Bone Lord 5

by Dante King

  I turned to stare at her, grinning from ear to ear. “Insider info is exactly what I need right now, especially when it comes to something like that.”

  “I’m quite sure I know exactly where the Hooded Man is,” Yumo-Rezu said. “If all the portals were destroyed, he would have been ejected from the first portal, just prior to the collapse of the entire system.”

  “All right, so where’s the first portal?”

  A dark, humorless smile came across Yumo-Rezu’s beautiful face. “The heart of the Blood God’s empire. The Pyramid of Blood.”

  “Wait a minute,” I said, narrowing my eyes as I stared at her. “You said that you helped build the portals, and now you tell me that the first portal is in the Pyramid of Blood, whatever the hell that is. Am I missing something, or did you work with the Blood God?”

  Yumo-Rezu was quick to answer, and emphatic in her denial.

  “No, of course not! I would never work with that monster! We built the portal system before the Pyramid of Blood was constructed.”

  “And by ‘we’ you mean…”

  “Me and a few other ancient deities, who were all later slaughtered by the Blood God. He stole the portal system from us, cursing it with his magic so that anyone but a Blood-tainted entity who tried to use it would be killed instantly. For his own convenience, he built his Pyramid of Blood on top of the primary portal.”

  “And what did the asshole do in this Pyramid of Blood? I mean, beyond the obvious blood sacrifices, vats of blood, and all that,” I asked.

  “It was a center of great evil. Blood Priests would sacrifice masses of people in the temple at the top of the pyramid. This was when the Blood God had a huge army at his disposal. His forces spread terror and suffering all across Prand, and his army raided all across the land, capturing tens, if not hundreds of thousands of people to sacrifice. In the worst days of the Blood God’s reign of terror, his priests would sacrifice thousands of people in a day, so that all four sides of the pyramid were drenched with blood. The pyramid was designed in a way that blood from the sacrifices at the top would run down the sides, staining the entire structure and turning it red.”

  “Damn, that’s brutal, but not surprising considering what I’ve learned about the Blood God,” I said. “But where is this pyramid? It sounds like it had to have been a gigantic structure, but I don’t know of any pyramids in Prand.”

  Yumo-Rezu frowned, looking confused, and shook her head. “It was enormous, yes, and it can’t simply have vanished. You’re sure there are no ruined pyramids in Prand?”

  “I’ve been across the length and breadth of the continent, Yumo-Rezu. Trust me when I say that there are no pyramids, ruined or otherwise, in Prand.”

  “It was a thousand years ago, when Uger and Kemji defeated the Blood God and his Demogorgon, that the Blood Pyramid would have fallen into ruin,” Yumo-Rezu said. “Hmm … the abandoned pyramid could well have become covered with dirt, plants and trees during that time, and perhaps now merely looks like a hill. A very symmetrical, geometrically shaped hill. Does that ring a bell at all?”

  I thought about this for a few seconds, and when everything clicked, it hit me like a Frost Giant’s war-hammer.

  “Dunk me in a vat of troll shit and call me a bishop, I know where the Blood Pyramid is!” I yelled.

  Yumo-Rezu laughed, and delight sparkled in her eyes. It was good to see a smile brightening her gorgeous features.

  “You sound rather confident in that assertion, Vance.”

  “It has to be the spot, and what’s more, I’m utterly fucking certain that I know who the Hooded Man is as well. It’s all coming together, it all makes sense now, how I knew his voice but just couldn’t place it, why the Church of Light hates me so much, how Bishop Nabu could sacrifice girls and serve the Blood God in a Church of Light cathedral and get away with it, how my uncle Rodrick was able to move around and pull all his bullshit with such impunity in Prand. Yes, yes, everything totally makes sense!”

  “So where is it, and who is the Hooded Man?”

  “The Hooded Man is Elandriel, Seraphim of the Church of Light,” I said. “It’s gotta be him; that’s where I knew his voice from. That motherfucker once prophesied that I’d end up a beggar on the streets of Luminescent Spires, but as it turns out, he couldn’t have been more wrong. And speaking of the Spires, that sparkling cesspit is where the Blood Pyramid is.”

  Yumo’s personality temporarily came to the fore of the goddess-enjarta combination as she commented on this revelation.

  “Fuck me sideways, Vance, you’re saying that the holiest city in all of Prand is where the Blood Pyramid is? I’ve never been there, but I find it a little strange that, like, nobody noticed that there was this big ol’ evil pyramid in the middle of the city…”

  “That’s because it’s not in the city,” I answered with a wry grin. “It’s under it. Luminescent Spires is only a few hundred years old; it’s one of the newest cities in Prand. And it’s built on a weirdly symmetrical hill—a hill so geometric in its dimensions that it almost seemed man-made. I remember noticing it the first time I went to Luminescent Spires, back when I was a dumb kid hoping to become a Consecrated Knight. The huge hill looked totally unnatural; no hill in nature looks that perfect, that even. There’s nowhere else in Prand quite like it; it’s gotta be the site of the Blood Pyramid. By the time the Church of Light started construction on Luminescent Spires, the pyramid would have been covered in dirt and vegetation after hundreds of years of being abandoned. Maybe they didn’t know the pyramid was there, and the latent evil that lingered there slowly corrupted them, or maybe they did know, and took a chance and built their city there anyway. Either way, I’m one hundred percent certain that the ‘holiest’ city in Prand is built directly on top of the evilest site in the world. And I’m equally certain that the mortal head of the Church is now the Blood God’s High Priest.”

  “Everything you’ve said makes sense, but there’s one thing I don’t quite understand,” Yumo-Rezu said. “A thousand years ago, everyone in Prand knew about the Blood God. His power was the greatest threat to mankind the world had ever known. It took my dragons and the heroes Kemji and Uger to defeat him, along with a huge and bloody war. People said they’d never forget, and never allow the Blood God to rise again … yet a few hundred years later they not only forgot, they built a city on top of the site of his former power.”

  I chuckled bitterly and shook my head. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my short time here, it’s that people have short, selective memories. You don’t need to be a god to understand that. Mortals are doomed to allow history to repeat itself over and over again, with their short-sightedness and greed.”

  “Then you know that there’s only one way to truly stop the Blood God now, and from ever rising again,” Yumo-Rezu said.

  “Yeah, I do,” I said grimly. “It’s a responsibility I never asked for, but one that sits squarely on my shoulders now. I have to do whatever it takes to destroy the Blood God and everything linked to him forever.”

  We sat in silence for a while on the mountainside, staring out at the sharp, snowcapped peaks beyond, extending all the way to the edge of the bright, starry sky, looking like the ridged spine of some titanic primeval creature.

  “I can feel it,” Yumo-Rezu eventually murmured into the icy night breeze.

  “Feel what?” I asked.

  “The dragon skeleton.” Her long, silky black hair rippled in the wind and whipped across her beautiful face as she stood up. “Your Jotunn have brought it up from its ice prison. I must feel the bones of one of my dragons with these hands of flesh I now possess. I long to trace my fingertips across those rough, spiky scales again, to see the fire in those near-immortal eyes, to feel the dragon’s heartbeat booming like a thousand deep drums … for a thousand years I’ve been separated from my dragons, and I’ve felt like a warrior who’s lost his sword arm. But now, God of Death, you will be able to resurrect what was lost, and reunite me with my dragon
s.”

  “Just one dragon, I’m afraid,” I said, “but that’s better than zero, right? And I sure as hell can’t wait to see a living, breathing dragon either, and see what one of them can do when I’m wearing my Dragon Gauntlets.”

  “Be careful, Vance,” Yumo-Rezu said, a mischievous glint sparkling in her almond-colored eyes. “The power you can wield when you’re master of a dragon is beyond addictive.”

  “Oh, don’t you worry, Yumo-Rezu.” I grinned. “I’ve learned a thing or two about how to handle immense power over the last few months. I think I’m good. And speaking of that, I have a feeling there’s a new skill waiting for me on the Gray Sentinel. Before I go there, let’s take a look at these dragon bones. We still have to get them out of the mountains and back to my ships.”

  A look of worry came across Yumo-Rezu’s face when I mentioned the ships, and she narrowed her eyes, staring intently off into the distance.

  “What are you looking at?” I asked.

  “I’m just remembering something I saw last night. Well, something I couldn’t quite see clearly last night, but can see now, since we’re closer to Gongxiong Harbor. Oh no, this doesn’t look good at all.”

  “What?”

  She peered off into the distance with her dragon eyes, shook her head and let out a slow sigh of worry.

  “There was indeed a fire in the harbor, as I suspected,” she said. “And it looks like almost every ship was burned to ashes, and sunk … including your ships, Vance. I hate to break this to you, but you and your army might be stuck in Yeng.”

  Chapter Four

  “A fire in the harbor?” I asked. “Burned ships? Why didn’t you say anything yesterday?”

  “I couldn’t get a clear enough view of what was happening,” Yumo-Rezu replied. “From the Warlock’s tower, all I could see was a blurry orange glow. I didn’t want to cause an unnecessary panic. I’m also guessing that what I saw was the last remnants of the fire burning out; it was probably at its height during your battle with the Warlock. Now that we’re fifty miles closer to Gongxiong, I’m able to see the harbor and what’s left of the ships a lot more clearly.”

  That explained why I hadn’t picked up any signals regarding my ships being burned to ashes; my mind had been one hundred percent focused on the battle. Whoever started the fire in the harbor must have known that I was fighting the Warlock at that exact moment, and that would have been the perfect time for sabotage.

  “Shit,” I muttered. “It looks like the Blood God still has one or two allies in Yeng who still draw breath. Not for long, though. When I find out who did this, I’m gonna hang the fuckers from the walls of Gongxiong with their own entrails.”

  “A fitting punishment, although from what I’ve seen of your friend Layna, she could probably come up with something far worse,” Yumo-Rezu remarked.

  I had to chuckle at this, despite the current circumstances. I imagined that Layna’s idea of justice for the saboteurs would probably involve eating them, or maybe forcing them to eat parts of their own bodies before feasting on what was left after the auto-cannibalism.

  “Come on, we’ve got a long trek to make with those dragon bones,” I said. “Let’s go have a look at it before my Jotunn dismantle it. It’s far too bulky to carry intact.”

  We walked back to the glacier, where my team of Jotunn was standing with the dragon skeleton held on their shoulders, as if they were pallbearers for some majestic coffin. Everyone was fast asleep, except for Friya, who was walking slowly around the Jotunn, her eyes locked on the dragon skeleton. She, like Yumo-Rezu, appeared to be able to sense its presence, and this sixth sense had roused her from her slumber.

  I sensed it too, as I always did in the presence of dead things and bones. Even in this decrepit state, the skeleton radiated immense strength and power. It felt like I was standing next to a living kraken.

  “Set it down there, boys,” I said to the undead Frost Giants. “I want to get a closer look at this thing.”

  The Jotunn obeyed and set the skeleton down on the flat, glassy surface of the glacier. With the skeleton bathed in moonlight, it seemed to shimmer with a supernatural glow. The black night sky reflected on the mirror-smooth ice, creating an illusion of the behemoth floating in space. Yumo-Rezu, Friya and I walked slowly around it, taking in the glorious sigh.

  I’d seen a good few lizard and snake skeletons before, and the dragon skeleton resembled these in a minor way, particularly in the shape of its head and jaws. Its skull was bigger than the largest wine wagon. Its jaw, the size of a castle drawbridge, possessed far more solidity in structure than any snake or lizard, and no reptile I’d ever seen had teeth like these. They were more like those of the saber-toothed panthers in shape, except more evenly sized, without the exaggerated canines. Each long, curved tooth was almost as large as a man.

  The dragon’s ribcage was as large, if not bigger, than the entirety of my undead whale’s body. The torso was the size of a huge longhouse; a few hundred men could easily have stood inside it. Attached to the torso were four long, strong limbs, with the bones of the rear legs being longer and thicker than those of the dragon’s arms, which were huge too. A long, powerful tail, like that of an alligator, it seemed from the shape of the bones, stretched out to the rear of the dragon. From its snout to the tip of its tail, the dragon was perhaps two hundred yards long. The size of it was beyond astounding. Most impressive were the creature’s wings; its wingspan was longer than its body from nose to tail, and the bat-like wings looked as if they could have provided shade to half a small city when fully outstretched.

  I walked up to one of the ribs and ran my hands over the bone, which was as thick as a tree trunk. As I touched it, a jolt surged through me, and my vision blacked out for a second. I blinked, but instead of seeing the glacier and starry night sky when I opened my eyes, I saw open, blue sky. The land so far below it was nothing but a carpet of indistinct green. Icy air was rushing against me, rippling across my scales. I was far higher than any harpy or eagle could soar. Far below me but above the distant ground, were little white splotches, like balls of cotton: clouds. The blood coursing through my veins was so saturated with raw power that it was like pure lightning.

  In a flash, I was back in my own body, back on the glacier.

  “You looked like you saw a ghost for a second,” Yumo-Rezu said.

  “I did, in a way,” I said. “I saw into the past and became the dragon for a few seconds.” I turned to Friya, grinning. “You’re in for one hell of a ride.”

  “I can’t wait,” she said, tracing her fingertips slowly across the creature’s bones.

  “Neither can I,” Yumo-Rezu said, her eyes shifting from the dragon’s skeleton to Friya’s voluptuous form. She was looking at Friya in an interesting new light, one that got me feeling excited about something altogether different to dragons. There was a distinct hunger in Yumo-Rezu’s dark eyes, and a simmering desire. Knowing how Friya felt about girl on girl relations, my prick began to throb with the heat of excitement, as all sorts of fun possibilities crossed my mind. This, unfortunately, was neither the time nor the place for me to have a romp with the two of them, but I was excited about what the three of us could get up to in the near future, behind closed doors.

  “You’ve both had a chance to get a good look at the skeleton,” I said to them. “It’s gonna take my Jotunn a good few hours to dismantle it, and while they’re doing that you should both get some rest.”

  As enthralled as Friya and Yumo-Rezu both were, weariness soon overcame them. After marveling at the dragon skeleton for a while, they both went to sleep wrapped in their bearskin bedrolls, while I watched over my Jotunn as they dismantled the skeleton.

  My party set off at first light, with the Jotunn bringing up the rear as we navigated the treacherous mountain passes. My senses were on full alert, and I was fully expecting another blizzard attack from the Hooded Man, Elandriel. I couldn’t be utterly certain that those two were one and the same, but I was ninety-n
ine percent sure. No attack came, however, and the weather was clear all the way down. Perhaps Elandriel had realized that he couldn’t beat me with his weather attacks, or maybe he was trying to build up his strength for an attack that would have a higher probability of hurting or killing me; he was a master strategist, and I wasn’t about to get lax or underestimate him just because he was giving me a period of respite.

  We made good time and reached the Warlock’s tower by nightfall. My party gathered all the looted artworks and stolen treasures and rested there for the night.

  That night, Rami-Xayon and I combined our powers, as we had prior to the battle with the Warlock, to create a monster tornado to carry the kraken from the lake near the tower back to Gongxiong Harbor. When we slipped the kraken back into the murky depths of the bay, I looked through its eyes and saw that Yumo-Rezu had been right; most of the ships in the harbor had been destroyed by a gigantic conflagration. Much of the town had been burned down too. I knew I would have to come up with an unorthodox method of getting my army back across the ocean to Prand, since building or even buying a new fleet would take months. As for the assholes who’d started the inferno and destroyed my ships, I would make them sorely regret the day they ever struck flint and steel to kindling.

  The march from the Warlock’s tower to Gongxiong Harbor would take my army about a week, as long as they didn’t run into trouble on the road, so I would have plenty of time to come up with a plan. I left Rollar and his undead direbear, which was immensely powerful but slow, to take control of the army. Drok stayed with the army too while I rode ahead, mounted on Fang, with the rest of my party.

  Isu, Elyse, Rami-Xayon, Friya, Yumo-Rezu, and Ji-Ko and his monks rode the fastest of my undead beasts: the saber-toothed panthers.

  Anna-Lucielle still had her live panther; the savage apex predator was as loving and playful as a puppy with her. With her Charm powers, which extended to beasts thanks to Rollar’s helm she now wore, she could turn the panther back into a vicious killing machine with a snap of her fingers. Layna rode an undead war spider; she felt much more at home on it than any other mount.