Page 41 of A Tempest of Intrigue (Tempest of Shadows #4)
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
Ryker
A six-foot-long, bright red creature emerged from the dense underbrush. It crept forward on eight small, thin legs with its four-foot tail curved over its back.
Clear liquid glistened from the sharp tip of the pointed tail, and according to Farley, it was poisonous. Its orange tiger head had black stripes and eyes, while the one following it had a white tiger head and black stripes.
Both those heads were twice the size of a normal tiger’s. With its body low to the ground, it skittered forward. Its eight legs clicked over the leaves and sticks as its tail bobbed.
The two huge, lobster-like claws it had for arms clicked as they opened and closed. Serrated edges lined the inside of those claws; they could easily crush bone and rip off limbs.
The creature had to weigh at least five hundred pounds, if not more, and its body was armor-plated. Saliva dripped from the ends of its foot-long fangs as its nostrils flared with excitement.
“Fuck,” Ianto murmured as he shifted his hold on his staff, and Tucker pulled his sword free.
From the bushes on the opposite side of the encampment and from behind Tucker and Ianto, three creatures burst out of the dense underbrush and rushed forward. They’d used the first two as a decoy to lure our attention to them while their friends hunted us from the other side.
The things were cunning and fast. Ianto spun, and when one of the cordou struck at him, his staff clacked off the thing’s thick plating as he knocked the stinger aside.
Tucker jumped back when another swiped at him with its claws. I didn’t draw on it, but lightning danced around my fingers and swirled up my blade.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t release it, as Tucker and Ianto were in front of the creatures. There was a good chance I’d hit one of them if I tried for the cordou.
A skittering sound behind me drew my attention as one of the beasts came at me. My lightning flared higher as it raced up my blade, and when the cordou swung at me with one of those claws, I blocked the blow with my sword.
The lightning encircling the sword shot into the creature, and while it hadn’t been enough to kill the monster, it made an awful squealing sound as it skittered back a few feet. The beast eyed my sword before roaring and charging me again.
Beneath its weight, the ground shook so fiercely the leaves rattled in the trees overhead. Releasing my sword with one hand, I unleashed lightning on the cordou. It twisted to the side in time to avoid the bolt that would have sent it flying.
Holy shit, they’re fast.
It was almost on me when I threw myself to the ground, rolled, and bounced up to my feet. I brought my sword down across the middle of its back.
The blade crashed into the cordou’s armored plating and bounced away without so much as denting the thing. The whistle of rushing air alerted me that something was coming behind me; I ducked in time to avoid the stinger that would have plunged into my chest.
“Pretty Boy! Pretty Boy!” Farley shouted as he zoomed around me. “Don’t be a dumbass; fire a lightning bolt into them.”
I jumped back as the one I’d hit with the sword swung its tail at me. I wasn’t fast enough to avoid the blow as it crashed into my side with the impact of a runaway horse and flung me back five feet.
“Ouch, Pretty Boy, that looked like it hurt. Move faster, Twinkle Toes.”
These things wanted to rip me apart and eat my heart, but I’d much prefer to kill Farley. Rolling, I avoided the stinger the second monster drove at me.
The wind of its passing ruffled my hair as the stinger plunged three feet into the ground. Dirt and debris exploded from the earth; rocks stung my skin as they peppered my face.
I blinked debris from my eyes while rolling to avoid the claw another one swung at me. When a tail sank into the ground only inches from my face, I stopped moving as the edge of its rigid tail brushed my cheek.