The Book of the Claw (Vesik 10)

by Eric Asher

  He waited until the tentacle started to curl back onto itself. Timing it wrong would mean his death. Timing it right might not be better.

  Hugh was close enough to move when he heard Haka cry out. His focus cracked, the angle of his strike lost as he turned, frantically trying to find the cries of his son.

  Near the ground, beneath the edge of a savaged tentacle, Haka was down on one knee, the arrow of an Unseelie Fae pulsing with blue light in his leg.

  Hugh cursed and brought the hatchet down, slicing deeply into the thick tentacle that had him by the thigh. His timing was rotten, and he knew it, but he had to get to Haka. He caught a glimpse of Haka grunting and scratching as one of the tentacles spiraled its way around his chest, locking one of his arms against his side until the wolf was far less of a threat.

  A barrage of fiery arrows pierced the night from the other side of the stone cabin as Splitlog joined the fight. Two found their mark in the thick flesh around the leviathan’s beaks, and even in that damp gray rubber, the flames still burned. It was an old trick, one he’d often heard called Greek fire. But more than anything it reminded him of napalm.

  Hugh lunged, peeling chunks out of the leviathan. His hatchet had weakened the flesh of the tentacle, and he struck a savage blow against the nearest beak, splitting the chitinous material beneath. The leviathan roared, and the sound shook the heavens.

  Tentacles splayed out and writhed, several of them going taut, revealing the other two beaks and the leviathan’s eye. The massive black orb rotated down, flexing and pulsing until it narrowed on Hugh. He lunged with the hatchet again, only to have his arm caught up by a smaller tentacle. Another grasped his left leg, and with a grunt, he realized he was in deep shit.

  Hugh meant to call for Alan, but even as the thought crossed his mind, he saw the jet black fur of the other werewolf fending off another Unseelie Fae, keeping it away from Haka as the smaller wolf continued trying to free himself. The leviathan drew him in, ever closer. There were few beings nearby who could face a leviathan, but one might hear his cry.

  “Brother of Hinon, bane of Flint, aid us if it is your will!” Hugh’s words were caught somewhere between a scream and a howl as the leviathan started to rip the flesh from his legs. But his cry did not go unanswered.

  Thunder that threatened to crack open the skies shattered the air around them. Dark clouds boiled across the sky, moving with unnatural speed before the stormfront split. The head of a thunderbird burst forth, the being Hugh had come to know as the Piasa Bird.

  Lightning crackled in the bird’s eyes, and when it opened its mouth to screech, a storm of lightning blinded them all.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Vicky frowned as the skies ahead of them darkened.

  “That’s not natural,” Luna said, leaning up closer to Vicky as Jasper’s wings pulsed beneath them.

  “No shit,” Vicky said. She patted Jasper’s neck. “Find Hugh. We can ask him what the hell is going on.”

  She felt the trill of Jasper’s response beneath her fingers, and the cold air bit into her cheeks as the dragon pushed forward, whipping them through the sky faster.

  A few minutes later, the thunderhead cracked open, and lightning roared out of the cloud bank. Vicky stared in shock at the cluster of bolts rocketing to the earth. They were close enough now that the gray clouds dimmed the sun, and they could hear the screams of whatever lay below that storm of lightning. But as fast as the clouds had come, they receded, the lightning stopped, and Vicky saw what looked like the shadow of a massive bird retreat toward the opposite horizon. Below them something roared, and Vicky’s heart skipped a beat when they cleared a hill and the flailing tentacles of a leviathan arced into the sky.

  Jasper was fast, rolling to the side to avoid one of the hook-covered appendages. But it left Vicky and Luna to do nothing but cling to his back, completely at the mercy of the fight between two titans.

  “It has the wolves!” Luna shouted, her voice barely audible over the basso roar of the leviathan.

  Vicky understood what the other sounds were now, the high-pitched keening in the vacant armor strewn about the scene below. There had been Fae here, far more than there were now. But she frowned at the form sprinting away below them, its grayish flesh and translucent wings a blur between the branches. Jasper dipped below what she now realized was a blind strike from the leviathan as it attempted to crush everything around it. And it was doing a damn good job. But as they drew lower, Vicky could see the wolves tangled in that rubbery mass of flesh, could see Hugh getting dragged closer to the beak, and that was something she didn’t think even a werewolf could survive.

  Haka was in no better shape, and neither was the old wolf she assumed was from the Kansas City Pack. They were in trouble, and Vicky’s heart ached as she remembered the battle with the Ghost Pack in the Burning Lands. They’d gotten through worse, but they’d also already been dead.

  “I’ll get you,” Vicky shouted. “Get Hugh, Haka, and Alan. The other one looks like he’s almost free.”

  Vicky didn’t wait to hear Luna’s agreement. She didn’t need to. As soon as she spoke the words, the snow-white death bat launched herself off Jasper’s back. Before Vicky could so much as light a soulsword, Luna’s outstretched wing had already sliced through the tentacle stripping flesh from Haka. The mass thumped to the ground and the leviathan roared, its wet black eye swiveling away from Hugh and focusing on Luna. Vicky knew she wouldn’t have a better chance.

  “Keep it busy,” she shouted to Jasper as she let go. The leviathan had Hugh pinned, one arm against his body, and it looked like it was about to rip his other arm off. That’s where Vicky aimed, the thinnest part, and as the foul stench of the leviathan wafted up toward her, the soulsword grew denser, longer, until it met the leviathan’s rubbery flesh. Panic rose in Vicky’s chest as the tentacle resisted, but it only lasted for a moment. The gray matter of the Abyss creature gave way, and Vicky’s soulsword finished its work.

  “Get the others!” Hugh grunted. He struck out with what looked like a stone hatchet, attacking the larger tentacle holding his waist. But the weapon didn’t cut like a stone hatchet. It cut deep into the leviathan’s flesh. But even so, the blade was small, and it would take many strikes for Hugh to sever the tentacle. Vicky didn’t wait. Instead, she lashed out with a soulsword, finishing the cuts that Hugh had started, but as the tentacle fell away, she saw the damage it had done, saw it catch on Hugh’s fur, and saw the wall of muscle that poked through Hugh’s wounds.

  She’d never seen a wolf take that much damage and survive. She gritted her teeth and slashed through the last bit of tentacle holding onto Hugh. The wall started to collapse, but despite his protests, Vicky threw him over her shoulder in a fireman’s carry. She sprinted away from the leviathan, behind the old stone ruins, until they were well out of the way of the leviathan’s reach before setting him down.

  “That’s not what I asked you to do,” Hugh said, holding a clawed hand to his waist, and Vicky feared he was holding himself together.

  “Wait here,” Vicky said. “Luna is with me. We’ll get the others.”

  “Keep it away from the Heart,” Hugh said.

  Vicky’s steps faltered as she turned away from the werewolf and Ashley raised a hand in greeting. Vicky gave a quick nod and hurried on. Gaia had sent her here for the Heart. What happened if that thing got to it first? She didn’t want to find out. Vicky ran.

  * * *

  Vicky sprinted back toward the thrashing ball of tentacles. The soulsword in her hand brightened, even as the flames licking up around its edges darkened.

  Luna managed to carry Haka away as Jasper ripped and scorched the trunk of a larger tentacle.

  The Kansas City wolf freed himself, backpedaling and launching another volley of arrows toward the center of the leviathan.

  The thunderbird was nowhere to be seen, and while Vicky knew the Piasa Bird was more a force of nature than an ally, she still wished it would return and lend them its
strength.

  A tentacle shot forward. She barely raised the soulsword in time to split it down the middle. That didn’t save her from the inertia. The bleeding gray flesh hit her like a wall. Vicky slammed into the earth, flat on her back, gasping for breath as stars swam across her vision.

  She stayed there for a moment, darkness creeping in the periphery of her vision, before she managed to catch enough of her breath to roll out of the way and surge forward once more as the rains slowed.

  A white blur leapt to the branches above her before Luna launched herself at Alan. The death bat sliced through another of the leviathan’s tentacles, leaving it to writhe on the ground like a dismembered octopus. As fast as they tore it apart, the leviathan healed. Smaller, thinner tentacles struck out at them like whips, cutting through fur and flesh like a razor.

  Vicky knew what they needed to do. They needed to get everyone clear so Jasper could do what he did best, but with the injured all around her, that was no small task. Luna squeaked as one of the tentacles managed to backhand her and sent her flailing off into a tree. Vicky closed on the thickest tentacle that had its grip on Alan, hacking at it with her soulsword, squeezing her hand tighter, giving the sword more length, until the last of the flesh gave way with a gristly pop. Alan slumped onto the ground, the black fur of the wolf matted in blood and viscera.

  Vicky grabbed him, grunting at the weight of the werewolf. Hugh wasn’t exactly light, but Alan felt like she’d put a pallet of bricks on her back, or maybe that was her own injuries catching up with her. It didn’t matter now, but Alan’s breathing was shallow, and the gurgling wet sounds coming from him told her there was more damage in his chest than there appeared to be. She narrowly avoided one of the newborn tentacles snapping above their head. Vicky awkwardly slashed the thing off with a clumsy strike from the soulsword.

  “Jasper!” Vicky snarled. “Burn it!”

  Jasper, the normally friendly cuddly dust bunny turned dragon released a roar to equal the leviathan’s own. He dove into that squirming ball of death, and the leviathan roared when the dragon’s claws found purchase. Vicky wondered what in the hell the dragon was doing, until she remembered the fight they’d had in Nudd’s bunker. Jasper could lift the leviathans, and the dragon was smart enough not to unleash the forge-like hell of his flames so close to his friends.

  Jasper heaved and roared as tentacles reached up and scraped scales from his body, but it wasn’t enough to stop him. The leviathan’s tentacles flailed as the dragon gave two mighty flaps of his wings, rolled onto his back, and flung the screeching leviathan over the trees. The impact shook leaves from their perch, and new water fell around them like a fresh rainstorm. Jasper arced up over them, and in the shadows silhouetted by the trees, a bluish streak of hellfire turned the early morning into a surreal landscape. A few seconds later, the piercing cries of the leviathan quieted.

  Vicky could’ve sworn she heard her own heartbeat in the following silence. She rolled Alan over and grimaced at the massive puncture in his chest. If it was healing, she couldn’t see it, which meant he didn’t have long.

  There were many things she’d learned running with the Ghost Pack, and some of those skills she’d lost since being reborn, but others had remained. So once more, she reached out through the pack bonds. She found the wolves bonded to Hugh, found their injured brethren, and the distant warmth of those who were not. And for a moment, however brief, she thought she could hear the far off cry of the lost necromancer locked away in a reality not his own.

  The pack magic flowed through her, changed in her hands, until it became something else, until Alan’s ribs snapped, sucked, and crackled their way back to something resembling normalcy. The werewolf’s chest changed shape, and he screamed as his eyes shot open a moment before the pain knocked him unconscious once again.

  “What are you doing?” Luna asked.

  “Trying to save him.”

  “You’re a healer?” she asked.

  Vicky grimaced. “I used to be better at it. In the Burning Lands. It’s … harder here. It only seems to work with the wolves. Lucky for him.”

  The Kansas City wolf jumped into the ruins of the stone cabin and hurried toward them. “How is he?”

  “Not good,” Vicky said. “But I think he’s healing himself now.”

  “You’re Vicky. I’m Splitlog.” He eyed her and fidgeted a bit. “I’d heard the stories, but I don’t know that I believed them.”

  “She’s full of surprises,” Haka said, grimacing and sitting down beside Alan. “Did you get my dad out?”

  Vicky nodded.

  Jasper sailed overhead, circling the area before gliding down, his wings shrinking, and his body slowly returning to the ball of fluff just before he plopped onto Vicky’s shoulder. Big black eyes studied Alan and Haka in turn.

  “Good job,” Vicky said, scratching the dragon between the eyes. “Good job.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  “Where’s my dad?” Haka asked.

  “I left him by Ashley,” Vicky said. “And how bad off is she, by the way?”

  Haka shook his head. “We’re not sure. The innkeeper is sending a healer. At first, I thought it might be you when you were healing Alan, but if you can only heal the wolves, that won’t do Ashley any good.”

  Luna silently sidled up next to Alan. He was still covered in rich black fur, and she laid a hand on his cheek, the ragged breaths of the werewolf evening out. A small knot untied itself in Vicky’s gut.

  “You must be Luna,” Splitlog said.

  Luna looked up at the wolf as he shifted back into his human form. “I am.”

  Before Splitlog finished his transformation, the wolf was already unpacking a pair of jeans from a backpack at the base of the tree. He slid his narrowing arms into a denim shirt.

  Some of the wolves in the River Pack carried their clothes in a sack tied around their ankle. Vicky wondered if Hugh had been rubbing off on the Kansas City Pack.

  Alan started to change. Luna backed away as the massive muscles in his arm flattened, and the fur grew loose and fell to the earth. In a matter of moments, Alan’s dark skin showed through the black fur. He looked like a thousand cats had shed on him while he’d been sleeping. The thought made Vicky chuckle.

  Alan’s eyes fluttered and slowly cracked open. “What the hell happened?”

  “Vicky healed you,” Luna said. “Also you’re still … quite naked.”

  Alan almost jumped to his feet, sending a spray of fur up into the air as his hands shot down to cover his crotch.

  “That’s really nothing I haven’t seen before,” Vicky said. “I’m not a kid anymore.”

  “Kid,” Alan said. “I’ve known you since you were a kid, dammit, and that means you’ll always be a kid. When you’re ninety damn years old, you’ll be a kid. That’s how this works. Now turn around so I can get some pants on.”

  Luna flashed Vicky a toothy grin.

  “You too,” Alan said.

  “Me?” Luna asked, a small whine to her voice as she teased the werewolf. “I’m not even human.”

  Alan slowly raised an eyebrow, until they both turned around.

  Only Haka remained in wolf form. Perhaps a bit more paranoid than the other two, but Vicky wondered if Haka might be the smartest one in this case.

  “Okay,” Alan said. “Let’s go find Ashley.”

  Even though Alan had made the suggestion, it was Splitlog who took the lead, heading down the old path in front of the rest of the group.

  * * *

  They reached a small clearing a short time later. Hugh and Ashley waited there, but they weren’t alone. Vicky could sense the power near them before she realized what it was, who it was. And even as her steps slowed and she held out a hand to stop everyone before they reached Hugh’s reclining form, footsteps pounded on the trail ahead. From around the bend, Elizabeth the blood mage appeared, Alexandra at her side.

  The tension in Vicky’s chest relaxed a fraction. The blood soaking Ashley�
��s chest undid the effect a moment later.

  Alexandra looked between Hugh and Ashley. “You did your best to try to die today, didn’t you?”

  Hugh gave her a pained smile. “Ashley first. The innkeeper sent you?”

  Alexandra nodded. “It would work better if I wasn’t alone. I’ve never been as good at healing as Aideen.”

  “Better than Foster, though,” Hugh said.

  Alexandra grinned as she kneeled down next to Ashley. “You better believe it. And feel free to tell him that if you’d like.”

  It was then Vicky noticed the fresh blood coursing down Elizabeth’s arms. The blood mage had cut herself, and recently.

  “Your arm,” Vicky said.

  Elizabeth glanced down and looked up at Vicky as if seeing her for the first time. “It’s fine. We needed to find Ashley fast. My stupid phone wouldn’t get a signal.”

  “Used a spell to find her?” Vicky asked.

  Elizabeth nodded. “It’s simple enough, but I may have cut a little deep in my haste. At least Cornelius isn’t here to see it. I’d never hear the end of it.”

  The blood mages were one of the few magic users that unnerved Vicky. There was a weight in their presence. Something always lurked behind them, or around them. She’d heard the stories of the Shadowlands they summoned creatures from. Vicky had been through a Seal before, lived in the Burning Lands for a time, and she wondered if the Shadowlands were much like that. Or if her experiences in the Abyss, and those other lands, simply made her more sensitive to the blood mages.

  Ashley had paled, and Alexandra cursed. She felt around the blade in the priestess’s chest. “Damn good thing you didn’t pull that out. Sure as hell didn’t miss any arteries.”

  Elizabeth wrung her hands before reaching out and taking Ashley’s. “You’ll be okay.”

  Ashley’s white lips pulled up into a weak smile before her eyes closed, and she went limp.