"You look more like an executioner," the Hunter retorted.
Sir Danna's jaw clenched and her fists tightened, but she made no move for her weapons. "My patience is reaching its end, Hunter." She spat the word and her mouth twisted as if at a foul taste.
"As is mine." The Hunter took a step toward her, and he hid a smile as she instinctively tensed. "You and your men have pursued me since Vothmot, but stopping me would be a mistake."
"Because of some demon you hunt?"
The Hunter nodded. "Precisely. The Sage is more than just 'some demon'—he is the one controlling all the Abiarazi on Einan."
Sir Danna's brow furrowed. "There are no demons still alive—"
The Hunter cut her off with a slash of his hand. "Isn't that what you believed about the Bucelarii? You were wrong about that, so maybe, just bloody maybe, you're wrong about this, too." He thrust a finger at Kiara. "Doubt my word, but Kiara will tell you what she saw."
"She already has." Sir Danna spoke in a slow voice. "Which is the only reason I agreed to speak with you rather than cut you down where you stand. But if you think I will simply let you go on your way without—"
"That's exactly what you need to do!" The Hunter's voice rose to a shout that echoed across the mountains. "Every Watcher-damned second you delay me here, the Sage gets closer to carrying out whatever he's planning and bringing the Destroyer back to life."
"And why should I believe that you and he are not in league?" Sir Danna demanded, her expression hardening.
The Hunter threw up his hands. "Because, like I already told you, I don't work with demons. I bloody kill them."
"You killed this First of Voramis in vengeance for what he did to your little girl, but that is no less than I'd expect from your kind." Sir Danna narrowed her eyes. "Yet, just days later, you murder a score of priests in Malandria. Not something a 'hero' like you claim to be would do."
The Hunter growled in frustration. "I never claimed to be a fucking hero. I'm simply the only one capable of stopping the Sage."
Sir Danna bristled and drew herself up to her full height. "I have trained my entire life to—"
"Some lot of good you've done!" The Hunter bared his teeth. "You had a bloody demon controlling the Order of Midas in Malandria, while another masqueraded as an Illusionist Cleric in your own temple."
"You cannot prove that." Sir Danna gave a little wince.
"I looked into that creature's eyes and saw the empty hells there. Just as you see here." He thrust a finger at his own eyes. "I knew him for what he was the moment I saw him. I just wish you could say the same for yourself."
Again, Sir Danna flinched. "Then if, as you say," she said in a slow voice, "you truly do wish to put an end to the Sage, I will help you."
Both of the Hunter's eyebrows rose. "Help me? I thought you wanted me dead."
"More than you could possibly imagine," the knight growled. "But if something threatens all of Einan, it is my duty to deal with it. I will go to Enarium and deal with this Sage. And you'll come with me…" A vicious smile twisted her face. "In iron chains. When we have eliminated the demon, you will join the rest of your kind in their final resting place beside Khar'nath."
Memory washed over the Hunter. Once again, he stood in Enarium, a lifetime ago.
He couldn't see the simple stone markers dotting the mountains around Khar'nath, but he knew they were there. Four hundred and sixty-seven of them, at last count. Four hundred and sixty-seven brothers and sisters slain by the Cambionari and laid to eternal rest within sight of the portal to hell.
Horror writhed like a worm in his gut. The Cambionari had done that. They had hunted down four hundred and sixty-seven Bucelarii from around Einan, then buried them beside Khar’nath. A grisly reminder of what they truly were—creatures from a fiery hell.
He buried his fury at the Cambionari down deep. Right now, something else she'd said caught his attention.
"You know the way to Enarium?" he asked.
"Of course. All Cambionari do."
The Hunter's eyes went wide at her matter-of-fact tone.
The cruel smile returned to the knight's face. "How else do you think we know where to drag the corpses of the Bucelarii we kill?"
Disgust radiated from the presence in the Hunter's mind, and the demon shrieked at him to kill her. Soulhunger added its demands. For once, the Hunter had no desire to refuse. Fury surged within him at the callous way she spoke of slaughtering his kin. It took all of his effort not to draw his weapons and attack. This woman before him, like all the rest of the Cambionari, was responsible for eradicating the Bucelarii. He was the last of his kind because of Sir Danna and the other Beggar Priests.
"Yes, I recognize that look in your eyes, Hunter." Sir Danna spoke in a harsh whisper, hatred and bitterness lacing her tone. "What you're feeling, it's the same thing I feel every time I think about what you did to Visibos."
Mention of the apprentice brought back the stab of guilt that had plagued him ever since his encounter with Father Reverentus in Vothmot. He truly hadn't intended to kill Visibos.
"I was the one who found his body." The knight's words dripped vitriol, and her rage-filled eyes pierced to the core of his being. "After I returned to Malandria and found Father Pietus and the others. But it wasn't until days later that I thought to check the vault." She shook her head. "A horrible death, one you condemned him to. And for that, you will pay. You will join the rest of your kind in the graves around Khar'nath."
"You're a fool if you think I'll be led like a sheep to the slaughter." The Hunter bared his teeth, speaking in the same low, hard tone. "I will not be shackled or tortured. I have had my fill of both. Kill me here, or let me go so I can put an end to the Sage and the threat he poses to all of Einan."
"Given that choice," Sir Danna said in a slow voice, her smile hard and sharp, "I'll always choose the former." With a furious roar, she attacked.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Sir Danna didn't bother with her greatsword; this close to the Hunter, she had no hope of drawing it in time. Instead, her hands dropped to her belt and ripped two daggers free of their sheaths. The stink of iron filled the air as she rushed the Hunter, swiping and thrusting with the short, quick strikes of an experienced knife fighter.
From the moment he saw the fury in her eyes, the Hunter had expected the attack. Despite Sir Danna's speed—impressive for someone wearing such heavy armor—the Hunter moved faster. His long sword whispered from its sheath to parry her first dagger strike, dodged a second, and knocked a third wide with Soulhunger. A puff of smoke rose from the metal at contact with the iron.
He took a single step back, feigning retreat. Sir Danna pursued, but the Hunter shuffled forward quickly instead, steeping inside the reach of her widespread arms. He whipped his right elbow upward, and the point cracked into the underside of her chin. She staggered backward, blinking and shaking her head. Blood trickled from her mouth and lip.
The Hunter pressed her, hacking at her mailed hands with his long sword. Her greaves and gauntlets kept his sword from slicing flesh, but they failed to dull the impact. Sir Danna grunted in pain, the daggers falling from her grip.
The Hunter drove his boot into her chest, and the force of his kick sent her staggering backward. A gasp arose from her Cambionari and Warrior Priests as Sir Danna tottered on the edge of the cliff. She righted herself and, fixing him with a venomous gaze, drew Lord Knight Moradiss' iron greatsword.
Ildaris seemed to sing as it slipped free of its sheath. The blade was nearly as long as Sir Danna was tall, with a tapered blade and shortened fuller. The extra-long hilt provided space for two gauntleted hands to grip, with an extra-wide, sharpened crossguard to serve as both protection and an added weapon. Near the crossguard, the blade lacked an edge, perfect for a gloved hand to grip in a wicked maneuver known as half-swording. In the hands of a trained combatant, the greatsword could deal impressive amounts of damage.
And Sir Danna clearly had spent time training wi
th the weapon. "It ends here, Demonspawn," she growled as she hefted the blade.
The Hunter shook his head. "If you kill me, you are bringing about the end of Einan. The Sage must be stopped at all costs."
"And he will be." The knight stalked toward him, greatsword held out before her. "I will hunt him down and put an end to his machinations."
"Just how do you plan to do that?” the Hunter snapped. “If you couldn't even sense Garanis right in your midst, how can you find one demon in the middle of Enarium?"
Sir Danna's eyes narrowed, and she hesitated a moment.
The Hunter held up Soulhunger. "You said you can feel the dagger I carry. The Sage carries no weapons for you to track. Your abilities will not serve you when hunting demons, will they?"
The tip of the sword wavered as a hint of doubt pierced the knight's mask of anger.
Hope surged within the Hunter. "You have no idea what the Sage looks like or where to find him. But I do. I can track his scent, the foul odor of decay that marks him as an Abiarazi. He has abandoned the last of his demonic powers to become fully human, but he cannot escape me. I am the Hunter of Voramis, and I always catch my prey."
For a single moment, Sir Danna actually looked like she would accept his words. He saw the truth flash in her eyes: she had no way to hunt the Abiarazi. She had spent her life preparing to hunt Bucelarii like him, but her training hadn't prepared her to face a full-blood demon.
The moment passed, and the uncertainty faded from her expression. Her face hardened and she lifted the iron sword. "Your lies will not sway me from my true purpose, Hunter. If the Sage truly exists and hides in Enarium, my Cambionari and I will find him."
"How?" the Hunter asked.
Sir Danna shrugged off the question. "We will deal with him and prevent the return of the Destroyer ourselves. You will join the rest of your kind in the grave."
She took two quick steps forward and brought the huge blade swinging across in a horizontal attack aimed at the Hunter's chest. The Hunter leapt backward, and the iron tip whistled past, a finger's breadth from carving through armor and flesh. Sir Danna didn't give him a chance to recover, but kept up the pressure. She whirled the sword around in great, sweeping arcs that forced the Hunter backward.
The Hunter gave ground, using his long sword to deflect rather than block the strikes. Against a steel blade, he'd take a hit to get inside his opponent's guard. But facing the iron sword, he couldn't risk even a glancing blow. The iron's poison would dull his reflexes, sap the strength from his muscles, and ultimately kill him.
Sir Danna's greatsword gave her a longer reach, but it also weighed far more than the Hunter's longsword. The anger on the knight's face grew ragged as her breaths came harder. Her blows lost power and speed, becoming wilder and more desperate as she fatigued. One cross-body blow dipped at the end of its arc, her tired muscles unable to control the weighty blade.
The Hunter seized the opening and leapt toward Sir Danna, hacking out with his longsword. She threw up an arm to protect her unhelmeted head, and the Hunter's steel blade clanged off her heavy gauntlet. She grunted in pain, but brought the hilt of her sword up one-handed to punch out at him. The Hunter slipped aside from the blow and drove his own crossguard into her face. She staggered backward, blood streaming from her nose and split lip.
The Hunter drove Soulhunger up toward her throat, but she managed to twist her head aside at the last moment. The dagger shrieked in delight as it carved a shallow line along her jaw and up her cheek. Sir Danna's armored knee flashed up toward the Hunter's groin, but he sidestepped the attack.
A shout of alarm sounded from Sir Danna's men as the Hunter slid his leg behind the knight's and threw her over his hip. She crashed to the ground in a cacophony of clattering steel, landing less than a hand's breadth from the edge of the cliff.
The Hunter raised his sword to strike, but a Warrior Priest lunged in the way, hacking at him with a steel sword. The Hunter caught the blow with Soulhunger and brought his own sword across in a blur. The tip of the blade ripped through the side of the man's neck. Blood misted in the air. The Warrior Priest fell to one knee, crimson gushing from his sliced throat.
A cry of pain echoed somewhere far behind the Hunter. Behind? His heart leapt to his throat. No!
Before he could move, a terrible roar echoed from the canyon walls. All eyes flashed toward the top of the nearby cliff and the massive, stone-skinned monster crouched there. The Stone Guardians smelled blood.
"Back!" Kiara cried, sawing at her horse's reins. Chaos gripped the lines of the Warrior Priests and Cambionari as they tried to retreat. With another gut-twisting roar, the Stone Guardian leapt from the cliff toward the corpse of the Warrior Priest. The ground shook beneath the impact of the monstrous creature, and its bulk crushed the two white-cloaked figures that had been racing toward the Hunter and Sir Danna.
The Hunter shot a glance at the knight. Sir Danna had risen to her feet, and she held the greatsword gripped in two hands as she stared at the massive Stone Guardian.
"Final warning," the Hunter called as he sheathed his sword and Soulhunger. "Leave me alone to reach Enarium, and you can hunt me down after I've dealt with the Sage. Try and stop me, and I'll put you down."
"You will not escape me, Hunter!" Sir Danna shouted.
"You've been warned," the Hunter growled, then turned and raced up the trail.
He leapt into Elivast's saddle and kicked the horse into motion. He'd stalled Sir Danna to give the rest of his small party time to get farther away. He'd known the Stone Guardians would come the moment they smelled blood, so he needed to buy a few minutes to get Hailen and the others far from the Stone Guardians.
But that cry had to have come from one of his crew. He tried to remember the sound—had it been high-pitched enough to be Hailen? He could only swallow the dread writhing in his stomach and spur Elivast to greater speed.
The trail wended its way upward, passing through a tunnel carved into the stone, between a narrow crevice in the bluffs, and around a sharp bend. The Hunter scanned the way ahead, desperately hoping for any sight of Hailen and the others. When he finally saw them, his blood ran cold.
Evren and Hailen sheltered in a small hollow at the base of the cliff, staring wide-eyed at the two figures on the trail. Darillon lay on the rocky ground, expression twisted in pain, one corner of a massive boulder atop his chest. Rassek struggled in vain to lift the huge chunk of stone.
The mountaineer whirled at the sound of his approach, his face ashen. "Hardwell! Help me here."
"What happened?" the Hunter asked as he reined Elivast to a stop and threw himself from the saddle.
"Th-those things," Rassek stammered, "the huge stone monsters, we heard them comin’, so we hid here, we did. We heard a crumblin’ sound, and when we looked up, the boulder was fallin’, ‘twas. Darillon he…" The man swallowed hard and shook his head. "He got the others out of the way in time."
The Hunter studied the boulder. Twice as wide as he was tall, it had to weigh more than four horses. Yet the opposite end of the corner crushing Darillon was curved at enough of an angle he should be able to roll it slightly. Just enough to get the mountaineer free.
"Help me here," he told Rassek, then turned to Evren. "Get ready to drag him out from underneath."
Evren stared wide-eyed at the man on the ground. "H-He saved me. Hailen, too."
"Evren!" The Hunter's voice cracked like a whip. "Be ready!"
Evren blinked and nodded. "R-Ready."
The Hunter ran his hands along the boulder's surface until he found a suitable grip. He clenched his jaw, drew in a deep breath, and heaved. The powerful muscles in his legs bunched with the effort of lifting, and fire burned a sharp pain down the back of his right calf. The boulder shifted slightly, but the Hunter’s grip slipped as the chunk of rock in his hands crumbled away. Darillon let out a weak gurgle of pain at the renewed pressure on his chest.
Growling in frustration, the Hunter searched for a new handh
old and shifted his position to get better leverage. He glanced at Rassek. Fear for his partner filled the mountaineer’s eyes. "On my count. One, two, THREE!"
They heaved, and the muscles along the Hunter's spine groaned and threatened to snap at the strain. Yet the massive boulder shifted slightly, then lifted a finger’s breadth. A growl tore from the Hunter’s throat as he threw every shred of strength into the effort.
"Got him!" Evren cried as he dragged Darillon from beneath the edge of the stone.
The Hunter released the boulder, and the ground shook as the massive weight crashed to the ground.
Rassek half-threw himself down at Darillon's side. "Darillon, can ye hear me?"
The mountaineer was unconscious and straining to breathe. Though only the edge had caught Darillon's chest, the Hunter knew it had broken the man’s ribs. He’d seen more than his fair share of men in similar condition. Unless they received attention from a Sanctuary healer, they usually succumbed to their injuries.
He placed a hand on Rassek's shoulder. "I'm sorry," he said in a quiet voice.
"No!" Rassek shook Darillon's head. "Wake up, Darillon. Don’t ye dare be leavin’ me, ye hear?"
The Hunter went to Hailen, who stood nearby, eyes wide as he stared at the scene before him. He didn't brighten at sight of the Hunter, but sorrow filled his eyes. "Is he going to die? Like Eileen?"
A lump rose in the Hunter's throat. Eileen had been the daughter of Natania and Ayden, the healer that traveled with Sirkar Jeroen’s caravan through the Advanat Desert. The little girl, weakened by influenza, had succumbed to her sickness and been discarded in the desert by the bandits that ripped her from her mother’s arms and killed her father. Hailen had been there when Il Seytani’s raiders dumped her like refuse.
"I don't know," he told Hailen, truthfully.
Darillon had a chance of survival, albeit a slim one. But one thing was certain: the mountaineer had to return to Vothmot.
The Hunter went over to Rassek and crouched beside him "You need to take him back. You need to get him to the Sanctuary. It's his only hope."
Darkblade Guardian Page 71