The Final Redemption by Michael Manning (little red riding hood ebook free .txt) 📕

stop him now. Hislegs drove him forward with lethal momentum as the Duke of Tremontwatched him with terror stricken eyes.

Andrew Tremont would have died then,but halfway to his goal Dorian was blindsided. Something fast andimpossibly huge slammed into him from the right, and only hisreflexes and a quick glimpse of motion in his peripheral visionsaved him. Twisting, he narrowly avoided the thrust of a massivespike as the creature that he had seen earlier attacked. Hecouldn’t avoid the momentum of its main body however, and he foundhimself driven hard into the ground as it struck him.

His helmet was lost when he fell, andhe attempted to roll before his new foe could pin him, but anotherof those strange arms caught his leg. In a split second of clarity,he saw that the spike that had nearly impaled him earlier was not aseparate weapon but a feature of one of the creature’s arms. Thething was a nightmare of odd proportions. Two arms ended incrushing pincers while the other two were covered in a variety ofspikes.

Unable to rise, he barely interceptedanother attack with his sword as the thing tried to remove his headwith one of its heavy claws. The edge bit deeply into thearmor-like skin of the monster rather than passing cleanly through,surprising Dorian further. Few things resisted the enchanted bladesMordecai had created. It was almost as though the beast was made ofsolid iron, but it moved far too fast for that.

His sword remained stuck in thething’s arm, but the veteran knight used that to his advantage, asit drew the wounded limb back he held on tightly. The momentumjerked him upward and as his body flew skyward he pivoted, twistingaround the sword hilt to land on the monster’s back. Unable to freehis weapon he released it and instead caught the creature’s smallhead with both arms, wrapping it in a tight grip.

It shook vigorously, trying to throwhim off to no avail, for his grip was like a steel vise. Dorian hadhoped he might have a moment’s respite, but the thing’s arms had agreater freedom of motion than he had expected. They twisted andreached for him as the beast switched tactics.

He wasn’t simply holdinghis place, though. Dorian’s corded neck bulged as he pulled,straining to tear the creature’s head from its torso. It was justas resilient as the arm had been. Whywon’t this damn thing budge? he thought asit resisted his attempt to kill it. For a moment he consideredabandoning his position, but then he would be left with no weaponand few options. Instead he redoubled his efforts. His hair, nowwithout a helm to cover it, went white, and his skin turned anashen grey as he strained.

The torturous moment stretched out,and time slowed down as at last he felt something give way. Ascream of triumph erupted from his lips as the hard wooden fleshbroke and tore under his hands, and the head ripped completely freefrom the monster’s shoulders. The massive form beneath himshuddered and collapsed.

Dorian rode the body down, rollingwhen it reached the packed earth of the castle courtyard. Rising tohis feet he could feel the strength of his body surging with thedeep drumbeat of the earth. Adrenaline and rage were all he couldfeel now, and staring at the enemy soldiers standing in dumbamazement around him he screamed his defiance, “Who isnext?!”

No one moved at first, and when theydid it was to backpedal away from the enraged warrior. DorianThornbear’s face was completely grey now, causing him to look as ifhe had been cast from stone. He smiled at them with granite teethand a berserker’s madness in his eyes.

“You are, human,” said a dry voice ashe was struck from behind by something with the force of abattering ram.

The lone knight was thrown through theair, sailing thirty feet, to slam into the wall that protected thepalace courtyard. The stones cracked at his impact, and his bodyslid to the ground, but it did not stay there.

Impossibly, the Knight of Stone rose,dusting the dirt and gravel from his armor. “You should have diedwhen you had the chance,” he rumbled with a voice that sounded asif it were produced by rocks being ground together.

Most of the soldiers hadretreated to either the walls or the palace by now, leaving thecourtyard mostly empty. The gate had been shut and the portculliseswere down, but it was with some relief that Dorian saw no sign ofAriadne or his mother as he started forward; with any luck theywere already outside and making their way to safety.Whatever I accomplish now will serve mainly todelay Tremont from turning his attention to finding the missingprincess.

Dorian’s sword was still embedded inthe creature’s arm as they drew closer together, circling warily.The lack of a head didn’t seem to impede the monster’s ability tosense his position, but it moved carefully, having gained somerespect for the warrior’s dangerous strength.

They jockeyed back and forth for halfa minute until finally the beast took a chance, rushing forward andtrying to catch him with its claws. Dorian was too quick however,and he ducked low and slid, coming up underneath his opponent.Using his shoulder and both arms he lifted the half-ton monster andthrust it skyward.

It fell awkwardly, landing on its sideseveral feet away. Dorian had hoped the impact might dislodge hissword, but his luck wasn’t that good. Moving in, he tried to gethis hand on the hilt but the beast recovered too quickly, nearlyremoving his head with one of its heavy pincers.

He caught that arm halfway along whatwould have been a human’s forearm, holding it at bay as he grabbedagain for his sword. Missing his mark, they wound up in a stalemateof sorts, Dorian held both of the pincered arms at their midpoint,and the two of them strained and struggled, matching strengthagainst strength. While the beast was incredibly strong, the knightseemed to have some advantage, except for one fact. His opponenthad two more arms than he did, and these were covered in viciousspikes.

Even as he concentrated,forcing the two clawed arms apart and away from his body, the othertwo arms whipped forward and across, ripping into the armorcovering his chest and