Total pages in book: 40
Estimated words: 38711 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 194(@200wpm)___ 155(@250wpm)___ 129(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 38711 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 194(@200wpm)___ 155(@250wpm)___ 129(@300wpm)
He got up to his feet and went to the window.
Finn stood on the porch, rigid, his legs planted. He was holding Klyuv in his hand, and his fingers were bloody. The staff eyed him but let him hold it.
Across the front yard, at the other end of the property, a dark-haired asshole in combat fatigues and fingerless gloves held the melalo by his wing. The bird monster dangled from the man’s fingers. Clean-shaven, trim, about the same height as Wayne standing next to him. Two peas in a pod.
The new guy wore an amulet around his neck. The number of soldiers-for-hire around his property had multiplied, too. The promised mage squad must’ve arrived during the night, and by the looks of it, they had been busy. Six ten-foot stakes rose just outside of the yard in a wide crescent, each carved with runes, and topped with a goat head staring at the house. They’d broken out the nithing poles.
Nithing poles were a curse conduit, but the entire property was consecrated as Chernobog’s holy ground. A curse wouldn’t affect it. The runes glowed with power, so they weren’t complete amateurs. They had to have known that.
Roman pushed slightly. His power crept toward the poles and recoiled. Ah. Not a curse then. They had repurposed the nithing poles into a ward, shielding their position. Clever. Really clever.
Livestock was precious, and to curse something, you had to pay the price. The more valuable the animal, the more juice it gave the curse. Chickens were on the bottom rung of the ladder, goats and sheep were mid-range, and finally, horses and cows were top tier. They’d cheaped out a bit.
“Look kid,” the mage dickhead said, “it’s over. Your volhv friend has been shot by a viper bolt. Paralysis in forty-five minutes, coma in four hours, death in eight to twelve. I bet he’s out cold, right? You tried to wake him up and you couldn’t.”
Finn’s fingers gripped the staff so hard, the knuckles of his right hand were white.
“Here, hold this.” The mage thrust the melalo at Wayne. Wayne grimaced but took the wing. The melalo was doing his best impression of roadkill, body limp, the one living head lulled to the side.
The mage reached into the pocket of his fatigues and pulled out a small vial filled with blue liquid.
“Antidote,” the mage said slowly, pronouncing each syllable. “You can save him.”
Finn clenched his teeth.
The mage shook his head. “You’re not getting it. You have two choices here. Walk out, and we give the volhv the antidote and you leave with us. Or, we wait you out, he dies, we come in and slit the throat of everything that’s still alive in that shack, burn the place, and you still leave with us. He lives, he dies. Doesn’t matter to me.”
That shack?
Wayne put his hand out in a restraining gesture. The mage gave him a look.
“He is a kid, Fulton,” Wayne told him.
The mage rolled his eyes. “You wanted me here because you couldn’t get the job done. I dragged my ass out here. But it’s your show. Go ahead. Just a small suggestion, if I may?”
Wayne made a go-ahead gesture.
“We are due at the Lumber City job in twenty hours. That’s not a lot of turnaround time, and none of my guys have had any sleep. It’s one kid, a pack of magical vermin, and one dying pagan priest. What if we just wrap this up and maybe still catch a little downtime?”
Wayne might have outranked Fulton, but judging by the caliber of the wards, the mage was both experienced and powerful. Roman had met his type before. He was the kind of man who had very little respect for rank. He was looking at Wayne as if the head mercenary was some kind of middle manager making his job more difficult. Fulton liked to fuck shit up and get paid. He didn’t like complications, he didn’t have a lot of patience, and if you held his leash too tight, he would bite it off and leave. Wayne’s face told Roman that Wayne knew all that.
“Finn,” Wayne called out.
Uh huh. The reasonable tone was back.
“I get it. You’re doing what a man is supposed to do. You made it through the woods, you didn’t get caught. You found this place, and now you’re trying to protect it and your new friend. I respect that. But sometimes no matter how hard you fight, you can’t win, kid. Knowing that is part of growing up. A boy can be stubborn because he doesn’t understand the consequences. A man must evaluate the situation and mitigate the damage.”
Finn’s shoulders slumped.
“Fulton here is in a bad mood because he marched all night and had to work hard when he got here.”
Fulton rolled his eyes again.
“Don’t let that fool you,” Wayne said. “He’s very good at what he does. His crew is one of the best. They have taken down people with a hell of a lot more power than you or the priest have. Once they get started, they will tear this whole place apart, and I won’t be able to help you.”