The warlord barely had time to draw his swords before the wild man was on him. As it was, Kheda’s backward step betrayed him as he tripped on some stony ridge. The wild man swung a stone-studded club at his head and Kheda barely drove the blow aside before he fell heavily.
‘Here, you bastard, eat this!’ Dev threw a blazing handful of fire at the savage. The flame flared scarlet and scorched through the air like an arrow. It didn’t reach the painted wild man, however, veering wildly awry to arc back across the cave and disappear into the shimmering light surrounding the ruby egg instead.
‘Piss on that!’
As Dev cursed behind him, Kheda tried to scramble to his feet, but the savage swung his club again, knocking the warlord’s leading sword out of his hand and numbing his fingers. The blade went skittering away to be lost in shadow.
‘What are you, some wizard? Then come and fight a real mage!’ Dev’s belligerent shouts didn’t distract the savage, intent on aiming another crushing swing at Kheda’s head. The mage’s hurled dagger had more success, slicing through the air to strike the wild man a glancing blow on one painted shoulder. The invader glared at the wizard, bellowing some incomprehensible challenge that echoed around the uneven walls.
Kheda seized the opportunity to regain his footing, drawing his dagger from his belt as he did so, wincing as his hand ached viciously.
Not as good as two swords but better than one empty hand. I’d rather have the sword in my leading hand, with the dagger us backup. Armour mould be better yet but at least I have blades and this invader is still naked. Let’s see how he bleeds.
He feinted at the wild man, who dodged backwards with another swing of his stone-studded club in an attempt to knock Kheda’s weapon aside. He was dressed like every other savage the warlord had seen, in a worn leather loincloth. His bare legs and body were painted with red-ochre flames, the designs clear against his dark skin in the bright golden light filling the cave. More russet mud caked his bristly black hair
Kheda moved carefully from side to side and watched the wild man’s black eyes track his every move with feral intelligence. ‘Dev, is this some savage wizard?’ he asked conversationally. ‘Can you tell if he has anyone backing him up?’
Not that I can see,’ answered the wizard with vicious satisfaction. ‘And he’s no mage. He must just be in thrall to the dragon or serving it somehow.’
‘We’ll have to kill him to get to that egg.’ Kheda surprised the savage with a rapid thrust. The wild man recoiled before recovering an instant later to threaten Kheda with a crunching blow to his leading leg. Kheda evaded the strike with a sideways step, his shadow sprawling across a ridged wall of flowing stone. The wild man would have sidestepped with him but the barrier foiled him. Kheda dodged the other way and as he passed in front of the wild man, his shadow darkened his enemy’s face for an instant. A roar from outside made the whole cave tremble, stones tumbling down the scree in panic. The very air seemed to pulse with the sound. Crimson fire erupted behind Kheda and the brilliance filling the cave flared once more. Wild man and warlord alike flinched away from each other as their eyes closed irresistibly under the blinding assault.
‘I can’t reach him with any spells,’ spat Dev furiously.
‘The ruby devours all the magic’
‘Don’t try,’ Kheda snapped as he blinked through tears of pain. ‘Get between him and the light instead.’ What?’
The wild man attacked before Kheda could explain, swinging his brutal club in a frenzy. Kheda ducked and dodged and slashed with his sword, leaving the savage’s arms bleeding from an array of deep cuts. The wounds didn’t seem to slow the wild man. He kept on coming, pressing Kheda ever harder as every new bellow of fury from outside seemed to goad him on.
‘Dev! Smash that gem!’ The warlord hacked at his foe with a flurry of strokes born more of fearful rage than swordsmanship. His dagger hovered ready, waiting for any chance to launch a fatal thrust. The savage landed a crushing blow on Kheda’s shoulder, the warlord barely managing to turn to lessen the impact. His whole ann went numb for a moment and the sword almost slipped from his nerveless fingers. The savage stepped forward, raising his club above his shoulder to bring it smashing down on Kheda’s unprotected head.
‘Hey! You with the shit in your hair!’ One of Dev’s swords came spinning through the air to slap against the wild man’s chest. The flat of the blade didn’t even break the skin and the blow barely gave him pause before the sword clattered to the floor. The savage switched his gaze from Kheda to Dev for an instant, lip curled in a sneer.
As he did so, the mage dodged to one side, letting the full glare of the ruby egg’s magical fire fall on the wild man’s face. He flinched and blinked and Kheda thrust his dagger deep into his naked midriff. The wild man fell against him, dropping his club to fasten his strong hands around Kheda’s neck. They fell backwards, locked in a deadly embrace. Kheda landed hard on the ridged floor, back and ribs agonisingly bruised. He fought with the dagger still embedded in the wild man’s entrails, struggling to rip the blade sideways for a killing stroke. The savage’s fingers tightened around his throat and Kheda forced his jaw down into his chest, hunching his shoulders, fighting to save himself from strangulation. As it was, he was being rapidly throttled, the breath crushed in his windpipe.
With a last effort as his vision blunted, Kheda threw the savage away with a twist of his hips. An insignificant gap opened between them and he managed to tear the dagger blade across the wild man’s belly. Blood and entrails flowed out of the gash to smother his hands. The savage collapsed across him with an incoherent gasp, rank breath foul in his face.
Kheda struggled uselessly for a moment, throwing his head from side to side to get free of the dead man’s clinging fingers. Dev!’ he yelled hoarsely.
The wizard neither answered nor came to his aid. Kheda drew a deep breath and heaved the wild man’s corpse off himself. Wincing at his bruises, he staggered to his feet, breathless, looking as if he had been the one disembowelled with the blood and foulness on his midriff. The cavern reverberated at another deafening roar from outside.
‘Best keep clear,’ Dev called over his shoulder as the final echoes of fury ran away to be lost in the labyrinth of stone.
The mage scuffed his bare feet through the drifts of gemstones, brushing them aside as he approached the brilliant ruby egg. He would have been hard pressed to encircle it with his arms. The golden flame burned in its scarlet heart, white hot at its incandescent centre. Kheda hesitated and stayed where he was. This is wizard’s work, so leave him to it. What could you possibly do to help anyway?
Dev rubbed a hand thoughtfully over his bald head, beams of sweat glistening like the diamonds scorned beneath his feet. Slowly he drew his remaining sword and extended his arm back and sideways. With sudden violence, he brought the blade up and around in a flashing arc to smash down into the top of the egg. The steel exploded into a shower of burning splinters that ripped through the air to bury themselves in the stone walls all around.
Kheda had ducked away as soon as Dev launched the strike. Hiding his face in his forearms, he winced at the sting of a handful of vicious slivers biting deep into his back and shoulder. He looked up cautiously. ‘Dev?’
The wizard was staring over towards the black hole that had been their way into the cave. His tunic was bloody, torn in countless places. Sparks of steel shone in the wounds to his hands and face. He didn’t seem to notice.
‘This really could all go horribly wrong,’ he remarked conversationally. Looking back at the egg, slowly, painfully, he knelt beside it and rested his cheek gently against its shining shell. His dark eyes glowed with reflected red fire and his mouth curved in a slow smile of ecstasy. He laid one hand palm down against the curved surface of the egg and, turning the other over, he cupped his palm and summoned a frail scarlet flame.