by Dante King
First, though, I needed a quick distraction, something for it to focus its attention on.
I quietly pulled one of my throwing stars from its sheath and took aim at the soldier nearest to the lizard. These stars hadn’t been particularly useful against the paladin, but I suspected they would work pretty well against your average, poorly trained thug.
After tucking Grave Oath into my belt for easy access, I flung the throwing star at my target. It whizzed through the air and slammed into his throat. As soon as the black steel pierced his flesh, its necrotic magic began to do its grim work. The man gasped with pain and shock, dropping his sword and clutching at his throat, which was rapidly turning dark gray, along with the lower half of his face. With a stifled scream, he staggered forward and dropped to his knees, and as soon as he did, the lizard stormed forward and slammed its mighty jaws shut around his torso, tossing its head up at an angle so that it could chew him more easily.
His screams of agony, muted by being inside the huge lizard’s mouth, were punctuated by the sickening cracks of bones snapping as the powerful jaws did their work. These gruesome sounds were soon drowned out by the screams of horror from the man’s comrades. This was the perfect moment to strike.
I charged out of the shadows at full tilt, scooping up the longsword from the ground as I sprinted, and launched myself into a flying leap onto the huge lizard’s back. It spit out the chewed-up soldier and bellowed, rearing up onto its hind legs to try to throw me off, as I had suspected it would. I lunged the longsword at the beast’s tiny earhole near the back of its head—its only vulnerable spot, aside from its eye. My aim was precise, and the blade slid into the creature’s head, hit its brain, and ended its life in the blink of an eye.
The great lizard flopped down, its crashing weight sending a minor shockwave through the ground, while I slid acrobatically down its head and landed gracefully in front of its mouth, giving the shaken soldiers a melodramatic bow.
“Soultaker,” one of them hissed.
“My reputation precedes me, I see,” I said with a grin. “And it’s such an apt nickname, considering what I’m about to do to all of you. You might be feeling relieved that you’re no longer about to get eaten alive by a giant lizard, but getting your soul sucked into my dagger is, unfortunately, only slightly less agonizing.”
“Get him, boys!” roared the soldier, charging at me with his spear leveled.
I sidestepped his charge, whipped Grave Oath out of my belt, and slammed it into the back of his neck, severing his spinal cord and sucking his soul out of his body in one slick move. Two soldiers charged at me simultaneously, one wielding an ax, and the other a saber. I plucked Grave Oath from the dead soldier’s neck with my left hand and grabbed his spear with my right as he fell to the floor. I took two quick steps toward the charging men.
Instead of engaging them immediately in combat, I used the spear to pole vault over them. Upon landing behind them, I thrust the spear through the axeman's torso, and as he dropped his weapon and staggered away, I tossed Grave Oath into my right hand as the saber-carrying soldier spun around to face me.
“Those other oafs may not have posed much of a challenge to you, Soultaker,” growled the man, a wiry fellow with streaks of gray in his dark-brown hair, “but unlike them, I actually know how to use my weapon. Have at thee!”
He shifted into a swordsman’s stance with a high guard, one that I recognized well; he, like me, had spent at least some time being trained by a master fighter.
“Good,” I said, grinning as I twirled Grave Oath in my fingers and bent my knees as I sank into a fighting half-crouch. “I like a bit of a challenge. Keeps me on my toes.”
He darted forward with a snarl, whipping his saber in a whistling diagonal downward arc at my leading shoulder. I sprang back, evading the slash, and immediately lunged forward with a counter-attack. The soldier moved with surprising speed and almost caught me off guard by turning my blade and aiming an unorthodox outside cut at my leading knee, forcing me back. He wasted no time in pressing his advantage, and we traded a flurry of rapid blows, saber against dagger, as I retreated and he advanced.
As we paused, breathing hard and circling each other, a scream cut through the tense silence: Elyse.
“I’m done playing with you, asshole,” I growled. Elyse was in trouble; I needed to end this clown’s life and go find her.
My concentration deepened as he prepared for another attack. I drank in the most subtle details of his micro-movements. His balance was nigh perfect, but he slightly favored his right side. I knew just what to do. As he charged in for another lightning attack, I feinted for his left—which he was no doubt expecting, having noticed me observing him—but then, I abruptly dropped like a stone as he swiveled to his left and immediately rolled right before bringing Grave Oath up in a swift, brutal stab, burying the blade in his guts.
He dropped his saber, gasping and clutching at the dagger that was sucking his soul out of his body through his belly. I snatched up the saber he had just dropped and spun around to race to Elyse’s aid.
I did not expect to see this.
The final soldier, the one who had attacked Elyse, was hovering in the air a few inches above the ground. Some sort of ethereal rope made of warm, glowing light was wound around his body. Elyse was standing before him with a furious look on her face and a small flanged mace in her hand.
“You bastard!” she hissed, right before she slammed her weapon into his skull.
His head crumpled like a smashed watermelon, and Elyse’s pretty face was splattered with bright-red blood. The soldier slumped lifelessly in the ethereal ropes, which continued to suspend his body in midair until Elyse whispered a few words and made a gesture. Immediately, the corpse flopped to the ground.
That was it; everyone and everything in the clearing was dead, aside from Elyse and myself. I retrieved Grave Oath from the swordsman’s corpse and strolled over to her with a broad grin on my face.
“I didn’t know you had it in you,” I said, looking down at the soldier’s caved-in head and then back up at her blood-splattered face. “You owe me a soul though. He should have been mine.”
“There’s a lot you don’t know about me,” she said, folding her arms across her chest. “And what the hell were you thinking! That thing could easily have killed you! Don’t you think before you act?”
“There’s obviously a lot you don’t know about me. I was always in complete control of the situation. And, speaking about the giant lizard… hot damn, look at the thing! It’s… it’s fuckin’ magnificent!”
“And it eats people,” she murmured as she stared at it in horror. “I knew the stories about the creepy creature of these woods were true. I just hope there aren’t more of them around. Anyway, I can hear a stream nearby. I need to wash up.”
In the sudden silence, the gurgle of the stream did sound close; it had to be somewhere within 20 or 30 yards. Close enough for her to go on her own.
“All right,” I said. “I’ll search the campsite.”
She nodded, her face now blank, and wandered off in the direction of the sound, her blood-dripping mace hanging limp in her hand. I doubted she was used to killing people, especially with as brutal a weapon as that mace.
As soon as Elyse was far enough away, I felt a familiar presence. Isu was near.
“You have given me more souls, Vance.”
Her voice sounded like it was everywhere at once, as if every tree and bush and insect nearby was whispering these words.
“I have, yes,” I answered calmly. “Does that mean my powers get upgraded again?”
“I will grant you another gift, yes. Another two gifts, actually.”
I liked the sound of this. “Two, huh? You’re in a generous mood. So. These gifts?”
“The first is something I think you’ll find very useful as a budding necromancer. I’m granting you the power to resurrect beasts.”
I glanced over at the huge, dead lizard. “Great timing, Is
u! That thing too? Do my powers cover resurrecting something that big?”
Again, Isu’s laugh echoed through the trees, carried on a thousand invisible tongues.
“Try it and find out, Vance.”
“I will, in a second. First, though, I want to know what the second gift is.”
“The souls you have given me have allowed me to do something I have not been able to do for thousands of years: to take on physical form, in a living body.”
“You mean you’ll be able to take on human form?” I was itching to see if Isu was as hot in human form as the other forms she had taken had suggested.
“I will—but only for a short time at this point.”
“When?” I asked eagerly, looking all around me and wondering if she was here, in human form, hiding behind a tree or a bush. “When are you going to do this?”
No answer.
“Isu? Isu, are you there?”
She seemed to have disappeared again, unfortunately. I guessed I’d have to wait a little longer until I got to see her human shape. Well, I had my new powers to play with for now. I stared intently at the dead lizard for a while. Man, riding that thing would beat riding any horse. And what more appropriate mount for a necromancer assassin than a gigantic red-and-black man-eating lizard?
I hesitated before resurrecting it, though. If I did resurrect it at this point, it would follow us back to camp, and I doubted Elyse would get a wink of sleep with it hanging around. But I could leave it here and come back for it in the morning; there was no way a corpse this big and heavy was going anywhere any time soon.
I could, however, do with a bit of extra protection around camp, just in case there were more of these lizards around, and what better sentries than those that didn’t need to eat, drink, or sleep?
It was a lot easier to raise the dead soldiers’ skeletons this time around; like with anything, practice was, indeed, making perfect. And now, thanks to another one of my new abilities, the skeletons that burst out of the soldiers’ corpses were able to wield their old weapons. I looked at my little troop of undead soldiers and nodded appreciatively. This would have to do for now.
I then searched the campsite and found a couple of hares, along with some other food, and a couple more bottles of wine and liquor. Just as I was gathering these things together in a sack, Elyse returned, looking relaxed. The flanged mace seemed to have disappeared again.
“Where’s your weapon?” I asked. “You could have told me you were packing, you know.”
She ignored the question and looked at the skeletons. She folded her arms across her chest and frowned.
“How many more of these are you going to make, Vance? I really, really don’t like this necromancy business.”
This probably wasn’t the best time to tell her I was planning on resurrecting the lizard.
“They make excellent sentries and guards,” I said with a shrug. “The more of my bony buddies we have around our camp tonight, the sounder you’ll sleep.”
She looked down at the half-eaten legs and the chewed-up soldier and gagged. “Please, please can we get out of here?”
“We sure can.” I stuffed the last of the hares into the sack. “I’ve got dinner too, no hunting necessary.”
She recoiled with disgust.
“After everything I’ve seen here, meat is the last thing I want to eat. Just, ugh!”
“More for me then,” I said cheerily. “But, yeah, we can go… after just one more thing.”
She looked at me with a suspicious glint in her eyes. “I don’t like the sound of this.”
Rollar’s banner was lying on the ground, and I intended to leave him a message.
“You’ll see,” I said as I picked up a broken spear shaft. I went over to the disembodied legs, dipped the end of the shaft in the bloody flesh, and walked to the banner.
“That’s disgusting!” gasped Elyse.
I ignored her and proceeded to scrawl my message on the banner.
With love from Soultaker, I wrote. Come find me for more fun and games!
Isu wanted more souls, and this little letter would ensure she got them.
Chapter Six
Elyse walked over, and a look of horror crossed her face when she’d seen what I’d written.
“We don’t need more of these goons coming after us, Vance!” Elyse said, punching me in the shoulder. “If we leave things alone, they’ll think the lizard did it.”
“I want them to come after me,” I said, fingering Grave Oath’s hilt with the fingers of my right hand. “I need more souls, Elyse.”
“Well, I don’t want to have to do any more fighting.”
“You seem to be pretty good at it, though. What was that thing you did with the glowing ropes? Some sort of holy magic? And you still haven’t told me where you’re hiding that mace of yours. It’s an awesome little weapon.”
“I only take lives when it’s absolutely necessary,” she said angrily. “Not for sport, like you do. And my powers are for me to know about, not you. As for my mace, it’s kept in a safe, easily accessible place for when I really need it.”
I didn’t feel like getting into an argument at this point, and I could see she was eager to get out of here.
“Come on,” I said, “I’m done here now. Let’s go.”
It definitely wasn’t the right moment to let her know I’d be coming back for my new pet at dawn.
We headed back in silence with my new skeletons following obediently a few yards behind us. When we arrived back at the camp, I set about preparing the hares for the fire, while Elyse cracked open one of the bottles of wine from our booty.
“Are you sure you want more of that?” I asked, careful to sound casual rather than judgmental.
“I’m feeling a bit shaken up after seeing… what we saw,” she said, staring at the fire as she took a sip.
“Fair enough. Just don’t down the whole bottle, huh?”
I laughed, but she didn’t. Instead, she took another long, deep swig of wine. I figured I’d better step in before she downed the whole bottle, so I walked over and gently took it from her and took a hefty swig myself. It was cheap, nasty stuff, not like the Erst wine. But it did the job. I sucked back another large mouthful before handing the bottle back to Elyse and then got on with roasting the hares.
I lost myself in the flames for some time—as I often did—and when I finally came back, I turned around and saw that Elyse had passed out, the half-empty bottle lying on its side near her open hand. I walked over to her, wrapped her up in her cloak, and stuck her knapsack under her head for a pillow. Then, I walked out of the campsite to go piss against a tree, and when I returned, Elyse was snoring softly.
As I dug into my meat, I noticed one of the skeletons stiffening up on the eastern perimeter of the camp. He had seen—or sensed, however it worked—something, or someone. Flipping Grave Oath in my hand, I moved stealthily into the shadows, keeping my back to the trunk of a large oak as I surveyed my surroundings. Glancing back at the skeleton, I noticed his sword was gripped limply at his side, and he had not shifted into a combat stance. It seemed that, in his eyes at least, whoever or whatever was near was not a threat.
It was then that I saw her, materializing out of the shadows and walking straight toward me.
She had appeared in human form for the first time… and what a form it was. I was already familiar with the shape and proportions of her body, but seeing the form in flesh and blood was something I hadn’t quite been prepared for. One expects gods and goddesses to be attractive in their human forms, of course, but the glimpses I’d been granted of Isu’s figure had definitely not been enough to prepare me for how beautiful she was as a human woman.
From between her twin horns, long, jet-black hair, silky and wavy, tumbled like cascading ink around her slim shoulders. On her gorgeous face, a set of strong yet distinctly feminine features were arranged in perfect symmetry; large eyes with light-gray irises that glowed with intensity sat beneath bold, sharply
angled brows, while a tall, proud nose was pleasingly positioned above a pair of full, dark lips that were hungrily parted, revealing an invitingly gleaming wetness within.
She was entirely nude except for the necklace with a glowing ruby that sat beneath her collarbones. Its gentle light ebbed and flowed, seemingly in tandem with the rhythm of her heartbeat. Her skin was pale as fresh winter snow, and her dark hair and eyebrows—and the thin strip of black on her pubic mound—only served to intensify her stark paleness.
Her generous hips swayed seductively as she strode across the carpet of dry leaves toward me, and when a beam of silvery moonlight bathed her form, she lit up, glowing like a falling star. Her nipples, two pale pink discs on her gloriously round, pert breasts stiffened and swelled with anticipation as she approached me. Her breasts bounced ever so slightly up and down as she walked, showing exactly how firm and fresh they must be to the touch. She locked her bright eyes onto mine with a ravenous stare that left no doubt in my mind as to her intentions.
She held my gaze with this deliciously hypnotic stare until she reached me, at which point, she reached out and caressed my cheek with a soft, teasing finger and leaned forward to whisper softly into my ear.
“Long has it been since I last lay with a mortal man. And I cannot deny, Vance, that since I first laid my eyes upon you, you have awoken a hunger in me that I thought I had forgotten.”
She glided around to my side, but I stayed in place, turning my head and following her with my eyes.
“I’m glad I have that effect on you,” I said with a grin. “Although I’m not that surprised. You’re not the first girl who’s said that to me.”
She laughed lightly, and even when she had a human form, the soft laughter filled the woods, faded echoes reaching me from all sides.
“Your arrogance is… amusing,” she whispered as she glided around my back to my right side and slipped her hand down to my ribs to unbuckle my cuirass with deft fingers. “But are you all talk, or can you actually back up your boyish boasts?”