Page 22 of Burn Bright
Leaping up onto a branch, I worked my way higher, trying to get a good vantage point. This thing wasbig.
"Spread out!" Casimir bellowed. "Make sure you've got room to move, and keep those axes in your hands. If you can hamstring it, aim forthat."
A pair of daggers flashed in his hands. Insane. I couldn't imagine trying to bring down something this big with only a pair of daggers, but as I watched, he twirled them, crouching low as if to spring. A wolf in man's clothing, with claws of puresteel.
The thorns tore apart as something exploded through them, towering almost ten feettall.
"What in the darkness is that?" someone yelled, diving out of the way as an enormous set of teeth crashed down where he'd beenstanding.
Horses screamed, taking off in a flurry. I could see men flying, tossed aside like ragdolls as the huge beast crashed into the clearing. One went beneath its hooves, and I caught a flash of his face, mouth agape in silentagony.
It all happened so fast. My first arrow went wide, glancing off one of the curling horns that swept away from its bear-likeface.
My mind was slowly connecting the dots; its enormous horns and the shaggy fur hanging from its hide, dripping with moss; those serrated teeth; and its clovenhooves.
"It's a volgur," I breathed, staring at one of the monsters fresh from my childhood stories. The heat drained from my face.SweetVashta!
"A what?" Casimir demanded, darting in with his knives, and vanishing beneathit.
"Avolgur!" I yelled, my head whipping around, trying to find some means to escape as the beast turned toward me. I leapt off the branch. "You know! They live in swamps or stagnant water, and they only eat meat. Preferably fresh, and preferablyscreaming."
"Protect the prince!" Casimir bellowed, rolling out from beneath the volgur, and barely escaping the infuriated stomp of itshoof.
Evaron was immediately surrounded by a half dozen of his guards, his wide blue eyes locking upon us across the clearing. The group was split in two, leaving us with Hussar and two others. It seemed like everybody wanted to be guarding the prince—and not dealing with thevolgur.
The monster reared up onto its hind legs, revealing bear-like paws on the front end. I scrambled into the bushes, hemmed in by a row of brambles. Nowhere to turn. Nowhere to run. I faced it helplessly, setting another arrow to mybow.
An enormous set of claws lashed out toward me as my arrow streamed toward it, and at the last second, a heavy shape hit me hard, driving me into theground.
It drove the breath from my lungs. I looked up into Casimir's face. An enormous tree branch crashed down behind us and his weight pushed me into the dirt. He looked up at the monster, the muscle in his throat cording, as I gaped at the branch that could have killedus.
"Move!" He dragged me to my feet, and it was as though I could thinkagain.
Screams echoed behind us as a pair of the king's huntsman drove forward with spears. The sharp steel-tips couldn't penetrate the volgur's enormous shaggy hide, and it swiped them out of the way. One crashed into a tree trunk with a steely splat and fell to the ground, where he didn'tmove.
"How do we killit?"
A strange light-headed feeling swept through me. "What?"
"How do we kill it?" Casimir repeatedgrimly.
"You don't!" I racked my brain. "It's impervious to iron or steel, and its hide is so thick you won't cut through it." What did the old stories say? "Grave dirt! If you throw grave dirt at it, the volgur willretreat!"
"Sadly lacking any grave dirt!" Casimirsnapped.
And spinning around on one foot, while hopping. No. That seemed ridiculous... I wasn't even going to mentionthat. "Fire can't burn it. There's too much water in its fur. It lives inwater."
Hence themoss.
The volgur turned, lashing out with its reptilian tail. I screamed and slid to my knees, the tail whining past my nose as I hit the dirt again and rolled underit.
A horn sounded, its base notes shivering through the clearing, before it started climbing higher. Hussar's face turned red as he blew out the note, drawing the volgur's attention to him and the pair of archers at his side. I distinctly remember asking for archers, and only seeing one hand rise, but here were twomore.
"Now!" Hussar roared, and steel-tipped arrows flashed as the archersloosed.
The volgur stumbled back, turning its bear-like face away from the arrows. One drove into its nose, and its eyes flashed red in fury and pain. Then it charged the archers, crushing throughthem.
"Come on, Neva! Give me something I can work with!" Casimir yelled, grabbing hold of my upperarm.
