The Path of Giants by B.T. Narro (best novels to read .txt) 📕

I stopped at the door and looked over my shoulder. “Order the archers. I’ll keep him distracted.”

Reuben was calling me a stupid fool as I left. Ignoring him, I closed the door after me. No one else had the means of protecting themselves as well as I did. I didn’t want to see them killed.

The king was yelling for me to return as I rushed out of the keep and up the ramp to the northern wall. A wave of fear stopped me as I was about to jump off. I lost my concentration, stilled by panic. Gourfist had the lifeless and bloody body of a man in his massive talons, but he seemed to forget about the man he had just killed as he shot a look over his shoulder at me, our heads at equal level.

I made a quick ring of dvinia around my waist and jumped off the wall. I forced myself up before landing, slowing myself to a stop in the air. Then I landed gracefully and readied my two spears.

I held the weapons firmly against my body as I braced for an attack, the castle wall behind me.

It came quicker than I had anticipated, Gourfist swiping at me as if I was an annoying insect he was trying to get rid of.

There was a loud clank as his hard talons met the tips of my spears. Twin pains ran through my sides from the force of the attack on the spears that I held against me. My feet slid against the dirt until my back hit the castle wall.

I fell forward, dropping my spears, but I had time to pick them up. Gourfist screeched at me as he held his right talon up in a tight claw as if in pain.

He slowly set down that talon and lifted the other above me, drenching me in shadow. I got to my knees and used the ground to brace my spears as Gourfist slammed his talon down.

Nearly all light was lost to his shadow as the talon came over me, but there was only a gust of wind against the top of my head.

Gourfist screeched louder this time as he snatched his newly injured talon back and stepped away from me. There was such anger in his white eyes.

I thought this might be my moment. I gathered my mind for a powerful spell of dvinia. I wasn’t sure I would be able to do more than ruffle the beast’s feathers, but I had to find some way to get close to its head. If I couldn’t knock it over, I wasn’t sure what I would do.

I blasted Gourfist with everything I had. His front talon was blown back as all the feathers around it whipped away, revealing dark flesh beneath for a flash.

It took just a moment for Gourfist to find his footing again. He slashed at me with one of his two front talons. I got my spears out in front of me, pricking the tips of his talons, but the force of his attack was a bit too much for me.

It sent me rolling backward, over the destroyed remains of a shop that used to be here. I had lost my spears in the tumble and was certain their shafts had at least bruised my sides before breaking out of my hold. Gourfist was coming for me. I dashed toward him to collect one spear and then the other, but there was no time to get them up for defense.

I slid underneath the overhead swing of his claw and found myself beneath Gourfist when I got to my feet again. He bent his neck down and looked at me with an upside-down eagle face. Then he let out a deafening roar, the power of his voice throwing me out from under him.

I managed not only to keep hold of my spears but also to stay on my feet as the force slid me backward. I turned halfway through, stumbling down the road as I tried to stop my momentum. Now Gourfist was between me and the castle wall. I wanted to see if archers were getting into place, but Gourfist’s massive body took up the entire sky in front of me.

Gourfist lifted his now bloody talon as if to strike me but stopped when I held up my spears. He let down his talon. Although the rage in his white eyes still burned, I could sense fatigue from his slowing movements. He was not meant to wake from his slumber right now.

But he seemed to have gained some sense as he turned his talon and moved it slowly toward me. I pointed my spears at it and prepared for another smack, but the speed of his talon only slowed more as it approached me.

I braced myself with bent knees as my spears met the rough surface of his front talon. I was heavy with muscle, but I felt small and insignificant as he pushed me along the dirt and toward the wreckage of a home behind me.

There wasn’t enough momentum behind his slow sweep for me to penetrate his hard flesh, and he knew this. I looked over my shoulder to find that I would soon trip over the wreckage. Once I fell, it would be over in seconds.

I did the only thing I could think of. I tossed myself into the air with dvinia, knowing surprise was my only option. I flew right at his face and went for his eyes. I stabbed with my spear, but he was too quick for me. He opened his beak.

I didn’t know exactly what happened, but I did feel his mouth clamp down on my body. Without teeth, however, all it did was roll me around the inside of his mouth. I tried to pierce the back of his throat with both spears that I still held, but in the dark chaos, I couldn’t be sure what was happening.

There was