The Ordained stepped toward Basilides with a smile on his face. "Sleep well, brother," he said and then swiped the knife at Basilides' chest. There was a snapping noise, like a dried branch breaking in half.
The Ordained stepped back, staring in disbelief at his shattered arm. Basilides waited for him to look back up before thrusting his fingers into the Ordained's throat. The Ordained collapsed, his windpipe crushed and his face turning blue.
It took a moment for the soldiers to fully comprehend what they had just witnessed. The man-at-arms closest to Basilides lunged at him, but Basilides merely turned his body sideways and the spear tip passed harmlessly past him. Basilides grabbed the stumbling soldier by the neck with one hand and pushed up with his thumb beneath the ear. The man collapsed to the ground, dead. The next two men met a similar fate. They charged in, he grabbed them by the hands and arms and they fell dead.
"That's enough!" Lord Ryndor yelled. "Surround him. Together."
Soldiers circled around Basilides, and yet he did nothing but stand there with his arms at his sides. A sound like thunder rose in the distance. "I believe you may have more pressing enemies than a lowly leech, my lord," Basilides said, nodding his head toward the northeast.
Lord Ryndor looked at him with a confused look, then followed Basilides' glance in the direction of the noise just as the first cry went up from the villagers that they were under attack. Ryndor's men shouted in alarm and rushed past Basilides to the outskirts of town with Lord Ryndor behind them, yelling out orders.
Basilides went to the squire, cut him down with thedagger from the slain Ordained, then cut loose the other men. They thanked him,took up what weapons they found lying about and watched as the Earl's cavalrymenploughed through the ranks of Lord Ryndor's troops, not as the Earl andChancellor Bennson had planned, but nonetheless, right on time. Once the horsesmade their first pass, the five of them joined the fray. Basilides stood asideand watched, ready to tend the injured when the fighting was done.
YOU ARE READING
On the Black Wind to Baldairn Motte
FantasyPlunged into a war of succession, Terryll Payce, captain of the Black Wind, and Lyrie, a whore from a high-end brothel, are forced into the service of the powerful Earl. Ensnared in a tangle of bargains and betrayal, Terryll and Lyrie fight for surv...
