War of the Fathers - Chapter Nineteen

This week’s episode features Chapter Eighteen of War of the Fathers.  Click here to download it or press play below. Here is an excerpt from the show: 

Jorad hadn’t seen Adar or the Hunwei for half an hour. He hadn’t been able to keep up, the pain in his back made it tough to run. If it weren’t for the mountain towering in front of him, he wouldn’t have had any idea which direction the road lay. He stopped, planted the tip of his sword into the ground and leaned against a nearby tree as he tried to catch his breath. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked up at the sky, trying to guess what time it was. It had cleared up for a little while earlier, but now the clouds had returned, more ominous than before. It had been hours since they’d first come across the Hunwei, and he figured it was late in the afternoon.

Did some of the Hunwei break off to go back for the others? Was Soret even still alive?

Jorad took a deep breath and tried to concentrate on the matters at hand, and was startled by the sound of a blast. Melyah, those things were loud. He gripped his sword and moved in the direction of the blast.

In moments, he faced a small clearing. Jorad crouched. Crossing it was out of the question, but maybe one of the Hunwei would. They didn’t take much care to hide. Why would they? Human weapons bounced off them with no harm. Confound it, they were in trouble.

 He listened, hoping for more sound to indicate which direction he should move. After several minutes of observation failed to reveal anything, he moved to the right and circled around the small meadow. He was almost to the other side when a Hunwei walked into the opening. Jorad froze but it was too late, he’d been seen.

The Hunwei pointed his weapon in Jorad's direction and fired. Jorad dove to the ground, rolled, turned to run and found himself face to face with the Hunwei they’d disarmed earlier. He was glad to see that the Hunwei still hadn’t retrieved the blaster as he burst into a sprint. That hopefully meant that Adar was still alive. The Hunwei grabbed for Jorad, but he twisted away, lost his footing and fell. His sword slid out of reach.

He crawled towards his sword, but there was a flash of pain in his side as the Hunwei kicked him. The air went out of his lungs, and he struggled to breathe. The Hunwei kicked him again, this time hitting the burn on his back. The scream that erupted from his throat caused the Hunwei to gurgle with laughter.

Jorad charged into the cackling Hunwei’s legs, grunting in pain when he made contact and taking them both to the ground. He could smell the creature. It was the same stink from the night they followed the shadows outside of Neberan. It was strange that he'd only now smelled it again, but perhaps that was because his mind had been so wrapped up in other things. He grabbed one of his daggers and stabbed down into the face of the Hunwei, refusing to die without a fight, no matter how futile his efforts.

To his surprise, the dagger plunged into the Hunwei’s eye, causing him to scream. Jorad pulled it out and stabbed the other eye, as the creature convulsed beneath him. Wrenching the dagger with both hands, he twisted and pushed it to the hilt. The Hunwei screamed again and wriggled beneath his legs. He pushed it in as deep as he could, pulled it out and stabbed into the neck repeatedly. Blue blood covered his hands when he stopped. He stood; shocked that he'd been able to kill a Hunwei.