Wrath Of The Medusa (Book 2) Read Online Free Page B

“can you see me?” She stood up slowly still wary, the knife held in front of her. He saw her head turn slightly side to side as she began to discern his outline from the darker background of the night
    He hesitated for a moment before plunging into honest disclosure.  “Yes, I can see you. I cast a spell to help me see things by their body heat.  I needed to follow you, to make sure you didn’t get hurt or attacked by animals out here.”
    She looked around, quickly before turning her attention back to him. “And are there? Are there any animals out here?”
    “No,” Thom assured her.  “None at all.”
    After another quick scan of the impenetrable blackness her bright face turned once more on him.  “Why not?”
    “What?” he was puzzled both by her question and also the indistinct doubt that had formed in his own mind as he reassured her of the absence of any creatures.
    “Why not? Why aren’t there any animals?  Where are they?”
    “er… I don’t know.”
    “Can you cast a light spell, a spell so anyone can see?”  She was moving forwards, turning as she went so that for the last few yards she was backing towards him.  “A light spell, now!”
    ”Of course.”  The simplest of spells, a dextrous flick of his fingers and a pool of light spread out from his hands illuminating a c ircle full thirty feet across. There was a moment of blurry blindness as his eyes switched back from sensing heat to seeing light.  Then all became as clear as daylight.
    “Oh crap!” he said.
    There were five of them, shuffling into the circle of light. By their clothing simple folk, simple and dead.  The homespun tunics were stained with blood which had streamed from torn throats and through multiple rents.  Lacerated skin hung loosely from their faces. White molars glinted through a gaping second mouth bitten out of one creature’s cheek. An eyeball, hanging loose from its socket, bounced against a half-eaten nose with each jolting step.  Arms reached out towards the wizard and the girl.  Some lacked the full complement of fingers, or even had entire hands missing, but this did not diminish the dread they inspired clawing coldly at Thom’s throat. 
    “We need to run!”  He grabbed Hepdida’s hand and pulled her after him as he spun away from the stumbling zombies.  “Oh crap!”  Another half dozen were staggering into the circle of light from the other side.
    The servant girl drew in a sharp breath and then waved her little knife at the approaching undead.  There was a fierce intensity to her gaze, but it could not hide the tremor in her hand.  “Can’t you cast a spell, an illusion. Make it so they can’t see us.”
    “They don’t see us,” he gasped fumbling in his robes for a weapon he knew would not be there.  “They smell us, and they have no minds to deceive with a spell.”  Instinctively they had stood back to back, watching in dismay as more walking corpses emerged from the night.
    “But you used to shepherd these things didn’t you.  Can’t you do it again, make them go away.”
    Thom shook his head with a sob.  “I was never any good at it and it takes time to reach into them, to make a link. I can’t do it, not this quickly with this many.”
    They spun around, surveying the ring of encirclement searching for a gap and finding none.  “So how do I kill them then?” Hepdida demanded grimly.
    “You can’t, they’re already dead.  You have to destroy them, obliterate them.  Even if you hack them to pieces the bits can still move and claw and bite.”
    The nearest hands were mere feet away as Hepdida asserted, “I’ll just have to dice the lot of them then.”
    Thom, concentrating hard, made no response to her cracked bravado. The zombie facing him, hesitated in its halting stride sniffing at the air, before lurching to its right into the path of one of its fellows.  A glimmer of an opening appeared and Thom grabbed Hepdida’s hand.  “This way, run.” 
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