It was a reconnaissance team, scouts – maybe twenty or thirty of them . A pair of three-meter-tall maneaters trundled among them, and a third were rangers . Several were mounted on enormous lizards that slithered over the sands of the wastes .  

These beasts were a cla.s.s above the mutated ostriches Tartarus mercenaries had used . They made effective war mounts that could fight back . They were fierce, had skin thick as armor and had incredible endurance . Their riders had longbows slung across their backs .

They were mobile, and good at close range or at a distance . Hunters .

Cloudhawk hadn’t felt them coming . With Mantis gone, chances that the two of them could fight their way out were slim . Their enemies were about a hundred meters away and closing .

“G.o.dd.a.m.nit! They have rotwolves!” He spotted the closest of them, a wolf rider . Bristling with coa.r.s.e, black hair the wolf had its muzzle pressed to the ground as it searched for them . Hiding wasn’t going to do them any good . “Go… we gotta go!”

The two of them scrambled out of their hiding place as quietly as they could then tumbled over the far side of a sand dune . They slid down to its base .

“Awooo! Awoooo!”

Rotwolves were sensitive to all kinds of movement . It raced to the spot Cloudhawk and the Queen had just fled, picking up their scent .

“We got ‘em!” The wolf rider beamed a hideous grin, he saw the bloodstains on the ground . It had to have come from a wound . He swung his arms to get the others’ attention . “A few of you get ahead and cut them off . Give the signal for the others to come . ”

Lizard riders bounded off to either flank and made their way around the sand dune . Thanks to their webbed feet they dashed across the sand like the wind . There was no question they could overtake their prey .

One of the sweepers pulled an arrow from its quiver and doused it in fuel . Lighting it ablaze he fired it into the night sky . Instantly the burning red light split the darkness, visible for kilometers in every direction . When it reached the apex of its trajectory, it exploded .

A signal?

Cloudhawk cursed inwardly . When the others sweepers saw the signal they’d come running .

“That d.a.m.n wolf will be able to follow us anywhere . We can’t shake it . ” Cloudhawk said to the Queen . “You gotta use your cross to kill it!”

She was speechless at how stupid his suggestion was . Yes, the holy light could be used at a distance, but using it once drained her of almost all her energy . It was supposed to be used as a last resort . Turning it on a single sweeper and his dog was like smas.h.i.+ng a fly with a war hammer .

By now the lizards had overtaken them . They were scrambling up a sand dune up ahead . The wolf rider was guiding the others by scent . They were just too d.a.m.n fast!

When he saw that the Queen was unwilling to use her powers he skidded to a halt . Under the Queen’s curious and incredulous gaze he picked up a sharp rock and began to weigh it in his hands .

What the h.e.l.l was this moron doing? The Queen thought .

They looked back and saw the wolf slinking over the dune, like a shadow flitting through the moonlight . It was coming closer, merely a few dozen meters . The beast’s keen green eyes peered through the night for its victims .

Close enough!

Cloudhawk kept his eyes trained on the rotwolf . He suddenly launched himself forward running one step, then another, and another, and another . The wolf spotted him but was stunned that its prey would choose to charge . The other sweepers spilling over the dune also saw the young man coming . They pulled their longbows free and began knocking poison arrows .

Danger! All of Cloudhawk’s hair stood on end .

A handful of archers took aim, perhaps only ten meters from their target . These were practiced killers, hitting their prey from this close was not difficult . Yet Cloudhawk made no effort to dodge . With precise control over every muscle in his body, his legs dug into the sand and sent him skidding . Everything worked in concert to send power up through his calves, thighs, waist, shoulder, arm, and finally his wrist .

Woos.h.!.+

What speed! The stone he threw streaked through the air and crashed right into the rotwolf’s snout . It yelped in pain and surprise from a crushed nose and bucked the rider off its back .

Direct hit!

Mantis once told him not to rely on complicated weapons . Any killer worth his salt could end a target with whatever was at hand . Only someone with those skills could call themselves a real master of the wastes . Cloudhawk learned to throw after seeing what Mantis could do with a scalpel .

Cloudhawk had incredible control, speed, strength and perception . He drew on those to pelt the rotwolf’s nose through the darkness… but there was no time to celebrate .

The tw.a.n.g of bowstrings warbled and a hail of arrows followed, many of them aimed right at Cloudhawk . He hunkered down and held up his alphwolf pelt . Thud, thud, thud! The arrows pummeled him, but couldn’t fully pierce his coat . All they managed were several nicks and scratches .

Some, though, were aimed at his head where he had no protection .

He was having trouble tracking the black arrows through the darkness but he felt the danger they presented . There were too many for him to dodge or deflect . Then, in this critical moment the Bloodsoaked Queen appeared, dagger in hand .

Ting, ting, clang! She knocked the remaining arrows away before pulling Cloudhawk after her in retreat .

Cloudhawk managed to shout his thanks as they ran . He’d succeeded in taking the rotwolf’s nose out of the equation, but it didn’t improve their situation much . Sweepers continued to close in on all sides . They were in danger of being surrounded .

In a matter of minutes their escape would be completely cut off . Once the three mutants got here they would be in even deeper s.h.i.+t .

They didn’t get far . A pair of lizards reared up on their hind legs right in front of them, their riders brandis.h.i.+ng weapons . They swung thick, barbaric falchions over their heads, and they sliced deadly arcs through the air as their lizard mounts propelled them forward .

The blades were right in their faces .

The Bloodsoaked Queen’s body wrenched to the side . As though flung from a catapult her slender and dexterous body flitted through the air, slipping pa.s.sed the sweepers’ blades so she could open their throats with her dagger .

She landed a foot on the head of the lizard mount, then pushed herself off again . She spun like a lethal top, a dervish of steel that severed the arteries in another rider’s throat .

By now, Cloudhawk had seen a few experts at work, such as Mad Dog, Slyfox, Grizzly and others . But he never saw anything close to the Queen’s graceful, flexible, and lethal abilities .

The riders were dead – but their lizards were still breathing . Without their riders they were furious and even more brutal . Weighty bodies crashed back to ground and they hissed at her, revealing a maw filled with razor-like teeth .

The Bloodsoaked Queen, still in mid-air, shrunk into a defensive posture . She waited for her prey to attack, ready to bury her dagger in its eye .

Then, something happened that no one expected .

Neither lizard tried to bite her . Instead, barbed tongues shot out at her fast as a whip, with enough force to shatter stone . More importantly their tongues were peppered with poison-secreting glands . One sc.r.a.pe from those spikes and the consequences were too gruesome to contemplate .

The Queen had no leverage to move herself out of harm’s way, she could only avoid one of them .  

Cloudhawk rushed at her brandis.h.i.+ng a metal pipe . He brought it cras.h.i.+ng down on the head of one of the mutant creatures, cracking its skull and drawing blood . The blow rattled it and altered the trajectory of the beast’s tongue .

The Queen fell back to the ground safely, only to spring up in a cloud of sand . She charged at the other lizard like a gust of wind . Scores of brutal gashes appeared on the lizard’s vulnerable underbelly from throat to abdomen .

“Leave the other one alive!”

Sweepers kept pouring in from all sides . Capable as the Bloodsoaked Queen was, she was just one person and was quickly nearing her limit . Beyond that, her wounds were serious .  All this movement was going to be the end of her!

The hunters’ numbers swelled . How could they hope to outrun them on just two legs? This wasn’t a siege, they were running them down until they were too weak .  

Cloudhawk swung himself on top of the other lizard and wrapped its reins around his fist . It immediately started to swing and buck in protest . His eyes filled with that blood-red hue as he expertly smacked the creature on the head with his pipe again . “Chill! The f.u.c.k! Out!”

The threat of death from this crazy human caused the lizard to tremble in fear . It was suddenly much more compliant .

He reached out a hand toward the Queen . “What the h.e.l.l are you staring at? Let’s go!”

She couldn’t believe he’d tamed this creature with nothing but his voice . This guy was chock full of surprises and powers she didn’t know he had . The Queen didn’t hesitate to leap up onto the lizard’s back . She steadied herself by wrapping her arms around Cloudhawk’s waist .

“Get me out of here!”

With the reigns in one hand Cloudhawk whipped the lizard’s hide with his pipe . Thick as its hide was Cloudhawk was no weakling . The triangular pipe hit hard enough to break skin and the lizard let out a piteous hiss of pain . It bolted, running wildly through the darkness .

“Faster!”

“Faster!”

Cloudhawk saw his pursuers gaining . He beat his pipe against the lizard again and again, urging it on . Desperate to escape the pain the lizard kicked its webbed feet faster . It raced over slopes and dunes, slowly increasing the distance between them and the sweepers .

They were coming up on a conical pit . The lizard was preparing to scale it when Cloudhawk noticed its sandy depths . Something was moving and sand had begun to tumble down the sides .

This was not rea.s.suring . Cloudhawk shook as he broke out in a cold sweat . This wasn’t a normal valley – it was a gateway to h.e.l.l!

“Stop, stop!”

Cloudhawk pulled hard on the reins and beat his mount with the pipe at the same time . The lizard, confused, took it as a sign to speed up .

“It’s dangerous, we gotta bail!”

He released his hold on the reigns and almost immediately the two of them were pitched off . The lizard continued its headlong rush until it hit the bottom and the whole thing seemed to come alive . An enormous creature burst forth, frightening the lizard . It tried to scramble in another direction, but it was already too late .

The monstrous thing was long, and weighed hundreds of pounds . It lurched through the air, b.l.o.o.d.y maw agape . In a single snap, half the mutant lizard’s body was ripped away .

The Bloodsoaked Queen stared dumbstruck at the creature . “What the h.e.l.l is that thing?!”

Dozens of hideous legs wriggled on either side like a giant, fat centipede . A marked difference was this thing was covered in leathery flesh, though it kept the same segmented shape . It was at least twenty meters long and was as big around as five burly men tied together . A carapace covered it from the top of its head all the way down its back . Its sides were covered in tumor-like poison glands, and although it had no eyes, ears or nose it had a savage bite that put a shark to shame .

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