Darkblade Slayer

by Andy Peloquin

  "How priestly of you." The Hunter gave her a mocking grin. "Seems like just the sort of thing a devotee of the Beggar God should not be saying. After all, isn't your god all about humility and servitude? And here I thought the Cambionari were such friendly folk. Oh wait, no, that's my mistake." Anger boiled within the Hunter. "After all, it was the Cambionari who threw me off a cliff, stole my belongings, and tried to kill me when I came to reclaim what was mine."

  "Reclaim what was yours?" The knight let out a barked laugh. "Is that what you call slaughtering twenty Cambionari and cutting down two priests? The others, I can understand, but Father Pietus? Garanis?"

  "Garanis was a demon," the Hunter retorted. "He used the Illusionist's tricks to control Father Pietus. He would have made Pietus kill Hailen if I hadn't intervened."

  Sir Danna rolled her eyes. "Tell me, Demon, do you actually believe your lies? Such convoluted tales may deceive simpler minds, but I have trained my entire life to hunt you and your kind. I have heard too many accounts of the treachery and malice of the Bucelarii to be convinced by anything you say."

  "Yet, how much do you actually know?" The Hunter fixed her with a hard glare. "Were you actually there that night in the House of Need? Did you see what happened?"

  "Worse," the knight snarled. "I saw the carnage you left in your wake. I walked in the blood of men I trained with, men I obeyed, men I…" She swallowed. "…respected. You butchered them like animals."

  "And if you were in my position, would you have done any different?" He stabbed a finger toward her. "You took what belonged to me, and I simply wanted to reclaim it. Your Cambionari gave me no choice but to defend myself. Lord Knight Moradiss attacked me—all I wanted was to leave your Keeper-damned temple in peace."

  "And you consider leaving a man in a vault to starve to death 'self-defense'?" Fury blazed in the knight's eyes. "Is it self-defense to steal an innocent child to have your depraved way with him?"

  The Hunter gritted his teeth as the demon's fury echoed in his head. Soulhunger throbbed in his hand, eager for blood. The combined voices threatened to overpower his rational mind, as they had in the House of Need. It would be so easy to give in to the rage, let the blood haze overtake him, and slaughter every one of them.

  But he had fought that for too long to give in. Though every fiber of his being ached to leap into battle, he forced his racing heart to slow and his voice to calm.

  "I am sorry about your apprentice," he told the knight. "I truly intended to warn the others that he was in the vault, but your Cambionari gave me—"

  "Save your empty words." Sir Danna spat at his feet. "You are nothing but a bloodthirsty animal. No, worse than an animal. You are a demon." Without breaking their gaze, she motioned for her companions. "Take him."

  At her command, the foremost Warrior Priests dismounted and strode toward him. The Hunter's gut clenched as six white-cloaked priests drew weapons—long swords and daggers, a fighting style that matched his—and crossed the bridge toward him. Their tattooed faces bore a mixture of wary caution and grim determination. The narrowness of the bridge forced them to come at him in pairs, but rather than charging, they moved toward him at a steady pace. These were no undisciplined bodyguards, street toughs, or strong-arms; the Warrior Priests fought with a skill even the Swordsman Adepts would envy.

  "I have no quarrel with you," he told the approaching Warrior Priests.

  "The goddess demands vengeance." Not so much as a facial muscle twitched as the bearded man in the lead spoke. "We are her strong right hand to deliver it." They had no personal enmity toward him, yet were determined to fulfill their holy mission of serving the Lady’s vengeance to the deserving. If they fell in battle, they deemed it a worthy death in service to Derelana.

  The Hunter drew in a deep breath and prepared himself for the attack. He fought down the urge to charge. The width of the bridge would prevent them from surrounding him, but they'd have to come at him in pairs. A quick rush could give him enough of an advantage to take down two or three, but there was a chance they could slip past him. He had to hold his position and keep them from backing him onto solid ground. If they pushed him off the bridge, they could come at him from all sides.

  He reversed his grip on Soulhunger as the pair in the lead stepped forward to attack. He caught the high blow on his sword, and he used Soulhunger to turn aside a thrust at his gut. An iron dagger darted toward his face, forcing him to twist his head. Pain flared down his neck at the sudden movement, and the skin along his cheek crawled at the near-contact with the poisonous iron.

  A quick, practiced flick of his wrist brought his long sword whirling down and across. The slashing attack would never cut through the Warrior Priests' heavy splinted mail, but the tip of his blade sliced through flesh with terrible ease. Blood sprayed as the Warrior Priest dropped his weapons to clutch at the severed artery in his neck.

  The Hunter raised Soulhunger to deflect a chopping blow aimed at his head, ducked the return slash, and brought his long sword swinging around in a powerful strike that crunched into one Warrior Priest's knee. The man cried out as steel cleaved flesh and shattered bone. Yet even as he sagged, he lashed out with his sword. The Hunter leaned back to evade the desperate blow, then whipped his body forward to drive Soulhunger into the side of the Warrior Priest’s neck.

  The man let out a scream of agony and terror. Crimson light flared to life as the Soulhunger fed on the man's life force, and the dagger's voice cried in pleasure. Power surged through the Hunter as the dagger fed on the man's life force. A finger of fire etched a new scar into the flesh of his chest.

  He released his grip on Soulhunger's hilt in time to avoid a slash that would have severed his forearm. Gripping his sword with two hands, he brought it swinging around into the next Warrior Priest's helmet. The blow dazed the man and sent him staggering toward the side of the bridge. The Hunter dropped to a crouch to avoid a high swing, and his left foot whirled around in a low sweep that knocked the stunned Warrior Priest from his feet. The falling man’s steel armor clattered on the rock, the weight dragging him over the edge.

  A cry of fury echoed from the other Warrior Priests as the Hunter hacked down his next opponent. The woman died with a grunt, the Hunter's long blade driven through her neck. The Hunter threw himself into a backward roll to evade downward chops from the two Warrior Priests between him and Sir Danna. He reached out as he came to his feet and ripped Soulhunger free of the dead man's neck. He crouched, weapons ready, blood spattering his face and dripping from his sword blade.

  "Enough of this!" the Hunter snarled. "Don't make me kill any more of you than I have to."

  But he saw his words were futile. More of the Warrior Priests dismounted and rushed to join the two facing him on the stone bridge. Sir Danna unsheathed her long sword, and the Cambionari drew weapons as well.

  The Hunter quickly sized up the situation. The ferocity of his attack had surprised the foremost Warrior Priests, but he knew the others wouldn't be brought down so easily. The priests of Derelana trained in every style of bare-handed and armed combat, with every weapon wielded around the continent. Already, he could see the slight adjustments in their stances, a subtle shift in the way they gripped their weapons, as they prepared to match his fighting techniques.

  He had no doubt about his skill, but facing such impossible odds, he knew he was in serious trouble. Every one of the Warrior Priests carried iron daggers, and Sir Danna carried Ildaris, the enormous iron greatsword once wielded by Lord Knight Moradiss. He had little doubt the Cambionari had weapons intended to kill him as well. Even a single scratch from those iron weapons could prove fatal if he couldn't heal himself in time.

  Yet the Hunter couldn't back down. Sir Danna had made her intentions plain; she would hunt him to the ends of Einan. She wouldn’t stop coming until he suffered for what he'd done to her apprentice and Lord Knight Moradiss. He couldn't outrun her, not with Hailen. He had to put an end to her threat once and for all.

  "Sir
Danna!" he called. "You want me dead? Come and face me yourself instead of throwing your minions at me."

  The Warrior Priests stiffened, and anger flashed in the eyes of the tattooed men and women facing him.

  "Why?" Sir Danna's voice cut through the tension. "You are a creature without honor, so there is no reason why I should treat you as anything more than a rabid animal to be put down."

  "But do you really want them to be the one to put an end to me?" The Hunter waved Soulhunger at the Warrior Priests arrayed before him. "Don't you want to feel my blood on your hands, get that sense of satisfaction in knowing that you killed me for what I did?" He gave her a vicious grin. "After all, you yourself said you trained your whole life to eradicate my kind. Would it truly be satisfying to let someone else do the deed?"

  The Hunter had no doubt he could bring down one knight, even one as heavily armed and armored as Sir Danna. He'd seen her skill the day he saved her and Visibos from bandits. She was good, easily better than Lord Knight Moradiss had been. But he was the Hunter of Voramis, trained by the last blademaster of the Elivasti. He had slain demons all across Einan, even brought down the Warmaster himself. Iron greatsword or no, a knight would prove far easier to eliminate.

  She opened her mouth to respond, but the words never came. Her gaze went to something behind him and her eyes flew wide.

  A moment later, an ear-splitting roar thundered through the mountains. The Warrior Priests tensed and gripped their weapons tighter, and more than a few tattooed faces went pale.

  The Hunter whirled, and his eyes flashed upward toward the top of the cliff. There, on a crag overlooking the bridge, crouched an enormous creature. Easily twice the height of a man, the monstrous beast had a reptilian face. Its too-long arms rippled with grotesque strength, and long, curving claws sprouted from six many-jointed fingers on each hand. Massive spikes studded its back, and a long, serpentine tail curled around its bestial leonine legs and hind paws.

  Dread turned the Hunter's ice to blood. The Stone Guardians.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  The Hunter froze as the massive creature's eyes—like twin pools of liquid darkness—fixed on him. He'd heard of the Stone Guardians from an alchemist in the city of Aghzaret, but the old man's warning had done little to prepare for the reality.

  For a gut-wrenching moment, silence gripped the mountains. Then, the Stone Guardian opened its mouth, revealing row upon row of razor-sharp fangs, and loosed another roar rumbling through the mountains, crashing into them with the sound of a distant thunderclap. The monster bounded high into the air, straight toward the stone bridge.

  "Move!" Sir Danna roared.

  The Hunter was already racing toward Elivast at top speed before the first of the Warrior Priests moved. The clanking of armor grew louder as the priests pounded across the stone bridge. A heartbeat later, a deafening boom split the air, followed by screams of pain and terror.

  The Hunter vaulted into his saddle, turned Elivast toward the trail, and dug his heels into the horse's side. Elivast leapt into motion, going from stock still to a thundering gallop in the space of a few heartbeats.

  As he raced away, the Hunter risked a glance behind him. The enormous stone creature stood in the middle of the stone bridge, its writhing tail lashing out at one Warrior Priest while its claw punched straight through the splinted mail, padding, muscle, and bone of another’s chest. A swing of its massive arm sent a Warrior Priest flying off the bridge to plummet into the gorge, her tattooed head a pulped mess of bone and gore. One of the Cambionari screamed as the monster whirled, sending its spines raking across his chest and tearing through his armor like a pruning knife through rose petals.

  Sir Danna's eyes followed him. "Coward!" Before she could hurl more insults, she had to throw herself to the ground to avoid a swipe of the Stone Guardian’s claws.

  The Hunter bent low over Elivast's mane as the horse thundered up the trail. As he raced through the cliffs and away from the scene of carnage behind him, he scanned the path ahead for any sign of Hailen and the others.

  The demon in his mind shrieked in protest at his flight, filling his head with images of battle, death, and blood. It wanted him to cut down the Cambionari, Warrior Priests, and Stone Guardians in one glorious wave of carnage.

  The Hunter clenched his jaw at the wave of pain in his skull. The demon and Soulhunger should have fallen silent after a kill, but they clamored for more. The curse placed on these mountains had corrupted his inner voices, and they were growing worse every step.

  His gut lurched when a shadow passed high over his head. Another Stone Guardian sped toward the battle, and a moment later the screams from behind him grew louder. A loud crack echoed around him, followed by a rumble of collapsing stone. The Hunter felt a grim satisfaction at the thought of Sir Danna and all her Warrior Priests dragged down with the bridge. The Stone Guardians would take care of any survivors.

  His mind raced. The first monstrous creature had stared right at him, but it hadn't bothered to pursue him when he fled. The second Stone Guardian had also passed right over him without seeming to notice. So how had they known where to find him and the others? Without knowing how they hunted, he had no idea how to avoid or evade them.

  One more Keeper-damned problem to deal with! Every time he took a step closer to reaching his goal, two obstacles cropped up. He'd found the way to reach Enarium, and now he had to worry about both Sir Danna and the Stone Guardians.

  Worry nagged in the back of his mind as he rode. The rest of his small company had ridden off less than five minutes before he followed. He ought to have caught up by now. Yet he could see no sign of them on the trail ahead. The mountains were as empty as their name.

  He galloped around a horseshoe bend in the trail, and he felt a momentary relief at the sight of a dark hole alongside the path. If Rassek and Darillon had seen the Stone Guardians, they would doubtless seek shelter in the cave.

  He pulled Elivast to a halt in front of the cave. "Rassek? Darillon?"

  Silence. His heart lurched. Had he passed them? Had the Stone Guardians attacked them? He hadn't seen blood on the path, but perhaps the—

  "Hardwell?" came Hailen's voice.

  The Hunter let out a long, relieved breath as he dismounted and led Elivast into the cave. It took his eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness. When he could finally see, he found himself confronted by two short swords.

  The anger is fine.

  "Really?" He raised an eyebrow at Rassek and Darillon. He pushed the blades aside. "Now isn't the time for—"

  Darillon whipped his sword around, pointing the tip at the Hunter's chest. "Time you tell us what the bloody hell is going on," he growled, his face as hard as the stone around him.

  The Hunter glanced at Rassek. The younger man's expression revealed less of the suspicion that sparkled in Darillon's eyes, but no less determination.

  "Look," the Hunter said, "I promised you an explanation, but we can't wait around here while those things are out there. What if this is their home, or they come looking for us? The smart thing would be to put as much ground between us and them as possible."

  "Not until we get some real answers." Darillon's eyes narrowed. "Tell us why the knight and the bloody Warrior Priests are after us."

  "They're not after us." The Hunter spoke in a low voice. "They're hunting me."

  From the corner of his eye, he caught the look of relief that crossed Evren's face. The young thief relaxed and lowered his dagger.

  "Why?" Darillon demanded.

  "Because the knight, Sir Danna, wants vengeance for the death of two of her comrades," the Hunter said simply. "I killed them in self-defense, but she won't accept that." He had no reason to conceal this part of the story. Everyone had a checkered past.

  Darillon's eyes narrowed. "And you think that's enough of an answer to make us trust a Keeper-damned word out of your mouth?"

  The Hunter shrugged. "It's the truth, and it's all you're going to get right now. Once I'm sur
e we're well ahead of the knight and those monsters, I can answer more questions." He slapped the short sword away from his chest and moved toward Hailen. "If you don't want to trust me, that's not my problem. I don't expect you to trust me. All that matters is that we get where we need to go. Right now, that's away from here."

  Rassek gripped Darillon's hand before the older man could retort. "He's right, he is." His eyes flashed toward the Hunter. "About needin’ to be gettin’ out of here, at least."

  "Even if it means those Warrior Priests and knights are going to keep hounding us?" Darillon snapped.

  "If it makes you feel better," the Hunter interjected, "they were pretty busy fighting two Stone Guardians. Something tells me they'll have their hands full for a while." Hopefully, full enough they don't live to worry about me.

  Hailen smiled as the Hunter crouched beside him. "Did you kill the bad men?"

  The Hunter's heart twisted. The innocent child he'd met in the House of Need would never have asked such a question. Hailen had seen too much over the last few months. He'd watched Father Pietus murdered, been hauled off by raiders, seen the Hunter slay scores of bandits, and been held prisoner by a demon. He had grown too accustomed to death for one so young.

  "No." The Hunter shook his head. "I just talked to them, then they let me go."

  Hailen's little forehead furrowed. "Why do they want to hurt you, Hardwell?"

  "Do you remember Father Pietus, Lord Knight Moradiss, and Garanis?" The Hunter wiggled his fingers in front of his face the way Hailen had back in the House of Need. "Nasty Face?"

  Hailen nodded, and his smile brightened. "Oh, yes. I liked Father Pietus, and Shiny Man was always kind to me." Shiny Man was the name he’d given to the Lord Knight.

  "Well, those people are mad at me for what I did to them."

  "Because you killed them?"

  The Hunter nodded and swallowed the ache in his gut. "Yes. I had to, to protect you from Nasty Face."