Servant of the Serpent (Serpent's War Book 1) Read online

  Allie jerked her head up when she heard a hiss followed by a grunt and an oath that would have made her grandpa blush. The man outside the cell moved and swung his spear, fighting something just beyond the doorway.

  “Go,” Corian urged his sister.

  Allie flashed Jilly a smile and rushed ahead of her to follow her dad out into the hallway. Corian fit an arrow to his bow and followed last, acting as rear guard. Allie didn’t think a bow made for a good weapon in the dungeon, but his other choice was a dagger. Neither seemed like a good idea for fighting men armed with swords and spears.

  The large man slammed a splisskin he’d skewered on his spear into the wall beside him, cracking his spear bad enough it folded almost in half. He let go of it and scooped up a dropped spear, and then stood tall as a mountain in the dungeon and turned back to them. “The boat?”

  “Aye,” Gildor said. “Let’s go.”

  “Going to be busy—there’s no other way back.”

  “Then we make a way,” Gildor said.

  “Dad,” Allie whispered. “Who is that?”

  “Gor.”

  The man turned back and grunted. Allie’s eyes widened at the bearded behemoth but she smiled and waved. Gor frowned and then his lips split in a grin of his own. “Hi.”

  “Gor! The boat,” Gildor reminded him.

  Gor grunted and turned around. He led the way down the hall the same way they’d come, jogging and then slowing as more splisskin appeared at the door at the end. His momentum only let up for a moment. He lowered his spear and his head and charged. The splisskin tried to stand their ground but Gor threw his spear with a few feet still between them, lodging it deep in one of the splisskin’s chest.

  The stricken snake man fell back, foiling the other splisskin guarding the doorway. Gor was there before he could recover, driving his fist into the side of the splisskin’s head and dropping him like a stone to the floor. He kept going, crashing into several more splisskin and scattering them with his flailing arms and legs.

  Gildor hurried after the man, limping as he ran down the tunnel. Allie frowned and tried to keep up with her dad. Her excitement made her forget about her own aches but the flight down the dungeon corridor reminded her and left her gasping and staggering behind him. By the time she made the doorway, she found the splisskin dead or dying. Gor picked up a fresh spear, oblivious of the numerous scratches and cuts on his arms and legs.

  “Dad?” Allie asked when she saw her father leaning against the wall and holding his thigh where fresh blood darkened his leathers.

  “Just a poke,” Gildor said. “Not deep, but I’m trying to stop the bleeding.”

  “Here,” Jillystria said before she tore a strip from the bottom of her dress. “Sorry it’s not cleaner.”

  “Might be the purest thing I’ve ever had,” Gildor muttered as Allie took the cloth and tied it as tight as she dared around his thigh.

  “I hear more coming,” Gor growled.

  “Lead on,” Gildor said. “We’ll keep up.”

  Gor turned and studied the two doors out of the room. He spun back around and then nodded. Now that he was oriented right, he turned and went down the hall to his right. He ran ahead, slowing only when a splisskin tried to stab him with a sword from a passage on his left. Gor grabbed him by the throat and threw him down to the ground. He stepped on him as he ran forward, making the splisskin hiss in a way Allie had never heard. A part of her liked it.

  Gildor drove his sword into the trampled splisskin, ensuring it wouldn’t rise, and paused at the intersection. Allie slowed and saw more splisskin rushing towards them.

  “Go!” Gildor spat at her.

  “No, both of you go,” Corian said. He loosed an arrow and drove the first splisskin off his feet. He held his second arrow until the next splisskin reached the fallen one. He dropped it, adding to the pile.

  The other splisskin slid to a halt on the smooth stone floor and began to seek cover. Corian dropped another one with his deadly bow before he turned and saw the others watching.

  “I said go,” the elf hissed.

  “Nice shots,” Gildor offered.

  “Told you I was good,” Corian said.

  Gildor smirked and grabbed Allie’s hand. He rushed down the tunnel and slowed when he came to a branch in the hallway. A roar that could only be Gor came from the left tunnel. Allie pulled her hand from her dad’s and nodded for him to go on. He moved ahead and limped into a large open room with a double door at the far end. Gor was waiting near a doorway and swinging his spear back and forth at half a dozen splisskin that were trying to circle him and drive him back.

  “Behind me,” Gor shouted. “I went the wrong way.”

  Gildor scowled and pointed at the passage Gor was guarding. “Go, I’ll help Gor.”

  “Dad—”

  “Go, damn it!”

  Allie gulped and stumbled to the right while her dad went left. He fell on the splisskin from behind, distracting them and turning them away. Gor smashed a splisskin over the head with his spear, breaking another of his stolen weapons and driving the splisskin into the snake man beside him.

  Allie gripped her hilt as tight as she could, remembering the last time when she’d lost her sword. She jammed it into the fumbling splisskin’s back and kept pressing, driving him forward until his legs gave out. She staggered and barely kept her grip on the sword as he slid off the blade and hit the stone floor with a wet thud.

  Jilly grabbed her and pulled her into the passage. Corian followed, pausing to launch arrows into the splisskin that were rushing through the open double doors at the end of the hall.

  “Gildor!” Corian called. “We have to go.”

  Gildor spun away from a thrusting sword but his injured leg betrayed him. He fell to his knee and threw himself across the floor and rolled on his hip. A sword hit one of the chain patches on his arm and slid off, only to catch where it was sewn into the leather and cut through the leather and skin on his side.

  Gildor rolled again, kicking the splisskin’s legs out and then jammed his sword into the reptilian man before he rose up. Splisskin slowed as they approached, treating him with respect and surrounding him.

  “Dad!” Allie shouted. “Come on!”

  Corian fired into the splisskin, wounding or killing one with each arrow. Still they poured from the halls and doors into the room. Gor grabbed a spear from a splisskin and spun the weapon and the snake man wielding it in a circle so he could drive the point into another splisskin that made the mistake of cutting him with a glancing blow across his back.

  The splisskin hissed and tried to yank his spear free. Gor let go with one hand and drove it into the slits on the splisskin man’s face that he used to breathe through. The snake man fell back, stunned, and tripped on the bloody corpse of another snake man.

  Gor charged and battered two splisskin aside so he could clear a path to Gildor. Gildor cut his sword across the throat of a snake man he was grappling with and spun away from the dying splisskin. He looked at Gor and then passed him, where Corian was loosing arrow after arrow like a man possessed. Unlike the elf’s arrows, the splisskin seemed endless.

  “Get her safe, Gor,” Gildor growled. He glanced down and pulled the splisskin sword that had rammed into his stomach free. He gasped and staggered but caught himself. Gor swung his spear, driving back the splisskin that thought to finish the man.

  “I came here to die, not you,” Gor spat. “You go.”

  “I’m done,” Gildor said. “You get her out and keep her safe, damn it! Hate the saints all you want—if you let anything happen to her, I’ll haunt you to your last days.”

  “I—” Gor’s eyes widened as a spear sailed through the air.

  Gildor saw the look and spun. His arm leapt out and knocked the spear aside. He stood gasping and saw the splisskin shift as they appraised him with more respect. It was only a reprieve; more splisskin were rushing in and he could see the limbs of bows above the heads of the closer ones. His leg trembl
ed but obeyed in spite of the glistening red sheen that his pants resembled.

  “Fight with me,” Gildor said. “To the tunnel.”

  Gor grunted his assent and swung his spear, making three splisskin leap back. He followed them, accepting glancing blows and poking, crushing, and once even biting out the lives of the snake men. Blood ran from his arms and body but he moved on with the stamina of an oak. Gildor backed up behind him, protecting his flank and driving back any of the snake men foolish enough to come close.

  They neared the tunnel that Corian held open with the last of his arrows when a splisskin arrow pierced Gildor’s shoulder. He grunted and reached up to break off the shaft. Another sailed in over his shoulder, striking the stone wall behind them and shattering. The splisskin pressed in together, driving him back farther. He risked a glance back and saw Gor at the tunnel entrance, but paid for the distraction with a sword thrust that struck the chain on his chest. It didn’t penetrate but it left him breathless for a moment.

  Gor spun and saw that Gildor hadn’t been as close as he’d thought. “Gildor!” the man shouted. He started to wade back into the melee when he heard Allie behind him.

  “Dad! No! I’m coming!”

  “Allie! Gor, stop her!” Corian cried.

  Gor spun and caught her around the waist.

  “Run!” Gildor shouted. Splisskin filled the floor between them. “Get away! Live!”

  Allie struggled as the large man bore her down the hall. She heard more shouting behind her. Gildor’s final cries of defiance echoed in the halls and in her mind as she was forced to flee.

  Chapter 23

  “Take her!” Gor grunted while he held the struggling girl up.

  Harlon dodged a few swipes from Allie’s flailing sword in her hand and lunged in to grab her arm. He yanked her sword free and tossed it on the deck behind him. No longer concerned about getting poked, he grabbed her under the arms and hauled her over the railing.

  “Let. Me. Go!” Allie shouted. She kicked the railing and drove Harlon back. He stumbled on a rope and fell, cushioning Allie’s fall with his body. Stunned and out of breath, she scrambled away from him and leapt to grab her sword.

  “Allie, stop!” Jillystria cried when the young woman turned and started towards the railing.

  “I have to go,” Allie said. “My dad came for me. I can’t leave him!”

  The boat jerked under them, causing her to scream and reach for the railing. She caught it, but still lost her balance and fell to the deck. By the time she started to climb back up, the elf was there to hold her.

  “Here they come,” one of Harlon’s deckhands shouted.

  Harlon climbed to his feet and opened his mouth to shout. He stopped and peered over the stern. Gor was wading in the water and pushing the boat away from shore. An arrow sailed through the air and splashed into the water beside the bearded man, jerking Harlon’s eyes up to the splisskin running down the edge of the river towards them.

  “Oars!” Harlon shouted. “Get us out of here!”

  “Do you have any arrows?” Corian asked. “I’m out.”

  Before Harlon could respond, more arrows arrived. The captain cried out as an arrow slammed into the aft rail next to his hand. He jerked his hand back as another arrow hit the side of the boat. More struck the deck and sides.

  “There! Arrows! Shoot them back!” Harlon gestured at the growing shafts sprouting from his boat. “The rest of you get on the oars and get us out of here!”

  The oars were lying on the deck. He grabbed one and leaned over the side to thrust it into the water and start paddling. One of his deckhands copied his actions on the other side of the boat. The other deckhand leaned over the bow rail and thrust an oar into to try to help. He cried out a moment later as an arrow struck his thigh and pinned him to the boat.

  “Allie, we’ve got to help,” Jillystria said.

  “I have to go back,” Allie sobbed. “I—”

  “He’s gone, Allie,” the elf said in the softest voice she could muster. “He’s gone.”

  Allie shook her head and twisted away. Fingers closed over the stern rail of the deck and a moment later, a dripping boot with an arrow protruding from it cleared the rail. A leg and arm followed and then Gor rolled into the boat. He grunted and cried out as two more arrows that pierced his body snapped off.

  She watched the bearded man struggle to his feet and stagger over to grab an oar. He thrust it over the side and started to row, ignoring the broken shaft sticking out of his back near his left shoulder and the other one impaling his right forearm.

  The rain of arrows lessened as Corian fired the splisskin arrows back at them. Their arrows were shorter, lessening his draw on his bow and hindering his aim. In spite of his reduced accuracy, he soon ran out of arrows and had to wait for more as the splisskin took cover.

  “We’ve made it!” Harlon cried out as the opening in the cliffs grew larger ahead of them. He laughed and threw down his oar so he could rush to the bow and help his injured deckhand free. Harlon snapped off the arrow and yanked the young man’s leg free, earning a cry of pain.

  “Tie it off,” Harlon snapped while readying the bow sail. “You can whine about it later.”

  “Dad, I’m bleeding out!”

  “Captain,” Harlon snapped at the young man who had just identified himself as Harlon’s son. “And that’s why you put pressure on it. You won’t die yet—I won’t let you.”

  The boat drifted through the entrance to the cove and out into the open water. A strong breeze from the south washed over them and made the bow sail crack as wind filled it. The Lady Hornet shifted, pulling to the north and gaining speed.

  “Mainsail!” Harlon shouted. He danced across the deck to the stern where the untended rudder rattled in its lock. “Get it up and be quick about it!”

  Gor sagged away from the rail and tossed his oar on the deck. He reached down and yanked the arrow in his boot out, his breath hissing between his teeth as blood ran down his boot. He grabbed the bladed end of the arrow transfixing his arm and clenched his teeth as he pulled it through.

  He tried to reach the arrow on his back but he only managed to brush his fingers against it. Gor grunted after nudging it a few times and then slumped forward, exhausted from the effort. He sagged down and leaned against the side of the boat, blood dripping from his fingers and his many other wounds to puddle on the deck beneath him.

  Corian stepped up behind the large man and studied the bloody hole in his back. “I can take it out?”

  Gor grunted and nodded his head. Sweat and drool fell from his lips before he tried to slurp it back up and swallow.

  Corian placed a hand against the man’s back and gently wrapped his hand around the shaft. Gor stiffened but said nothing. Without warning, Corian yanked on the broken arrow and pulled it free, earning a spurt of blood that ran down Gor’s back and soaked into his shirt. The bearded giant groaned and grabbed his leg so he could squeeze it to try to distract himself.

  Corian put pressure against the wound, leaning against Gor’s back until the big man grunted. “I’ll live,” he said. Gor jerked his head to the side and saw Allie sitting on the deck and staring at him. “Uh, I’m sorry. About Gildor—your dad.”

  “Allie! Why didn’t you say something!” Jillystria cried out. She shifted around the young woman and reached for her hand. An arrow had pierced it and struck her palm fast to the deck.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Allie mumbled. “I don’t feel anything anymore.”

  “We’ve got to get that out,” Jillystria said. “Hang on, we’ll—”

  Allie reached over and ripped the arrow out of her hand and the deck. She tossed it to the side and picked her hand up to stare at it. Blood ran down her wrist and arm, soaking into her dirty shirt and then dripping onto the deck.

  Corian knelt down next to Allie and waited for her gaze to shift to his. “I owe you my life,” he said. “You, your grandfather, and your father. I’m sorry he’s gone. He was unlike
any human I’ve ever met. No—any man, human or elf. I don’t know that I can ever repay him or you, but tell me, and I will try.”

  “Take me back,” Allie said.

  “We can’t go back,” Corian said. He glanced at his sister and received a shake of her head.

  “Allisandra,” Jillystria said. “Listen to me, sweetie. You can come with me if you like. Live with me, in the forest. In Glennduril.”

  “Jilly—” Corian hissed.

  “I’m not your daughter,” Allie said. “My dad is Gildor.”

  The elf maid looked up at her brother and scowled. She shook her head and returned her gaze to Allie. “Allie, I know that. I never meant to be. I want to help you. I want to—”

  “Jilly, if we take a human back to Glennduril with us, we’ll be shunned. Officially, not just like it’s been for the past forty years.”

  Jillystria frowned and then sighed after considering her words. “You’re right. Our people are fools who are set in their foolish ways. Very well, I will come with you, if you’ll have me.”

  “What? You’d leave our home?”

  “What home? It was being burnt to the ground last I saw it,” Jillystria said. “Those people never treated me like kin. Not once I showed I valued a person’s character more than their race.”

  Corian took in a deep breath and let it out. He shook his head and sighed.

  Jillystria turned back to Allie. “Will you have me? Will you let me go with you? I’m a seamstress by trade, but I can do most anything we may need.”

  Allie glanced at her and looked away. “No,” she whispered. She shook her head. “No, nobody else gets hurt because of me.”

  “We won’t be hurt; we’ll be making a new life,” Jillystria urged.

  Allie met her gaze. “I’m not going to let them get away with this. My dad didn’t die just to save some stupid kid he found in a fire. It has to mean something. I’m going to make it mean something.”

  “Allie—”

  She rose up and looked at Gor. “He tricked you, didn’t he? Gor?”

  Gor’s glassy eyes sharpened when he heard his name. “What? Oh, tricked me. Yeah. He did. Told me we was going to get out together when I wouldn’t let him stay.”