The wrecker stood with his back to Nathan’s doorway, his sword clutched in his hand. “Doing what?” he shouted back.
“My blade isn’t exactly a meat cleaver.”
Kendaric waved his short sword and said, “And this is?”
James ducked under a huge hand swinging through the air, and shouted, “It’s a better blade for hacking than what I’ve got!”
“I’m not going to loan it to you!” cried Kendaric, watching as other creatures came into sight. “I’ve got problems of my own.”
Suddenly Jazhara was at Kendaric’s side and she wrenched the blade from his hand. “Yes, a decided attack of cowardice,” she said with contempt. Throwing the sword so that it sailed through the air, she shouted, “James, catch!”
With a speed bordering on the supernatural, James lashed out with his rapier, cutting the shambling creature across the back of the leg. Then he leapt into the air, catching the short sword with his left hand. He tossed his rapier and the short sword in a juggle, ending up with the rapier in his left hand and the short sword in his right. The thing that had been a woodcutter stumbled onto one knee, and James lashed down with the sword, cleanly severing the creature’s neck, so that the head came rolling free.
James threw the short sword back to Kendaric, and shouted, “Better lend a hand here, unless you’re anxious to end up like them!”
More creatures were emerging from the woods and Jazhara unleashed several bolts of her mystic flame. She shouted, “James, I can’t keep this up! I’m almost exhausted.”
“We have to get to someplace defensible!” said Brother Solon, as he slammed his hammer into yet another creature, knocking it backward a half-dozen feet.
James hurried to the door of Nathan’s house and pounded on it as he cried, “By the gods, man, let us in!”
“No, it’s a trick and I won’t be fooled!” came a shout from inside.
“Let us in, or I’ll burn this place down around your ears,” said James. “Jazhara, do you have one shot of that fire left?”
“I can manage,” said the magician.
Loudly, but in measured, calm tones, James said, “Open this door or you’re going to get very warm. Which will it be?”
After a moment of silence, they heard the creak of nails being pulled and a series of thumps as heavy boards hit the floor. Finally the door-bolt slid free, and the door cracked open a bit. A pinched-faced man peered out at James and said, “You don’t look like a vampire.”
James nodded. “I’m glad you finally recognize the obvious. Clear the way while I go help my friends. We’ll be right back. We’ll hammer the boards back into place once we’re all inside.”
James didn’t wait to see the man’s nod, but turned and hurried to intercept a particularly nasty-looking creature heading straight for Kendaric. The wrecker waved his sword ineffectually in the direction of the creature, which paused to consider the potential for injury.
That pause gave James just the opening he needed to circle behind the creature and hamstring it with his rapier. “It won’t kill him,” shouted the squire, “but it’ll slow him down! Try to cut his head off.”
Kendaric’s expression left no room for doubt as to how he felt about that suggestion. He backed away, putting distance between himself and the creature.
“Kendaric, you useless bag of pig-swill,” shouted Solon. He ran over and used his warhammer to break the creature’s spine.
Kendaric proffered his sword. “Ybw cut its head off!”
“Ya gibbering jackass! Holy orders prevent me from cutting flesh with a blade. If I do, I lose my sanctity and must be cleansed for a year by holy rite, fasting, and meditation! I donna ha’ a year to waste on such foolishness! We ha’ work to do.”
Jazhara said to James, “You’re right, the accent does get thicker when he’s upset.”
James shouted, “Open the door!” More creatures were coming into sight, and James had no doubt they would soon be overwhelmed.
Kendaric was at the door, and pounded on the planks. Nathan swung the door wide with one hand, as he brandished a hunting knife in the other. “Get inside!” shouted the villager. Kendaric entered the cottage as the others began to rush toward the house. Suddenly James wheeled at the sound of a footstep behind him, slashing out with his blade, and slicing through the throat of what had once been a young woman. She didn’t fall, but faltered long enough for him to turn and run. Solon smashed another in the face and also ran.
Jazhara hurried through the door, Solon and James on her heels.
Nathan slammed the door shut behind them and threw the bolt. He then picked up one of planks he had just removed and cried, “Start boarding this up!”
Solon picked up another piece of wood and used his warhammer to drive heavy nails back into the doorframe. “This will not hold if they get determined,” said the monk.