Page 28 of The Desert King's Spy (Magic and Kings 2)
“They’re actually not bad tasting if cooked with the right spices.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” Daisy had her hand on the door, ready to charge outside.
Their enthusiasm couldn’t be faulted, however… “You can’t fight the giant sand lizards with ordinary weapons. The blades aren’t sharp enough to cut through their leathery skin.”
“This axe is far from ordinary. It used to be my grandfather’s.” Daisy held it out with a flourish.
“You misunderstand. You need something forged with elekium.” Rare to start with. Even rarer once it became known it actually worked against the monsters.
“The lady is correct. The feral lizards require specialized tools. Luckily, I am equipped.” Oriz pulled a curved blade that gleamed silver and blue.
“One weapon against how many?” I shook my head. “Don’t be foolish. We should stay inside these walls that have stood the test of time.”
“Hide?” Jord sounded quite incredulous.
“We’re not cowards,” Yaanik insisted.
“It has nothing to do with bravery. Your weapons can’t cut through their skin,” I pointed out.
“Then we’ll cut its soft spots,” Yaanik declared.
“There are none unless you’re planning to crawl into its mouth.”
The moment I said it my guards exchanged glances, nodded, and out they went.
“They aren’t…” I trailed off rather than say it aloud.
“They are,” Oriz grimly confirmed.
“Those idiots are going to get themselves killed.”
“Is that a less-than-subtle hint for me to help?”
“Are you that eager to die too?” I snapped even as I followed him to the door.
The moonlight showcased the world outside, the sloping hole where the corshmels stood not long ago. The giants stood around the edges of another dimple in the sand, taking turns thumping the ground.
“Is this some strange mating ritual the giants have?” asked Oriz, his blade held down by his side.
“I don’t know what they’re doing.” The moment I spoke, though, I began to see a strange method to their madness. One of the giants would tap a few times while the others waited. If nothing budged, a different one tapped next.
A sudden tremble under foot had the Weztrogians dropping into battle-ready stances. Daisy kept tapping, calling forth—
I couldn’t have said what emerged other than it wasn’t a lizard. It had too many tentacles for that. One of them grabbed Yaanik and lifted him high. The idiot uttered a yodel of enjoyment as he swung and chopped at the limb until it dropped him. Rather than retreat, he and the other giants began to hack and slash the never-ending, thrashing appendages.
“We should do something,” I insisted. I had a dagger on me. Taking out one limb would hardly make a difference, but I couldn’t just watch.
“You’re safer staying here.” Oriz tapped the hard stone with his foot. As if to prove him wrong, a tentacle shot in our direction. Oriz casually sliced it, the glow of his elekium blade singing as it cut.
A shiver went through the monster, which resulted in more tentacles coming for us. It ignored the Weztrogians, who took the lack of attention personally and began yelling at the beast.
It didn’t divert its focus from us. Or should I say Oriz? I stood behind him, unashamedly using him as a shield of flesh armed with a length of elekium steel. Thankfully he actually knew how to use it. He twirled his blade and kept the appendages at bay. Distracted by that fight, I didn’t notice the second monster arriving. The first I knew it grabbed my ankle. I glanced down and didn’t have time to yell as I was dragged toward the pit it emerged from. I definitely did not want to go into that hole.
I stabbed at it, plunging my dagger into its rubbery flesh over and over. The monster tightened at first, and I feared it would snap my limb. The tentacle loosened enough that I broke free and ran for the hut. I’d only entered a pace when I froze. The whole thing groaned. A crack in the ceiling let sand sift through. There was no safety in here. I’d have to take my chances under the open sky.
I emerged to find the first monster being ignored as the giants and Oriz concentrated on the one that attacked me. It flailed its limbs, many of them thicker than its stumped companion.
The crack of stone giving way sent me reeling from the partially buried house, stumbling away and whirling to watch. The roof caved in first, drawing down the sand atop it, which led to the walls literally crumbling. The whole thing collapsed, sending up a choking cloud of dust and sand.