Valley of the Ancients: Book Three of the Restoration Series Read Free Page A

pathetic lie. Did you forget that I escaped from a torture room?"
    The two soldiers on the sides were moving forward slowly, all the while moving farther to his sides. They had their swords out to, but there was a hesitation.
    "Remember our orders," the middle guard said, ignoring Derek and focusing on the other two soldiers.
    Derek could guess what those orders were. They wanted him alive.
    The guard on the right jumped forward but it was only a feint. No sooner had he started forward, then he immediately retreated.
    Not fooled, Derek had started to turn in the guard's direction but stopped even before the guard began his retreat. He did a quick downwards slash with his sword but not to the right where the supposed attack was coming from, instead he slashed his sword to the left.
    There was a clang as Derek's sword hit the sword of the soldier on the left side. He had guessed right, the attack from the right was a feint to distract him from the real attack which was coming from the left.
    As his sword deflected the soldier's sword downward, Derek jerked his belt knife out and up and felt the satisfactory feeling of warm blood hitting his skin. His blade cut diagonally across the soldier's face and the man's left eye exploded. That soldier fell to the ground screaming, but Derek was already moving in the opposite direction.
    As soon as his knife hit home, he swung his sword back to the right. He swung the sword in a fast arc, more to drive the soldiers back away from him and it sort of worked. The soldier on the right had taken several steps towards him and he jumped back out of the way of the sword. The middle soldier was smarter. Seeing what Derek was doing, he waited for Derek to cut the first soldier and make his unbalanced swing. He did not start towards Derek until after the sword passed him and then he jumped forward hitting Derek hard in the chest and the two of them hit the ground hard.
    Derek landed on his back and the soldier came down on top of him. A sharp pain burst through his right leg which was bent at an unusual angle. The impact with the ground loosened his grip on the sword and it went flying but he managed to hold on to his knmovife with his left hand. He quickly raised the knife, intending to stab the soldier in the back but his forearm was grabbed by the third man, who had quickly knelt down beside them.
    Panic began to rise up in Derek at the thought of losing this fight. He tried to roll but the two men were ready for this and kept him from losing them.
    The kneeling soldier punched him hard in the face, possibly breaking his nose. His eyes blurred and he couldn't see, but he kept right on fighting, twisting, trying to pull his knife arm loose. He twisted hard, trying to roll to the right and gave a hard tug with his left arm, and miraculously it came free.
    Surprised by the sudden freedom of his arm, he nevertheless knew what to do and plunged the knife into the back of the man lying across him.
    The soldier's eyes widened and his mouth opened in a silent scream. After a moment, the soldier was nothing but dead weight and Derek shoved him off.
    He pulled himself into a kneeling position and desperately tried to clear the blood and tears from his eyes. His vision cleared quickly but he knelt there blinking at the scene laid out before him.
    Ten feet in front of him, the first soldier he had cut was still moaning on the ground. To his right was the corpse of the soldier he had stabbed in the back. Several feet in front of him and slightly to his left was what had to be the corpse of the third man. It was barely recognizable. It was shriveled and all shrunk up, reminding Derek of the way a grape becomes a raisin. Even more astounding, was the woman standing five feet in front of him.
    She had dark brown bushy hair that was nearly black and it contrasted with her white pale skin. Her eyes were the brightest green he had ever seen and they only accentuated the paleness of her skin. Her clothes were brown