The Path of Giants, B.T. Narro [the speed reading book .TXT] 📗

using the momentum of my fall to propel my body like I was sliding down through the sky. I fell back against the energy as I pushed it toward Charlie with my mind and stretched it to cover my back. I might’ve felt like I was on a large and fast swing if I hadn’t been the one controlling it.

I changed my trajectory in the air as more arrows missed around me. Soon I was practically flying horizontal. I was going too fast to keep track of Charlie as I avoided smacking into a tree with a sudden lurch to the side.

I didn’t know how to stop or if I’d already passed Charlie. It was hard enough to avoid the trees without looking around. I flew out of the encampment, losing control of my momentum but refusing to let myself drop, for I had a plan. The strain on my mind was immense, but I had built up my stamina just for moments like this.

Still sitting on my curved slab of dvinia, I turned in the air and flew back the way I’d come. Zipping into the encampment faster than I could sprint, I didn’t bother changing course as I flew feet-first into an archer trying to load another arrow for me. His eyes bulged with surprise as I kicked him in the chest.

It slowed me enough to let my energy disperse as I landed. I looked in the direction where Charlie had been, but there was just a pile of ropes in front of his tree. I scanned the encampment I was running into as I made a shield of dvinia to block two arrows.

Souriff was not here with me, and I didn’t see or feel Valinox nearby, either. I had the attention of the entire enemy army, but I was still on the outskirts of their encampment. Most of them were more than twenty yards away.

There were maybe a dozen archers continuously firing at me. I blocked their arrows with dvinia, but I couldn’t hope to keep this up for too long and still be useful by the time the rest of my allies arrived.

I ran for cover behind a nearby tree, but I stepped in a bear trap I hadn’t seen.

I screamed as I fell over. I was quick to pry it off. I tossed it aside and healed my ankle first, then my bloody fingers. I was as quick as possible, but I couldn’t stop thinking that my peers were probably being killed right now.

I rushed out, already feeling the fatigue, as I held up another barrier of dvinia. I spotted Charlie, finally, and I was surprised to see the company he was in. Eden and Eslenda led him around the edges of the encampment, the girl and the elf blowing back enemies with dteria and wind.

“Shoot the metal mage!” Endell was screaming from the center of the encampment.

The archers turned away from me and focused on Charlie. They were set up in one large group at the center of the encampment, guarded by sorcerers in black robes I assumed to be dark mages. Their commander stood in their midst, the most protected out of everyone.

Eden and Eslenda sprinted with Charlie, Eden practically dragging him by his hand. Eslenda turned her attention toward the archers and brushed her hand across the air. A wall of water stopped six arrows in their tracks.

They were making their way toward Michael. He was the first of two others, Reuben and Aliana, who were positioned far from each other. Michael and Reuben were both bloody but still standing. Michael had clearly blown back someone who had managed to stab him a few times. Reuben was still fighting with a swordsman, dancing around his small cage and grabbing the blade with his hands to keep from being impaled. He also had an arrow sticking out of his ass.

Then I located Aliana. She was lying on the floor of her cage and wasn’t moving.

“Shit!” I yelled as I made a run for her, going around the encampment the opposite way that Charlie and the others were headed. I didn’t notice any arrows in Aliana, but her clothes were red with blood. She had most likely been stabbed like Michael and Reuben, but she hadn’t been able to avoid the blade as well.

A woman with a confident expression rushed in front of me, blocking my path. I headed straight for her with my sword ready, knowing it could be a mistake. What was she?

Her hand started dancing through the air, and an enormous ball of fire formed. Damn. I had hoped for dteria. I thought about blocking it with dvinia, but it just kept growing and growing. I could no longer see her on the other side.

I took the barrier of dvinia I had made to absorb it and wrapped it around my body instead, adding the note of G and commanding it with my mind. I took off as she casted at me.

I rose up over the heat, a burning smell reaching my nose as it singed my arm hair. I soared over the fire mage and landed behind Aliana’s cage.

“Aliana?”

“Jon?” she said weakly.

“Thank god you’re alive.”

“It was mostly an act,” she said. “But I am bleeding a lot.”

“Kill the healer!” yelled Endell, as I noticed him pointing at us from the center.

I fell flat to the ground and reached through the cage, grabbing Aliana’s extended hand. I closed my eyes as arrows banged against the metal bars and thudded into the ground around me. My mana coursed through Aliana’s body, finding her injuries. She had been stabbed in her arms many times, her legs less, and once at the top of her chest, above her heart. I imagined she had collapsed and feigned a more severe injury to get her attacker to stop. It was a risky choice, but it had paid off.

The injury to her chest was severe, however. I repaired her as quickly as I could, but it took