Battle for Peruna by Josiah Boss (book club suggestions TXT) 📕

a few hours all the ivy had been cleared away and it looked more like a castle, minus the people.
“There,” said Garth, “that's good enough for dad himself.”
Fletch looked up and stretched, “Well, well,” he said, “Looks like a mighty good place to get some sleep.”
Chance chuckled as he came up behind the two. “You're right about that, son. But for now, your mom's cooked up one fine meal with that deer you shot earlier. Let's go eat. I'm famished.”
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Nikkelon woke up and saw that everybody but the girls were awake. He saw a bucket in the corner. He jacked himself up on elbow and saw water in it. He grinned to himself. Those girls were gonna regret stealing his journal.
He sneaked over, took the bucket in one hand, and with the other pushed aside the curtain. They were fast asleep with the covers up to their chins like usual. He raised the bucket.
“Rise and shine!” he yelled enthusiastically as he doused them with the icy water. Screams split the air as the girls floundered about, overcome by their blankets.
“Mom!” hollered Natelin.
Shiloh sighed, Would those two children of hers never learn? “Nikkelon, leave the girls alone.”
“I am,” he said innocently. Then when Shiloh looked at him, “Okay, okay, sorry.”
“You better tell the girls that.”
He groaned, knowing what was coming. “Sorry!” he yelled as he left the tent. He knew they didn't believe him, and he didn't mean it either, but...
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“He's got it coming,” growled Natelin through clenched teeth to Gardenia. The girls were combing their hair which was quite drenched from the dousing they'd received.
“What can we do? We need to teach him a lesson good and proper this time.”
Meanwhile, Nikkelon was standing outside, watching his fire grow as he threw wood on it. Skylar came up and squatted beside him. “What you thinking?” He turned to look up at Nikkelon.
“Oh...” Nikkelon shifted his weight. “Well...nothing much, really.”
Skylar eyed him, not believing him. “I don't believe you, but I'll let it go if you don't want to talk about it.”
Nikkelon finally broke the silence, “How's it been since you lost your back legs?” He tossed a piece of wood on the fire.
“Well,” Skylar half-grinned, “nothing's really changed 'cept that I can move about better now, and I ain't quite as tall as I used to be.” He reached for a long branch and stirred the fire.
“I guess that's good. I can't rightly say as I've never had first-hand experience myself.”
“Yeah.” They returned to staring at the fire.
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The next day at noon found Garnock and his generals standing on top of the mountains watching the other centaurs straggling up to the top. Tace looked down and rolled his eyes when he saw Nikkelon, Natelin, and Gardenia squabbling again. They could be quite the case sometimes, and lately it didn't seem like they were on the best of terms. If only Garth were here....
Aubin had been staring off into space over Peruna, when suddenly bright flashing caught his eyes. He looked down and saw Mardoc with Forester and Felgor by his side, leading several thousand horseman.
“Look!” he shouted to the others motioning towards the army below. They stared at it then at each other.
“Let's get going!” said Garnock as they wheeled and galloped off.
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The next morning Skandar woke up before anybody else in the castle. He saw the sun rising outside looking like it was gonna be a beautiful day so decided to take a walk. He left a note on the kitchen table saying that he had taken a morning stroll and would be back in time for breakfast, then struck off through the woods on his horse.
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“Skylar! Nikkelon!” Garnock yelled as he galloped into camp. “Come here.”
The two appeared almost instantly. “Yes, sir.” they said as they snapped to attention, raising their swords in salute.
“I need you two to go and watch for anything unusual off to the west. If you do find anything, report immediately.”
“Yes, sir!” Skylar swung onto a black steed standing nearby and galloped off close behind Nikkelon.
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At that time Garth had just waken up and rolled to his feet before he noticed Skandar's empty bed roll in the corner beside a sleeping Fletch.
I'll have to check up on him, thought Garth as he trotted out to the kitchen. That's when he saw the note on the table. Guess I'll have to find him then.
He went outside and soon found the hoof prints in the soft dirt. Before long he was deep in the forest.
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Skylar was starting to nod off sitting on his horse when he heard a twig snap. He and Nikkelon had split and gone separate ways so as to cover a larger area.
At first he thought that he had just imagined the noise, but he could tell by the way his horse's ears were perked, that he'd heard it too. He stared hard into the trees for awhile and was about to pass it off as a deer when he caught a glint of armor through the trees. He felt his heart beat quicken as he fumbled for his horn to call in Nikkelon.
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Skandar had been letting his horse pick his own path through the trees wandering aimlessly about as he grazed. Suddenly a loud, long blast echoed through the woods.
He started and grabbed a tight hold just as his horse screamed, reared, then bolted. He almost panicked till he saw the armor-clad person on horse back bearing down on him head on, then he did panic. He blindly fumbled for his sword as he watched the horse rapidly approaching.
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Nikkelon jumped at the sound of the horn. That could mean only one thing—Skylar had found something. He wheeled about and raced off in the direction of the sound.
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Garth, too, had heard it and was now racing as fast as he dared through the trees towards the sound. He knew that the sound couldn't mean anything but trouble. He heard hoof beats behind him and saw Yasahiro bearing down on him from behind.
“We gotta help him!” said Yasahiro as soon as he caught up to Garth. “I have a feeling he's in trouble.”
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Garnock and his generals heard it and glanced at each other. With a curt nod to Tace, they both headed off in the direction of the noise.
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Skylar pulled out his sword as he raced to meet the other soldier. He figured that he had the element of surprise on his side because the other guy seemed panicky at being caught off guard. That is, until he got his sword out. Then Skylar noticed a change that seemed to come over his opponent. He seemed more confident.
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As soon as Skandar had gotten his sword out, he felt all his training that he had received in Mardoc's camp come back to him. He had now gotten his horse under control and now rode straight towards his opponent unwavering and confident.
As he charged forward he reached up with one hand and pulled down his visor and fastened his gloves then, gripping his sword in his right hand, was ready to fight to the death.
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That's when Skylar felt a small wave of panic sweep through him.
What am I doing?! He thought panic starting to over take him. He knew now that this was a well-trained soldier that he was facing. One who'd been trained in hand to hand combat on horseback.
He fumbled with his visor and his hand grew slick with sweat as he rode to meet the horse and rider with a growing fear.
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Right before the two horses collided, Skandar pulled his into a rear while standing up and raising his sword in both hands above his head. He prepared to deliver one killing blow and could see the stark fear in his opponents eyes through the slit in the visor as he got ready to deliver. Suddenly the fear in the eyes was gone replaced by a determination to survive this.
Skandar pulled back just a little further then brought it down in a hard blow that he had used on his instructor before and broken his wrist. This time his opponent ducked and, holding his sword in one hand, blocked his blow easily deflecting it to the side where it harmlessly bounced off his hip.
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Skylar had suddenly recalled Garnock's words about fighting a opponent that you thought would easily cream you, and that had given him the courage to face this guy who was at least a good five to six inches taller than him. He saw his opponent draw back for another blow and that's when he thought of fighting with two swords. While his foes arms were up preparing for a blow, Skylar came in and pricked him in the side with the sword in his right hand and suddenly brought his other sword around in a sweeping upward arc in his left hand.
He did it so fast it surprised even him at the power that he didn't usually have in his left arm. That blow missed his foes arm but struck his helmet hard enough to snap the chin strap and send it flying off his head. He could now see the rage on his opponents face.
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Skandar was totally outraged now at having been outfoxed by this smaller opponent. He should have seen that two sword trick coming. He also knew that if the blow had landed where it was intended, he'd probably be without a left arm right now. He brought out his other sword right then and just in the nick of time formed an x in front of his face with them to block the blow from his smaller opponent.
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Garth got to the edge of the small clearing just in time to see Skandar's two-sword, x block technique. He drew his own sword and prepared to go in should the smaller one start getting the upper hand. That's when he noticed that Skandar didn't have his helmet on and that it was laying on the ground beside them already dented by one of the horses.
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Garnock and Tace caught up to Nikkelon just as he reached the clearing where the fight was going on. They eyes almost bugged out when they saw that one of the fighters was helmet-less till they saw that Skylar still had his helmet, then they relaxed slightly. They could see that Skylar's opponent was outraged at something, probably about losing his helmet they figured though they didn't know.
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“Come on!” yelled Yasahiro coming upon Garth. He reared up and yelling his battle cry charged drawing his sword. Garth was right on his tail. They had just reached the two when suddenly they head a scream off to the right and turned just in time to defend themselves against two centaurs who had charged in. They saw a third, smaller one just on the outside of the clearing.
Suddenly, one of the centaurs stopped so suddenly that he reared. He stared at the Yasahiro and Garth then suddenly yelled, “Yasahiro! What on earth are you doing here?” That's when Yasahiro recognized him. It was Garnock! They had stumbled upon Garnock and his company!
Garth froze when he heard Yasahiro's name mentioned. He slowly turned towards Yasahiro and saw what he had missed for the last year or two. Was it really that long? He could hardly believe it. He was at least two years older than when he'd run away. “Dad!” he yelled racing forward, dropping his sword and holding his arms out.
Garnock turned to see the last sight that he'd ever imagined to see. His son racing towards him