Rundimahair: A new hero for a new adventure by Larry Forkner (summer books .TXT) 📗

breath. He managed to get to his feet, but before he could help Ashling, the other foul creature grabbed him from behind.

“Time to die, little wizard,” the behemoth said, in a rough, scratchy growl.

Sean turned away from its grasp and realized that up close it was much more of a creature than a man. His face was deformed, and he had strange pointy ears. Not the kind of ears you see on elves in the movies. These were huge, misshapen things hanging on the side of his grotesquely large head.

The freak took a wild swing at him with a massive fist the size of a catcher’s mitt. Despite the thing’s size, he moved pretty quickly. Sean’s thought was to move out of reach, but for some reason, he did just the opposite.

With worry for Ashling’s safety his top priority, Sean stepped forward and tried to block the colossal punch coming at his head. He was only partially successful as the punch landed on his shoulder. The pain was tremendous, and Sean thought the punch might have broken some bones.

What happened next he would have little recollection of afterward. Sean felt a surge of power rushing through his entire body. It wasn’t just an adrenalin charged fight-or-flight reaction. This felt more like his body was suddenly charged with a thousand volts of electricity. The growing fear of a slow and painful death was abruptly gone. He could hardly believe it, but Sean was actually looking forward to a good fight.

* * *

Ashling used a very ancient spell to arrest the forward movement of the creature attacking her. She hadn’t seen this type of beast before. Even so, her magic paralyzed it in mid-rush.

If she’d had more time, she might have tried to banish it back to where it had crawled out of its hole. With Sean under attack, she went for the quickest result. The spell began applying fierce pressure within the sphere she had the monster trapped in. In less than two minutes, the creature was crushed into a bloody pulp. She pushed it back into the netherworld where she could dispose of it later.

When Ashling turned to help Sean, she was shocked to see him engaging the creature in hand-to-hand combat. Even more surprising was that Sean was kicking the mountain of muscle’s butt. She breathed a sigh of relief, realizing more of Sean’s magic was coming to life.

She watched in amazement as Sean moved with inhuman speed. He struck the creature in the head four times, before it could even try to return a blow.

Next, he did a ninja-like flying drop kick that hit the behemoth in the throat. The ugly, man-like creature roared in anger and charged at him. Sean thrust his closed fist at the center of the beast’s exposed chest.

Ashling watched in wonder, as Sean’s fist punched through flesh and bone with little resistance. She knew it was a fatal blow and quickly encased the creature in a sphere that kept the bloody mess from splattering all over the room. She banished him to the same place as the other creature. Ashling would deal with them both later.

She suspected what was coming next, so she rushed in and put her arms around Sean, just as he collapsed. Ashling knew what it was like to experience the first flashes of magic. When the magic withdrew, it left the user completely exhausted and unconscious for hours.

With surprising strength, Ashling carried Sean effortlessly to the bed. She put him down gently, before sitting on the edge of the bed beside him and softly laying her hand on his right temple.

When she tapped into his physiology, Ashling realized he had a broken collarbone, several deep muscle and bone bruises, and a severe sprain to his right ankle. She could also see two deep cuts on his neck. After putting him into a deep sleep, she began repairing the damage. Ashling had never been more grateful for having the healing magic as one of her strongest gifts.

* * *

Sean opened his eyes as bright sunlight touched his face. For a few moments he wasn’t sure where he was. When he realized that a beautiful, auburn-haired woman was sleeping beside him, with her head on his shoulder, the crazy memories from last night came rushing back.

He recalled the two freakish, ugly twins who’d burst into their room with murder on their dimwitted minds. A ferocious fight followed, where Ashling crushed one creature and he somehow beat the heck out of the other freak.

He looked at the gentle beauty lying on his shoulder and smiled as he thought of the fierce warrior she had been the night before. Sean chuckled softly, as he thought that had to be the strangest first date he’d ever experienced.

As he looked around the room, he realized that it was now as clean and neat as when he’d checked in. He nodded his head and smiled, realizing that Ashling must have done some serious magical house cleaning. Even the entry door, which had been smashed to kindling wood, was back in its proper place.

When Sean moved slightly to get a bit more comfortable, memories of fierce pain coursing through his body returned. He was sure he had a broken shoulder and possibly serious internal injuries. How he could have continued to fight was another mystery.

The bigger surprise came when he realized that none of the pain or injuries he’d sustained last night still existed. He could move his shoulder with ease and his ankle was good as new. No bruises or residual pain at all. Gratitude for Ashling’s amazing healing gifts filled his heart and mind. She was truly an amazing woman in so many ways.

One thing that her magic hadn’t resolved was that he smelled as bad as an angry skunk. He recalled that the beast he’d fought had a similar unpleasant odor. Some of the stench must have rubbed off on him.

“Time to take a shower,” he mumbled, as he carefully