The Holtur Curse (The Holtur Trilogy Book 2)

by Cameron Wayne Smith

  “What a fucking mess,” Ivan Griswald complained. He’s chest was bare, glistening sweat under the bright mid-sun. He had been transporting a cart full of building materials, taking a break to talk with Sonja. “New commander too?”

  “Shouldn’t you be with Glacious’ Divine Ones?” Sonja asked.

  “Not yet,” Ivan said, wiping perspiration from his brow. His fingers paused upon the gash on his forehead, the mark of Glacious. “Still got quite a few suns before that bastard claims me. Old-man Jansen doesn’t want me corrupting his lot before the frozen suns arrive. He actually wants me off the farm!”

  “Can’t say I blame him,” Sonja said, dryly. “Well, back to work, slayer.”

  Ivan grunted, then continued shifting his load.

  Sonja climbed up to the wall walk. The memory of Commander Maver’s death flashed before her mind; that dark crackle of fire that tore through his body was pure evil. She stumbled, steadying herself on the battlements. Sonja closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, but all she could see on the back of her eyelids was the face of the first man she buried her claymore into. What could he have been in another life? A father? Brother? Lover? Was there someone out there waiting for his return, mourning every sun that rose and refused to shed light upon his face? Sonja shook her head, it didn’t matter; if she hadn’t killed him—if she hadn’t killed all those men—he would have killed her. The death of every one of those Brothers of Eternity was more than justified the moment they attacked Holtur.

  Sonja thought of little Olivia again, shuddering. She never thought she would have used that little girl as a catalyst to harden her senses, but it worked. And it worked again. Sonja took in a deep breath, no longer giving a shit about all those men she had slaughtered. Another shake of her head, a few blinks of her eyes, and the glare of the sun brought the world back into focus. She continued towards the command bartisan.

  “Good sun, Captain Sonja,” Zeilgen mumbled without looking up. He was sitting at the desk, reading over a collection of papers. The role of commander definitely suited the man, even the shiny, silver-plated armour he wore gave off an unmistakable presence of leadership. Hechond was standing at his side, also looking over papers. Recording everything—from unfolding events to each slayer’s health and ability—was the hardest part of being commander.

  “Better-than-it-could-have-been sun?” Sonja offered her opinion.

  “We’re alive,” Zeilgen responded. “The town is relatively undamaged and nothing strikes for us this sun.”

  “Did Knoch and Rak find any of those brothers?” Sonja asked.

  “No…” Zeilgen flicked to another sheet of paper. “They’ve all fled, probably with those bastards Caede and Crispin. Any clue as to where they might be headed?”

  Sonja sighed. “No idea. I’m going to assume south, not that there’s much out that way.”

  “The reds!” Zeilgen turned from the papers and looked at Sonja. “Get them into the sky. If anything could locate them, it would be a wyvern.”

  “Yes, Commander. I’ll get Tequidi and Volk on it first thing next sun.”

  “This sun,” Zeilgen said. “We can’t allow them to escape further from our clutches.”

  “Commander, you witnessed their exertion against the shroud. The flame wyverns require rest.”

  “Oh…” With furrowed brows, Zeilgen dragged his fingers through his long, blond hair. “Outside of fighting the things, I really understand little about them.” He pushed the papers aside then began moving books around the desk. “I’ll have to delve deeper into the Bristrunstium Monster Records. I can’t comprehend how Commander Maver retained all this information!”

  “Give it time,” Sonja said. “Is there anything else I can help you with?”

  “Not unless you can make my eyes absorb all this information!” Zeilgen shook some sheets of paper.

  Sonja laughed. “I’m afraid not, reading and writing are far from my specialty.”

  “Take the rest of the sun off,” Zeilgen said. “I think we’re safe from any attacks, for now, but I want you hunting down the last of those brothers, and the professor, as soon as you're rested.”

  “Yes, Commander.” Sonja nodded, then took her leave.

  ***

  Sonja was tired, extremely so, and had returned to her personal residence for a wash and some slumber before dinner. The moment her head hit the pillow, it burst to life with vivid images and arguments of the previous moons. She never slept through the sun, but this was more than just a disruption of routine. Maver’s death, the face of the first man she murdered, and Rigst’s not-quite-human self cycled through her mind.

  Vampires: the people that aren’t people, as Crispin put it. That must be what Rigst had become, but how had a man changed to a non-man? Was he still human as well? Sonja witnessed those shadow-things the moon before, were they more vampires? She thought they were leeches at first. Could it all be the same thing? Despite her mind throwing out these questions repeatedly, her pillow offered no answers.

  Often when unable to sleep, she would bring herself pleasure. A release—especially after a rough sun of slaying—always helped her find slumber. This sun, however, it felt pointless. Each movement of her hand brought more bloody images to her mind. More unanswered questions. More pain. Arousal was a distant and unobtainable desire, and she was too tired to keep trying.

  Rolling over, Sonja allowed her mind to continue its assault; she didn’t really have a choice on the matter. She kept searching for answers, answers that she would never obtain in bed. Occasionally, she opened her eyes in hope to see darkness settling outside of her window. Instead, all she witnessed was the barely shifted shadows cast from neighbouring buildings.

  A loud, audible groan escaped Sonja’s lips as she sat up, giving up any attempt to find slumber. Opening her eyes, however, revealed the sun had actually gone down. She ignored her pounding head and peered outside, it was well and truly first moon.

  “Shit…” She rubbed her eyes, dropped her sleeping gown, dressed herself in furs, then set out into the cold.

  ***

  Raithia was still resting outside her father’s residence. A little more alert this time, the wyvern raised her head and puffed a cloud of smoke upon hearing footsteps. Sonja brushed her hands along the warm scales of Raithia’s tail and received a similar response to earlier that sun.

  Upon opening the front door, she was greeted by a chorus of mingling voices, filled with the joy provided by liquor.

  “Sonja’s here!” Kallum slurred his words, stumbling towards her. He must have cracked a bottle of lolligolp.

  “My daughter?” Kaine retorted, equally pissed.

  “Yes father, your daughter,” Sonja replied as she walked into the kitchen.

  “Yay!” Tequidi jumped up from the bench seat and clapped, almost throwing her glasses from her face. “I’m g-glad you’re alright!”

  Volk was smiling from beside her, and next to where her brother had been previously sitting was Eltra.

  “Since when did you turn your residence into a tavern?” Sonja asked. She couldn’t help but smile, it felt good, even numbing the pain behind her eyes for a moment.

  “Your brother’s idea,” Volk said, sounding a little more clear-headed than the rest.

  “Lolligolp!” Kallum laughed, wrapping his lanky arms around his sister, hugging her tight. He pulled his head back. “Piloting the wyvern was so awesome! And we saved the town! How could I not want to celebrate with my friends!” He kissed his sister’s forehead, then returned to sit by Eltra.

  Being part of the aerial mission obviously left a much more pleasant taste in the mouth than that of those who were defending the north gate. The shit Sonja witnessed certainly didn’t put her into a celebratory mood. Of course, herding one enemy against another couldn’t feel the same as forcing your own blade into another man’s skull. She wouldn’t destroy their mood with her own. If anything, she would try to steal some of their happiness for herself.

 
; “Thanks,” Sonja said. “You, Tequidi, and Volk did an amazing job!”

  “We d-did!” Tequidi almost threw off her glasses again.

  “I’m glad Kallum is safe after those dreadful moons,” Eltra said, sounding even less inebriated than Volk. She rubbed Kallum’s back as he poured a generous serving of lolligolp into a glass.

  Kallum swung the beverage towards Sonja, splashing drops of the expensive liquid to the floor with a laugh. “Drink up, sister!” Kallum suggested.

  It wouldn’t help her headache, but it would certainly assist her hunt for sleep; lolligolp always ensured a good moon of rest. “Thanks Kallum,” Sonja said, taking the glass and removing a large gulp. The sweet liquor rolled down her throat, a satisfying alcohol and ginger burn chasing after the fluid. It felt good. Surprisingly, the bottle didn’t look all that empty. “Don’t tell me you’ve already polished off a bottle?”

  “That would be a lie!” Kallum swung his drink into the air. “For in truth, we’ve already finished two!”

  Sonja almost choked on her second swig. “That explains the joy!”

  “Joy!” Tequidi said, jumping up from her chair again. Hopefully her drunken bounciness wouldn’t force an early refund from her recent consumption.

  Eltra, being her usual tiny-framed self, was consuming minimal. Her brows furrowed every time Kallum took a drink. The woman was visibly worried about him.

  “Don’t worry about Kallum,” Sonja said, “he never has an episode when he’s this pissed.”

  “Really?” Eltra asked.

  Kaine nodded. “Kallum has not once had an episode during a moon of drinking lolligolp.”

  “But,” Kallum added, “I can’t drink all the time, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to think up all the genius ideas I do!”

  “My brother’s brain has saved this town on more than one occasion!” Sonja put her drink out towards her brother. He met it with his own, and the glasses clinked.

  “And it will again!” Kallum said, then took another swig.

  “I saw Rigst,” Sonja said.

  “Rigst?” Volk rubbed at his frizzy, red hair.

  Kallum put his drink down, narrowed his glazed eyes on Sonja, then asked, “I thought he disappeared?”

  “He did…” Sonja took in a deep breath. “But he is back, no longer human. Well, human, but not human. The others operating the Hacknebel saw him too.”

  “What does that mean? Human but not human?” Volk said with anger. He was also close to Rigst. “He’s become some beast? Some horror?”

  “I don’t know exactly what he is…” Sonja finished the contents of her cup and slammed it down onto the table. “He was with the shadow-things that aided us against the Brothers of Eternity. He flew me to the Hacknebel. Yes, Rigst can somehow fly. I don’t know how or why, but I have a gut feeling that it might have something to do with that ‘Eternity Grail’ that Caede and Crispin are after.”

  Eltra’s eyes widened as Sonja mentioned the Eternity Grail, but she said nothing.

  “So Rigst is a flying, shadow creature now?” Volk shook his head as he spoke. “Do you have any idea how ridiculous that sounds?”

  “Yes…” Sonja swallowed back a lump that was forming in the back of her throat. “But it is the truth, ask Knoch, Rak, or even Commander Zeilgen if you want confirmation.”

  “Fuck!” The pale complexion of Volk’s face transformed to that of a tomato. “Does that mean we are going to have to… slay him?”

  “No!” Sonja struck back. “Whatever he is, those shadow-things helped us.”

  “But…” Volk’s eyes were fixed on the table as he spoke. “Those, whatever they are, they are connected to leeches, right?”

  Sonja shrugged. “I don’t know…” Her gut told her they were one and the same, but they couldn’t condemn the beings that helped save Holtur. She wouldn’t condemn Rigst.

  Kain stood up, his eyes jumping between Sonja and Volk. “If he is a leech, he should be hunted down. Think of all the lives those things claim!”

  “Too many,” Sonja agreed. “But they helped defend Holtur, we cannot ignore that.”

  “What if there is something we’re missing?” Eltra challenged. “What if these ‘leeches’ actually play a greater role in Holtur’s survival? What if there are different groups of these leeches, some of which attack Holtur while others defend it?”

  “Something we’re missing…” Kallum whispered the words as though having a drunken epiphany.

  Volk smiled an uneasy smile and a little colour disappeared from his face. “If that’s the case, I’d like to hunt down the villainous leeches alongside my friend, Rigst!”

  Sonja found herself shaking her head, trying to comprehend the whole idea. The concept of horrors living in shades of grey—rather than pure darkness—boggled her mind. Then again, it was only recently she had discovered how dark humans themselves could be.

  “I’ll discuss this with Formidor,” Kallum said. “We’ll find the answers—or at least set ourselves on the path to them—in no time.”

  “Ah, that’s the other thing,” Sonja said with a roll of her eyes. “Caede and Crispin took off with the professor. They think he knows where the Eternity Grail is.”

  “Of course…” Kallum rubbed his eyes with one hand and poured another drink for Sonja and himself with the other. “That complicates things. Either he has no knowledge of the thing like he said, or he lied to us. Formidor wouldn’t hide information without good reason, but I’ll go through his notes and see if I can find anything.”

  “It would be easier if we could find him,” Sonja said. “Did you see the Brothers of Eternity fleeing towards a certain direction after the shroud appeared?”

  “S-south, all of th-them went south,” Tequidi said.

  Volk shook his head. “They couldn’t have fled any other way, or else they’d be shroud food. Speaking of the shroud, we found where they hide.”

  “You did?”

  “Yeah, they go south of all places!” Volk laughed. “Away from Lachtod Bog, can you believe that?”

  “Away from Lachtod?” Kallum asked. “Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?”

  “You were with us… Oh, right, I forgot!” Volk gave a toothy, apologetic grin then continued, “It seems there’s this crack through the southern cliffs, west of Boulder Beach. Would be hard to climb down without a good set of climbing talons, but I’m assuming it opens up into a large cave or cavern through the ground. We thought about starting a fire through there, but the wyverns were exhausted. They could barely ignite dry bark in their state!”

  “We should leave them alone…” Kallum mumbled into his drink.

  “What?” Sonja gave her brother a narrowed glare.

  “Don’t look at me like that!” Kallum took a gulp, then returned the glare. “The shroud are part of Holtur’s natural order. They come once a year, do their damage, then leave. Think of them similar to Glacious if you will; taking its toll on us while keeping us safe. If we had killed all the shroud off prior to this year, what would have happened when the Brothers of Eternity struck out at us?” He threw his hands into the air—spilling more drink—as if to make a point. “You’re good Sonja, you too Volk, as are all the slayers of Holtur. Still, that army would have overrun us all, even with wyverns!”

  Sonja sighed. “Like always, you’re right Kallum. Even when you’re pissed.” She playfully punched Kallum’s shoulder, setting her empty glass next to his. “I’m just surprised you’re not off following them again this moon!”

  Volk laughed. “Not chasing your horror buddies, that does sound unlike you!”

  “After everything else that’s happened recently, I figured I’d leave it to another year.” Kallum filled Sonja’s glass back up. “I’ve got some lovely corpses to play with—thank you by the way—and I’m sure there’s plenty to do before I even get to play with them!”

  “Correct,” Sonja said, “and that would be searching through Formidor’s stuff for anything relating to the Eternit
y Grail. Just be careful going through his stuff, the man has some… morbid appreciations after all.”

  Kallum rolled his eyes. “Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine, and if there’s anything on the Eternity Grail, I’ll find it.”

  Sonja turned her attention to the timid Altkrugan girl. Even with her hands affixed to the table, Tequidi had difficulty keeping her upper torso from bobbing back and forth. It looked as though she was sailing the ocean! Sonja never had the pleasure of enjoying easy drunkenness from a tiny frame; Tequidi was, and probably a little too much! “Tequidi, how was Volk’s piloting skills?” Sonja asked.

  Tequidi stood up from the table, waving around even more than ever now. She toyed with her glasses, trying to find the perfect spot to fix her impaired vision. Volk grabbed her hand to steady her swaying. She turned back to him, gave him an affectionate smile, then said, “Thank you.” Without warning, the contents of all she had drunk over the moon, her previous meal—and probably a few earlier ones—erupted from her throat and landed all over Volk.

  Everyone, bar the two involved, burst out with laughter. Other than a little drool on her chin, Tequidi managed not to mess herself whatsoever in the incident, she didn’t even spill her drink! Volk, however, was covered in puke that slowly oozed and dripped into a pool at his feet.

  Sonja withheld her laughter for a moment to pose a question, “That bad huh?”

  “I-I-I’m s-s-sorry…” Tequidi said before running off up the stairs. Eltra raced after her.

  “Fuck!” Volk exclaimed once Tequidi was out of earshot. “I did not see that coming!”

  Sonja snickered. “You’re telling me that a girl, one with an almost child-like body, drinking the same amount of liquor as you, then chundering, was unexpected? Come on Volk!” Sonja turned to her father. “All we need now is a brawl, then we’d surely complete the house to tavern conversion!”

  Kaine sighed. “It is my fault, I should have kept a better eye on how much she had drunk.” He stood up and grabbed a mop. “You know where the washroom is?” he asked Volk.