NO SOONER HAD the words escaped his lips than an enormous, misshapen creature, standing at least ten feet tall, leaped out of the thick brush at the edge of the trees and stuck five massive claws through the old gamekeeper’s chest. The man didn’t even have time to cry out before he died.

Ambassador Gyin shrilled in terror.

With blood still dripping from its dagger-like claws, the creature retracted its hand from the gamekeeper’s chest and let the old man’s body drop to the ground. The creature reared on its haunches and let out a bloodcurdling roar. The sound could best be described as something between the howl of a feral beast and the cry of something so badly formed that every movement brought with it intense pain.

In all the battles and hard campaigns he had fought and endured, Ayrion was, for the first time, truly afraid. But it wasn’t the type of fear that petrified a man into a state of immobility; rather, it was the fear of the unknown. The fear of facing something he didn’t understand or even comprehend. Ayrion pushed the thoughts from his mind. Defeat was not an option, not when the life of his king weighed in the balance.

Ayrion studied the beast. It was more than twice the size of a man when it stood on its back haunches. It was poorly fashioned, a conglomeration of many different species all pieced together. It was human in shape, but twisted with a fusing of other animalistic features. Wrapped in layers of muscle, its skeletal structure bulged in some places, as if the bones wanted to push through the skin.

Halfway through its roar, the dogs tucked tail and ran. Behind him, Ayrion could hear Tolin shouting orders for Asa to bring the horses. The commander and his men were no doubt on their way across the large field, which left only Ayrion and his Guard to hold the creature off until they arrived.

The creature scanned the now circled group of men before coming to a final rest on the High King. Ayrion was dumbfounded. He could see a sense of intelligence at work behind its dark eyes. It was not mere quirk of fate that had directed this beast across their path. Moving into a defensive

posture with his swords out in front, Ayrion closed his eyes and reached out with his senses as he waited for what he knew was coming.

Beside him, the king pulled his sword. The steel rang as it slid free of its scabbard. Dakaran, as well, had his sword out and at the ready.

The small hunting party was twenty or thirty paces from the edge of the brush where the creature stood. It roared once more and then charged.

Most of the ambassadors, never having faced real combat before, triggered their crossbows without so much as taking aim. It was only by a twist of fate they managed to keep from shooting each other. Behind them, the veneur, deciding their dogs had more common sense than they did, fled in the same direction. In an overwhelming state of panic, Ambassador Gyin threw down his bow and left the rest of them to their fates.

“Gyin! You coward! Get back here!” Ambassador Belkor hollered after him before turning back to face the charging monster.

The creature was more agile than Ayrion would have guessed for something its size. It closed the distance between them with a few strong lunges. Ayrion could see it had no intention of stopping, and there was no way to stop something that large once it had built up momentum. As fast as he could, he threw himself into the king and prince, knocking them to the

side as the beast barreled through the High Guard. It missed its intended target and rolled to a stop.

Two of Ayrion’s men went down in the initial impact, trampled under the beast’s hind feet. The remaining four hacked at the creature as best they could, fighting to stay clear of its deadly reach. The bowmen quickly reset

the quarrels from the ambassadors’ first volley and fired again. The bolts protruded from the creature’s thick hide, but with little to no effect. Ayrion wondered where a creature like this had managed to stay hidden.

Ayrion ducked as the beast back-swung its right arm with tremendous force. It caught one of his guards in the chest and threw him through the air, where he landed a good ten paces away in a heap. Ayrion dove underneath

its next swing and cut a deep gash along its lower arm. Rearing back in pain, the creature turned and grabbed a second guard, biting through the

man’s neck and throwing his body over its shoulder before the guard had a chance to even swing his sword.

Ayrion couldn’t believe the power the creature possessed. He had to find a way to kill it, if not for the king, then for his men. It ripped at his heart to watch those under his leadership being torn apart without being able to stop it.

Twisting around, the creature locked eyes with Ayrion. It bared its blood- soaked fangs in defiance, letting Ayrion know his time was up.

Ayrion saw this as an opportunity and angled himself to the left in order to draw the beast’s attention away from the king and the ambassadors. He needed to give Tolin and his lancers enough time to get into position. He watched the creature, the way it moved, the reach of its claws, and the position of its attack. As inhuman as it was, there was something about its eyes that kept drawing his attention. They were almost sad. If he didn’t

know any better, he would have thought the creature had no more desire to be in this battle than they did.

Unable to determine why the monster had him so unnerved, Ayrion felt the tug of his magic and steadied himself for the attack. Sure enough, the creature dove. Ayrion spun to the side, ducking underneath the creature’s arms, and cut deep into the thick muscle of its left leg. The creature reeled

in anger and caught Ayrion in the arm. Its claws tore clean through Ayrion’s leather coat and opened a nasty gash diagonally across his upper shoulder.

The pain was intense, but Ayrion’s fingers remained locked in place around the hilt of his sword.

The creature struck again, its massive claws reaching for the kill. Ayrion sidestepped and deflected the creature’s arm with his swords, hoping to hit the beast from behind, but instead, he tripped over a fallen guard and went down. Without hesitating, he rolled. His instincts saved his life as the

creature buried its claws into the back of the fallen guard beside him.

Flipping back to his feet, Ayrion watched as the half-animal, half-human monster shook the dead guard from its hand and twisted around to find him. Over his shoulder, Ayrion could see that Tolin had managed to get a contingent of his lancers around the royal family and their guests. The commander approached with a squad of polemen, their halberds were held out with tips aimed at the creature.

“You look like you could use some help.” “Could have used it a while ago.”

The creature continued to circle their position. It seemed to be drawing them away from the main group, but as long as the beast continued to put distance between itself and the king, Ayrion was more than happy to accommodate.

Tolin and his men formed a line on either side of Ayrion. The commander grunted. “I tell you, these grouse get bigger every year.”

Ayrion almost laughed but the sound of another set of roars tore the urge right out of him. “What in the name of . . .” All heads turned at once as two more creatures flew out of the trees behind them and hit the rear flank of the lancer guard protecting the king.

The sudden diversion gave the first creature the opportunity to attack, but instead of coming directly for Ayrion, it lunged at the commander and his squad. Half a dozen lancers were ripped apart before Tolin managed to thrust his halberd into the creature’s left shoulder and force it back. The

creature screamed in fury as it split Tolin’s halberd in half and caught the commander in the leg, knocking him to the ground. Before it could finish him off, Ayrion was there blocking and countered the creature’s strikes.

“Protect the commander!” Ayrion hollered at the remaining lancers. “I’ve got to save the king!” Breaking off his engagement with the first

creature, Ayrion ran toward the growing foray on the other side of the large meadow. The two creatures were fighting to reach Rhydan, but were momentarily being blocked by what remained of the High Guard and the Sidaran lancers. Ayrion could see it wasn’t going to be enough.

From the corner of his eye, Ayrion saw Asa come riding out of the forest path near the front of the valley. His lancers were right behind him, each leading two or three horses apiece. He could hear the rugged overcaptain barking his orders. “Sergeant, take some men and help the commander! The rest with me!”

By the time Ayrion reached the others, Rhydan and Dakaran were swinging widely at one of the creatures, fighting as best they could to keep out of the way of its deadly claws. Ambassadors Lanmiere and Belkor were standing over top of a wounded Nierdon, defending their position with a

couple of the polearms they had retrieved from the fallen.

Sheathing his swords, Ayrion reached down and grabbed a fallen halberd being held in place by a severed arm. Not taking the time to remove the bloody limb, he pushed his way in front of the king and drove it into the creature’s unprotected abdomen. The beast recoiled, causing Ayrion to lose

his grip as the wooden shaft hit him in the chest and sent him spinning. It didn’t penetrate as far as he would have liked, but it did force the beast to momentarily retract.

Ayrion could see that one-on-one tactics were not going to do much in this fight. They were going to need to rely on numbers and brute force. A

cut here and a stab there wasn’t going to get the job done. He needed to find a weak spot.

The creature spun on Ayrion, but already anticipating the attack, Ayrion pushed the king out of the way and rolled underneath as the beast severed the head of the lancer that had been standing next to him and skewered a

second with its right claws. Ayrion’s shoulder was throbbing. He could feel blood dripping from his hand as he fought to keep the numbness at bay. He had to do something. These men’s deaths were on him if he didn’t.

Hopping back to his feet, Ayrion turned to find the creature staring down at him. It appeared to be smiling, or as close to it as it could manage. Ayrion held its gaze. He suddenly realized he had just found a weak spot.

The creature reared back to strike, but the sound of harsh language being spewed from an even harsher one-eyed overcaptain forced its attention elsewhere.

Asa rode in with his cavalry reserves, swinging his heavy battle-axe in one hand while keeping a tight rein on his horse with the other.

Ayrion moved the king and the prince behind what was left of the lancer formation. He left them there as he circled back. Pulling one of his black blades, he waited for the beast to turn in his direction before launching it directly at the creature’s head. As he had so many other times before, Ayrion could feel the accuracy of the throw from the moment it left his hand. The creature screamed as the steel buried itself to the hilt inside its right eye. Its body stiffened as it hit the ground.

Witnessing the death of one of their own, the two remaining creatures fought all the harder. Rage with deadly purpose drove them to the extreme, acting on sheer impulse instead of instinct as if they were being compelled without a will of their own.

The second of the two beasts, still battling to reach the king, was being brought to bear with the new arrival of the mounted troops. The overwhelming numbers were managing to not only hold it at bay, but drive it back.

The creature tore at the soldiers with the fierceness of insanity. It satiated its hunger on the gore of both man and horse. All around, lancers were being ripped apart. Their remains coated the ground.

The creature managed to thwart the cavalry’s advance by slashing at their horse’s legs to bring them down. Ayrion retrieved his blade and swung himself onto Shade. His enormous warhorse had found his way to Ayrion without prodding. Ayrion spared a quick glance across the field where Commander Tolin was limping heavily on one leg while he and his men did everything they could to hold the first creature back.

Ayrion directed Shade straight at the second beast.

Asa took a hit to the midsection and was thrown from his mount, spouting insults the whole way down. Ayrion dug in his heels and Shade charged directly into the side of the creature just as it was about to take a swing at Dakaran. The force of Shade’s body, and a precise thrust of his blade into its side, knocked the creature sideways, giving the lancers a

chance to skewer its legs with their halberds. With a cry of pain, it fell backwards.

“Kill it while it’s down!” the king shouted as he charged forward and thrust his long blade into the beast’s side. Dakaran, Belkor, and what remained of the lancers joined the king. Within moments, they had hacked the creature apart.

A furious cry resounded from the first creature on the other side of the meadow as it punched its way through what was left of the commander’s lancers, scattering them like leaves in the wind. Ayrion could see it was making one final effort to reach the king. Without hesitating, Ayrion kicked Shade into motion.

As if sensing his rider’s urgency, Shade bounded forward toward the coming creature. With nostrils flaring and dirt flying in all directions, the dark warhorse fought to give Ayrion every last bit of speed it had. The two had fought side by side so many times before that they could almost sense each other’s needs.

Fifteen paces. Ten paces. Five. Ayrion stood from the back of his saddle and leaped into the air with both blades out and ready to strike.

Realizing that there was no backing down now, the creature turned its head and roared as Ayrion came down on top of it. The speed of his descent drove both his blades straight through and out the back of the creature’s

neck. In one fluid motion, Ayrion landed, rolled, and was back on his feet with both his swords outstretched beside him, tips to the ground.

The creature’s last breath came out as an eerie sort of whimper.

“Close rank! Close rank!” Tolin hollered as he limped his way across the meadow to what remained of the king’s hunting party.

Those still standing quickly formed a small circle, shoulder to shoulder. No matter their title, whether king, ambassador, or ranker, they stood side by side with sword and lance in hand waiting to face down whatever might be coming. Ayrion, along with his one remaining High Guard, stood in front of the king, both swords drawn.

After a long stretch of silence, Ayrion could feel the tension beginning to lift. He reached out with his senses but they came back empty, which he figured didn’t mean a whole lot since his ability only gave him a few

seconds warning. But from the stillness, it appeared they had weathered the storm.