94 Chapter Ninety-Four – Caught in Dreams II (1/2)

I certainly wasn't expecting this, and the hyn seemed pretty amazed, too.

In The Power of Ten, the hyn were born from human midgets and pygmies in a magical world, transforming from the tide of magic coming across the planet. Thus, no more midgets were born to normal humans at all, and the hyn were simply considered a shorter branch of the human race.

I kicked off the withers of one of lancer's horses, popped up another ten feet, and landed on the wall right between two of the hyn archers, who stumbled back, a lot of pointy things aimed my way. The closer one actually fell down, staring up at me, and I bent down over him.

He wasn't a dream. Cold, hard reality gathered around him, giving him a solidity that a creature of Dream just didn't have.

”Hmm,” I muttered to no one in particular, and turned around to look down at the serpent folk down there.

They weren't from Dream, either… or, at least, mostly not.

I looked up at the gray, unreal mists shrouding the sky and permeating the air, laced with the stuff of Dream… but this area was not in Dream.

It was on the borders of Dream. What was the Curse playing at? Did it get tired of thinking up new landscapes and things for us to fight? It had all Creation's dreams to pick from, literally infinite amounts of nightmares and visionary landscapes to pick from.

But this was even different then that drugged idiot venturing to places in Dream he should not have.

I turned back to look at the hyn, who had clustered up with their spears and bows, and were watching me narrowly as my men cleared up the last of the scalies below.

”You're not supposed to be here,” I told them, and all their eyes went wide. ”What happened?” I glanced over them… only about a hundred of them, with non-combatant women and children among them.

”You… who are you?” asked the hyn in the lead, his short bow unwavering. My total lack of fear was unnerving him.

”Sama Rantha, the Sage of Swords,” I replied calmly, and then my eyes narrowed. ”You may notice I have my Sword sheathed. If you want me to take it out and point it at you, keep your arrows trained on me.”

His eyes darted left and right, and then over the edge of the roof. Horsemen were gathering up in lines to watch what was going on up above… and my skirmishers had hands resting on their own horsebows.

He whistled sharply, and the bows dropped with the spears, some of the short folk letting out relieved breaths, having seen me chewing through the snake-men below. ”Apologies, Sage Sama. This situation has unnerved us.” Fear was nibbling at the edge of his eyes. ”I am Ecto Twindleburr. We were brought here by a bank of billowing yellow fog. We do not know where we are, only that the snake people have discovered us, and are hunting us…”

I nodded once. ”They want to find out how you taste.” The hyn swallowed once. ”Do you know how to get out of here? If you stay too long, you will not be able to leave.”

He hesitated only a moment, and then all their heads turned off to his left, in a specific direction. ”There is something pulling us that way…”

”We've got a direction!” I declared, hand to my temple. I held out my hand. ”We'll get you home, Master Ecto. We were brought here to fight, and that looks like a fine direction to go. If you're willing to come with us, we'll get you out of here.”

He looked at me, stepped up to look up at the gore-spattered horsemen below, and all the dead scaled bodies being trod beneath iron hooves.

Ecto glanced at me. ”They all follow you?” he asked, surprised.

He jumped when near two hundred swords left their scabbards at the same time. ”TREMBLE!” they shouted, in a unison so perfect that the hyn all flinched.

”Yes,” I added, with a fierce smile that showed my dual canines. ”You game?” My hand hadn't moved.

He swallowed, looked up at all those upraised swords, and made his decision. ”If you could safeguard us, that would be great, Sage Sama!” he said, and reached out to take my hand.

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I used a Disk for an intermediate step, standing on it and as each hyn leapt down, I tossed them to a waiting horseman, who caught them easily and seated them in front of them on their mounts. The process was incredibly quick and fluid, as the hyn were naturally agile, and my lads were very precise.

In just a few minutes, the road rooftop was empty. Ecto was dropped on my Disk as I jumped off it, and found himself getting pulled after me at high speed as I led the horsemen away on foot.