Read A Warrior's Heart (Shields) for Free Online

creature with wings that clanked so loudly as they beat that you could hardly hear yourself think.”
    “Nay,” Cole said.   “Ours had wide, thin wings.”
    “The creature we saw had the face and upper body of a beautiful woman with long flaming red hair.”
    Gabriel shook his head.   “Our creature had a hideously shaped face with a long snout and red, beady eyes.”
    Hugh cursed as he paced before them.   “You describe the Gargoyle, yet I know we saw the Harpy.”
    “By the gods,” Val muttered.   “We’re not fighting one creature, but two.”
    The men looked to each other, then as one turned toward the castle.   They must talk privately, not in the middle of the bailey were anyone could overhear them.
    Yet, they didn’t get farther than the great hall before Mina stopped Hugh.
    “I must speak with you,” she called out to him.
    “Can it wait?”
    She hesitated a moment, then nodded.   “Aye.”
    Hugh gave her a small smile before he hurried up the stairs to one of the tower chambers that they used when needing to discuss something privately.   It was well away from the rest of the castle, and situated so that they could hear someone coming up the stairs.
    “What are we going to do?” Roderick asked once they were in the tower chamber.
    Hugh sank onto one of the chairs, his head in his hands.   “Aimery will have to be notified immediately.   We’ve battled both creatures, and we know how to kill them.”
    “I hate to say it,” Gabriel said, “but I highly doubt that both creatures have come back the same as before.”
    Val sighed.   “Meaning they won’t be as easy to kill.”
    “That’s my thought,” Gabriel said with a shrug.   “It makes sense if you think that every creature we’ve battled has gotten stronger and more deadly with each one we’ve killed.”
    “Gabriel’s right,” Cole said.  
    Hugh raised his head and steepled his hands in front of his face.   “All right.   We need to come up with a plan of action.   Both creatures fly, which makes their attack on the castle most likely at night so we can’t see them.   The Harpy we can hear coming by the clacking of her wings.”
    Roderick moved to the door.   “I’ll have the guards doubled and tell them to keep their eyes on the skies.”
    “They’ll need to rotate shifts since we’ll need the battlements fully guarded at night as well,” Val said as he stood and followed Roderick from the tower.
    Hugh sighed and leaned back against the stone wall.   “We’ve battled these creatures.   We know their weaknesses.”
    “Aye,” Gabriel said, sensing his leader’s worry.   “The Gargoyle can only attack at night, so during the day we find it and kill it as before.”
    Cole nodded.   “If they’re smart, which they’ve shown in the past, one will attack at night while the other attacks during the day.”
    “Which would leave us being attacked constantly,” Hugh murmured.
    Gabriel lowered himself on one of the chairs.   “It’s a good strategy for them.   It’ll leave us locked in the castle for fear of leaving.”
    “And we can’t chance leaving with the Chosen,” Cole said.   “Our women are the key to the demise of the Great Evil.   He’ll be coming for them.”
    Hugh nodded slowly.   “I thought I’d finally found my future when I found Mina, but now that’s threatened.”   His gaze moved to Cole then to Gabriel.   “I cannot lose Mina.”
    “You won’t,” Gabriel promised as he rose.   “Go to her.   I’ll make sure everything is prepared for an attack tonight.”
    Hugh walked past him and out of the tower.   Gabriel watched his leader for several moments before Cole moved beside him.
    “I know how Hugh feels.   Shannon is my life.   Without her I’m nothing.”
    Gabriel looked to his friend and saw the concern in Cole’s brown eyes.   “We’re all together now.   We’ll get through this as we have everything else before.”
    Cole tried to smile but failed