Lorik The Defender (The Lorik Trilogy) Read online

  Lorik The Defender

  by Toby Neighbors

  Lorik The Defender

  © Toby Neighbors, 2014

  All Rights Reserved No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned or distributed in any print or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  Copy Editor: Martin J. Coffee, [email protected]

  Books By Toby Neighbors

  Wizard Rising

  Magic Awakening

  Hidden Fire

  Crying Havoc

  Fierce Loyalty

  Evil Tide

  Wizard Falling

  Lorik

  Lorik The Protector

  Third Prince

  Royal Destiny

  The New World

  The Other Side

  Dedication

  To Columbia and Ramona Winchester

  For accepting me as family from the first time we met.

  I love you both very much.

  And to Camille, without you I couldn’t do a thing, baby!

  When it comes your time to die,

  be not like those whose lives are filled with the fear of death,

  so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way.

  Sing your death song and die like a hero going home.

  - Tecumseh

  Chapter 1

  Lorik stood his ground as the mob of frightened people rushed past him. He could hear the constant buzz of the Leffers’ wings, mixed with the screams of their victims. His heart pounded as the creatures drew near. They had the body of a horse, but the chest, shoulders, and head of a man. They wore golden bands around their long hair which hung down their back or streamed out behind them in the wind. Their fingers ended in claws that reminded Lorik of an eagle’s talons, and they had large, pointed teeth that made their mouths seem to bulge. Their thin lips couldn’t quite cover the devilish, yellow teeth. They had long, insectile wings that sprouted from either side of the horse’s body and they rarely used their massive hooves, preferring to hover just off the ground instead. But the most frightening aspect of the Leffers was the huge, scorpion tail that rose up from the horse rump in thick, hard shelled sections and curled over the back of the creature. The tails had stingers that were larger than a spearhead and the tails could strike past the Leffers’ bodies, darting forward like a viper and impaling their victims.

  Lorik saw the Leffers who had found their prey rising up and flying south. The group of monsters in front of him was the largest he’d seen so far. Lorik, Vera, and Stone, along with the group of volunteer fighters with him, had traveled south from the Wilderlands, urging people to move north and make a stand along the border between Ortis and Baskla. They had dispatched smaller groups of the creatures, but they’d never seen more than three at a time. This group was much larger.

  “Get your spears ready!” he called out.

  The men with him were on horseback, but Lorik and Stone preferred to fight with their feet on the ground. They stood in the middle of the wide, dusty road while the group of harried refugees streamed past them. Lorik was head and shoulders taller than Stone, and his powerful body looked more like an artist’s rendering of a god than a man. His skin seemed to almost glow and beneath it massive muscles coiled like iron springs. He carried a sword with a long handle in his right hand, and held a large wooden shield in his left.

  Stone normally fought with two matching knives, but he’d lost one of the deadly weapons in a battle with the Norsik raiders. Now he carried a long spear and shield like Lorik’s. Vera watched from a distance and encouraged the refugees to keep moving. Many of the refugees were farmers or shopkeepers. They were so relieved to have someone fighting for them that they stopped their flight to watch, but Vera urged them on. She was riding a pale white mare and carried a short sword that hung from her saddle just in case she ran into trouble.

  The men with Lorik held their spears ready to throw, and at Lorik’s signal they kicked their horses into action. The horses raced forward, charging straight toward the Leffers. The volunteer soldiers had practiced the maneuver many times. They rose up slightly in their stirrups, then when they were two dozen paces from their targets they threw their spears, letting their horses build the momentum that made their spears so deadly. The weapons flew across the small distance as the riders turned their horses and then raced away.

  Lorik was impressed as he watched the Leffers fall. Almost every one of the creatures had been hit in the chest with the deadly spears. Those that didn’t fall dead instantly, dropped to the ground and lay twitching as they slowly succumbed to their wounds. Four of the hateful looking creatures were unharmed and were moving resolutely toward Lorik and Stone.

  “They left us a couple each,” Stone said playfully.

  “How nice of them.”

  “They’re a considerate bunch of volunteers.”

  “Why don’t you stop talking and start fighting.”

  “After you,” Stone said.

  Lorik smiled. “Try to keep up.”

  The Leffers closed in, their scorpion tails waving menacingly. Lorik ran forward fearlessly. He was fast, his speed surprising for someone as large as he was. The closest Leffer struck at Lorik, trying to impale him with its tail. Lorik raised his shield and the deadly stinger stabbed hard into the wood, penetrating several inches and sticking fast. Lorik jerked the tail toward him and then spun around, slashing down with his sword and severing the Leffer’s stinger. The beast reared, and the evil looking human head screamed in pain, but Lorik was already leaping to the side to avoid the second beast’s strike.

  Stone waited for the nearest Leffer to close in on him, then he threw his own spear. The Leffers rarely did anything to avoid being hurt and just like the attacks of the mounted volunteers, Stone’s weapon stabbed into wicked creature’s heart. Then Stone drew his knife; it was made with a thick blade that was as long as Stone’s forearm. The blade curved up toward a deadly point. The handle was simple, with a rawhide wrapping and a thick, brass knuckle guard that arched down over his fingers. Stone darted forward, trying to keep the fallen Leffer between himself and his second opponent. The Leffer flew up, trying to move over its fallen companion to close the distance with Stone. The daring fighter chose that moment to rush forward, so that as the Leffer drifted back down he was close to the beast’s side. He raised his shield to block the inevitable strike from the Leffer’s tail. He angled his shield so that the bulbous stinger with its vicious barb bounced off the thick wood. At the same time, Stone’s knife slashed the Leffer’s flank and tore into the delicate wing.

  The beast shouted angrily and a hoof came close to connecting with Stone’s head, but he dropped to the ground, rolling over his shoulder and coming back up on his feet. The bloody knife was slammed into the sheath that Stone wore tied to his right thigh and then his free hand pulled the spear from the first Leffer’s corpse. The mounted riders had thrown their weapons with such force that the spears had penetrated the Leffer’s chest and punched clean through the back. Getting those spears from the Leffers’ bodies was difficult work, but Stone’s weapon had only penetrated as far as the spearhead. He gave the weapon a wrench and it pulled free.

  He spun around, swinging the spear wide. The Leffer he’d wounded had turned, and was now approaching him again, but it saw the spear and dodged back. Stone pretended to throw the spear again, but the Leffer was ready for that and swung its tail to bat the projectile away. Only instead of connecting with the spear, the tail flailed and the Leffer, alread
y struggling with the wound in its side, staggered. Stone rushed forward and thrust the spear at the Leffer’s face. The beast grabbed the weapon and tried to pull it from Stone’s hand. He let the spear go and kept moving forward. In one smooth motion, he jumped forward, drawing his knife and then stabbing the thick blade into the beast’s chest.

  Lorik, having dodged the second Leffer’s tail, spun around and flung the round shield straight into the beast’s face. The Leffer brought its powerful hands up, but the heavy shield smashed into the beast’s brow, opening a bloody gash that ran with black, sticky blood.

  “That’s an improvement I’d say,” Lorik shouted.

  Then he drew a second sword which was almost identical to the first weapon, only with a shorter handle. He brought the swords together, each handle facing the other, so that the blades stood out in either direction. With a quick twist, the two swords locked together. The longer handle of the first sword, connected now to the second, gave Lorik a large handhold. He twirled the blades and smiled.

  “Come get it, you bastard!”

  The two Leffers, one with a wounded tail, the other with a bloody face, attacked together. In most cases, their tactic would have been successful. They angled in toward Lorik, hoping to trap him between their large bodies and deadly tails. But Lorik was prepared for just such a maneuver and his swords gave him a deadly weapon that faced each of the horrid beasts.

  Blood was still pouring from the Leffer that had lost its stinger. And just as Lorik guessed, it attacked first, reaching for him with its long arms and razor-sharp fingers. Lorik leaned toward the beast and then spun around, letting his momentum give his sword the force it needed. He felt the steel slash through flesh and then bone. He was a jarred as the blade shattered the bone and then it severed the beast’s left arm completely, just below the shoulder. The Leffer roared and veered away, but Lorik had his back turned to that beast and was now facing the creature with the gash in its forehead.

  It too had come in almost sideways, trying to use its body to box him in, but unlike its companion, this Leffer’s tail was a deadly menace, striking down in a flash that was almost too quick to see. It would have stabbed through Lorik’s chest, but the warrior dove forward, landing on the Leffer’s back. The added weight made the flying horse’s hooves touch ground and it instinctively reared. Lorik wasted no time. He had slid across the smooth hide of the creature’s back on his stomach to avoid the tail, but in a flash he threw one leg over so that he straddled the creature. When it reared, he started to topple back, but his legs caught on the wings. The great, scorpion tail rose up, preparing to knock Lorik from its back, but the warrior stabbed his sword over his head and impaled the creature’s tail.

  With a quick twist, he freed the sword with the long handle from its twin, which was stuck fast in the insect-like tail. Then a mighty slash sent the Leffer’s head flying from its shoulders. Like a chicken, the Leffer bolted, its body rushing forward across the field. Lorik was forced to leap off the creature’s back before it collapsed on top of him.

  The one armed Leffer was dying, blood was spurting from two gapping wounds, but it closed on Lorik just the same. The giant warrior was rising to his feet when the beast lunged out with a thick hoof. The kick would have incapacitated a normal man, but Lorik had been changed by the magic of the forest elves in the Wilderlands. His body was bigger and stronger that it had been before his epic climb up the towering king tree. The Drery Dru had restored his body when it was devastated by his fall after finding the Swords of Acromin, the very weapons he now wielded. The powerful forest elves had given him a great, magical strength.

  The kick glanced off his shoulder and pushed Lorik back several paces. The blow caused him to grunt in pain, but it left no lasting damage. The Leffer turned, its face once twisted with rage and then pain, was now frozen in shock. It hadn’t expected to find the human still on its feet, must less charging for a counter attack.

  Lorik bellowed a savage war cry as he ran, pointing his fabled sword straight at the wounded Leffer, who was too surprised to move. Lorik had expected the sword to stab into the Leffer’s abdomen, right where the horse-like shoulders morphed into the chest of a man. But just before his sword touched the creature, he felt a thrill run through the blade and up his arms. It was almost like the shock of touching one of the lightning eels from Lorik’s home in the Marshlands. When the blade touched the creature’s flesh, a magical power burst forth and the Leffer was torn apart by it. There was a crack, like a small thunderclap, and then the Leffer exploded. Blood and gore was all that remained. It fell back, away from Lorik, before raining down on the trampled field.

  Lorik stood looking at what had happened, just as shocked as Stone, who was now covered in black Leffer blood and bits of horsehide. He wiped his face slowly and then said in a serious voice, “Was that really necessary?”

  “I don’t know how I did it,” Lorik explained.

  “I managed to kill both of my enemies without making a huge mess.”

  “You’re just jealous,” Lorik said.

  “Oh, sure, I’m jealous. At least I don’t have to use magic to fight my battles.”

  Then they both burst out laughing.

  “You look ridiculous,” Lorik said.

  “I may be cover in nastiness,” Stone explained, “but you should have seen the look on your face.”

  “I don’t know how I did it,” Lorik repeated in a voice full of awe.

  “You said that already.”

  “It just happened.”

  “Remind me not to make you angry.”

  “Let’s go find the others,” Lorik suggested, looking down at his sword.

  “That was pretty amazing,” Stone replied, walking beside his friend.

  “I have to figure out what I did.”

  Chapter 2

  The volunteers had seen the battle. They cheered as Lorik approached them. Most of the volunteers were farmers or apprentices who had been forced to flee their home during the Norsik raids. Lorik and Stone had trained them to fight together, but to always strike and run in hopes of preserving their numbers. They were in awe of Lorik; his ability with the sword was unmatched in Ortis. Even Stone, a trained killer, knew that Lorik’s fighting skills were in a different class now that he had been changed by the Drery Dru.

  “All hail the conquering heroes!” one of the men shouted.

  The others joined in, but Lorik ignored their praise. He could see the refugees behind his line of mounted volunteers. Some looked hopeful, others fearful. He didn’t want to frighten them, but he knew they needed a healthy dose of fear.

  “We have to keep these people moving,” Lorik said. “I want four of you to help them. Do I have any volunteers?”

  None of the men made a sound. Lorik was appreciative of their loyalty, but he knew that fighting wasn’t as glamorous as they believed. Most of them hadn’t yet fought in a desperate struggle, or seen their friends die. The group of Leffers they had just fought was their biggest challenge to date, and while they fought well, they hadn’t really engaged the enemy.

  He called out four names, watching as those men’s faces fell, but each one obeyed without complaint. He called them to him and gave them specific instructions. They were to keep the refugees moving north until they reached the camp that was being assembled along the coast of the Northern Sea near the Wilderlands. There were thousands of displaced people there now, preparing for the army of mutated fighters the wizard Zollin had warned Lorik was coming. If the wizard was right, then they were in for a difficult fight and there was no avoiding it.

  “The rest of you lot walk your horses and retrieve your spears,” Lorik ordered.

  The men dismounted and obeyed. Stone waved to Vera, who was driving a heavy looking wagon that was filled with weapons, medical supplies, and food. Lorik had taught her to control the team of horses; they weren’t a matched pair and the beasts could be unruly. She was improving with each day, and the horses—both were plow animals taken into se
rvice when their owners fled north—were growing accustomed to her instructions. They plodded toward Stone and Lorik now, carrying the supplies for the small band of volunteers. They had traveled far enough south that they were able to restock their food and other supplies from the local farms and villages they passed. The Norsik had raided deep into Ortis, but Lorik’s band of fighters were nearing Ort City, which was the capital of Ortis, and while they met many refugees fleeing the Leffers, they were still able to find food more easily than before.

  “It looks like these damn monsters are becoming more and more abundant,” Stone said.

  “That’s the largest group we’ve faced,” Lorik agreed, as Vera arrived with the wagon.

  “What happened?” Vera asked.

  “We don’t know,” Stone replied. “Lorik cast a spell or something.”

  “So you’re a wizard now too?” she asked, her voice serious, but her face revealing her mirth.

  “Don’t start,” Lorik said.

  “I can’t even ask questions now?”

  “You aren’t asking questions, you’re stirring the pot.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Vera said.

  “You’re spending too much time with this fool,” he said, pointing at Stone.

  “Hey, that’s not nice,” Stone complained.

  “How did you do it?” Vera asked, serious for the first time.

  “I don’t know,” Lorik admitted. “I was fighting. The damn creature kicked me in the shoulder and almost knocked me down. Then I charged forward, but just before my sword struck I felt a shiver, or a tickle. Not enough to hurt, just enough to notice it.”

  “A tickle?” Vera asked.

  “I don’t know how to describe it. I felt something.”

  “And then what?”

  “And then as soon as my sword touched the monster it...” he was lost for words.

  “It exploded,” Stone said, “all over me.”