Hanna Halfblood: A YA fantasy tale
Page 14
The demon warrior attacked with a frenzy, a ferocious attack meant to overpower her. The attack might’ve worked with a normal warrior, but Thorodd and Anso fortified her strength. Hanna matched the demon warrior strike for strike until the demon warrior made a critical mistake. He lunged forward to strike at her feet, hoping to unbalance her. Hanna slammed her shield down into his sword momentarily pinning it to the ground. Her ax then whipped into his side, crushing his ribs. Hanna watched the darkness leave the warrior’s eyes as the demon fled the dying body. Another soul-scraping howling assaulted Hanna’s ears. The sound was satisfying this time instead of shocking. The remaining witch roared and made a desperate lunge at Hanna. She easily blocked his attack and once again a head went flying. She felt his vile witch blood spray across her face.
Hanna looked around, breathing hard. She felt a small tension release. She silently thanked the spirits of Anso and her grandfather. She recognized her spirit connection closing. The demon warriors and the witches around her were all dead. She then ran up the stairs to give Katla assistance, but as she reached the top of the stairs she realized she needn’t have worried. Katla had killed two of the witches and the third was dying.
“You think this is over?” hissed the dying witch through lips turning gray. Bloody spittle was forming at the corner of her thin lips. “You can’t stop what is coming. When my sisters get the rest of the gemstones they will have powers far beyond what we had. All you’ve done is slow the coming of Quivna.” The witch gave a cackling laugh. Katla sunk her blade into the witch’s chest to finish her off.
“Laugh now, you ugly piece of ogre phlegm.” Hanna watched as Katla pulled her blade out of the witch. A sucking noise accompanied by a putrid smell made Hanna gag.
“Quivna?” asked Hanna, she gagged again.
Katla wiped her blade clean of the witch’s blood. “I’m not sure, but it didn’t sound good.”
Hanna looked around. Her adrenaline was still making her heart beat faster. Five dead demon warriors and an equal number of witches lay at odd angles with blood still flowing out onto the rock floor. “The first warrior that they sent for me. Was he here?”
Katla walked back down the stairs, examining each body as she went. When she was done, she shook her head. “No. And there are still missing gemstones.”
“You heard what she said about more gemstones, do you think she was talking about the missing ones, or the Nordvik mine?”
“I would say the mine is in danger. They had me kill Thorodd to keep him from taking the Nordviks’ trade. They don’t want anyone getting those gemstones.”
Hanna wondered about that. The Foxnoses had found a buyer for the gems, someone willing to pay a great sum. Hanna had thought the witches were trying to buy the stones. But what if it was someone else? What if the witches intended to take the stones by force? “We need to go. I have to get back to Irontide. Once I have made sure the Nordviks are safe I will return to Yanga.”
“That is logical. Let’s go back to the city. I know who we can talk to about the witches. Someone who might know who this Quivna is,” said Katla.
As they walked back Hanna thought about the fight. The numbers had vastly been in the favor of the witches, but it hadn’t been as difficult a fight as Hanna had expected. The demon warriors she’d faced in the cave weren’t as dangerous as those that had killed Anso. “The witches, they didn’t have real warriors working for them, did they? I mean those ones we faced; they weren’t as tough as the one who attacked Anso and me.”
“I don’t think Loma Fangris, the leader of this coven, trusted men. Especially warriors. They had two main warriors, the one that attacked you and the other that is missing. Those men we killed today were rabble. Powerful and dangerous because of the demon power running through them, but not skilled warriors. We benefited from Loma’s paranoia.”
Hanna nodded. That was what she was afraid of. What would happen when truly gifted warriors were given demon powers? Would her spirit powers be enough? They had caught this coven off-guard. Luck and skill had won the day, but what about next time?
Hanna shook her head, trying to clear her mind of her negative thoughts. The most important part was that the witches were dead. She now had a powerful connection to two spirits and knew how to use it. To defeat powerful adversaries, she had to trust the spirits, relinquish control of her body, share her body with them It was frightening. It was unnatural. But today it had worked. She hoped she had made her grandfather’s spirit proud. Somehow, she knew Anso’s spirit would say, “That’s a good start, now let’s get to work.” Hanna smiled for just a moment. She allowed herself to savor the taste of a small victory in that moment. Her smile faded. It was only one small skirmish in what she feared was going to be a bigger battle. It was time to go home. She smiled. Thinking of home deepened her resolve to keep the precious gemstones out of the hands of those would use them to do harm.
Halfblood Book 2
HANNA HALFBLOOD: SPIRIT WARRIOR, book two of the Halfblood series, continues the story of Hanna as she learns more about her magical connection to the spirit world and tries to save the world from the Fangris witches and the deadly demon spirit Quivna.
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Authors Notes
Thank you for reading Hanna Halfblood. Book one of the HALFBLOOD series. The HALFBLOOD series is in the same world as the STONEBLOOD SAGA and the DRAGONBLOOD series.
Check out my Amazon Author’s Page for more information on these series.
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