Page 107 of The Firebrand
When Tyr swung it a few times, testing its flow, Thorn laughed, speaking loud enough for all Firebrands to hear. “It looks like your dick.”
“It is like my dick.” Tyr grinned. “Big, curved, dangerous.”
Jezzi, Kat, and Van sprinted onto the field, taking position on the line while nodding at theirfrerons.
As Rein’s anticipation built, the mark of the Phoenix burned on his arm. He settled his pulse, his rapid heartbeat, suppressing the thrill that came before the battle. Reaching into his soul, he found the void, the quiet, the eye of the storm. Today he would live or die. Frankly, he didn’t give a shit which it was. The void was where the warrior lived, and it was all about control. Let the rage bubble up. Control it. Let his blood boil. Control it. Let his beast out. Control him. When a niggling thought of Braelyn surfaced, he squashed it. Thoughts of her did not belong on this field. In this place, he was pure Firebrand, a male who honored his duty.
He dropped the ward on his condo, unable to fight while maintaining the mage spell.I don’t want to, but I must.He would put it back up again soon. Brae would be safe.
Chay shouted, “For duty.” Ram answered, “For honor.” Cheers rang through the Firebrand ranks, followed by loudwhoops. Then they did what they did best. They awaited victory with steely resolve.
A fog of dust arose in the distance, rolling toward their defensive line. As the pounding of boots replaced the silence, the ground shook.
“Here they come.” Chay’s grin could melt steel, but ice radiated from his eyes as he shifted his weight from foot to foot like a tennis player waiting for the serve. He grasped the handle of his crossbow in his left hand. lifting it waist high.
Rein knew what to expect when the berserkers broke out of the fog. They would stream across, casting fear before them. The Firebrands trained regularly to shake off the intrusion into their minds, each horror personalized for its intended target. For Rein, it would be an image of his descent into the bludfrenzy, his fangs buried in a female’s neck, unable to stop until he killed her.
The Scion Firebrands continued to wait in frozen silence as the sound of pounding boots grew louder, the dust cloud drifting nearer.
In anticipation of battle, these bands of raiders would have gone through the Berserkergang Ceremony. Rein had seen this frenzied ritual up close fifty years ago when he had chased a berserker across the foggy swamps. The savage had kidnapped the daughter of two swagger demons.
Unable to help the victim, Rein watched the ceremony from the shadows. The berserkers drank blood laced withamanita muscaria, ate raw meat, and gang raped captive females, including the one he had come to rescue. The drugged liquid gave them superhuman strength, winding them into an uncontrollable frenzy. Once they lost all reason, they were prepped for battle. When the males retreated to their tents, Rein killed the girl’s kidnapper and brought her home, but he hadn’t saved her from hell.
The dust cloud from the stampeding enemy grew in mass, obliterating the sun. Still, warriors held their line with untroubled calm.
The ability to cast fear was not the only weapon the berserkers possessed. Their shields neutralized other breed powers. Rein didn’t mind. He basked in this kind of fight. He’d win with strength, speed, cunning.Mano a mano. The bloodier the better.
The Firebrands waited in eerie silence, their cold confidence a startling contrast to the berserker frenzy. At first, the barbarians appeared as blurry outlines in the dust. Then their more substantial figures hurtled through the fog. Clad in the pelts or heads of conquered skinned shifters, they charged, preceded by bloodcurdling yells and the deafening beat of weapons against shields.
Kole’s warriors stood unfazed, their composure speaking to their confidence in battle.
At just the right moment, Rein reached into his warrior’s soul where he grabbed his rage, his own beast. With ease, he dispelled his greatest fear—Braelyn dead at his feet, her blood drained by him. His lips pulled back. His fangs bared. In his fist, he clutched a long-bladed US Marine Raider stiletto.
Uttering a guttural roar when the berserkers came into view, Rein flashed behind a hulking savage, hooking an arm around his neck.
The berserker had about five inches on the Firebrand along with sixty pounds. His hair was a tangle of matted tufts and tight braids, his face covered with black tattoos. Though the barbarian grasped his shield in one hand and a flail in the other, he had no chance to use the weapons. Rein kicked his feet out from under him. When the wolf shifter’s pelt slipped from his shoulders, his neck lay bare. Tumbling his opponent to the ground, Rein sank fangs, drawing blood. After drinking freely, the Firebrand plunged his knife into his enemy’s heart. Sated, energized, Rein flung the body aside.
The berserker’s drug-laced blood had its intended result. The tainted fluid was a stream of fire racing down Rein’s throat, exploding through his veins, spreading into his muscled limbs. He roared in frenzied ecstasy, his face a mask of scalding fury. All control vanished, his rage fed by the same mania that had gripped his enemy.
But he glanced around the battlefield, seeking Chay. After all, his partner was still new to the battle biz.
Hischu-ko-nuuseless up close,the Firebrand was in a deadly dance with a red-bearded berserker, a cougar head pulled low over a scarred face. Hefting an ax in his right hand, his shield in the other, the enraged barbarian struck at Chay.
With finesse, speed, and agility, the ylve stayed out of reach. With his crossbow hooked on his belt, he out-waltzed his opponent, waiting to get close enough to use his war hammer. Chay’s dark hair whipped around his shoulders, kicked up by the wind from his movement, the grin still on his lips.
Repeatedly, the berserker brought down his ax. By the time it fell, the Firebrand was gone. When the crazed attacker stepped in, too heavy to move back into position quickly, he made a fatal mistake.
Chay nailed the opportunity. As the savage chopped downward, the ylve glided to the side, planting the pick of his weapon into the berserker’s abdomen and swiftly yanking it out. When his opponent jerked away in pain, he split open the guy’s head with the blunt end of his war hammer.
Rein closed his eyes, diving into the void again before choosing his next victim. Once found, he charged, a sweeping kick taking the savage to the ground. With a bulging forearm squeezing the male’s neck, he tore out the berserker’s throat. As more tainted blood fed him, the vampire mix powered into a wide-legged stance, roaring a challenge.
But off to the side, he saw three attackers on Brak. They circled him as he spun, lashing out with a pair of butterfly swords, cutting, slicing, chopping. He flipped his weapons with agile wrists. With the useful hook, he grabbed an opponent’s blade. Too late. Armed with a cudgel, another attacker charged in to pummel the demon Firebrand. He collapsed to the ground, bleeding.
Kole rushed to protect the injuredfreron, pushing off the berserkers. He stood over his downed warrior. With hulking shoulder muscles rippling, he swung his morning star, lopping off the heads of two charging barbarians. The third backed away from the reach of the commander’s weapon. Like Odin guarding the Nine Worlds, Kole continued to circle his morning star overhead to defend Brak.
Answering Rein’s challenge, a berserker lumbered toward him, a bull pelt on his shoulders, his face a map of battle scars, a sword in his hand. Rein planted his feet, balanced between them, drawing his short-bladed Dolch. Since timing was crucial, he allowed his opponent to swing while he observed. He kept his distance, assessing the male’s style. He countered a blow but stepped back into position. They circled, the huge savage using up energy with constant slices. Rein reacted, lunging forward, his blade sliding into his opponent’s heart.
Before he could take the berserker’s blood, he bumped into Sabine. She fended off two attackers. Like a goodfreron, he evened the odds by taking the gore-covered beast off her hands.
