away from you.Now!"I rose, spearing the third while his back was to me.The fourth had a longway to run to the castle - I decided to let him go, and get to work.After recovering the bag and changing back into a human, I began trottingalong the bridge, emptying the contents of the first bottle across it's woodenplanks.Pulling out the flint and tinder, I started trying to spark the oilalight."Sasha, use one of the torches beside you, it will be easier.""Oh! I didn't think of that," I said, tossing the flint and file aside andtrotting over to the nearest torch-holder at the side of the bridge."Sorry,I'm very nervous.""And use your belt to adapt to the flames," Marilith replied."Why?""Humor me.You're naked and alone in enemy territory splashing lamp-oileverywhere, knowing my luck, you'll burn yourself."I grinned and did as she asked, the warmth of the torch-flame on my skinPage 229ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlfading to nothing.Nodding, I held the torch against the oil.Instantly itcaught, the flames quickly racing along the bridge.I looked around and sawthe fields, then started trotting towards them with the second bottle."Sasha, use your scales, particularly on the bottom of your feet.There'sbamboo nearby.""So?""Bamboo shoots are like little wooden daggers, Sasha.""Ouch.Let's not find out the hard way if that's true," I said, and willedmy scales to cover me again.Scales on the bottom of my feet were veryuncomfortable to walk on, but I imagined it was better than stepping on abamboo shoot.The fields nearby were mostly grains, and I poured out the oilbottle carefully, trying to spread it evenly around."Sasha, hurry up, the last guard found help, and they're coming.""With luck, the burning bridge will hold them a moment.Got it," I said,tossing the empty bottle aside and dropping the torch into the oil.It caughtwith a whoof of flame, and I turned and dashed for the river.A dozen guards stood on the other side, shouting to each other - it wasn'tlong before they noticed me, and started drawing arrows.I turned and ranalong the river, arrows zipping nearby.I couldn't just run straight at themand dive in, unfortunately - they had seen me."I do not want to find outwhether or not my scales can stop a direct hit from one of those backed bowsthe Palomeans like," I muttered."Buntaro said those things were powerful.Gah, the light from the fire destroyed my night vision, I'm nearly blind.Where's the- OW!" I yelped as something stabbed me in the back."It appears your scales can stop them, Sasha," Marilith replied, her voiceshowing great relief."Yes, but it hurts! A lot! Where's the river?!""Keep going, you're well outside their light, and their night-vision won'tbe any better than yours, what with the fire.A little more to your left.Alittle more.Straight ahead."Arrows flew around me, but Marilith was right, the archer's night visionwas lost from the light of the torches and the swiftly burning bridge, and nowthat I was well outside the range of the light, they couldn't see well enoughto hit me.I could see the glimmer of moonlight on the water - I ran and divedin, willing myself to change back into a mermaid.I didn't know how deep anarrow could penetrate into water - probably not very deep.Still, it didn'tseem worth the risk, so I stayed near the bottom, swimming swiftly downstream.Unfortunately, I was still mostly blind.Summoning my lance to my grip, I heldPage 230ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlit before me, letting the butt drag the bottom of the river to allow me tofeel it and know my depth.It was an age before I could see the river again, the moonlight from abovefiltering down through the water.I held my lance alongside my body, and justkept swimming.I'd done all I could - the rest was up to General Morita andhis army.I ran a hand over my back, but could only feel the tiny, transparentscales that covered my upper body in my mermaid form."My back is reallysore.How bad is it?" I asked in the language of the mer-folk."You have a bruise just below your ribs and above your kidneys, right nextto your spine.I think you'll be alright, but it looks like you'll be sore fora few days.One moment, I'm going to look behind you at the bridge.""Alright," I replied, and waited [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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