Tyle Sands -- page 118

Stay hidden and watch.

You watch as the riders come charging into the town. You notice that their horses do not make the same ringing sound when they strike the stone road. "They must not be shod," you realize.

The eight riders race by the stone building and the hedge that you are hiding behind. As they pass you catch a glimpse of one of them, but all you can tell is that they aren't human. Two hundred paces down the road. They stop and turn arround, slowly making their way back towards where you and the two warriors are hiding.

"Lizard men," you breath, "They are lizard men."

As they approach, you see a streak out of the corner of your eye then one of the lizard men shreaks, "Aaaaaaaeeeeeeeee!!!!!" and tumbles from his horse with a thud. A second blur hurrles a cross the street falling another of the riders. You hear one of them shout orders in a unfamiliar tongue. Their confusion seems to only last for a few seconds. Two of them drop back and the four left charge the stone building awkwardly dropping off their horses as they near the inn.

The swordsman apears meeting them at the door with both swords swinging. Steel strikes steel and ocasional shreaks and yells come from the lizard men. The swordsman fights silently, skillfully warding of the four lizard blades and managing to slice deep into one lizard man's leg.

The two men that droped back now hold longbows and send a barage of arrows flying at the window. You see the first on smash through the glass revealing the second warrior with his cross bow. One of the archers yells and falls to the ground, a bolt protruding from his throat. Then remaining archer shoots another arrow into the window striking the crossbowman in the sholder and sending him splawling backwards. His crossbow goes skittering out of site into the inn.

The swords man has felled two of the lizard men but is loosing ground. It is obvious from his moves that he is getting tired and the lizard men know it too. An arrow slices by his left arm leaving a huge gash as it thuds into the swinging door.

You notice that one of the lizard men's abandoned horses has wandered over to the hedge where you are hiding. It seems eager to be farther away from the fighting. Oddly, the horse is not saddled. It just has a blanket tied to its back. Attached on the back of the blanket is a long bow and a quiver with arrows.