Now only Lennox remained in the fight. The young giant hit once more, but his time the beast was ready – it parried the blow with its paw and a taloned hand gripped the youth’s upper arm, smashing the bone and ripping the flesh from the shoulder. Lennox staggered back but did not fall. Transferring the club to his right hand, he waited for the beast’s next attack.
An arrow cut deep into the monster’s thigh, causing it to bellow in pain and rage. A second glanced from its thick skull. Lennox crashed his club into the creature’s mouth, but a back-handed blow hurled him from his feet.
Injured though the beast was, none of the wounds were mortal, and the battle had turned. From his precarious position in the tree, Gwalchmai fired a third shaft which buried itself in the ground by the beast’s right foot. Leaning out for the fourth shot, the young archer toppled from the branch, landing on his back.
Running behind the beast, Gaelen grabbed Layne’s spear and plucked it from the creature’s back. As it turned he stabbed at its face, the point slashing a jagged line up and into the sensitive nostrils. To Gaelen’s right Layne gathered up Lennox’s club and tried to help, but the monster turned on him, slashing the boy’s chest. The talons snaked out again. Gaelen leaped backwards, tumbling to the earth.
The beast’s jaws opened and another terrifying howl pierced the air.
The boys were finished.
‘Ho, Hell spawn!’ shouted the Queen. The beast swung ponderously, glittering black eyes picking out the tall, armoured figure at the centre of the clearing. ‘Now face me!’
She stood with feet apart, her silver sword before her.
The beast reared to its full height – eight feet of black, merciless destruction. Before its power the woman seemed to Gaelen a frail, tiny figure. The monster moved forward slowly – then charged, dropping to all fours. The Queen sidestepped, her silver sword swung arcing down to rebound from the creature’s skull, slicing its scalp and sending a blood spray into the air. The beast twisted, launching itself in a mighty spring, but the woman leaped to the right, the sword cutting across the creature’s chest to open a shallow wound.
Agwaine crawled to where Gaelen crouched.
‘She cannot win,’ whispered the Hunt Lord’s son.
‘Run, boys!’ yelled the Queen.
But they did not. Gaelen scooped up the broken spear, while Layne helped Lennox to his feet and gathered once more the club of oak.
The old woman was breathing hard now. Taliesen had stitched her wounds, but her strength was not what it was. Under the breastplate stitches had parted and blood oozed down her belly. Sweat bathed her face and her mouth was set in a grim line.
Once more the beast reared above her. Once more she hammered the sword in its face. The creature shook its head, blood spraying into the air.
The woman knew she could last but a little longer, while the creature was only maddened by the cuts it had received. A plan formed in her mind and weighed down her heart. It had been her hope to return to her realm and lead it out of the darkness of war. Now there would be no going home. No future. No golden days of peace watching the nation prosper.
In that final moment, as the creature prepared to attack once more, it was as if time slowed. Sigarni could smell the forest, the musky brown earth, the freshness of the breeze. Images leapt to her mind and she saw again the handsome forester, Fell, the first great love of her life. He had died in the battle against the Baron, cut down by the last arrow loosed in that fateful battle. Faces from the past glittered in her memory: Ballistar the dwarf, who had sought a new life in a new world; Asmidir, die black battle captain; Obrin, the renegade Outlander; and Redhawk – above them all, Redhawk.
‘I will never see you again,’ she thought, ‘though you promised to be with me at the end. You gave me your word, my love. You promised!’
Talons lashed towards her. Ducking beneath them she leapt back, lifting her sword towards the beast. It sprang forward, but this time the Queen did not side-step. With a savage battle-cry she launched herself into its path, driving the blade deep into die creature’s huge chest. The silver steel slid between its ribs, plunging through its lungs and cleaving the heart.