"But you're takin’ him." Evren thrust a finger at Hailen. "So why ain’t I--?"
The Hunter cut him off with a slash of his hand. "I'm taking him because he needs to get to Enarium. But there's nothing for you there. Your home is Vothmot. Go home, Evren."
"Home?" Bitterness laced Evren's voice. "You're sending me back to Vothmot to be snatched up by the Wardens and hanged for defending myself. I'll take whatever’s out here over that fate any day!"
"Then make your own fate."
Evren's eyes went wide and he flinched as the Hunter drew a dagger, but the Hunter simply slashed the seam of one of the invisible pockets in his cloak.
"Take these." He held out a handful of gemstones—stones he'd taken from the Beggar Priests' vault in Malandria.
"Why?" Evren stared at the gemstones with suspicion. "What's the catch?"
"No catch, no trick." The Hunter shook his head. "Leave Vothmot and see what the world has to offer. Or, stay and find a way to help others like you."
The thief slowly held out a hand, as if unable to believe what was happening. The Hunter placed the stones in the youth's palm.
"Every man is given a choice," he said. "To stand by and watch while others suffer, or stand up and make a difference. The choice is yours."
He left the thief in stunned silence. Gathering up his packs, he turned to Hailen. "Come. We've a long walk ahead of us."
Without a glance at Rassek, Darillon, or Evren, he turned and strode up the trail, with Hailen trotting along beside him.
Despite the weight of his packs, the Hunter felt somehow lighter as he climbed. He didn't quite understand his actions, but in his heart, he knew he'd done the right thing. He'd given Darillon a chance at life, and Evren a chance at a future.
He had enough food to keep them going until they reached Enarium. The fact that they were on foot meant they would travel more slowly, but they had to be getting close. As long as they kept moving, they'd make it before the Withering. He had only a vague timeline, but he knew he had four or five days left. More than enough time.
The trail grew steeper and steeper, until even the Hunter began to feel the strain. Hailen gasped for air beside him, and though his little face was set in a determined grimace, the Hunter could see tears of exhaustion forming in the boy’s eyes. He wanted to take the boy's hand, but didn't dare touch him. Hailen's bleeding fingertips would attract the attention of the Stone Guardians. That was one fight he couldn't hope to win right now.
He glanced up at another patch of the red-and-purple mushrooms growing above him. Their bright colors taunted him. They hung high on the cliffs, out of reach, yet still within sight.
They continued the climb, pausing when Hailen grew too tired to continue—something that happened more and more frequently as the air grew thinner. Hope surged within the Hunter as he saw the trail level off a short distance above him. Perhaps the climb was almost over. Perhaps they would reach Enarium--
Ice chilled the Hunter's veins as he saw the cliffs rising ahead of him. Once again, the trail led into a circular hollow surrounded on all sides by unbroken stone walls.
No! Frustration and anger roiled in his gut. This can't be happening!
He dropped his packs and searched for the sapphire lilies he’d gathered from the lake, but found only lifeless petals. Whatever strange magick or alchemy had caused them to shine had faded and left them as dull as any regular bloom. Even if they had glowed, in the full brilliance of the afternoon their dim light would do little to help him.
Maybe there's another way in. He fumbled in the packs for the Taivoro books. I just have to read the passage to see…
But the book wasn't in the packs. His heart sank as he remembered giving it to Evren the night before in hopes of finding more clues. With a growl, he drove his fist into the stone wall.
"Hardwell?" came Hailen's quiet voice.
The Hunter glanced down. Concern and worry filled the boy's purple eyes, and he reached for the Hunter's hand.
"I'm okay," the Hunter said, moving away before the boy made contact. The last thing he needed now was to draw the Stone Guardians' attention while he was trapped here.
His mind raced as he tried to figure out what to do. He had to be so close to Enarium, yet these cliffs stood in his way. He had only one hope: he'd have to climb. The smooth stone faces would prove a daunting challenge, and his fatigue and worry would only make it harder. Yet he had to find a way to get himself and Hailen to the top. Maybe he could fashion some sort of harness to pull the boy up.
He had just begun uncoiling the rope from his pack when he heard a sound that sent a stab of fear through him. Hoofbeats pounding on stone, growing louder quickly. Panic tightened in his stomach as armed and armored figures rode up the trail, through the cliffs, and into the circular rocky hollow.
Sir Danna rode at the head of the column. She’d lost her helmet on the trail below, and new dents, scratches, and scuffs pitted her battered armor. None of the men behind her appeared in better condition. Of the eighteen he'd seen on the trail below, only ten remained. He felt a hint of relief as he saw a tired-looking Kiara riding behind Sir Danna, with six Warrior Priests and two Cambionari trailing.
Sir Danna’s eyes brightened as she spotted the Hunter and Hailen. "Get him!" she shouted in triumph and set Pathfinder galloping toward him.
The Hunter had seconds to act. He turned to Hailen. "Get down, close your eyes, and cover your ears. Whatever you do, don't move until I tell you."
Hailen complied, sitting and burying his head between his knees. He clapped his hands over his ears and squeezed his eyelids tight.
The Hunter slipped his pack—the one containing the Swordsman’s iron blades—over the boy’s shoulders, then turned to face his enemy. Drawing his weapons, he bared his teeth at the ten men and women that surrounded him with drawn swords and daggers.
"You're trapped, Hunter." Sir Danna snarled, staring down the length of her greatsword at him. "There's no escape this time."
Chapter Thirty-Seven
The Hunter smiled. "Ten against one? Is that the best you can do?" Despite his outward confidence, he couldn't help a pang of apprehension. The enemy he faced bore weapons that could kill him and the skill to wield them. With Hailen to protect, he couldn't risk a fight.
His eyes went to Kiara.
"I tried," she said with a shrug, her tone apologetic.
"Your comrades have abandoned you and taken your horse and supplies. You have nothing and no one to shelter you now. Throw down your weapons, Hunter, and surrender without a struggle." Sir Danna's voice was hard, flat. "You have my word that you will be allowed to live until the Sage is eliminated."
"Allowed to live?" The Hunter bared his teeth. "How magnanimous of you."
"Would you rather be cut down where you stand?" The knight raised an eyebrow, and an eager look filled her eye as she leaned forward in her saddle. "If that's your preference, I'd be happy to oblige. I permitted your wounded companions to return to Vothmot, but I will make no such allowance for you."
"You're welcome to come and try," the Hunter growled. He leveled his sword at the men surrounding him. "You saw what I did to your comrades on the road below. Do you really think you can defeat me?"
Sir Danna snorted. "The Warrior Priests serve Derelana, delivering her holy vengeance. Falling in the goddess' service is simply them carrying out their priestly duties." She motioned around her. "And Cambionari do not cower in the face of demonspawn."
"Last chance, Sir Danna." The Hunter fixed her with a hard stare. The knight knew the way; she could make his journey to Enarium easier, if only she would stop trying to kill him. "Let me go, or join me in my mission. Help me bring the Sage down and save Einan."
"We will deal with the Sage," the knight said. "We will send him to the fiery hell, and you along with him."
He raised Soulhunger. "Then may the Watcher have mercy on you all."
The Hunter slashed the dagger along his right forearm. Sir Danna's e
yes went wide, and Kiara gasped in shock as the Hunter held out his arm to let the blood drip onto the stony ground.
"The Stone Guardians will be here any second,” he said. “Try and fight me, you'll have to face them. Ride away, and you live another day."
For an answer, Sir Danna swung her greatsword at his head. The Hunter ducked the blow and darted around to her left side, but a mounted Warrior Priest pressed in toward him. The Hunter blocked a downward slash, twisted out of the path of Sir Danna's awkward cross-body strike, and drove Soulhunger into the Warrior Priest's thigh. He ripped the dagger free before it could consume the man's lifeblood, but crimson pumped from the severed artery in his leg.
Soulhunger cried in protest at being denied the blood it craved, but the Hunter was too focused on staying alive to care. He could feel the wound in his arm healing, the bleeding slowing and stopping. But the scent of the Warrior Priest's blood would be drawing the Stone Guardians. He grunted as a Warrior Priest's sword carved a line of fire along his right cheek as he dodged a strike. He just had to hold on for a few more seconds until—
The cliffs amplified the roar of the Stone Guardians a hundredfold. The Warrior Priests cried out and fell back as three of the massive creatures appeared at the top of the cliff.
A sliver of hope formed within the Hunter. He whirled, darted toward Hailen, and scooped up the boy.
"Hang on!" he shouted as he shifted Hailen onto his back. The boy wrapped his arms around his neck as the Hunter scrambled up the cliff face.
"Don't let him escape!" Sir Danna shouted.
A moment later, the ground rumbled beneath the impact of the first Stone Guardian landing. The wounded Warrior Priest cried out as the massive creature lunged for him. An audible crunch of crushed metal, shredded flesh, and pulverized bone echoed from the rocks, followed by a dull thump of a body striking unyielding earth.
The arrival of the Stone Guardians bought the Hunter the moments he needed. Before the Warrior Priests or Cambionari could stop him, he'd climbed out of their reach. He struggled to find hand and foot-holds on the smooth surface, yet forced himself to keep moving steadily upward, taking risks he’d never consider otherwise. Hailen's weight pulled him backward and added to the strain of the climb. The Hunter's arms and legs trembled from exertion and sweat streamed down his face. The shouts of pain coming from behind and below him were all the encouragement he needed to keep going.
He risked a single glance over his shoulder. One Stone Guardian stood over the corpses of two Warrior Priests, its massive jaws crunching through steel armor and the man beneath with revolting ease. Its spittle sizzled on the stone and ate through flesh. A second swatted at a Cambionari with a hulking arm, sending the man hurtling across the clearing to crash into the stone wall. The Cambionari fell and didn't get up.
Sir Danna battled the third enormous, spine-backed creature, with two Warrior Priests and Kiara by her side. Rage twisted the knight's face as she hacked at the massive creature with her greatsword. The Stone Guardian seemed to flinch from her weapon, as if afraid of the iron.
Suddenly, he realized why the creature looked so familiar. He'd seen one just like it in the tunnels beneath Voramis.
The memories of that night swept over him, and he felt that instinctive stab of terror as he faced the monstrous demon summoned from the portal into flaming darkness.
The Hunter drew in a sharp breath. Keeper's teeth! Is it possible?
The First of Voramis had summoned an Abiarazi, an enormous creature made of stone—identical to the Stone Guardians. Each of the demons he'd met along his journey had resembled these creatures when they revealed their true faces beneath their mask of human flesh.
The Stone Guardians are Abiarazi transformed by the curse of the Empty Mountains! The realization staggered him, yet it made perfect sense. Who better to guard the path and prevent other Abiarazi from returning?
He swallowed the acid surging in the back of his throat. He'd always known the Abiarazi were monsters, but to see them like this brought a sickening realization. Sir Danna and the Cambionari were justified in their fear of the demons. If creatures like this roamed the world, they would wreak terrible destruction. No wonder they had nearly conquered Einan during the War of Gods. Only the intervention of the gods themselves had put an end to their domination.
And if the Sage returned Kharna to the world, the Destroyer would summon his legions of demons once more. It didn't matter that the gods the Hunter knew were fabrications of the Enclave—the creatures before him were undeniably real. As real as Hailen or the stones in his hand. He couldn't write off the threat they represented as nothing more than lies.
The Sage had to be stopped, and right now the Hunter was the only one capable of doing it. Growling low in his throat, he forced himself to keep climbing despite the burning ache in his muscles.
"Hardwell, I-I'm slipping." Panic tinged Hailen's voice.
The Hunter clung to the cliff one-handed and gripped Hailen's wrists in the other. In the seconds it took to shift the boy's position on his back, he could already feel the warmth of the blood trickling from Hailen's fingernails and staining his hands.
His blood ran cold as he glanced up. A Stone Guardian crouched at the top of the cliff like an enormous reptilian gargoyle, its empty black eyes fixed on him. It let out a rumbling growl and clambered down the rocky face toward him with the speed and agility of a monkey.
The Hunter froze. He couldn't fight the creature on the cliff, and he was too high up to drop back down and face it on the ground. He was trapped, with enemies above and below.
Desperate hope blossomed in his chest when he saw a hint of purple and red a few paces above and to his right. He hadn't had a chance to test out his theory about its use against the Stone Guardians, but right now he had no other hope of survival.
With a speed borne of absolute terror, the Hunter swung along the cliff face. The Stone Guardian dug massive talons into the rock and sped toward him, dropping at a terrific pace. The Hunter had seconds before it reached him.
Time seemed to slow as he raced toward the bright spot of color. Heartbeats passed in an eternity, and the world narrowed to a single spot of purple and crimson in a world of light grey stone. He had no time to look up and see the approaching danger. He could only clamber toward the mushrooms at a frantic pace and hope he didn't fall.
He closed his fingers closed around the velvety shafts of the plant, ripped the cluster free with a mighty yank, and hurled it upward in the same motion.
The puffy purple-veined cap struck the face of the descending Stone Guardian, and it exploded with a little whuff of air. Bright purple spores floated in a colorful halo around the dark grey face of the creature. Stony flesh turned a sickly green in a heartbeat, shriveled, and turned to a sickening liquid. Large drops of foul-smelling goo fell to the ground.
The Stone Guardian's roar changed to a howl of pain. It released its grip on the cliff to claw at its liquefying face, and the massive creature plummeted toward the ground and landed with a crash. The howls turned to coughing whines, then harsh, choking rumbles. After a long moment, it stopped moving.
Keeper's beard! Shock froze the Hunter in place. It worked!
He scanned the cliff face for any more of the mushrooms and spotted two more clusters nearly at the top. Hope surged within him as he clambered upward. Hailen's weight dragged at his muscles, and he knew he'd never be able to gather the mushrooms with the boy on his back. He heaved Hailen up onto the top of the cliff and, fighting to ignore the pain in his cramping arms and legs, clambered back down the few paces to pluck the eight mushrooms.
One of the caps exploded as he tried to pluck it free, and he nearly fell from the cliff in his hurry to escape the cloud of spores. He had no idea what effects it could have on his body and no desire to find out. He made sure to harvest the remaining mushrooms with extreme caution.
When he’d collected the seven remaining caps, he hauled himself back up to the clifftop and slumped onto the
stone, where he lay for long minutes. His arms and legs trembled from both exertion and the sheer, gut-wrenching terror of staring the Stone Guardian in the face.
"Hardwell?" Hailen asked. The boy crawled over to him and stared down with worry in his violet eyes. "Did the scary monster hurt you?"
"No." Laughter bubbled up from the Hunter's throat—fear turning to an almost frantic relief. "No the monster didn't hurt me. In fact, I figured out how to hurt the monster!" He sat up and grinned at the boy. "The monsters won't be able to hurt us again, now that I have these."
Hailen stared at the bright mushrooms and reached out to touch one. "They're pretty."
"Careful." The Hunter pulled it away. "If you pop them, they won't scare off the monsters any more." He turned Hailen's hand over and placed one gently in his palm. "Do you want to keep this for me?"
Hailen nodded eagerly. The Hunter tucked it into the boy's small belt pouch and helped Hailen to stand.
The shouts and cries of pain from below sounded distant, faint. The Hunter glanced down. Only one of the Stone Guardians remained, facing Sir Danna, Kiara, and the two remaining Warrior Priests. Even as he watched, two more of the massive creatures raced across the clifftop and leapt into the rocky hollow.
The Hunter felt a stab of pity as he watched Kiara desperately dodging the vicious claws of the Stone Guardian. He hadn't saved her all those months ago to watch her die now.
"Kiara!" he called as he reached into his pouch.
When the woman glanced up at him, he held up two of the brightly colored mushrooms. "This will kill them!"
With all the force he could muster, he threw the toadstools toward her. They flew through the air to land in the middle of the Stone Guardians. The moment the mushrooms hit the ground, the caps exploded, releasing their purple spores with a puff of air.
The Stone Guardians howled and retreated from the violet cloud. Three could not evade it, and their growls turned to agonized howls as the spores did their grisly work. Stony flesh dripped from demonic bones in sickening curtains of green goo, and the creatures collapsed within seconds. One was far enough away that it could escape before the spores caught it, but it made the mistake of getting too close to Sir Danna. When she swung her greatsword, it sheared through the creature’s leg. The Stone Guardian fell, and the knight hacked off its head with a vicious downward chop.
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