Chapter 62 - Three Strikes

  There was no time to waste, so I swooped down quickly and landed not far from where MacGregor stood. He looked shocked to see the Karabos at close range, but the creature sank immediately to its haunches, bowing down and pressing its claws against the ground in a way that made it clear it wasn’t presenting a threat to anyone. That was a smart move, since MacGregor’s honor guard all had spears aimed at its head quicker than you could blink.

  "Got a prisoner for you guys. Didn't think we had any yet, so I figured one might be useful,” I said.

  "Good work," MacGregor replied. He turned to two of his officers. "Take that thing into custody."

  I turned and was about to take off, but before I could, Maggie grabbed my arm.

  "I talked to Thornbill," Maggie said. "He and his people are ready to back your play. They saw what you were trying to do, and they understand. They'll help when you attack next."

  "Good," I said, "because we're going to need the help."

  “Be careful out there!” Maggie said.

  “I’ll try,” I replied, already knowing there was only so much caution I could use in the middle of a fight like this. Sometimes, you needed to watch your step, and other times fortune favored the bold. We were smack dab in the middle of the second kind of day.

  I took off again, flying over the battlefield. The giant crabs were almost to our wall. They had formed a sort of arrowhead formation aimed directly at the center of our defensive position, which meant they were headed directly for Alex. He stood there on the wall, firing off spell after spell as he struggled to fend them off. But between the crabs’ hard exterior and the shields the Karabos carried, most of his attacks weren't doing much good.

  I knew Alex said I was supposed to keep my mana in reserve for the final battle, but we were running out of time, and I was all out of ideas. If I didn't take those creatures out quickly, they were going to punch through the wall like it was cardboard and tear our people to pieces. I wasn't going to let that happen.

  I dove down, streaking in toward the lead crab, and landed almost directly in front of the thing's face with enough force that I cracked the pavement beneath me when I landed it. The crab lurched backward, shocked by my arrival, but then it came at me with both of its large claws. I ducked under one claw, then grabbed the other as it reached for me. With another boost of mana, I brought myself and the crab skyward, shooting up fifty feet before dropping the crab again.

  That trick was probably never gonna get old, no matter how many times I had to use it. Using their own attacks as a weapon against them had a symmetry that appealed to me. The giant crab tumbled end over end as it sailed down toward its brethren. It crashed in the middle of their formation, injuring two others and setting the entire group into disarray.

  Like that was a signal, Thornbill's people took advantage of the enemy’s confusion and attacked. They swooped in, jabbing at the Karabos riding the crabs with their spears. For a moment, everything was going exactly as planned. The Peristera took down several of the Karabos riders without taking any losses at all. That left riderless crabs wandering around, confused, which messed up the enemy formation and forced them to halt their advance against the wall.

  But there was still an infantry force of about two hundred Karabos only a handful of paces away. As soon as they saw what was happening, they opened up with ranged attacks against the Peristera.

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  One of Thornbill's people went down to an Ice Blast. Then another was fried by a Lightning Bolt. They kept fighting, diving at the Karabos forces again and again, but they were losing people at an alarming rate. I dove in the way of one Ice Blast, saving one of the Peristera, then cast a Gust of Wind at the attacker. The spell bowled him over backwards, but the effect was temporary. It was stunned, not out of the fight.

  I wished yet again that I had a better ranged attack myself. The wind spell was decent, but it was too soft. It wasn't enough to permanently disable an opponent, let alone kill one. More of the Karabos spotted me and opened up fire. I took the Ice Blast on the chest. Those tickled more than they hurt, but I had to dodge the Lightning Bolts. I remembered how badly those things had injured me during the fight for the towers.

  "Dammit," I said, "I'm going to have to face them at close range after all."

  There was no other way. I darted through the air toward where their infantry was tucked behind cover and landed directly in front of a stunned Karabos, smashing his face in with my fist. That one wasn't getting back up again anytime soon. I stepped forward quickly from him to the next one, taking it down with another punch.

  Each blow shattered an enemy’s shell. I was pretty sure my strikes were killing them outright, but at the very least, they weren't getting back up to join the fight, which was good enough for the time being. The rest of the Karabos infantry saw what I was doing and turned their attention from the Peristera to me. They rushed me from all sides, closing into a tightening circle. I could hear them all chittering to each other, and although I couldn't understand their language, I had a hunch what they were all shouting was something to the effect of "Kill that human!”

  "Good luck with that," I told them.

  Then, I picked up the nearest Karabos and swung him in a fast arc, shattering two of his fellows. I threw him into a bunch of the others coming up on my left. He hit them dead on, sending them all flying. One attacked me from behind, its spear splintering as it failed to penetrate my back. I turned, grabbed the remnants of the spear shaft, and flipped the Karabos over my shoulder as hard as I could. It shot through the sky so far that I couldn't see where it landed.

  One after another, they were all going down. I'd killed dozens of them, but there were still over a hundred left, and they continued converging. A quick punch took one out of the fight. A kick to the chest shattered the thorax of another. I kept moving as fast as I could, darting into attack and dodging their spells.

  But there were an awful lot more of them than there was of me. Finally, it happened. One of them got lucky with a Lightning Bolt spell. I had my back turned, facing down a half dozen other Karabos warriors. When the spell hit, the lightning raced across my nerves, making my muscles jerk and pull. I collapsed to my knees and then fell forward onto my face, stunned. The Karabos advanced, and I figured they were going to dog-pile me again. That seemed like a favorite tactic of theirs, and I was prepared for it. I braced my hands against the ground and got ready to toss them off.

  But unlike the past times I'd been in this situation, this time they didn't pile on. I’d been hit by one too many Lightning Bolts, it seemed, because they'd figured out my weak spot. One of them sent a second Lightning Bolt racing into me. This time, all I could do was lay on the ground jerking uncontrollably and screaming. The pain was excruciating! I could barely think at all, let alone collect myself enough to get clear.

  I knew I needed to get out of there. All I had to do was activate my Flight power and fly clear. A few seconds of Flight and I’d be out of their range. A few minutes’ breathing room was all I needed for my Regeneration to kick in and get my rebelling body back into a functional state again.

  They didn’t give those precious few seconds I needed to recover my senses, though.

  A third bolt struck me, and this time it was all I could do to keep from blacking out. Darkness pulled at my vision. I strained to try to get myself back upright and failed, falling forward again. The creatures swarmed in a circle around me. Dozens of them pelted me with Ice Blasts, which struck with bruising force, but they didn’t seem to have as many warriors capable of casting Lightning Bolt as they did Ice Blast. That was probably the sole thing keeping me alive.

  It was everything Alex had warned me about. I'd gone out there trying to save lives, and I'd taken one risk too many. Now, I was entirely at the enemy's mercy.

  Paladin 2, Paladin 3, Flight of the Intrepid 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, Castle's Power 2 (finish) and 3, and probably a couple more books. I might do another trilogy for Accidental Necromancer, depending on how the release goes on that one with Aethon.

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