Three Slices Read Online Free Page A
Author: Chuck Wendig, Kevin Hearne, Delilah S. Dawson
Tags: General Fiction
wolfhound. I didn’t feel comfortable leaving Fragarach behind when there might be a vampiric thrall about, so I took it into my mouth and told Oberon I’d flush one to him and he’d have to do the actual killing.
I reminded him that this was going to be quite different from hunting a single deer or a small herd like we usually did, my mental voice slightly altered by my shift to a hound. I said,
my hound said.
We sprinted away together through the tall grass, gray ridges of fur slicing across the top of the growth toward our prey.
I’m reevaluating my weapons after that battle in Tír na nÓg against Fand and the Fae. At one point, I had grabbed an axe embedded in Atticus’s arm and tossed it at a goblin. It took him out instantly—no twitching, no last desperate swing at me—he was simply done. It’s gotten me thinking. Had I thrown an axe instead of a knife at Fand, we might have ended the whole battle before it truly started. But there had been good reasons, during my training, to stick with knives instead of heavier weapons. I could carry and throw far more of them than I could axes, and I also turned out to have good aim and simply preferred them. Atticus had me train with axes somewhat—he had me try almost everything at least once—but I set them aside in favor of knives because knives would allow me to draw, throw, and return quickly to a two-handed grip on my staff. I truly relished the smash-’n-poke action of Scáthmhaide, and I had thought that committing to anything larger than a knife would mean I had to forgo many of its advantages.
But now I’m thinking differently: Why can’t I keep the knives and simply add an axe? For those times when you absolutely, positively have to bring a mofo down from a distance without a firearm, an axe designed in the tomahawk style—that is, a single-bladed hand axe ideal for throwing—would serve me much better than a knife, especially against armor; the force I could bring to bear behind an axe head was much greater than a knife’s point.
Firearms would work too, of course, but I like being able walk around in public with my staff and have people think I’m a harmless if quirky personality instead of a potential mass murderer. Adding an axe wouldn’t be that strange; I live in the forest above Ouray and a hand axe would be endlessly useful. Everybody would think, “That’s for firewood” and not “That’s for skulls.”
Atticus is trying to track down Werner Drasche, and once he does, I think we’re going to have a double-XL ruckus. He’s been financing a shadow war against the vampires using mercenary yewmen, and the vampires sent their toady to hit one of his friends in retaliation. Neither side will back down now and the argument will be settled, as so many arguments have, through violence. So, since it’s just me and Orlaith at the cabin now, it would behoove me to use the time to up my game.
I’ve collected several different models of “hawks,” as enthusiasts like to call them these days, to experiment and see which kind would suit me best. Some have longer handles than others and different heads on them, and this of course makes their weight and balance vary from axe to axe. My concern is not weight so much as whether they fly true and rotate well after release. The axe must rotate at least once midflight before striking, and judging the distance required for that to happen is often the key to making a lethal throw. Longer throws with multiple revolutions are too
I reminded him that this was going to be quite different from hunting a single deer or a small herd like we usually did, my mental voice slightly altered by my shift to a hound.
We sprinted away together through the tall grass, gray ridges of fur slicing across the top of the growth toward our prey.
I’m reevaluating my weapons after that battle in Tír na nÓg against Fand and the Fae. At one point, I had grabbed an axe embedded in Atticus’s arm and tossed it at a goblin. It took him out instantly—no twitching, no last desperate swing at me—he was simply done. It’s gotten me thinking. Had I thrown an axe instead of a knife at Fand, we might have ended the whole battle before it truly started. But there had been good reasons, during my training, to stick with knives instead of heavier weapons. I could carry and throw far more of them than I could axes, and I also turned out to have good aim and simply preferred them. Atticus had me train with axes somewhat—he had me try almost everything at least once—but I set them aside in favor of knives because knives would allow me to draw, throw, and return quickly to a two-handed grip on my staff. I truly relished the smash-’n-poke action of Scáthmhaide, and I had thought that committing to anything larger than a knife would mean I had to forgo many of its advantages.
But now I’m thinking differently: Why can’t I keep the knives and simply add an axe? For those times when you absolutely, positively have to bring a mofo down from a distance without a firearm, an axe designed in the tomahawk style—that is, a single-bladed hand axe ideal for throwing—would serve me much better than a knife, especially against armor; the force I could bring to bear behind an axe head was much greater than a knife’s point.
Firearms would work too, of course, but I like being able walk around in public with my staff and have people think I’m a harmless if quirky personality instead of a potential mass murderer. Adding an axe wouldn’t be that strange; I live in the forest above Ouray and a hand axe would be endlessly useful. Everybody would think, “That’s for firewood” and not “That’s for skulls.”
Atticus is trying to track down Werner Drasche, and once he does, I think we’re going to have a double-XL ruckus. He’s been financing a shadow war against the vampires using mercenary yewmen, and the vampires sent their toady to hit one of his friends in retaliation. Neither side will back down now and the argument will be settled, as so many arguments have, through violence. So, since it’s just me and Orlaith at the cabin now, it would behoove me to use the time to up my game.
I’ve collected several different models of “hawks,” as enthusiasts like to call them these days, to experiment and see which kind would suit me best. Some have longer handles than others and different heads on them, and this of course makes their weight and balance vary from axe to axe. My concern is not weight so much as whether they fly true and rotate well after release. The axe must rotate at least once midflight before striking, and judging the distance required for that to happen is often the key to making a lethal throw. Longer throws with multiple revolutions are too
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