Chapter List

ey!” Ranko shouted. Shannon didn’t turn to look. Ranko put her hand on Shannon’s shoulder and she jumped as if startled. “Miss Shannon?” Ranko searched the Huntress’ face for some clue as to why she would not speak. “What’s wrong?”

Shannon shook her head as if urgently refusing and pulled the hair out of her face. Her eyes looked frightened. Kishi watched both of them intently. Normally he would not tolerate anyone being this close to Shannon, but he made exceptions for the other Ajan Warriors. As far as Kishi was concerned, they were all part of the same hunting party.

“Can’t you hear me?” Ranko shouted. Then she put a gauntleted hand up to the side of her head to indicate to Shannon she was talking about being able to hear.

“No!” Shannon shouted quite a bit louder than normal, then she shook her head again. Ranko nodded. The Warrior of the Storms simply shifted her tactical thinking to compensate for the fact the Huntress couldn’t hear. It would be hand signals only until they could find someone to help.

Ranko grabbed her helmet with a heavy armored glove and slid it down over her head. The padded and reinforced lining fit snugly, and perfectly. The heavy plate provided formidable protection for Ranko’s head, face and neck.

Ranko motioned to Shannon and Kishi to follow. She had to lead on her own now, since there was no way for the group to reach a consensus on strategy. As bright as Kishi was, he wasn’t the world’s greatest conversationalist, although he was quite good at voicing his annoyance with his enemies. Kishi took a position alongside Ranko, however, since he instinctively knew something was wrong with his hunting companion, and that he may have to fight more defensively than normal.

As the Warrior of the Storms stepped out of the tiny crevasse in the canyon wall, she looked first to one side and then the other. The wind was causing enormous dust clouds to form and swirl past them, generally from a southern direction toward the vortex in the sky. It was as if the rotating cloud formation above them was pulling all of the air out of Bronzewing Rift at once. The Warrior of the Storms saw no obvious signs of threat, so she advanced up the slight grade.

The Huntress drew the Obsidian Longbow from over her shoulder and followed, heightening her attention to her other senses. Her ears rang and she felt off balance, even dizzy. She shook it off. Times like this were far too dangerous to be distracted by something as trivial as a headache.

As Ranko reached the summit of the low grade they had climbed, the wind seemed to subside slightly. Over the tops of the gusting clouds of dusty wind, she could see the faint outlines of the gigantic stone pillars around the arena where they had been attacked. Then she saw a faint glow far in the distance to the right of the structure.

Shannon saw the movement first. Four fast creatures. She pulled and aimed in one motion. Her first shot caught the lead shriek in the far shoulder. It screamed in pain as the power of the Obsidian Longbow’s arrow spun its entire body away from its target. As it fell backwards and tumbled down the hill, her second shot angled wide and to the left of her second target. In the next instant the remaining three were upon them.

Ranko heard the arrow impact and snapped left. Three eight-foot-tall humanoid beasts with the heads of wolves lunged at her. The Warrior of the Storms judged distance rapidly, and the fight was on. She stepped left and slammed the flat of Thundercaller’s head into the first shriek’s face, flipping it backwards.

“Come on!” The Crimson Champion shouted as the razor-sharp punching spike on the opposite end of the warhammer’s handle crushed the ribcage of the second monster. The creature petrified as it fell. Its body shattered into dozens of fragments of glass-like rock that slid along the ground, carried by the momentum of its attack. The fourth shriek hesitated.

“Where’s the fight!?” Ranko shouted an aggressive challenge at the beast. She held Thundercaller across her body with the head down. Her armor began to accumulate energy from her defensive battle magic, and its reddish glow began to brighten.

“Somebody said there was going to be a fight!” Ranko drove Thundercaller’s head edge against the ground and the hammer’s energy discharged, causing a thunderous explosion of dirt and rock. The debris flew in all directions and rained down on the battle. Spidery bolts of electricity arced across the ground, then raced back to the impact point. The violent energy was absorbed by Ranko’s greaves, and her armor glowed even brighter. The shriek shook the dirt off its head and bared its teeth, crouching low just outside Ranko’s reach.

The Huntress had already nocked an arrow, but she held her bow down. For one thing, the fight was much too close for an effective shot. Second, there was the obvious danger of hitting either Kishi or Ranko. The huge wolf-like beast snarled and began to move sideways, its attention focused on the Warrior of the Storms. Ranko moved right, pacing the creature and protecting her weak side. Kishi instinctively moved left, whipping his tail back and forth. His ears were laid flat and his blue eyes burned with anger. The big cat was bracketing the monster, working with Ranko as if the two had been fighting companions for ages.

Just then the first shriek leaped to its feet and charged at the Warrior of the Storms from behind!

Continue to Chapter Three