The other two Treemen swung to either side of their maimed comrade. The archer nocked an arrow to his bow and sent it squarely into one Treeman's stomach at close range. The Treeman howled, charged, plucked the arrow out of himself with one hand, and snatched the bow from the archer with the other. The archer gave a wild, wordless cry and raised his club.
Against the Treeman the club was no more use than a toothpick. The Treeman grabbed it and the hand holding it, jerking the archer off his feet and holding him-at arm's length in midair. Then the Treeman started smashing his fist into the dangling man's face, throat, ribs, and stomach. The man screamed, spraying blood through smashed teeth, then choked and fell silent as his chest caved in.
That was all Blade was able to see before he had to meet the third Treeman's attack. He backed away, to give himself room and make sure the first Treeman wouldn't try grabbing him by the ankles. The Treeman followed, arms spread wide, hissing and rumbling in his throat, pale eyes and black-lipped mouth both wide open. The mouth was lined with broad but sharp-pointed yellow teeth.
The Treeman and Blade circled around each other twice, then suddenly the Treeman was coming at him. Blade leaped high and to one side, swinging his club as he did. The weighted head crashed down on the Treeman's left arm and Blade felt bone give under the blow. The Treeman roared and swung to clutch at Blade with his right hand, left arm now dangling useless. Blade feinted at the Treeman's head with his club, and saw the right hand shoot out to grab it. Blade pivoted on one foot, kicking at the Treeman's groin and karate-chopping at the right elbow simultaneously.
The chop missed, the kick connected. The Treeman howled and doubled up, but not before his right hand clutched Blade's left wrist. Nails as long and sharp as claws gouged Blade's flesh. He knew that within seconds he'd be pulled within range of those teeth and decided attack was the only defense. He sprang forward, his legs and the Treeman's pull sending him high in the air. As he rose, both legs shot out and both feet crashed into the Treeman's ribs. This time he went right over backward, and the shock as he landed broke his grip on Blade's left wrist. Blade went down, rolled, came up hoping his left hand was still there, and discovered it was.
The Treeman struggled to his feet, but after his pounding from Blade he could barely stand. He blinked at Blade as he picked up his club, blinked again as Blade swung, then closed his eyes for good as the club smashed in his skull. Blade watched his victim fall, then jumped back just as the Treeman he'd hit with a spear tried to bite him in the leg. He stared down, hardly believing the Treeman could still be alive, let alone able to fight. The Treeman slumped down, eyes half-closed and one bloody hand plucking at the spear in his thigh. Blade raised his club to put the Treeman out of his misery-then screams and shouts behind him made him turn again.
A Treeman was running out from among the huts, a naked woman under his arm and several men with spears and clubs at his heels. The arrows that stuck out from his back didn't even seem to be slowing him down. Blade saw that the men behind were about to catch up, started to step aside to give them fighting room, then saw that the Treeman's victim was Lokhra.
Blade's cry was as animal as a Treeman's. Instead of stepping aside he leaped at the Treeman, his two hundred pounds of bone and muscle smashing into him at full speed. Lokhra flew out of the Treeman's grip, landed with a thud, and had enough sense to keep rolling after she landed.
Now Blade had all the fighting room he needed. Vaguely he realized that he might be preventing the Fak'si from closing in with their spears, but he didn't care. He was in a berserker's fury, and that made him more than a match for any Treeman. The Treeman was a foot taller than Blade, at least as heavy, and probably both stronger and faster. He still didn't have Blade's unarmed-combat skills, or Blade's rage driving him.
Blade punched the Treeman in the mouth, knocking loose half a dozen teeth. The Treeman spread his arms wide, then clutched at Blade, trying to embrace and crush him. Blade ducked under the arms and punched the Treeman hard in the stomach, one-two-three-four. The Treeman doubled up, gasping for breath. Blade stepped aside, grabbed the Treeman by one arm, and pulled him within reach. His other hand came down like an ax on the back of the Treeman's neck. The Treeman pitched forward, writhed briefly, then lay still.
The Fak'si warriors crowded forward, some to congratulate Blade, others to jab the Treemen with their spears to make sure they were dead. Blade was hardly aware of any of this. His berserk rage didn't really start passing off until Lokhra came running up and threw her arms around him. Then he was able to pat her on the shoulder and smile down at her. She was pale and covered with dirt and bruises, but apparently not hurt.
«Well, Lokhra,» he said laughing. «You came to me after I saved your man. What happens now that I have saved you?»
Lokhra also laughed, then kissed him. «I am grateful, Blade, and you will find that out before long. But for now there is much else to do in the village.» She sighed. «There always is, after the Treemen have come.»
Chapter 7
Lokhra was right. It took a while to even measure the damage left by the Treemen, let alone repair what could be repaired.
The Treemen seemed to have come for blood, not destruction. They'd tried to kill every man and carry off every woman in their path. They hadn't wiped out half the village only because there hadn't been enough of them. Some people said there'd been Treemen perched in every tree around the village, but Swebon doubted there'd been more than twenty. Still eleven men were dead or dying and a dozen more hurt, some of them so badly they'd never be able to hunt or fight again. Four women were dead and seven more missing.
«Carried off by the Treemen, of course,» Swebon explained bitterly. «I only hope most of them die before they have to mate with Treemen and bear their children.»
So the Treemen and the Forest People were of the same race, in spite of their physical differences. «Why do the Treemen need to steal the women of the People?»
«Who knows?» said Swebon with a weary shrug. «They have done it as long as we and they have both lived in the Forest. Perhaps they have no women of their own. Perhaps their women bear few children, or few of the children live. No man has ever come close enough to the Treemen to find the answer and lived to bring it home.»
Against the death and destruction in the village, only six Treemen were dead. Half of them were Blade's victims. Killing three Treemen in one night wasn't quite as rare a feat as killing a rogue Horned One, but it was rare enough.
The Treemen were faster than any true human and more than twice as strong. They were also extremely tough. Arrows from Fak'si bows they shrugged off like pinpricks, and spears only killed quickly if they struck a vital spot. Clubs were almost useless against the Treemen's immense reach, and those long arms could also tear a shield apart as if it were made of paper.
So a fight between the Forest People and the Treemen was usually a bloody shambles, in which the People got the worst of it. They'd been able to live with the Treemen's raids only because the Treemen were rare. They seldom raided in bands of more than five or six, so the larger villages had always been safe.
«But things may be changing for the worse,» said Swebon. «This is the third time in the last year they have come twenty or thirty strong against a large village. They seem to be striking harder at us as the Sons of Hapanu also become more dangerous.»
Blade frowned. «Do you think the people from the city could be causing the Treemen to attack you? I do not know how they might do this, but-«