Forest Kingdom Trilogy 2 - Blood and Honor

whatever happens. I don't need distractions.'
    She glared about her, and the courtiers nodded dumbly. Catriona Taggert smiled grimly, and spoke a Word of Power.
    Jordan staggered back a step as Reality shuddered around him, torn and sundered by the force of the Steward's sorcery. Something roared in the Hall like captive thunder, and the world changed. Jordan shook his head dazedly as for a moment two different views of the Court fought for dominance in his mind, and then the illusions were blown away like leaves on the wind, and Reality became clear again.
    The courtiers screamed and fell back from the dead man in rheir midst. He had looked like just another courtier before, hidden by an Unreal glamour, but now he stood exposed as a grinning, rotting corpse.
    Flies swarmed about it, their buzzing unnaturally loud. Its flesh was blackened and torn, revealing discoloured bones and frayed strands of decaying muscle. Witch-light burned in its empty eye sockets.
    As the lich realised it stood revealed for what it was, it howled with rage and struck out viciously at the nearest courtier. The man died instantly as i lie lich's bony fist buried itself in the side of his skull. It ripped its fist free in a flurry of gore, and whirled round to thrust its clawed hand into another man's face. Blood ran down the man's neck in thick streams, and his screams mixed with the lich's bubbling laughter.
    Up above, a gleaming glass chandelier burst apart in a silent explosion. The gleaming crystals shuddered through a dozen Utfly colours as they fell, and then suddenly became a hundred and more gore crows that flew off in different directions. They swept back and forth over the courtiers' heads, their beaks and claws drawing blood from those who couldn't dodge fast enough.
    Behind the throne's raised dais, a man was melting into the far wall. Already it was hard to tell where his flesh ended and the stone began. He was horribly emaciated, his bones pressing out against the taut skin, but his sunken eyes were alive and aware. He knew what was happening to him.
    n;imon Cord roared a challenge in a deep, echoing voice and lic-nlcd for the lich at a run. He reached out with his left hand i ml pulled a huge steel mace out of thin air. The thick shaft was three feet long, and the great club head was studded with wicked metal spikes. The lich threw away its dying victim and turned to face Cord, hissing in anticipation. It lashed out with a clawed and blood-soaked hand. Cord avoided the blow with almost uncanny ease, and his huge mace rose and fell. The great spiked head slammed down on to the lich's shoulder, and the impact drove the creature to the floor. Its bones broke and shattered under the blow, and it screamed with rage. It tried to get up again, but Cord was already stooping over it. The flies clustered thickly about him and crawled over his face, but he ignored them. He lifted up his mace and then brought it sweeping down in a vicious blow that tore the lich's head from its body. The body convulsed, and grabbed blindly for Cord with its clawed hands. Cord hit it again and again, and finally it lay still as the last of its Unreal life went out of it. Cord growled once, satisfied, and looked around for another enemy. Everyone backed away from him, unnerved by the open savagery in his scarred face.
    The Steward had deliberately left Cord to fight on his own. They both preferred to work alone. Almost before Cord had started moving towards the Hch, she had raised her hands and sent a wave of crackling white balefire seething through the air above the courtiers. The soaring crows screamed like children as the balefire touched them. All over the Court they burst into flames and fell out of the air like so many burning handkerchiefs. Even as the courtiers scattered to avoid the burning birds, the Steward was already running down the Hall towards the man trapped in the wall. She made a grasping motion with her right hand, and a long slender sword formed itself out of balefire and fitted itself into her clutching hand.
    At the same time, a glowing silvery shield appeared on her left arm.
    Cord glared balefully about him, and his gaze settled on a portly noble to Jordan's left. He smiled slowly, and hefted his mace. Foulness dripped from the metal tines. The noble shook his head, and began to
    back away.
    'No! Please . . . it's a mistake! I'm Real, Real as you! Do I look like one of those things? Just look at me!'
    Cord moved steadily towards