The Call Read Free Page A

then the next one, and in moments the entire group was charging towards them.
    Fear poured over Katja like that time Maria had woken her with a bucket of ice cold water. But as before something else came to life, some inner flame which kept her from turning and fleeing and kept her grip on the spear firm.
    Mothers and fathers! she thought with terrified thrill.
    “Aim high!” Serdra said in that familiar commanding tone and assumed a fighting pose. “Go for the neck! And dodge to the side rather than backwards!”
    Crazy woman!
    The first one came at Serdra and Katja expected to see her swing the sword but instead she sidestepped quickly. The freak couldn't slow the charge quickly enough to follow and so headed straight for Katja.
    She had been bracing for attack from another direction and was barely able to leap to the side and thrust. The beast snapped its teeth where she'd stood a moment earlier, and Katja drove the spear with all her strength into what would have been the chest on a human.
    The tip only pierced the tough flesh a bit and when Katja pulled it out she didn't see a drop of blood in the fire light. The monster managed to stop the charge and whipped around for another assault.
    “Into the neck!” Serdra shouted and then looked in front of herself again, slashing the next one across the throat.
    The monster fell with a gurgling whine. Katja found the noise familiar; as if she'd heard a distant echo of it at night. Or had those just been dreams?
    The first monster attacked her again with its maw gaping, and the twisted arms and the claws they ended in held out in front. Katja thrust right under the jaw and connected. The spear tip slid in easily this time and something oozed out of the wound.
    The creature gave a death scream but its momentum wasn't as easily slain and it slammed into Katja. She lost her grip on the spear as well as her balance and landed on her back. Another beast immediately came at her, but then fell as Serdra turned and cut the legs out from under it. Katja hadn't even seen her approach.
    The legless monster almost fell on top of Katja, but she rolled to the side and leapt to her feet. Another one bit at her and she retreated. She slid her foot under the spear and kicked it upwards and caught it. She'd no time to stab so she smacked the shaft into the monster's face.
    It shook from the blow and swung its claws at her. Katja expected the attack but couldn't react in time and got a scrape on her arm.
    She didn't feel it in the heat of battle and leapt backwards and drove the spear at the monster's neck. It screamed at the hit but there was no oozing so she stabbed again and apparently hit the right spot that time.
    The legless one grabbed her ankle and she cursed herself for forgetting about it. She stabbed it in the head, but it maintained the grip. Another one approached and Katja roughly tried to shake her leg loose, but the crippled monster just tightened the hold and seemed to be trying to rise on the stumps.
    Katja grimaced from the pressure on her ankle and thrust at the approaching one, but the monster dodged the attack and beat the spear aside. Just then the one on the ground yanked and she lost her balance.
    The monster came at her with the claws of one hand aloft, and Katja pictured them sinking into her throat. Then the arm fell on ground as Serdra darted between them. Before Katja could get her bearings the leg was free and the monster on the ground shrieked as its hand flew off.
    Katja stabbed the one before her to death. Serdra cut down two more with a flash of movement and danced away from the strikes of two more. Katja could think of no other description. It was as if the woman had choreographed these movements ahead of time.
    She cut the head off yet another creature and then the rest of them finally seemed to lose heart. The surviving one stayed at the edge of light and the shrieks had died down.
    Katja seized the opportunity to finish the one on the ground.
    Serdra took