Vaguely Kagonos remembered that battle still raged. He blinked and looked around, thankful that several warriors had held a pair of nearby ogres at bay during his brief moment of grief. Now the Pathfinder sprang to his feet, axe held high.
As if they sensed his grim purpose, the two ogres stepped backward, but too slowly. Kagonos leapt like a striking snake, his slender axe head lashing out to cut the throat of one ogre while the other was borne to ground by two leaping Elderwild, eager to avenge the death of their Pathfinder's brother.
The Bluestone-it must be here!" shouted Kagonos, staring across the battle-scarred hilltop, trying again to divine a hiding place. The mound of boulders still seemed the most likely location, though the monsters made no particular attempt to defend that locale-at least, no greater effort than they made everywhere else. Yet Kagonos had to believe that the rocks mounded into a flat-topped cairn concealed the hiding place of the Bluestone.
Howls of wounded ogres mingled with the shrieks of attacking Elderwild. Those elves who suffered hurt, conversely, bore injury in stoic silence-indeed, many wounded elves limped in the rear of the attack, ruthlessly finishing off any ogre stragglers that had survived the first rush.
"Follow me!" Kagonos rushed forward, amid the chaos of the shattered camp. Many ogres-and nearly as many elves-lay bleeding and motionless across the expanse of rocks and snow. A band of the monsters still stood clustered at the north wall, though now it seemed as though the ogres sought to flee, no longer interested in defending their mountaintop retreat.
The potent gemstone was large, the elven Pathfinder knew, but it could possibly be concealed in an ogre belt- pouch or satchel. "None may escape!" cried Kagonos. "Surround them-cut them all down!"
Whooping in fury, the elves closed in. Ogres trampled each other in their haste to escape, darting this way and that in a futile effort to avoid the stone and metal weapons of the Elderwild warriors.
Kagonos reached the large cairn and quickly scrambled to the top. There, among the piled rocks, he saw the outlines of a shadowy niche. He began to kick stones free, sending the boulders tumbling down the pyramidal sides of the rock pile. A quick look across the hilltop showed him that Kyrill's band still massed at the wall, blocking the ogres who so desperately tried to flee.
Then rocks shifted beneath his feet, and Kagonos tumbled backward as a huge, yellow-tusked ogre burst upward from a suddenly revealed cave mouth. Spittle flew from the monster's roaring jowls, and in its burly paw it clutched a huge, hook-bladed sword. The weapon flashed, and a lightning blow whistled toward the Pathfinder's head.
Chapter 4
Kagonos jumped back, feeling tbe swish of air as the mighty weapon slashed past his torso. The blade clanged against a rock, bouncing back in a lightning-fast parry-even before the wild elf could raise his axe for an attack. The huge ogre lunged forward to block the cave entrance, and the Elderwild had no choice but to fall back another step, though his eyes probed beyond the brute's shoulder, looking for some telltale gleam of blue. For now Kagonos saw only blackness, though he got an impression of shadowy aicoves and twisting passages. Certainly there was more to this shelter than first met his eye-but he wouldn't be able to explore it unless he disposed of the menacing jgre.
The monster roared, fetid breath washing over the elf as Kagonos ducked into a fighting crouch. His axe, normally such a potent and deadly weapon, seemed a frail counter to the ogre's crushing blade-one solid parry, he knew, and the wooden haft would splinter like kindling.
The ogre's face twisted into a mask of hatred, bloodshot eyes glittering wickedly as it sensed the elf's weakness. The brute took another step forward, pushing rocks out of the way with its shoulders as it forced its way through the narrow cave mouth. A grotesque tongue licked across the ogre's sagging lips, while its twin, yellowed tusks gleamed with drool.
Kagonos retreated again, forced backward by a slashing blow. The monster sensed an advantage and lunged outward, shaking dust from its shoulders and roaring in fury and anticipated triumph. The sword slashed again, and the Pathfinder used his axe in a parry-fortunately the steel head deflected the great bronzed blade, the shaft holding firm.
This time the ogre overreached and the elf hacked a return stroke, carving a bloody gouge in the monster's shoulder. Howling furiously, the beast whipped around with a savage backswing. Kagonos ducked, knowing that the blow had enough force to hack his head from his shoulders. Springing upright again the elf chopped with the spiked reverse side of his axe head, driving the sharp steel tip into the ogre's knee and drawing a shrill bellow of pain and outrage.
Shaking free of the enclosing boulders, the ogre climbed out of the narrow cave entrance, stabbing its sword at the dodging, dancing elf. Kagonos chopped, bashing away the thrusts of the off-balance ogre, while the beast limped on the weakened knee, fury undiminished.
Once on the open ground of the hilltop, the ogre stood tall, seizing the hilt of the sword in both its mighty hands. Kagonos realized with a jolt of surprise that he had never seen such a huge specimen of the brutal warriors-the monster loomed half again as high as the elf, and the
Eiderwild's arms could not have come close to encircling the girth of the mighty beast's muscular shoulders.
The ogre, too, seemed to sense its immense physical advantage. The thick lips curled upward in a cruel sneer, while the yellow tusks gleamed-as if anticipating the taste of its victim's blood. With a grunting curse, the brute raised the sword over its head, bringing the weapon down in a crashing blow.
Feinting to the right and then rolling left, Kagonos saw a boulder crushed to gravel as the monstrous blade smashed into the ground to the elf's side. Bouncing to his reet, the Pathfinder slashed at the ogre's unprotected rlank. The monster spun with surprising agility, however, and Kagonos tumbled backward, barely avoiding a wicked sideways slash as he landed heavily on the rocks.
The ogre lunged closer as Kagonos frantically rolled to the side again, then reversed his evasion as the monster once more chopped savagely in the direction of the elf's feint. The diversion gave him enough time to leap to his feet, though the wild elf was again forced to dance sideways to avoid the brute's pressing attack.
For a moment, the two combatants circled each other. Countless savage melees raged around the hilltop as individual ogres and elves remained locked in mortal combat, while the cries of wounded ogres and the clash of steel against bronze rang through the air. Kagonos knew that none of his tribesmen could come to his aid. The ogre sensed this and lunged eagerly after the light-footed elf.
Kagonos feinted left, this time following with a tip of his head to the right and then a full-fledged dive back to the left. The ogre was shrewd enough to anticipate the first fake, committing all of its force to a crushing blow against the rocks where it expected the elf to go.
The warrior's evasion was so successful that Kagonos bounced to his feet behind the monster's right shoulder. Sensing disaster, the ogre tried to spin, but it was no match for the wild elf's speed. Kagonos hacked with the blade of his axe, chopping into the monster's neck. With groan, it stumbled to one knee, struggling to rise as blood spilled down its chest in a growing apron of gore.
The Pathfinder chopped again, reversing his weapon to drive the spike of his axe head into the base of the ogre's skull. The monster stiffened soundlessly, twisting away from the blow to sprawl, dead, on the rocks of the hilltop.
Kagonos didn't waste time looking around the perimeter, where he could hear that numerous individual battles still raged. Instead he all but dove through the mouth of the unconcealed cave, tripping on the loose rock in the entryway and then crouching in sudden caution. He realized belatedly that, had a second ogre been hiding in the shadowy interior, the sun-blinded elf would have been an easy kill.