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lurched forward. Simna ducked a slice from a skinning knife that was easily big enough to decapitate a
buffalo in a single swipe. Charging forward, Hunkapa Aub struck the creature beneath two of its four
arms and knocked it off its feet. Ahlitah was an ebony blur, slashing and snapping anything that came
near. Several of the rapacious monstrosities tried to surround the big cat, but it was much too quick for
them.
Like a runaway guillotine, a gigantic meat cleaver descended in Ehomba s direction, aiming squarely for
the herdsman s head. Bringing the sky-metal sword up and around, he parried the blow. Sparks flew as
metal struck metal with a reverberant ring that echoed back and forth across the street. The attention of
his own assailants momentarily diverted by Hunkapa Aub, Simna saw the two blades make
contact and his heart sank.
A chunk the size of a small plate had been taken out of the side of the sky-metal blade.
He wanted to shout at his friend, to hear an explanation for what had just happened. Sorcerer supreme
Ehomba might be, or simple herder of cattle and sheep as he claimed, but there was no disputing the
power of the singular sword. Simna had seen it in action too many times to doubt its alchemical
provenance. Whatever happened to its owner, it was impossible for the weapon to fail. Impossible!
Yet, a second blow from the raging demon s cleaver took another piece out of the blade. Many more
impacts like that and Ehomba would be left without anything to fight with. Somehow Simna knew that the
herdsman s other weapon of choice would not save them here. The efficacy of the sea-bone sword this
far from the ocean would be much in doubt. Butchers from the netherworld would probably greet the
sharks the blade s teeth would bring forth as another welcome source of meat, be it solid or numinous.
As for the herdsman s spear, that was a last hope held in reserve, but the swordsman remembered his
tall friend saying on more than one occasion that its startling effects were of brief duration, and therefore
could not be counted upon for more than momentary salvation. As he looked on, the herdsman parried
still another weighty swing. A third section of sword shattered violently.
The blighted butchers pressed their assault. Hunkapa was holding his own, and the black litah doing real
damage. In a fair fight the visitors might well have prevailed. But they were outnumbered, and by
creatures for whom Death itself was an old friend. Their assailants had relentless confidence and no fear.
Simna had to admire the way Ehomba fought on, stolid and expressionless, swinging his failing blade
with steadfast determination as if nothing were wrong. By himself he was holding off the three biggest of
their assailants, whose heavy cleavers were taking a terrible toll on the herdsman s weapon. The stocky
mercenary was about to shout the suggestion that Ehomba throw away his deteriorating weapon and try
the magic of the spear, when a glint out of the corner of his eye momentarily diverted his attention.
It was one of the many splinters the frenzied demons had struck from the surface of the sky-metal
sword. The tiny bit of metal was glowing brightly, emitting a vaporous fragment of the deep azure light
that Simna had seen the whole sword give off when justly held in both Ehomba s long-fingered hands. As
he stared, still vigorously defending himself but keeping an eye on the splinter, it rose from the slimed
street, shining more brightly than ever. Beneath his disbelieving gaze it expanded until it was more than a
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foot long and pulsing with an intense blue light. He had seen that same fierce, cold, cobalt effulgence
before at moments that had preceded deliverance.
Something else put a claim on his attention. Three more of the shattered splinters were rising from the
ground, elongating and glowing. Off to his left rose still another half dozen, burning with an angry, internal,
azure radiance. Ahlitah gave ground as a handful of metal shavings beneath his feet lifted to luminous
attention, and Hunkapa Aub paused in his exertions to stare mesmerized at the shards that were rising
from the ooze beneath his very feet.
Everywhere splinters and fragments from the sky-metal sword had landed it was the same. Every flake
and chip, no matter how small, no matter how seemingly insignificant, was rapidly regenerating itself as a
smaller version of the matriarchal sword. At the sight the diabolic butchers slowed but did not halt their
attack. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]