The demon horse's legs came down. The cythraul cranked the flail over its head like a lasso. The chain went taut. The recliner-sized mace sailed through the air, orbited the cythraul like a planetoid, and came whistling toward Justin.

Justin leaped forward instead of back, channeling a small flow of aurym through his sword. The a'thri'ik shards in the blade bloomed emerald. The flail's spiked mace-head went wide around him, and Justin hacked at its tether. A normal sword would have ...