Battle Mage: Forging New Steel (Tales of Alus Book 9) (69 page)

Karma was about to retort when a leather,
armored slave came running into the courtyard in front of
the barracks and training building. "They're here!" he
shouted franticly.

Smoke could be seen rising into the air to the
south of the farm. "They're burning our fields," Karma
snarled. "All right, men, let's go show these animals how
the Holteins deal with Tolmonan mongrels." The young
man strutted off to do battle with his guardsmen to either
side. The slaves all followed after their master as a group
though much less confidently.

Gerid walked along towards the rear of the
defenders with Leoltus, Baitram, Jatan and Mateil. A rush
of nervous tension began to charge him as he readied for
combat. The other men seemed to watch him from either side even as they watched for the enemy to appear. Even
as Gerid noticed that, they seemed to move slightly
closer to him. He figured that his plans for getting
noticed here had definitely come to fruition though perhaps Karma would rather that he could forget him
instead this time. Maybe, Gerid thought, he would have to do something even more drastic in the future. If he didn't
get killed, the slave just might win over the
temperamental young master.

With extra strength set in his stride, Gerid began to move towards the front lines.

"Boy, what are you doing?" Leoltus questioned in
a hiss trying to keep his voice lowered. "Are you planning
suicide?"

Gerid turned a brief glance at the older man with
a tight lipped smile and dangerous eyes. "You others may
want to get back from me now, Leoltus. I plan to draw
enough of the bandits away from the rest of these slaves
that maybe I can keep most of them alive. You can join
me, but maybe you should help the others and lead them
through this. The others aren't warriors at all. They're just
farmers and herdsmen. They will need your leadership
now more than ever."

"You do talk like you're going to the slaughter,
boy. Stick with the plan and we can work together after
the others take the first charge. Are you going to throw
your life away so quickly?" He lowered his voice again
and asked, "What about your Tabitha?"

Gerid ignored him and quickly moved through the
ragged ranks. The slaves noticed him and several
whispered to themselves at his bold gesture. He hoped
that they would even gain a little more strength from his
confident attitude though his own stomach was
beginning to flutter slightly.

As he found his place several feet behind Karma,
they spied their adversaries. Several horsemen in black
with red dyed faces carried torches in one hand and an
upraised sword in the other. They seemed to guide their
mounts with their knees rather than their hands, a hard
trick Gerid noted. Just behind them, a small horde of
similarly adorned men with swords and shields in hand
made their way through the small fires just beginning to
rise around them.

The sight of Karma's force caused the riders to
give voice to blood curdling war cries. Gerid had never
fought a man on horseback before even in practice, but,
instead of holding back, he answered their cries with a
shout and leapt forward. Karma turned and made to
restrain his exuberance, but Gerid dodged his
outstretched arm and was quickly running past the three.

Two horsemen led the way grinning at him.
Hoping to drain the momentum of the charging bandits
and praying that he would survive such an act, Gerid's
mind calculated the moves that would be required as he
ran forward. Ducking beneath their swords and deflecting
one blade with the long knife, Gerid deftly grabbed hold
of the bandit on his right. Using his great strength, he
twisted the man completely off of his mount. Quickly
using both hands, he flung the man far enough to remove
the third rider from his seat with a loud thump and crash
of mail armor. Both men fell to the ground only to have
their companions trample them to death before they
could adjust to those newly fallen.

One horseman's steed tripped as a result and
threw the rider towards Gerid. Lashing out with the long knife, blood sprayed over his hand and legs as he tore a
long, ragged, red trench through the man's torso. Quickly
retrieving his club from where he had dropped it to grab
the rider, Gerid allowed his adrenaline to force the bloody
image of the man from his mind. A righteous rage
consumed him instead in its place as the young man
fought to rid the land of the bandit scourge. He charged
deeper into the enemy ranks without hesitating.

Time nearly stopped for Gerid in the chaos of
battle. His club continued to rise and fall as new
opponents leapt to try and stop this demon unleashed in
their midst. The long knife drew blood by the gallon and
met steel with the power of a normal man's sword until it could no longer sustain its master's fury.

In a red, hazy fog, a sword was found to replace
the knife even as the club too began to come apart in his hand. It was only wood after all and, though Gerid used it
like the mightiest oak to punish the shields and armor
around him, it could not be what it was not. A strong warrior with a stout shield of blackened steel met his
attack in its final moments. Three devastating blows to
the metal and the club exploded into slivers of shrapnel.
The warrior laughed and tried to capitalize on the loss of the weapon. He charged forward with shield raised and
sword readied to strike. Twisting nimbly, Gerid wrenched the defensive metal and thrust it back into the man. The sword was shoved to the side as Gerid swung his blade
decapitating the warrior.

Taking only a second to retrieve the bandit's
sword and to strap the brave shield onto his back, Gerid
surveyed the battle still around him. There were bodies
strewn all around him, but no man stood ready to meet him this time. Instead, the battle had swept to either side
of him. Men screamed to his right where a group of
slaves fought wildly to preserve their lives against a
superior force. The left revealed Karma leading nearly a
dozen men, including Leoltus and the guardsmen. They
were fighting well enough he quickly decided.

With a roar of defiance, the berserker charged to
the aid of the slaves. Even over the clashes of metal and the screams of injured men, the Tolmonan bandits heard
the cry and trembled. Several turned as one group from
the slaves to meet him. He could see fear in most of their
eyes now. As the giant quickly split two men in twain
with the new blade, those who had not been fearful,
became so immediately.