The Holtur Curse (The Holtur Trilogy Book 2)

by Cameron Wayne Smith

  “We’ll deal with them when they come,” Rak suggested, his sights set on the west. “At least now we have some extra… firepower.” The right side of his lip curled slightly upwards. It was about the closest the man would offer to a smile.

  “Will they fight alongside us?” Sonja asked.

  “R-Raithia and Reizexus are a pair,” she said. “B-but these are their young, th-they won’t want to put them in d-danger.”

  “Shit,” Sonja cursed, looking at the eleven juvies wandering around aimlessly. “We have thirteen wyverns to try and feed… right before the frozen suns too.”

  “Raithia will p-provide aid if I tell her too,” Tequidi said, “Reizexus will f-follow, I think.”

  “They can stay for the time being,” Sonja said. She already confirmed that, but it seemed Tequidi needed to hear it more clearly.

  “Th-thank you Sonja,” Tequidi said, “b-but I can take them out to the mountains t-to hunt. I s-saw plenty of beasts that way.” She pointed to the west again, still shaking, but not as violently. “I’m sure more beasts would be out that way.” She pointed to the north.

  “Plenty of slater beasts!” Volk turned in his saddle, his face close to Tequidi’s. The two blushed at the proximity. “I’m sure they’d go down alright. Provided they cooked them enough that is!”

  Rak spat in disgust. “I wouldn’t complain if they ate the lot of them.”

  “Neither would I,” Sonja said. “The kuhvi, the beasts in the paddocks on Holtur’s west, are strictly forbidden. If any are removed by the flame wyverns, regardless of how secretive the removal is, they will face their end.”

  Tequidi looked horrified.

  “I’m not threatening either, it is the way of Glacious.”

  The timid girl nodded her understanding. Perhaps she had heard of the divine being that watched over Holtur? Maybe she just understood that Sonja was not one to joke around? Either way, Holtur now had something new, something it never had. A flock of flame wyverns. Could these creatures dissuade other wyverns or creatures from attacking their home? Even if they couldn’t, a drop in slater beast numbers was not something anyone would argue against—they had become quite a nuisance, and tasted downright awful.

  Tequidi dismounted and began communicating with Raithia. It was a combination of words, body movements, and a bit of pointing. Volk watched intently as she did her thing.

  Rak rode up beside Sonja, watching the wyvern communication from a distance. “The approaching men,” he said, “what you make of it?”

  “I was watching Tequidi through a looking glass as she flew over the mountain,” Sonja said softly. “A lot of projectiles flew towards them.”

  Rak grunted.

  “More than we could fire at once, even if every slayer were on duty and equipped with ranged weaponry.”

  Rak took in a deep breath. “Captain,” he said, then urged his horse to return to Holtur.

  Tequidi and Volk moved towards Sonja, The two large wyverns towering behind them. “If you want to f-fight Crispin,” Tequidi said nervously, “then w-we will help.”

  Sonja nodded. “I’m sure you will be much use to us.” But would they? Her slayers had taken down packs of wyverns before. Reizexus was far larger than any she had personally faced, but Crispin’s force also seemed much larger than Holtur’s. Hopefully this whole situation can be diffused without bloodshed.

  “B-but,” Tequidi said, holding her hand up. “If all seems l-lost, we will flee.”

  “Of course.” Sonja turned her steed back to Holtur. She had a lot of thinking to do.

  Chapter 8: Blazing Sorbguamis

  “Grabion!” Zeilgen, a slayer who wore shiny, silver armour, called out from above the north gate. “A lot of them!”

  Sonja had only just made it back to the north gate as she heard the words, she turned back to notice the creatures swarming towards her. “Shit!” She leapt from her steed and slapped it on the hide, prompting it to find safety within Holtur. The horse would fall swiftly to a grabion’s claws and stinger, while Sonja’s leather chaps would provide sufficient protection from a grabion sting. Best not to waste a good steed.

  Rak had turned around in his saddle, now riding backwards and firing his crossbow into the oncoming creatures. He continued into the courtyard, in pursuit of another weapon no doubt; constantly loading bolts would consume precious time against this number of easily slain insects.

  “Where’s he going?” Bevan asked, readying his blade.

  Sonja sighed, it was obvious, wasn’t it? “To get another weapon.”

  Bevan frowned “But the other sun, you said—”

  “I know what I said,” Sonja interrupted. “This is a very specific situation.”

  Bevan started, “That’s why we—”

  “Enough!” Sonja shouted.

  Volk leapt down from his horse and unsheathed his black hook swords. “That’s a lot of them. I wonder what they’re fleeing from.”

  “No idea. Do you think the flame wyverns would be interested in them?” Sonja said.

  “By Ralumina!” Rahlman swore. He pressed the hilt of a sword against his mustache, kissed it, then did the same with the blade in his other hand. “It’s a plague!”

  Sonja cocked her head. “I’ll buy drinks—the entire first moon—for whoever claims the most tails. Whoever obtains the least shouts first round!”

  “You’re on, Captain!” Volk dashed ahead, then the four others surged on after him.

  Sonja leapt towards the grabion at the head of the swarm, her claymore swung down from overhead, crunching through the brown carapace of the large insect and splashing green blood into her face. The grabion’s fore-claws reached out in vain for Sonja. Her blade swept around, arcing through the creature’s long, curling stinger before it could reach her.

  From either side her, the other slayers—even Bevan—were cutting down the creatures with ease. The green ooze of grabion blood danced around the slayers, chunks of brown carapace flung back and forth, and numerous tails fell to the ground with the stingers remaining intact. Good. The Bristrunstium would obtain many tails this sun!

  “Why are they not fighting back?” Volk asked. “I’m not complaining, just seems off.”

  “No clue!” Sonja glanced back to the main gate, more slayers were joining the fight and the portcullis was closing. Grabion were venturing to the sides of the town. Seeing them head towards the mountain didn’t bother her, but they were heading for the kuhvi paddocks. She didn’t think they’d attack the kuhvi—or the marked—but what if they did? “We can’t let them enter the kuhvi paddocks!” Sonja called out, loud enough for the slayers still near the gate to hear.

  A salute—with a hook sword in hand—came from the pale, burly, red-headed slayer that was leading a group. He then guided the slayers towards the west.

  “Kaarm’s on it!” Bevan reported the obvious. If anything, the junior was doing well remembering everyone's name.

  With the green bloodbath kicking up a mess of insect parts around the slayers, a loud roar, followed by another, then a bunch of higher-pitched roars fell from the sky. The temperature of the slaying grounds rose with the descent of flame wyverns. Plumes of fire burst down the ranks of grabion, forcing squeals of pain to fall on deaf ears. The stink of burning insects wafted across the battlefield as the ignited creatures twitched and spasmed until they curled up into—apparently delicious—charred, crunchy shells. It turns out that scorched grabion is quite a delicacy for the serpents of the sky.

  “We need the tails!” Bevan yelled at Tequidi who was strapped into Raithia.

  “It’ll be fine, Junior” Sonja returned as she crushed another grabion. “Take a look! There’s plenty to go around!” But the swarm wasn’t endless, the stragglers now indicated the last of the grabion. Nothing appeared to be chasing them, but that could mean something the slayers hadn’t yet noticed was approaching. “Fall back, stay clear from the rear of the swarm until we know why they are on the move!”

  Sonja�
��s feet began to quiver in her boots, not from fear, but from the ground offering a shaky rumble. The vibration intensified and standing straight became a challenge on its own. Fortunately, the slayers were moving back towards Holtur faster than the grabion.

  Rock and earth blasted skywards, along with the straggling insects. They squealed as they were flung through the air, then a definitive crunch ended life along with pain. The dust from the explosion settled, leaving a spherical, black carapace, twice as long as a horse, gleaming in the sunlight. Three hairy, spindly, double-jointed legs pushed the sphere up out of the dirt. Teeth as black as the carapace lined its circular mouth, pulsing out and in, and drooling green ooze. The teeth clicked outward, as though locking into place, then its maw expunged a long grey tendril—three times the length of the shell—which latched onto another grabion. The smaller insect clawed and stabbed at the tendril as it was dragged back towards the larger one, its futile attacks ending with a carapace-shattering crunch.

  “Sorbguamis!” Sonja yelled as if her slayers knew what to do. She’d heard her brother talk about the unique, desert-dwelling insect in the past. He—along with many of his colleagues in the Bristrunstium—had wanted to experiment on the creatures for some time. “Heavy weapons, stand ground. Light weapons, back to the gate!” Sonja twisted the grip of her claymore to attack with the flat of the blade; it wasn’t the greatest shell shattering weapon, but she wasn’t going to run while other slayers fought.

  A quick glance around revealed that none of them had fallen back. Rahlman had sheathed one blade and now had the shaft an arm length hammer in his hand. He was the only one prepared to fight such a creature, but even his weapon was wasn’t much better suited than Sonja’s claymore.

  The slayers surged forward, ignoring the trembling underfoot, towards the sorbguamis. The bulbous insect responded by lashing out with its grey tendril. Sticking out your tongue isn’t the best defence against a group of slayers armed with blades. Volk and Sonja both introduced their weapons to the muscular, oral organ. It cut apart easily, and segments began writhing in the dirt and splashing grey, slimy blood from the wounds.

  It quickly recoiled the appendage back into itself, spluttering as it choked on its own blood. The slayers advanced upon the wounded sorbguamis, weapons ready to assault the shell. The creature’s jaws clicked open, the dripping tongue barely poking out, then it released a geyser of bile, grabion bits, and blood.

  The spray hit the slayers one by one, knocking them down.

  “What is this?” Bevan asked.

  “Don’t touch your face!” Sonja yelled at the junior. If the bile was mixed with grabion venom, chances were it could inflict quite a lot of pain if it seeped into a cut or orifice. Not death, but not much more pleasant either. “Keep the sludge away from your face and any wounds!”

  Crumpling beneath its six spindly claws, the sorbguamis fell from the exertion of its attack. Rahlman was the first back on his feet. He charged towards it, sword in front of him in a reverse grip and hammer prepped to drive the blade through carapace. He struck, and the hammer drove the blade through, rewarding his success with a gush of grey blood.

  “Ugh…” Rahlman spat, staggering backwards and wiping the slimy blood from his moustache. He flicked his hand towards the ground and furrowed his brows. “Vile horror!”

  The adrenaline pumping through Sonja’s veins—as with the other slayers—made her ignore how violently the ground had begun to shake. “Rahlman, fall back!” She commanded while simultaneously heeding her own command.

  “Not more…” Volk said as he leapt over grabion corpses, collecting tails as he dashed.

  “Arhhhh!” Rahlman screamed to the sound of the ground exploding behind them.

  A shadow blocked out the sun as Sonja saw Rahlman flying through the air. Another sorbguamis would be shrouded in the dust and rock below, waiting for the slayer to plunge into its gaping maw. The sun’s warmth returned to her face and the shadow—created by Raithia—blurred towards the flung slayer. The flame wyvern swooped in, catching Rahlman in her claws, before the sorbguamis had a chance to transform him into bug food.

  The sorbguamis chased the grasped slayer with its tentacle-tongue, its pharyngeal jaw gnashing at the air before Rahlman’s face. Raithia’s altitude dropped a few centimetres as she prepared to beat her wings skywards. The slight fall pressed Rahlman’s nose against the clenched teeth of the tongue, prompting the jaws to lash out once more. He felt a few moustache hairs rip from his face as the jaws tried for his head; the wyvern had beat its wings just in time to keep it attached to his body.

  The ground’s vibration rumbled into what felt like a full-on earthquake. Cracks in the ground forced chunks of grass to lift and part, indicating the sorbguamises underground advance. There were a lot of grabion, more than she had ever seen together at once; how many sorbguamises would be needed to herd that many?

  “Run!” Sonja urged. What she actually insinuated was to sprint like mad. Valuable grabion tails fell from her grasp—the other slayers following the example—and their speed increased as they made towards the gate.

  “Shit!” Volk exclaimed as they got closer. “The portcullis!” It was still down, keeping out a number of grabion who were futilely trying to cut through the iron beams.

  Sonja caught a glimpse of Zeilgen leading a group of slayers, equipped with bows, lined up against the battlements. “Don’t worry, we’ve got a contingency plan for something like this,” Sonja calmly responded. Like most of the town’s defence plays, Kallum had a heavy hand in its creation. He was rarely wrong when it came to these issues, but Sonja’s adrenaline always peaked when trying something for the first time.

  The battlement’s slayers then rained down a flurry of arrows before the corrupted earth heading for Sonja’s group. The earth pounding arrows achieved their goal, confusing the sorbguamises into bursting into the open air.

  Eight sorbguamises of similar size were revealed by the settling debris. Their grey tongues stretched into the sky, searching for the source of the pattering noise that excited them into emerging. Another volley of arrows struck into the fleshy tentacles, forcing the appendages back inside the bulbous insects. One by one, they pushed themselves up from the ground with pitch-black claws.

  “No eyes, they can’t see us!” Bevan exclaimed. The sorbguamises responded by advancing towards the slayer.

  Sonja slapped her hand to her face. “Correct, Junior,” Sonja whispered. “Too bad they seem to have acute hearing!”

  “Split apart!” Zeilgen yelled from the wall walk. Metallic twangs of clanking weapons followed his voice. The slayers on the wall began to shout and create all manner of improvised noise to confuse the sorbguamises.

  The members of Sonja’s group dashed away from the gate; Sonja and Volk moved west; Bevan ran east. The creatures lumbered towards the gate and fired out their tongues. Pharyngeal jaws latched onto the iron beams of the portcullis, jerking about in an attempt to pull the barrier away.

  “Look out, hammers!” a voice called out from above the wall.

  Two large iron hammers where flung over the battlements, pounding into the ground near Sonja and Volk. The two heaved the heavy bludgeons from the ground, noticing a pair of sorbguamises already skittering towards them. Before the creatures could investigate the heavy thuds, Sonja and Volk—with hammers dragging along the ground—ran towards one of the sorbguamises.

  Sonja watched the jaws of a tongue gnash at the air above her; a well timed duck was all that kept her head attached to her neck. An upswing splattered teeth from that second jaw, but wasn’t the point of her maneuverer. The hammer continued upwards, and—with Sonja’s momentum still sending her towards the sorbguamis—she spun around, slamming the heavy head of the weapon into the creature’s armoured carapace.

  A shrill clicking noise escaped both mouths of the sorbguamis, and the dank smell of foul blood assaulted Sonja’s nostrils. Grey blood splattered from the cracked shell, following the hammer’s recoil before
the next strike. Sonja slid her hands around to change her grip, spun in the opposite direction, and forced a shattering mouthful of iron into one of the creature’s maws.

  The sorbguamis staggered backwards, as did the one Volk was dealing with, and the two slayers advanced, continuing their almost mirrored assault. Volk wasn’t as bulky as Sonja, but the fiery red head could summon an incredible surge of strength when required.

  A wet sucking noise emanated from the creatures, then their tongues whipped out from the mouths on the opposite side. The grey tentacles wrapped around the carapace, gnashing the air, attempting to seek out the slayers. Scampering claws turned the sorbguamises around so the tongued maw now faced the slayers. What a weird insect. Two mouth holes, one on either side, both for eating. Were both for shitting too?

  Ducking and weaving to avoid the wild tongues, Sonja and Volk closed in on the over-sized insects. The sorbguamises fell back, pressing their weight onto what was now their hind claws. They raised their spindly, double-jointed limbs and slashed out at the slayers.

  It was futile for the sorbguamis. A thin claw shattered upon contact with Sonja’s hammer. She continued spinning, avoiding the remaining fore-claw and tongue, preparing the hammer to shatter the second maw of the spherical creature.

  A foul scent pulsed from the fleshy tongue, but an even more pungent smell escaped the maw as it flexed out its black teeth and exhaled a breath. Sonja repayed the repulsiveness by driving the anvil of the hammer down its throat. The teeth that didn’t shatter clenched tight, severing its outstretched tongue from its insides.

  Blood sprayed from the spasming tentacle on the ground while another stream burst from its clicking jaws. Sonja ignored the slurry of blood and bile that oozed down her body. She swung her hammer high in the air, chasing it as it continued skywards, then pounded it down into the creature’s back. The carapace gave way, and she found herself falling into—and through—the creature. She was now drowning among the thing’s internal organs.