Time slows down when you think you’re going to die, and as I watched the Lindwyrm propelling across the ground at lightning speed toward me. I could only imagine how Serf felt falling from the skies before he died. Before he became the Godbody. In that moment, I felt a moment of kinship with the greatest and kindest of our gods. As the Lindwyrm bounded toward me, its muscled tail coiled, digging into the ground as its arms bent at the joints, it suddenly sprang forward with its needle-filled maw open and claws extended.

  I turned and ran, still clutching the egg, managing to put one of the boulders between the Lindwyrm and me, but the beast had been distracted. Wielding shortspears in one hand, and the swords they had no business using in the other, six of King Perek’s guard charged the beast from either side. The Lindwyrm reared up, roaring an ugly noise before slamming into the ground, making it shake even as far away as I was. The egg kept shifting its weight in my arms as the Lindwyrm bucked and squirmed, as more guards joined the fray. The guards were brave, they were glorious, and completely outclassed. The upper hand they briefly had, surprising the beast, evaporated as the Lindwyrm searched for the most pressing threat.

  The poor sod who was in front of its one good eye got it first. In an instant, his fine armour had been broken open by a vicious claw swipe. Three great gouges were now in his chest plate as he fell to his knees, vomiting blood. My heart pounded and I began to shake, terror threatened to overwhelm my limbs, and I sank to my knees, holding the squirming egg close. The movement was oddly comforting, and I had this urge to protect it at all costs.

  I could only watch as the Lindwyrm’s claws lashed against flesh and its tail pummeled bodies aside. Men screamed in rage, then terror as their fate arrived in the form of tooth and claw. Five men had fallen so far, each meeting a bloody end they did not deserve. I needed to get somewhere safe and, if possible, get myself a weapon. I cursed the Mummer, then myself for leaving my entire kit by that bloody cart. That was so typical of the Mummer, striking when your mind is unaware.

  I saw Gertha far from the carnage, her hands hanging by her side, as she stared into the sky. She was right out in the open, completely exposed, and we were rapidly running out of armed guards. Two high-pitched wails knifed through the air as two guards were swatted into the treeline. They fell to the ground and did not move again.

  “GERTHA! GET TO COVER!” I shouted before sparing a glance over to the battling guards. Eleven of them now remained, alternating between dodging, striking and distracting the Lindwyrm so that the others could get their own attacks in.

  “WE NEED TO PULL BACK!” I cried out.

  “FIGHT WITH US, DAMN YOU!” shouted Nimmond, his helmet was long gone now, and he looked oddly naked without his plume.

  The Lindwyrm had driven the guards backwards as it slowly made its way toward me. In the space of our short exchange, two more guards had fallen, one had been bitten clean in half, his moderate abilities with a Steelweave evasion form inadequate against the sheer speed and power of the Lindwyrm.

  The other man lay on his back, trying in vain to stem the pulsing flow of blood from his neck.

  “Don’t move,” I said to the egg as I stowed it behind another boulder. I turned on my heel and sprinted in the direction of the fight. Without weapons, mind you, don’t do the things you hear I did, most of them are either incredibly stupid, self-centred or both.

  Three more men fell valiantly, uselessly against the Lindwyrm. Now that I was up close, I could see Perek’s guard had bloodied it as well. It was missing two claws from its left arm and its chest, neck and tail were deeply lacerated. It was focused on Nimmond, who was clearly in a state of flow; it looked like he was in the midst of a choreographed dance of sorts, evading the Lindwyrm’s vicious attacks. He was good, but I made sure to remember he favoured his left side. Can’t be too careful, and you should never chuck away insight. That’s another of Peevan’s nuggets of wisdom.

  The guard holding his neck was still squirming; he was also the closest armed person to me, which made this far more awkward than it needed to be. I think his name was Hedon or something like that, not that it would matter soon. I loomed over him, crouching down so an errant claw didn’t take my head off before it was my time. His eyes widened in hope, he opened his mouth, and a stream of blood ran from the corner as he coughed his words out.

  “H-ul-p m-e,” he choked. I could tell from looking at him that he was dead already. He would bleed out in a pool of his and his brothers-in-arms' viscera. My heart fell in that moment. I reached down and plucked up the sword that lay discarded at his side. Screams from around me told me that soon the Lindwyrm would have finished with the Guard.

  “Puh-leash,” the guard begged.

  The sword was a balanced, well-made weapon comprised of good steel. Gods, it felt good to hold one in my hand again. I could indulge myself later; right now, there was a Lindwyrm to kill. I looked at the dying guard for the last time.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, before driving the blade through his eye, killing him instantly. The old stories talk about a quick stab in the heart being merciful, yet only one in one hundred can tell you exactly where it is. You might think me cold or heartless in that moment, but nothing could be further from that. It’s always better to suffer a clean, quick and kind death. A lingering one is a curse I wouldn’t wish on many. His is one of the faces I still see at night.

  Three guards, including Nimmond, remained fighting. They’d been driven nearer to the carts by the Lindwyrm; it looked like the beast had been goaded over there as Nimmond kept shouting and waving his arms at the creature, as the others blocked and attacked in synchronised movements.

  I charged the Lindwyrm for the second time in my life. Each step I bounded across the grass felt right. I could feel myself falling into the familiar rhythm of breathing, and I started planning the best way to kill this bastard thing. I could see that Nimmond and the other two guards were pressed against and around the carts, using their bulk to shield themselves from the Lindwyrms' onslaught. The smell of blood, piss and shite hung in the air, the parting gift of so many brutally killed, stupid heroes.

  Gertha suddenly howled, a mournful, rage-filled sound that honestly scared me as much as the Lindwyrm did; it was not natural. I stole a glance toward her as she suddenly had her hands outstretched toward the Lindwyrm, that horrific noise coming from her foaming mouth.

  Everything went black for just an instant, like the afternoon's sun was a candle that she had just placed the snuffer over. With the momentary fall of night came the sound of a thunderclap, but when it echoed from the trees, it wasn't the thunderclap's noise reflected. It was the malformed sound of a woman sobbing and whimpering from within the very air itself. When I looked at Gertha, she shed no tears. The noise made my skin stand on end and brought tears to my eyes. I stumbled and fell, landing in mud, or at least something that felt like it. My vision returned, and I saw a smouldering dark mark on the Lindwyrm. It pulsed angrily, reminding me of a coal burn. Good job, she was on our side because I never wanted to be on the receiving end of whatever darkness she employed. The Lindwyrm yelped, uncannily like a kicked dog. Captain Nimmond and his two remaining brothers set to hacking and slashing at the creature's front as I joined in from the rear, hacking at its tail. I managed to chop a good foot of the tail's tip off, and I whooped with joy as I was rewarded with a gout of blood. It was good to be using proper forged steel for once.

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  The Lindwyrm roared in pain, immediately turning its attention onto me, its severed tail flopping on the ground next to me as Nimmond and the others were suddenly sprayed by the stump with its blood. It swiped for my head, but I saw it coming. The creature was badly hurt, which meant it was slower than it had any right to be. I ducked under the hit before slashing at the Lindwyrms' upper arm with the Third Strike, an upward blow which started in front of my left foot, continuing in a diagonal motion to where my right arm could reach at its furthest. The blade of my new sword cut deep in the flesh of its arm, and it squealed, but as it wrestled away, I was pulled forward with the momentum and the wind was driven from me as I was caught with a savage backhand from the creature, which had me seeing stars.

  I fell to the ground, blood streaming from my mouth as I rolled away from the Lindwyrm. I kept rolling until I was far enough to get both my feet and my bearings. Nimmond and his entourage railed into the Lindwyrm a final time, with Nimmond himself severing the arm I had already cut deep into with a mighty two-handed swing of his sword. Nimmond and one of the guards darted backwards as the Lindwyrm roared. The other guard was not so lucky as he was seized in the Lindwyrm’s maw. I leapt to my feet and charged the creature, taking advantage of its distraction to prepare to leap in the air. My new blade was eager to eat the flesh of the Lindwyrm’s neck. At the same time, Nimmond and his guard screamed in rage and tried to deliver similar killing strokes. The Lindwyrm let out a long, shrill whistling noise as it turned to the treeline.

  “HELP ME! HELP ME PLE-” The hapless guard's pleas were cut short as the maw snapped shut, severing him in two. His pained, shocked face twitched as his upper half hit the grass.

  “DIE!” I shouted as I leapt through the air, certain my speed would allow me to end this quickly.

  Instead, I was intercepted by that bloody tail; swatted out of the air as if I were no more than an irritating insect. I hit the ground hard, groaning in my daze when suddenly Gertha was next to me, spit streaming down the sides of her mouth.

  “Live! Live damn you, Tullen!” She hissed through gritted teeth.

  “Why your words no click?” I slurred, confused.

  She slapped me hard across the face while saying a word I hadn’t heard before and had no hope of making out. Suddenly, my mind was clear once more, and I felt alive with energy which crackled through my body. I sprang to my feet and prepared to go after the Lindwyrm, but it was already at the treeline, its strange skin rippling in hues of green and brown. Behind it, a trail of dark red blood glistened in the light. Nimmond was helping the sole surviving guard to his feet, who had fallen to his knees, exhausted.

  I continued watching the treeline, but the Lindwyrm had already disappeared. I doubted it would be back, predators of a Lindwyrm’s nature would skulk away somewhere to heal after losing an arm and half of its other hands. If we didn’t kill it in this fight, another Wyrm or Drake would no doubt kill it off in the next few weeks; it was near on defenceless now. I almost felt sorry for it. But the Lindwyrm wouldn’t think twice about the Avinish it had killed. I spat on the ground before running the bloody sword blade I held over the grass a few times, then wiping it on the canvas of the nearby cart.

  Nimmond and the other guard just looked at me, their eyes narrowed.

  “We need to return to Avandun,” I said, my voice serious.

  “That we do Tullen, I’m placing you under arrest,” Nimmond said, his voice cold and firm.

  “Did you lose your brain along with your helmet? I fought with you!” I growled.

  “What are you holding, Tullen? What were you holding when you stabbed Gedden through his eye?”

  Ah, that was his name. I was close.

  “It was a mercy killing. If you saw me do that, you saw the state of him. No soldier was surviving those wounds.” I gestured to Gedden’s corpse, his hand had fallen away from his neck wound, it looked like the tip of the creature's claw had punctured the poor sods neck, but not enough to kill him instantly.

  “You killed a fellow citizen, Tullen, and you are wielding a sword unsanctioned. Lay down your arms, and we will take this to the king. I’m sure he will be merciful.”

  “Bollocks to you, you ordered me to fight and I armed myself with the first thing available.”

  “You’re the bloody Black Wyvern Tullen, you had your second chance a long time ago. Shouldn’t have left your stick and spear behind; besides, you killed Gedden, no matter what your motive. You need to be dealt with. Perek's orders were to bring you in if you touched a blade; he doesn't care what state you're in.” Nimmond's hand holding the sword tightened, and he raised it slowly to his left side. His mouth betrayed the barest hint of a smile.

  Sighing upon the realisation, he was just desperate for a confrontation and angry that the King still distrusted me, I swapped my sword grip to my left hand, raised my blade and rested it on my shoulder “It won’t be your first stupid decision today, but it might be your last”, I said, matter-of-factly. I enjoyed the look of wariness in his eyes when I switched hands. Left-handed swordfighters were rarer and so always enjoyed a slight advantage over right-handers, given they always had to practice against the stranger angles. Proper fighters, Steelweavers like Peevan and I, could fight with either hand.

  “Will you two stop measuring who has the smallest bloody brain and get away from the new Wyrm food?” Gertha called out. She looked recovered from her ordeal, but I noticed she still had no coin in her mouth.

  “In the name of King Perek, Noble Protector of Avandun and Lord Presider of the Mine, I place you under arrest on pain of death. Surrender to me, Tullen Fal Barraz.” Captain Nimmond kept his sword at his side but watched me warily. The other guard nervously joined Nimmond at the side, drawing his own blade.

  What an amateur, he should have placed himself behind me. There was no way I was going to submit to this. I help these idiots in good faith, and they throw my old crimes in my face? I’d more than served my sentence and then some.

  “King Perek’s authority can get glinted.” I spat.

  A scowl of anger fell across Nimmond and his guard’s faces as they advanced.

  “So be it, you Wyvern tatted bastard!” snarled Nimmond. His face was red with rage, and he gnashed his teeth.

  Good, a move made in anger is usually the one that unravels you.

  “Let’s see how you do, eh?” I said aloud to my blade.

  I breathed calmly as I began weaving steel for the first time since I killed a blademaster.