Brier Bound

((Book 1 if this is your first time here: 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BZZBHBMF

Book 3's finished version: 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CK72L912))

I had decided to clear a path between the fortress and the door so that Paul could escape on his own while I fought the commander, so instead of sneaking over there, I drew the attention of as many of the Satyrs as I could.

I grab hold of a spear thrust at me from one of the rooftops above, and wince as a rock flung from a sling from another strikes the back of my head. I pull the first satyr down off the building and send a quick cast Earthen Spike through the body of the sling user. The spear wielder fell down from the roof, and while he was falling I slam my dagger into its chest, tossed its seizing body into the side of the next to me, and pulled the dagger out of the creature's chest.

Coming up the hill came two baying hounds, bound in tendrils of briar that wrapped around their bodies. The brier digs and snakes through a variety of wounds beneath the fur. The first came upon me and clamped its jaws around my left arm and dragged me to the ground. It had bright, blue eyes, and black and white fur, and looked so incredibly like a husky...no, not looked. It had definitely been a husky at some point. The second — a pit bull, jumps on top of my chest and aims its powerful, wide jaws at my throat. I intercept it by slamming the shaft of my staff into its mouth to stop it from clamping around and ripping out my jugular.

"Dance for me, djinn."

A dome of fire and wind forms around me, and pushes the husky back. I drop the spell, and I try to finish the dog off with an Earthen Spike that pierces it through its stomach. It tries to pull itself free, as I hear the clopping of hooves against the stony ground coming up behind the pit bull, clamped down on my staff. I feel the flow of mana going through the tendrils of thorns, strengthening the animal so that it could keep it in place. Fuck. I guess I'm losing another pair of shoes. I pull up my legs and press my feet against the animal's stomach.

"Oh you ruler of Olympus, lend thy power to my steps.

My hips slam against the ground and push me into the hard-packed soil as the dog goes skyward. It flips through the air as I spring to my feet. Something hits me on my left, and I turn to see a satyr with a club. It's much larger than the last; though still about half the size of a minotaur; and its horns are more pointed and more suited for butting than the other. A large tattoo emblazoned on its bare chest; a crumbling skull that looks much like the skull that I currently have in my bag.

Blood trickles down from my head, and another blow takes me on my left flank. I stumble back, and the dog pierced through the stomach clamps its jaws around my shoulder, and holds me in place; mana rushes through the tendrils of thorns, keeping it animated. The threads of mana connect to the large goatman to the tattoo, and it was only then that I noticed the faint, subtle greenish glow coming off of it.

It swings its club toward my head, and I yank away from the creature's jaw, and ducks. The club smashes the face of the husky and breaks apart the earthen spike. The pit bull crashes on the roof beside us and kicks up a cloud of gray dust. I send a surge of earth mana over toward the large satyr to run its body through with Earthen Spike, and it intercepts it with a stream of air mana through the ground. I draw my dagger and rush forward. It swings down with its club, and I block it with my staff and divert the path away from my head before slamming the pointed blade forward into the diaphragm of the large satyr.

It pushes me off of its body with a hard shove, and I stumble as the husky; with its jaw shattered and barely hanging on by the thinnest strand of sinew, tries to attack me from behind.

I hold my left hand out.

"A volley, o' djinn."

Red, glowing arrows of flame and wind formed in front of me and slammed into the Satyr. It stumbled back as the wind-borne flames wrapped around its body and caught its wiry hair on fire. I push myself off my feet and lurch forward to grab the hilt of the dagger.

"I call upon Zeus; lord of Olympus, to lend me a bolt so that I might smite my enemy."

My body seizes temporarily as the divine mana of Zeus pours into my body from the top of my head, and flushes through me like being prodded with a taser. The lightning bolt courses out of my hand and into the creature with the dagger as the medium. The Satyr's body flexes all at once and then falls to the ground. The glowing on its chest tattoo fades. The injured brier dogs begin to whine as well. That was the last of them. The pain fades as I level up from the fight.