Forest Kingdom Trilogy 2 - Blood and Honor

stomach, none of it his. The stench was almost overpowering. What the hell am I doing? he
    thought crazily. I could get killed doing this. Stupid bloody hero . . . The skeleton reared upwards, lifting his head clear of the heather, and dragging Jordan off the ground and up into the air. Jordan hung on tenaciously, and the great head began to sag under his weight. And then Gawaine was there at his side, and the glowing axe swept down. It sheared clean through the neckbone, and Jordan fell back into the heather, still clutching the huge skull to his chest. He lay on his back, gasping for breath, and watched dazedly as the headless skeleton took two uncertain steps and then collapsed to lie still among the heather. He realised he was still holding the skull, and threw it away from him with a sudden feeling of revulsion. It rolled to a halt, and then rocked back and forth for a while, grinning at nothing.
    Jordan watched it until he was sure it was no longer bleeding, and then he rose painfully to his feet. His chain-mail was slick with the skeleton's blood, and he made a few half-hearted attempts to brush it away with his sleeves before giving it up as a bad job. He grinned stupidly at Gawaine, feeling light-headed and rather shaky about the legs. He was alive. He was alive! He took one deep breath after another, savouring them. Gawaine moved cautiously forward to stare down at the grinning skull.' He stirred it with his boot, and the lower jawbone fell away from the skull. Gawaine looked at Jordan, and nodded curtly.
    'That was well done, actor. For a moment there, I thought you might just turn and run.'
    'Never crossed my mind,' said Jordan blandly. 'After you've
    faced Hillsdown audiences seven days a week and twice on Saturdays, there isn't much in this world that can frighten you.'
    Roderik came over to join them, limping slightly but otherwise apparently unharmed.
    'Are you badly hurt?' he asked Gawaine. 'That was a nasty blow you took.'
    Gawaine smiled and shook his head. 'Just a few cuts and bruises. I've been Kurt worse in training sessions.'
    'I'm fine too,' said Jordan. 'Just in case you were worried.'
    Roderik looked at him calmly. 'I wasn't worried about you for a moment, Jordan Actors always land on their feet. Did either of you see what happened to Robert?'
    'There can't be much doubt,' said Gawaine, sheathing his axe. 'That creature must have thrown him a good thirty feet. Probably broke every bone in his body.'
    'Not quite,' said Argent. 'It just feels that way.'
    They all looked round to see Argent making his way through the heather towards them. He paused beside the headless skeleton, and kicked it once. Roderik moved quickly over to offer him a supporting arm, but Argent just smiled and waved it away.
    'I'm all right, Rod. I was lucky, the heather broke my fall. I got the wind knocked out of me, and I'm carrying some bruises I'll be feeling for a while, but on the whole I seem to have come out of it pretty much intact.'
    Roderik laughed, and shook his head. 'I should have known you were too devious to die that easily, old friend. You know, it's a pity we can't tell anyone about this. Destroying Bloody Bones would make us all heroes, maybe even legends. They'd write ballads about us.'
    Jordan frowned. The thought had occurred to him. 'Why can't we tell anyone?'
    'Because officially your highness has never left Castle Midnight, and neither have we,' said Gawaine.
    'Oh. Yes.' Jordan sniffed, and looked unhappily at the heap of blood-spattered bones lying among the heather. 'What are we going to do with the body?'
    'We'll drop it back in the barrow, and seal it up again as best we can,' said Roderik. 'Only I think we'll take the skull with us until we find a nice deep river, and then we'll get rid of it there. Just to be on the safe side.'
    'Never mind, lad,' said Gawaine to Jordan. 'Maybe you could write it up as a play.'
    'Nobody would ever believe it,' said Argent.
    'When I'm on stage, people believe whatever I want them to,' said Jordan, grinning. 'Isn't that why you chose me?'
    Prince Lewis scowled at the silent scene before him. He couldn't tell what they were saying, but it was obvious they were congratulating themselves on their victory. Viktor had done surprisingly well. All the intelligence reports on him suggested he'd grown harder and tougher during his years in exile, but even so
    ... And that smoke had been a new trick. Viktor must have been working on his magic, refining it. Lewis turned