They split the guard duty. Nixy and Savon took the first, Father Veristy and Thaelos the second. It was decided the fire should be doused since human intruders at this point were far more likely than creatures.
The first watch passed uneventful, but the priest woke everyone with a scream in the middle of the second watch when a buzzard, or a fat crow, mistook him for a corpse and swooped too close.
The next morning and most of the day was also eventless. The same sort of destruction littered the roadside as before, but it all seemed more recent. Nixy told the elves to be ready for anything. Dutifully, Thaelos and Savon rode with arrows nocked. Neither of them had loosed from the back of the horse, save for the previous day, but both were above average marksmen, and neither of them seemed worried.
Nixy's caution was proven wise when they rode up on a still smoldering wagon. Two freshly killed young men were laying in the middle of the road, and as she spurred Prism ahead of the others, she caught sight of a third man pinned to a wagon by a short sword through his chest.
He was still alive, though barely. He was pointing off into the trees and Nixy didn't catch it at first, but his warning came just in time.
“Trap,” he whispered with his last breath.
Nixy turned and urged Prism back toward the others, and only the horse's powerful lurch forward carried her out of the way of the arrow that came streaking from the forest.
Immediately, Savon and Thaelos loosed arrows back into the woods, then all four of them were forced to charge beyond the wreckage in search of some sort of cover.
End of Preview
Demon of Destruction, Fantastica Book Three
will be available soon. To receive the release announcement directly from Amazon follow M. R. Mathias’s Amazon Author page by clicking the yellow bar under his author photo here:
https://www.amazon.com/M.-R.-Mathias/e/B0040CD21I
Other titles by
M. R. Mathias
The Wardstone Trilogy
Book One - The Sword and the Dragon
Book Two - Kings, Queens, Heroes, & Fools
Book Three - The Wizard & the Warlord
The Legend of Vanx Malic
Book One – Through the Wildwood
Book Two – Dragon Isle
Book Three – Saint Elm’s Deep
Book Four – That Frigid Fargin’ Witch
Book Five – Trigon Daze
Book Six – Paragon Dracus
Book Seven – The Far Side of Creation
Book Eight – The Long Journey Home
Book Nine – The Tome of Arbor
Book Ten – A Gossamer Lens
The Saga of the Dragoneers
The First Dragoneer – Free for Kindle
The Royal Dragoneers – Nominated, Locus Poll 2011
Cold Hearted Son of a Witch
The Confliction
The Emerald Rider
Rise of the Dragon King
Blood and Royalty – Winner. 2015 Readers Favorite Award,
and 2015 Kindle Book Award Semifinalist
Short Stories:
Alpha Sint-Holo
Autumn’s Breath
The King of Fools
Crimzon & Clover I - Orphaned Dragon, Lucky Girl
Crimzon & Clover II - The Tricky Wizard
Crimzon & Clover III - The Grog
Crimzon & Clover IV - The Wrath of Crimzon
Crimzon & Clover V - Killer of Giants
Crimzon & Clover VI – One Bad Bitch
Crimzon &Clover VII – The Fortune’s Fortune
Master Zarvin’s Action and Adventure Series #1 Dingo the Dragon Slayer
Master Zarvin’s Action and Adventure Series #2 Oonzil the oathbreaker
Master Zarvin’s Action and Adventure Series #3 The Greatest Quest
To hear about new releases, sales and giveaways,
Follow Author M. R. Mathias @DahgMahn on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, or visit http://mrmathias.com/
Or to receive new release announcements directly from Amazon follow M. R. Mathias’s Amazon Author page by clicking the yellow bar under his author photo here:
https://www.amazon.com/M.-R.-Mathias/e/B0040CD21I
Sapphire of Souls Page 21