Blogalot

The following is a teaser from my book, Crawl Through, published on BriBooks:

The nigh was chill, a wet kind of cold ensued from the river. The riverbank had thick mud that slowed their gait. Every now and again, they would hear the owl’s hoot or the wolf’s howl from the woods that lined the former Castle Fijor’s grounds. They had been travelling for a good hour when they heard it. The rumbling of hooves on the dirt track to their left, just where the mud began. “Riders!” Horn hissed, and bade Gabrey to dart away with him closer to the river. But It was too late. The riders had spotted them. There were three of them, dressed in the grey mail of the Patrollers. They were armed with halberds. “Who goes there?” called one of them, presumably their captain. “We are naught but fishermen, my lord” Horn replied. “And what do you think you’re doing, travelling so late at night?”

A rider behind the captain pointed out, “Sir, I don’t see a catch on them.”

“So they don’t. An unsuccessful day? I think not” the captain spat. “And you, what are you doing, covering behind this old wretch? Come over here!”

Gabrey, hesitated, then stepped out in front of them. He was confident that the riders wouldn’t recognise him after what the dungeon had done to his face, years of grime and matted beard. The riders squinted at him, then yelled “YOU! CHIEF GABREY!” Gabrey was stunned. How had they manged to recognise him? He snapped out of it as the captain swung his halberd at his head, shouting “In the name of King Curabfes, I, Captain Treth, sentence you to death!”

The dungeon rots its prisoner’s body and mind. But for a man as determined as Gabrey, the dungeon could never reach his mind. His mind constantly reminded itself of its old skills, replaying old battles, and refreshing the reflexes and experience gained from them. And now they were put to the test.

Gabrey ducked. The halberd went whizzing in an arc over his head. He slung the axe out from his waist, and swung upward, an underhand swing that chopped the halberd’s axe head right away from the shaft. Captian Treth gasped in shock, and that was all the opening Gabrey needed. He grabbed the horse’s reigns, swung himself upward and hacked at Treth’s face. The fool had neglected to pull down the visor of his helm. The horse reared back, panicked, and Gabrey fell off. The other two were on him now, swinging their halberds down low to catch him with their spear tips where he lay in the mud. Gabrey rolled out of the path of one, and right into the other’s. Old Horn, quick and strong for his age, lobbed his metal cooking pot at the rider’s face. It clanged forcefully off his helm, causing him to pull the reigns, giving Gabrey the moment he needed. He sprang up to the horse’s side and chopped the man’s leg off with one mighty swing. He screamed as his severed leg dangled awkwardly in its stirrup. The other rider had turned his steed around and was charging at him now. Gabrey grabbed the reigns as the legless soldier’s horse bolted away from its counterpart. He swung himself up and threw off the former rider, still screaming, all the while pulling hard at the reigns to turn the horse around. He managed a tight turn just at the water’s edge, then kicked hard, galloping towards the last rider. The rider aimed the spear tip right at Gabrey’s chest. Gabrey deflected it with a quick blow from his handy axe, then leaned an impossible distance off his horse towards the rider as they crossed paths. The rider never saw the axe at his throat as he rode straight into it.

Read it all here- https://www.bribooks.com/bookstore/crawl-through-by-saahas-ludhra/